LEARN GERMAN

Unit 1
Lesson-1 (Nouns & Gender)
Capital Letter for Nouns

In German, all nouns must begin with a capital letter, regardless of their position within a sentence.

Wir sind 5 Leute im Haus, meine Eltern, meine Schwester und mein Bruder

In the above example, Leute (persons), Haus (house), Eltern (parents), Schwester (sister), and Bruder (brother) are all nouns; and thus must begin with a capital letter.
Gender of Nouns

Unlike in English, each noun in German has its own gender; either masculine (der), feminine (die), or neuter (das). Plural nouns are always considered feminine (die). That gender is not necessarily the actual gender of the corresponding real-life object; instead it is purely grammatical. As gender is quite unpredictable, the best thing is to simply learn each noun along with its definite article (der, die, or das).
Nouns and Gender Masculine der Mann the man der Vogel the bird die Frau the woman die Blume the flower das Kind the child das Obst the fruit

Feminine

Neuter

Make sure to check the grammar table associated with this lesson for many clues and hints on determining the gender of a noun.
Compound Nouns

The German language contains many nouns that are composed from two or more words connected together (which makes German famous for having very long words). The combined words themselves don't have to be nouns, they could be adjectives, verb stems, and prepositions. However, the last element of the compound noun must be a noun; as the gender of the compound noun and its plural are determined by that last noun.
Compound Nouns Noun + Noun der Vater das Land Adjective + Noun das Vaterland fatherland / native country

schnell der Zug Verb Stem + Noun trinken das Wasser

der Schnellzug express train

das Trinkwasser drinking water

Definite & Indefinite Articles

Definite articles refer to specific objects, they are similar to the article 'the' in English. All the previous examples shown in this lesson used the definite articles, which are 'der', 'die', and 'das'. The corresponding indefinite articles, which refer to unspecific objects, and are similar to the English articles 'a' and 'an', are 'ein' (for masculine and neuter) and 'eine' (for feminine). As in English, there is no indefinite article for plurals in German. This concludes the first lesson, make sure to check the grammar tables and the exercises for this lesson before proceeding to next one.

Nouns & Gender - Grammar Table

The tables below show many hints that can help identify the gender of a noun in German. Note that these tables don't cover all German nouns, as there exists many nouns with different endings than the ones shown here, as well as many exceptions. Thus, it's always advisable when learning new nouns to study them along with their gender. Hints for Masculine Nouns Suffix -el der Vogel (bird) -er der Computer (computer) -ig der Kfig (cage) -ismus der Journalismus (journalism) -ling der Frhling (spring) -or der Professor (professor) Rules Male persons der Sohn (son) Days der Sonntag (Sunday) Months der Januar (January) Seasons der Winter (winter) Hints for Feminine Nouns Suffix -ei die Ruberei (robbery) -ie die Batterie (battery) -enz die Konferenz (conference) -heit die Freiheit (freedom) -keit die Mnnlichkeit (manhood) -ion die Legion (legion) -ik die Akustik (acoustic) -age die Garage (garage) -tt die Universitt (university) -schaft die Mannschaft (team/crew)

-ung -ur

die Wohnung (flat) die Karikatur (carucature)

Rules Female persons die Tochter (daughter) Most trees die Fhre (pine tree) Most flowers die Rose (rose) Most fruits die Banane (banana) Hints for Neuter Nouns -chen -lein -ma -ett -ment -o -um Suffix das Ktzchen (kitten) das Frulein (young lady) das Drama (drama) das Bett (bed) das Experiment (experiment) das Foto (photo) das Kalzium (calcium)

Rules Towns das Frankfurt (Frankfurt) Countries das gypten (Egypt) Colors das Grn (Green) Infinitives used as nouns das Tanzen (dancing)

Lesson-2 (Plural Nouns)

Plural of nouns in the German language is much different than in English. In English, plurals are formed simply by adding '-s' to the end of the noun. In German, it's not that simple however; as there are several different ways of forming them. Thus, it's always recommended to learn a new word along with its plural. This lesson will provide some common patterns for typical endings of nouns' plural based on the gender of the noun. However, these patterns should only be considered as guidelines rather than rules; as irregularities may always exist.
Masculine Nouns Adding an '-e'

