German Grammar for Danish Speakers

How to use this course

Why this order?

German grammar is a system where later rules depend on earlier ones. You cannot do adjective endings (Ch. 18) without cases (Ch. 9–14); you cannot do cases without gender and articles (Ch. 2–4). The spine of the course is: sounds → nouns, gender, articles → pronouns and present tense → word order → the cases, one at a time → everything that depends on cases (prepositions, possessives, adjectives) → the tense system → complex sentences → advanced and stylistic grammar.

The design follows second-language-acquisition research: explicit grammar anchored in meaningful examples (Long’s Focus on Form), graded examples that recycle known material (comprehensible-input coverage research by Laufer, Hu & Nation, Schmitt), quizzes as retrieval practice (Roediger & Karpicke found delayed recall of 61% for a tested group vs. 40% for a re-study group), and deliberate recycling of earlier grammar in later chapters (the spacing effect).

How the Danish parallels help

Wherever German works like Danish, the course says so explicitly and you can move fast (positive transfer). Wherever German differs, a Danish trap box flags it so you do not transfer a Danish habit that produces a German error (negative transfer, in the sense of Lado’s contrastive analysis). Danish terms used: fælleskøn / intetkøn (common / neuter gender), ledsætning (subordinate clause), helsætning (main clause), bøjning (inflection).

Quiz and exercise routine

After reading a chapter, do the quiz (recognition) first, then the exercise (production). Check answers only after finishing — they are hidden behind a button in each block. Then re-do the exercise from two chapters back; this spaced retrieval roughly halves your forgetting. Aim to understand 95–98% of every example before moving on.

1 · Pronunciation & spelling basics A1

German spelling is highly phonetic — good news for Danes, who are used to a much less phonetic orthography. Key points:

• Special letters: ä, ö, ü (Umlaut) and ß (Eszett). Note that German ä ≈ Danish e/æ, ö ≈ Danish ø, ü ≈ Danish y. Strong positive transfer: a Dane can already pronounce ü (like ny) and ö (like øl) — sounds that torment English speakers.
• ß = “ss” after a long vowel or diphthong: Straße (street), heiß (hot). Written “ss” after short vowels: muss.
• sch = English “sh” (Schule, cf. Danish skole). Initial st- / sp- are pronounced “sht- / shp-” (Stein, Sprache).
• w is pronounced like Danish “v” (Wasser); German v is usually “f” (Vater); German z is “ts” (Zeit).
• ch has two sounds: hard after a/o/u (Bach), soft after e/i (ich).

2 · Nouns & grammatical gender A1

German nouns are always capitalised (das Haus, der Mann, die Frau) — Danish does not do this. And German has three genders, where Danish has two:

Gender signposts (helpful, not absolute)

• Usually masculine (der): male people; days, months, seasons (der Montag); most nouns ending -er, -ling, -ismus.
• Usually feminine (die): female people; endings -ung, -heit, -keit, -schaft, -ion, -tät and many in -e.
• Usually neuter (das): young beings (das Kind, das Baby); diminutives -chen, -lein; endings -um, -ment; infinitives used as nouns.

3 · Definite & indefinite articles (nominative) A1

German articles carry gender, number and case information — Danish articles mostly do not inflect for case at all, so this is where German gets heavier.

4 · Personal pronouns & the present tense A1

Personal pronouns (nominative): ich (I), du (you, informal sg), er / sie / es (he / she / it), wir (we), ihr (you, informal pl), sie (they), Sie (you, formal).

Present-tense regular conjugation — endings on the stem (machen “to do/make”, cf. Danish at gøre):

5 · sein, haben, werden A1

6 · Word order basics: the V2 rule A1

German main clauses (Hauptsätze) obey the verb-second (V2) rule: the finite verb is the second element, and exactly one constituent precedes it. Danish has the identical rule.

