Familie und Freunde
Chapter Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
- Identify family members, pets, and important people in your life with the correct article and plural.
- Conjugate and use the complete present tense of haben (to have).
- Recognize and use accusative articles (den, die, das, einen, eine, ein) for direct objects.
- Use possessive determiners (mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser, euer, formal Ihr) to show who something or someone belongs to.
- Ask and state someone's age using Wie alt bist du? and Ich bin … Jahre alt.
- Describe people using predicate adjectives for personality and appearance.
- Distinguish wer, wen, and was in questions about people and things.
- Talk about months and recognize basic date formulas for birthdays.
Communication Scenario
Two weeks into the course, Frau Bauer asks the participants to bring a photo — real or printed from a phone — and introduce someone important in their life to the rest of the class. Lukas brings a picture of his sister and his dog; Mira brings a photo from a family gathering. As the class moves from desks and pens to people, the conversation naturally needs new tools: a way to say what you have (a brother, a cat, a busy week), a way to mark who is doing something to whom, and a way to say "my" versus "your" versus "her." This chapter builds exactly those tools.
- Think of three people or animals that are important in your life. In English, jot down one fact about each (age, personality, or appearance). You will return to these notes later in the chapter.
- In Chapters 2 and 3, every noun you used as a subject was in the nominative case. This chapter introduces the accusative case for nouns that receive the action of a verb — for example, the "brother" in "I have a brother." Watch for how the article changes only for masculine nouns.
Core Vocabulary
Die Familie — The family
Learn every family noun together with its article and plural, exactly as you have done since Chapter 2.
| Singular | Plural | English |
|---|---|---|
| der Vater | die Väter | father |
| die Mutter | die Mütter | mother |
| die Eltern | (plural only) | parents |
| der Bruder | die Brüder | brother |
| die Schwester | die Schwestern | sister |
| die Geschwister | (plural only) | siblings |
| der Sohn | die Söhne | son |
| die Tochter | die Töchter | daughter |
| das Kind | die Kinder | child |
| der Großvater / Opa | die Großväter / Opas | grandfather / grandpa |
| die Großmutter / Oma | die Großmütter / Omas | grandmother / grandma |
| der Onkel | die Onkel | uncle |
| die Tante | die Tanten | aunt |
| der Cousin | die Cousins | male cousin |
| die Cousine | die Cousinen | female cousin |
| der Ehemann | die Ehemänner | husband |
| die Ehefrau | die Ehefrauen | wife |
Eltern and Geschwister exist only in the plural in everyday use, much like English "parents." Vater and Mutter show an umlaut in the plural (Väter, Mütter) without adding an ending — one more reminder that plural patterns must be learned noun by noun, not guessed from a single rule.
Haustiere und Besitz — Pets and belongings
| Singular | Plural | English |
|---|---|---|
| der Hund | die Hunde | dog |
| die Katze | die Katzen | cat |
| das Haustier | die Haustiere | pet |
| das Auto | die Autos | car |
| das Fahrrad | die Fahrräder | bicycle |
| der Geburtstag | die Geburtstage | birthday |
Berufe — Occupations
These appear here only as identity labels with sein, the way you already used Lehrer/Lehrerin in Chapter 2.
| Masculine | Feminine | English |
|---|---|---|
| der Arzt | die Ärztin | doctor |
| der Student | die Studentin | university student |
| der Ingenieur | die Ingenieurin | engineer |
| der Verkäufer | die Verkäuferin | salesperson |
| der Koch | die Köchin | cook, chef |
Persönlichkeit und Aussehen — Personality and appearance
These adjectives appear here as predicate adjectives, just as the colors did in Chapter 2 — no endings are added.
| Deutsch | English |
|---|---|
| freundlich | friendly |
| lustig | funny |
| ruhig | calm, quiet |
| nett | nice |
| intelligent | intelligent |
| groß | tall, big |
| klein | short, small |
| jung | young |
| alt | old |
| schlank | slim |
Die Monate — The months
| Deutsch | English | Deutsch | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| Januar | January | Juli | July |
| Februar | February | August | August |
| März | March | September | September |
| April | April | Oktober | October |
| Mai | May | November | November |
| Juni | June | Dezember | December |
Month names are masculine nouns (der Januar) but are almost always used without an article in everyday speech: Mein Geburtstag ist im März. The formula im + [Monat] ("in [month]") is enough for this chapter; you will study the preposition in and its case more formally in Chapter 6.
