German Grammar Terminology: A–Z Glossary for Learners

Understanding grammar terminology is essential for German learners. German has “complex rules for word order, noun gender, case, verb conjugation, and adjective endings”, so mastering key terms helps you learn faster and communicate more clearly. This A–Z grammar glossary explains each term in simple English (with German examples) to bridge English and German grammar.

Grammar terms explained

Definitions of the Most Important Grammar Terms

A – Accusative, Adjective, Adverb, Apposition

• Accusative (Akkusativ): The case marking the direct object of a verb. In “I see the dog” the dog is the object. Example: “I see the dog” – “Ich sehe den Hund” (den Hund is accusative).

• Active voice (Aktiv): The normal sentence structure where the subject does the action. E.g. “The boy kicks the ball.” In German, Der Junge kickt den Ball. (In passive voice, the subject is acted upon.)

• Adjective (Adjektiv): A word that describes or modifies a noun. For example, “a red car” or “der rote Wagen”. In German, adjectives agree in case, number and gender (so rot becomes roter, rotes, rote etc. in different contexts). (For more, see German adjective endings on our German language blog.)

• Adverb (Adverb): A word that modifies a verb, adjective, or another, answering how, when, where, or to what extent. E.g. “She runs quickly” or “Sie läuft schnell.” In German schnell is an adverb of manner. Adverbs often end in -ly in English (but not always).

• Apposition (Apposition): Two noun phrases are placed side by side, where the second gives extra information about the first. For example, “My friend, a doctor, lives in Berlin.” Here, “a doctor” is in apposition to “my friend.” (In German, you can say “Mein Freund, ein Arzt, wohnt in Berlin.”)

C – Cases, Conjunctions, Consonants, Conditional

• Case (Kasus): A grammatical category that shows a noun’s function (subject, object, etc.) in a sentence. German has four cases (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive) marked by different articles/endings. English mostly uses word order, but German marks cases with articles and adjective endings. (Each case is defined below.)

• Nominative (Nominativ): The subject case. The subject “does” the action. Example: “The girl plays.” – “Das Mädchen spielt.” (Das Mädchen is nominative).

• Dative (Dativ): The indirect object case – the recipient of the action. In “I give her a book”, “her” is the indirect object. E.g. “I give her a book” – “Ich gebe ihr ein Buch.” (ihr is dative).

• Genitive (Genitiv): The possession case. It often shows “of” or ownership (English has ’s or “of”). E.g. “the woman’s book” or “das Buch der Frau.” (der Frau is genitive).

• Conjunction (Konjunktion): A word that links other words, phrases or clauses. Examples: “and” (und), “but” (aber), “because” (weil). Conjunctions come in three types (coordinating, subordinating, etc.). For example, “Ich lerne Deutsch und Englisch.” (and), or “Ich gehe nach Hause, weil ich müde bin.” (because).

• Conditional (Konditional): Often expressed with “if” clauses or “would”. In German, it usually uses Konjunktiv II (would/could). For example: “If I had time, I would travel.” – “Wenn ich Zeit hätte, würde ich reisen.” This mood expresses hypothetical statements (see Konjunktiv below).

• Consonant (Konsonant): A sound (or letter) made with closure or restriction in the vocal tract, contrasted with vowels. In German, Consonants are all letters except the vowels a, e, i, o, u (plus their umlauts ä, ö, ü) and the letter ß. For example: B, C, D, F, G, etc. In writing, consonants form onsets or codas of syllables.

• Conjugation (Konjugation): The system of changing a verb’s form to match person, number, tense, mood, etc. E.g. English “to be” is conjugated as I am, you are, he/she is. In German, each verb changes endings (or stem vowel) for ich, du, er/sie/es, etc., in each tense. Conjugation lets verbs agree with the subject and time.

• Case (Declension): Declension refers to how nouns, adjectives and pronouns change form to show case (e.g. der Hund, des Hundes, dem Hund, den Hund). Relatedly, Inflection is how words change ending for gender or case. In German the article or adjective ending often shows case and gender (declension/inflection).

D – Dative, Declension, Definite Article, Direct Speech, Diphthong

• Definite article (bestimmter Artikel): Marks a specific noun. English “the” is a definite article (e.g. the car refers to a particular car). In German, der, die, das are definite articles (for m, f, n nouns in the nominative). They indicate not just definiteness but also gender and case (e.g. der Mann [m.nominative], den Mann [m.accusative], die Frau [f.nom/acc], etc.).

