3.3 Grammar
AS and A-level students will be expected to have studied the grammatical system and structures of the language during their course. Knowledge of the grammar and structures specified for GCSE is assumed.
In the exam students will be required to use, actively and accurately, grammar and structures appropriate to the tasks set, drawn from the following lists. The mention of an item in these lists implies knowledge of both its forms and its functions at an appropriate level of accuracy and complexity.
The lists are divided into AS and A-level. The examples in italics in parentheses are indicative; they serve to illustrate the part of speech or structure that the student must know and do not represent an exhaustive specification of the required grammatical knowledge. For items marked (R), receptive knowledge only is required.
A-level students will be expected to have studied all grammar and structures that appear in the lists for both AS and A-level.
AS grammar
Nouns
Gender
Singular and plural forms
Case marking on nouns
Weak masculine nouns
Determiners
Definite article
Indefinite article, including kein
Demonstratives, including der/die/das
Possessives
Other determiners (eg alle, viel/viele, welcher)
Pronouns
Personal pronouns
Reflexive pronouns
Relative pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns
Possessive pronouns
Indefinite pronouns (eg jemand)
Interrogative pronouns (eg wer)
Adjectives
Adjective endings
Comparative and superlative
Adjectives with the dative (eg es ist mir klar)
Adjectives with prepositions (eg stolz auf)
Adverbs and adverbials
Time
Place
Direction (eg hin, heraus)
Manner
Degree (eg sehr)
Interrogative (eg wann, warum)
Comparative and superlative
Numbers and fractions
Clock time, days of the week, months
Model particles/discourse markers
eg ja, doch, wohl
Verbs
Principal parts of weak, strong and irregular verbs
Reflexive verbs
Separable/inseparable
Auxiliary verbs (haben, sein, werden)
Use of haben, or sein in the perfect
Modal verbs (dürfen, können, mögen, müssen, sollen, wollen): present and imperfect
Tenses; imperfect subjunctive of mögen and können
Infinitive constructions (um…zu, ohne…zu, verbs with zu)
Infinitive constructions (lassen and sich lassen with infinitive)
Tense, voice and mood:
- present
- past (ie simple past/imperfect)
- perfect
- perfect (modal verbs) (R)
- pluperfect
- future
- future perfect (R)
- conditional
- conditional perfect (R)
- passive with werden
- imperative
- subjunctive in conditional clauses (past)
- subjunctive in conditional clauses (pluperfect) (R)
- subjunctive in indirect speech (R).
Prepositions
Fixed case and dual case
Prepositional adverbs (da(r)+preposition, eg darauf)
Conjunctions
Coordinating
Subordinating
The case system
The subject and the finite verb
Accusative objects
Dative objects
Prepositional objects
The use of the nominative case with copular verbs (eg sein, werden, bleiben)
Clause structure and word order
Main clause word order
Questions and commands
Position of pronouns
Position of adverbials
Position of nicht
Word order variation to change emphasis
Subordinate clauses introduced by a conjunction (eg dass, obwohl)
Word formation
Compound nouns
Forming nouns from verbs
Forming nouns from adjectives
Forming verbs from nouns
Forming verbs from adjectives
Separable and inseparable verb prefixes
A-level grammar
In addition to the vocabulary listed in the AS grammar list, students of A-level will also be expected to study the following:
Adjectives
Use of long adjective phrases (R)
Tense, voice and mood:
- perfect (modal verbs)
- future perfect
- conditional perfect
- conditional sentence with omitted wenn, eg Hätte ich mehr Zeit gehabt, wäre das nicht passiert (R)
- passive with sein
- subjunctive in conditional clauses (pluperfect)
- all forms of indirect speech.
Clause structure and word order
Use of the prepositional adverb (da(r) + preposition, eg darauf) to anticipate dass clauses and dependent infinitive clauses (R)