• Ich trinke heute Kaffee. / Jeg drikker kaffe i dag. (I drink coffee today.)
• Front something else, and subject and verb invert — in both languages: Heute trinke ich Kaffee. / I dag drikker jeg kaffe.

The finite verb goes second; any non-finite parts (infinitives, participles, separable prefixes) go to the end, forming the Satzklammer (“sentence bracket”). Danish does the same: jeg vil gerne spise → ich möchte gern essen.

7 · Questions A1

• Yes/no questions: verb goes to first position. Trinkst du Kaffee? = Drikker du kaffe? Identical structure — positive transfer.
• W-questions: question word first, then V2 verb. German question words all start with w (like Danish hv-): wer (hvem), was (hvad), wo (hvor), wann (hvornår), warum (hvorfor), wie (hvordan), welch- (hvilken). Example: Wann kommst du? = Hvornår kommer du?

8 · Negation: nicht & kein A1

• kein negates a noun that has an indefinite article or no article (“not a / no”): Ich habe kein Auto. (I have no car.) kein declines like ein.
• nicht negates everything else — verbs, adjectives, adverbs, or a noun with a definite article: Ich arbeite nicht. · Das ist nicht mein Auto.

9 · The nominative case (Nominativ) A1–A2

The Nominativ is the subject case — the “doer” and the dictionary form. You have already been using it. It answers wer / was? (who / what?). It is also used for the predicate noun after sein, werden, bleiben: Er ist ein guter Lehrer.

German has four cases. The traditional German order is Nominativ, Genitiv, Dativ, Akkusativ; the common teaching order — used here — is Nominativ, Akkusativ, Dativ, Genitiv, matching everyday frequency.

10 · The accusative case (Akkusativ) A2

The Akkusativ marks the direct object — it answers wen / was? The good news: only the masculine article changes; feminine, neuter and plural look identical to the nominative.

Der Mann kauft den Wagen. (The man buys the car.) · Ich sehe einen Hund.

The accusative also follows certain prepositions (Ch. 15) and time expressions (jeden Tag = every day).

11 · The dative case (Dativ) A2

The Dativ marks the indirect object — the recipient — and answers wem? (to whom?). All genders change:

Ich gebe dem Mann das Buch. (I give the man the book.) · Sie hilft der Frau.

Common verbs that take the dative: helfen (help), danken (thank), gehören (belong to), gefallen (please / like).

12 · Object order & pronoun case A2

When both objects are present: Dativ before Akkusativ if both are nouns (Ich gebe dem Mann das Buch), but if the accusative is a pronoun, it comes first (Ich gebe es dem Mann).

13 · Possessives & the genitive case (Genitiv) A2–B1

Possessive articles (“ein-words”) take the same endings as ein / kein: mein (my), dein (your), sein (his/its), ihr (her/their), unser (our), euer (your pl), Ihr (your formal). Das ist mein Bruder. · Ich sehe meinen Bruder (Akk).

The genitive shows possession — it answers wessen? (whose?). Masculine and neuter articles become des (+ -s / -es on the noun); feminine and plural become der: das Auto des Mannes, das Haus der Frau.

14 · All four cases together B1

Consolidation chapter (spaced retrieval of Ch. 9–13). Full definite-article grid:

15 · Prepositions by case A2–B1

German prepositions govern a fixed case — new for Danes, whose prepositions never trigger case changes.

• Always Akkusativ: durch, für, gegen, ohne, um (mnemonic “DFGOU”).
• Always Dativ: aus, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu (and gegenüber).
• Two-way (Wechselpräpositionen), nine of them: an, auf, hinter, in, neben, über, unter, vor, zwischen. These take Akkusativ for movement / direction (wohin?) and Dativ for location (wo?).

Ich gehe in die Schule. (into — Akk, movement) vs. Ich bin in der Schule. (in — Dat, location)
Ich hänge das Bild an die Wand (Akk) vs. Das Bild hängt an der Wand (Dat).

Common contractions: in+das=ins, in+dem=im, an+das=ans, an+dem=am, zu+dem=zum, zu+der=zur.

