What is the difference between ein eine and einen in German?
Ein is used for masculine and neuter nouns. “One man” is masculine so it would be ein Mann, while “one house” is neuter so it would be ein Haus. Eine is used for feminine nouns. If the noun is in the accusative case it’s einen (masculine), eine (feminine) and ein (neuter).
Why does German have 3 words for the?
The reason for this is because in the West Germanic languages, German unlike English or Dutch is kind of conservative with noun gender(masculine, feminine, neuter) and if the noun in the sentence uses the nominative, dative, accusative, or genitive cases.
Why do we use dative in German?
The dative case is used to indicate the indirect object of a sentence. It answers the question: To or for whom? Just as with the nominative and accusative, the articles and personal pronouns change in the dative.
Is EIS masculine or feminine?
The declension of Eis as a table with all forms in singular (singular) and plural (plural) and in all four cases nominative (1st case), genitive (2nd case), dative (3rd case) and accusative (4th case)….Declension Eis.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Dat. | dem Eis(e) | – |
| Acc. | das Eis | – |
Why is girl neutral in German?
The main and most important reason is that Mädchen ends in ‘chen’ and nouns which are diminutives and end in ‘chen’ are always neuter. Even young unmarried women were unimportant, hence they were addressed as ‘Fräulein’ (Words ending in the diminutive ‘lein’ are also always neuter).
How do you use ein and kein in German?
It is not possible to have a plural for the indefinite article ‘a’ – for instance you cannot say ‘a things’. But the negative form of ein (a), which is kein (not a), does have a plural form keine, which means ‘no things’. The following words change in the same way as ein and kein: mein – my.
What is the difference between Meine and mein?
Both mein and meine are used in German, to indicate possession or ownership, and they are possessive pronouns. The only difference between mein and meine lies in their gender where mein is used for the masculine gender while meine is used for feminine gender.
What does genitive mean in German?
possession
The genitive case is used to show possession. You use the genitive to show who something belongs to. In English we would use an apostrophe to indicate what belongs to someone or something, eg the school’s headteacher. The ‘of the’ (ie the possession) is expressed in German using the genitive case.
How can you tell if a sentence is dative in German?
Accusative case is the object of the sentence, and dative is the indirect object of the sentence. In sentences that have both a direct object and an indirect object, it’s usually pretty clear which noun has a more direct relationship to the verb: Ich hab ihm das Geschenk gegeben.
What is the indefinite article in German?
The indefinite article (“a” or “an” in English) is ein or eine in German. Ein basically means “one” and like the definite article, it indicates the gender of the noun it goes with ( eine or ein ). For a feminine noun, only eine can be used (in the nominative case). For masculine or neuter nouns, only ein is correct.
Why is German so hard to learn?
“One of the main reasons German isn’t all that hard to learn is that German and English originate from the same language families and share more similarities than you probably realize,” Richards wrote. “Both German and English are Indo-European languages that stem from the Germanic family of languages.
Why are there so many funny German words?
Since German is an ancestor to English, a lot of funny German words were passed down to us but changed in spelling over time. The original German forms of these words now have… Well, ‘interesting’ connotations. See for yourself below.
How to pick up German grammar intuitively?
No matter how many rules a language may have, many of them can be picked up intuitively. The more you immerse yourself in the language, the easier it is to digest the grammar as it comes along. When reading German (and do start reading it, no matter your level), keep an eye out for when ein, eine and einen are used.