Endings: conjugation & declension
FoundationsfreeThe heart of German grammar: words change their ending depending on their role in the sentence. English barely does this anymore (he walks, two dogs — that's almost all). German does it constantly. A word consists of a stem (the fixed part) and an ending (the changing part): geh|en, geh|st, klein|er, klein|es.
Conjugation — verbs change
Conjugation means: the verb adapts its ending to the acting person and to the time. *ich gehe (I go), du gehst (you go), er geht (he goes)* — same stem “geh”, three endings. Only verbs conjugate.
Declension — everything around the noun changes
Declension means: articles, adjectives, pronouns (and sometimes the noun itself) change form based on three factors: gender (the noun's class: der/die/das), number (singular or plural), and case (the role in the sentence — subject, object, etc.). Each factor gets its own unit; here you only need the idea: one word, many forms — the ending carries the information.
The C-test deletes the back half of the word — which is almost always exactly the ending. The stem is given, the ending is missing: “klein__”, “geh__”, “d__”. Endings decide your score, more than vocabulary breadth. That is exactly why this course is structured the way it is.
What is the stem of “machst” (you do)?
Which word type is CONJUGATED (not declined)?
Declension depends on three factors. Which one is NOT among them?
What is the stem of “wohnen” (to live)?
“du komm___” (you come) — Which ending is missing?
“ich spiele” (I play) — What does the ending -e show?
Which word type is declined (not conjugated)?
“der Hund schläft” → “ich sehe den Hund” (the dog sleeps → I see the dog) — What changed?
“das Kind” → “die Kinder” (the child → the children) — Which factor changed the article?
The C-test shows “geh__”. What is almost always missing?