Some basic German questions...

How do you determine how the infinitive will turn out when it is combined with the different pronouns? Is there like a general rule about it? Example, my German teacher told me that many infinitives, when combined with er/sie/es will have a -t ending, and this goes the same to ihr.

When an infinitive combines with wir and sie, it remains the same. I'm really confused about all these rules and general guide, can someone clarify me about this?

And also, I don't understand noun declensions, nominative, accusative, dative, genitive... Huh? Can someone explain to me on their usage please?

Thanks guys !

How do you determine how the infinitive will turn out when it is combined with the different pronouns? Is there like a general rule about it? Example, my German teacher told me that many infinitives, when combined with er/sie/es will have a -t ending, and this goes the same to ihr.

When an infinitive combines with wir and sie, it remains the same. I'm really confused about all these rules and general guide, can someone clarify me about this?

And also, I don't understand noun declensions, nominative, accusative, dative, genitive... Huh? Can someone explain to me on their usage please?

Thanks guys !

Haha, yeah, what excalibur said

It interests me, actually, that some slightly old German terms for nominative, etc. are: der Werfall, der Wenfall, der Wemfall, der Wesfall, meaning respectively: the case asking "who (did it)?", the case asking "whom (was that done to)?", the case asking "to whom (was that given)?", the case asking "whose?". That's a nice way to think about it. This is quite a good starting point for explaining the differences, if a little grammar-heavy. Try not to go through learning all the tables if you're new, it'll only confuse you, but certainly read about the usage if you're interested.

That doesn't sound quite right to me. Those two are definitely both dative in German - and also in English, I think, because the first example isn't actually a direct object. Something like "Who (did the madman kill)?" would be a direct object.

I've got another basic Q.. lemme see if I can explain it..

Let's say I wanna say "I must do the university application" or whatever

so you have "Ich muss (der/die/das) .... machen"

now you have the words [die] Universität (University) [der] Antrag (Application)

- and these are both different genders (Die and Der]

SO: When you have two different genders what do you use for the Der/Die/Das after the "Ich muss" ?

Ich muss die Universität Antrag machen
Ich muss der Universität Antrag machen

or do you make Universität Antrag into one word and use the gender of the last (or first) word ??

*ahem*

Oder vielleicht

...sich um einen Studienplatz bewerben.

It interests me, actually, that some slightly old German terms for nominative, etc. are: der Werfall, der Wenfall, der Wemfall, der Wesfall, meaning respectively: the case asking "who (did it)?", the case asking "whom (was that done to)?", the case asking "to whom (was that given)?", the case asking "whose?". That's a nice way to think about it.

The nom, acc, dat and gen are all cases. The nominative case is used for the subject of the sentence, e.g. 'The dog' in "The dog eats the apple". The definite article would then be der (m), die (f), das (n) or die (pl).

The accusative case is used for the direct object of the sentence, in the above case, 'The apple'. The definite article will then be den (m), die (f), das (n) or die (pl) - note only the masculine changes. So the sentence above will read "Der Hund isst den Apfel". The accusative case is also used in front of some prepositions, e.g. um, ohne, durch, entlang.

The dative case is used for the indirect object and the definite articles take the form dem (m), der (f), dem (n) and der (pl). e.g. if you have the sentence "The boy gives the dog a letter", 'The boy' is the subject so takes the nominative case; 'a letter' is the direct object so will take the accusative case; and 'the girl' is the indirect object (something is done TO someone if you like), so will take the dative case. So the above sentence will be "Der Junge gibt dem Hund einen Brief". The dative case is also used in front of most prepositions (e.g. mit, nach, seit, von, zu), so that you get sentences like "Ich fahre mit dem Auto".

The genetive case is used when you want to say 'of' something, and the definite articles change to des (m), der (f), des (n) and den (pl). e.g. "That is the cat of the girl" would be "Das ist die Katze des Mädchens". The genetive is also used after certain prepositions (e.g. trotz, statt).

That was a very brief outline of cases and conjugations - if you are confused, it is really better to be taught it properly in lessons/out of grammar books. And it was probably all wrong anyway - generalebriety or someone will come and give a better explanation

Does carefree_sloth know what the terms "direct object" and "indirect object" mean, though?

Go and find a grammar book or a grammar website... This is quite a good starting point for explaining the differences, if a little grammar-heavy. Try not to go through learning all the tables if you're new, it'll only confuse you, but certainly read about the usage if you're interested.

(I think it's active and passive sentences - literally translated)

Entshuldigung. Hope you don't mind me asking this. But how did you guys increase your basic German vocabulary? Every time in lessons, I encounter so many new vocabularies and sentences, I don't know how to store them all in my brain!

Practise. Talk to yourself. Better yet, talk to others in German - teachers, friends, German penpals, parents (whether they speak German or not), whoever. Helps it stick - just like if you don't use an English word for a while it kind of falls out of your mind till you use it again. (Ever had the feeling where a word's on the tip of your tongue but you can't remember it, and then someone says it? Same thing.) If you keep using the words, you'll learn them. Oh, and by the way, you retain about twice as much of what you hear yourself say out loud than what you read or hear, and even more if you say it out loud and write it.

That's quite good advice I may be forced to take heed of it myself, afterall, I feel that my German knowledge is completely dying out because I work so hard for French.

Same here, but the other way round. My German's really good, my French is a bit... bof. *does Gallic shrug*

Practise. Talk to yourself. Better yet, talk to others in German - teachers, friends, German penpals, parents (whether they speak German or not), whoever. Helps it stick - just like if you don't use an English word for a while it kind of falls out of your mind till you use it again. (Ever had the feeling where a word's on the tip of your tongue but you can't remember it, and then someone says it? Same thing.) If you keep using the words, you'll learn them. Oh, and by the way, you retain about twice as much of what you hear yourself say out loud than what you read or hear, and even more if you say it out loud and write it.