16 · Modal verbs & separable / inseparable verbs A2–B1

Modal verbs — Danish has the same six modals with the same syntax:

The modal is conjugated in position 2; the main verb goes to the end as an infinitive — exactly as in Danish: Ich muss heute arbeiten = Jeg skal arbejde i dag.

Separable verbs (trennbare Verben)

Also strongly Danish-like (Danish has partikelverber): a stressed prefix detaches and goes to the end in main clauses. auf|stehen (stå op): Ich stehe um 7 Uhr auf. Compare Danish Jeg står op klokken 7 — the particle likewise moves. After a modal it rejoins as one infinitive: Ich muss früh aufstehen.

Inseparable prefixes (never split, unstressed): be-, ge-, er-, ver-, zer-, ent-, emp-, miss-. Ich verstehe das.

17 · Past tenses: Perfekt & Präteritum A2–B1

Perfekt (spoken past) = auxiliary haben / sein (present) + past participle (Partizip II) at the end. Structurally identical to Danish perfektum with har / er:

• Ich habe Fußball gespielt = Jeg har spillet fodbold.
• sein-verbs: verbs of motion or change of state use sein, exactly like Danish uses er / være: Ich bin nach Berlin gefahren = Jeg er kørt til Berlin. The Danish har / er split maps almost one-to-one onto haben / sein — a major positive transfer.
• Participle formation: regular ge-…-t (gespielt), strong ge-…-en with vowel change (gesungen). Inseparable and -ieren verbs take no ge- (verstanden, studiert).

Präteritum (simple / written past): ich spielte, ich ging. In everyday spoken German it is mostly reserved for sein (war), haben (hatte), and the modals (konnte, wollte…); narratives and writing use it fully.

18 · Adjective declension B1

In German, an adjective before a noun takes an ending that depends on gender + case + article type. Three patterns:

• Weak (after definite der/die/das): endings are just -e or -en. der alte Mann, die alte Frau, den alten Mann.
• Mixed (after ein / kein / possessives): ein alter Mann, ein altes Haus, eine alte Frau.
• Strong (no article): the adjective carries the full marker. kalter Kaffee, kalte Milch, kaltes Wasser.

19 · Comparative & superlative B1

Formed like Danish and English: comparative -er, superlative am …-sten / der/die/das …-ste.

• schnell → schneller → am schnellsten. Cf. Danish hurtig → hurtigere → hurtigst — the same pattern (positive transfer).
• Irregulars: gut → besser → am besten (cf. god → bedre → bedst — even the irregularity matches), viel → mehr → am meisten, gern → lieber → am liebsten.
• Many one-syllable adjectives add an umlaut: alt → älter, groß → größer, jung → jünger.
• “than” = als (Danish end): Er ist größer als ich. “as … as” = so … wie.

20 · Future tense (Futur I) B1

werden (conjugated) + infinitive at the end: Ich werde morgen kommen.

21 · Reflexive verbs & the imperative B1

Reflexive verbs use reflexive pronouns (Akk: mich, dich, sich, uns, euch, sich): Ich wasche mich (I wash myself). Danish uses sig the same way (han vasker sig), and German reflexives often match Danish ones (sich freuen / glæde sig) — though not always; verify each verb.

Imperative

• du-form: verb stem, no ending: Komm! (cf. Danish Kom!)
• ihr-form: Kommt!
• Sie-form: Kommen Sie!

22 · Subordinate clauses & conjunctions B1

In German subordinate clauses (Nebensätze) introduced by a subordinating conjunction, the finite verb goes to the very end: Ich bleibe zu Hause, weil ich krank bin. (I stay home because I am ill.)

