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---LESSON 2-Cases, Articles and Demonstratives---


The Cases:

Nominative: Subject of the sentence; The woman is reading.
Accusative: Direct objects; She sees the man.
Dative: Indirect objects; She gives it to the man.
Genitive: indicates possession or relationship; The book of the woman.

Definite Articles (the):

____________Masc.______Fem.______Neut.______Plural
Nominative:__der________die_______das________die
Accusative:__den________die_______das________die
Dative:_____dem________der_______dem_______den
Genitive:____des________der_______des________der

Indefinite Articles (a, an):

____________Masc.______Fem.______Neut.
Nominative:___ein________eine_______ein
Accusative:___einen______eine_______ein
Dative:______einem______einer______einem
Genitive:_____eines______einer______eines

Demonstrative (this)

____________Masc.________Fem.________Neut.________Plural
Nominative:__dieser________diese_______dieses________diese
Accusative:__diesen________diese_______dieses________diese
Dative:_____diesem________dieser_______diesem_______diesen
Genitive:____dieses________dieser_______dieses________dieser

Note: The demonstrative for "that" is an older word, jener, which is no longer used in German today. To say "that," simply use the definite articles "the." But if you wanna confuse small German children or perhaps just make people look at you funny, the forms for jener are:

Demonstrative (that {outdated})

____________Masc.________Fem.________Neut.________Plural
Nominative:__jener________jene_________jenes________jene
Accusative:__jenen________jene_________jenes________jene
Dative:_____jenem________jener________jenem_______jenen
Genitive:____jenes________jener________jenes________jener


Now, I had a hard time with all of this because the site that I learned it from had a lack of examples. If you don't understand by now, continue on to these examples below. If you understand, skip these examples if you want. (The below examples will be used with a masculine subject, the man, for the masculine is where there are most changes.)

Definite articles as used with each case:

Nominative: Der Mann geht. The (that) man goes.
Accusative: Die Frau hört den Mann. The woman hears the (that) man.
Dative: Sie gibt dem Mann ein Buch. She gives to the (that) man a book.
*Genitive: Es ist das Buch des Mannes. It is the book of the (that) man./It is the (that) man's book.

*In the genetive form, the noun performing the ownership will add an -es (or sometimes just -s) IF that noun is masculine or neuter. The feminine noun adds no -es/-s.

The indefinite articles and demonstratives are used in the same exact manner as above.

Nominative: Dieser Mann geht. This man goes.
Accusative: Die Frau hört diesen Mann. The woman hears this man.
Dative: Sie gibt diesem Mann ein Buch. She gives to this man a book.
Genitive: Es ist das Buch dieses Mannes. It is the book of this man./It is this man's book.

Nominative: Ein Mann geht. A man goes.
Accusative: Die Frau hört einen Mann. The woman hears a man.
Dative: Sie gibt einem Mann ein Buch. She gives to a man a book.
*Genitive: Es ist das Buch eines Mannes. It is the book of a man./It is a man's book.

That's what most online sites taught me first. confused

The sentence structures being used are so English-like, that an English learner of the German language would have to be a nitwit not to see which German verbs correspond with their English equivalents...

---LESSON 3-Conjugations of Basic Verbs---
(this is where verbix.com is a lifesaver)

[Bear with me, folks, 'cause this section is going to be ginormous.]

To conjugate a normal verb, take off the -en (wich nearly all normal verbs end in) and add the appropriate endings:

ich ("I") - e
du (informal "you") - st
er, sie, es ("he," "she," "it") - t
wir ("we") - en
ihr (plural "you") - t
sie, Sie ("they," formal "you") - en

EX:

kaufen - to buy

ich kaufe __________ I buy
du kaufst __________ you (informal) buy
er, sie, es kauft _____ he, she, it buys
wir kaufen _________ we buy
ihr kauft ___________ you buy (plural)
sie, Sie kaufen ______ they, you (formal) buy

*Note that the wir and sie/Sie forms almost always stay in the infinitive form.

List of normal verbs:

kaufen-to buy
arbeiten-to work
besuchen-to visit
passieren-to happen
sitzen-to sit
helfen-to help
bleiben-to remain, stay
verdienen-to earn (money)
stehen-to stand
lernen-to learn
brauchen-to need
verstehen-to understand
sagen-to say
rufen-to call
fliegen-to fly
gewinnen-to win
liegen-to lay
lehren-to teach
suchen-to look for
verlieren-to lose
gehen-to go
stecken-to put
schreiben-to write
benutzen-to use
fragen-to ask
finden-to find
laufen-to run
erlauben-to permit
machen-to make
denken-to think
lieben-to love
rennen-to run
kommen-to come
glauben-to believe, think
dauern-to last
schlafen-to sleep
schwimmen-to swim
wünschen-to wish, desire
antworten-to answer
treffen-to meet
tanzen-to dance
essen-to eat
bezahlen-to pay for
ziehen-to move
beginnen-to begin
trinken-to drink
entdecken-to discover
sehen-to see
reisen-to travel
singen-to sing
erfinden-to invent
vergessen-to forget
studieren-to study
fischen-to fish
ergänzen-to complete
waschen-to wash
rauchen-to smoke
sparen-to save (money)
warten-to wait
kennen-to know (people or places)
erzählen-to tell
trennen-to separate
wischen-to wipe
bekommen-to get
versprechen-to promise
winken-to wave

Irregularities in Regular Verbs

Most changes made to the verbs will occur in the du and er/sie/es forms.

