German as essay grammar

Original post by lilafrubexoxo

Hi I'm currently doing AS German, and I don't really understand the grammar, in terms of the nominative, accusative, dative and genetive .. Can someone please explain???
I really need to get an A in the summer!!
Thanks,
Lilafrube
xoxo

Same here. Also struggle with passive and reflexive stuff :/

Reply 2

Lilly112

1

what exactly don't you understand about nominative, genetive etc. ? :smile:

Reply 3

Nisr123

5

Original post by lilafrubexoxo

Hi I'm currently doing AS German, and I don't really understand the grammar, in terms of the nominative, accusative, dative and genetive .. Can someone please explain???
I really need to get an A in the summer!!
Thanks,
Lilafrube
xoxo

I do AS German too and its not really about understanding it.. they are just rules. It is just memorising them and knowing when to use them... and yeah nope. I can't help you there. Just as stuck as you xD.

Can I ask you something though...? How are you revising for AS German? I want an A too xD What are you predicted? Have you prepared your speaking assessment yet? What exam board are you? Have you done any proper mocks yet? (Sorry for all the questions :P)

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 4

Original post by lilafrubexoxo

x

Original post by Danny.L

x

Original post by Nisr123

x

Later, or tomorrow when I have time I'll post a detailed post (hopefully concise), please reply to this so I see it in notifications and remember to do this.

Reply 5

Original post by XcitingStuart

Later, or tomorrow when I have time I'll post a detailed post (hopefully concise), please reply to this so I see it in notifications and remember to do this.

Thank you!

Reply 6

I haven't forgotten; I spent ages on it earlier (on word), it's nearly done, I just need to do genitive. I can't access a computer at the moment to finish it, but i will be able to soon.

I'll do active & passive in a separate post.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 7

schmuur

12

Original post by lilafrubexoxo

Hi I'm currently doing AS German, and I don't really understand the grammar, in terms of the nominative, accusative, dative and genetive .. Can someone please explain???
I really need to get an A in the summer!!
Thanks,
Lilafrube
xoxo

In English if we say:
Harry sent Paul a letter.
Harry is Nominative. because Harry is doing the action (ie. he is the one sending)
the letter is Akkusative. Because the letter is being sent. Without the letter, Harry could not do the sending.
Paul is Dative. he is the one receiving.

Another example.
Lola's dog ate my sandwich!
The dog is Nominative. The dog is doing the action (ie eating)
Lola is Genitive. The dog belongs to Lola. Lola herself is has nothing to do with the action.
The sandwich is akkusative. The sandwich is being eaten.

last example:
Tom's sister bought Jane flowers.
Tom is Genetive. The sister belongs to Tom.
The sister is Nominative. She is doing the buying.
Jane is Dative. The flowers are being bought for her.
The flowers are Akkusative. They are being bought.

I hope this helps :smile:

Reply 8

1 Articles & Adjectival endings with cases.jpg332.4KB

I wrote it in a word document, then decided to convert it to images and watermark it. xD

Please could other people correct it, since I still only know it to an AS & a bit of an A2 standard.

I realise it looks quite daunting. Probably go through it slowly and bit by bit, and it's not as bad as it may seem.

You still would need to practice and be corrected many times.

2 Subject Direct & Indirect object - English grammar for German.jpg374.4KB

3 Nominative.jpg257.3KB

4 Accusative.jpg438.0KB

5 Dative.jpg226.5KB

6 Accusative & dative two-way prepositions.jpg248.8KB

7 Genitive.jpg213.1KB

Reply 9

Original post by lilafrubexoxo

x

Original post by Danny.L

x

Original post by Nisr123

x

Done. Sorry it took longer (a lot longer, but I was so bored of revision) than I said; I underestimated how long it would take and I couldn't access a computer for a while at home.

I made it hopefully user friendly (for me anyway) and long-term.

Have to admit, my post looks quite swag with those colours. :cool:

Reply 10

Original post by XcitingStuart

Done. Sorry it took longer (a lot longer, but I was so bored of revision) than I said; I underestimated how long it would take and I couldn't access a computer for a while at home.

I made it hopefully user friendly (for me anyway) and long-term.

