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German Grammar Fundamentals Flashcards
49 question-and-answer cards covering Grammar Fundamentals as it is examined in German. 24 of them are printed below, taken from across the deck — no signup, no paywall on the preview.
24 sample cards from the Grammar Fundamentals deck
Sampled from the end of the deck, so these are different cards from the ones shown on the syllabus page.
How is the present tense of a regular German verb formed? Give the endings.
Take the stem and add: ich -e, du -st, er/sie/es -t, wir -en, ihr -t, sie/Sie -en (e.g., spielen: ich spiele).
Conjugate sein (to be) in the present tense.
ich bin, du bist, er/sie/es ist, wir sind, ihr seid, sie/Sie sind.
Conjugate haben (to have) in the present tense.
ich habe, du hast, er/sie/es hat, wir haben, ihr habt, sie/Sie haben.
What is the German present tense used for besides current actions?
It also expresses habitual actions and, very commonly, future events (often with a time expression), e.g., Morgen fahre ich nach Berlin.
What are the two German past tenses and their typical use?
The Perfekt (present perfect) for spoken/conversational past, and the Präteritum (simple past) mainly for written narrative and with sein/haben/modals.
How is the German Perfekt (present perfect) formed?
Auxiliary haben or sein (present tense) + the past participle placed at the end, e.g., Ich habe gespielt; Ich bin gegangen.
How is the past participle of a regular (weak) verb formed?
ge- + verb stem + -t; e.g., spielen to gespielt, machen to gemacht.
Which verbs use sein as the auxiliary in the Perfekt?
Verbs of motion/change of location (gehen, fahren, kommen) and change of state (werden, sterben), plus sein and bleiben.
How is the Präteritum of a weak (regular) verb formed? Give endings.
Stem + -te + personal endings: ich spielte, du spieltest, er spielte, wir spielten, ihr spieltet, sie spielten.
Give the Präteritum forms of sein and haben (ich/er).
sein: ich war, er war. haben: ich hatte, er hatte.
How is the German future tense (Futur I) formed?
werden (conjugated) + infinitive at the end, e.g., Ich werde lernen; Sie wird kommen.
Conjugate the auxiliary werden in the present tense (used for the future).
ich werde, du wirst, er/sie/es wird, wir werden, ihr werdet, sie/Sie werden.
What is the basic word order of a German main (declarative) clause?
Subject–Verb–Object (SVO), with the conjugated verb always in the second position (V2 rule).
State the German 'verb-second' (V2) rule.
In a main clause the conjugated verb must occupy the second position; if another element (e.g., a time phrase) comes first, the subject moves after the verb (inversion).
Where do the two verb parts go in a main clause with a modal or auxiliary (the 'sentence bracket')?
The conjugated verb is in position 2 and the infinitive or past participle goes to the very end, forming a bracket, e.g., Ich will heute Fußball spielen.
Give the standard order of objects: when do dative and accusative noun objects appear?
With two noun objects, dative precedes accusative (Ich gebe dem Kind den Ball). But an accusative pronoun precedes a dative noun.
How do you form a yes/no question in German?
Invert to put the conjugated verb first, then the subject: Verb–Subject–...? e.g., Spielst du Fußball?
How do you form a wh-question (information question) in German?
Question word first, then the conjugated verb, then the subject: Wo wohnst du? Was machst du?
List common German question words (interrogatives).
wer (who), was (what), wo (where), wann (when), warum (why), wie (how), welcher (which), wie viel (how much).
What are the two main German negation words and how are they used?
nicht negates verbs, adjectives, or whole clauses; kein negates nouns that would take ein or no article (Ich habe kein Auto).
Where does nicht typically go in a sentence?
Usually before the element it negates; to negate the whole sentence it goes near the end, but before infinitives, participles, and separable prefixes at the end.
What happens to the conjugated verb in a German subordinate clause?
The conjugated verb moves to the very end of the clause (verb-final word order), e.g., ..., weil ich müde bin.
List common subordinating conjunctions that send the verb to the end.
weil (because), dass (that), wenn (if/when), ob (whether), obwohl (although), damit (so that), als (when, past).
How is punctuation and verb order handled when a subordinate clause begins the sentence?
A comma separates the clauses, and because the subordinate clause fills position 1, the main clause's conjugated verb comes immediately after the comma: Weil ich krank bin, bleibe ich zu Hause.
What this deck covers
The Grammar Fundamentals deck follows the German Grammar Fundamentals syllabus — 4 chapters and 12 topics — so questions land on material that is genuinely examinable rather than trivia around it. That works out to roughly 12.3 cards per chapter.
Answers are written to be recallable, not just readable — averaging about 113 characters, which is long enough to carry the reasoning and short enough to say out loud.
A deck like this earns its keep on the second and third pass. Read the syllabus first so you know the shape of the subject, then use the cards to find the specific facts that have not stuck.
Grammar Fundamentals flashcards FAQ
How many Grammar Fundamentals flashcards are in this German deck?
49 cards. This page previews 24 of them, sampled evenly across the deck so you can judge the difficulty before installing anything.
Are these German flashcards free?
Yes. The preview here is free to read with no signup, and the full 49-card deck is free inside the Examius app.
What do the Grammar Fundamentals cards cover?
They follow the German Grammar Fundamentals syllabus — 4 chapters and 12 topics — so the questions track what is actually examinable.
How should I use these flashcards?
Read the syllabus first so you know the shape of the subject, then drill the deck. Examius schedules each card with spaced repetition, so cards you keep missing come back sooner and ones you know drift further apart.