German grammar: Indefinite articles- a/an lists

Maskulinium
Nom: Ein guter Mann
Akk: Einen guten Mann
Dat: Einem guten Mann
Gen: Eines guten Mannes

Femininium
Nom: Eine nette Frau
Akk: Eine nette Frau
Dat: einer netten Frau
Gen: einer netten Frau

Neutrum
Nom: ein kleines Kind
Akk: ein kleines Kind
Dat: einem kleinen Kind
Gen: Eines kleinem kindes

German Grammer: Masculine, Feminine, neutral and plural lists

Maskulinium 
Nom: der gute Mann
Akk: den guten Mann
Dat: dem guten Mann
Gen: des guten Mannes
Femininium
Nom:die nette Frau
Akk: die nette Frau
Dat: der netten Frau
Gen: der netten Frau
Neutrum
Nom: das kleine Kind
Akk: das kleine Kind
Dat: dem kleinen Kind
Gen: des kleinen Kindes
Plural
Nom: die reichen Kinder
Akk: die reichen Kinder
Dat: den reichen Kinder
Gen: der reichen Kinder

German Grammar: the cases

Nominative: The subject in the sentence/ the person carrying out the action

Accusative:
- The direct object in the sentence, usually comes after the verb
- The other person/ thing in the sentence who is affected by the action

*Verbs that take the Accusative case: sehen, kaufen, haben, trinken, essen
* Prepositions that take the Accusative case: durch, fur, gegen, ohne, um, entlang
+ when movement is involved: in, an, auf, hinter, neben, zwischen, u(e)ber, unter

Dative Case: Indirect object in the sentence/ the person receiving something

* Verbs that take the dative case: Antworten, danken, helfen, gelingen, gehorchen. geho(e)ren, glauben, gratulieren, folgen, fehlen, passen, nu(e)tzen, raten, vertrauen, schmecken
*Prepositions with the dative case: Aus, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu, gegenu(e)ber

Genetive Case: Indicates possesion

*Prepositions with the genitive case: Wa(e)hrend, wegen, statt, trotz, innerhalb, ausserhalb

German Grammar: How to form plurals

1. If the noun if masculine you add an (e) or (e+ umlaut) e.g der Berg---> Die Berge
2. If the noun is feminine ending in e you must add a (en) or (n) e.g die Frau---> Die Frauen
3. a female noun ending in (in) willl take the ending innen in the plural form e.g die Lehrerin---> Die Lehrerinnen
4. A neutral noun takes the ending (er) or (er + umlaut) e.g Das Kind ---> Die Kinder
5. Foreign words and abbreviations take an (s) ---> Das Auto---> Die Auto's.. Die Oma---> Die Oma's

Now try some examples..
der Bleistift
die Hand
das Jahr
die Mutti
der Fisch
das Brot
der Tag

Vielen Erfolg! :)

German Grammar: Gender of a noun (Der, Die, Das)

Each German noun demands a case. This noun can be masculine, feminine or neutral. In this post I will be listing some of the hints that indicate whether a noun is masculine, feminine or Neutral.

If a noun is Masculine..

• Months, days and seasons all take the masculine 'der'.. e.g der Januar, der Montag
• Jobs with a masculine connotation take 'der' e.g der Koch, der Artzt
• Alcoholic drinks normally take 'der'... e.g der Wein
• Words that come from verbs e.g der Besuch
• and the following endings on words normally indicate that you should use 'der'

- and/ant
- ent
- et
- eur
- ismus
- ist
- or
- ling
- er

If a noun is Feminine..

• Words that come from verbs ending in t normally are feminine
• words with the following endings are normally feminine

- ei
- heit
- keit
- in
- ion
- schaft
- tät
- ung
- ur
- ie
- e
If a noun is Neutral..

• Words from the infinitive of the verb will take 'das' e.g das Essen
• Adjectives as words e.g das böse
• International words e.g das Hotel, Das Auto
• and words with the following endings

- chen
- lein
- ma
- um
- ment

 

an tuiseal ginideach (the genitive case)

• If two nouns are next to each other and they form some sort of relationship then the second word will be in the tuiseal ginideach meaning the spelling of the second word will change.

For example: bean an teach: bean is a noun and teach is also a noun. they have a relationship together because we are trying to say 'the women of the house'. Therefore we must put teach in the tuiseal ginideach and change the spelling

answer: bean an tí

• if an action noun and another noun come together that means the second word must be put in the tuiseal ginideach and the spelling must be changed.

for example: ag déanamh an obair changes to ag déanamh na hoibre, ag tógáil an teach changes to ag tógáil an tí

• If a compound preposition (réamhfhocail comhshuite) comes before a noun then that noun will go into the tuiseal ginideach

Here are some examples of the compound prepositions...

• ar aghaidh
• ar chúl
• ar feadh
• ar fud
• ar son
• de réir
• le linn
• os comhair
• i gcomhair
• i lár
• i láthair
• i measc
• in aice
• i dtreo
• le haghaidh
• tar éis

the tuiseal ginideach is also applied with the following prepositions..

• chun
• dála
• timpeall
• trasna
• cois

an tAinmfhocal (the noun)

• There are two genders in Irish, Masculine and feminine.
• There are certain endings that suggest that a noun is masculine or feminine.
• Once you distinguish whether a noun is masculine or feminine and you add the word 'an', you must decide whether the word needs a séimhiú

First of all lets have a look at the endings that suggest the word is masculine...

• (e)adh
• (a)í
• án
• ch
• éad
• éal
• éan
• éar
• éir
• eoir/óir
• ín
• (i)úir
• a broad s
• ún
• úr

Now lets look at the endings that suggest a word is feminine...

• aíl
• (e)áil
• (a)ilt
• (a)int
• áint
• (a)íocht
• aois/ís
• chan
• (a)irt
• (e)ach
• (e)acht
• úil
• úint
• lann
• eog/óg

To decide whether we need a séimhiú on a word we must follow a rules table for each gender..

masculine rules table- tábla firinscneach

- má tá consan ann/consonant- do not add a séimhiú
- má tá guta ann/vowel- add a séimhiú
- má tá s ann- no séimhiú

Feminine rules table- tábla baininscneach
- má tá consan ann/consonant- add a séimhiú
- má tá guta ann/vowel-  do not add a séimhiú
- má tá s ann- add séimhiú (t)

Here are some examples..

• an eolaíocht

- it's a feminine word (baininscneach)
- it's a vowel
- the table says we do not need a séimhiú with this word
- the answer is: an eolaíocht

• an am

- this is a masculine word (firinscneach)
-it's a vowel
- the masculine table says to add a séimhiú
- the answer is: an t-am