Zaban
Chapter 9 of 17 · Explore the German path

Optional reference · Chapter 9 of 17

Look up a colour, a number or a person

Open this when a book hands you a word the main path did not: colours, numbers, the days, the family, the rest of the greetings, and the six ways German makes a plural.

≈ 8 min of reading · Practise at your own pace

What’s in this chapter
  • Open this when a book uses a word the main path did not give you; the next step needs none of it.
  • The three little words are grammar, not biology: das Mädchendass MAYT-chen“the girl” takes the same one as the house.
  • Plurals are made about six different ways: recognise them, do not learn them.
  • Every plural takes diedee — doing or done to — whatever the singular took.

You do not need this section to finish the lesson. Neither reading uses a colour, a number, a family word or a plural. Open it when a book hands you a word the main path did not, and then go back to reading.

Eight colours

Colours work as describing words in front of a naming word. Say each one aloud; the spellings use rules you already have.

rotroht“red” · blaublow“blue” · grüngrewn“green” · gelbgelp“yellow”
schwarzshvarts“black” · weißvice“white” · braunbrown“brown” · graugrow“grey”

“blow” and “grow” rhyme with “cow”, not with “low”. The final b of gelbgelp hardens to p.

What colour is the horse?

Welche Farbe hat das Pferd?

VEL-chuh FAR-buh hat dass pfairt

Word for word: which colour has the horse. German asks what colour a thing has. Say Pferdpfairt“horse” by starting the p and the f together, in one push of air.

Ten people

The people a story needs. Each comes with its own word for “the”, so learn the pair together.

die Mutterdee MOO-tuh“the mother” · der Vaterdair FAH-tuh“the father”
der Jungedair YOONG-uh“the boy” · das Mädchendass MAYT-chen“the girl”
der Manndair man“the man” · die Fraudee frow“the woman” · das Kinddass kint“the child”
der Freunddair froynt“the friend” · der Bruderdair BROO-duh“the brother” · die Schwesterdee SHVES-tuh“the sister”

One to ten

The first ten numbers. You will meet them on their own and inside the bigger numbers in the next table.

einsines“one” · zweitsvy“two” · dreidry“three” · vierfeer“four” · fünffewnf“five”
sechszeks“six” · siebenZEE-ben“seven” · achtahkht“eight” · neunnoyn“nine” · zehntsayn“ten”

“ines” rhymes with “lines”. In front of a thing, one drops the s and becomes the “a” word: ein Hundine hoont“one dog; a dog”. Two vague amounts come with them: vieleFEE-luh“many” and wenigeVAY-ni-guh“few”.

Eleven to a hundred

Bigger numbers are built out of the small ones. Read each row and look for the small number hiding inside.

elfelf“eleven” · zwölftsvurlf“twelve” · dreizehnDRY-tsayn“thirteen” · vierzehnFEER-tsayn“fourteen” · fünfzehnFEWNF-tsayn“fifteen”
sechzehnZECH-tsayn“sixteen” · siebzehnZEEP-tsayn“seventeen” · achtzehnAHKHT-tsayn“eighteen” · neunzehnNOYN-tsayn“nineteen” · zwanzigTSVAN-tsich“twenty”
dreißigDRY-sich“thirty” · vierzigFEER-tsich“forty” · fünfzigFEWNF-tsich“fifty” · sechzigZECH-tsich“sixty”
siebzigZEEP-tsich“seventy” · achtzigAHKHT-tsich“eighty” · neunzigNOYN-tsich“ninety” · hundertHOON-dert“a hundred”

Thirteen to nineteen are three-ten, four-ten: the small number first, then -zehn. The tens swap -zehn for -zig. In between, German says the ones first — einundzwanzigINE-oont-TSVAN-tsich“one-and-twenty” — the way old English counted four-and-twenty blackbirds.

The week, and the clock

Days and times keep a story moving. Almost every day name ends the same way, which makes them easy to spot.

MontagMOHN-tahk“Monday” · DienstagDEENS-tahk“Tuesday” · MittwochMIT-vokh“Wednesday” · DonnerstagDON-ners-tahk“Thursday”
FreitagFRY-tahk“Friday” · SamstagZAMS-tahk“Saturday” · SonntagZON-tahk“Sunday”
Wie spät ist es?vee shpayt ist ess“what time is it?” — Es ist drei Uhr.ess ist dry oor“It is three o’clock.”

Every day ends in -tagtahk“day” except the middle of the week, which is simply “mid-week”. The clock question asks “how late is it?”; the answer is a number plus Uhroor“o’clock”.

When, and the rest of the family

Words for today and yesterday, and the rest of the family. Come here when a book names a day or a relative you do not know.

heuteHOY-tuh“today” · morgenMOR-gen“tomorrow” · gesternGES-tern“yesterday”
die Wochedee VOKH-uh“the week” · der Monatdair MOH-naht“the month” · das Jahrdass yahr“the year”
die Omadee OH-ma“the grandma” · der Opadair OH-pa“the grandpa” · der Onkeldair ON-kel“the uncle” · die Tantedee TAN-tuh“the aunt”

Small morgenMOR-gen is tomorrow; capital MorgenMOR-gen“morning” is the morning from the greeting. Only the capital tells them apart on the page.

The plural patterns, all of them, once

A plural means more than one. German makes plurals about six different ways. Read the rows to recognise them; nothing here needs memorising.

der Hunddair hoont“the dog”
die Hundedee HOON-duh“the dogs”
Add -e.
die Katzedee KAT-suh“the cat”
die Katzendee KAT-sen“the cats”
Add -n.
das Kinddass kint“the child”
die Kinderdee KIN-duh“the children”
Add -er. English does this once, in “children”, and then gives up.
das Hausdass howss“the house”
die Häuserdee HOY-zuh“the houses”
Add -er and put dots on the vowel.
der Vogeldair FOH-gul“the bird”
die Vögeldee FUR-gul“the birds”
Only the dots change. Compare English goose and geese.
die Mausdee mowss“the mouse”
die Mäusedee MOY-zuh“the mice”
Dots plus -e — and English does the same trick with mouse and mice.

Four more describing words

jungyoong“young” · schlechtshlecht“bad” · schönshurn“beautiful” · langlang“long”

They behave exactly like the six in the main path: an ending in front of a noun, bare after istist.

The rest of the greetings

The greetings a book uses that the main path left out. The right column says when each one fits.

GermanWhen
Halloha-LOH“hello”any hour, with anyone you are not being formal with
Guten TagGOO-ten tahk“good day”the workhorse — mid-morning until evening
Gute NachtGOO-tuh nahkht“good night”only to someone going to bed
Tschüstshewss“bye”casual, and everywhere
bitteBIT-uh“please” · dankeDAN-kuh“thank you”and bitte is also the reply to danke
Entschuldigungent-SHOOL-di-goong“sorry”sorry — and also: excuse me

Notice GuteGOO-tuh loses its n in front of Nachtnahkht — bookkeeping again. Auf Wiedersehenowf VEE-duh-zay-en is long because it is formal: “until we see each other again”.

Come back to these chapters whenever you need them.All German chapters ↗