Alter und Geburtstag — Age and birthday
| Ausdruck | English |
|---|---|
| Wie alt bist du? | How old are you? (informal) |
| Wie alt sind Sie? | How old are you? (formal) |
| Ich bin … Jahre alt. | I am … years old. |
| Wann hast du Geburtstag? | When is your birthday? |
| Mein Geburtstag ist im … | My birthday is in … |
Numbers above 20 continue the pattern you learned in Chapter 3 (einundzwanzig, dreißig, vierzig …). You will use these same numbers to state ages in this chapter's practice and dialogue.
Pronunciation and Spelling
Umlaut vowels in family words
This chapter's vocabulary brings several umlauted vowels together for the first time in plural forms: Väter, Mütter, Brüder, Töchter. The umlaut changes the vowel quality — it is not a decorative mark, and it is not optional in spelling or pronunciation.
ä in Väter is pronounced similarly to the e in English bed, but held for the appropriate vowel length. ü in Brüder and Mütter is a rounded front vowel: round your lips as if to say English "oo," but move your tongue forward as if to say "ee." It is not the same sound as either English vowel alone. ö in Töchter follows the same principle with lips rounded for "oh" and tongue forward for "eh."
Practice the contrast between the singular and the umlauted plural: der Vater → die Väter; die Mutter → die Mütter; der Bruder → die Brüder; die Tochter → die Töchter. Say each pair aloud, exaggerating the vowel change at first.
Long and short vowels: Vater versus Vetter-type contrasts
German distinguishes many words by vowel length alone, not only by quality. In Vater, the stressed a is long: [aː]. Practice keeping this vowel noticeably longer than the short a you hear in a word like Mann. Vowel length is meaningful in German — shortening a long vowel can make a word harder to understand, even when every letter is spelled correctly.
Final devoicing review
Several family nouns end in a written d that is pronounced as a voiceless [t] in final position: Bruder is fine here because the d is not word-final, but related words you will meet later, such as Hund in this chapter's vocabulary, show the pattern clearly: the final d in Hund is pronounced [t]. Continue to spell the word with d regardless of how it sounds at the end.
Sentence stress for contrastive possession
When comparing who owns or has what, German places extra stress on the possessive word or pronoun being contrasted, just as English does.
Compare: Das ist mein Bruder, nicht dein Bruder. ("That's my brother, not your brother.") Stress falls on mein and dein, the words being contrasted, while Bruder is said more lightly the second time because it has already been mentioned. Practice this pattern with your own family vocabulary, contrasting mein with dein, and later sein with ihr.
Grammar Instruction
4.1 The verb haben — complete present tense
Purpose: state what someone has — family members, pets, possessions, or qualities expressed with "to have."
Like sein, the verb haben (to have) is highly frequent and shows some irregularity, especially in the du and er/sie/es forms, where the b drops out.
| Pronomen | Form | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | habe | I have |
| du | hast | you have (informal) |
| er / sie / es | hat | he / she / it has |
| wir | haben | we have |
| ihr | habt | you have (informal plural) |
| sie | haben | they have |
| Sie | haben | you have (formal) |
Notice that du hast and er/sie/es hat each drop the b from the infinitive haben. This is an irregularity specific to this verb and must simply be learned; it does not follow the regular pattern you will study with verbs like kommen and wohnen.
- Ich habe einen Bruder. I have a brother.
- Hast du Geschwister? Do you have siblings?
- Er hat eine Katze. He has a cat.
- Wir haben einen Hund. We have a dog.
4.2 The accusative case: direct objects
Purpose: mark the noun that receives the action of a verb such as haben.
Every sentence you have built so far has used the nominative case for its subject — the person or thing doing the being or having. Starting in this chapter, you will also mark the accusative case for the noun that receives the action: the direct object. In Ich habe einen Bruder, ich is the nominative subject and einen Bruder is the accusative direct object.
