Lesson 15: ‘a’, no and the possessive pronoun
‘A’ is the indefinite article in English (we’ve seen the definite one here). Its conjugation is similar as that of ‘no’ and of the possessive pronoun, so that’s why we’re going to see them together.
How do you say ‘a man’, ‘a woman’ and ‘a child’ in German in the Nominativ case? Well, it’s like this:
- ein Mann
- eine Frau
- ein Kind
The Akkusativ changes only the male form, similarly to the definite article’s Akkusativ:
- einen Mann
- eine Frau
- ein Kind
To say ‘no man’ and ‘no woman’, ‘no child’, ‘no men’ it’s like this in the Nominativ:
- kein Mann
- keine Frau
- kein Kind
- keine Männer
Yes, it’s exactly the same as for ‘ein.’ However, mind the plural (for ein there’s no plural) is always keine. The Akkusativ of kein Mann is keinen Mann, just the same as for ein.
The possessive is conjugated just the same. The roots are: mein, dein, sein, ihr, sein, unser, euer, ihr and Ihr. So here are the examples in the Nominativ:
- mein Mann (my husband)
deine Frau (your wife)
sein Kind (his child)
ihre Männer (her men)
seine Frauen (its women)
unsere Kinder (our children)
euer Mann (your husband)
ihre Frau (their woman)
Ihr Kind (your child) polite
That’s quite a lot to take. So the roots refer to the person that owns, and the endings refers to what that person owns. They take the same endings of (k)ein. Mind as well that ‘ihr’ is you in the plural, but also the possessive ‘her’ and ‘their’. Ihr with capital is your in the politeness form. One last remark: euer becomes eure with an e.
Words
Exercises (see the previous lessons for vocabulary)
Translate the following words, all in Nominativ except where indicated:
- My examples
your book (single)
his question
her ID card (Akkusativ)
its country (Akkusativ)
our pictures
your work (plural)
their house
your city
________________________
Solutions
- meine Beispiele
dein Buch
seine Frage
ihren Ausweis
sein Land
unsere Bilder
eure Arbeit
ihr Haus
Ihre Stadt