1. Lesson 1: Subject
1. REVISION: THE PERSONS, HABEN & SEIN, CAPITALIZATION
2. SUBJECT
3. NOMINATIVE CASE

2. The Persons
I: ich
You: du
He/She/It/One – er/sie/es/man
You (plural): ihr
They: sie
You (formal): Sie
We: wir

3. haben – to have (irregular)
Infinitive: haben
- ich habe
- du hast
- er/sie/es/man hat
- ihr habt
- Sie haben
- Sie haben
- wir haben

4. sein – to be (very irregular)
Infinitive: sein
- ich bin
- du bist
- er/sie/es/man ist
- ihr seid
- Sie sind
- Sie sind
- wir sind

5. Capitalization
- all Nouns are capitalized in German.
- only Sie (formal) is capitalized from the personal pronouns.
- adjectives are mostly not capitalized (including nationality, religion, ethnicity):
the Swedish teacher
der schwedische Lehrer
- adjectives are capitalized if part of a proper noun
die Deutsche Bank

6. Subject
A sentence must have a verb.
The subject is the Noun doing the verb.
The dog runs.
The two dogs run.
Matei runs.
I run.
The dog and the cat run.
My sister is running.
This is the same in any tense.

7. Identify the Subject
One exception in German: passive sentences.
What is the subject in these sentences?
The whole class found the grammar interesting.
We love grammar.
Yesterday, the plane flew from Berlin.
For me, flying to Berlin is scary.
Blue is the best colour.
Barack Obama is the President.
My mother is a doctor.
It is hard to understand grammar.
Who ate all the cookies?
This task is not the simplest.
What can you do in Germany?
Which of these words is the subject?
That’s quite interesting.
This is a hard one.
How is it going?
When will this challenge finish?
Is this OK?
Is it time to finish?
It’s not time quite yet.
But it is now.

8. Identify the Subject in German
Hint: Nouns are always capitalized except for most personal pronouns.
Der Mann spricht.
Es ist nicht schwieriger.
Wie findest du es?
Wie geht es?
Wird es einfacher?
Gehen Sie zu Hause?
Hint: ‘zu’ is a preposition, like ‘in’, ‘above’, ‘before’, ‘towards’.
Diese Aufgaben helfen uns, die deutsche Grammatik zu lernen.
Hint: there is only subject. Remember ‘zu + verb’ is the infinitive form.

9. Practice
To practice:
Print an article, underline the subject in each sentence.
I will put an extract on the Facebook group, and the answers next week.
To practice in German:
I will upload an extract from a (relatively) simple German book, and upload answers next
week.
If you need help or want more homework:
I will upload this slide show.
Email me (matei.s.gheorghiu@gmail.com); send a message on Facebook.
Google: ‘what is a subject in a sentence’.

10. The Nominative Case
There are four cases: nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive.
Anything related to the subject in a sentence is always in the nominative case.
Cases changes the endings of: the definite article (the), the indefinite article (a/an), adjectives
(big), and Nouns (dog).
e.g., for definite articles:
der Hund (nom.)
den Hund (acc.)
dem Hund (dat.)
des Hundes (gen.)

11. The Definite Article (the)
The nominative case is the simplest.
The definite article in the nominative case is how you find it in the dictionary.
der Hund
das Auto.
die Katze.
die Studenten. (Der Student- Die Studenten/Die Studentin – Die Studentinnen)
Masculine words: Der
Neuter words: Das
Feminine words: Die
Plural words: Die

12. The Indefinite Article (a/an)
The indefinite article in the nominative case:
ein Hund
ein Auto
eine Katze.
(k)eine Studenten. ((k)ein Student- (k)eine Studenten/(k)eine Studentin – (k)eine Studentinnen)
Masculine words: ein
Neuter words: ein
Feminine words: eine
Plural words: (k)eine
>> nicht ein(e) = kein(e) <<

13. The Strong Declension
An adjective is strong if it precedes a noun without an article:
Guter Hund!
Gutes Auto!
Gute Katze!
Gute Studenten (e.g. Gute Studenten machen ihre Hausaufgaben.)
It follows the pattern of the definite article: der, die, das.

14. The Mixed Declension
An adjective is mixed if it comes after an indefinite article (a/an) or possessive adjective (my/your).
ein guter Hund!
ein gutes Auto!
eine gute Katze!
Keine guten Studenten
Same as strong and definite article in nominative, except for plural.

15. The Weak Declension
An adjective is weak if it follows the definite article or strong declension.
Der gute Hund!
Das gute Auto!
Die gute Katze!
Die guten Studenten!
Always just add and –e in nominative except for plural.

16. Summary
Case Masc. Neut. Fem. Pl.
Nom. e/r/r -
e/s/s - e n/n/e
Acc. n
Weak: After definite article.
Mixed: After indefinite article, or possessive
adjective.
Strong:
When there is no article or for definite
article.
Prepositions
Bis until
Durch through
…Entlang against/along
Für for
Gegen against/opposite
ohne without
um about
wider against/contrary to

17. Practice
To practice:
I will upload some work sheets you can do next week, when we do the accusative.
If you need help or want more homework:
I will upload this slide show.
Email me (matei.s.gheorghiu@gmail.com); send a message on Facebook.
Google: ‘nominative declension in German’.