Der, die, das: German articles and noun gender for beginners
Learn German nouns with their articles, spot the endings that help, and see why the plural takes die and der can become den.
Read and practiseAdventure journal
German grammar
Understand cases, articles, verb forms and sentence structure. Compare examples and apply one rule at a time.
Adventure journal
Grammar
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German word order explained: verb second, questions and weil
See where the German verb goes in statements, questions, modal and past-tense frames and weil clauses, with sentences you can adapt.
Read and practiseGerman accusative case: den, einen and direct objects
Learn when German uses the accusative, see which articles change, and practise choosing den, einen and unchanged feminine or neuter forms.
Read and practiseGerman dative case: dem, der and plural endings
Understand German dative articles, common dative verbs and mit phrases, then practise the extra noun ending in plural forms such as den Kindern.
Read and practiseAccusative or dative? Compare German sentence patterns
Compare German accusative and dative through sehen, helfen and geben. Identify the recipient and the object, then check three explained answers.
Read and practiseNicht or kein? German negation with examples
Choose between nicht and kein in German. Compare nouns, adjectives and contrasting phrases, then practise negative statements with explained answers.
Read and practiseGerman personal pronouns: ich, mich, mir and more
See German personal pronouns in nominative, accusative and dative. Match pronouns to their sentence roles and practise three common choices.
Read and practiseGerman possessives: mein, dein, sein and ihr
Learn how German possessive determiners change with the noun they accompany. Practise meine Tasche, deinen Bruder and polite Ihr with explanations.
Read and practiseGerman modal verbs: meaning, forms and word order
Practise können, müssen, dürfen, wollen and sollen with German examples. Learn where the infinitive goes and how common singular forms change.
Read and practiseGerman separable verbs: prefixes and sentence order
Learn how aufstehen, einkaufen, anrufen and anfangen split in main clauses, and what happens when a modal verb keeps the infinitive together.
Read and practiseGerman Perfekt: haben, sein and past participles
Build German Perfekt sentences with haben or sein and a past participle. Compare regular, irregular and separable verbs with explained exercises.
Read and practiseGerman two-way prepositions: location or destination?
Compare German location and destination with auf, in and an. See why movement can still use dative, then practise choosing dem or den.
Read and practiseGerman adjective endings: a practical starting point
Compare der kleine Hund, ein kleiner Hund and frisches Brot. Start German adjective endings with clear nominative and accusative examples and practice.
Read and practiseWeil, dass and wenn: German subordinate clauses
Use weil for reasons, dass for reported content and wenn for conditions or repeated situations. Practise final verbs and main-clause word order.
Read and practiseGerman n-declension: der Student, den Studenten
Learn weak noun endings in four cases, compare Student with Lehrer, and practise Herrn versus Herren.
Read and practiseGerman adjectives as nouns: ein Bekannter, etwas Neues
Choose capitals and adjective endings for people and things: ein Bekannter, einem Verletzten and etwas Neues.
Read and practiseGerman participles as adjectives: wartend and repariert
Build participle adjectives, choose active or completed meaning, and turn a long modifier into a relative clause.
Read and practiseGerman relative clauses with prepositions: mit der, für den
Combine prepositions and relative pronouns correctly, including dative plural denen and location versus destination.
Read and practiseGerman Konjunktiv I for reported speech
Report present and past statements using sei and habe, adjust pronouns and avoid treating every report as doubt.
Read and practiseGerman passive with modal verbs: muss geprüft werden
Express requirements, permission and prohibition in the passive, with present, past and subordinate-clause word order.
Read and practiseGerman state passive: ist geschlossen or wird geschlossen?
Describe finished results with sein, compare them with actions using werden and distinguish active perfect forms.
Read and practiseGerman passive alternatives: man, sich lassen and -bar
Choose man, sich lassen, established -bar adjectives or sein + zu while preserving possibility and obligation.
Read and practiseGerman double infinitive: hat arbeiten müssen
Form past modal constructions with haben and two infinitives, including the special word order in weil-clauses.
Read and practiseGerman paired conjunctions: entweder, sowohl and weder
Choose between alternatives, include both options or reject both. Practise four German connector pairs with parallel phrases and word order.
Read and practiseJe ... desto: the more, the better in German
Link two changing quantities with je ... desto or umso. Build both clauses, choose comparative forms and explain opposite-direction changes.
Read and practiseNominalisation and verbalisation in German
Turn German clauses into noun phrases and back. Practise cause, time and purpose while preserving who acts, the sequence of events and the right case.
Read and practiseGerman nominative case: identify the subject
The nominative marks the subject, including plural subjects, rather than every noun before a verb.
Read and practiseGerman genitive case: ownership and noun relationships
The genitive links one noun to another, as in the roof of a house or the end of a journey.
Read and practiseGerman articles: choosing der, die, das or ein
Use an indefinite article to introduce one unspecified thing, then a definite article when the listener can identify it.
Read and practiseGerman plurals: endings and umlauts
German nouns form their plurals in several ways, so learn each noun with its article and plural.
Read and practiseGerman capitalization: nouns and nominalized words
German capitalizes nouns in every position, not just at the beginning of a sentence.
