Deutsch Intensiv - Intensive German Course for Beginners

Let’s get down to some serious work straight away. In this lecture we’ll talk about German spelling and you will learn how to read some German words. You’ll definitely see that the language looks familiar.

You did really well in lecture 2. Let’s keep going. In this lecture you will make further progress and learn some more spelling rules.

In this lecture I’ll tell how to use this course most effectively. I’ll show you where to find the resources that accompany each lecture. We’ll talk about exercises and quizzes. After this lecture you’ll know how to move around and get the most out of it.

The last lecture in each section is to go over the main points in the section, highlight what is really important and what you should pay special attention to. In this lecture we'll summarize what we have learned about the course. And, when done, we'll be ready to get to the nitty-gritty of the course in the next section.

In this lecture we’ll have a look at some general issues you should be aware of before diving into more detail. These are issues concerning capitalization, voicing and double letters. You will also find out why you can come across different spellings of the same word, even within the same variety of German.

German consonants. Some of them sound familiar, others need more attention as they do not occur in English. Have a look at how they are spelled and practice the pronunciation.

In this lecture we’ll have a close look at German vowels and diphthongs. Some of them are easy to learn, others do not occur in English and require more practice. You already know some of them.

Congrats. If you are here, it means you’ve mastered German spelling and pronunciation. Well, at least got familiar with it. Now let’s move on to some more basics.

This quiz will test what you have learned in section 2.

Now, you're going to dive really deep into some essential stuff. This is a very comprehensive section and you'll touch on the basics of German nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs and pronouns. This will be the base you'll build upon later. So, let's get the ball rolling.

Nouns constitute the majority of words in any language. German is no exception. In this lecture you'll get to know quite a few nouns, you'll learn about the gender of nouns. You will also get familiar with German articles, which accompany nouns.

Nouns are important, but what would they be without adjectives? That's what this lecture is all about. Adjectives enable you to describe nouns. These are just the basics. We'll talk much more about adjectives later on.

In this lecture you will learn how to introduce other people. This is not very difficult. By the way, how do you say Mr. or Mrs. in German? – go and check it out.

Now that you can say something about things that are all around and other people, it’s high time you learned how to say something about yourself. How to introduce yourself? How to greet people? This is what we’ll talk about in this lecture.

Now that you can talk about yourself and other people, it would be nice to know also how to say ‘you’, ‘we’ or ‘they’. In this lecture you’ll meet the family of German personal pronouns. You will also learn how to use the verb ‘to be’.

You can now say quite a lot about yourself and other people. But how can you ask about other people's personal information? Their names, occupations etc.? This will be covered in this lecture.

This lecture is about regular verbs and how to use them. It’s also a good opportunity to enrich your vocabulary with some common verbs.

This lecture is about possessive adjectives. It's important to be able to differentiate between what is yours and what is someone else's. They also belong to the basics of the language and it's high time you got to know them better.

There are many frequently used pronouns in German, such as 'this', 'that', 'every', 'all', 'both' and a few others. In this lecture we'll have a closer look at them.

Adverbs modify adjectives, verbs and other adverbs. In German it’s very easy to form adverbs out of adjectives, but there are also loads of adverbs which are not derived from adjectives. In this lecture we’ll learn how to form and use adverbs.

Word order is very important in German and the sooner you get familiar with it the better. There are some quite strict rules to follow but in this lecture you will just have a look at the basic pattern. We'll talk about word order in interrogative and negative sentences in section 4.

So, here we are. We’ve made really rapid progress. In the next sections we’ll look in much more detail at each of the topics covered so far.

In this quiz you can test what you have learned in section 3.

In everyday speech we use positive and negative sentences, we ask for things or even order people to do something, finally we ask a lot of questions. But how to do it in German?. You can find the answer in the following lectures.

Before we go on, it’s important to know that questions, negative sentences, imperative sentences etc., they are all about verbs. Verbs are in the very center of this section. We’ve already covered some general rules about verbs but some verbs are a bit trickier than that. In this lecture you’ll discover the rules concerning verbs that are regular, but in a systematic way different from the ones you know.

