Family, Friends and Relationships - Vocabulary and the Case System
Talk about your family in German. Learn the words for family members, each with its article, and meet the case system: how mein (my) changes with gender and with case.
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German family and cases 👪
To talk about your family in German you need two things: the **vocabulary**, and the **case system**. German has three genders, shown by **der** (masculine), **die** (feminine) and **das** (neuter). The word for **my**, **mein**, changes to match the gender, and it changes again depending on the noun's job in the sentence, which is called its **case**.
Words for the family 📖
Learn each noun WITH its article: der, die or das tells you its gender. German writes every noun with a capital letter, and also uses the umlaut vowels ä, ö and ü, as in das Mädchen (girl).
Which word? 🔍
Which German word means sister?
- die Schwester
- die Mutter
- der Bruder
- das Kind
Match the German to the English 🔗
- der Vater
- die Mutter
- der Bruder
- die Schwester
- father
- mother
- brother
- sister
Saying my: mein 🔑
The word for **my** is **mein**. Before a **masculine** or **neuter** noun it stays **mein**: mein Vater, mein Kind. Before a **feminine** or **plural** noun it becomes **meine**: meine Mutter, meine Eltern. This is the noun as the subject, which is the nominative case.
mein or meine? ✅
Select the TWO phrases that correctly use mein for my.
- mein Vater
- mein Kind
- mein Mutter
- mein Schwester
One noun, three cases ⚖️
German changes the article and mein depending on how the noun is used. Watch a masculine noun, der Vater, move through the three cases:
Match the case to the form 🔀
- Nominative
- Accusative
- Dative
- der Vater, when he is the subject
- den Vater, when he is the direct object
- dem Vater, after mit (with)
Complete the German 🧩
German changes mein to match the case. As the subject it is _____ Vater. After Ich liebe (I love), the masculine form becomes _____ Vater. After mit (with) it becomes _____ Vater. For my mother it is _____ Mutter as the subject, and after mit it is _____ Mutter.
Build the sentence 🪜
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Spot the true statements 🖍️
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Choose the case 🧭
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Explain the cases ✍️
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