QCAA German Extension cheat sheet

German nouns carry one of three grammatical genders (der, die, das), and gender is not reliably predicted by meaning; the article is learned with the noun.

Definite articles by case: nominative der/die/das/die; accusative den/die/das/die; dative dem/der/dem/den; genitive des/der/des/der.

Main-clause word order is verb-second: the finite verb stands in position two, and fronting an adverbial or object triggers subject-verb inversion.

Subordinate clauses with weil, dass, obwohl, wenn or relative pronouns place the finite verb in final position.

Separable verbs split in main clauses: the prefix moves to the end (Ich stehe um sieben Uhr auf), while infinitive and subordinate clauses keep the verb together.

The perfect tense uses haben with most verbs and sein with intransitive motion/change-of-state verbs plus sein, bleiben and werden.

Konjunktiv II forms (hätte, wäre, könnte, würde + infinitive) mark hypothetical conditions, unreal wishes and polite requests.

Formal address uses Sie with plural verb forms; du is used with family, friends, peers and children.

German is an official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and Belgium, and has regional official status in South Tyrol, Italy.

A German Textanalyse conventionally moves from Einleitung (title, author, Textsort, source, date, topic) to Hauptteil (summary plus language/structure analysis) to Schluss (evaluation).

Textsorten carry predictable purposes: Nachricht informs, Kommentar evaluates, Reportage narrates, Interview probes, Rede persuades, Leserbrief responds.

An Inhaltsangabe uses present tense, third person and neutral wording; it excludes personal opinion and direct quotation.

Argument structure can be mapped as These, Argument, Beispiel and Schlussfolgerung; missing evidence or circular reasoning weakens the argument.

Rhetorical devices to name in German include Metapher, Vergleich, Ironie, rhetorische Frage, Anapher, Alliteration, Hyperbel and Personifikation.

Register is detected through Sie/du address, formal versus colloquial lexis, nominal versus verbal style, sentence length and modal particles.

Source evaluation checks author, publication, date, intended audience, stated intention, bias and omission of opposing positions.

Quotations use German quotation marks and, where available, line references such as (Z. 12); paraphrases remain clearly attributed.

Analytical connectives signal reasoning: zunächst, darüber hinaus, hingegen, folglich, dennoch and abschließend.

A critical response opens with a thesis, develops claim–evidence–explanation paragraphs, addresses a counterargument, and closes by restating the position.

A creative response maintains one consistent voice: register, vocabulary, tense and attitude remain stable across narration and dialogue.

German direct speech uses „…“; the reporting clause after the quotation is lower-case, and the comma follows the closing quotation mark.

Narrative past uses Präteritum for main events, Plusquamperfekt for prior events, and Perfekt mainly in dialogue or informal narration.

Sentence variety comes from subordinate clauses, relative clauses, infinitive clauses with zu, participial phrases and varied openings.

Cohesion is built with Konnektoren (dennoch, daher, außerdem, einerseits/andererseits) and with pronoun or synonym chains.

Formal writing uses Sie, full verb forms and nominal style; informal writing permits du, contractions, modal particles and shorter sentences.

das is an article or relative pronoun and can be replaced by welches or dies; dass is a conjunction and cannot.

German editing checks subject–verb agreement, case after prepositions, verb position, noun capitalisation, comma rules and ß/ss.