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South Africans in Germany

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Basic German Grammar

Here is a short introduction to the structure of sentences. It will help you understand what is the difference between a subject, object, preposition, verb and articles

English German Description Examples
Article Artikel Comes before a noun Definite (Bestimmte) – The (Die Der Das)
Indefinite (Unbestimmte) – a/an (Ein, Eine, Einen..)
Noun Nomen A noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea Car, house, girl
Always capitalised in German Auto, Haus
Subject Subjekt Noun – The person or thing doing something  
Object   Objekt Noun – Having something done to it  
    Direct (Akkusativ) The direct object is the receiver of the action
A direct object answers the question “what?” or “who?” In German Wen?
    Indirect (Dativ) An indirect object answers the question “to whom?”, “for whom?” In German Wem?
Pronouns   Pronomen A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. I, me, he, she, herself, you, it, that, they, each, few, many, who, whoever, whose, someone, everybody
Possessive Pronouns Possessivpronomen Words we use to show possession. Mine, yours, his
Verb Verb Action Eat, love, paint, write
Adjective Adjektiv Describes the Noun or Pronoun Blue , big, clean, old.
The young boy plays outside
Adverb Adverb An adverb describes a verb or anything apart from a noun and pronoun. How? When? How much? How often?  E.g. how does the boy sing The boy sings loudly
Prepositions Präpositionen   A preposition is a word or set of words that indicates location In, near, beside, on top of, behind. with

Visual Grammar – German