14.5 declension - A Repetition

The most difficult in German grammar is the declension. Therefore we have a little repetition at this point of time. The declension will follow you wherever you go with German, it is found with nouns, all pronouns (personal, interrogative, demonstrative, possessive etc.), articles and adjectives. Let's admit that's quite a lot, considering the declension doesn't really always look the same, and there are always masculine, feminine and neutral words. If it's any comfort to you - other languages have declensions too and some are much more complicated (Russian with six declensions or Finnish with 15 declensions for instance).

In Chapter 9 - declension in German we have established the different types of declensions with groups. To know them will bring you much further, therefore here another set of examples. To know the declension of a noun you have to learn the plural form of the noun. Let's have a look at some examples.

  Let's look at some examples

der Schuh => die Schuhe  
shoe => shoes
plural with e, no change of vowel => group (a)
die Kartoffel => die Kartoffeln
potatoe => potatoes
plural with n, no change of vowel => group (b)
das Kind => die Kinder  
child => children
plural with er, no change of vowel => group (c)
der Brauch => die Bräuche
custom => customs
plural with e, change of vowel => group (d)
die Sau => die Säue  
sow => sows
plural with e, change of vowel => group (e)
das Buch => die Bücher  
book => books
plural with er, change of vowel => group (f)
das Kanu => die Kanus
canoe => canoes
plural with s, no change of vowel => group (g) - only neutral nouns
der Affe => die Affen
monkey => monkeys
plural with en, no change of vowel => group (h) - only masculine nouns
der Becher => die Becher
cup => cups
plural = singular => group (i) - only masculine nouns

The different declensions in the group you find in chapter 9.6.1 to 9.6.2.





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