There are quite a few irregular verbs in German. You already know one, the verb ‘to be’ and this is just the tip of an iceberg. But don’t let this truth get you down. It’s not as difficult as it sounds.

General and specific questions, frequently used question words like 'what', 'who', 'where', 'when' and more – this is what you are just about to learn in this lecture.

You know how to ask questions, now it's time to learn how to answer them. There are positive and negative answers. In this lecture you will learn how to use them. You will also learn how to answer negative questions.

What we said about negative sentences in the previous lecture is pretty exhaustive, except that we didn’t say all that you should know about negating nouns. There are some other rules that apply here, so go on and find out.

In the final lecture in this section we’ll ask and order people to do something for us. This is a lecture on imperatives.

So, as you can see this section was focused on verbs. Verbs are in fact extremely important and there's quite a lot to talk about, so we are by no means done with them yet. But now, for a change, let's see to the nouns, which are just as important as the verbs.

In this quiz you can test what you have learned in section 4.

In this section we'll concentrate on nouns and numbers. After you master the numbers, you can use them to form plurals. We will also have a look at the gender of German nouns and wonder whether there are any rules about it.

In this lecture you will learn how to use numbers in German. The names of the numbers themselves are not very difficult but you should pay attention to how numbers are joined together to form larger numbers. This may seem a bit strange at first glance.

Now that you know the numbers, you can use them to form plurals. Plurals in German are not as straightforward as in English and mastering them involves quite a lot of memorizing, but there are certain hints that can facilitate the process a bit.

Did you know that nouns such as ‘girl’ or ‘woman’ are not feminine in German? Actually, they’re neuter. Well, whereas for most cases the rule that male and female creatures are masculine and feminine gender respectively works fine, sometimes you may be surprised. In this lecture we’ll talk about the difference between natural and grammatical gender.

OK, this section was not very long. But we've covered quite a lot of stuff here. You can now count, use plural forms and surprise your friends by saying that girls are not feminine gender in German.

In this quiz you can test what you have learned in section 5.

In this section we'll talk about cases in general and the accusative case in particular. Cases may not be obvious to people using a language where they no longer exist so it's important to understand what they actually are. Then, we'll dive into the accusative case which is used to form direct objects. Sounds complicated? Well, don't worry, it's not that bad.

In this lecture you will just learn what cases are all about. In German there are four cases, but in some other languages there are more, so don’t panic! The good news is there are actually only three to learn because you already know the nominative case which is the one you’ve been using for quite a while now. We’ll touch on the dative and genitive cases here, but there are other parts of this course devoted to them. This section is focused on the accusative case.

Wondering why we haven't introduced the verb 'to have' yet and are only doing this so late? Well, the reason is that this verb requires the accusative case, which we are just about to introduce. So, in this lecture we'll talk about the accusative case and the verb 'to have'. Better late than never, isn't it?

You already know the verb 'to have' but this is just one of the many verbs that require the accusative case. In this lecture you'll get familiar with quite a few others.

The accusative case also refers to personal pronouns - just like in English, where you use ‘me’ instead of ‘I’ or ‘her’ instead of ‘she’ in the direct object. In this lecture we’ll practice personal pronouns used in accusative case.

German prepositions can be classified in terms of the case they entail. Some prepositions may be followed by two different cases, sometimes with different, on other occasions with the same meaning. Others force you to use a particular case. This is the (nomen omen) case with such prepositions as ‘against’, ‘without’, ‘for’ and a few others. Just remember to use the accusative case with these prepositions whenever you use them.

In this section you learned how to use nouns and pronouns as direct objects. You use direct objects in a huge number of sentences and that's why this topic is so important.

In this quiz you can test what you have learned in section 6.