Some verbs need to add an umlaut to the 2nd and 3rd person forms:

fahren - to travel

ich fahre
du fährst
er fährt
wir fahren
ihr fahrt
sie/Sie fahren

(other verbs that make this change: fallen-to fall, schlafen-to sleep, tragen-to carry, waschen-to wash, laufen-to run)

Some verbs change the stem's core vowel:

sehen - to see (i-ie)

ich sehe
du siehst
er sieht
wir sehen
ihr seht
sie/Sie sehen

(other verbs that make this change: lesen- to read, befehlen-to command, empfehlen-to recommend, geschehen-to happen, stehlen-to steal)

geben - to give (e-i)

ich gebe
du gibst
er gibt
wir geben
ihr gebt
sie/Sie geben

(other verbs that make this change: brechen-to break, essen-to eat, helfen-to help, sprechen-to speak, sterben-to die, treffen-to meet, werfen-to throw)

*The verb nehmen has a further irregularity: along with the e-i vowel shift, it exchanges the h for an extra m:

nehmen - to take

ich nehme
du nimmst
er nimmt
wir nehmen
ihr nehmt
sie/Sie nehmen

Verbs whose stems end in a -d or a -t add an -e before 3 endings:

reden - to speak

ich rede
du redest
er redet
wir reden
ihr redet
sie/Sie reden

arbeiten - to work

ich arbeite
du arbeitest
er arbeitet
wir arbeiten
ihr arbeitet
sie/Sie arbeiten

Verbs whose stems end in an -s or a -z merely add a -t for the du form (instead of -st, making it the same as the er form):

lesen - to read

ich lese
du liest
er liest
wir lesen
ihr lest
sie/Sie lesen

sitzen - to sit

ich sitze
du sitzt
er sitzt
wir sitzen
ihr sitzt
sie/Sie sitzen

Verbs whose stems end in -ss or -ß, the du, er and ihr forms all add ßt:

mussen - must

ich musse
du mußt
er mußt
wir mussen
ihr mußt
sie/Sie mussen

heißen - to be addressed as, be called

ich heiße
du heißt
er heißt
wir heißen
ihr heißt
sie/Sie heißen

Verbs whose infinitives end in -rn or -ln are conjugated normally by removing the -n to make the stem... if desired, the extra e in the stem can be dropped from the ich form:

feuern - to fire

ich feuere/feure
du feuerst
er feuert
wir feuern
ihr feuert
sie/Sie feuern

segeln - to sail

ich segele/segle
du segelst
er segelt
wir segeln
ihr segelt
sie/Sie segeln

The verb tun works much the same way:

tun - to do

ich tue
du tust
er tut
wir tun
ihr tut
sie/Sie tun

Reflexive Verbs

A reflexive verb generally refers to what one does to his or her self (i.e., to dress oneself). Though not all reflexive verbs mean as such, they are formed in the same manner.

The personal pronouns used for reflexive verbs in the accusative case are:

ich - mich (myself)
du - dich (yourself)
er/sie/es - sich (him/her/itself)
wir - uns (ourselves)
ihr - euch (yourselves)
sie/Sie - sich (themselves/yourself)

sich rasieren - to shave (oneself)

ich rasiere mich _______ I shave (myself)
du rasierst dich ________ you shave (yourself)
er rasiert sich _________ he shaves (himself)
wir rasieren uns _______ we shave (ourselves)
ihr rasiert euch ________ you shave (yourselves)
sie/Sie rasieren sich ____ they/you shave (themselves/yourself)

Not too difficult once you get the hang of it. But the hard part is telling apart reflexive verbs being used in the accusative case (as above) and the dative case. The dative is generally used when the clause has another object besides the pronoun.

Personal pronouns for reflexive verbs in the dative case:

ich - mir (to myself)
du - dir (to yourself)
er/sie/es - sich (to him/her/itself)
wir - uns (to ourselves)
ihr - euch (to yourselves)
sie/Sie - sich (to themselves/yourself)

*You'll notice all but the ich and du forms are the same as their accusative counterparts.

ausziehen den Mantel - to take one's coat off

ich ziehe mir meinen Mantel aus _______________ I take my coat off
du ziehst dir deinen Mantel aus ________________ you take your coat off
er zieht sich seinen Mantel aus ________________ he takes his coat off
wir ziehen uns unsere Mantel aus _____________ we take our coats off
ihr zieht euch ihre Mantel aus ________________ you take your coats off
sie (Sie) ziehen sich ihre/Ihren Mantel aus _____ they (you) take their (your) coats (coat) off

Um... hearing examples? neutral I found them. What's so funny about 'em?

The genitive case is so useful, though. o.o

... they are only four cases, not fourteen.

it would probably be a good idea to introduce the concept of seperable verb preffixes, 'cause they can get really weird.

for example:

ausgehen

when used in a sentence:

wir gehen ins kino aus.