Tag Archives: Nominativ

die Adjektivdeklination – Typ 3

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Hi everyone,

Let’s continue talking about adjective endings…

To review the Strong inflexion, click here: Starke Deklination.

To review the Mixed inflexion, click here: Gemischte Deklination.

Typ 3 : Schwasche Deklination

Weak inflection, or ,,Schwasche Deklination“, is used:

  • After the definite article
  • After ,,derselb-” (the same), ,,derjenig-” (the one)
  • After ,,dies-” (this), ,,jen-” (that), ,,jeglich-” (any), ,,jed-” (every), which decline like the definite article.
  • After ,,manch-” (some), ,,solch-“ (such), ,,welch-” (which), which decline like definite article.
  • After ,,mir”, ,,dir“, ,,ihm“
  • After ,,arm” (meagre), ,,alt” (old), ,,all” (all)
Weak Inflexion
Männlich
masculine		 Weiblich
feminine		 Sächlich
neuter		 Mehrzahl
plural
 Nominativ -e -e -e -en
 Akkusativ -en -e -e -en
 Dativ -en -en -en -en
Genitiv  -en -en -en -en

The adjective endings rule with the definite article (der, die, das) or the so-called der-words (dieser, jeder, etc.) is simple:

  1. The adjective endings in the nominative is always ,,-e” (except for the plural that is always ,,-en” in all situations!).
  2. The adjective endings in the  accusative identical to those in the nominative case, except for the masculine gender (der/den).
  3. The adjective endings in the dative and genitive is ALWAYS –en!

Adjektivdeklination typ 3

That is all I’ve learned about adjective endings by now!!!! So, keep practicing and wait for new posts!! 😀

die Adjektivdeklination – Typ 2

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Hi everyone, Let’s continue talking about adjective endings… To review the Strong inflexion, click here: Starke Deklination.

Typ 2 : Gemischte Deklination

Mixed inflection, or ,,Gemischte Deklination“, is used:

  • After the indefinite article ,,ein-“, ,,kein-“
  • After the possessive determiners in singular.
Mixed Inflexion
Männlich masculine Weiblich feminine Sächlich neuter Mehrzahl plural
 Nominativ -er -e -es -en*1
 Akkusativ -en -e -es -en*1
 Dativ -en -en -en -en*1
Genitiv  -en -en -en -en*1

*1 kein/e/n is used to show the plural because you can say “no shoes” but not “a shoes”! With ein-words (ein, dein, keine, etc.), the adjective must reflect the gender of the noun that follows.

  1. The adjective endings in the nominative ,,-er“, ,,-e” and ,,-es” correspond to the articles ,,der“, ,,die“, and ,,das” respectively.
  2. The adjective endings in the  accusative ,,-en“, ,,-e” and ,,-es” correspond to the articles ,,den“, ,,die“, and ,,das” respectively.
  3. The adjective endings in the dative and genitive is ALWAYS –en!

Adjektivdeklination typ 2 I will talk more about the weak inflexion in the next post. As I said previously, keep practicing German gender nouns and cases because it is very important!!! 😉

die Adjektivdeklination – Typ 1

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Hallo!!

Today I’m going to start talking about German adjectives. In German an adjective is a word that usually go in front of a noun or pronoun they modify, giving more information about their definition.

,,der gute Mann” (the good man)

,,das große Auto” (the big car)

,,die schöne Dame” (the pretty lady)

A German adjective in front of a noun has to have an ending (,,Adjektivdeklination“), which depends on several factors, including gender (der, die, das), case (nominative, accusative, dative) and the type of declension (“strong”, “mixed” or “weak”).

Several adjectives take no ending at all:

  • Singular limiting adjectives: wenig, etwas, genug, and viel
  • The plural limiting phrase ‘ein Paar’
  • When the adjective come after the verb (predicate adjective)

,,Das Haus ist groß.” (The house is large.)

As we already know when to use the German cases, let’s talk about the type of declension:

Typ 1 : Starke Deklination

Strong Inflexion, or ,,Starke Deklination“, is used:

  • When no article is used
  • After ,,etwas” (some; somewhat), ,,mehr” (more), ,,nichts” (nothing)
  • After ,,wenig-” (few), ,,viel-” (much; many), ,,mehrer-” (several; many), ,,all-” (all), which also have strong adjective inflection
  • After personal pronouns other than ,,mir“, ,,dir“, ,,ihm“
  • After number adjectives with no endings
Strong Inflexion
Männlich
masculine		 Weiblich
feminine		 Sächlich
neuter		 Mehrzahl
plural
 Nominativ -er -e -es -e
 Akkusativ -en -e -es -e
 Dativ -em -er -em -en
Genitiv  -en -er -en -er

Adjektivdeklination typ 1

I will talk more about the other types of declension in the next posts… keep practicing German gender nouns and cases! 😉

See ya!!

der Nominativ

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Helloooo!!!

