5 German 1 Mod – 5 die Familie Study Sheet

G121 Familie Mod 5 Study Sheet

Die Familie – n („Fam-meal-yuh“)

·       der/die Verwandte -n   relative

·       der Mann – ä er   man, husband

·       die Frau –en   woman, wife, Miss/Mrs./Ms.

·       der Lebenspartner –   Partner (male)

·       die Lebenspartnerin – nen   Partner (female)

·       die Eltern (pl)   parents

·       das Elternteil (sing.)   parent

·       der/die Alleinerziehende   single parent

·       die Mutter – ü (Mama – s/Mutti – s)   mother (mama/mommy)

·       der Vater – ä (Papa – s/Vatti – s)   father (papa/daddy)

·       Stief–    step (prefix)

·       Halb–   half (prefix)

·       das Baby –s   Baby

·       das Kind –er   kid/child

·       das Einzelkind – er   only child

·       die Tochter – ö   daugther

·       der Sohn – ö e   son

·       die Schwester –n   sister

·       der Bruder – ü  brother

·       der Zwilling – e   twin

·       adoptiert   adopted

·       das Geschwister –   sibling

·       die Groβeltern   grandparents

·       die Groβmutter – ü (Oma – s)   grandmother

·       der Groβvater – ä (Opa – s)   grandfather

·       Groβ–    great (prefix)

·       Ur– (prefix)   add to groβ- to make “great great”

·       das Enkelkind –er   grandkid/child

·       der Enkel –   grandson

·       die Enkelin –nen   granddaughter

·       die Tante –n   aunt

·       der Onkel –   uncle

·       die Kusine –n   cousin (female)

·       der Cousin –s (French pronunciation)   cousin (male)

·       der Vetter –n   cousin (male)

·       die Nichte –n   niece

·       der Neffe –n   nephew

·       der Stammbaum – ä e   family tree

·       Lieblings–   favorite (prefix)

Behziehungen (Relationships)·       ledig   single

·       verlobt   engaged

·       verheiratet   married

·       getrennt   separated

·       geschieden   divorced

·       verwiwet  widowed

Miscellaneous·       der Brief -e   letter

·       die Briefmarke –n  postage stamp

·       das Paket –e   package

·       die Post –   the mail/post

·       das Porto   postage

·       die Straβe -n   street

·       die Adresse –n   address

·       das Haus – ä er   house

·       die Wohnung – en   apartment

·       das Leben –   life

·       der Tod   death

·       am Leben   alive

·       tot   dead

·       klein  small

·       mittelgroβ medium-sized (referencing number, not clothing)

·       groβ  big

·       zum Besuch sein   to be visiting

·       Besuch haben   to have visitors

·       einen Kuss geben   give a kiss

·       eine Umarmung geben   give a hug

 

Verbs

·       lieben   to love

·       küssen   to kiss

·       weinen   to whine/cry

·       besuchen   to visit

·       leben   to live

·       wohnen   to reside

·       schicken   to send

·       verbringen   to spend time (not money)

 

das Haustier -e

·       der Hund –e   dog

·       die Katze –n   cat

·       der Fisch –e   fish

·       der Vogel – ö   bird

·       die Eideckse –n   lizard

·       die Schlange –n   snake

·     das Kaninchen –    bunny

·     das Meerschweinschen –   guinea pig

·     die Maus – ä e   mouse

·     die Ratte –n   rat

 

wohnen oder leben: both wohnen and leben translate to live, but they differ slightly in meaning and usage. Note: auf Deutsch you live in a street, NOT on a street. Interestingly, British English also uses “in a street.”

leben   to live (for countries and large regions)

·   Fr. G. lebt in den USA.

·   Fr. G. lebt in Washington.

wohnen   to reside, a specific building, street, neighborhood, co-habitants

·   Fr. G. wohnt in einem Haus.

·   Fr. G. wohnt mit ihrer Familie.

·   Fr. G wohnt in der Alexanderstraβe.

 

die Ein-Wörter: Ein Words are words that show possession (possessive adjectives), a/an (the indefinite article) and no/none/not any. Their endings must fit the gender and number of the noun they are describing/placed in front of.

 

Beispiele:

·       Mein Vater ist intelligent.   My father is intelligent. (masculine subject)

·       Ich liebe meinen Vater.   I love my father. (masculine direct object)

·       Meine Mutter ist sehr kreativ.   My mother is very creative. (feminine subject)

·       Ich liebe meine Mutter.   I love my mother. (feminine direct object)

·       Mein Haus ist alt.   My house is old. (neuter subject)

·       Ich sehe mein Haus.   I see my house. (neuter direct object)

·       Meine Kinder sind noch jung.   My kids are still young. (plural subject)

·       Ich liebe meine Kinder.   I love my children. (plural direct object)

Alle Ein-Wörter

·       mein   my

·       dein   your (informal singular)

·       sein   his

·       ihr   her

·       xies non-binary their

·       sein   its

·       unser   our

·       euer   y’all’s/your (informal plural)

·       Ihr   your (formal)

·       ihr   their

·       ein   a/an

·       kein   no/none/not any

 

 

Ein-Wörter Chart

	Masculine	feminine	neuter	plural
Subjects	mein	meine	mein	meine
Direct Objects	meinen – only change	meine	mein	meine

 

Expressing Favorite/like most of all: There are 2 basic ways to say something is your favorite in German.1.   Add the prefix Lieblings– to the front of your noun.

