8. Meine Wohnung

This was a big lesson. It introduced many different elements of the German language. Please study this lesson well, and after you read the next grammar lesson, go back to this lesson and review it thoroughly.

It's time now to introduce another German case, accusative. Accusative indicates an object (on what is an action performed) in a sentence. Remember, Nominative indicates a subject (who performs an action).

In the sentence "I have a fridge", "I" am performing the action, so "I" is the subject. The verb is haben(to have). And the object of an action is a "fridge". Therefore, in German, fridge should be in accusative.

In accusative, there are no changes to the noun, but the articles in front of the word change. Instead of ein for masculine noun, einen is used.

"I love the balcony", has the subject (I), the action (to love) and the object (balcony). Balcony is in accusative. Remember, the noun does not change, but the article in front of the noun does. The definite article for a masculine noun becomes den.

Können is a modal verb. Modal verbs are super useful and easy to use. Just like in English, they are used with another verb. "I can sit outside" has "can" and "sit". In German, you would say "Ich kann draußen sitzen" (kann and sitzen).

Did you notice how, in German, the second verb is at the end of the sentence? It is a rule in the German language that when modal verbs are used, the second verb goes at the end of the sentence. Do you remember seeing one sentence with "können" earlier? "Können wir bestellen?" is a nice example of how you use a modal verb in a question.

"Ich entspanne mich" directly translated would be "I relax myself". Some verbs in German are so-called reflexive verbs. This means that they use a "reflexive pronoun" to better describe the verb. So, I am not relaxing the situation in the room; I am not relaxing someone else; I am relaxing myself.

Wenn is a very often used and useful conjunction. It means "if" or "when". When you use "wenn", the second sentence has to move the verb to the last place.

The main sentence, the one that contains key information is called the "main clause", and the second sentence, which describes the main clause is called the "subordinate clause".

When you want to say that you like to do something, you will use gern. So, I can say "Ich lese gern Bücher" or "Ich spiele gern Videospiele".

You can see a bit different use of wenn here. The main clause and the subordinate clause have changed places.

Notice how, again, in the subordinate clause the verb is at the end (gibt). In the main clause however, the verb is located at the start (kommen).

Es gibt is a very common and important phrase in German. It means "there is". "Es gibt ein Fußballspiel", means "There is a soccer game". It is used with accusative case. So if I want to say "There is a fridge", I would say "Es gibt einen Kühlschrank.".

"Gibt" is in this example sentence at the end of the sentence clause. How come? Remember, I am using "wenn". "wenn" pushes the verb (gibt) to the end of the subordinate clause.

sollen is another modal verb. Remember, modal verbs use another verb, and that verb goes to the end of the sentence.

müssen is another modal verb. Remember, modal verbs use another verb, and that verb goes to the end of the sentence.

kontaktieren belongs to a group of verbs that behave in a special way. And by that, I mean they are good verbs.

Verbs ending in "-ieren" come from Latin or French and are regular, with simple modifications when different verb tenses are used.