German

[Sydney s]

Anyone taking German or know German? I thought I could start a study group.

I haven't taken a foreign language since junior high and I've recently gone back to college. I'm five weeks into it and could use some speaking partners.

[whatsername75]

Yes, I can. My german isn't perfect but I can speak/understand it pretty well.

[Witan]

Originally Posted by Sydney s

Anyone taking German or know German? I thought I could start a study group.

I haven't taken a foreign language since junior high and I've recently gone back to college. I'm five weeks into it and could use some speaking partners.

I could stand to keep my German in practice. Don't know how effective an online group would be, though.

[Sydney s]

I'm confused about ein and kein

For example, would it be...

Ich habe eine Mutter.
or
Ich habe einen Mutter.

Er hat keine Schwester.
or
Er hat keinen Schwester.

And why?

his/her....

Is
his=Sein
her=Ira
????

Ira GroBvatter sind seibzig Jahre alt.
Isn't there a proper way to format this sentence? something about putting the verb before the noun?

Danke Sie

[its_a_rick]

I failed horribly at German grammar so take this with a grain of salt.
I think her=ihre, so;

Ihre Großvater ist siebzig Jahre alt.

I'm pretty sure it's Ich habe (k)eine Schwester

[britisharrow]

Dear Sydney,

Congraulations on learning German, it's a great language, I studied it at university level and continue to speak it today although it's been a while since I have been there. It's great that you're tackling the grammar, it is daunting at first but it does follow a strict system. This will all become clearer and very predictable if you learn the parts of sentences and apply them, nominative, accusitive, dative, and genetive.

To answer your specific questions, the correct ways are:

Ich habe eine Mutter.

Er hat keine Schwester.

When it comes to his and her, his is sein, and her is ihr.

This can be confusing though since we in English use the same dative 'she' as the accusitive she.

"I saw her today"

"I gave the letter to her"

But in German it would be:

"Ich habe sie heute gesehen"

"ich habe ihr den Brief gegeben"

The only way to make sense of all of this is to study the nominative, accusitive, dative, and genetive forms. Once you know what's going on there, then it's easy to plug in the pronouns you need.

Nominative is who or what is doing the action.

Accusative is the thing the action is being done to.

Dative is the receiver of the thing being given or directed to.

Genetive is the case of belong to something.

This is much better explained in a good German grammar book, which is essential, I recommended Schaum's Outline of German Grammar.

The sentence you said would be: Ihr Großvater ist siebzig Jahre alt.

Let me know if you need any more tips on getting started, it can seem difficult at first but it is rewarding and becomes easier with practice.

[carambola]

I studied German for about two months on my own last year, before I got distracted by piano. I intend to get back to it at some point.

[Witan]

I created a group for anybody who's interested:

http://www.socialanxietysupport.com/...cussion-group/

[Sydney s]

Thanks every one. This was helpful.

When would I apply einen/keinen? Are they applied to nouns in the plural?
"Ich habe keinen Kinder."

Britisharrow,
thanks for the suggested book and support.

Yesterday, we were doing examples from the book reformatting sentences.
(from the book)
Restate these sentences by positioning the underlined words in the first peron and making all necessary changes.

1) "Wir verbringen ein Semester an der Universitat in Gottingen.
2) "Wir spielen erst am Samstag ein bisschen FuBball.

We were also speaking the underlined words first, so is this right?

Ein Semester Ich verbringe an der Universitat in Gottingen.
Erst am Samstag Ich spiele ein bisschen FuBball.

[Witan]

Originally Posted by Sydney s

Thanks every one. This was helpful.

When would I apply einen/keinen? Are they applied to nouns in the plural?
"Ich habe keinen Kinder."

Britisharrow,
thanks for the suggested book and support.

Yesterday, we were doing examples from the book reformatting sentences.
(from the book)
Restate these sentences by positioning the underlined words in the first peron and making all necessary changes.

1) "Wir verbringen ein Semester an der Universitat in Gottingen.
2) "Wir spielen erst am Samstag ein bisschen FuBball.

We were also speaking the underlined words first, so is this right?

Ein Semester Ich verbringe an der Universitat in Gottingen.
Erst am Samstag Ich spiele ein bisschen FuBball.

Einen and keinen are the accusative masculine forms (used for the direct object)

Ein Hund sieht eine Katze ('Hund' is the subject, 'Katze' the object)
Eine Katze sieht einen Hund ('Hund' is now the object)

I'm not sure what you mean with the second thing Do you mean you have to move the underlined phrase to the beginning, AND also put it in the first person singular? In that case, it would be:

Ein Semester verbringe ich an der Universität in Göttingen.
Erst am Samstag spiele ich ein bisschen Fußball.

If it has to remain in the first person plural, then you just change "ich" to "wir" and "verbringe" to "verbringen" in the above two sentences.

[Sydney s]

Aw yes. That clarifies things perfectly. Thanks.

[britisharrow]

For plural, as in "I have no children", it takes the feminine form.

"Ich habe keine Kinder."

This is the same for all accusative plurals, ie. plurals that are the object.