Archive German grammar

Describing people’s appearance in German (Personenbeschreibung)

May 3, 2024July 23, 2023 by tromari

Describing people’s appearance in German is difficult types of essay. You should, firstly, know the appropriate words, and secondly, correlate these words with the appearance of a person. At best, people are able to name eye color, hair color, hair length, and eye/mouth size. It is no less difficult in this type of essay to preserve a variety of sentence structures. It is clear that without training it will be a continuous “he has …”

The first part is about the basic principles of describing people’s appearance in German. An example of possible assessment by the teacher and adjectives for different parts of the head are given.

Separable verbs in German

May 3, 2024May 30, 2023 by tromari

Separable verbs in German are not so difficult, but they require constant attention, even for those who already speak German well and this makes the rule difficult. In addition to the basic rule, let’s also consider how (in)separable verbs combinations with noun, pronoun, adjective are written (Rad fahren, kennenlernen, leidtun, wieder sehen / wiedersehen, etc.).

SS or ß in German

May 15, 2024February 13, 2023 by tromari

The rule ss or ß in German changed a lot during the 1996-2006 reform. ß used to be written much more often. And now in poorly checked digital dictionaries and other places you can sometimes find old spellings or both spellings. The Germans themselves often confuse which letter to write.

Negation in German

June 19, 2024December 4, 2022 by tromari

What is the difference between kein and nicht? Are nicht and nein the same thing? And how else can negation be expressed in German? Let’s talk about negation in German.

Over the years, my answer “nein” has often been followed up with a nicht? , so I already managed to completely get confused when what is used. Let’s start by answer on the questions.

Basic German. 4. Time and prepositions of time in German

March 27, 2023July 27, 2022 by tromari

The prepositions of time in German, like the prepositions of place discussed in the previous part, are that mandatory base without which it is difficult to start speaking.

Basic German with tables. 3. Local prepositions
Conjunctions in sentences. Different word order
Basic German with tables. 2. Noun and articles
Betrag or Beitrag, vertragen or ertragen and other members of tragen family
German picture description phrases and sequence

Basic German. 3. Local prepositions in German

January 5, 2023July 15, 2021 by tromari

Usually this topic about local prepositions in German is very reduced for beginners, but I give a more complete version so that everything is in one place.

Basic German grammar tables and translation exercises in Anki. 1
Basic German with tables. 2. Noun and articles
Basic German. 4. Time and prepositions of time in German
German picture description phrases and sequence
German test b1 Deutschtest für Zuwanderer. Writing examples
Difference between verschieden, unterschiedlich, anders

Conjunctions and connector adverbs – 2. Different word order in German

October 10, 2023June 6, 2021 by tromari

We continue the topic of different word order in German in complex sentences and similar constructions. In the first part, we talked about the construction itself and the meanings of connection, opposition, and concessions.

Conjunctions in sentences. Word order in German

October 10, 2023May 18, 2021 by tromari

For me, when I was at the A2 level, it was a big mystery why, when we join the second parts of sentences with the same explanatory meaning, but different conjunctions (denn, weil, deshalb), the word order changes all the time. On the courses the teachers could not clearly explain this to me – you just have to remember. And I hate “just remember”, I prefer to understand. Therefore, we are looking for the answer ourselves.

It will be about conjunctions and connector adverbs, and for the sake of completeness, we will also take prepositions.

Basic German with tables. 2. Articles in German

October 9, 2023April 14, 2021 by tromari

Nouns are used with articles in German: definite (der, die, das) or indefinite (ein, eine, ein) in the certain form. Articles are declined by gender, grammatical number (definite only), and case.

Basic German grammar tables and translation exercises in Anki. 1

October 9, 2023March 4, 2021 by tromari

Basic German – let’s go from the necessary to the more complex.

The very beginning, without which one cannot speak, – personal pronouns and present tense verb forms.

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