German for Beginners - Lesson 4

Learn German - Lesson 4 - Grammar:

Im Konsulat

(photo by Snappy used under terms of Creative Commons license.)
American consulate in Munich

A. ein-Type Specifiers: ein, kein, mein, sein, ihr, Ihr, unser

I. Forms

1. With der-nouns
Hier ist mein Pass.	Here's my passport.
Ich habe meinen Tabak hier.	I have my tobacco here.
Ich fahre mit meinem Wagen.	I'm going in my car.

With das-nouns
Das ist mein Hotel.	That's my hotel.
Haben Sie mein Gepäck?	Do you nave my luggage?
Er wohnt in meinem Hotel.	He lives at my hotel.

With die-nouns
Meine Heimatstadt ist Berlin.	My horne town is Berlin.
Sie kennt meine Frau.	She knows my wife.
Sie kommen aus meiner Heimatstadt.	They come from my home town.

With plural nouns
Meine Eltern kommen aus New York.	My parents come from New York.
Ich habe meine Zigaretten hier.	I have my cigarettes here.
Er wohnt in der Nähe von meinen Eltern.	He lives near my parents.

2. By abstracting the underscored forms of the word mein from the German sentences above, we can set up the following table:

	Before der-nouns	Before das-nouns	Before die-nouns	Before plural nouns
NOMINATIVE forms	mein	mein	meine	meine
ACCUSATIVE forms	meinen	mein	meine	meine
DATIVE forms	meinem	meinem	meiner	meinen (-n)

3. The ein-type specifiers include the words ein 'a, an, one' and its negative converse kein 'not a, not an, not any, not one, no' as well as the possessive words mein 'my', sein 'his', ihr 'her,their', Ihr 'your' (the capital is a convention of the writing system), and unser 'our'.

Two other possessive words will be introduced in Unit 11.

Haben Sie einen Ausweis?	Do you have an identification card?
Gibt es hier in der Nähe ein Zigarrengeschäft!	Is there a cigar store near here?
Ihr Antrag wird dann gleich bearbeitet.	Your application will then be processed right away.
Unsere Adresse ist Schillerstrasse 4.	Our address is 4 Schiller Street.
Herr Allen stellt seinem Kollegen Bill Jones Herrn Meyer vor.	Kr. Allen introduces Kr. Meyer to his colleague Bill Jones.
Meine Frau hat ihren Pass noch nicht.	My wife doesn't have her passport yet.

4. Remember that ein occurs only in the singular, but all other ein-type specifiers have a complete set of forms.

	with der-nouns	with das-nouns	with die-nouns	with plural nouns
Nominative	ein	ein	eine
Accusative	einen	ein	eine
Dative	einem	einem	einer
Nominative	kein	kein	keine	keine
Accusative	keinen	kein	keine	keine
Dative	keinem	keinem	keiner	keinen (-n)
Nominative	sein	sein	seine	seine
Accusative	seinen	sein	seine	seine
Dative	seinem	seinem	seiner	seinen ( -n)
Nominative	ihr	ihr	ihre	ihre
Accusative	ihren	ihr	ihre	ihre
Dative	ihrem	ihrem	ihrer	ihren (-n)
Nominative	unser	unser	unsere	unsere
Accusative	unseren	unser	unsere	unsere
Dative	unserem	unserem	unserer	unseren (-n)

5. Compare the underlined forms in the following pairs of sentences:

Ich kenne diesen Mann.	I know this man.
Ich kenne ihren Mann.	I know her husband.

Wohnt er in diesem Hotel?	Does he live in this hotel?
Wohnt er in meinem Hotel?	Does he live in my hotel?

Welche Bank ist das?	Which bank is that?
Unsere Bank ist neben dem Konsulat.	Our bank is next to the consulate.

In Lessons 1 and 3 we mentioned the correspondence of final sounds in der-type specifiers and the various forms of the pronouns er, es and sie. In the above sentences we see the pattern continued with the ein-type specifiers. In most cases the similarity can be traced through both types of specifiers and the pronouns: keinen-diesen-ihn-den,

ihrem-welchem-ihm-dem, unsere-diese-welche, for instance.

