Your first day at work: office things, the Akkusativ and modal verbs

In German you cannot learn a noun on its own. You learn der Drucker (the printer), die Lampe (the lamp), das Handy (the mobile phone), always as a pair. The article tells you the gender, and the gender decides every ending you will see in this unit. There is no reliable rule from the meaning: a printer is masculine, a lamp is feminine, a phone is neuter. So write every new noun with its article, and say it aloud with the article. Notice also that every German noun starts with a capital letter, in the middle of a sentence too: die Arbeit (the work), but arbeiten (to work).

The Nominativ is the form for the subject, the person or thing doing something: Der Drucker ist neu. After ist and sind you also stay in the Nominativ: Das ist ein Drucker. The Akkusativ is the form for the object, the thing you have, need, buy or look for: Ich brauche einen Drucker. The good news is that only one column of the table changes. Feminine, Neutrum and plural look exactly the same in the Akkusativ as in the Nominativ. Only the masculine words get an -en: der becomes den, ein becomes einen, kein becomes keinen.

Pronouns work the same way. When you have already named a thing, you replace it with a pronoun, and the pronoun copies the article of the noun, not its meaning. A masculine thing is er as a subject and ihn as an object. A feminine thing is sie in both cases, a neuter thing is es in both cases. English uses “it” for every object, which is why English speakers often say es for everything. In German, der Drucker is “he” and die Lampe is “she”, even though they are only things.

• Das ist ein Drucker. Wir brauchen einen Drucker.

  This is a printer. We need a printer.

  یہ ایک پرنٹر ہے۔ ہمیں ایک پرنٹر چاہیے۔

  After ist: Nominativ (ein). After brauchen: Akkusativ (einen).

• Ich suche den Schlüssel.

  I am looking for the key.

  میں چابی ڈھونڈ رہا ہوں۔

• Bilal braucht eine Tastatur.

  Bilal needs a keyboard.

  بلال کو ایک کی بورڈ چاہیے۔

  Feminine: eine stays eine.

• Wir haben kein Papier.

  We have no paper.

  ہمارے پاس کاغذ نہیں ہے۔

• Hast du einen Kuli? – Nein, ich habe keinen Kuli.

  Do you have a pen? – No, I don't have a pen.

  کیا تمہارے پاس قلم ہے؟ – نہیں، میرے پاس قلم نہیں ہے۔

• Der Bildschirm ist neu. Ich finde ihn gut.

  The screen is new. I think it's good.

  سکرین نئی ہے۔ مجھے یہ اچھی لگتی ہے۔

  der Bildschirm → ihn, although English says “it”.

• Wo ist die Brille? Ich suche sie.

  Where are the glasses? I'm looking for them.

  عینک کہاں ہے؟ میں اسے ڈھونڈ رہا ہوں۔

  die Brille is one feminine thing in German (Wo ist …?, not sind), so the pronoun is sie.

A modal verb usually works together with a second verb. It adds a meaning to that verb: ability, duty, permission, an instruction or a wish. The modal verb takes the usual verb slot, position 2, and gets the ending for the subject. The second verb does not get an ending for the subject. It goes to the very end of the sentence in the infinitive, the form you find in the dictionary. Everything else (the object, the time, nicht) sits between the two verbs. German teachers call this shape the Satzklammer, the sentence bracket, because the two verbs close the sentence in from both sides.

Two meanings need care. First, sollen is not the same as müssen. With sollen there is usually another person behind the task: the boss, the teacher, the doctor. Du sollst den Bericht drucken means “you are supposed to print the report”, someone asked for it. Second, möchten can stand alone with a noun when the action is obvious: Ich möchte einen Kaffee. This is the normal polite way to ask for something in a canteen or a shop. With a noun, möchten takes the Akkusativ you learnt in section 1.

• Ich kann gut Englisch sprechen.

  I can speak English well.

  میں اچھی انگریزی بول سکتا ہوں۔

• Wir müssen heute bis 18 Uhr arbeiten.

  We have to work until 6 p.m. today.

  ہمیں آج شام 6 بجے تک کام کرنا ہے۔

• Darf ich hier parken?

  May I park here?

