How to Learn German Grammar: Top 5 Tips to Successfully Hack the Language

1. Mastering Verb Conjugations

The first two fundamental verbs in German are haben (to have) and sein (to be). The conjugations for these have to be learned by heart.
One easy way to do so is to take a die made of either cardboard or wood and label all the pronouns: ich, du, er, sie, es... (I, you, he, she, it). Then, roll the die and state the correct conjugation for whichever pronoun appears. This trick works for verbs where the conjugations just have to be memorized.

How do you conjugate correctly? For regular verbs (where the stem does not change) such as trinken (to drink), machen (to do/make), suchen (to search), follow these simple instructions: Take the infinitive and subtract the –en. You are left with the stem. Then add the appropriate ending to the stem:

Ich (I): -e
Du (informal you): -st
Ihr (you all) and er, sie, es (he, she, it): -t

The conjugations for Sie (you formal), wir (we) and sie (they) remain the same as the 

infinitive, and this rule holds true for all verbs in German—regular and irregular.
Let us implement this rule on the conjugation of the verb machen (to do), as an example.

The infinitive is machen, and the stem is mach, so you get the following conjugations:

ich mache
du machst
er/sie/es macht
ihr macht
wir/Sie/sie machen

Next, we have irregular verbs with changing stems. It gets easier to remember such verbs by categorizing them into 3 main groups:

• Stem change e to ie. Eg: lesen (to read): ich lese, du liest, er/sie/es liest, ihr lest, wir/Sie/sie lesen
• Stem change a to ä. Eg: fahren (to drive): ich fahre, du fährst, er/sie/es fährt, ihr fahrt, wir/Sie/sie fahren
• Stem change e to i. Eg: geben (to give): ich gebe, du gibst, er/sie/es gibt, ihr gebt, wir/Sie/sie geben

You might have noticed that the verb conjugation rules are pretty similar to regular verbs. The only change is that there is a stem change in the du and er/sie/es forms—which is what makes these verbs “irregular.” 

This is pretty much the essence of conjugating regular and irregular verbs.

2. Getting the Word Order Right


The verb positions in German are quite rigidly placed and cannot be moved. And yes, this is exactly the way natives speak as well. It is a good idea to train your mind to start thinking that way.

There are three simple rules to remember in verb placement:

1. In W Fragen (W Questions), the verb comes second, after the question word:
Woher kommen Sie? (Where do you come from?)
2. In statements, the verb again comes in the second position (after the subject):
Ich komme aus Deutschland. (I come from Germany)
3. In yes/no questions (Ja/Nein Fragen) the verb comes first:
Kommen Sie aus Deutschland? (Do you come from Germany?)


Note that in all cases, the verb has to be conjugated according to the subject pronoun used. When we have helping verbs or auxiliary verbs, they take the positions respectively.
This is a little complex to master and can be learned when the basic verb placements are remembered. So it is a good idea to start with this first.
Exceptionally, time in German sentences can begin a statement (not questions though) or be placed anywhere. (I am thinking this has something to do with German people being sticklers for time, and so subconsciously they have made this a free entity to place in the language). Look at the following examples: 

Heute gehe ich in die Bäckerei. (Today, I’m going to the bakery.)
Ich gehe am Wochenende ins Kino. (I go to the cinema on the weekend.)

One useful tip that I have personally used to memorize word order is to box, circle, underline or write the verbs in different colors in the sentence.
This helps create a mental image that makes you feel as though something is wrong
whenever you misplace the verb and prompts you to place it correctly.

3. Memorizing Articles and Genders

The biggest monster in the German language is getting the articles and genders right. Often there is no logic as to why a particular non-living thing is masculine, feminine or neutral. 

For example, why is a chair masculine, but a bag feminine and a mobile phone neutral? 

No answer!  So we just have to memorize them.

Here are some useful tips for remembering genders in German:

Group similar object by function and type, then learn by exception.

For example, if we were to group all electronic gadgets in German, most of the objects are masculine. The exceptions are the mobile phone and the radio, which are neutral and the telephone, which is feminine.
If you group all beverages instead, you discover that hot beverages such as tea and coffee are masculine, strong beverages such as wine, vodka and
champagne are masculine, juices are masculine, and mild drinks such as water and beer are neutral.