Have to admit, my post looks quite swag with those colours. :cool:

Awesome!
Was wondering do you have any notes/knowledge of tenses?
I am REALLY struggling on past tenses such as the passive, perfekt tense and reflexive sentences. If you could possibly post any concrete notes on this it'd be great. I have trawled through online resources and cant get the hang of it.
Maybe help from another student may be clearer?
I would really, deeply appreciate it!

Reply 11

Original post by Danny.L

Awesome!
Was wondering do you have any notes/knowledge of tenses?
I am REALLY struggling on past tenses such as the passive, perfekt tense and reflexive sentences. If you could possibly post any concrete notes on this it'd be great. I have trawled through online resources and cant get the hang of it.
Maybe help from another student may be clearer?
I would really, deeply appreciate it!

I would probably ignore kein, mein etc. at the moment; I don't think I've explained that very clearly (considering this is new to me as well.)

Reply 12

Original post by XcitingStuart

I would probably ignore kein, mein etc. at the moment; I don't think I've explained that very clearly (considering this is new to me as well.)

So do you know much about tenses?

Reply 13

Original post by Danny.L

So do you know much about tenses?

Yes sorry it's just that I've been really busy.

I'll make a post soon.

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Reply 14

Original post by Danny.L

So do you know much about tenses?

Sorry that this was done quite quickly. I'll update and set out nice if I have time.
Before I start, I'll say they get far easier with some practice, don't be daunted and get your examples corrected etc. I doubt anyone has ever made no mistakes on their first try.
You are going to have to search up common irregular verbs and learn them off by heart.

It would be easier to explain it in English first
(made up)

I ate a banana (imperfect)
I have eaten a banana (perfect)

I was anorexic (imperfect)
I have been anorexic (perfect)

I became (imperfect)
I have become (perfect)

Notice that the "imperfect" past tense is without "had". I think the best example for explaining the differences is the "I ate/have eaten" example.

It's quite similar in German (minus kicking the 2nd verb to the end), of course once you get the hang of it.

There's two ways of doing it, but that'll be explained later.

Imperfect "ate" - No "ge-" is added to the verbs in imperfect

Simple verbs

machen "to make" - machte "ate" (you add a "t" in between the main part and the verb ending)
ich machte
du machtest

er/sie/es/man (any singular noun) machte
(notice that 1st person "I" and 3rd person "he/she/it/one (any singular noun)" will always be the same in imperfect past tense)

wir machten
ihr machtet
sie machten
Sie machten

Strong/irregular verb

gehen "to go" - ging "went"
ich ging
du gingst

er/se/es/man (any singular noun) ging
(notice that 1st person "I" and 3rd person "he/she/it/one (any singular noun)" will always be the same in imperfect past tense)

wir gingen
ihr gingt
sie gingen

er arbeitete - he worked
er kam

Perfect "have eaten"

subject + haben/sein (explained later) + content + past participle (name given to "eaten" if that makes sense)

Use "haben" if it's a model or reflective verb

Use "sein" (to be) if the verb
→ shows movement e.g. gehen/schwimmen
→ change in physiology/state
"werden"
"sein"
"bleiben" (doesn't follow pattern; just learn)
"aufwachen"
"sterben"
"einschlafen"

those are some common ones, you'll just have to search up whether they're "haben" or "sein"

verbs which have any of these don't have "ge-"

be-
ge-
ent-
emp-
ver-
zer-
-ieren

e.g. ich telefonierte/ich habe telefoniert

Er ist gestorben ("he has died")
er ist gekommen ("he has came")
er hat ... bekommen ("he has received ...")
wir haben ... bekommen ("we have received ...")

Separable verbs have the "ge-" in between e.g. "Ich habe ... mitgenommen."

Now examples!!!

Ich aß...
Ich habe gegessen...
Er aß einen Apfel
Er hat einen Apfel gegessen

Ich bin ... gewesen ("I had been")
Wir sind ... gewesen
Du bist ... gewesen

etc. etc.

model verbs

sollte/hat gesollt
musste/hat gemusst - had to
konnte/hat gekonnt
durfte/hat gedurft
wollte/hat gewollt
mochte/hat gemocht

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Spoiler

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 15

Original post by XcitingStuart

Sorry that this was done quite quickly. I'll update and set out nice if I have time.
Before I start, I'll say they get far easier with some practice, don't be daunted and get your examples corrected etc. I doubt anyone has ever made no mistakes on their first try.
You are going to have to search up common irregular verbs and learn them off by heart.

