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Learn German - Lesson 2 - Grammar:

In München

(photo by  Jiuguang Wang used under terms of Creative Commons license.)

 

A. Pronouns - forms and functions.

 

I. Forms.

 

1. In the following English sentences the pronouns are underlined. Note their forms.

I know him and he knows me. Do vou know her? She knows you.

 

Most English pronouns have two different forms: I-me, he-him, she-her, etc. Some, like the pronouns you and it, have only one form however.

 

2. Note the forms of the German pronouns in the following sentences.

 

Verstehen Sie mich?	Do you understand me?
Ja, ich verstehe Sie gut.	Yes, I understand you well.
Wie geht es Ihnen?	How goes it with-regard-to-you? (How are you)
Er spricht englisch mit mir.	He speaks English with me.

 

Some German pronouns have two different forms, like Sie and Ihnen above. Many German pronouns however have three different forms like ich, mich and mir above.

 

3. The following table gives the forms of the most common German pronouns:

 

	I	we	he	it	she	they	you	who?	what?
a. NOMINATIVE forms	ich	wir	er	es	sie	sie	Sie	wer	was
b. ACCUSATIVE forms:	mich	uns	ihn	es	sie	sie	Sie	wen	was
c. DATIVE forms	mir	uns	ihm	ihm	ihr	ihnen	Ihnen	wem	-
	me	us	him	it	her	them	you	whom?	what?

 

The English forms at the top of the table correspond to the set of German forms above the line. Those at the bottom of the table correspond to the two sets of German forms below the line. The pronouns wer and was are used only in questions. The pronouns for familiar

address, du and ihr, will be taken up later.

 

 

 
 

II. Functions.

 

1. The NOMINATIVE form: In German, as in English, the basic sentence structure is an ACTOR-ACTION pattern: somebody doing something. The ACTOR is called the SUBJECT of the sentence, and in German a pronoun designating the ACTOR always has the NOMINATIVE form.

 

Ich verstehe sehr gut.	I understand very well.
Er wohnt ganz in meiner Nähe.	He lives quite near me.
Wir wollen gerade Assen gehen.	We're just planning to go and eat.

 

2. The ACCUSATIVE form: In many sentences in both English and German there is another element, the GOAL or OBJECT of the action, the person or thing toward which the action is aimed. In German a pronoun designating the OBJECT of an action is usually in the ACCUSATIVE form.

 

Ich kenne ihn sehr gut.	I know him very well.
Verstehen Sie mich?	Do you understand me?
Wir treffen sie dort.	We're meeting them (or her) there.

 

 

3. The DATIVE form: The third form of the German pronoun is used to designate the INTERESTED BYSTANDER, the person to whom or for whom or with regard to whom the action of the sentence is being performed. In some cases this is referred to as the INDIRECT OBJECT.

 

Können Sie mir seine Adresse geben?	Can you give me his address?
Sie müssen ihm Ihren Pass zeigen.	You have to show your passport to him.
Wie geht es Ihnen?	How are you? (How goes it with-regard-to-you?)
Gefällt es Ihnen in München?	Do you like it in Munich? (Is it pleasing to you in Munich?)
Der Koffer gehört mir nicht.	The suitcase doesn't belong to me.

 

 

4. Another use of the DATIVE form is illustrated by the following sentences you have learned:

 

Sprechen Sie englisch mit ihr?	Do you speak English with her?
Ich fahre oft mit ihm nach Hause.	I often ride home with him.

 

The DATIVE forms ihr and ihm are used here because they follow the word mit, and that's all there is to it. Any pronoun that follows mit has the DATIVE form, always and without fail. This has nothing to do with the INTERESTED BYSTANDER usage; it's something entirely different.

 

B. The Principle of Substitution.

 

1. Languages, like automobiles, are made up of replaceable parts; but the part you substitute must fit the frame into which it is put. For ex ample, in the frame Er kennt mich 'He knows me', the Accusative form mich may be replaced only by other Accusative forms -- that is, forms from the same horizontal line in the table of pronoun forms as mich, the line labeled 'ACCUSATIVE forms'.

 

Er kennt	mich.	He knows	me.
	uns		us
	ihn		him
	es		it
	sie		her
	sie		them
	Sie		you
	wen?		who(m)?

 

2. Similarly, Dative forms must be replaced by other Dative forms, and Nominative forms by other Nominative forms.

 

Ich gehe oft ins Kino mit		ihr.	I often go to the movies with		her.
		ihm			him
		ihnen			them
Kennen	Sie	Herr Becker?	Do	you	know Mr. Becker ?
	wir			we
	sie			they

 

 

C. Verb forms and functions - the present

 

I. Forms.

 

1. In German, and in English, when you substitute one Nominative form for another, that is, change the SUBJECT in a sentence, you sometimes have to change the form of the verb as well. The subject and the verb have to fit together.