6. Compare the underlined forms in the following sentences:

Dieser Autobus fährt nach Schwabing.	This bus goes to Schwabing.
Heute fährt kein Autobus nach Schwabing.	There's no bus going to Schwabing today.
Unser Autobus fährt nach Schwabing.	Our bus goes to Schwabing.

Das ist das Hotel.	That's the hotel.
Ist das Ihr Hotel?	Is that your hotel?
Nein, das ist mein Hotel.	No, that's my hotel.

Ich möchte heute das Visum beantragen.	I'd like to apply for the visa today.
Ich möchte heute mein Visum beantragen.	I'd like to apply for my visa today.
Möchte sie heute ihr Visum beantragen?	Would she like to apply for her visa today?

Note that there is no consistent similarity of final sounds in the underlined forms above. The patterns observed in paragraph 5 do not show up in dieser-kein-unser and das-mein-Ihr. There is then a form of the ein-type specifiers in which the final sound, or ending, found in the der-type specifiers and personal pronouns is lacking. This endingless form occurs as the Nominative form with der-nouns and as the Nominative and Accusative form with das-nouns. The pattern for ein-type specifiers can be summed up in the following pattern chart:

Pattern Chart 2

Nominative	-	-	E	E
Accusative	N	-	E	E
Dative	M	M	R	N (n)

II. Uses

We have already noted that the ein-type specifiers include ein and kein and the possessives.

1. ein means 'a, an' when unstressed. With slightly increased stress it means 'one'.

Er füllt ein Formulár aus.	He's filling out a form.
Füllen Sie nur eín Formular aus!	Just fill out one form.
Muss man eín oder zwéi Formulare ausfüllen?	Does one have to fill out one or two forms?

2. kein means 'not a, not an, not any, not one, no'. In English we have an option in many negative statements:

I don't have an identification card.	Negation of verb
I haven't any identification card.	Negation of verb
I have no identification card.	Negation of noun

In German there is no equivalent option. In such statements the noun is always negated.

Ich habe keinen Ausweis.	I haven't any identification card.
Er ist kein Deutscher.	He isn't German. He’s no German.
Haben Sie kein Visum?	Don't you have a visa? Have you no visa?
Wir kennen hier keine Amerikaner.	We don't know any Americans here. We know no Americans here.

3. Any of the ein-type specifiers - like the der-type specifiers (noted in Lesson 3) - can also occur without a following noun, and here they have the meanings 'one, not one, not any, mine, his, hers, theirs, yours, ours' .

Ich habe Zigarren.	I have some cigars.
Darf ich Ihnen eine anbieten?	May I offer you one?
Haben Sie Ihren Wagen hier?	Do you have your car here?
Nein, haben Sie Ihren auch nicht hier?	No, don't you have yours here either?

III. Special ein-type specifier forms

1. MOST ein-type specifiers have the same form when their noun is understood as they do when it is present, as can be seen in the sentences above. Note the following examples, however:

Gibt es hier in der Nähe ein Zigarrengeschäft?	Is there a cigar store near here?
Hier nebenan ist eins.	There’s one next door here.
Ist das Ihr Stadtplan oder meiner?	Is that your map of the city or mine?
Das ist Ihrer.	That’s yours.

The endingless ein-type specifier forms add an ending when they stand alone: Ihr Stadtplan - Ihrer; ein Zigarrengeschäft - eins. You will note that the endings added are those of the corresponding der-type specifier forms, except that the ending -s is added directly to the stem of the monosyllabic ein-type specifiers: kein-s, for instance, as compared with unser-es, dies-es and welch-es.

2. These special ein-type specifier forms occur only with der- and das-nouns and can be listed as follows:

With der-nouns	einer	keiner	meiner	seiner	ihrer	Ihrer	unserer
With das-nouns	eins	keins	meins	seins	ihrs	Ihrs	unseres

B. verb Phrases and Word Order

I. We have already spoken about verb phrases which are composed of a FINITE verb form and an INFINITIVE form. They have also occurred in this unit:

Herr Köhler will ein Besuchsvisum nach Amerika beantragen.

Mr. Köhler wants to apply for a visitor's visa for America.

