German 1: All Nouns are Capitalized

In German, all nouns are capitalized. Also, there are three grammatical genders - male, female, and neuter. Unfortunately, the grammatical gender may not match the biological gender. Every noun has to be learned along with its gender.

Definite article (the): der/ das/ die (m/n/f)
Indefinite article (a/ an): ein/ eine (m,n/f)

-- generally speaking, it changes according to something known as the case of the noun.

---- what the hell is wrong with this language?

Recognizing Noun Genders

For example, many German nouns have some kind of ending, which will always or often come with a particular gender.

Non-living objects that end in -e: these will almost always be feminine (Schokolade, Erdbeere, Orange, Banane, Suppe, …). One of the very few exceptions is der Käse. This also works for many, but not all animals (die Katze, Ente, Spinne, Biene, Fliege, …).


Nouns beginning with Ge- are often neuter. This is the only prefix determining gender. (das Gemüse,…)

Essen - To eat (applicable to humans)
Fressen - To eat (applicable to animals)

essen	fressen (for animals)
ich esse	ich fresse
du isst	du frisst
er/sie/es isst	er/sie/es frisst
wir essen	wir fressen
ihr esst	ihr fresst
sie essen	sie fressen

Sein - to be

ich bin - i am
du bist - you are (informal)
er/ sie/ es ist - he/ she/ it is
wir sind - we are
ihr seid - you all are (informal)
sie sind - they are
Sie sind - you are (formal)

---- Ok, it is official, this is on crack. 

Conjugating regular verbs
To conjugate a regular verb in the present tense, identify the invariant stem and attach corresponding ending.

trinken - to drink

English person	ending	German example
I	-e	ich trinke
you (singular informal)	-st	du trinkst
he/she/it	-t	er/sie/es trinkt
we	-en	wir trinken
you (plural informal)	-t	ihr trinkt
you (formal)	-en	Sie trinken
they	-en	sie trinken

Umlauts are words that have two dots above them. Its function is to change how the vowel sounds. 

There is no separate form for the continuous tense in German. 

Vocabulary

1	Mann	Man
2	Frau	Woman
3	Junge	Boy
4	Madchen	girl
5	Kind	child
6	Brot	Bread
7	Wasser	Water
8	ein/ eine	a
9	und	and
10	Trinken	to drink
11	der, das, die	the
12	sein	to be
13	ich	i
14	du	you singular informal
15	er	he
16	sie	she
17	es	it
18	wir	we
19	ihr	you plural informal
20	sie	they
21	Sie	you (formal)
22	Lektion	Lesson
23	fur	for
24	ein Apfel	an apple
25	Essen	To eat
26	Neu/ neue	new
27	Er isst	he drinks