The accusative changes the article only for masculine nouns. Feminine, neuter, and plural articles look identical in the nominative and accusative.
| Gender | Nominative | Accusative | Beispiel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maskulin | der / ein Bruder | den / einen Bruder | Ich habe einen Bruder. |
| Feminin | die / eine Schwester | die / eine Schwester | Ich habe eine Schwester. |
| Neutrum | das / ein Kind | das / ein Kind | Ich habe ein Kind. |
| Plural | die Geschwister | die Geschwister | Ich habe Geschwister. |
Only the masculine column changes: der becomes den, and ein becomes einen. This single change — adding -en to the masculine article — is the most important pattern to memorize in this chapter, because it recurs throughout the rest of the course.
It can be tempting to think "the first noun is nominative, the second noun is accusative." That happens to be true in a simple sentence like Ich habe einen Bruder, but case is determined by the noun's grammatical role — subject or direct object — not by its position in the English sentence. Later in the course you will see accusative nouns appear in other positions, so it is important to learn the role-based reasoning now rather than a position-based shortcut.
- Ich habe einen Hund. I have a dog. (masculine accusative)
- Du hast eine Katze. You have a cat. (feminine, unchanged)
- Wir haben ein Auto. We have a car. (neuter, unchanged)
- Hast du den Bleistift? Do you have the pencil? (masculine definite accusative)
4.3 Possessive determiners
Purpose: state who someone or something belongs to.
Possessive determiners agree with the gender of the noun that follows them, the same way ein and eine do. Each subject pronoun has its own possessive form.
| Pronomen | Possessivartikel | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | mein | my |
| du | dein | your (informal) |
| er | sein | his |
| sie (she) | ihr | her |
| es | sein | its |
| wir | unser | our |
| ihr | euer | your (informal plural) |
| sie (they) | ihr | their |
| Sie | Ihr | your (formal) |
In the nominative, possessive determiners take the same endings as ein: no ending before masculine or neuter nouns, -e before feminine and plural nouns.
| Maskulin | Feminin | Neutrum | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| mein Bruder | meine Schwester | mein Kind | meine Geschwister |
| dein Vater | deine Mutter | dein Auto | deine Eltern |
| ihr Onkel | ihre Tante | ihr Kind | ihre Kinder |
When a possessive determiner is itself the object of haben, the masculine form follows the same accusative pattern you just learned: Ich habe meinen Bruder gefragt would add -en to mein before a masculine noun. For this chapter, focus on recognizing this pattern in input (such as Ich sehe meinen Bruder) rather than producing every possible combination — the complete possessive paradigm across all cases is not required yet.
- Mein Bruder heißt Felix. My brother is named Felix.
- Wie heißt deine Schwester? What is your sister's name?
- Ihre Eltern wohnen in München. Her parents live in Munich.
- Unser Hund ist sehr lustig. Our dog is very funny.
- Ist das Ihr Sohn? Is that your son? (formal)
This chapter brings together several look-alike forms: the pronoun sie can mean "she" or "they"; the possessive ihr can mean "her" or "their"; and capitalized Ihr means formal "your." Context and capitalization — not the spelling alone — tell you which meaning is intended. Do not capitalize ordinary sie or ihr when they mean "she/they" or "her/their."
4.4 Wie alt bist du? — Stating age
Purpose: ask and state a person's age.
German expresses age with a form of sein, not haben — this is an important contrast with English "to have [a number of] years."
- Wie alt ist dein Bruder? — Er ist siebzehn Jahre alt. How old is your brother? — He is seventeen years old.
- Wie alt sind Sie? — Ich bin vierzig Jahre alt. How old are you? — I am forty years old.
4.5 Predicate adjectives for personality and appearance
Purpose: describe a person's character or looks without adding adjective endings.
As in Chapter 2, predicate adjectives — those following sein — never take an ending, regardless of the subject's gender or number.
- Mein Vater ist freundlich. My father is friendly.
- Meine Schwester ist lustig. My sister is funny.
- Meine Eltern sind ruhig. My parents are calm. (no plural ending on "ruhig")
4.6 wer, wen, and was
Purpose: ask about a person as a subject (wer), a person as an object (wen), or a thing (was).
You already know wer (who, nominative) and was (what) from Chapter 2. This chapter adds wen, the accusative form used to ask about a person who receives the action of a verb.
| Frage | Case | Beispiel |
|---|---|---|
| wer | nominative — subject | Wer hat einen Hund? — Mira hat einen Hund. |
| wen | accusative — object (person) | Wen siehst du? — Ich sehe meinen Bruder. |
| was | nominative or accusative — thing | Was hast du? — Ich habe ein Fahrrad. |
Was does not change form between the nominative and accusative; only question words referring to people show this distinction at this stage.