• Coordinating conjunctions (und, aber, oder, denn, sondern) do not change word order — same as Danish og, men, eller.
• Subordinating conjunctions (weil, dass, wenn, als, ob, obwohl, damit, während) trigger verb-final order.
• If the subordinate clause comes first, the whole clause counts as position 1, so the main-clause verb follows the comma directly: Weil ich krank bin, bleibe ich zu Hause. Danish does the same inversion: Fordi jeg er syg, bliver jeg hjemme.

23 · Relative clauses B1–B2

Relative clauses describe a noun and are introduced by a relative pronoun identical in form to the definite article (der, die, das, den, dem…), agreeing in gender and number with the antecedent but taking its case from its role inside the relative clause. The verb goes to the end (it is a subordinate clause).

• Der Mann, der dort steht, ist mein Vater. (subject → Nom der)
• Der Mann, den ich sehe, … (object → Akk den)
• Der Mann, dem ich helfe, … (dative)

24 · The passive voice B2

• Vorgangspassiv (process passive) = werden + Partizip II: Der Brief wird geschrieben. (The letter is being written.)
• Zustandspassiv (state passive) = sein + Partizip II, describing a resulting state: Die Tür ist geöffnet. Cf. Danish Døren er åbnet.
• Agent introduced by von + Dativ (by whom) or durch + Akkusativ (by what means). Danish uses af.
• Across tenses: wurde geschrieben (Präteritum), ist geschrieben worden (Perfekt — note worden, not geworden).

25 · Konjunktiv II (conditional / unreal) B2

Used for hypotheticals, wishes, and politeness. Two ways to form it:

• würde + infinitive (the everyday route, like Danish ville): Ich würde dir helfen. Cf. Jeg ville hjælpe dig.
• Original Konjunktiv II forms for common verbs (preferred over würde): wäre (would be), hätte (would have), könnte (could), müsste, sollte, möchte, wüsste, käme.
• Conditional sentences: Wenn ich Zeit hätte, würde ich mehr lesen. Cf. Danish Hvis jeg havde tid, ville jeg læse mere — same two-part structure (positive transfer).
• Past Konjunktiv II = hätte / wäre + Partizip II: Wenn ich das gewusst hätte, wäre ich nicht gekommen. (If I had known that, I would not have come.) There is no würde-form in the past.

26 · Infinitive clauses: zu + Infinitiv, um…zu B2

• zu + Infinitiv after many verbs and adjectives: Ich versuche, Deutsch zu lernen. Danish uses at + infinitive identically: Jeg prøver at lære tysk. With separable verbs, zu goes inside: aufzustehen = at stå op.
• um … zu = “in order to”: Ich lerne Deutsch, um in Berlin zu arbeiten. Cf. Danish for at (for at arbejde).
• Modal verbs take a bare infinitive (no zu) — same as Danish (jeg kan svømme, not at svømme).

27 · Plusquamperfekt & tense sequence B2

Plusquamperfekt (past perfect) = hatte / war + Partizip II: Ich hatte schon gegessen, als er kam. (I had already eaten when he came.)

28 · Konjunktiv I & reported speech C1

Konjunktiv I marks reported speech neutrally (“these are their words, not mine”) in formal and written German, especially journalism. Formed from the infinitive stem + endings centred on -e; the key form is 3rd-person singular: er sagt → er sage; sein is irregular: er sei.

• Der Minister erklärte, die Lage sei stabil. (The minister said the situation was stable.)
• When the Konjunktiv I form is identical to the indicative (common in the plural), German switches to Konjunktiv II to keep the reporting mood visible: sie sagen → sie hätten (not haben).

29 · Participles as adjectives & extended attributes C1

• Partizip I (present participle) = infinitive + d: das weinende Kind (the crying child). Active meaning.
• Partizip II used attributively: das gekaufte Buch (the bought book). Passive / completed meaning.
• Both decline like adjectives (Ch. 18).
• Extended participial attributes (erweitertes Partizipialattribut) pack a whole phrase between article and noun: der in der Zeitung veröffentlichte Artikel = “the article published in the newspaper.”

