German A1 Grammar: Complete Learning Guide

Sein is the most important verb in grammar in German. You'll use it to say who you are, where you're from, and what you do. Unlike regular verbs, sein doesn't follow a predictable pattern. Learn it from the start.

ich bin, du bist, er/sie/es ist, wir sind, ihr seid, sie/Sie sind

German has two words for "you": du for people you know well, Sie for everyone else. Sie is always capitalized, even in the middle of a sentence. That's how you tell it apart from sie (she/they), which is spelled the same but lowercase.

ich, du, er/sie/es, wir, ihr, sie/Sie

For yes/no questions, move the verb to the front. No extra "do" word like in English. For questions with a question word, put that word first, then the verb.

Kommst du aus Indien? · Woher kommst du? · Wie heißt du?

German builds numbers by saying the ones digit before the tens ("one-and-twenty" not "twenty-one"). Clock times are usually said relative to the hour, especially in speech.

einundzwanzig (21) · Es ist halb neun. (It's 8:30, literally "half nine".)

1st to 19th add -te, and 20th and up add -ste. For dates, use am + dative: am zweiten Mai.

Mein Geburtstag ist am fünfzehnten August. · Heute ist der dritte April.

Words like "my," "your," and "his" change form based on the gender of the noun: mein Vater (my father) but meine Mutter (my mother).

mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser, euer, ihr/Ihr

The owner decides the word, the noun decides the ending. Only the masculine changes in the accusative: mein → meinen, dein → deinen, and so on.

Ich liebe meinen Vater. · Wo ist deine Tasche?

Every German noun has a gender: masculine (der), feminine (die), or neuter (das). There's no reliable way to guess it. We teach articles together with each noun from day one so you learn the gender as you go, not as a separate rule.

der Tisch (the table) · die Lampe (the lamp) · das Buch (the book)

German verbs change their ending depending on who's doing the action (ich, du, er/sie/es, wir, ihr, sie/Sie). Some common verbs like sprechen also change their stem vowel for du and er/sie/es.

ich komme, du kommst, er/sie/es kommt, wir kommen, ihr kommt, sie/Sie kommen

In a German sentence, the conjugated verb always goes in position 2. The first position can be the subject, a time word, or a place. The verb follows right after.

Ich komme aus Indien. (1: Ich · 2: komme) → Aus Indien komme ich. (1: Aus Indien · 2: komme)

When a noun is the direct object (the thing being bought, eaten, or seen), masculine "der" changes to "den." Feminine and neuter articles stay the same.

der Kaffee → Ich möchte einen Kaffee. (I'd like a coffee.)

Three more essential verbs to conjugate. Helfen takes the dative, and werden means to become or will.

Ich helfe dir. · Sie wird Ärztin.

Welcher/welches/welche asks "which?" Dieser/dieses/diese means "this one." Both follow the same German article endings.

Welchen Tee möchtest du? Diesen. · Welches Kleid gefällt dir? Dieses hier.

These verbs take a person in the dative case. Think of it this way: the thing pleases the person, not the other way around.

Die Farbe gefällt mir. · Schmeckt dir das Curry?

The German imperative is used for instructions and requests. It has three forms: du, ihr, and Sie.

Geeta, sprich bitte langsam! · Kinder, hört zu!

Wo (where are you) uses the dative. Wohin (where to) uses zu, nach, or in with the accusative.

Krishna ist beim Arzt. Er geht zum Arzt. · Wir fahren nach Hamburg.

Mit (with, by) always takes the dative. Use it for transport (mit dem Bus) and with people (mit meiner Schwester).

Ich fahre mit dem Zug nach Delhi. · Wir sprechen mit den Kindern.

Some verbs split into two parts: the prefix goes to the end of the sentence and the main verb stays in second position. It looks strange at first but becomes automatic with practice.

aufstehen → Ich stehe um sieben Uhr auf. (I get up at seven.)

Use these for duration, "ago," "since," and "from...until." They are crucial for talking about appointments and schedules.

Krishna wohnt seit drei Jahren in Köln. · Ich bleibe für zwei Wochen.

Add -in to masculine German job titles to make them feminine: der Lehrer → die Lehrerin.

der Lehrer → die Lehrerin · der Arzt → die Ärztin

Modal verbs (can, must, want to) push the main verb to the end of the sentence. This is one of the first real shifts in German sentence structure.

Ich muss heute arbeiten. (I have to work today.) · Ich will Deutsch lernen. (I want to learn German.)

Modal verbs are used constantly in conversation. The modal verb goes in position 2, and the main verb goes at the end in the infinitive.

Ram muss ein Formular ausfüllen. · Hier darf man nicht rauchen.

To say where you were or what you had in German, use the simple past for these two verbs. Even in speech, people use war and hatte instead of the Perfekt.

Gestern war ich in Pune. · Geeta hatte Fieber.

Gut, gern, and viel are irregular in the comparative and superlative. Learn them as a set.

Ram spielt gut, Mohan spielt besser, Hari spielt am besten.

Man = one/you/people in general. Treat it like er/sie/es for the verb, always singular.

Man muss hier warten. · Hier darf man nicht parken.

By the end of A1 you'll recognize and start using the spoken past tense. It's built with haben or sein plus a past participle. Enough to talk about what you did yesterday or last weekend.

Ich habe Deutsch gelernt. (I learned German.)

To be polite in German, use Könnten/Könntest or Würden/Würdest instead of direct commands.

Könntest du bitte das Fenster öffnen? · Würden Sie mir bitte den Weg zeigen?

Pronouns change depending on their job in the sentence. Nominative is who does it, accusative is whom or what is affected, and dative is to or for whom.

Krishna hilft mir. · Ich sehe dich.

Denn = because. The sentence after it keeps normal word order, with the verb in position 2.

Sie bleibt zu Hause, denn sie ist krank.