German grammar

0 · Letters and sounds

A1 · Beginner

The verb in the present tense

• The present tense
• Be, have, become: sein, haben, werden
• Verbs that change their vowel

Modal verbs and polite wishes

• The modal verbs in the present
• Polite wishes: möchte and würde gern

Separable verbs

• Separable verbs

The imperative

• The imperative: forms and use

The past

• Was and had: war, hatte
• The perfect tense: hat gemacht, ist gegangen

Nouns and articles

• The gender of nouns
• The plural of nouns
• Nouns with no article
• This: dieser, diese, dieses
• Nouns built from other words

The cases

• The article in the nominative, accusative and dative
• The genitive: Annas Buch

Pronouns and possessives

• Personal pronouns in the accusative
• Personal pronouns in the dative
• Possessive articles
• Each other: uns, euch, sich
• Indefinite pronouns: man, etwas, nichts, alles, mehr
• Some and any: welche

Word order

• The verb in second place
• The verb bracket
• And, or, but, because: und, oder, aber, denn

Questions and negation

• Yes/no questions and W-questions
• Question words
• The first questions: Wie heißt du? Woher kommst du?
• Negation: nicht and kein

Prepositions

• Prepositions with a fixed case
• Place or direction: in, an, auf

Adjectives

• Adjectives after sein, and gern
• Adjectives built from other words

Numbers, times and dates

• Numbers, the time and the date

A2 · Elementary

The present: more verbs that change their vowel

The past

• Talking about what you did: the Perfekt (past simple) with haben or sein
• Building the past: past participles, ge-…-t and ge-…-en
• Talking about the past: the Präteritum (preterite), war, hatte and other verbs
• Talking about the past with modal verbs: the Präteritum (preterite), konnte, musste
• Choosing the verb form: the present (present simple), imperative, Perfekt (past simple) or Präteritum (preterite)

Reflexive verbs

• Doing things to yourself or each other: reflexive verbs, verb + mich, dich, sich

Polite requests: the Konjunktiv II

Articles and other words before the noun

• Choosing and pointing out: welcher (which) and dieser (this), with the endings of der
• Asking what kind: was für ein (what kind of), ein in the case of the noun
• Talking about groups and amounts: alle (all), viele and viel (a lot of)
• Declining weak masculine nouns: -n or -en outside the nominative singular

The dative completed

• Asking with a preposition, saying whose: wem, wen, von + dative

Pronouns

• Referring back to a noun: der, die, das as pronouns
• Talking about a person without naming them: jemand (someone) and niemand (nobody)

Prepositions

• Saying since when and for how long: seit with the dative

Adjectives

• Describing: adjective endings in the nominative (der neue, ein neuer)
• Comparing: the comparative and the superlative (schneller als, am schnellsten)

Linking sentences

• Explaining, reporting, asking indirectly: weil, dass, wenn, verb at the end
• Giving a reason: weil, verb at the end, or denn, verb in second place
• Giving a result or ordering actions: deshalb and dann, verb before subject
• Spelling: das (article, pronoun) or dass (conjunction)

B1 · Intermediate

The present: more verbs that change their vowel

The past

• The simple past: machte, arbeitete
• The simple past: ging, kam, brachte, dachte
• Perfekt in speech, Präteritum in writing
• The pluperfect: hatte gemacht, war gegangen
• Time words in a story

The future: the Futur I

• The future tense: ich werde kommen

The Konjunktiv II

• Would and should: würde, wäre, hätte, sollte
• Would in one word: könnte, müsste, käme, wüsste
• Unreal conditions: wenn ich Zeit hätte
• Would have: hätte gemacht, wäre gegangen

The passive

• The passive: present and Präteritum
• The passive in the perfect: ist gemacht worden
• The passive with a modal verb: muss gemacht werden

The infinitive with zu

• The infinitive with zu: um … zu, ohne … zu, statt … zu
• Not having to: nicht brauchen zu
• Let and have done: lassen + infinitive

Verbs with prepositions

• Verbs with a fixed preposition: worauf, darauf

Nouns: the genitive, the nouns that add -n, the plural

• The genitive

Adjectives

• Adjective endings in every case
• Participles as adjectives
• Adjectives used as nouns

Relative clauses

• The relative pronoun: der, den, dem, denen
• Relative clauses: was and wo

Pronouns

• The reflexive pronoun in the dative
• Pronouns standing alone: einer, keiner, meiner
• It as a subject: es gibt, es regnet, es geht um

Word order and negation

• The middle of the sentence and the place of nicht
• Negative words: nie, niemand, nirgends; noch nicht, nicht mehr
• Modal particles: doch, ja, mal, denn, eigentlich

Prepositions

• Inside, around, along: innerhalb, außerhalb, um … herum, entlang

Linking clauses

• When: als, wenn, wann; bevor, während, seit, bis
• Although, so that, in case: obwohl, trotzdem, damit, sodass, falls
• Reasons and results: da, nämlich, darum, deswegen, daher
• Two-part connectors

Word building and spelling

• Noun suffixes and verb prefixes
• Spelling: ss or ß; compounds

Every verb form so far

• The verb forms of B1

B2 · Upper intermediate

Strong verbs

The future

• The future perfect: wird gemacht haben, wird gegangen sein

The Konjunktiv II

• The double infinitive: hat arbeiten müssen, hätte kommen sollen
• Unreal comparisons: als ob, als wenn, als

Reported speech

• Reported speech: er sei, er habe, er komme

The passive

• Action or state: wird geöffnet, ist geöffnet
• The passive: von or durch, Hier wird gearbeitet
• Instead of the passive: man, sich lassen, sein + zu, -bar

Participles and nouns from verbs

• Nouns from verbs: das Lesen, beim Lesen, die Planung
• Noun and verb together: eine Entscheidung treffen
• Time adjectives: heutig, damalig; zweistündig or zweistündlich

Relative clauses

• Anyone who: wer …, der …
• Relative clauses: was, worüber, wo, wohin, woher

Pronouns and small words

• It as a placeholder: Es freut mich, dass …
• Adjectives and nouns with a fixed preposition: stolz auf, Angst vor
• Pointing back in a text: das, dies, dabei, damit, solch-

Word order and negation

• Known before new: the middle field and nicht before one part

Linking clauses

• Comparison clauses: schwieriger, als ich dachte; so, wie ich vermutet hatte
• One relation, three ways: conjunction, adverb, preposition
• A contrast: während, dagegen, jedoch
• Infinitive or clause: um … zu or damit, ohne … zu or ohne dass
• Conditions without wenn: Hätte ich Zeit, …; Sollte es regnen, …

Every verb form so far

• The verb forms of B2