The negation “nicht” is positioned depending on the sentence elements. Let me give you a few rules for that today:

Nicht always follows:

- the conjugated verb

(e.g. Paula raucht nicht. Paula doesn’t smoke.)

- specific adverbs of time

(e.g. Paula arbeitet heute nicht. Paula is not working today.)

Nicht precedes most other elements:

- adjectives

(e.g. Paula ist nicht lustig. Paula isn’t funny.)

- most other adverbs

(e.g. Paula singt nicht gut. Paula doesn’t sing well.)

- infinitives

(e.g. Paula geht nicht schwimmen. Paula is not going swimming.)

Unfortunately, many of you didn’t fill in the correct answers yesterday. The task was: conjugate the verbs in the simple PAST (Präteritum, 1. Vergangenheit) and NOT in the simple present (Präsens, Gegenwart). However, most of your present tense conjugations were correct - so that’s cool ;) For those of you, who conjugated in the simple past - here are the correct answers:

1. Ich Aß ein Stück Kuchen. (essen)

2. Wir GINGEN spazieren. (gehen)

3. Er BLIEB zu Hause. (bleiben)

4. Du KAMST zu spät. (kommen)

5. Ihr FUHRT nach Berlin. (fahren)

6. Sie (plural) LASEN ein gutes Buch. (lesen)

Remember the different usage of the German verb “werden”? CLICK.

Today, we’re focusing on the future tense:

In German, there’s only one official way to form the future which makes it quite simple: Use the verb “werden” (conjugated) and then add the infinitive of the verb.

Example: Ich werde nach Deutschland fahren. I’ll go to Germany.

Du wirst deinen Freund anrufen. You’ll call your friend.

Here’s how you conjugate the verb:

ich werde, du wirst, er/sie/es wird, wir werden, ihr werdet, sie werden

Today’s conjugation:

(to) drink = trinken in the simple past (einfache Vergangenheit / Präteritum)

ich trank

du trankst

er / sie / es trank

wir tranken

ihr tranket

sie tranken

#grammar

We’ve already learned about yes/no questions. Let’s now focus on the specific questions, which ask for a longer reply.

Question word - conjugated verb - (subject) - (object)

Example without a subject:

Wer möchte einen Drink? Who would like a drink?

(QW) (V)     -   (O)   - ?

Example without an object:

Wo wohnst du? Where do you live?

(QW) (V)  (S) ?

#conjugation

Today’s conjugation:

(to) eat = essen (irregular) in the present tense (Präsens/Gegenwart)

ich esse

du isst

er / sie / es isst

wir essen

ihr esst

sie essen

#definition

Well, verbs are an essential part of every language, right? So having heard of the following terms will definitely help you understanding grammar better:

Conjugation (die Konjugation) = the groupings that verbs in many languages fall into according to the way they make their forms e.g. Ich lache, du lachst, er/sie/es lacht etc. = I laugh, you laugh, he/she/it laughs etc.

Infinitive (der Infinitiv) = the basic form of a verb e.g. lachen = (to) laugh

Tense (die Zeiten) = “time” of a verb e.g present tense, past tense…

Auxiliary verbs (Hilfs-/Modalverben) = used to help other verbs make their forms e.g. (to) have = haben, (to) be = sein

Active (das Aktiv) = “A does something to B” e.g. Martin is writing a letter.

Passive (das Passiv) = “B is having something done to him by A” e.g. A letter is being written by Martin.