NOUNS part2(§7 - §16)

                                                                                                                                         ⏪ CONTENTS

           SHORTCUT TO NOUNS part1(§1 - §6) ⏩

§7  Many dictionaries show noun plurals by using a kind of shorthand: der Mann, ¨-er
      This entry means that the word Mann is masculine (der Mann), that the plural adds an
      -er to the stem, and that the stem vowel (Mann) is umlauted (Männer). (Note the
       similarity to English ‘man—men’.) Dictionary entries for the other words listed above are
           die Flasche, -n         die Wurst, ¨-e              der Engländer, -
           das Ticket, -s           die Kanadierin, -nen
§8   Gender is irrelevant in the plural. That is, regardless of gender, the dictionary forms of
       all plural nouns are identified by die: die Männer, die Tickets, die Kanadierinnen.
       This does not mean that all nouns somehow “become” feminine in the plural!
§9   In addition to gender (masculine, feminine, neuter) and number (singular, plural), all
       German nouns appear in one of four different cases according to their function within a
       sentence.
§10 Nouns can show possession in a number of ways:
        a) Personal names add an -s, just as English names do. This is true of both
            masculine and feminine names: Karls Freundin, Martinas Mutter.
       b) Phrases such as ‘my father’s friend’ are expressed in the form
            the friend of my father
           One common equivalent uses the dative preposition von:
                                                   meinem Vater
                der Freund   von   ⇶ meiner Schwester
                                                  meinen Eltern
       c) Written German often uses the genitive case (without von!) to express possession.
            The genitive case is sometimes encountered in spoken German as well:
                                                  meines Vater
               der Freund             ⇶ meiner Schwester
                                                  meiner Eltern
       • In the genitive case, most singular masculine and neuter nouns end
         with an -s. An -e- is often inserted before the -s after nouns of one
         syllable. The article or other limiting word also ends in -es:
             NOMINATIVE           GENITIVE
             der Vater                   Vorname des Vaters
             der Großvater           Freunde meines Großvaters
             das Jahr                    Ende des Jahres
       • Feminine nouns have no characteristic genitive ending. The article
         or other limiting word, if there is one, ends in -er:
         die Kinder meiner Tante        der Preis der Fahrkarte
       • Plural nouns have no characteristic genitive ending. The article or
         other limiting word, if there is one, ends in -er:
         die Eltern meiner Freunde
       • Spoken German tends to avoid genitive constructions. Speakers
         most often paraphrase by using the preposition von with the dative.
         See Nouns §10b above.
       NOTE: The genitive is commonly used to express indefinite past and future time,

       time about which the speaker is not certain. The most common such expression

       is eines Tages ‘one day’, a staple of storytelling or planning:
       Eines Tages wurde der König aber krank und ließ seine drei Söhne zu sich kommen.
       But one day the king became sick and bade his three sons come to him.
       Wir müssen unbedingt eines Tages zusammen Kafee trinken!
       We’ll just have to get together for coffee sometime
§11 Compound nouns are formed from two or more nouns, or from nouns and other parts
       of speech such as adjectives or verbs. The last element of a compound noun is
       always a noun, and this noun always determines the gender of the compound:
       noun + noun:               der Sport      + das Fest ⇒ das Sportfest
                                           die Kartoffel + der Salat ⇒ der Kartoffelsalat
       verb + noun:                fahren          + die Karte ⇒ die Fahrkarte
                                           sprechen   + die Stunde ⇒ die Sprechstunde
                                                                                      (office hours)
       adjective + noun:         weiß             + der Wein ⇒ der Weißwein
                                           groß            + die Mutter ⇒ die Großmutter
       verb + 2 nouns:           braten + die Wurst + der Stand ⇒ der Bratwurststand

§12 A very few singular nouns add an -n or -en in the accusative, dative, and genitive cases
            NOMINATIVE      but      ACCUSATIVE, DATIVE, GENITIVE
           Herr                                 Herrn
           Student                           Studenten
           Soldat                             Soldaten
           Junge                             Jungen
           Mensch                           Menschen
§13 (See Adjectives §16) One of the nouns in §12, der Junge ‘boy’, is really a noun 
       formed from an adjective (jung ‘young’, hence ‘the young one’). This is a very 
       common principle of word formation in German, and extends to neuter nouns
       as well as masculines and feminines:
        der Deutsche     the German (man)             der Alte the old man
       die Deutsche      the German (woman)        die Alte the old woman
       die Deutschen    the Germans                     das Alte that which is old; old stuff 
       Because these words are nouns, they are all capitalized, and because they 

       are also adjectives, they have the appropriate endings:       
       ein Bekannter von mir                       an acquaintance of mine
                                                                   (masculine nominative singular)
       ich habe einen Bekannten in . . .      I have an acquaintance in . . .
                                                                   (masculine accusative singular)
       Das sind unsere Verwandten.          Those are our relatives.
                                                                   (nominative plural)
§14 With few exceptions, all nouns in the dative plural end in -n. If no -n is present in the
       normal plural form, one must be added. The addition of the -n causes no changes in the
       rest of the noun. Looking at the group of six nouns in §5, we see that Flaschen and
       Kanadierinnen already end in -n. Therefore, no additional -n is necessary in the dative
       plural. But the other four nouns do not end in -n.Three of the plurals seen in context are
                die Männer         mit den Männern
                die Würste          mit den Würsten
                die Engländer     mit den Engländern
       Das Ticket / die Tickets presents a special case. Those nouns that have 

       plurals ending in -s do not add an -n in the dative plural. Typically, these words are

       of foreign origin, usually English or French. The most common ones are
               das Taxi              das Restaurant
               das Radio           das Baby
               das Hotel            die Kamera
      In the dative plural: mit den Taxis / Hotels / Babys, etc.
§15 The accusative case is used to express definite time. Common expressions 

       of definite time — time about which the speaker is certain — are found in
               Es hat einen Tag / zwei lange Tage gedauert.
               Wir spielen den ganzen Tag.
               Wir bleiben eine Woche in Berlin.
               Das dauert wenigstens eine Stunde.
§16  Infinitives (See Verbs §1) may function as nouns. When they do, they are always

        neuter nouns and are capitalized. They have the meaning ‘the act of ___-ing’.
               Das Schwimmen macht mir immer Spaß.
               I always like swimming        
        The word for ‘food’, das Essen, is formed in this way, and no longer means just

        ‘the act of eating’.
        Infinitival nouns are often used as the object of the preposition bei in

        a phrase meaning ‘in the act of __-ing’. Bei then combines with dem,

        the neuter dative definite article, as beim:
                 Beim Bergsteigen kann er nicht so gut atmen.
                 He can’t breathe very well when he’s mountain climbing.
                 Beim Aufwachen ist sie immer müde.
                 She’s always tired when she wakes up.
       Colloquial German even makes prepositional phrases into nouns:
                 ins Bett gehen > das Insbettgehen
                 Vor dem Insbettgehen trinkt er eine Tasse Tee.
                 He drinks a cup of tea before going to bed.