Konjunktiv I This subjunctive form is mainly used for reporting what
someone has said: Sie sagte, dass sie kein Geld habe‘She said that she
had no money’.
Konjunktiv II The subjunctive form of a verb used to express wishes
and imagined situations. Wenn ich nur reich wäre!‘If only I were
rich!’
main clause This clause consists of at least a subject and a verb. It can
be a complete sentence on its own or linked to other clauses.
mixed verbs Types of verbs that take on the characteristics of both
regularandirregular verbs, resulting in a ‘mixed’ pattern of endings
and forms.
modal verbs These are the verbs dürfen, können, mögen, müssen,
sollen,wollen, which express such ideas as permission, ability, obligation
etc.
negatives These are words used to negate a whole sentence or elements
of a sentence. The most common negatives in German are nichtand
kein.
noun phrases They consist of a noun and words connected to it, such as
an articles or an adjective etc.: ‘The red rose.. .’.
nouns Words which name persons, things or concepts. All nouns in
German start with a capital letter.
objects They are part of the sentence and at the receiving end of an
action: ‘She buys a car’. See also direct objectandindirect object.
passive voice In the passive, the focus is on the action, not the ‘doer’ of
the action: ‘The children are taken to school’. This stands in contrast
to the active (voice): ‘The father takes the children to school’. Here,
the stress is on the ‘doer’, i.e. the father.
past participle This is a form of the verb used to construct various tenses
and the passive voice. The English past participle of ‘to make’ is ‘made’
and of ‘to see’ is ‘seen’.
past perfect This tense is used when talking about the past. It refers to
an ‘earlier past’, i.e. to an action or event that happened before.
pluperfect Seepast perfect tense.
plural A term referring to the number of a noun, i.e. more than one.
possessives These are words like ‘my’, ‘your’, ‘her’, which indicate rela-
tionships between persons, things or ideas: ‘This was her idea’.
Präteritum Seesimple past tense.
prefix Prefixes such asan-, aus-, be-, ver- often occur with verbs:
ausgehen, besuchen etc. See also separable verbs and inseparable
verbs.
prepositions Words providing information about location, direction, time
etc. such as ‘in’, ‘to’, ‘for’.
212 Glossary of grammatical terms
111
2 3 4 5 6 7
8111
9
1011
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
2011
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
3011
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
4011
1
2
3
41111
