A2 halfway chest in German

What you'll learn

• Describe where things are and how long activities have continued.
• Talk about past events using the Perfekt and past modal verbs.
• Use possessive pronouns to avoid repeating nouns.
• Compare things and say which one you like best.
• Use ob for uncertainty and wenn for conditions.

German phrases for a2 halfway chest

• Dein Lesebuch ist unter dem Stuhl.

  Your reading book is under the chair.

  Unter takes the dative here because it describes a location: der Stuhl becomes dem Stuhl.

• Du bist seit einem Monat im Schwimmverein.

  You have been in the swimming club for a month.

  Use the present tense with seit for something that started in the past and is still true.

• Du hast vor zwei Tagen deinen Bleistift verloren. Du kannst meinen benutzen.

  You lost your pencil two days ago. You can use mine.

  Hast verloren is the Perfekt of verlieren. Meinen means 'mine' and replaces the masculine accusative noun Bleistift.

• Deine Schultasche ist genauso schwer wie meine.

  Your school bag is just as heavy as mine.

  Genauso … wie means 'just as … as'. Meine replaces meine Schultasche.

• Welche Geschichte magst du am liebsten?

  Which story do you like best?

  Magst … am liebsten is a natural way to ask which thing someone likes best.

• Ich weiß nicht, ob dein Freund heute zu Besuch kommen kann.

  I do not know whether your friend can visit today.

  Ob means 'whether'. The conjugated verb kann goes at the end of the ob clause. For a female friend, use deine Freundin.

• Wenn du Hilfe bei deinen Hausaufgaben brauchst, sitze ich neben dir.

  If you need help with your homework, I sit next to you.

  Brauchst goes at the end of the wenn clause. The main clause then starts with sitze. Neben dir describes a location.

• Gestern konntest du deine Brotdose nicht finden, also mussten wir sie zusammen suchen.

  Yesterday you could not find your lunchbox, so we had to look for it together.

  Konntest and mussten are past forms of können and müssen. Suchen takes a direct object: sie suchen means 'look for it'.

Key words

Perfekt: talking about past events

The Perfekt uses a present-tense helping verb and a past participle. With verlieren, use haben and verloren.

Dative locations

Unter and neben take the dative when they describe where something or someone is, rather than movement to a new position.

Time expressions

Seit and vor take the dative. Use seit with the present tense for an ongoing situation. Use vor to say how long ago something happened.

Possessive pronouns: mine

A possessive pronoun replaces a noun. Its ending depends on the noun's gender and number, and on its case in the sentence.

Equality comparisons

Use genauso + adjective + wie to say two things have the same quality or degree. Do not use als for equality.

Superlatives: liking something best

Many superlatives use am + adjective ending in -sten or -esten. In questions about preferences, mögen with am liebsten means 'like best'.

Ob and wenn clauses

Ob introduces an uncertain yes-or-no question: 'whether'. Wenn introduces a condition: 'if'. Both send the conjugated verb to the end of their clause. If the subordinate clause comes first, the main clause starts with its conjugated verb.

Past modal verbs

Können and müssen commonly use the simple past even in spoken German. The other verb stays in the infinitive at the end.

More examples

Keep going in German