• Negation

    Negation: Nicht and kein

    In German, we can negate sentence elements with the words nicht and kein. It is important to know when to use nicht and when to use kein. Activity 1 Let’s explore examples with these negation words using Das Digitale Wörterbuch der Deutschen Sprache (DWDS), a large electronic collection of German texts known as a corpus.  Read the corpus examples below. Each example sentence uses either nicht or kein. A. B. Which rules best describe the examples in A? Activity 2 Let`s explore these negation words by using the DWDS corpus. Below is an image that shows example sentences with the negation words nicht and kein from the newspaper Die Zeit. They…

  • Vocabulary

    Vocabulary Module 15: essen

    In this module, you will learn some vocabulary to talk about eating (essen) using Das Digitale Wörterbuch der Deutschen Sprache (DWDS), a large electronic collection of German texts known as a corpus.  Let’s explore what words German speakers use to talk about eating. Go to DWDS homepage and type essen in the search box. Don’t forget NOT to capitalize the word essen! (If you capitalize it, you will get results for the noun Essen, ‘eating’). You will be taken to a page that gives you a lot of information about this word, but we will focus on the so-called ‘word cloud’ which is available in the Typische Verbindungen section. This…

  • Vocabulary

    Vocabulary Module 14: backen

    In this module, you will learn some vocabulary to talk about baking (backen) and baked goods using Das Digitale Wörterbuch der Deutschen Sprache (DWDS), a large electronic collection of German texts known as a corpus.  Let’s explore what words German speakers use to talk about baking. Go to DWDS homepage and type backen in the search box. You will be taken to a page that gives you a lot of information about this word, but we will focus on the so-called ‘word cloud’ which is available in the Typische Verbindungen section. This word cloud shows the words that commonly occur with the word backen; such words are known as collocates.…

  • Vocabulary

    Vocabulary Module 11: Kunst

    In this module, you will learn some vocabulary to talk about arts (die Kunst) using Das Digitale Wörterbuch der Deutschen Sprache (DWDS), a large electronic collection of German texts known as a corpus.  One of the most prominent arts is music (die Musik). Let’s explore what words German speakers use to talk about music. Go to DWDS homepage and type Musik in the search box. You will be taken to a page that gives you a lot of information about this word, but we will focus on the so-called ‘word cloud’ which is available in the Typische Verbindungen section. The word cloud above shows words that commonly occur with the…

  • Vocabulary

    Vocabulary Module 10: Hobby

    In this module, you will learn some vocabulary to talk about hobbies (das Hobby – die Hobbys) and leisure (die Freizeit) using Das Digitale Wörterbuch der Deutschen Sprache (DWDS), a large electronic collection of German texts known as a corpus.  Let’s explore what words German speakers use to talk about their hobbies. Go to DWDS homepage and type Hobby in the search box. You will be taken to a page that gives you a lot of information about this word, but we will focus on the so-called ‘word cloud’ which is available in the Typische Verbindungen section. The word cloud above shows words that commonly occur with the word Hobby.…

  • Vocabulary

    Vocabulary Module 9: Familie

    In this module, you will learn some vocabulary to talk about family (die Familie) using Das Digitale Wörterbuch der Deutschen Sprache (DWDS), a large electronic collection of German texts known as a corpus.  Let’s explore what words German speakers use to talk about family and family members. Go to the DWDS homepage and type Familie in the search box. You will be taken to a page that gives you a lot of information about this word, but we will focus on the so-called ‘word cloud’ which is available in the Typische Verbindungen section. DWDS word cloud for “Familie” retrieved January 26, 2023. This word cloud shows the words that commonly occur…

  • Vocabulary

    Vocabulary Module 8: wohnen

    In this module, you will learn some vocabulary to talk about living (wohnen = to live) using Das Digitale Wörterbuch der Deutschen Sprache (DWDS), a large electronic collection of German texts known as a corpus.  Let’s explore what words German speakers use to talk about wohnen. Go to the DWDS main page and type wohnen in the search box. You will be taken to a page that gives you a lot of information about this word, but we will focus on the word cloud, which is available in the Typische Verbindungen section. This word cloud shows the words that commonly occur with the verb wohnen; such words are known as collocates. The larger…

  • Vocabulary

    Vocabulary Module 7: Universität

    In this module, you will learn some vocabulary to talk about the university (die Universität) and other education topics using Das Digitale Wörterbuch der Deutschen Sprache (DWDS), a large electronic collection of German texts known as a corpus.  Let’s explore what words German speakers use to talk about university. Go to the DWDS homepage and type Universität in the search box. You will be taken to a page that gives you a lot of information about this word, but we will focus on the word cloud, which is available in the Typische Verbindungen section. The word cloud above shows the words that commonly occur with the word Universität; such words are…

  • Vocabulary

    Vocabulary Module 6: Kleidung

    In this module, you will learn some vocabulary to talk about clothing (die Kleidung) using Das Digitale Wörterbuch der Deutschen Sprache (DWDS), a large electronic collection of German texts known as a corpus.  Let’s explore what words German speakers use to talk about clothing. Go to DWDS homepage and type Kleidung in the search box. You will be taken to a page that gives you a lot of information about this word, but we will focus on the so-called ‘word cloud’ which is available in the Typische Verbindungen section. The word cloud above shows words that commonly occur with the word Kleidung. They are called collocates of Kleidung. The larger the word is in…