Read and practiseGerman present tense: endings and everyday uses
The present tense describes current situations, habits and often future events when a time expression makes the timing clear.
Read and practiseGerman present-tense verbs with stem changes
Some frequent verbs change their stem vowel in the du and er, sie, es forms of the present tense.
Read and practiseGerman Präteritum: simple past forms
The simple past is common in written narratives; sein, haben and modal verbs also often use it in everyday conversation.
Read and practiseGerman past tenses: Perfekt or Präteritum?
Both tenses can report completed past events; the choice often depends on register, region and the particular verb.
Read and practiseGerman Plusquamperfekt: an earlier past event
Use the past perfect to make clear that something had already happened before another past event.
Read and practiseGerman future tense: werden plus infinitive
Futur I can express future plans, predictions or assumptions; it is not compulsory whenever an event is in the future.
Read and practiseGerman reflexive verbs and their pronouns
A reflexive pronoun refers back to the subject, and some German verbs normally require one in a particular meaning.
Read and practiseGerman reflexive pronouns: mich or mir?
A reflexive pronoun can be accusative or dative, depending on the verb's structure and other objects.
Read and practiseGerman commands: imperatives for du, ihr and Sie
Use the imperative for direct requests and instructions, choosing the form that matches the person addressed.
Read and practiseGerman infinitives with zu: sentence patterns
Many verbs and expressions introduce an infinitive phrase with zu, often describing an intended or attempted action.
Read and practiseGerman purpose clauses: um zu or damit?
Both patterns explain purpose, but they build different kinds of clauses.
Read and practiseGerman relative clauses: choose the pronoun's case
A relative clause adds information about a noun and places its conjugated verb at the end.
Read and practiseGerman indirect questions with ob and question words
An indirect question embeds a question inside another sentence, often to ask more politely or report uncertainty.
Read and practiseAls or wenn in German: once, repeatedly or conditionally
Als introduces a single past event or period; wenn introduces repeated events or a condition.
Read and practiseObwohl and trotzdem: contrasting ideas in German
Both words connect a circumstance with an outcome that goes against the normal expectation.
Read and practiseDeshalb and deswegen: explaining results in German
Deshalb and deswegen point back to a reason and introduce its consequence.
Read and practiseBevor and nachdem: ordering events in German
Bevor places the main-clause event before another event; nachdem places it after the subordinate-clause event.
Read and practiseSeit and seitdem in German: from then until now
Seit can introduce a starting point or duration, and seit or seitdem can introduce a clause describing when an ongoing situation began.
Read and practiseGerman passive voice: processes, states and past forms
The process passive makes the action's recipient the subject, while the agent may be omitted or added with von.
Read and practisePolite German requests with Konjunktiv II
Könnte, hätte, wäre and würde can make a request or wish less direct. Compare the examples and check the explained answers.
Read and practiseGerman unreal conditionals: present and past
Konjunktiv II describes imagined situations and their consequences, including things that did not happen.
Read and practiseGerman comparisons: comparatives and superlatives
Use the comparative to show a difference and so ... wie to describe equality.
Read and practiseGerman adjective endings without an article
When there is no article, adjective endings often carry the gender and case information that an article would otherwise show.
Read and practiseGerman prepositions that require the accusative
Für, durch, ohne, gegen and um require accusative regardless of whether the sentence describes motion.
Read and practiseGerman prepositions that require the dative
Aus, bei, mit, nach, seit, von and zu consistently introduce dative noun phrases.
Read and practiseGerman time prepositions: am, um, im, seit, vor and in
Different time expressions use different prepositions, so learn clock times, days, seasons and durations as separate patterns.
Read and practiseGerman place prepositions: location and destination
Prepositions describe spatial relationships, but the case after a two-way preposition depends on the intended relationship.
Read and practiseGerman destinations: choosing nach, zu or in
The destination's type and the intended activity help choose between nach, zu and in.
Read and practiseGerman da- and wo-compounds: darauf, worauf and more
Da and wo compounds refer to things or situations while preserving the preposition required by the verb.
Read and practiseEs gibt in German: describe what is available
Es gibt introduces the existence or availability of something and takes an accusative object.
Read and practiseMan in German: general statements about people
Man refers to people in general or an unspecified person, while its verb is always third-person singular.
Read and practiseGerman doch: contradicting negatives and shaping tone
As a response, doch contradicts a negative question or statement; as a particle, it adds a contextual attitude.
Read and practiseGerman conversation particles: ja, mal and denn
These small words can signal shared knowledge, soften a request or make a question sound interested or surprised.
Read and practiseGerman nicht: word order and what you negate
Nicht can negate the whole statement or one specific element, and its position helps distinguish the intended contrast.
Read and practiseGerman word order: time, cause, manner and place
A neutral sequence often puts time before cause, manner and place, but German allows changes to emphasize information.
Read and practiseGerman conjunctions: und, aber, oder, denn and sondern
These conjunctions connect words or main clauses without making the second clause verb-final.
Read and practiseGerman question words: who, where, when and why
German question words specify the information needed; some change with grammatical case.
Read and practiseGerman yes-no questions: put the verb first
A yes-no question normally starts with the conjugated verb, followed by the subject.
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