SOME COMMON DIFFICULTIES

General problems

You can’t always translate German into English and English into German word for word. While occasionally it is possible to do this, often it is not. For example:

• Sentences which contain a verb and preposition in English might NOT contain a preposition in German.

jemanden/etwas ansehen	to look at somebody/something
jemandem/etwas zuhören	to listen to somebody/something

• However, many sentences which contain a verb and preposition in German DO contain a preposition in English.

sich interessiern für	to be interested in
denken über	to think about

Remember that German prepositions are of two types:

• Some are only ever used with one case, such as gegen (accusative), bei (dative) and außerhalb (genitive). For all of these it is useful to learn the preposition and its case by heart.
• The second type are used either with the accusative or the dative, according to whether movement from one place to another is involved or not. The translation of the same preposition from the last group can change according to the case being used.

Sie schrieb einen Brief an ihren	She wrote a letter to her brother.
Bruder.
Wir treffen uns am Bahnhof.	We’re meeting at the station.

For more information on Prepositions, see page 153.

A word which is plural in English may not be in German.

eine Brille	glasses, spectacles
eine Schere	scissors
eine Hose	trousers

Note that they are only used in the plural in German to mean more than one pair, for example, zwei Hosen = two pairs of trousers.

In English, you use‘s to show who or what something belongs to; in German you generally either use the genitive case or von + the dative case.

das Auto meiner Schwester
OR
das Auto von meiner Schwester	my sister’s car

For more information on the Genitive case, see page 11.

German punctuation differs from English in several ways.

• Decimal places are always shown by a comma, NOT a full stop.

3,4 (drei Komma vier)

3.4 (three point four)

• Large numbers are separated by means of a space or a full stop, NOT a comma.

20 000
OR: 20.000 (zwanzigtausend)	20,000 (twenty thousand)

• Subordinate clauses are always separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma.

Er bleibt gesund, obwohl er zu viel	He stays healthy, even though
trinkt.	he drinks too much.

For more information on Subordinate clauses, see page 177.

• When two main clauses are linked by und (meaning and) or oder (meaning or), no comma is required.

Wir gehen ins Kino oder wir bleiben	We’ll go to the cinema or stay
zu Hause.	at home.

Specific problems

Nouns with capital letters

Unlike English, ALL German nouns start with a capital letter, not just proper names.

der Tisch	the table
die Politikerin	the politician
die Königin	the Queen

Note that this also applies to verbs being used as nouns.

Sie hat ihr Können bewiesen.

She has proved her ability.

Three forms of you

In English we have only one way of saying you. In German, there are three words: du, ihr and Sie. You use:

• the familiar du if talking to one person you know well, such as a friend, someone younger than you or a relative

Kommst du mit ins Kino?

Are you coming to the cinema?

• the familiar ihr if talking to more than one person you know well.

Also, was wollt ihr heute Abend	So, what do you want to do
machen?	tonight?

• the formal or polite Sie if talking to one or more people you do not know so well, such as your teacher, your boss or a stranger

Was haben Sie gemacht?

What did you do?

-ing

Although English sometimes uses parts of the verb to be to form the present tense of other verbs (for example, I am listening, she’s talking), German NEVER uses the verb sein in this way. Instead, it uses the normal present tense of the verb.

Ich spiele Tennis.	I play tennis.
	OR
	I am playing tennis.

To be

The verb to be is generally translated by sein.

Es ist spät.	It’s late.
Das ist nicht möglich.	That’s not possible.

When you are talking about the physical position of something you can use liegen. You may also come across sich befinden in more formal contexts.

Wo liegt/befindet sich der Bahnhof?

Where’s the station?

In certain set phrases which describe how you are feeling or a state you are in, the verb haben is used.

Hunger haben	to be hungry
Durst haben	to be thirsty
Angst haben	to be afraid
unrecht haben	to be wrong
recht haben	to be right

Note that to say I am hot or I am cold etc, you use a personal pronoun in the dative case followed by sein.

Mir ist heiß.	I am hot.
NOT		Ich bin heiß.
Ihr is kalt.	She is cold.
NOT
Sie ist kalt.

When talking about your health, use the following forms of the verb gehen.

Wie geht es dir/Ihnen?	How are you?
Es geht mir gut
OR
Mir geht es gut.	I’m fine.

It

There are three ways of saying it in German: er, sie and es. These correspond to the three different genders, masculine, feminine and neuter.

Wo ist der Wagen? – Er steht da	Where is the car? – It’s over
drüben.	there.
Ich finde meine Uhr nicht. Hast du	I can’t find my watch. Have you
sie gesehen?	seen it?
Was hältst du von meinem Haus?	What do you think of my house?
– Es ist ganz schön.	– it’s really nice.

For more information on Gender, see page 3.

Date and time

When talking about a particular day or date, use the preposition an + the dative case in the following constructions:

Ich fahre am Montag nach Hause.	I’m going home on Monday.
Sie wurde am Dienstag, den 1. April	She was discharged from hospital
aus dem Krankenhaus entlassen.	on Tuesday, the 1st of April.
Meine Nichte hat am 6. September	My niece’s birthday is on the 6th
Geburtstag.	of September.

When stating the time of a particular event, use the preposition um + the accusative case in the following construction.

Ich bin um 9 Uhr aufgestanden.	I got up at 9 o’clock.
Der Zug ist um 22.30 Uhr abgefahren.	The train left at 10.30 hours.

For more information on Prepositions, see page 153.

There is, there are

Both there is and there are are translated by es gibt.

Hier gibt es ein schönes Freibad.	There’s a lovely open-air pool
	here.
In Stuttgart gibt es viele Parks.	There are lots of parks in
	Stuttgart.

The imperfect of modal verbs

Modal verbs never have an umlaut in the imperfect tense.

können (can, to be able to)	konnte
müssen (must, to have to)	musste
mögen (to like)	mochte
dürfen (to be allowed to)	durfte
sollen (to ought to)	sollte
wollen (to want)	wollte

For more information on Modal verbs, see page 136.

Er/sie/es parts of strong verbs in the imperfect

You do NOT add a –t to the er/sie/es parts of the imperfect tense of strong verbs.

er/sie/es ging	he/she/it went
NOT
er/sie/es gingt
er/sie/es sang	he/she/it sang
NOT
er/sie/es sangt

For more information on the Imperfect tense, see page 118.

Inseparable verbs in the perfect tense

Inseparable verbs have no ge- added to beginning of the past participle in the perfect tense.

Das habe ich schon bezahlt.	I’ve already paid for that.
Er hat sich endlich entschlossen.	He’s finally decided.

For more information on Inseparable verbs, see page 109.

Can, to be able to

If you want to say could, meaning was able to, you use konnte, the imperfect form of können, you do NOT use the conditional form könnte.

Sie konnte nicht kommen.	She couldn’t make it.
Er konnte das einfach nicht.	He just wasn’t able to do it.