Most of the German masculine nouns form their plurals by simply adding an '-e' at their end.
Masculine plurals: -e der Beruf die Berufe Professions der Schuh die Schuhe shoes der Stift die Stifte pencils der Hund die Hunde dogs

Adding an umlaut and '-e'

Sometimes when the stem of a masculine noun contains an 'a', 'o', or 'u', an umlaut is added to it, in addition to the '-e' at the end.
Masculine plurals: -e der Zahn die Zhne teeth der Kopf die Kpfe heads der Zug die Zge trains

Nouns ending in '-er', '-el', or '-en'

Nouns ending in '-er', '-el', or '-en' are either left unchanged, or have an umlaut added to their stem.
Masculine plurals: -er, -el, -en endings der Dichter die Dichter poets der Mantel die Mntel coats der Laden die Lden shops/stores

Feminine Nouns Adding a '-n' or an '-en'

Most of the German feminine nouns form their plural by simply adding '-n' or '-en' at their end.
Feminine plurals: -n or -en die Blume die Stirn die Nase die Blumen die Stirnen die Nasen flowers foreheads nose

die Wohnung die Wohnungen apartments

Adding an umlaut and '-e'

Sometimes when the stem of a feminine noun contains an 'a', 'o', or 'u', an umlaut is added to it, in addition to an '-e' at the end.
Feminine plurals: -e die Wand die Wnde walls die Kuh die Khe cows

die Hand die Hnde hands

Neuter Nouns Adding an '-e'

Most of the German neuter nouns form their plural by simply adding an '-e' at their end.
Neuter plurals: -e das Regal die Regale shelves das Haar die Haare hair das Schaf die Schafe sheep Adding an umlaut and '-er'

Sometimes when the stem of a neuter noun contains an 'a', 'o', or 'u', an umlaut is added to it, in addition to an '-er' at the end.
Neuter plurals: -er das Buch die Bcher books das Huhn die Hhner chicken das Loch die Lcher holes Nouns ending in '-chen'

Neuter nouns ending in '-chen' are kept unchanged in their plural forms.
Neuter plurals: -chen ending das Mdchen die Mdchen girls das Zeichen die Zeichen characters

That ends the most common patterns found in all three genders. Remember though, that these are just guidelines, and not strict language rules; thus exceptions exist. To avoid any confusion, it's always recommended for new German language students to study each noun along with its gender and its plural. By time, you should develop a good sense of the language, and be able to form plurals without having to study them by heart.

Lesson-3 (Subject Pronouns)

Before discussing verb forms in the German language, you'll have to know a bit about 'subjects'. This lesson only discusses subject pronouns; pronouns as a whole will be discussed in detail in later lessons. The subject of a sentence is usually a noun that names a person or thing that performs the action. A pronoun is a word that takes the place of that noun.

First-person & Second-person Pronouns

In German, there are two ways of addressing people, either formal or informal. The informal is usually used when addressing friends & children, while the formal method is used with people whom you may not know well or who are older than you.
First-person & Second-person Pronouns Singular Pronoun ich I Plural Pronoun wir we

du you - informal ihr you - informal Sie you - formal Sie you - formal

Third-person Pronouns

In German, the subject pronoun must follow the gender of the noun it replaces. Since some German masculine nouns are inanimate objects, the German masculine pronoun can mean 'it' when referring to something inanimate, or it can mean 'he' when referring to something male. The same thing occurs with female and neuter pronouns.
Third-person Pronouns Masculine Noun der Arzt der Tisch Masculine Pronoun he it

doctor er table er

Feminine Noun die Mutter die Wand Neuter Noun das Kind child

Feminine Pronoun she it

mother sie wall sie

Neuter Pronoun es es es he/she she it

das Mdchen girl das Papier Plural Noun die Kinder die Blumen die Sthle paper

Plural Pronoun children sie flowers sie chairs sie they they they

The German 'sie/Sie' might be very confusing for the beginner German learners. Don't worry though, you should be able to easily differentiate between their intended meanings in a sentence when you learn verb conjugation.