PART 1 — The German Sentence
Engine
Build correct German sentences before worrying about advanced grammar.
The method from the uploaded material is simple and powerful: build one sentence, change one element, say it
aloud, and repeat.
• Main-clause verb position
• Personal pronouns and regular verbs
• sein and haben
• Articles and grammatical gender
• First steps with accusative
• nicht and kein
• Questions and sentence transformations
German becomes easier when you learn reusable sentence patterns instead of translating every English word
separately.
German Part 1 — The German Sentence Engine Page 1
1. Subject + verb + information
Your first reliable German sentence pattern.
In a normal German main clause, the conjugated verb is normally in position 2.
Ich lerne Deutsch.
→ I am learning German.
Du trinkst Kaffee.
→ You drink coffee.
Wir wohnen in Frankfurt.
→ We live in Frankfurt.
Sie arbeitet heute.
→ She is working today.
Position 2 means the second sentence element. A whole phrase can occupy position 1.
Identify the subject and conjugated verb in: Heute arbeite ich zu Hause.
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2. Personal pronouns
Learn the people before memorising complicated grammar.
ich = I | du = you (informal singular) | er = he | sie = she | es = it
wir = we | ihr = you (informal plural) | sie = they | Sie = you (formal)
Ich lerne Deutsch.
→ I learn German.
Du lernst Deutsch.
→ You learn German.
Wir lernen Deutsch.
→ We learn German.
Sie lernen Deutsch.
→ They learn German. / You learn German (formal).
Sie is capitalised when it means formal “you”.
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3. Regular verb endings
Make conjugation predictable.
For many regular verbs, the present-tense endings are: -e, -st, -t, -en, -t, -en.
ich lerne — du lernst — er lernt
→ I learn — you learn — he learns.
wir lernen — ihr lernt — sie lernen
→ we learn — you learn — they learn.
Ich arbeite heute.
→ I work today.
Wir machen das morgen.
→ We will do that tomorrow.
Conjugate machen for ich, du, er, wir, ihr, sie.
Learn verbs together with a useful sentence, not only as an infinitive.
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4. sein — to be
One of the two most important irregular verbs.
ich bin | du bist | er/sie/es ist | wir sind | ihr seid | sie/Sie sind
Ich bin müde.
→ I am tired.
Du bist nett.
→ You are nice.
Wir sind zu Hause.
→ We are at home.
Sie sind heute hier.
→ They are here today. / You are here today (formal).
Age uses sein + ... Jahre alt: Ich bin 45 Jahre alt.
Say: I am tired. We are at home. She is here.
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5. haben — to have
Learn it as a complete present-tense pattern.
ich habe | du hast | er/sie/es hat | wir haben | ihr habt | sie/Sie haben
Ich habe Zeit.
→ I have time.
Du hast heute Arbeit.
→ You have work today.
Sie hat einen Termin.
→ She has an appointment.
Wir haben ein Problem.
→ We have a problem.
sein and haben are irregular. Learn them by heart.
Make three sentences with haben: time, an appointment, a problem.
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6. Articles and noun gender
Learn the noun together with its article.
der = masculine | die = feminine | das = neuter | die = plural
ein = masculine/neuter | eine = feminine | plural has no indefinite article
der Tisch / ein Tisch
→ the table / a table.
die Arbeit / eine Arbeit
→ the work / a job.
das Kind / ein Kind
→ the child / a child.
Learn der Tisch, not only Tisch. The article is part of the vocabulary item.
German nouns are capitalised: Haus, Arbeit, Kaffee, Deutsch.
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7. Nominative and accusative
Start with “who does it?” and “what/whom does it affect?”
Nominative = subject. Accusative = direct object.
Masculine: der → den; ein → einen. Feminine, neuter and plural articles often look the same in nominative and
accusative.
Der Mann kauft einen Kaffee.
→ The man buys a coffee.
Ich sehe den Mann.
→ I see the man.
Ich sehe die Frau.
→ I see the woman.
Ich sehe das Kind.
→ I see the child.
Underline the subject and circle the direct object in Der Mann kauft einen Kaffee.
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8. Negation with nicht
Use nicht for general negation.
Ich arbeite.
→ I work.
Ich arbeite nicht.
→ I do not work.
Das ist nicht teuer.
→ That is not expensive.
Ich komme heute nicht.
→ I am not coming today.
Ich trinke den Kaffee nicht.
→ I do not drink the coffee.
There is no single English-style position for nicht. Its position depends on what is being negated and on the sentence
structure.
Make these negative: Ich arbeite heute. Das ist teuer. Ich komme morgen.
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9. Negation with kein
Use kein with nouns when there is no definite article.
Ich habe ein Auto.
→ I have a car.
Ich habe kein Auto.
→ I do not have a car.
Ich trinke Kaffee.
→ I drink coffee.
Ich trinke keinen Kaffee.
→ I do not drink coffee.
Sie hat eine Tasche.
→ She has a bag.
Sie hat keine Tasche.
→ She does not have a bag.
kein behaves like an article: kein Auto, keine Tasche, keinen Kaffee.
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10. Questions
Turn statements into useful conversations.
Yes/no questions normally begin with the conjugated verb.
Du lernst Deutsch.
→ You learn German.
Lernst du Deutsch?
→ Are you learning German?
W-questions normally use question word + verb + subject.
Wo wohnst du?
→ Where do you live?
Was machst du?
→ What are you doing?
Wann arbeitest du?
→ When do you work?
Warum lernst du Deutsch?
→ Why are you learning German?
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11. Sentence transformation lab
Train one sentence instead of memorising ten unrelated sentences.
Ich lerne Deutsch.
→ I learn German.
Ich lerne Englisch.
→ I learn English.
Ich lerne jeden Tag Deutsch.
→ I learn German every day.
Ich lerne abends Deutsch.
→ I learn German in the evenings.
Ich lerne zu Hause Deutsch.
→ I learn German at home.
1) Change Deutsch to Englisch. 2) Change ich to wir. 3) Add jeden Tag. 4) Add zu Hause. 5) Make it negative. 6)
Turn it into a question.
Change only one element at a time. This is the central practice idea carried over from the uploaded PDFs.
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12. Part 1 review
Check whether the foundation is becoming automatic.
1. I live in Frankfurt.
2. I work today.
3. I do not drink coffee.
4. Do you have time?
5. Where do you live?
6. I see the man.
Model answers: Ich wohne in Frankfurt. Ich arbeite heute. Ich trinke keinen Kaffee. Hast du Zeit? Wo wohnst du?
Ich sehe den Mann.
Mastery means you can say these without translating each word mentally.
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