• Direct speech (direkte Rede): Quoting the exact words someone said. It’s enclosed in quotation marks. E.g. Maria says “Ich habe Hunger.” (Maria says, “I am hungry.”) German uses quotation marks that start below („ ) and end above (“).

• Diphthong (Diphthong): A gliding vowel sound made by combining two adjacent vowels in one syllable. For example, English “house” [aʊ] or German “Hunde” [ʊe̯] (roughly). German diphthongs include au, ei, eu/äu. They contrast with simple (monophthong) vowels.

• Dative (Dativ): (See above under C.) The case for indirect objects. E.g. “Er gibt dem Mann ein Buch.” (He gives the man a book. dem Mann is dative).

• Declension (Deklination): The pattern of changes (endings) on nouns, pronouns, adjectives to show case and gender. In German, you decline articles and adjectives according to case (nominative, accusative, etc.) and number.

• Definite or Demonstrative Pronoun: A pronoun that acts like an article to refer to a specific person or thing (e.g. der, die, das as “that/this one”). It’s declined like an article. (For example, “derjenige” or “derselbe”.)

• Definite/Indefinite vs. Demonstrative: (For clarity) Definite = specific (the), Indefinite = general (a/an), Demonstrative = “this/that” used as a pronoun.

• (Also see Accusative and Nominative above for “the” vs. “a/an”, and Genitive for possessive.)

F – Feminine, Future, (Falling/Gliding vowels)

• Feminine (Femininum): A grammatical gender. German has three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. Feminine nouns take die in the nominative singular (e.g. die Frau). Gender of a noun is arbitrary (e.g. das Mädchen – Mädchen “girl” is neuter) and affects article/adjective endings.

• Future tense (Futur): In German, formed with werden + infinitive. E.g. “Ich werde morgen kommen.” (“I will come tomorrow.”) It simply indicates future actions or plans.

• False friends: Not a grammar term, but note: many English–German word pairs look similar but differ in meaning (e.g. “Gift” (Ger.) means “poison” not gift). Knowing grammar and vocabulary together is important.

G – Gender, Genitive

• Grammatical gender (Genus): A noun class system where nouns are masculine, feminine, or neuter. German assigns each noun one gender, affecting its article and adjective endings. There are some patterns (e.g. nouns ending -ung are usually feminine), but many exceptions exist. (See our blog post Why is Mädchen neuter? for gender insights)

• Genitive (Genitiv): (See above under D.) The case indicates possession or relationships. Example: “Ich sehe den Hund des Mannes.” (I see the man’s dog.) Here, des Mannes (of the man) is genitive.

I – Indicative, Imperative, Infinitive, Indirect Speech, Indefinite

• Indicative (Indikativ): The factual mood for statements and questions. It’s the default form: “I am”, “ich bin”, “Sie spielen.” It simply states reality or asks, without special mood.

• Imperative (Imperativ): The command mood. Used for orders or instructions (“Go!”). In German, the imperative has special forms: e.g. “Geh ins Bett!” (Go to bed!), “Bitte setzen Sie sich.” (Please sit down.) It usually implies “you” as subject.

• Infinitive (Infinitiv): The base (dictionary) form of a verb. In English, it’s often “to + verb” (to eat, to go); in German, infinitives typically end in -en (essen, gehen). German infinitive clauses (to do something) are formed with um … zu (e.g. “um zu lernen” – “in order to learn”).

• Indirect (Reported) Speech: Telling what someone else said without quoting exactly. Often requires a mood shift. For example, English: He said he would help. German uses Konjunktiv I for this: “Er sagte, er werde helfen.” (See Konjunktiv I below.)

• Indefinite article (unbestimmter Artikel): Marks a nonspecific noun. English “a/an” do this (e.g. a cat = any cat). German ein, eine are indefinite articles. They change for case and gender (e.g. ein Mann, eine Frau, ein Kind in nominative).

• Indefinite pronoun (unbestimmtes Pronomen): A pronoun that refers to a non-specific person or thing. Examples: “someone” (jemand), “anything” (irgendetwas), “nobody” (niemand). E.g. “Jemand klopft an der Tür.” (Someone is knocking at the door).

• Interrogative pronoun (Fragepronomen): Question words (wer, was, wo, warum, wie etc.) that ask about identity, manner, etc. E.g. “Wer kommt?” (Who’s coming?), “Wie geht’s?” (How are you?).

