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Basic German Grammar Topics
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German-Gender of Nouns4 Topics
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German-Nominative4 Topics
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German-Numbers4 Topics
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German-Adjectives4 Topics
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German-Personal Pronouns & the Verb sein4 Topics
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German-Regular Verbs in the Present Tense4 Topics
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German-Plural Formation4 Topics
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German-Haben and the Accusative Case4 Topics
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German-Word Order4 Topics
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German-Definite Articles4 Topics
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German-Indefinite Articles4 Topics
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German-Negation5 Topics
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German-Modal Verbs4 Topics
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German-Separable Prefix Verbs4 Topics
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German-Coordinating Conjunctions4 Topics
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German-Konjunktiv I4 Topics
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German-Possessive Pronouns4 Topics
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German Question Words4 Topics
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German-Present Perfect of Regular Verbs4 Topics
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German-Present Perfect of Irregular Verbs4 Topics
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German-Present Perfect of Mixed Verbs4 Topics
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German-Dative Case5 Topics
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German-Two Way Prepositions4 Topics
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German-Dative Prepositions4 Topics
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German-Conditionals4 Topics
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German-Future Tense4 Topics
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German-Dative Verbs4 Topics
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German-Simple Past Tense4 Topics
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German-Imperative4 Topics
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German-Comparative4 Topics
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German-Temporal Prepositions4 Topics
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German-Present Perfect Separable Prefix Verbs4 Topics
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German-Irregular Verbs4 Topics
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German-Present Perfect Inseparable Prefix Verbs4 Topics
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German Regular verbs are verbs that exhibit no changes in their stem in the present or past tenses. Most regular verbs are action words. For example, in both English and German, “to play” (“spielen”) is regular because the form of the stem remains the same.
- In a normal statement or sentence the verb is always in the second position.
- The subject can be moved from the first to third position, with an adverb or other element being placed first (inverted word order), but the verb stays in second position.
- most verbs (but not all verbs) end in “-en” in the infinitive. This is the equivalent of the English “to”. Examples: spielen – to play, singen – to sing
- To conjugate, we remove the infinitive ending “-en”, and add the following endings based on the subject pronoun:
There are some differences in how verbs are conjugated based on the spelling of their stems:
- All regular verbs that end in a “z,” “s,” “ss,” or “ß” add only “t” to the “du” conjugation (“tanzen” becomes “du tanzt” (drop the “s”) and not “du tanzst”)
- Verbs whose stems end in ‘d’ or ‘t’ require an ‘e’ inserted before “t” or “st” endings (e.g. du findest, er arbeitet, ihr bietet)
- Verbs that end in “eln” or “ern” (e.g. segeln, wandern), can delete the “e” before the “l” or “r,” but it is acceptable either way (i.e. ich segele or ich segle)
- verbs ending in “-ieren” (e.g. diskutieren, telefonieren) are regular verbs, and have no stem vowel changes or other irregularities in the present tense.
Examples:
machen – to make/do
ich mach + “-e” = ich mache I do/make
du mach + “-st” = du machst you do/make
er/sie/es mach + “-t” = er/sie/es macht he/she/it does/makes
wir mach + “-en” = wir machen we do/make
ihr mach + “-t” = ihr macht you do/make
sie/Sie mach + ‘-en” = sie/Sie machen they/you-formal do/make