Now look at the following examples:

Herr Allen stellt die Herren vor.	Mr. Allen introduces the gentlemen to each other.
Füllen Sie bitte dieses Formular aus.	Please fill out this form.
Ich muss Geld abheben.	I have to get some money.
Herr Köhler hebt gerade Geld von der Bank ab.	Mr. Köhler is just getting some money from the bank.

In these sentences another kind of verb phrase occurs of a FINITE verb (stellt, füllen, hebt) and an ACCENTED ADVERB (vor, aus, ab). In one of the above sentences we have a three-part verb phrase consisting of a FINITE verb (muss), ACCENTED ADVERB (ab-), and INFINITIVE (-heben). Notice that in the writing system, the accented adverb and the Infinitive are written as one unit (abheben).

II. You will have seen that in the above sentences, as in earlier examples, the second part of the verb phrase comes at the end of the sentence. We can now summarize our observations about word order in verb phrases up to this point in the following patterns:

1. FINITE VERB ... INFINITIVE	(will … beantragen)
2. FINITE VERB ... ACCENTED ADVERB	(stellt ... vor)
3. FINITE VERB ... ACCENTED ADVERB plus INFINITIVE	(muss ... abheben)

The words gern, lieber, am liebsten

I. We have encountered the ward gern several times now. It occurs by itself, with an inflected verb form, and as apart of the verb phrase with möchte (n). Let us examine these occurrences more closely.

1. By itself gern signifies polite and willing acquiescence in a suggestion, command or question.

Wollen Sie nicht mitkommen?	Don't you want to come along?
Sehr gern.	I’d be very glad to.
Können Sie mir seine Adresse geben? Gerne.	Can you give me his address? Gladly.
Wollen wir heute zusammen in die Stadt fahren? Gerne.	Shall we go down town today? Glad to.
Können wir diesen Stadtplan behalten? Aber gerne.	Can we keep this map of the city? Yes, indeed.

Note that in these examples the alternate form gerne frequently occurs, varying freely with gern.

2. With an inflected verb form gern signifies pleasure in or enjoyment of the action or state expressed.

Ich bin sehr gern hier.	I' m very glad to be here.
Wein trinke ich nicht gern.	I don't like to drink wine.
Da komme ich gern.	I'd be glad to come then.
Gehen Sie gern ins Kino?	Do you enjoy going to the movies?
Er trinkt gern Bier.	He likes (to drink) beer.

As well as expressing acquiescence in a specific suggestion, command or question this is the usual way to say you like doing something in German, describing general attitudes or habits.

3. The verb phrase with möchte (n) expresses a polite request or question. The word gern may or may not occur with it.

Ich möchte gern Zigarren haben.	I’d like to have some cigars.
Was möchten Sie essen?	What would you like to eat?
Vorher möchte ich noch zur Bank gehen.	First I’d like to go to the bank.
Ich möchte ein Visum haben.	I want to get a visa.
Möchten Sie gern ins Kino gehen?	Would you like to go to the movies?

Note that this is everywhere equivalent to the English courtesy formula "would like", and the request expressed is limited and specific.

II. The words lieber and am liebsten do not occur alone but only with an inflected verb form or as part of the verb phrase with möchte (n).

1. With an inflected verb form lieber and am liebsten express preference or increasing degrees of pleasure or enjoyment.

Ich trinke lieber Würzburger als Pilsner.	I like Würzburger better than Pilsner.
Am liebsten trinke ich ja Löwenbräu.	I like Löwenbräu best of course.
Er raucht lieber Zigarren als Pfeife.	He likes cigars better than a pipe.
Ich gehe am liebsten ins Theater.	I enjoy going to the theater best of all.

2. As part of the verb phrase with möchte (n) the words lieber and am liebsten express preference or intensification in a specific request or question.

Ich möchte lieber Zigarren haben.	I’d rather have some cigars.
Was möchten Sie am liebsten essen?	What would you most like to eat?
Möchten Sie lieber Wein oder Bier trinken?	Would you rather have wine or beer to drink?
Er möchte am liebsten nach Deutschland fahren.	He'd like nothing better than to go to Germany.

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Learn German - Lesson 4 - Grammar:

Im Konsulat

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