Practice — haben or sein?
- Ich _____ einen Bruder.
- Mein Bruder _____ siebzehn Jahre alt.
- Wir _____ einen Hund.
- Meine Eltern _____ sehr freundlich.
Practice — Accusative articles
Fill in einen, eine, or ein.
- Ich habe _____ Bruder.
- Sie hat _____ Katze.
- Wir haben _____ Kind.
- Hast du _____ Hund?
Practice — Possessive determiners
- (ich) _____ Schwester heißt Lena.
- (du) Wie heißt _____ Vater?
- (sie, she) _____ Eltern wohnen in Berlin.
- (wir) _____ Hund ist klein.
- (Sie, formal) Ist das _____ Tochter?
Model Dialogue
Kontext: Eine Pause im Deutschkurs. Lukas und Mira zeigen sich Fotos von ihren Familien. Sie benutzen weiterhin du miteinander.
Setting: A break during the German course. Lukas and Mira show each other photos of their families. They continue to use du with each other.
Verständnisfragen — Comprehension questions:
- Wie viele Geschwister hat Lukas? Wie heißt seine Schwester? (How many siblings does Lukas have? What is his sister's name?)
- Wie heißt der Hund von Lukas, und wie alt ist er? (What is Lukas's dog's name, and how old is it?)
- Wie viele Geschwister hat Mira? (How many siblings does Mira have?)
- Wo wohnen Miras Eltern? Wo wohnen ihre anderen Geschwister? (Where do Mira's parents live? Where do her other siblings live?)
- Wann haben Mira und Lukas Geburtstag? (When are Mira's and Lukas's birthdays?)
Mira says ich habe keinen Hund und keine Katze ("I don't have a dog or a cat"). Kein is the negative counterpart of ein and follows the exact same gender pattern: keinen before a masculine accusative noun, keine before a feminine noun. You will study kein formally in Chapter 8 — for now, simply recognize it in this dialogue as a recognition item.
Listening
Ask your instructor, a partner, or a text-to-speech tool to read the following description aloud at a moderate pace. Listen once for general comprehension, then a second time to complete the tasks below.
Meine Familie — My family:
"Hallo! Ich heiße Sofia. Ich habe eine kleine Familie. Mein Vater heißt Markus; er ist fünfzig Jahre alt und sehr ruhig. Meine Mutter heißt Petra; sie ist achtundvierzig Jahre alt und sehr freundlich. Ich habe einen Bruder. Er heißt Tim und ist zwanzig Jahre alt. Wir haben auch eine Katze; sie heißt Mimi und ist zwei Jahre alt. Mein Geburtstag ist im Juli. Die Geburtstage meiner Eltern sind im September und im Dezember."
Aufgabe 1 — Listening comprehension table: Complete the table with each person's age.
| Person | Alter |
|---|---|
| Markus (Vater) | ______ |
| Petra (Mutter) | ______ |
| Tim (Bruder) | ______ |
| Mimi (Katze) | ______ |
Aufgabe 2 — Richtig oder falsch: Write richtig or falsch, and correct any false statements in German.
- Sofias Vater ist sehr lustig. ______
- Sofia hat eine Schwester. ______
- Sofias Familie hat eine Katze. ______
- Sofias Geburtstag ist im Juli. ______
Reading
Read the following two short texts written by participants in Frau Bauer's class for the class blog.
Meine Familie und mein Haustier — My family and my pet
Ich heiße Jonas. Meine Familie ist nicht sehr groß. Ich habe eine Schwester; sie heißt Lea und ist fünfzehn Jahre alt. Sie ist lustig und sehr intelligent. Meine Eltern heißen Stefan und Birgit. Mein Vater ist Ingenieur, und meine Mutter ist Ärztin. Wir haben einen Hund. Er heißt Felix und ist vier Jahre alt — er ist sehr freundlich, aber nicht sehr ruhig! Meine Großeltern wohnen in Dresden, und meine Tante und mein Onkel wohnen in der Schweiz.
