German Grammar

Welcome to the 8th lesson about German grammar. We will first learn about prepositions, negation, questions, adverbs, and pronouns including: personal, object and possessive pronouns.

We will start with prepositions. In general, they are used to link words to other words. For example: I speak German and English the preposition is [and] because it connects both words German and English. The following is a list of the most used prepositions in German.

Prepositions - German
and und
above über
under unter
before vor
after nach
in front of vor
behind hinter
far from weit entfernt
near in der Nähe von
in in
inside innen
outside außerhalb
with mit
without ohne
about über
between zwischen
but aber
for für
from von
to zu

Preposition Grammar Rules

The following examples use prepositions in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Prepositions + Rules - German
I eat without a knife [preposition + noun] Ich esse ohne Messer
she lives near the church [verb + preposition] Sie wohnt in der Nähe der Kirche
he is taller than her [adjective + preposition] Er ist größer als sie.
he came with his small dog [preposition + pronoun] Er kam mit seinem kleinen Hund
can you come with me? [preposition + pronoun] Können Sie mit mir kommen?

Negation in German

Now let's learn how to make a negative sentence (negation). For example: Saying no, I can't, I don't ... The following examples use negation in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Negation + Rules - German
I understand you [affirmative form] Ich verstehe dich
I don't understand you [negation + verb] Ich verstehe dich nicht
this is not the correct word [negation + adjective] Dies ist nicht das richtige Wort
don't leave me [imperative negation] Verlass mich nicht
no problem [negation + noun] Kein Problem

Negative Sentences - German
I don't speak French [negation + present tense] Ich spreche kein Französisch
she didn't visit Germany [negation + past tense] Sie hat Deutschland nicht besucht.
he cannot see us [negative modal verb] Er kann uns nicht sehen
can't she play chess? [interrogative negation] Kann sie nicht Schach spielen?
we will not come late [negation + future tense] Wir werden uns nicht verspäten.

Questions in German

Now let's learn how to ask questions (interrogative). Such as: what, why, can you ...? Here are some common examples:

English - German
how? Wie?
what? Was?
who? Wer?
why? Warum?
where? Wo?

More of the interrogative form, now in a sentence:

Questions + Rules - German
where do you live? [interrogative + verb] Wo wohnst du?
does she speak Chinese? [interrogative verb] Spricht sie Chinesisch?
how much is this? [interrogative preposition] Wie viel kostet dies?
can I help you? [interrogative modal verb] Kann ich Ihnen helfen?
what is your name? [interrogative preposition] Wie heißen Sie?

Adverbs in German

It's time to learn the adverbs in German. But what is an adverb? In general, adverbs modify verbs and adjectives. For example: You speak fast. The adverb is [fast] because it describes the verb and answers the question how do you speak?. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Adverbs - German
now jetzt
yesterday gestern
today heute
tonight heute Abend
tomorrow morgen
soon bald
quickly schnell
slowly langsam
together zusammen
very sehr
almost fast
always immer
usually normalerweise
sometimes manchmal
rarely selten
never nie

The following examples use the adverbs in different ways and places to demonstrate how it behaves in a sentence.

Adverbs + Rules - German
do you understand me now? [pronoun + adverb] Verstehst du mich jetzt?
I need help immediately [noun + adverb] Ich brauche sofort Hilfe
she is very intelligent [adverb + adjective] Sie ist sehr intelligent
I will always love you [verb + adverb] Ich werde dich immer lieben
can we learn German together? [adverb in a question] Können wir gemeinsam Deutsch lernen?

Pronouns in German

We're almost done! This time we will learn the pronouns in German. In general, a pronoun can be used instead of a noun. For example instead of saying my teacher speaks 3 languages, you can use the pronoun he, and say he speaks 3 languages. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Personal Pronouns - German
I ich
you du, Sie
he er
she sie
we wir
they sie

Object Pronouns - German
me mir, mich
you dir, dich, Ihnen, Sie
him ihm, ihn
her ihr, sie
us uns
them ihnen, sie

Possessive Pronouns - German
my mein, meine
your dein, deine, Ihr, Ihre
his sein, seine
her ihr, ihre
our unser, unsere
their ihr, ihre

I think it's better to put the above example in a sentence to better assist you. The following examples use pronouns in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence. We will start with the personal pronouns.

Personal Pronouns - German
I am your friend [1st pronoun + verb] Ich bin dein Freund
you speak very fast [2nd pronoun + adverb] Sie sprechen sehr schnell
he has three dogs [3rd pronoun + verb] Er hat drei Hunde
she can speak German [3rd pronoun + verb] Sie kann Deutsch sprechen.
we will not come late [1st plural pronoun] Wir werden uns nicht verspäten.
they bought milk and bread [3rd plural pronoun] Sie kauften Milch und Brot

The object pronoun is used as a target by a verb, and usually come after that verb. For example: I gave him my book. The object pronoun here is him. Here are more examples:

Object Pronouns - German
can you tell me your name? [1st object pronoun] Können Sie mir Ihren Namen sagen?
I will give you money [2nd object pronoun] Ich werde dir Geld geben.
she wrote him a letter [3rd object pronoun] Sie schrieb ihm einen Brief
they visited her yesterday [3rd object pronoun] Sie besuchten sie gestern
can she help us? [1st pl. object pronoun] Kann sie uns helfen?
he gave them food [3rd pl. object pronoun] Er gab ihnen Lebensmittel

Possessive Pronouns - German
my name is Maya [1st possessive pronoun] Mein Name ist Maya
your brother lives here [2nd possessive pronoun] Ihr/Dein Bruder lebt hier
her mother cooks for us [3rd possessive pronoun] Ihre Mutter kocht für uns
his hobby is reading books [3rd possessive pronoun] Sein Hobby ist Bücher zu lesen
our dream is to visit Paris [1st pl. possessive pronoun] Unser Traum ist es, Paris zu besuchen
their house is not far [3rd pl. possessive pronoun] Ihr Haus ist nicht weit

One more thing you need to know is the demonstrative pronouns. They're very easy to learn.

Demonstrative Pronouns - German
this is my house Dies ist mein Haus
that restaurant is far Das Restaurant ist weit
these apples are delicious Diese Äpfel sind lecker
those stars are shiny Jene Sterne glänzen

I hope you learned a lot about the German grammar in this lesson. Please check out our main menu here for more lessons: homepage. The next lesson is below, have fun!