30 · Advanced style C1–C2

• Nominalstil (nominalisation): formal German turns verbs into nouns: Das Reisen erweitert den Horizont; nach Beendigung des Projekts. Officialese (Amtsdeutsch) is dense with this. Danish also nominalises, but German goes much further; over-nominalising sounds bureaucratic, so use with judgment.
• Funktionsverbgefüge (light-verb constructions): fixed noun + verb combos where the noun carries the meaning: in Betracht ziehen (take into consideration), zur Verfügung stehen (be available), eine Entscheidung treffen (make a decision), Abschied nehmen (say goodbye). Learn these as whole chunks.
• Genitive prepositions (formal): während (during), wegen (because of), trotz (despite), (an)statt (instead of), innerhalb / außerhalb: wegen des Wetters, trotz des Regens. In casual speech these increasingly take the dative, but the genitive is the written standard.
• Subjunctive nuance: at C1/C2, Konjunktiv II carries tone — regret, politeness, diplomatic distance, irony: Das hätte ich nicht gedacht (I would not have thought that); Ich hätte da eine Frage (softened “I have a question”). Mastery is about register, not just form.
• Compounding: German builds long compound nouns freely — Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung parallels Danish hastighedsbegrænsning. The compounding instinct transfers directly from Danish; only the linking elements (-s-, -n-) need attention.

Study plan for an A2-to-B1 learner

1. Weeks 1–2 — Diagnostic & consolidation (A1, Ch. 1–8). Do only the exercises for Ch. 1–8; if you score 90%+, move on. Spend real time only where you drop below 90% — most likely gender (Ch. 2) and nicht/kein (Ch. 8). Threshold to advance: consistent 90% on the exercises.
2. Weeks 3–8 — Core work (A2–B1, Ch. 9–23). One chapter per 2–3 days: read → quiz → exercise → re-do the exercise from two chapters back (spaced retrieval). Give double time to the three high-interference zones: the four cases (Ch. 9–14), adjective declension (Ch. 18), and verb-final subordinate clauses (Ch. 22). Benchmark: solid B1 when you can produce the Perfekt (Ch. 17) and weil-clauses (Ch. 22) correctly in speech, not just on paper.
3. Weeks 9–14 — Push to B2 (Ch. 24–27). Passive, Konjunktiv II, zu-infinitives, Plusquamperfekt. Leverage the Danish parallels (werden=blive, zu=at, havde/var) to move fast. Benchmark: you can read a German news article and understand passive and conditional sentences without translating.
4. Months 4+ — C1/C2 (Ch. 28–30). Treat Konjunktiv I and extended attributes as reading / recognition skills first (newspapers, official letters); produce them only once recognition is automatic. Benchmark for C1: you can unpack an extended participial attribute on sight and use Konjunktiv II for politeness naturally.
5. Throughout — exploit your Danish, distrust false friends. Use the cognate table (Appendix A) to guess new German words, keep the false-friends list (Appendix B) visible, and when you hit a wall, check whether the German structure has a Danish twin — it usually does.

Caveats

• Grammar level is not the same as CEFR skill level. The chapter tags show where a structure is typically taught; CEFR itself describes communicative ability. You may meet advanced grammar in real input well before you can produce it. Recognition precedes production.
• The contrastive method has limits. Contrastive analysis in its strong form was criticised from the 1970s for over-predicting errors that do not occur and under-predicting some that do. Use the Danish parallels as scaffolding and error-prevention, not as a guarantee.
• Gender is only partly rule-governed. The signposts in Ch. 2 have many exceptions; the only reliable method is to learn each noun with its article.
• Regional and register variation. Southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland use sein as a perfect auxiliary more freely; genitive prepositions often take the dative in speech; the Präteritum/Perfekt split differs by region. The course teaches the written standard.
• This is a grammar course, not a complete language course. It deliberately omits systematic vocabulary building, listening and speaking practice, and extensive pronunciation drilling — pair it with graded reading, listening, and conversation.