  کیا مجھے یہاں گاڑی کھڑی کرنے کی اجازت ہے؟

  In a yes/no question the modal verb comes first, and the main verb is still at the end.

• Die Chefin sagt, du sollst den Bericht drucken.

  The boss says you should print the report.

  باس کہہ رہی ہیں کہ تم رپورٹ پرنٹ کرو۔

• Ich möchte einen Kaffee, bitte.

  I'd like a coffee, please.

  ایک کافی دے دیجیے، پلیز۔

  möchten with a noun alone: einen Kaffee is Akkusativ.

• Priya möchte in Köln arbeiten.

  Priya would like to work in Cologne.

  پریا کولون میں کام کرنا چاہتی ہے۔

• Hier dürfen wir nicht rauchen.

  We are not allowed to smoke here.

  ہمیں یہاں سگریٹ پینے کی اجازت نہیں۔

• Sie müssen morgen nicht kommen.

  You don't have to come tomorrow.

  آپ کو کل آنے کی ضرورت نہیں۔

  muss nicht = it is not necessary. It does not mean “you must not”.

English often uses the same word for all three: “Where do you work?”, “Where are you from?”, “Where are you going?”. German makes you choose. Wo asks about a place where you are or something happens. Woher asks where someone or something comes from. Wohin asks about a direction, where you are going. The answer has to match the question: a Wo-question gets a place word, a Woher-question gets aus, a Wohin-question gets nach, zu or in.

Small words like im, zum and zur are short forms: im = in dem, zum = zu dem, zur = zu der, ins = in das. Behind im, zum and zur is a case called the Dativ, which you will study in a later unit; ins (in das) is the Akkusativ, because it shows a movement into a place. For now, learn the phrases as whole blocks, the way you learn “subha bakhair” without taking it apart: im Büro, in der Kantine, zur Arbeit, ins Büro. For a firm, German uses bei: Ich arbeite bei einer Firma in Köln. For a university it uses an: Ich studiere an der Universität.

Es gibt means “there is” or “there are”. It is the phrase for what exists in a place: a canteen in the building, a printer on the floor, a car park behind the office. It never changes for the plural: Es gibt zwei Büros. The thing after es gibt is always in the Akkusativ, so a masculine word takes einen or keinen. If you start the sentence with the place, gibt still stays in position 2 and es moves behind it: Hier gibt es eine Kantine. To ask, put gibt first: Gibt es hier einen Parkplatz?

• Zainab arbeitet im Krankenhaus.

  Zainab works in the hospital.

  زینب ہسپتال میں کام کرتی ہے۔

• Arjun kommt aus Delhi.

  Arjun comes from Delhi.

  ارجن دہلی سے ہے۔

• Ich fahre jetzt nach Hause.

  I'm going home now.

  میں اب گھر جا رہا ہوں۔

• Usman ist heute zu Hause.

  Usman is at home today.

  عثمان آج گھر پر ہے۔

  zu Hause = place (Wo?). nach Hause = direction (Wohin?).

• Ich gehe zur Besprechung.

  I'm going to the meeting.

  میں میٹنگ میں جا رہا ہوں۔

• Omar studiert an der Universität in Köln.

  Omar studies at the university in Cologne.

  عمر کولون کی یونیورسٹی میں پڑھتا ہے۔

• Gibt es hier einen Drucker?

  Is there a printer here?

  کیا یہاں کوئی پرنٹر ہے؟

• Hier gibt es keine Kantine.

  There's no canteen here.

  یہاں کوئی کینٹین نہیں ہے۔

Learn each noun with its article and its plural, and say both aloud: der Stuhl, die Stühle. Many office words come from English (der Computer, das Handy, das Team), but they still need a German article. Job titles have a male and a female form: der Kollege, die Kollegin.

On the first day you do not need long sentences. You need to say who you are, ask where things are, ask for what you need and ask if something is allowed. In many German offices colleagues soon say du to each other; with the boss and with visitors, start with Sie and wait until they offer du.

Read the email twice. The first time, only ask: where is Bilal's desk, and what does he have to do on Monday? The second time, underline every einen and every modal verb, and find the main verb that belongs to it at the end of the sentence.