… and get the sentences in the correct order…

1. mein Bruder / geboren / im September / im / ist

2. dem Land / wohnt / die Familie Müller / auf

3. schreiben / in / der Schule / einen / die Schüler / Test / in / Deutsch

4. möchte / ich / Urlaub / so / fahren / gern / in / den

5. auf / du / freust / dich / schon / Weihnachten / auf / ?

6. kommst / wann / besuchen / du / mich / endlich / ?

Do you remember all of the German modal verbs / auxiliaries?….

Hmmm…. sollen (to be supposed to/should), müssen (have to/must), können (can/be able to), dürfen (be allowed to), wollen (want), mögen (like).

In the present tense, the conjugated auxilary verb comes second as usual. e.g. Ich muss nach Hause fahren. I have to go home.

In the future tense, the auxiliary verb is at the end of the sentence. Why? You need the German verb “werden” to form the future tense and that’s the verb you conjugate. Every other verb that is being used has to be in the infinitive now. And infinitives never come second.

The rule is: “werden” + 2 x infinitive

e.g.

Ich werde nach Hause fahren müssen. I will have to go home.

Du wirst ins Kino gehen dürfen. You will be allowed to go to the movies.

Last but not least I want to talk about separable prefix verbs and how the imperative works for them. Wait… what?? ;)

Many verbs with prefixes are separable i.e. you can… no you sometimes have to rip the verb stem off the prefix in order to form a nice verb conjugation. Sounds difficult but it isn’t.

Example: aufstehen = (to) get up

du-imperative: Steh auf!

Sie-imperative: Stehen Sie auf!

ihr-imperative: Steht auf!

As you can see, the prefix is now at the end of the command! :)

To express the idea of “can” “to be able to” etc. you’ll need to learn how to conjugate the irregular verb “können”. :)

Present tense:

ich kann; du kannst; er/sie/es kann; wir können; ihr könnt; sie können

Simple past:

ich konnte; du konntest; er/sie/es konnte; wir konnten; ihr konntet; sie konnten

past participle:

gekonnt e.g. Ich habe gekonnt. Du hast gekonnt. etc.

“wollen” is another frequent verb in German which expresses the English idea of “to want” “would like to” etc. Unfortunately, it’s irregular, so there are a couple of forms which you’ll have to memorize.

Present tense:

ich will; du willst; er/sie/es will; wir wollen; ihr wollt; sie wollen

Simple past:

ich wollte; du wolltest; er/sie/es wollte; wir wollten; ihr wolltet; sie wollten

past participle:

gewollt e.g. Ich habe gewollt. Du hast gewollt. etc.

The German verb “müssen” expresses the English idea of “must” “have to” etc. It is an irregular verb whose forms you will have to memorize since it’s as frequently used as in English ;)

Present tense:

ich muss; du musst; er/sie/es muss; wir müssen; ihr müsst; sie müssen

Simple past:

ich musste; du musstest; er/sie/es musste; wir mussten; ihr musstet; sie mussten

past participle:

gemusst e.g. Ich habe gemusst. Du hast gemusst etc.

I’ve already written some posts about the sentence structure in statements and questions - but not about subordinate clauses, which is of course also very important to know!

The basic rule - and most important thing to remember - is: the conjugated verb comes last! (in English it doesn’t, so that’s why you might make mistakes in the beginning!)

Compare: Peter geht ins Bett, weil er müde ist. -> everything after the comma is the subordinate clause. The conjugated verb is “ist”.

Peter is going to bed because he IS tired. -> As you can see, the conjugated verb follows the subject in English.

Correct spelling is important, especially in your educational or job life. A mistake that is made very often (even by native speakers) is the spelling of das(s). So today I’d like to tell you when to write it with one and when to write it with two s and I hope it’ll be clearer to you :).

1. DAS - with only one “s”:

- the direct article, neuter gender (the): das Auto, das Haus etc.

- the demonstrative pronoun (you can also use “dies” instead): Das ist ja toll! This is great!

- the relative pronoun (you can also use welches instead): Das Buch, das ich gestern gelesen habe, war sehr interessant. The book (which) I read yesterday was really interesting.

2. DASS - with two “s”:

There’s only one case in which you spell it with two s: Whenever it’s used as a conjunction!

e.g. Ich möchte, dass du mich anrufst. I would like you to call me.

Ich finde es blöd, dass du mich noch nicht angerufen hast. I think it sucks that you haven’t given me a call yet.

Last time, we learned how to form the present perfect in German and we also had a little blackboard exercise to practise.

Today I’d like to tell you more about the usage:

Germans use the present perfect mostly in conversations. Very often, they express all kinds of things that happened in the past using this tense - even though technically (and in written language) you would have to use the simple past. This can be confusing to English speakers and so it’s important to know about it.

Compare:

Ich bin gestern ins Kino gegangen = I went to the movies yesterday.

Ich habe letztes Jahr meinen Brieffreund besucht. = I vistited my penpal last year.

… and form the PRESENT PERFECT of the following verbs:

Example: essen (they) = sie haben gegessen

1. bleiben (I)

2. lachen (you, singular)

3. trinken (she)

4. einkaufen (you, plural)

5. gehen (we)

6. einschlafen (I)

7. schreiben (they)

8. fahren (you, singular)

…?