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.)

Many verbs in German are paired with specific prepositions. Quite often, these prepositions have nothing to do with location or direction. Examples in English would be: “to think about”, “to wait for”, “to be afraid of”, etc. Knowing which preposition to use is so natural that the native English speaker doesn’t have to think about it at all. It’s automatic. But when the English learner repeatedly uses incorrect verb-preposition combinations, it can cause that person sound overly “foreign”. The same problem can occur in German if the German learner isn’t aware of which specific preposition(s) to use for a given verb. This handout provides a list of over 60 common German verb-preposition combinations that a student is likely to encounter in normal conversation, writing and media reporting. (Grammatical case is indicated for 2-way prepositions.)

This handout breaks down some of the most commonly encountered stem-changing verbs by vowel change type. For example, verbs with ‘a’ to ‘ä’ vowel changes are grouped together and studied as a unit. There are always exceptions to some of these patterns, and these are noted in the handout. Twenty-one verbs are looked at in total. At the end of the lesson are 8 different stem-changing verbs used in sample sentences (three examples are provided for each verb).

The subjunctive mood (Konjunktiv II) is often first introduced to students when learning how to make polite requests. Here, we show how the verbs ‘können’ and ‘werden’ are converted into their subjunctive forms. The relationship between ‘mögen’ and ‘möchten’ is also discussed.

This short, two-page story about Jana and her vegetable garden can be used to test students’ knowledge of various coordinating and subordinating conjunctions. Students reading the story will fill in the blanks with the appropriate conjunction. Included is a small glossary, an answer key and an English translation of the text. Appropriate for 2nd or 3rd-year students of German, or for adult learners at around the A2.2 level.

Single-page printable on various kitchenware, cookware and eating utensils. Small glossary included.

A2.2-level grammar review test covering: subjunctive forms of ‘werden’, ‘sein’ & ‘haben’ (würden, wären, hätten), comparative & superlative (predicate adjectives & adverbs), ‘trotzdem’ vs. ‘deshalb’, adjective endings. The test consists entirely of fill-in-the-blank questions and tables. It’s suitable as an end-of-course assessment for informal adult courses, but can also be used for 2nd or 3rd-year students of German at the high school or college level. An answer key is provided. Some annotations explaining grammar are also shown.

A2.2-level grammar review test covering: Prepositions governing location and direction (dative & two-way), how to navigate roads (‘um… herum’, ‘an… vorbei’, ‘entlang’, etc.), conjunctions (‘denn’, ‘weil’, ‘damit’, ‘dass’ & ‘sodass’ ), the adverb ‘deshalb’, using verbs with two-way prepositions (‘stellen’, ‘stehen’, ‘legen’, ‘liegen’, ‘hängen’, ‘stecken’ ). The test consists entirely of fill-in-the-blank questions and translation exercises (English to German). It’s suitable as an end-of-course assessment for informal adult courses, but can also be used for 2nd or 3rd-year students of German at the high school or college level. An answer key with annotations is included. English translations of the German text is also provided.

This short, two-page story about a small Bavarian village in northern Georgia tests students on adjective endings in all four cases. Empty blanks appear after each adjective to be filled in with the appropriate ending. Included is a small glossary, an answer key (color-coded and annotated) and an English translation of the text. Appropriate for 2nd or 3rd-year students of German, or for adult learners at around the A2.2 level.

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.

A1.2-level grammar review test covering: Prepositions of location and direction, including the 2-way prepositions, the difference between ‘nach’, ‘in’ and ‘zu’ when saying “to”, the difference between ‘bei’, ‘an’ and ‘in’ when saying “at”, the difference between ‘von’ and ‘aus’, giving directions (Wegbeschreibungen) and using verbs containing ‘steigen’ (einsteigen, aussteigen, umsteigen). The test consists entirely of fill-in-the-blank questions and includes some English to German translation. It’s suitable as an end-of-course assessment for informal adult courses, but can also be used for 1st and 2nd-year students of German at the high school or college level. An answer key and some annotations are provided. Translations of the German text are also provided at the end of the handout.

This 2-page study guide goes over the so-called “W” words, which often appear at the beginning of questions in German. The words ‘was’, ‘wie’, ‘wie viel’, ‘wer’, ‘wann’, ‘wo’, ‘woher’, ‘wohin’, ‘warum’ and ‘welch-’ are all covered here. Important grammar notes and exceptions to the normal rules are included. Each question word is shown in two or more example sentences.

A short, two-page lesson on the verb ‘möchten’, complete with conjugation tables. This verb is compared with its parent form ‘mögen’ and is a good first introduction to the German subjunctive mood (Konjunktiv II). Color-coded example sentences and some cultural notes are included.

This is a brief 2-page handout introducing students to the very basics of the German ‘Perfekt’ tense. The ‘Perfekt’ is similar in appearance and structure to the English present perfect tense, however, the way in which it’s used is different. The ‘Perfekt’ is widely used in colloquial German when referring to events in the past. It is formed by using a helping verb together with a past participle. Similar to English, participles can be either regular (“weak”) or irregular (“strong”). Examples of weak and strong participles are provided along with sample sentences in German.

This brief handout explains how to use separable verbs in the ‘Perfekt’ tense. Participles for eleven different separable verbs are shown here in example sentences. Some elementary knowledge of the ‘Perfekt’ tense is recommended before using this study guide.

When forming the ‘Perfekt’ tense in German, most participles appear together with the helping verb ‘haben’. However, there are many participles with ‘sein’ as the helping verb. This handout explains how to tell which participles fall into this category. Twenty separate infinitives and their participles are shown — with many of these in example sentences. The handout also includes an extra bonus section on participles without the “ge-” prefix.

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 3-page set of study notes provides common rules and exceptions for forming the plural in German and can be used for test prep. This is not an exhaustive lesson on how to form the plural in all circumstances — but a list of some of the tendencies, set rules, exceptions and common idiosyncrasies the beginner is most likely to run across.