To start we try to
put everything said that might be tricky. Therefore
we first have a look at the personal pronouns in the
basic form (nominative). That way we start gently.
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Maybe
you already know that German language has
something called declension. Because of
this declension German has the image of
being a difficult language. And to be honest
even for lots of Germans the declension
is not quite easy. To understand the declension
it could be helpful to turn to other languages,
since not only German works that way but
also Latin, Russian and others. All these
problems we'll have a look at later. Now
we just start with the basic form (the nominative).
Have a look at these phrases:
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| Example
1 |
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Mary reads
a book. |
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Mary is in nominative,
or better the subject of a phrase. After subject
of a phrase you ask with Who? |
| |
Who reads a book? Mary |
|
The subject of a phrase defines the verb. Mary is in
the third person singular. If we change the phrase,
e.g. into the first person plural the verb will change
(even only marginally).
| Example
2 |
|
We read a
book. and not We
reads a book. |
|
Here there are not yet any differences between English
and German. If we later have a look at objects we'll
find a lot of differences. But for now we stick with
the basic form.
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