After a welcome holiday… let’s go back to work, right?!!

Today we are going to learn more about the nominative case, which is nothing more than the subject of the sentence.

In German, every noun (person, place or thing), whether it refers to a pet, a thought, a planet, a tree, a car or a man, has a gender. However, it is the word (,,das Wort”), not the object or concept itself, that has gender. There are three possible genders for German nouns: masculine (,,der“), feminine (,,die“) or neuter (,,das“). The nominative plural of any gender is always ,,die“.

TIP!   The most common gender in German is the masculine, so keep that in mind the next time you’re guessing.

In the examples below, the nominative word or expression is in red:

Der Tisch ist toll. The table is great.
Das ist ein Bild. This is a picture.
Die Tiefkühlkost ist da hinten. The frozen food is over there.
Das ist eine gute idee. That’s a good idea.
Das sind keine Sonderangebote. The are currently no special offers.
Der Hund beißt den Mann. The dog bites the man.
Dieser Gedanke ist blöd. This thought is stupid.
Meine Mutter ist Architektin.1 My mother is an architect.
1 The nominative case can also be found in the predicate, as in the last example. The verb “is” acts like an equal sign (my mother = architect). But the nominative is most often the subject of a sentence.

Take a look at the following mindmap:

Nominative Mindmap

Nominative Mindmap

That’s all for today!!! See ya!!! \o/

die vier deutschen Fällen

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Hi everyone!!!

As I’ve been promissed, today I will start talking about the four German grammatical cases… finally!!! hahaha

The German grammatical cases are:

  1. ,,Nominativ“: It is simply the subject of the sentence.
  2. ,,Akkusativ“: It is the direct object of the sentence. This is the case governed by most verbs and prepositions.
  3. ,,Dativ“: The words are declined when they have indirect object function. A smaller number of verbs and prepositions govern the dative.
  4. ,,Genitiv“: It is essentially the case of possession.

English cases are only apparent with pronouns, not with nouns, as in German. When “he” changes to “him” in English, that’s exactly the same thing that happens when er changes to ihn in German (and der changes to den). This allows German to have more flexibility in word order, for example:

,,Der Hund beißt den Mann.” (“The dog bites the man.”)
,,Den Mann beißt der Hund.” (“The dog bites the man.”)
,,Beißt der Hund den Mann?” (“Is the dog biting the man?”)
,,Beißt den Mann der Hund?” (“Is the dog biting the man?”)

In German the word order can be changed for emphasis, without altering the basic meaning. But if you say “Man bites dog” in English, rather than “Dog bites man”, you change the meaning. Because English does not have the same case markers (der/den), it must depend on word order.

Definite Articles (the)
Fall
Case		 Männlich
masculine		 Weiblich
feminine		 Sächlich
neuter		 Mehrzahl
plural
Nom der die das die
Akk den die das die
Dat dem der dem den
Gen des der des der
Indefinite Articles (a/an)
Fall
Case		 Männlich
masculine		 Weiblich
feminine		 Sächlich
neuter		 Mehrzahl
plural
Nom (k)ein (k)eine (k)ein keine*
Akk (k)einen (k)eine (k)ein keine*
Dat (k)einem (k)einer (k)einem keine*
Gen (k)eines (k)einer (k)eines keine*

NOTE!

  1. ,,Keine” is the negative of ,,eine“, which has no plural form. But ,,keine” (no/none) can be used in the plural.
Demonstrative Pronouns (der, die, denen)
Fall
Case		 Männlich
masculine		 Weiblich
feminine		 Sächlich
neuter		 Mehrzahl
plural
Nom der
that one		 die
that one		 das
that one		 die
these
Akk den
that one		 die
that one		 das
that one		 die
those
Dat dem
(to) that		 der
(to) that		 dem
(to) that		 denen
(to) them
Gen dessen
of that		 deren
of that		 dessen
of that		 deren
of them

NOTE!

  1. When the definite articles are used as demonstrative pronouns, only the dative plural and genitive forms are different from the normal definite articles.
Personal Pronouns
   Nom  Akk  Dat  Gen
 1. Person
sing.		 ich
I		  mich
me		  mir
(to) me		 mein
my
 2. Person
sing.		  du
you		  dich
you		  dir
(to) you		 dein
your
 3. Person
sing.		 er
he		 ihn
him		 ihm
(to) him		 sein
his
 3. Person
sing.		  sie
she		 sie
her		 ihr
(to) her		 ihr
her
 3. Person
sing.		  es
it		  es
it		  ihm
(to) it		 sein
its
 1. Person
plur.		  wir
we		  uns
us		  uns
(to) us		 unser
our
 2. Person
plur.		 ihr
you		  euch
you		 euch
(to) you		 euer
your
 2. Person
formal		  Sie Sie
you		 Ihnen
(to) you		  Ihr
your
 3. Person
plur.		 sie
they		 sie
them		 ihnen
(to) them		  ihre
their

NOTES!