You can say quite a lot in German now. But you are restricted to the present. What if you wanted to talk about the past? Well, there are a couple of ways to accomplish this in German and in this section we'll focus on one of them – the Präteritum tense. There will also be an overview of the whole system of German tenses, just like we did with the case system a few lectures ago.

The German system of tenses is simpler than in English. There are only six tenses. The difficulty consists in that there is no one-to-one correspondence between German and English tenses. In this lecture we'll just have a look at what tenses there are and again – you already know one tense – the present tense, which you have been using so far. As to the others, all in due time.

Es war einmal... – This is how many fairy tales begin in German. The tense used here is Präteritum and the verb 'war' is the past form of 'to be', something like the English 'was / were'. In this lecture we'll practice this verb, which shouldn't take us long.

As you remember, German verbs may be regular or irregular. The past tense of regular verbs is easy to make and this is the topic of this lecture. Just go through it and get ready for something bigger – the irregular verbs.

Let's stop here for a moment. Before we go on to the irregular verbs, it's advisable to mention German verb forms. They are pretty much the same as English verb forms, so, roughly speaking, English see-saw-seen is paralleled by sehen-sah-gesehen in German. We haven't discussed the third form in German yet, but why not learn the form now? It'll come in handy later.

And now, finally, it's time for the irregular verbs. There are quite a few in German, but many of them are, to some extent, similar to their English counterparts.

In section 7 we learned to talk about the past. Take some time to practice the forms, especially the irregular ones. It’s also advisable to learn the third forms of the irregular verbs, as we’ll be using them soon.

In this quiz you can test what you have learned in section 7.

Verbs – there's really much that can be said about them. Although this is a course for beginners, there are things you just have to know about them. And you will, as soon as you get through this section.

Modal verbs are used along with other verbs. They influence the main meaning of verbs. They play an important role in the language. Fortunately, they are not very numerous. Let's go and see for ourselves.

In this lecture we'll talk about reflexive verbs. They occur much more frequently in German than in English.

In this lecture we'll talk about a special verb, 'werden'. Its basic meaning is 'get' or 'become' and it's used to express change of state or process. Just have a look at the examples in the lecture and all will be clear.

The verb 'lassen' may be used in a couple of different contexts. This lecture includes some examples of the meanings the verb can convey.

The verb + accusative construction exists in English as well. Some examples are 'I saw her walk' or 'I heard you sing.' So, this is not something you should have problems with. Just revise the section on direct objects and accusatives if you feel like refreshing your memory a bit.

You've already had a few opportunities to see them – verbs with prefixes. In German there are a great number of prefixes that can be attached to verbs. They either modify the verb or totally change its meaning. Some of them are unpredictable, some are used in a systematic way. Some remain attached to the verb all the time, others happen to detach themselves from the verb in special positions, while not in others. Sounds daunting? Well, it's a broad topic. In this lecture we'll just talk about some prefixes that always remain attached to the verb.

Now it's time for something more advanced – separable prefixes. They are common in German and thus require special treatment. And remember – there's no way to learn them all. There are just too many of them. The point of this lecture is to show you how to use them in sentences correctly.

To complicate things even more, there are prefixes that may be either separable or not, like for instance 'um-' in 'umfahren'. Do we say 'Ich fahre um' or do we say 'Ich umfahre'? Well, it depends on what we mean. Prefixes like that change the meaning of the verb, so both versions are correct, just have a different meaning. In this lecture you will learn some more prefixes that behave like this.

Here we are at last. Tired of verbs? Yes, we've done a really good job. We've seen all the major flavors of verbs and now you are much more competent in German than before. I think I'll give you a break now, at least as far as verbs are concerned, and we'll move on to nouns and pronouns in the next section.

In this quiz you can test what you have learned in section 8.

Remember the noun cases? You already know the nominative and the accusative case. In this section you'll get to know the dative. So, ready, steady, go.

An introduction to the dative case. How to use the articles and pronouns? Why does ‘die’ become ‘der’? Do we need any endings? Well, no time to lose, find out!