2.   Use haben + am liebsten, similar to using the particles gern (like) or lieber (prefer)

Beispiele:

·       Meine Lieblingsperson ist meine Oma.

·       Ich habe meine Oma am liebsten.

Using other verbs with am liebsten: to say that you like to do/like something most of all use the construction verb + am liebsten

·       Ich schwimme gern.   I like to swim.

·       Ich mache Yoga lieber (als Schwimmen).   I prefer yoga (to swimming).

·       Ich schlafe am liebsten.   I like to sleep the best/the most/most of all.

 

Subjects vs Direct Objects: In all languages every sentence has a Subject, the person, animal, or thing doing something. The Subject also tells the verb which conjugation ending to take. Fancy grammar talk for the Subject is the Nominative case (1st row of the Der Chart). For very simple sentences all that is needed is a Subject partnered with a Verb conjugated to it. A Subject “the” is picked according to the gender and number of the noun it is in front of.

Beispiele:

·       Der Vater joggt. – father is masculine (der)

·       Das Baby weint. – baby is neuter (das)

·       Die Katze schläft. – cat is feminine (die)

·       Die Hunde bellen. – dogs is plural (die)

More complex sentences can add nouns other than the Subject. Lots of sentences have a Direct Object, which is a person, animal, or thing that the subject is doing something to. Boiled down rule: if a sentence has a 2nd noun in addition to the subject, it is more than likely a direct object. Fancy grammar talk for the Direct Object is the Accusative Case (2nd row of the Der Chart). A Direct Object “the” is picked according to the gender and number of the noun it is in front of. NOTE: the only the that looks different than the Nominative The’s is the masculine Direct Object The, den.

 

Beispiele:

·       Die Mutter bringt die Tochter. – daughter is feminine (die)

·       Der Sohn liest das Buch. – book is neuter (das)

·       Der Cousin besucht den Onkel. – uncle is male (den)

·       Die Oma küsst die Kinder. – children is plural (die)

Der Chart

	masculine	feminine	neuter	plural
Nominative	der	die	das	die
Accusative	den	die	das	die

 

The Need for Different Forms of The: English is an SVO language meaning that the Subject comes 1st, the Verb next and then whatever else is left (Object). German, however, is a very flexible language regarding sentence structure as is shown by the 5 versions of the sentence below. This system of the’s helps us keep track of which noun is the subject since we cannot expect it to come right in front of the verb like it would in English. We have already seen these word ordering rules when we learned about Time Manner Place (Mod 2 Wetter). In statements, the conjugated verb must be in 2nd position (friβt) and the subject must be touching the verb (die Katze – 1st or 3rd  position). If a direct object is added (den Hund), it must be as close to the subject noun as possible without breaking any of the other placement rules.

“The cat eats the dog very quickly at the moment in the garden.”

·       Die Katze friβt den Hund im Moment sehr schnell im Garten.

·       Den Hund friβt die Katze im Moment sehr schnell im Garten.

·       Im Moment friβt die Katze den Hund sehr schnell im Garten.

·       Sehr schnell friβt die Katze den Hund im Moment im Garten.

·       Im Garten friβt die Katze den Hund im Moment sehr schnell.

 

Gender of Nouns: In German there are 3 genders; masculine, feminine and neuter. In English female people and animals are feminine, male people or animals are masculine and things are it/neuter. In German almost all people are masculine or feminine grammatically speaking, but animals and things may be masculine, feminine, or neuter. Endings for “the” (definite articles), A (indefinite articles) and possessive adjectives are determined by the gender of the noun in front of it as well as the role the noun plays in the sentence (z.B.: subject or direct object) so it is very important to learn the genders of each noun as you learn it. If not, it can be difficult to track who or what is the subject as sentences get more complex.

Beispiele:

·       der Mann

·       die Frau

 

·       der Hund

·       die Katze

·       das Schwein

 

·       das Haus

·       die Familie

·       der Besuch

Pronouns: Pronouns are used in conversation to reduce repetition; instead of saying the noun the girl, the girl, the girl sentence after sentence, you would switch to the pronoun she after mentioning the girl once. German subject pronouns we know already are ich, du, er, xier, sie, es, wir, ihr, Sie, and sie.

Although das Baby and das Kind are neuter it is common to switch to er or sie once it is clear if you are talking about a girl or boy. Sie is the pronoun to replace das Mädchen even though Mädchen is technically a neuter noun.

In German there are 3 different versions of it; a neuter it (es), a male it (er) and a female it (sie); this is unexpected for native speakers of English.

Personen/Menschen

·       Paul/der Mann → er

·       Tarek und Tim/die Jungen → sie

·       die Ärztin/Fr. Dr. Singh → sie

·       Sky/die Person → xier

 Sachen/Dinge

·       der Brief → er

·       das Haus → es

·       die Familie → sie