Many verbs in German are used in tandem with specific prepositions. Examples of similar combinations in English are: ‘to think about’, ‘to be afraid of’, ‘to suffer from’, etc. Very often, these prepositions have nothing to do with location or direction, but instead link verbs to nouns in a more abstract way. German has its own set of verb-preposition combinations, but since the German learner doesn’t always have the luxury of hearing them being used in a natural environment, these combinations also have to be studied and memorized. By this point, a student may have already run across some of them: ‘denken an’, ‘sorgen für’, ‘Angst haben vor’, and a number of others. This lesson will introduce the student to verb-preposition combinations in a more deliberate and concentrated way, opening the door to greater fluency in both reading and speaking. For students wishing to skim the highlights of this topic, the first two pages provide a good introductory view. These students can skip forward to the “More Example Sentences” section at the bottom of page 6. Here, nine frequently occurring verb-preposition combinations are illustrated in different tenses. For students wishing to delve deeper into the subject, the rest of the document provides plenty of information and new vocabulary to help assist in fluency. Over 70 verb-preposition combinations are provided in this lesson. Twenty of these combinations are illustrated in example sentences, some color coded for clarity. (As a prerequisite, students should already be familiar with how to use reflexive verbs.)

In English we have what’s known as active voice and passive voice. The active voice is the typical mode in which people talk and write. An example of the active voice in English would be: “The center fielder threw the ball all the way to home plate”, with the noun ‘ball’ acting as the direct object. An alternate way of saying the same thing would be to switch the nouns and use the passive voice: “The ball was thrown by the center fielder all the way to home plate.” Although the ‘ball’ is still the thing being thrown, it’s now the subject of the sentence. This is the essence of the passive voice. The passive voice is used in many languages, including German. To form the passive voice in German, you use the verb ‘werden’ together with the past participle of the action verb. This handout takes a detailed look at the German passive voice, with mini-lessons and example sentences in the present tense, preterite tense and perfect tense. This handout also explains how to use modal verbs in the passive voice, both in the present and past tenses. The lessons end with a brief explanation on how to tell a passive-voice sentence apart from other sentences that also contain the verb ‘werden’.

This is a simple primer on adjective endings in the nominative case, geared towards students who are new to the subject as well as those who don’t feel comfortable memorizing charts. The lesson starts off explaining the differences between predicate adjectives and attributive adjectives. Endings for attributive adjectives following ‘ein’-articles, ‘der’-articles and with no article preceding are all explained in an easy-to-read format, color-coded in large fonts. The accusative case is touched on in the summary section at the end of the lesson. Two short quizzes with answer key are provided.

Complete lesson on telling time in German, using both “offizielle Zeit” (official time) and “inoffizielle Zeit” (colloquial time). Plenty of colorful graphics and clock faces help the new learner in most aspects of learning to tell time. Short quizzes and a summary of the lesson are included. As a prerequisite, students should have a grasp on how to count to 60 in German.

This 13-page handout concentrates on elementary German sentence structure and word order for sentences/clauses having one verb. The concept of ‘position’ is discussed as it relates to subject, verb,object and adverbial. This lesson is a good primer on sentence structure for beginners who are comfortable with conjugating verbs in the present tense and have studied the accusative case. More advanced students may find the lesson to be a good refresher. Students will learn about typical SVO statements, inversions, questions, 'W-Fragen’ (question words) and how to link clauses using coordinating conjunctions. More than 75 example sentences are included, many of them diagrammed and color coded. A summary of the lesson is provided at the end of the handout.**

This 14-page handout explains the placement of ‘nicht’ within a sentence, as well as the various nuances in understanding that different placements can cause. This lesson is for students who already have a good handle on basic German sentence structure, understand parts of speech, grammatical case and the TeKaMoLo rule. More than 75 example sentences are included, many of them diagrammed and color coded. A summary of the lesson is provided at the end of the handout.

