GERMAN GRAMMAR IN USE FULL

When you form sentences in the Futur I tense, you only have to conjugate the auxiliary. (ich – Album anhören – Lieblingsband my = meiner) I listened to the new album of my favorite band. Präteritum – Preterit (equals simple past)Įxample sentence: Franka hörte Musik. All you have to do is to put the same statements into the appropriate tense. Don’t worry, the sentences are of the same type like in 1. I give you some English sentences, which you have to translate into German. – Let’s listen (ourselves) what he has to tell (us).Īnd now it’s your turn. Hören wir (uns an), was er (uns) zu sagen hat. In German, however, you must make your point more distinct.Ģc. When you would like that somebody listens to you, you simply have to give the command “Listen!” in English. (Johannes is listening to the new album of his favorite band.) Johannes hört sich das neue Album seiner Lieblingsband an. When you would like to use any of the compound verbs from above, you simply have to add the specific morpheme (which is usually also a preposition in German: zu – to an – at ab – from auf – on) to the end of the sentence.ġh. (Do they listen to the radio? / Are they listening to the radio?) (Do you listen to music? / Are you listening to music?)

In both case, you simple use the verb “hören” because here it is clear that you consciously listen to something. The example phrases for the Präsens – the German present tense – are “to listen to music” and “to listen to the radio”. Let’s have a closer look at the conjugations of “hören”. When you would like to use any of these compound verbs with the stem “-hören” you always use the conjugation of the core verb or stem verb “hören”. There is also a compound verb with the stem “-hören”, which has nothing to do with hearing, listening or obeying at all: abhören – to sound to intercept to eavesdrop to test sb.When you wish to make clear that you cannot simply hear somebody but that you are actively listening to that person, you have to use the verb “zuhören” instead of “hören”.įurther compound verbs with “-hören” are: You have to use it in some contexts when you wish to underline that you actively listen to something or someone. The verb “zuhören” is a kind of comparison to “hören”, so to speak. To do what an authority commands you: to obeyĪdditionally, there are several compound verbs with the stem “-hören”, which specify HOW you hear or listen.Otto did not dig that hole with the shovel.The German verb “hören” has got three major meanings: Otto hat das Loch nicht mit dem Spaten gegraben. before prepositions with indicators of place, time, and mannerĮxample: Wir wohnen nicht in Berlin.I called Petra, not you.Įxample: Das ist nicht fair! That’s not fair!Įxample: Sie geht nicht gerne schwimmen. This is not Udo’s car, it’s Susi’s.Įxample: Ich habe nicht dich gerufen, sondern Petra. I have her address, not his.Įxample: Das ist nicht Udos Auto, sondern Susis. Ich habe nicht seine Adresse, sondern ihre. before the definite article or possesive pronouns used with nounsĮxample: Er hat nicht das Essen bezahlt, sondern die Getränke.the perfect tense Example: Er hat gestern Nacht nicht geschlafen.

GERMAN GRAMMAR IN USE FULL

He’s not sleeping.īut before the full verb in compound tenses i.e. the present or past tense.Įxample: Er schläft nicht. at the end of a sentence with verbs in simple tenses i.e.Nicht can be placed in different parts of a sentence depending on what we want to negate or emphasise. We use nicht to negate sentences in German.

Nicht is similar to not, whereas kein is similar to not any/not a. When we make negative sentences in German, we have to use nicht or kein depending on the other words in the sentence.

German grammar in use