 

Note the following English forms:

 

I, you, we. they	sing	do	(no ending)
he, it, she	sings	does	(ending -s)

 

2. All but a very few German verbs have the following forms:

 

ich	komme	gebe	(ending -e)
er, es. sie	kommt	gibt	(ending -t)
wir, sie (' they' ), Sie	kommen	geben	(ending -en)

 

Note that German verbs have a special form with the pronoun ich. Otherwise the pronouns and verbs are grouped as they are in English: Er, es, sie occur with one verb form just as 'he, it and she' and wir, sie, Sie with another verb form just as 'we, they, you.'

 

Notice that the vowel in the STEM of geben appears as i in the er-form: er gibt. This is something like the English says or does versus say or do, except that in German the vowel-change is shown even more clearly in the writing system. There are several verbs in German that have this kind of irregular er-form, but unfortunately there is no simple way of determining which verbs they are. They are not very numerous however and we’ll point them out to you as we encounter them.

 

3. Two German verbs you have encountered show a very slight modification in the er-form. They are arbeiten and kosten.

 

er, es, sie

arbeitet

(connecting vowel -e- and ending -t)

 

After a -t- (or a -d-) a connecting vowel -e- occurs before the ending -t so that the ending is heard distinctly.

 

4. We have four verbs so far that exhibit the following pattern:

 

	'can' 'be able to'	'may' 'be allowed to'	'must' ‘have to'	'want to'
ich	kann	darf	muss	will	(no ending)
er
es
sie
wir	können	dürfen	müssen	wollen	(ending -en)
sie
Sie

 

There are three more verbs with the same pattern, making a total of seven in all. Notice that the English equivalents of the verbs listed above have no -s ending in the he form: He can. he may, he must and he will (in the sense of he insists.)

 

5· The following forms of haben "to have", sein "to be" and möchte(n) "would like to" complete the inventory:

 

ich	habe	bin	möchte
er, es, sie	hat	ist	möchte
wir, sie, Sie	haben	sind	möchten

 

The patterns of the first two of these verbs are unique and are found in no other German verbs. The forms möchte and möchten are special forms which we will deal with somewhat later.

 

6. Here is a table of verb forms:

 

	A	B	(7)	(1)	(1)	Special Form
Ich	komme	treffe	kann	habe	bin	möchte
er, es, sie	kommt	trifft		hat	ist
wir, sie, Sie	kommen	treffen	können	haben	sind	möchten

 

All verbs in German follow pattern A or pattern B except the nine indicated in the table and one more that is still to come.

 

 

II. Functions.

 

1. English uses a verb form with the ending -ing very freely: he's singing, we're waiting, it's raining. German has no corresponding form and uses the simple form of the verb for such expressions.

 

he gives	er gibt
he's giving
he does give
is he giving?	gibt er?
does he give?

 

2. For COMMANDS, German uses the verb form with the ending -en, followed by the pronoun Sie. The German form is like Biblical English: 'Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel …'

 

Bitte sprechen Sie langsam.	Please speak slowly.
zeigen Sie mir bitte Ihr Gepack.	Show me your luggage please.

 

3. Two verb forms can be used together in German or in English as a PHRASE. Although German doesn't have verb phrases like is going believe, it has others, as follows:

 

Ich möchte gern Wasser haben.	I’d like to have water.
Können Sie mich gut verstehen?	Can you understand me well?
Darf ich Ihren Pass sehen?	May I see your passport?
Sie müssen zum Zoll gehen.	You have to go to the customs office.

 

The second part of the German verb phrase comes at the end of the sentence, and is called the INFINITIVE. It is the form with the ending -en. But it never has a subject and is unaffected by any change of subject: Ich kann gehen. Wir können gehen. There is only one irregular infinitive in German: sein 'to be'; the infinitive of every other verb is the same as the wir-form.

 

III. List of verbs in lessons 1 and 2:

 

 

1. Pattern A

 

arbeite	besuche	bleibe	gehe
arbeitet	besucht	bleibt	geht
arbeiten	besuchen	bleiben	gehen
gehöre	glaube	heisse	kenne
gehört	glaubt	heisst	kennt
gehören	glauben	heissen	kennen
komme	(koste)	sage	verstehe	wohne	zeige
konunt	kostet	sagt	versteht	wohnt	zeigt
konunen	kosten	sagen	verstehen	wohnen	zeigen

 

 

 

Pattern B

 

esse	gebe	sehe	spreche	treffe	fahre	gefalle
isst	gibt	sieht	spricht	trifft	fährt	gefällt
essen	geben	sehen	sprechen	treffen	fahren	gefallen

 

D. Hin and her

 

Wo wohnen Sie?	Where do you live?
Wo kommen Sie her?	Where do you come from?
Wo gehen Sie hin?	Where are you going (to)?

 

1. Wo by itself means 'where?' in the sense of 'in what place?'. To give it the meaning 'where from?' the little word her is added: to give it the meaning 'where to?' the little word hin is added.

2. The position of hin and her is usually at the end of the sentence or question. They may occur alternately however at the beginning after wo. The writing system joins hin and her to the preceding question word or adverb. Woher? 'Where from?': Wohin? 'Where to?': dahin, dorthin 'to there'

 

Wo fahren Sie heute hin?	Where are you going today?
Wohin fahren Sie heute?
Wir fahren dorthin.	We are going (to) there.