#Learn basic german grammar pdf#

Rebecca: So that sentence is in the present tense. Widar: 'Ich gehe zum Supermarkt.' ('I go to the supermarket.') 'Gehe' is the conjugated verb, and it means 'go.' So for now we're going to concentrate on the other four tenses. Rebecca: As we've told you, two tenses are rarely used…future perfect and past perfect. Perfect is the past tense used to describe completed (thus 'perfect') actions in the past, and past perfect refers to events that had been completed before another past action. Preterit expresses actions that took place in the past. Widar: Yeah, and the other three tenses describe the past. The future tense describes what's going to happen, and the future perfect describes what will have happened in the future. Rebecca: The present tense describes what is happening at this defining moment. Widar: These six tenses are present, future, future perfect, preterit, perfect, and past perfect. Luckily, there are no progressive tenses. While the German language knows six tenses, only four are mainly used. Widar: I think they scare a lot of English learners. There are tons of tenses in English with scary names like present perfect continuous and stuff. Rebecca: Good question! Tense refers to time – past, present, and future. Rebecca: What we've decided to do is compare German examples to English grammar examples so that you can really see the differences. Widar: Now we'll go through and show you what some of them are. Earlier we mentioned that there are a lot of areas of German grammar that are simpler than or equal to their English counterparts, right?

#Learn basic german grammar pdf#

In our accompanying PDF guide you will find more information on word order. It might sound a bit strange, but you will deliver your message! The good thing about German is, even if you muddle up the word order, people will understand you. Widar: And it's no shame to make mistakes. Rebecca: Okay, so German word order is a bit more complex than in English, but still in most sentences word order SVO works perfectly fine. Subordinate clauses differ from the English rule…they start with a conjunction, followed by SOV (subject-object-verb). The structure of German main clauses follows their English counterparts – word order is SVO (subject-object-verb). That's because in dependent clauses, German requires verbs to appear at the very end, as in 'because I it like.' Widar: Main clause SVO, conjunction, and subordinate clause SOV. Here, the example would be 'I eat ice cream, because I it like.' Widar: So the English rule is…main clause SVO, conjunction, subordinate clause SVO. In English, subordinate clauses start with a conjunction – in this case, 'because.' This is followed by the subject 'I,' the verb 'like,' and the object 'it.' Again, SVO.

Widar: Okay, first is the main clause, and second the subordinate clause. So we can add a subordinate clause to our main clause in the English example…'I eat ice cream because I like it.' This is somewhat different if we look at subordinate clauses. Rebecca: SVO works perfectly fine for main clauses. Widar: The subject is at the beginning of the sentence, 'ich' ('I'), followed by the verb in second position, 'esse' ('eat'), and last but not least, the object at the end of the sentence, 'Eis' ('ice cream'). As in the given examples, a German SVO sentence is 'Ich esse Eis' ('I eat ice cream.'). While German is not an SVO language, SVO works for main clauses. There are two common word orders…one for main clauses (independent clauses) and another for subordinate clauses (dependent clauses). Widar: In German, word order is less rigid than in English – except for nouns. Rebecca: 'I read the newspaper' and 'I watch TV'…these are all SVO sentences. And lastly, 'ice cream' is the object that receives the action. 'Eat' is the verb, or the action taking place. Rebecca: 'I eat ice cream.' 'I' is the subject, or the one doing the action. That's how English sentences are put together. That means that in an English sentence, the subject always comes first, followed by the verb, and then the object. Widar: For one thing, English is an SVO language! Rebecca, what does SVO stand for? If you think for a moment about how English works, you'll be able to see in what ways German is comparable or different. Rebecca: First, what we want to do is take a look at English. Rebecca: Easy, you say? How can that be possible?! Well, we're about to show you. Widar: You'll be surprised to learn that in comparison with English or other foreign languages, some parts of German grammar are amazingly easy! We've made German grammar so simple that you'll wonder what the fuss was all about. But we're here to tell you there's nothing to worry about. Rebecca: I'm sure some listeners are having that very same reaction right about now.

Rebecca: Hi everyone, and welcome to the Grammar portion of 's All About Series!