• Intransitive (intransitives Verb): A verb that does not take a direct object. It stands alone. E.g. sleep, arrive, go (no “what?” needed). In German: schlafen, gehen. Olesen Tuition notes: “intransitive verbs do not require an accusative object”.

• Inflection (Flexion): The change of a word’s form to reflect grammatical features (gender, number, case). In German, adjectives and articles inflect for noun gender/case. Example: ein großer Mann (big man, m.nom) vs. einen großen Mann (m.acc).

K – Konjunktiv (Subjunctive)

• Konjunktiv I & II (Subjunctive I & II): The two subjunctive moods in German, used for indirect speech and hypotheticals. Konjunktiv I is mainly for indirect (reported) speech, e.g. “Er sagt, er komme später.” (He says he’s coming later). Konjunktiv II expresses unreal or conditional situations (like “would” in English). E.g. “Wenn ich Zeit hätte, würde ich gehen.” (If I had time, I would go).

L – Locative

• Locative (Lokale Angabe): Expressions of location or direction (answers wo? “where?” or wohin? “where to?”). German uses prepositions or adverbs: e.g. “Ich bin hier.” (I am here) or “Ich gehe nach Hause.” (I’m going home). We also call these adverbs of place (z. B. hier, dort, draußen, innen, oben, unten). They tell where something happens.

M – Main Clause, Manner, Masculine, Modal Verb, Mood

• Main (Independent) clause (Hauptsatz): A clause that can stand alone as a sentence. In German word order, a main clause follows Verb-Second (V2) rule: the conjugated verb is the second element. E.g. “Morgen fahre ich nach Berlin.” (Tomorrow I am going to Berlin.) Note that question words or time words can count as the first element.

• Subordinate clause (Nebensatz): A clause that depends on a main clause. After subordinating conjunctions (dass, weil, wenn, dass, etc.), the conjugated verb goes to the end. E.g. “…, weil ich morgen fahre.” (…because I am going tomorrow.)

• Manner (Adverb der Art und Weise): Describes how an action is done. E.g. “Er spielt gut.” (He plays well.) In German, manner is often conveyed by adverbs like schnell (quickly), gern (gladly), mit Ruhe (calmly), or by a prepositional phrase “mit…”.

• Masculine (Maskulinum): A gender class. Masculine nouns take der in the nominative singular (e.g. der Mann). Like feminine, it's mostly arbitrary (e.g. Mädchen is not feminine but neuter). Masculine gender affects which article/adjective ending is used.

• Modal verb (Modalverb): A special auxiliary verb that modifies the meaning of the main verb. It expresses modality: possibility, permission, necessity, ability, obligation. English modals include can, could, may, must, should, will, would. German modals include können (can), müssen (must), dürfen (may), mögen (like), sollen (should), wollen (want). For example: “Ich kann schwimmen.” (I can swim.) Olesen notes that German modal verbs always pair with an infinitive (no second “zu” in perfect tense, etc.).

• Mood (Modus): The form of a verb that expresses modality. German has Indicative (factual), Subjunctive I/II (hypothetical), Imperative (commands). (See Indicative and Konjunktiv above.)

• Modal particle (Modalpartikel): A small word (doch, ja, mal, etc.) that adds tone/nuance but no concrete meaning. E.g. “Komm doch mit!” (“Come on join us!”). (Not strictly grammar terminology but common in spoken German.)

N – Nominative, Noun, Number

• Nominative (Nominativ): (See above under C.) The subject case. E.g. “Die Katze schläft.” (The cat sleeps – Die Katze is nominative)grammar-monster.com.

• Noun (Substantiv/Nomen): A word for a person, place, thing or idea. In German, nouns are capitalised and have gender. Each noun must appear with the correct article (der/die/das or ein/eine) in context.

• Number (Numerus): Indicates singular or plural. For nouns, this changes the article and often the word ending (der Hund – die Hunde). For verbs, person/number affect conjugation (ich gehe – wir gehen).

S – Separable Verbs, Sentence Structure, Subordinate

• Separable verb (trennbares Verb): A verb with a prefix that detaches and moves to sentence end in main clauses. E.g. “aufstehen” (to get up). In present: “Ich stehe um 7 Uhr auf.” (I get up at 7.) The prefix auf moved to the end. Olesen notes: separable verbs split apart, unlike inseparable prefixes.