Labeling is another useful technique. Take out a bunch of sticky notes, write the German word for the object with the article and paste it on that object in your house. Looking at this object every day with a sticky note on it embeds the article and gender in your brain.

For example, write down Der Tisch and stick it on the table, Der Stuhl on the chair, 

Die Tasche on the bag and so on.

German possessive articles are equally important. Use possessive articles correctly with the help of the following questions:

• Who is possessing the object? If it is me, use mein-. If it is you, use dein– or Ihr-, and so on.
• What is the gender of the possessed object? If it is feminine or plural, add an e at the end of the possessive article, i.e. mein would become meine, dein would become deine and so on.

4. Using Modal Verbs

The big five modal verbs in German are können (can), müssen (must), dürfen (may), sollen (should) and wollen (want). These are whole modal verbs, as a second main verb is required along with these verbs.

The partial modal verbs are möchten and mögen. They are partial modal verbs as they do not require a second verb.

You know the words. Now, how do you use them?

First and foremost, it is important to associate the context with modal verbs. You can use each modal verb only in a certain context:

können is used to express ability/talent
müssen is used to express forced conditions
dürfen is used to express permission in legal and personal situations
sollen is used to express advice
wollen is used to express a strong desire
möchten is the equivalent of “would like” and is used to politely ask for something like a coffee or an order 

mögen is used to express general likes and dislikes

Next, the conjugations for each of these verbs need to be learned. One can use the technique with the dice again.

Modal verbs are neither regular or irregular, they are just a separate set of verbs that work differently. They are mainly used as helping/auxiliary verbs.

In modal verbs, the ich and the er/sie/es conjugations are the same, which makes them a tad easier to remember.

After memorizing the conjugations, one final thing you will need to learn is the positioning of the words in a sentence.
In statements and W questions, the modal verb comes in the second position (after the question word or the subject), whereas in yes/no questions, it
comes in the first position, conjugated according to the subject pronoun. The second verb comes at the end in the infinitive form.
This makes more sense when you see it in use:

Wann kannst du morgen kommen? (When can you come tomorrow?)
Ich soll viel Wasser trinken. (I should drink a lot of water)
Darf ich hier parken? (May I park here?)

Again, the boxing or circling technique would help here in fixing the positions of the verbs in the mind.

5. Getting the Groove of Breakable Verbs

Breakable verbs are very much a unique feature of the German language and there are 
more than 12,000 of these. It is important to understand the syntax of breakable verbs and how they are used as well as where to place them in a sentence.
Every breakable verb comprises of a verb and a prefix. When used alone in a sentence or a question, (as in, the breakable verb is the only verb in the statement or question) the prefix is positioned at the end. Let us take a look at an example.

Anrufen (to call someone on the telephone) splits into rufen (the verb part) and an (the prefix).

Statement: Ich rufe meine Mutter an. (I call my mother.)

Yes/No Question: Rufst du meine Mutter an? (Are you calling my mother?)
W Question: Wann rufst du meine Mutter an? (When are you calling my mother?)

As you can see, the verb part is either placed in the first or second position, as usual, depending on whether it is a yes/no question, a W question or a statement and conjugated according to the subject pronoun.

It is also important to understand how exactly the breakable verbs work. The verb part is like the main tool, and the prefix is like an accessory. I can change these prefixes/accessories to form new meanings. Thus, it makes sense to list breakable verbs according to the verb stems, in order to remember their meanings well.

If you consider the verb stem fahren, there are series of breakable verbs possible with it:

abfahren: to depart—which breaks into fahren and ab (prefix)
losfahren: to drive away—which breaks into fahren and los (prefix)
zurückfahren: to drive back—which breaks into fahren and zurück (prefix)

In this manner, one can create word lists or trees with different verb stems of breakable verbs and improve German vocabulary!

In conclusion, it is wise to keep practicing various grammar exercises on a day-to-day basis, especially if you are not living in a German-speaking country.