  • Vocabulary

    Vocabulary Module 4: fahren

    In this module, you will learn some vocabulary to talk about the verb ‘to drive’ (fahren) using Das Digitale Wörterbuch der Deutschen Sprache (DWDS), a large electronic collection of German texts known as a corpus.  Let’s explore what words German speakers use to talk about fahren. Go to the DWDS main page and type fahren in the search box. Do NOT capitalize the word fahren! (If you capitalize it, you will get results for the noun Fahren, ‘driving’). You will be taken to a page that gives you a lot of information about this word, but we will focus on the word cloud, which is available in the Typische Verbindungen section. This…

  • Vocabulary

    Vocabulary Module 3: Supermarkt

    In this module, you will learn some vocabulary to talk about a supermarket (der Supermarkt) using Das Digitale Wörterbuch der Deutschen Sprache (DWDS), a large electronic collection of German texts known as a corpus.  Let’s explore what words German speakers use to describe the supermarket. Go to the DWDS homepage and type Supermarkt in the search box. You will be taken to a page that gives you a lot of information about this word, but we will focus on the word cloud, which is available in the Typische Verbindungen section. The word cloud above shows the words that commonly occur with the word Supermarkt; such words are known as collocates.…

  • Vocabulary

    Vocabulary Module 2: Essen

    In this module, you will learn some vocabulary to talk about food (Essen) using Das Digitale Wörterbuch der Deutschen Sprache (DWDS), a large electronic collection of German texts known as a corpus.  Let’s explore what words German speakers use to talk about food. Go to the DWDS homepage and type Essen in the search box. Don’t forget to capitalize the word Essen! (If you don’t capitalize it, you will get results for the verb essen, ‘to eat’). You will be taken to a page that gives you a lot of information about this word, but we will focus on the word cloud, which is available in the Typische Verbindungen section.…

  • Vocabulary

    Vocabulary Module 1: Wetter

    In this module, you will learn some vocabulary to talk about weather (das Wetter) using Das Digitale Wörterbuch der Deutschen Sprache (DWDS), a large electronic collection of German texts known as a corpus.  Let’s explore what words German speakers use to describe the weather. Go to the DWDS homepage and type Wetter in the search box. You will be taken to a page that gives you a lot of information about this word, but we will focus on the word cloud, which is available in the Typische Verbindungen section. The word cloud above shows words that commonly occur with the word Wetter; such words are known as collocates. The larger…

  • Collocations with Prepositions

    Two-Way Prepositions

    In this module, you will review the usage of German two-way prepositions with the correct usage of the definite articles. Two-way prepositions are prepositions which take either the accusative or the dative case. Depending on the context, you will need to choose the accusative or dative case after the two-way prepositions. Let’s first start by reviewing the definite articles in the Accusative and Dative cases. Here are some examples of the cases in context. Look at these sentences with the preposition in. Accusative Masculine: Der Vater geht in den Keller. Feminine: Die Mutter fährt das Auto in die Garage. Neuter: Das Kind läuft in das Haus. Dative Masculine:  Der Vater ist…

  • Adjective Endings

    Adjective Endings 5

    In this module, you will learn about the mixed declension of adjectives, which is used whenever there is an indefinite article preceding the adjective. You will practice using such adjectives with nouns in the dative case.  We will begin with nouns in the dative case that indicate an indirect object seen with verbs like helfen (to help), danken (to thank), antworten (to answer), etc. Recall that in German, the article in the dative case changes depending on the the gender of the noun it modifies. For example:

  • Adjective Endings

    Adjective Endings 4

    In this module, you will learn about the mixed declension of adjectives, which is used whenever there is an indefinite article preceding the adjective. You will practice using such adjectives with nouns in the accusative case. The accusative case is used in a range of roles in a sentence. In this module, we will focus on examples that use the accusative case to indicate the direct object as seen with verbs like haben (to have), tragen (to wear), kaufen (to buy), etc. Recall that in German, the article in the accusative case changes depending on the gender of the noun it modifies. For example:

  • Adjective Endings

    Adjective Endings 2

    In this module you will learn about the strong declension of adjectives, which is used whenever there is no article preceding the adjective. Because  there is no article with an ending (such as der, den, dem, einer, einen, einem, etc.), the adjective has to take the ending. The adjective endings are almost identical to the articles and indicate the gender, case and number of the noun. In this module it is very important to know the cases to be able to use the correct adjective endings. Please go back to the module Adjectives Endings 1 if you would like a brief review of cases.

  • Adjective Endings

    Adjective Endings 1

    In this module you will learn about the weak declension of adjectives, which is used whenever the definite article precedes the adjective (such as der, den, dem, etc.). The weak declension has only two possible endings (-e or -en), so you only need to focus on when each ending is used. That is dependent on both the case and the gender of the noun phrase.