This is a thorough primer on subordinating conjunctions and the placement of verbs in dependent (subordinate) clauses in German. The lesson starts out with a review of coordinating conjunctions and then compares how they’re used vs. subordinating conjunctions by comparing ‘denn’ with ‘weil’. Other conjunctions covered are: ‘wenn’, ‘ob’, ‘als’, ‘da’ and ‘obwohl’. The subtle differences between some of these conjunctions are discussed, as well as how they should be translated into English, and vice-versa. Also covered is how to formulate a dependent clause using separable prefix verbs, modal verbs and the ‘Perfekt’ tense. Approximately 80 example sentences are used in this lesson, the majority with parallel English translations and color-coded for easy understanding. A summary of the lesson and a page for taking notes is included at the end of the document.

This six-page printable covers basic two-dimensional shapes and common solids. Parts of this handout can be used by absolute beginners, while other parts may be more suited for those students at the A2 level due to grammar and vocabulary. Names and descriptions of the shapes are given in German. Students can translate the more difficult words into English using the embedded glossaries.

Possessive articles (also known as ‘possessive pronouns’), are noun modifiers used to indicate ownership or possession. In English, these are: ‘my’, ‘your’, ‘his’, ‘her’, ‘our’, etc. German possessive articles share the same endings as the article ‘kein’. If you know these endings, it should be easy to use the possessives. This very thorough 8-page handout explains how to use German possessives in the nominative and accusative cases. The handout is subdivided into 4 separate sections, each emphasizing a different grammatical concept, and is complete with charts and example sentences. Some of the example sentences are color coded as an aid to understanding the grammar. This lesson is at the higher end of the A1 level. As a prerequisite, it would be beneficial for the student to already be familiar with the possessive articles “mein”, “dein” and “Ihr”.

This is an extensive 16-page lesson on two-way prepositions (Wechselpräpositionen) and how they behave in the dative and accusative cases. The material is geared primarily towards students at the A2 level wishing to increase their knowledge of the subject. Numerous example phrases and sentences are given, some color-coded. Exceptions to general tendencies and rules are discussed, along with the occasional anecdote. Although not intended as a primer on two-way prepositions, some A1 students may find this handout useful. Simple 3D illustrations clearly show the function of each preposition in the two cases. By studying the pictures and the accompanying text in the colored boxes, basic concepts can be absorbed quickly. A summary of the entire handout is provided, beginning on page 15. Before using this handout, students should already be comfortable with article declensions in the accusative and dative cases.

Most students encounter the dative case just a couple weeks or so into their first German course, not yet knowing what it is or how it functions. In the beginning, we take it almost for granted that “Wie geht es dir?” means “How are you doing?” We also learn to say things like “Ich komme aus den Niederlanden”, or “Wir leben in der Schweiz” — without fully learning the underlying grammar. In this advanced A1-level handout, students will get their first nuts & bolts view of how this versatile and complex case works. Articles including possessives and ‘dieser-’ words along with their appropriate endings are shown in chart form and used in sample sentences. Also discussed are the dative personal pronouns. Students learn how to use dative prepositions and how to form contractions with prepositions and definite articles (zum, zur, beim, am, im, etc.). Nearly 70 color-coded example sentences are provided. A summary of the entire lesson is found on page 10 of the handout. (Pages 11 and 12 contain special example sentences with detailed grammatical notes). Before starting this lesson, students should already be comfortable using the accusative case.

Collection of 118 flash cards reviewing past participles of the most common beginner’s verbs and how to use the ‘Perfekt’ tense (Partizip II). Verbs with various separable and inseparable prefixes are also included. Example sentences with English translations and additional grammar information are provided as well. How to use the flash cards: Print double-sided (short edge) and cut along the dashed lines. The German infinitive and corresponding English meaning will appear on the front side of the card. The participle and example sentence will appear on the reverse. Participles are color-coded to show changes to the verb — for example, the addition of a “ge-” prefix, etc.

A writing exercise book with over 500 German words from A-Z, plus additional writing lessons on the months, days of the week, ordinal numbers, family members and German contractions (zum, zur, beim, ins, etc.). Layout in 8 x 10 format and can be printed in book form or as individual worksheets. Includes colorful illustrations. Perfect for mid-1st year students.