Personal information: name, age, family, where you live
Your own life, in German. And the first proper look at what happens to an article when the noun becomes the object.
Colours live this week
7 of 10 in playA thing, a person or a place.
An action or a state — what is happening.
Stands in for a noun — I, you, he, it.
the / a / some — and possessives like mon, ma.
Links words together — to, in, of, for.
Describes a noun.
Learn it whole. Do not take it apart.
Prepositions and adjectives join this week. Conjunctions like und stay plain until Week 4.
About you and your family
- Ich heiße…My name is…Ich heiße David.My name is David.
- Ich komme aus…I come from…Ich komme aus England.I come from England.
- Ich wohne in…I live in…Ich wohne in Wateringbury.I live in Wateringbury.
- Ich bin … Jahre altI am … years oldIch bin sechzig Jahre alt.I am sixty years old.
German says I am sixty years old, like English — not I have sixty years, like the other three.
- der Sohnthe sonIch habe einen Sohn.I have a son.
Der becomes einen when he is the object. The gender has not changed.
- die Tochterthe daughterIch habe eine Tochter.I have a daughter.
- der Mannthe husband
The same word as man. Mein Mann is my husband.
- die Frauthe wife
The same word as woman. Meine Frau is my wife.
- der Enkelthe grandson
- die Enkelinthe granddaughter
The -in ending makes a feminine version of many nouns: Freund and Freundin, Lehrer and Lehrerin.
- die Familiethe familymeine Familiemy family
- der Freund / die Freundinthe friend (m / f)
- die ArbeitworkIch arbeite zu Hause.I work at home.
- [im Ruhestand]retiredIch bin [im Ruhestand].I am retired.
A fixed chunk. Rentner or Rentnerin is the noun — I am a pensioner.
Mein and meine follow the noun
German possessives behave like articles and take the gender: mein Sohn but meine Tochter, mein Kind. So they are grey with the gender style, exactly like der, die and das. That is one of the places where German is more like French than like Spanish — and it means the possessive gives you a free extra cue to the gender every time.
Der becomes den, ein becomes einen
This is the first appearance of German cases, and it is worth meeting calmly. When a masculine noun is the object of a verb — the thing being had, seen, wanted — der becomes den and ein becomes einen. Ich habe einen Sohn. Nothing about the gender has changed, so the colour stays grey and the style stays bold. Only the job in the sentence changed. Feminine and neuter articles do not change at all in this position, which is a small mercy.
Sentence frames
- 1
Ich heiße name und wohne in place.
I'm ___ and I live in ___.
- 2
Ich bin number Jahre alt und ich bin [im Ruhestand].
I'm ___ and I'm retired.
- 3
Ich habe einen Sohn / zwei Töchter und number Enkelkinder.
I have ___ and ___ grandchildren.
Daily mini-tasks
Listening this week
Nico's Weg — the A1 course
Deutsche Welle, free on the web and YouTube
A drama series built for beginners, made by Germany's international broadcaster. The early episodes cover exactly this week.