Eine Nachricht von Mira — A message from Mira
Hallo Lukas! Hier ist ein Foto von meiner Familie. Das ist meine Mutter, das ist mein Vater, und das sind meine vier Geschwister. Mein ältester Bruder heißt Paul; er ist Koch und wohnt in Köln. Meine Schwester Lisa ist Studentin. Wann hast du Zeit für einen Kaffee? Bis bald, Mira
Verständnisfragen — Comprehension questions:
- Wie alt ist Jonas' Schwester, und wie ist sie? (How old is Jonas's sister, and what is she like?)
- Was sind die Berufe von Jonas' Eltern? (What are the occupations of Jonas's parents?)
- Wo wohnen Jonas' Großeltern, und wo wohnen seine Tante und sein Onkel? (Where do Jonas's grandparents live, and where do his aunt and uncle live?)
- Was ist der Beruf von Mira's Bruder Paul? (What is the occupation of Mira's brother Paul?)
- Schreiben Sie einen Satz über ein Mitglied Ihrer eigenen Familie mit haben oder sein. (Write one sentence about a member of your own family using haben or sein.)
The families in this chapter's readings are only examples. Families across the German-speaking world take many forms — large and small, with one parent or two, with step-relatives, chosen family, or shared custody. The vocabulary in this chapter (Eltern, Geschwister, Familie) is flexible enough to describe many different real-life situations, and no single family structure should be treated as the standard one.
Writing Workshop
In this chapter, you will write a short paragraph introducing important people (and, if relevant, a pet) in your life, similar to the texts you just read.
- Analyze a model. Reread "Meine Familie und mein Haustier." Identify: (a) how Jonas introduces each person, (b) where he uses haben versus sein, (c) how he uses possessive determiners, and (d) how ages and occupations are stated.
- Plan your paragraph. List three or four important people (family, friends, or a pet). For each, note a name, an age, a relationship word, and one personality or appearance adjective.
- Write your first draft. Write five to seven sentences. Include at least two uses of haben with an accusative noun, at least two possessive determiners, at least one age expression with sein, and at least two predicate adjectives.
- Revise. Check your draft against the editing checklist below before writing a final version.
Checkliste — Editing checklist:
- Every family or person noun has the article and capitalization I intended.
- I used einen (not ein) before any masculine noun after haben.
- My possessive determiners agree with the gender of the noun that follows them.
- I used a form of sein — not haben — to state age.
- Predicate adjectives have no added ending.
- Umlauts (ä, ö, ü) and ß are correctly written.
- My paragraph includes at least one specific, personal detail.
Speaking Practice
Kontrolliert — Controlled practice: Familienfragen
With a partner, take turns asking and answering these questions using your own family or a family you invent.
- Hast du Geschwister?
- Wie alt ist deine Mutter / dein Vater?
- Hast du ein Haustier?
- Wie ist deine Schwester oder dein Bruder? (eine Eigenschaft)
- Wann hast du Geburtstag?
Kommunikative Aufgabe — Communicative task: Familienfoto
Each partner describes an imaginary family using the photo cards below, without showing the card. Your partner draws a simple family tree based on what you say, then checks it against your card.
Familie A
Vater (45, ruhig), Mutter (43, freundlich), ein Bruder (16), eine Katze (Mimi, 3 Jahre).
Familie B
Mutter (38, lustig), zwei Schwestern (12 und 9), ein Hund (Rex, 1 Jahr).
Alternative solo — Solo practice
Record yourself describing your real or an imagined family for 45 to 60 seconds. Use haben at least twice, a possessive determiner at least three times, an age expression with sein at least once, and at least two personality or appearance adjectives. Listen back and check: (a) Did I use einen correctly with masculine nouns? (b) Did my possessive determiners agree with the following noun? (c) Did I use sein, not haben, for age?
Culture and Communication
Questions about family are common in everyday German conversation, but, as in many cultures, the right amount of detail depends on the relationship and the setting. Among new acquaintances in a language class, simple questions such as Hast du Geschwister? are typical and welcome. More personal questions — about marital status, income, or family conflict — are generally reserved for closer relationships. There is no single rule for every situation; reading the context and the other person's responses matters as much as the vocabulary itself.