  1. The possessive pronoun forms shown here do not indicate the various additional case endings (genitive, dative, etc.) they might have in a typical sentence in various situations (i.e., ,,seiner“, ,,ihres“, etc.).
  2. ,,Sie” is the same in the singular and plural. It is always capitalized in all of its forms.
Interrogative “who”
Fall
Case		 Wer?
who?
Nom wer
Akk wen
whom
Dat wem
(to) whom
Gen wessen
whose

NOTES!

  1. ,,Wer” (who) has no plural form in German or English.
  2. The interrogative ,,was” (what) is the same in the nominative and accusative cases. It has no dative or genitive forms and is related to ,,das” and ,,es“. Like ,,wer“, ,,was” has no plural form in German or English.

Examples:

,,Er (der Hund) beißt den Mann.” (“He (the dog) bites the man.”)
,,Ihn (den Mann) hat der Hund gebissen.” (“The dog bit him (the man).”)
,,Wen hat er gebissen?” (“Whom did he bite?”)
,,Wer ist das?” (“Who is that?”)
,,Du hast mich doch gesehen?” (“You did see me (didn’t you)?”)
,,Die hat keine Ahnung.” (“She/That one has no idea.”)

For more about each case, see the next posts!!!! 😉

Häuser berühmter Sitcoms

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The Spanish artist Iñaki Aliste Lizarralde had a super creative idea: he created super elaborate drawings depicting the interior and architectural design of the homes of several famous series…

I always thought about doing that but never put into practice (the drawings were only made in my mind)… sometimes, when I’m walking down the street and I see an interesting building, I start to imagine how it is inside… I love to draw houses plans since I was a kid, it is a kind of hobby!!! 😀

Well, this topic inspired me to write today’s post: ,,Häuser” (houses). So, let’s start…

,,Wie heißen die Zimmer?” (What are the rooms?)

Take a look at the floor plan (,,der Grundriss“):

Imagem

  1. ,,das Wohnzimmer” (living room)
  2. ,,das Esszimmer” (dining room)
  3. ,,das Schlafzimmer” (bedroom)
  4. ,,das Badezimmer” (bathroom)
  5. ,,das Kindezimmer” (child room)
  6. ,,die Küche” (kitchen)
  7. ,,der Flur” (hall)
  8. ,,der Balkon” (balcony)

Now, can you describe the floor plan from “Chandler and Joey”, “Monica and Rachel”, “Sheldon and Leonard”, “Penny” and “Dexter”?

Imagem

,,Chandler und Joey Wohnung hat zwei Schlafzimmer, eine Küche, ein Wohnzimmer, ein Esszimer und ein Badzimmer.” (“bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, a dining room and a bathroom.”)

,,Monica und Rachel hat zwei Schlafzimmer, eine Küche, ein Wohnzimmer, ein Esszimer, ein Badzimmer und einen Balkon.” (“Monica and Rachel’s apartment has two bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, a dining room, a bathroom and a balcony.”)

Imagem

,,Penny Wohnung hat ein Schlafzimmer, eine Küche, ein Wohnzimmer, ein Esszimer und ein Badzimmer. Ihre Wohnung ist klein.” (“Penny’s apartment has a bedroom, a kitchen, a living room, a dining room and a bathroom. Her apartment is small.”)

,,Sheldon und Leonard Wohnung hat zwei Schlafzimmer, eine Küche, ein Wohnzimmer, ein Esszimer und ein Badzimmer.” (“Sheldon and Leonard’s apartment has two bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, a dining room and a bathroom.”)

Imagem

,,Dexter Wohnung hat ein Schlafzimmer, eine Küche, ein Wohnzimmer, ein Esszimer und ein Badzimmer. Seine Wohnung ist groß und hell.” (“Dexter’s apartment has a bedroom, a kitchen, a living room, a dining room and a bathroom. His apartment is big and bright.”)

Have you noticed that all these sitcoms’ apartments have typical American kitchens, which is basically a type of fitted kitchens that have an opening to the dining room or even the living room?!

  • Here are some grammatical stuff we’ve learned in this post:

artikel im akkusativ

Possessiveartikel im Nominativ

I’ll talk more about ,,Nominativ” and ,,Akkusativ” latter!!! 😉