Just as we did for the accusative case, we'll introduce and practice some verbs that are followed by the dative. The list is long, but we'll concentrate on the most important ones.

And again, just like before, we'll talk about the dative of personal pronouns. In German they are different from those in accusative case. So, while in English we just have 'me', 'him' or 'them', in German we have a separate and distinctive set for each of the two cases.

Remember the reflexive verbs? Well, the ones we talked about use reflexive pronouns in accusative case. In this lecture you’ll find out that it is not the only way. Sometimes you must use reflexive pronouns in dative case and this is what we are going to look at right now.

In this lecture we'll discuss prepositions that are always followed by nouns in the dative case, like 'with', 'to' and some others.

What about sentences with two objects? One in accusative, one in dative? In this lecture you'll find out what rules apply in such situations and what order the objects should be in.

Some prepositions may be followed by either accusative or dative case. Here belong words like ‘in’, ‘on’ or ‘at’. So, when do we say ‘in die Klasse’ and when do we say ‘in der Klasse’? Can’t wait to know the answer? Go and check out.

Now you have mastered three quarters of the cases available in German. 75 percent! It's something! Nominative, accusative and dative – they're your good friends by now. The remaining case will be discussed a bit later and now it's time to revisit the verbs.

In this quiz you can test what you have learned in section 9.

Remember the verb forms we talked about a few sections ago? I then encouraged you to learn all the three forms even though we did not make use of the third one at that stage. Well, we'll make use of it now. This section is about the past again. This time you'll discover another tense, Perfekt, which is especially common in spoken language. You will also learn how to decide whether to use Perfekt or Präteritum.

The past participle is used in Perfekt. In this lecture we’ll make an introduction into the topic and learn how to construct sentences with both regular and irregular verbs.

As you probably noticed in the previous lecture, we can use either 'be' or 'have' as the auxiliary verb. But when do we use each of them? Does it matter? Well, you'd better check out right now.

There are some special cases you have to know about when using Perfekt. They include modal verbs and verbs of senses.

Now you can talk about the past and write about the past. You know three tenses out of six (including the present tense), which is not bad. If you feel fed up with verbs and nouns, which may be the case, the good news is we are going to talk about something else in the next section.

In this quiz you can test what you have learned in section 10.

In this section we’ll learn how to describe things and people. There are multiple means: adjectives, ordinal numbers, participles. What takes up quite a large part of this section is the adjective, this time preceding the noun. There are some rules that must be followed. Additionally, making use of cardinal and ordinal numbers, you will learn how to tell the time and the date.

So far we've only used adjectives at the end of the sentence. That's easy. When it comes to adjectives placed in front of nouns, things get a little complicated. In English you just say 'a good man', 'a good woman', 'a good child'. In German you have 'ein guter Mann', 'eine gute Frau', 'ein gutes Kind'. Plus: different endings in each case, different endings with indeterminate and determinate articles, different endings with pronouns etc. This may seem daunting. So, this lecture is a bit longer and even if you don't remember it all right away, feel free to come back and revise from time to time.

In this lecture you'll get familiar with German comparatives and superlatives. This is not a difficult topic, even the endings are similar to the English ones.

Ordinal numbers share a lot of features with adjectives. They behave like adjectives when placed in front of nouns. On the other hand, they are a bit different. So, what's similar, what's different? - Welcome to the realm of German ordinal numbers.

Now you can take full advantage of what you have just learned. Ordinal numbers are used in dates, just like in English. Apart from that, you'll learn much more about time and date: the days of the week, the months of the year, the seasons of the year, the parts of the day. You will also learn how to tell the time in a couple of ways.

Present and past participles also modify nouns. The former are easy to make, the latter – you already know them, remember the third forms of verbs? And when placed in front of a noun, they behave like adjectives.

This section required a lot of attention, especially the adjectives. Well, nobody had promised things would be easy, right? It's true, many students have problems with remembering all the rules, but don't worry - it comes with time. In the next section, for a change, we'll explore nouns again. Because we haven't yet said everything there is to say about them.