In Germany, Austria, and German-speaking Switzerland, it is common for the person celebrating a birthday — rather than their friends — to host or bring treats to share with colleagues or classmates. Congratulating someone before their actual birthday is sometimes considered to bring bad luck in parts of the German-speaking world, so well-wishes are typically offered on the day itself or afterward. Practices vary by region, generation, and individual family, so treat this as a common pattern rather than a universal rule.
Oma and Opa are the most common informal terms for grandmother and grandfather throughout the German-speaking world and are entirely appropriate for this course. Some regions and families also use other affectionate terms, such as Omi, Opi, or dialectal forms specific to a region or even a single family. These are labeled, optional variants; Oma and Opa remain the productive default for this course.
Common Mistakes
Error: *Ich habe zwanzig Jahre alt. (modeled on English "I have 20 years")
Correction: Ich bin zwanzig Jahre alt. German expresses age with a form of sein, never haben. This is a direct and predictable contrast with English, so it is worth practicing deliberately rather than translating word for word.
Error: *Ich habe ein Bruder. / *Ich habe der Hund.
Correction: Ich habe einen Bruder. / Ich habe den Hund. After haben, a masculine direct object takes einen or den, not ein or der. Feminine and neuter nouns do not change, which makes it easy to forget that masculine nouns do.
Error: *Mein Schwester ist nett. / *Ihr Bruder heißt … (intending "their brother" but writing "her brother" without context)
Correction: Meine Schwester ist nett. The possessive determiner agrees with the noun that follows it, not with the speaker: mein becomes meine before a feminine noun like Schwester. When using ihr, make sure context makes clear whether you mean "her" or "their."
Error: *Wer siehst du? (intending "Whom do you see?")
Correction: Wen siehst du? Use wer only when the person is the subject of the sentence, and wen when the person is the direct object. Asking who is doing something uses wer; asking who is having something done to them uses wen.
Chapter Review
Teil A — Wortschatz (Vocabulary)
1. Give the correct article and plural for each noun: Vater · Mutter · Bruder · Schwester · Kind · Hund.
2. Name three personality or appearance adjectives you learned in this chapter.
3. Write the German names for the months of your birthday and one family member's birthday.
Teil B — Grammatik (Grammar)
1. Conjugate haben in all seven forms and write one complete sentence for each.
2. Fill in einen, eine, or ein: (a) Ich habe _____ Bruder. (b) Sie hat _____ Katze. (c) Wir haben _____ Auto.
3. Fill in the correct possessive determiner: (a) (ich) _____ Vater ist Arzt. (b) (sie, they) _____ Mutter ist Lehrerin. (c) (Sie, formal) Wie heißt _____ Tochter?
4. Correct the error in each sentence: (a) *Ich habe vierzig Jahre alt. (b) *Ich habe ein Bruder. (c) *Wer siehst du?
Teil C — Leseverständnis (Reading comprehension)
1. Was sind die Berufe von Jonas' Eltern? (What are the occupations of Jonas's parents?)
2. Wo wohnt Miras Bruder Paul, und was ist sein Beruf? (Where does Mira's brother Paul live, and what is his occupation?)
Teil D — Schreiben (Writing)
1. Write five to seven sentences introducing important people in your life, using haben, sein, possessive determiners, and at least two predicate adjectives.
Teil E — Sprechen (Speaking)
1. Without written notes, ask and answer five questions about family, age, and pets with a partner.
Kumulative Wiederholung — Cumulative review
Using what you know from Chapters 1–4, complete this exchange. Fill in Speaker B's responses in full sentences.
A : Hallo! Wie heißt du, und woher kommst du?
B : _____________________________________________________
A : Hast du Geschwister?
B : _____________________________________________________
A : Wie alt bist du?
B : _____________________________________________________
A : Hast du ein Haustier?
B : _____________________________________________________
Chapter Performance Task
Leistungsaufgabe
Mein Familienstammbaum — My family tree
Create a labeled family tree or relationship map — real or invented — showing at least five people (and a pet, if you like). Label each person with their relationship to you, name, age, and one personality or appearance adjective.
Then present your family tree to a partner or the class, using complete sentences:
- Introduce at least four people: Das ist mein/meine …
- State each person's age: Er/Sie ist … Jahre alt.
- Describe at least two people with a predicate adjective.
- State at least one possession using haben: Wir haben einen/eine/ein …
After each presentation, the audience may ask one follow-up question using Wer …?, Wie alt …?, or Hat … einen/eine/ein …?
