Quick German Grammar Answers: Your FAQs Explained

Today’s post is a bit different from my usual content. Instead of diving deep into one topic, I’m answering a handful of frequently asked grammar questions I’ve seen in the comments on my videos. These questions are too detailed for a simple reply, but not quite long enough for a full video—so I’ve bundled them into one helpful lesson!

Whether you’re here for a quick clarification or just love learning about the finer points of German, feel free to use the timestamps in the video or scroll to the sections below that interest you most.

Nun vs. Jetzt – What’s the Difference?

Most of the time, nun and jetzt can be used interchangeably.

Jetzt is more common in spoken German and usually means “right now.”

Nun is more abstract and refers more to the situation than the time.

Example:

Jetzt kaufen wir neue Schuhe. -
Now we are buying new shoes. 

Nun kaufen wir neue Schuhe. - 
Now we are buying new shoes.

While both work here, nun could also be used in a situational way:

Was machen wir nun? –
What do we do now? (in this situation)

You might also hear combinations like:

Nun, wir können ins Kino gehen. –
Well, we could go to the movies.

Ich trinke nun mal kein Alkohol. –
I just don’t drink alcohol. (with a hint of finality)

Both "nun" and "jetzt" can be used as modal particles. Click here to learn more about them. 

Von vs. Vor – Why Is “Afraid of” Using vor?

These two prepositions trip up a lot of learners.

Vor = in front of / before (literal or time-based)

vor dem Geschäft –
in front of the store

vor drei Wochen –
three weeks ago

Von = from / of (origin or ownership)

von der Schule –
from school

ein Löffel von meiner Suppe –
a spoon of my soup

But what about:

Ich habe Angst vor Spinnen. –
I’m afraid of spiders.

Here, vor expresses the figurative idea of being “in front of” the fear. You’re facing it—hence the use of vor.

For more about prepositions like "von", click here.

For more about prepositions like "vor", click here.

Ein, Eine, Einen vs. Der, Die, Das?

Let’s keep it simple:

Ein-words = a/an (unspecified nouns)

Der-words = the (specific nouns)

Ein Hund steht vor einem Haus. –
A dog is in front of a house.

Der Hund steht vor dem Haus. –
The dog is in front of the house.

As for ein vs. einen vs. einem or der vs. den vs. dem—those depend on case (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive). This topic goes so deep that I literally wrote an entire book with an accompanying workbook to tackle it in more depth. 

When “es” Isn’t the Right “It” in German

In English, “it” works for everything. In German, not so much.

German pronouns depend on grammatical gender:

der → er (he/it)
die → sie (she/it)
das → es (it)

Das Pferd is neuter, so we say es, even though a horse has a biological gender.

Der Tisch (the table) → Er ist kaputt. – It is broken. 

Here we used the masculine pronoun "er" to mean "it", because the table is grammatically masculine. 

Tip: Forget about “gender” and just memorize the article with each noun.
If the noun uses der, its pronoun is er. If die, it’s sie. If das, it’s es. Simple as that.

To learn how to figure out if a noun will use der, die or das, click here.