The Secret of the German Language

1. The Secret of the German Language • Lesson 1: • You will take notes on your Preliminary notes page. • This is better than Jedi training. • This is better than CIA training. • This is better than CSI training. • This sure beats your ABC’s!

2. The Secret of the German Language • I should charge large amounts of money to let you in on this great secret . . . • But because I love you so much, I’m going to let you in on the secret FOR FREE! • Okay. Okay. Here it is. • This is the secret. • Can you handle it? • Okay. Next slide. Got it.

3. The Secret of the German Language • Copy the following slide into your preliminary notes. • Take up about half of the page. We are going to insert notes between the letters.

5. The Secret of the German Language • Got it? That’s pretty intense, right? • Okay, so what does that chart mean? • That info is going to cost a lot of money. • Just kidding. • The chart shows the last letters of certain articles and how they are placed in German sentences. • For now, add the following information:

6. masculine feminine neuter plural Nominative (Subject) Accusative (Direct Object) Dative (Indirect Object) Genitive (Possessive)

7. masculine feminine neuter plural Nominative (Subject) So the idea is that the letters are the final letters of certain articles. The main ones you know are der, die, das, die. See the correspondence?

8. masculine feminine neuter plural Nominative (Subject) So for example, if you write a sentence with a masculine subject, your article will end in R. Example: Der Mann ist hier.

9. masculine feminine neuter plural Nominative (Subject) Similarly if you write a sentence with a feminine subject, the article will end with an E. Example: Die Frau ist hier.

10. masculine feminine neuter plural Nominative (Subject) The word Kind is neuter. Therefore you would write a sentence like this: Das Kind ist hier.

11. masculine feminine neuter plural Nominative (Subject) If you pluralize Kind to Kinder, the sentence looks like this: Die Kinder sind hier.

12. masculine feminine neuter plural Nominative (Subject) So far it’s pretty easy. If you know what gender a noun is and how it is used in a sentence (and we will continue to work with these issues), the secret of the German language shows you which endings to put on which articles.

13. masculine feminine neuter plural Nominative (Subject) Technically it is incorrect grammar to mix up these endings, even though I haven’t marked off for these mistakes before. Therefore this is incorrect: Das Mann ist hier.

14. masculine feminine neuter plural Nominative (Subject) Now try a couple of samples: D__ Lehrerin ist schön.

15. masculine feminine neuter plural Nominative (Subject) Did you get this? Die Lehrerin ist schön.

16. masculine feminine neuter plural Nominative (Subject) Try this: D__ Hund ist groß.

17. masculine feminine neuter plural Nominative (Subject) Did you get this? Der Hund ist groß.

18. masculine feminine neuter plural Nominative (Subject) How about this? D__ Huhn ist dick.

19. masculine feminine neuter plural Nominative (Subject) Did you get this? Das Huhn ist dick.

20. masculine feminine neuter plural Nominative (Subject) Here’s a tricky one: D__ Tische sind braun.

21. masculine feminine neuter plural Nominative (Subject) Did you see that it was plural? The sind is another hint of plurality. Die Tische sind braun.

22. masculine feminine neuter plural Nominative (Subject) Here’s a real trick question: D__ Mädchen ist hübsch.

23. masculine feminine neuter plural Nominative (Subject) Believe it or not, it’s not an –e. It’s not feminine! Das Mädchen ist hübsch. What? Not feminine? Dude, that’s just messed up.

24. masculine feminine neuter plural Nominative (Subject) No, it’s not messed up. It’s just how the language works. Unfortunately knowing the gender of words is primarily a matter of memorization. But fear not, there are a few tricks.

25. masculine feminine neuter plural Nominative (Subject) Here’s the first: Anything that ends in –chen or –lein is automatically neuter. Anything that ends in –in is automatically feminine. And if it ends in –e, it’s probably die (often feminine, but not always)

26. masculine feminine neuter plural Nominative (Subject) So try this: D__ Tischlein ist klein.

27. masculine feminine neuter plural Nominative (Subject) Did you get: Das Tischleinistklein.

28. masculine feminine neuter plural Nominative (Subject) How about this: D__ Täfelchen ist grün.

29. masculine feminine neuter plural Nominative (Subject) Did you get this? Das Täfelchen ist grün.

30. masculine feminine neuter plural Nominative (Subject) How about this: D__ Verkäuferin ist fleißig.

31. masculine feminine neuter plural Nominative (Subject) Did you get this? Die Verkäuferin ist fleißig.

32. masculine feminine neuter plural Nominative (Subject) How about this: D__ Schule ist fantastisch.

33. masculine feminine neuter plural Nominative (Subject) Did you get: Die Schule ist fantastisch.

34. masculine feminine neuter plural Nominative (Subject) But here’s a trick question: D__ Jungeistgrob(rude, abrasive).

35. masculine feminine neuter plural Nominative (Subject) Junge is not feminine. That –e rule doesn’t work every time. Did you get: Der Junge ist grob.

37. adjective Endings -e masculine feminine neuter plural -en Nominative (Subject) Accusative (Direct Object) Dative (Indirect Object) Genitive (Possessive)