You may have already stumbled upon the word “gern” a bunch of times. It’s a frequently used word in German and can best be translated to “gladly” or a form of (to) like. Examples:

Ich esse gern Pizza. I like to eat pizza.

Das mache ich gern für dich. I gladly do that for you.

jemanden / etwas gern haben = (to) like so. / sth.

Example: Ich habe dich gern. I like you.

Recently, someone asked me a question about the usage of “zum”.

But there are more prepositions of place in German that work exactly like “zu” = preposition of place “to”; an = prep. of place “at” / “by”; in = prep. of place “in” / “into”

The general rule is: You can contract the preposition with the following direct article. The direct article is either “der” (feminine, dative) or “dem” (masculine and neuter, dative) or “die” (feminine, accusative), “den” (masculine, accusative) or “das” (masculine, accusative).

German prepositions trigger certain cases. The ones in the subject line either trigger the dative or the accusative.

zu + definite article “der” (fem., dative) -> zur

zu + def. article “dem” (masc./neut., dat.) -> zum

an + def. art. “dem” (masc./neut., dat.) -> am

an + def. art. “das” (neut., acc.) -> ans

in + def. art. “dem” (masc./neut., dat.) -> im

in + def. art. “das” (neut., acc.) -> ins

Jeez! This must have been confusing! :-O

violetmasquerade asked: After reading your post on subjunctive, what you said was Subjunctive I,
is that similar to the imperative form?
I'm confused!
Thanks:)

There are three grammatical verb moods: indicative, subjunctive and imperative. All three have different concepts:

The imperative mood expresses commands or direct requests. e.g. “Lass mich in Ruhe!” (Leave me alone!) or “Schließ das Fenster!” (Close the window!)

The subjunctive mood expresses wishes, possibilities etc.and is also important for the indirect speech. e.g. “Er sagte, er würde gern in die Schule gehen.” (He said he liked going to school)

I hope this helps. :)

The subjunctive mood (in German: der Konjunktiv) is mostly used to express emotions/opinions or possibilities. It’s also used in the reported speech (die indirekte Rede).

There are two different types: Subjunctive I (Konjunktiv I) or “present subjunctive) and Subjunctive II (Konjunktiv II) or “past subjunctive”. 

I’d like to talk more about them in seperate posts. Here are a couple of examples for you to understand the terminology better - I know it seems to very complicated at first.

Subjunctive I:

Long live the Queen! (Lang lebe die Königin!)

Take two eggs, 1 liter of milk…. (Man nehme zwei Eier, einen Liter Milch…)

Subjunctive II:

If I had money, I would travel the world. (Wenn ich Geld hätte, würde ich die Welt bereisen)

Could you lend me your pen? (Könntest du mir deinen Stift ausleihen?)

To review the basic rules how to form the comparative and superlative in German read this post :)

Here’s now a list of irregular forms, which you have to learn by heart. Fortunately there aren’t too many ;)

gut - besser - am besten = good - better - best

viel - mehr - am meisten = much - more - most

bald - eher - am ehesten = soon - sooner - soonest

gern - lieber - am liebsten = gladly - more gladly - most gladly

nah - näher - am nächsten = near - nearer - nearest

hoch - höher - am höchsten = high - higher - highest

Some of you are confused by when to use “Mir ist…” and when to use “Ich bin…”.

“Mir ist….” is used to express a certain feeling. It literally translates to something like “It is… to me”. In English you use “I’m…” (= Ich bin) but you have to be careful, because that’s not how it works in German. Here are some common phrases to remember:

Mir ist kalt (I am cold). (I’m freezing = Ich friere)
Ich bin kalt (doesn’t make any sense). (I’m cold-hearted = Ich bin kaltherzig)

Mir ist warm/heiß (= I feel warm/hot). (I’m sweating = Ich schwitze)
Ich bin warm (makes no sense) / Ich bin heiß (= one way of saying “I’m horny”). CHANGES THE MEANING!

Mir ist schlecht (I’m nautious/sick)                                                                Ich bin schlecht (= ich bin ein schlechter Mensch). (I’m a bad person)        CHANGES THE MEANING!

Mir ist schwindelig. (I’m feeling dizzy) Ich bin schwindelig. (doesn’t make sense)

The 2nd German case “Genitiv” is triggered by the following prepositions:

außerhalb = out of / outside of

innerhalb = inside of / within

statt = instead of

trotz = despite of

während = during

wegen = because of

dank = thanks to

Find a complete list of Genitive prepositions here.

The 2nd of German’s four cases is called “Genitiv” (genitive). It’s used to show possession, so we can also call it the “case of possession”. In English, it’s usually expressed by “of” or an apostrophe-s (’s).

Nowadays, German speakers use it more in the written than in the spoken form, but it definitely has a certain spoken elegance and shouldn’t be neglected. :)

A helpful question to find out what part of the sentence stands in the genitive case is: “Wessen?” - “Whose?”:

Example: Ich lese Susannes Buch. I read Susanne’s book.

WESSEN Buch liest du? WHOSE book do you read? - Susannes. Susanne’s.

Rules for the genitive case:

a) Add an -s- to names - just like the apostrophe-s in English!

Example: Peters Hund heißt Pluto. Peter’s dog is called Pluto.

b) When there’s an article, adjust it like this:

definite (= the): der -> des (-en) ; die -> der; das -> des; Plural die -> deren

indefinite (= a, an): ein -> eines; eine -> einer; ein -> eines;

Example: Das Haar des Mädchens ist blond. The girl’s hair is blonde.

c) When an adjective stands with the noun adjust it - fortunately almost all of them have an -en ending.

Example: der großen Frau (of the tall woman); einer freundlichen Frau (of a friendly woman)

d) For masculine and neuter nouns, remember the additional noun ending, either -es or -s.

Example: des großen Mannes (of the tall man); eines freundlichen Kindes (of a friendly child)

Note: Some prepositions trigger the Genitive. I’ll post a list of them soon.

The German verb “lassen” is kinda tricky. It has various meanings:

a) (to) let as in: Let me go! Lass mich gehen!

b) (to) leave as in: Leave me alone! Lass mich in Ruhe!

c) (to) let / have something done as in: Ich lasse mein Auto reparieren. I’m having my car repaired.

In a) and b) “lassen” functions like any other verb that can stand on its own.

In c) it functions like a modal verb that supports another verb (just like e.g. (to) have or (to) be) -> “lassen” is conjugated, the verb that is supported stands in the infinitve.

Example: Tanja lässt (<- conjugated) sich die Haare schneiden (<- infinitive). Tanja is having her hair cut / is getting a haircut.

Here’s how you conjugate the irregular verb “lassen”.

Present tense: ich lasse, du lässt, er/sie/es lässt, wir lassen, ihr lasst, sie lassen

Past tense: ich ließ, du ließest, er/sie/es ließ, wir ließen, ihr ließet, sie ließen

Past participle of “lassen”: “gelassen”

chessboxin asked: How do you inflect for comparative and superlative form (i.e. good, better, best)? Is there any pattern or is it a lot of guesswork like noun gender?

Usually the suffix -er is added to the adjective/adverb in the comparative. e.g. klein - kleinER (small - smaller); laut - lautER (loud - louder)

For the superlative you add -(e)ste. e.g. klein - der/die/das kleinSTE (small - the smallest); laut - der/die/das lautESTE (loud - the loudest)

An important difference to English is, that German doesn’t use “more” to form a comparative. That’s a mistake that is made very often - e.g. more beautiful = schönER and NOT “mehr schön”.

Those were the basic rules. However, there are exceptions - like always ;) I’ll post a list with those irregular adjectives/adverbs soon :)