Modal verbs express an attitude about an action expressed in the sentence. German has six modal verbs. Modal verbs with principal parts Meanings (“modes”) dürfen, (darf), durfte, gedurft to be allowed to, may (permission) können, (kann), konnte, gekonnt to be able…
German has only one present tense. It is the equivalent of three possible forms in English. ich sage I say I am saying I do say In addition, the German present tense is often used, frequently with specific adverbials of time,…
What are verbs? Verbs are words that express actions, processes, or states of being. The verb form that you will find in your vocabulary list and in dictionaries is called the infinitive. While in English the infinitive of a verb…
The conjunctional adverb zwar has no single equivalent in English. In one context it seems to mean one thing, in another it seems to mean something else entirely. Sometimes it seems to add nothing meaningful to a sentence at all. If we look…
DOWNLOAD PDF here: German cases and adjective endings chart Ich hoffe, dass Sie es nützlich finden. Ich freue mich auf Ihr Feedback. I hope you find it useful. I look forward to your feedback.
With the start of every semester, it’s time to teach beginners German numbers (the subject of this post). And any time is a good time to review numbers with the intermediate and sometimes even advanced students of German. The key…
The numbers in German are cognates of their English equivalents. German also has both cardinal and ordinal numbers, as English does. Cardinal numbers are the numerals used to count (one, two, three). Ordinal numbers are adjectives that express a relative position in a…
Children’s songs are a fun and easy way to learn and memorize common phrases and vocabulary. German has some short, simple songs that can easily teach the words for days, months, and seasons. The songs serve as a memory aids not…
When English speakers want to say “when” in German, it’s hard to know which word to choose. In this week’s Wort der Woche post on the word als, I touched upon the distinction between the words als, wenn, wann. I’d like to explore…
The conjunction als is the 25th most common word in German. Simply put, a conjunction is a word that joins together sentences, clauses, phrases, or words. Many conjunctions have a very specific conjoining role, such as joining a dependent and…