It would be easier to explain it in English first
(made up)

I ate a banana (imperfect)
I had eaten a banana (perfect)

I was anorexic (imperfect)
I had been anorexic (perfect)

I became (imperfect)
I had become (perfect)

Notice that the "imperfect" past tense is without "had". I think the best example for explaining the differences is the "I ate/had eaten" example.

It's quite similar in German (minus kicking the 2nd verb to the end), of course once you get the hang of it.

There's two ways of doing it, but that'll be explained later.

Imperfect "ate" - No "ge-" is added to the verbs in imperfect

Simple verbs

machen "to make" - machte "ate" (you add a "t" in between the main part and the verb ending)
ich machte
du machtest

er/sie/es/man (any singular noun) machte
(notice that 1st person "I" and 3rd person "he/she/it/one (any singular noun)" will always be the same in imperfect past tense)

wir machten
ihr machtet
sie machten
Sie machten

Strong/irregular verb

gehen "to go" - ging "went"
ich ging
du gingst

er/se/es/man (any singular noun) ging
(notice that 1st person "I" and 3rd person "he/she/it/one (any singular noun)" will always be the same in imperfect past tense)

wir gingen
ihr gingt
sie gingen

er arbeitete - he worked
er kam

Perfect "had eaten"

subject + haben/sein (explained later) + content + past participle (name given to "eaten" if that makes sense)

Use "haben" if it's a model or reflective verb

Use "sein" (to be) if the verb
→ shows movement e.g. gehen/schwimmen
→ change in physiology/state
"werden"
"sein"
"bleiben" (doesn't follow pattern; just learn)
"aufwachen"
"sterben"
"einschlafen"

those are some common ones, you'll just have to search up whether they're "haben" or "sein"

verbs which have any of these don't have "ge-"

be-
ge-
ent-
emp-
ver-
zer-
-ieren

e.g. ich telefonierte/ich habe telefoniert

Er ist gestorben ("he has died")
er ist gekommen ("he has came")
er hat ... bekommen ("he has received ...")
wir haben ... bekommen ("we have received ...")

Separable verbs have the "ge-" in between e.g. "Ich habe ... mitgenommen."

Now examples!!!

Ich aß...
Ich habe gegessen...
Er aß einen Apfel
Er hat einen Apfel gegessen

Ich bin ... gewesen ("I had been")
Wir sind ... gewesen
Du bist ... gewesen

etc. etc.

model verbs

sollte/hat gesollt
musste/hat gemusst - had to
konnte/hat gekonnt
durfte/hat gedurft
wollte/hat gewollt
mochte/hat gemocht

Posted from TSR Mobile

Very helpful, will be referring to this a lot!
However, my tenses are poor so this may be stupid, but is there any way of saying "I have done" "I have eaten" opposed to I ate or I had eaten?
One last thing i promise!
Reflexive verbs and how to use them? I consistently get confused where the "sich" goes, what its different forms are such as "mich" & also find myself using dativ instead "seine" "deine" etc.
This is probably where I need the most help.
Possessive pronouns and reflexive verbs, you'd be a life saver, but great job so far! :biggrin:

Reply 16

Original post by Danny.L

Very helpful, will be referring to this a lot!
However, my tenses are poor so this may be stupid, but is there any way of saying "I have done" "I have eaten" opposed to I ate or I had eaten?
One last thing i promise!
Reflexive verbs and how to use them? I consistently get confused where the "sich" goes, what its different forms are such as "mich" & also find myself using dativ instead "seine" "deine" etc.
This is probably where I need the most help.
Possessive pronouns and reflexive verbs, you'd be a life saver, but great job so far! :biggrin:

As in you still need to change the verb "to have/to be" to the respective subject.

e.g. Ich habe gegessen
Du hast gegessen.
Er hat gegessen.
Wir haben gegessen.

I'll carry on tomorrow.

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Reply 17

jayrosan

Hi

I currently do Edexcel German As level and i have my German speaking assessment in a few weeks and i am struggling in my preparations, any particular tips on how to prepare? i've been told basically reciting pre-learned phrases won't give you the best marks in the exam.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 18

lilafrubexoxo

OP

7

Thank you!!!!! :biggrin:

Reply 19