LESSON NOTES

Basic Bootcamp #2
Basic German: Nationality / 'to be' /
Basic Sentence Structure

CONTENTS
2
2
2
2
5

German
English
Vocabulary
Grammar
Cultural Insight

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GERMAN
1.

A:

Hallo, ich heie Widar. Ich bin Deutscher.

2.

B:

Hallo, ich heie Rebecca. Ich bin Amerikanerin.

ENGLISH
1.

A:

Hello, I'm Widar. I'm German.

2.

B:

Hello, I'm Rebecca. I'm American.

VOCABULARY
Ge r man

English

C lass

Hallo, ich heie Widar. Ich

bin Deutscher.

Hello, I'm Widar. I'm

German.

sentence

Hallo, ich heie Rebecca.

Ich bin Amerikanerin.

Hello, I'm Rebecca. I'm

American.

sentence

GRAMMAR
Th e Fo cu s o f Th i s Bo o tca m p Le sso n Is to Te a ch Yo u H o w to Ta l k a bo u t Yo u r
Eth n i ci ty.
H a l l o , i ch bi n Wi d a r. Ich bi n D e u tsch e r.
"H e l l o , I m Wi d a r. I'm G e rm a n ."

To talk about your ethnicity, you add suffixes according to gender (male, female) to the name
of a country. In many cases, you have to make some more changes (adding -n + suffix, or
replacing the last letter of the country + suffix). Let's take a look at some examples.

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BASIC BOOTCAMP #2 - BASIC GERMAN: NATIONALITY / 'TO BE' / BASIC SENTENCE STRUCTURE

C o u n tri e s a n d Eth n i ci ti e s

I. co u n try + su ffi x -e r (m a l e )/-e ri n (fe m a l e )

Examples for a Male and Female:

Gender

"C o u n try"
("En g l i sh ")

C o u n try
(G e rm a n )

"Eth n i ci ty"
("En g l i sh ")

Eth n i ci ty
(G e rm a n )

Male

"Italy"

Italien

"Italian"

Italien-er

Male

"Austria"

sterreich

"Austrian"

sterreich-er

Female

"Italy"

Italien

"Italian"

Italien-erin

Female

"Austria"

sterreich

"Austrian"

sterreich-erin

II. co u n try + -n + su ffi x -e r (m a l e )/-e ri n (fe m a l e )

Examples for a Male and Female:

Gender

"C o u n try"
("En g l i sh ")

C o u n try
(G e rm a n )

"Eth n i ci ty"
("En g l i sh ")

Eth n i ci ty
(G e rm a n )

Male

"America"

Amerika

"American"

Amerika-n-er

Male

"Cuba"

Kuba

"Cuban"

Kuba-n-er

Female

"America"

Amerika

"American"

Amerika-n-erin

Female

"Cuba"

Kuba

"Cuban"

Kuba-n-erin

III. co u n try - l a st l e tte r + su ffi x -e r (m a l e )/-e ri n (fe m a l e )

Examples for a Male and Female:

Gender

"C o u n try"
("En g l i sh ")

C o u n try
(G e rm a n )

"Eth n i ci ty"
("En g l i sh ")

Eth n i ci ty
(G e rm a n )

Male

"Canada"

Kanada

"Canadian"

Kanad-ier

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BASIC BOOTCAMP #2 - BASIC GERMAN: NATIONALITY / 'TO BE' / BASIC SENTENCE STRUCTURE

Female

Kanada

"Canada"

"Canadian"

Kanad-ierin

IV. co u n try + -l a n d /-re i ch + su ffi x

Examples for a Male and Female:

Gender

"C o u n try"
("En g l i sh ")

C o u n try
(G e rm a n )

"Eth n i ci ty"
("En g l i sh ")

Eth n i ci ty
(G e rm a n )

Male

"Germany"

Deutschland

"German"

Deutsch-er

Male

"France"

Frankreich

"Frenchman"

Fran-z-ose

Female

"Germany"

Deutschland

"German"

Deutsche

Frankreich

"Frenchwoman
"

Fran-z-sin

Female

"France"

Expre ssi n g Eth n i ci ti e s (Am e ri ca n a n d G e rm a n )

To express your ethnicity, you need to use the copula verb sein ("to be"). The conjugation of
sein appears in the table below.

G e rm a n

En g l i sh

Ich bin Amerikaner.

"I'm American."

Ich bin Deutscher/Deutsche.

"I'm German."

Du bist Amerikaner.

"You're American." (singular)

Du bist Deutscher/Deutsche.

"You're German." (singular)

Er/Sie ist Amerikaner/-in.

"He/She is American."

Er/Sie ist Deutscher/Deutsche.

"He/She is German."

Wir sind Amerikaner.

"We're American."

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BASIC BOOTCAMP #2 - BASIC GERMAN: NATIONALITY / 'TO BE' / BASIC SENTENCE STRUCTURE

Wir sind Deutsche.

"We're German."

Ihr seid Amerikaner.

"You're American." (plural)

Ihr seid Deutsche.

"You're German." (plural)

Sie sind Amerikaner.

"They're American."

Sie sind Deutsche.

"They're German."

Wo rd Ord e r i n S i m pl e G e rm a n S e n te n ce s

The above sentences demonstrate the basic word order of a German sentence: subject +
verb + object. English has the same basic word order for independent clauses.
Fo r Exa m pl e :
1.

2.

Ich heie Widar.

Literally, "I'm called Widar."
"I'm Widar."/"My name is Widar."
Er spricht Deutsch.
Literally, "He speaks German."
"He speaks German."

CULTURAL INSIGHT
C i ti ze n sh i p
Ever wanted to truly become a German? Until the year 2000 you were pretty much out of luck
if you were not born of at least one German parent, but fret not! Now there are some options
for someone who wants to become a naturalized citizen of Germany which were introduced
to make it somewhat easier for foreigners. Chances are that if you have lived in Germany for
8 years, are pretty fluent in German and can support yourself without needing welfare, the
German passport might be yours sooner than expected! Additionally, spouses of German
citizens can be naturalized after only 3 years of residence and 2 years of marriage, so go out
and there and find yourself a cute German guy or girl!

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BASIC BOOTCAMP #2 - BASIC GERMAN: NATIONALITY / 'TO BE' / BASIC SENTENCE STRUCTURE