Answer Key
Practice — haben or sein?
1. habe 2. ist 3. haben 4. sind
Practice — Accusative articles
1. einen Bruder 2. eine Katze 3. ein Kind 4. einen Hund
Practice — Possessive determiners
- Meine Schwester heißt Lena.
- Wie heißt dein Vater?
- Ihre Eltern wohnen in Berlin.
- Unser Hund ist klein.
- Ist das Ihre Tochter?
Dialogue — Comprehension
- Lukas hat eine Schwester. Sie heißt Anna.
- Der Hund heißt Bruno und ist drei Jahre alt.
- Mira hat vier Geschwister (drei Brüder und zwei Schwestern — der Dialog erwähnt insgesamt vier Geschwister neben ihr).
- Miras Eltern und ihr jüngster Bruder wohnen in der Stadt; ihre anderen Geschwister wohnen in Köln.
- Miras Geburtstag ist im Mai; Lukas' Geburtstag ist im Oktober.
Listening — Table
- Markus (Vater): 50 Jahre alt
- Petra (Mutter): 48 Jahre alt
- Tim (Bruder): 20 Jahre alt
- Mimi (Katze): 2 Jahre alt
Listening — Richtig oder falsch
- Falsch. Sofias Vater ist sehr ruhig, nicht lustig.
- Falsch. Sofia hat einen Bruder, keine Schwester.
- Richtig. Die Familie hat eine Katze namens Mimi.
- Richtig. Sofias Geburtstag ist im Juli.
Reading — Comprehension
- Jonas' Schwester Lea ist fünfzehn Jahre alt; sie ist lustig und sehr intelligent.
- Jonas' Vater ist Ingenieur, und Jonas' Mutter ist Ärztin.
- Jonas' Großeltern wohnen in Dresden; seine Tante und sein Onkel wohnen in der Schweiz.
- Mira's Bruder Paul ist Koch.
- Modell: Mein Vater ist fünfzig Jahre alt und sehr freundlich. (Andere richtige Antworten sind akzeptabel.)
Chapter Review — Teil A
- der Vater, die Väter · die Mutter, die Mütter · der Bruder, die Brüder · die Schwester, die Schwestern · das Kind, die Kinder · der Hund, die Hunde
- Any three of: freundlich, lustig, ruhig, nett, intelligent, groß, klein, jung, alt, schlank.
- Answers will vary; check that the correct month name and spelling are used.
Chapter Review — Teil B
- ich habe · du hast · er/sie/es hat · wir haben · ihr habt · sie haben · Sie haben. Sample sentences will vary; check accusative articles where used.
- (a) einen Bruder (b) eine Katze (c) ein Auto
- (a) Mein Vater ist Arzt. (b) Ihre Mutter ist Lehrerin. (c) Wie heißt Ihre Tochter?
- (a) Ich bin vierzig Jahre alt. (b) Ich habe einen Bruder. (c) Wen siehst du?
Chapter Review — Teil C
- Jonas' Vater ist Ingenieur; Jonas' Mutter ist Ärztin.
- Paul wohnt in Köln und ist Koch.
Chapter Review — Teil D, model answer
Meine Familie ist klein. Mein Vater heißt Peter und ist fünfzig Jahre alt. Er ist sehr ruhig. Meine Mutter heißt Anna und ist freundlich. Ich habe eine Schwester; sie ist lustig. Wir haben auch einen Hund. Other well-formed, accurate answers are equally acceptable. Check against the editing checklist.
Cumulative Review — Model responses for Speaker B
B : Ich heiße [Name] und ich komme aus [Land/Stadt].
B : Ja, ich habe einen Bruder. / Nein, ich habe keine Geschwister.
B : Ich bin [Zahl] Jahre alt.
B : Ja, ich habe einen Hund. / Nein, ich habe kein Haustier.
Exact wording varies. Check: correct conjugation of haben and sein, correct accusative article where needed, and a number 0–100 for age.
Looking Ahead
Was Sie jetzt können — What you can do now
You can now describe family, friends, and pets using the complete present tense of haben, the accusative case for direct objects, and possessive determiners. You can state and ask about age correctly with sein, and you can describe personality and appearance with predicate adjectives. The nominative-accusative contrast you learned here will expand steadily through the rest of the course.