• Syntax / Word Order: German main clauses have the finite verb in second position (V2). Subordinate clauses (introduced by dass, weil, wenn, etc.) push the verb to the end. For example: “Ich esse, weil ich Hunger habe.” (I eat because I am hungry – verb “habe” goes to the end in the weil-clause).

• Subject (Subjekt): The person or thing doing the action. Always in the nominative case. E.g. “Der Lehrer liest.” (The teacher reads – Der Lehrer is subject/nominative).

• Subordinate clause (Nebensatz): (See word order.) It’s a clause that depends on a main clause and usually starts with a subordinating conjunction (dass, weil, obwohl, etc.), sending the verb to the end.

• Sentence (Satz): A complete statement with at least a subject and a verb. German sentences can be simple or complex (with subordinate clauses). German requires the verb form to match subject and tense (subject-verb agreement).

T – Transitive, Tense

• Transitive verb (transitives Verb): A verb that takes a direct object. Olesen: it “takes an accusative object”. E.g. “lesen” (to read) is transitive: “Ich lese ein Buch.” (I read a book – ein Buch is accusative object). If in doubt, ask “what?” or “whom?” after the verb.

• Tense (Zeitform): Indicates time of action. English has present, past, future, etc.; German also has Präsens, Präteritum, Perfekt, Plusquamperfekt, Futur I, Futur II. For example, German Perfekt (compound past) uses haben/sein + Partizip II (Ich habe gelernt). (See blog posts on German tenses, if needed.)

• Passive voice (Passiv): The subject is acted upon. E.g. “Der Brief wird geschrieben.” (The letter is being written.) This uses a form of werden + past participle.

U – Umlaut

• Umlaut: The two-dot mark ( ¨ ) over a vowel indicating a changed pronunciation. German umlauts are ä, ö, ü. These letters are distinct in German. They often signal a plural or comparative (Haus – Häuser, groß – größer), but fundamentally just indicate a different vowel sound.

V – Verb

• Verb: A word expressing an action or state. Every German sentence needs a verb (the predicate). Verbs are conjugated to match the subject and tense. In German most infinitives end in -en (laufen, essen, sein). Verbs can be finite (marked for person/number) or infinite (infinitive, participle). Helping verbs (sein, haben, werden) form tenses and passive voice.

• Finite verb (Personalform): A verb form that shows person/number (ich gehe, du bist). In main clauses, it occupies the second position.

• Phrase (Phrase): A group of words without a finite verb, functioning as a unit (noun phrase, prepositional phrase, etc.). Not a complete clause on its own.

W – Word Order, (Wortstellung)

• Word order (Wortstellung): The arrangement of words in a sentence. In German, main clauses are typically Verb-second (V2). Yes/no questions also use V1 (verb first): “Hast du Zeit?” (Have you time?). Subordinate clauses push the verb to final position after a subordinating conjunction (wie oben erwähnt).

• Wortstellung-Tiere: (A mnemonic often taught: Time, Reason, Manner Place order for adverbials, etc.)

Learn More on our German Language Blog

For each term above, you can read more on our German blog "Auf Deutsch, bitte!". For example, see “German adjective endings and declension” for adjective usage, or “German subordinate clause word order” for syntax, and the post “Why is Mädchen neuter?” for gender rules.

Boost your German with Olesen Tuition: After reviewing these terms, practise them in class! Olesen offers:

• Small-group classes in London – Learn German grammar & conversation in-person (1–4 students). We cover at least one grammar topic per class and explain it in simple English. German Classes in London↗

• Online lessons (1–1) – Live German tuition via video chat, tailored to your level (A1–C2). Perfect for flexible learning. Online German Lessons↗

• Intensive courses in London – Short courses focused on fast progress. Small groups, all aspects covered daily. Our intensive courses “cover at least one grammar topic per class” because grammar is “such an essential part of learning German”. Intensive German Courses↗

Whether you need help with the accusative case and verbs or word order and conjunctions, Olesen Tuition has a program for you. Learning these grammar terms is the first step – then practice them in class or lessons for real progress!

On our blog, you will also find posts on the ten most useful verbs in German, a comparison between online dictionaries like Linguee, dict.cc, dict. Leo and Collins, a review of the apps Duolingo, Memrise, Babbel, Busuu, and Quizlet, and a post that explains the difference between language levels a1, a2, b1, etc.

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