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B2

German B2: Fluent

The effort goes out of listening here. A talk, a discussion, a newspaper piece in your own field all get through without constant checking back.

Speaking brings a choice that was not there before: the same thing can now be put several ways, and they differ in how polite they sound, how certain, how formal.

Tenses and the subjunctive4

Tenses

1
B2Future perfect (Futur II)Rarely a future tense; almost always a guess about something already over.

The subjunctive

3
B2Subjunctive I: reported speechA form that says "somebody else said this" and takes no position on whether it is true.B2Unreal past: hätte gemachtThe past unreal conditional: one form for both halves, and a modal verb pushes hätte to the front.B2Wishes and regretsA wenn-clause with no main clause, plus nur or doch — a complete sentence expressing a wish.

Verbs: forms, modals, passive7

Modal verbs

2
B2Modal verbs for guessesThe same six verbs used a second time — not about what is possible, but about how likely the speaker thinks it is.B2Modals in the pastTwo infinitives at the end of the clause — correct, awkward, and usually replaced by the simple past.

The passive

5
B2Avoiding the passiveThree constructions German reaches for instead — and one of them is what a spoken sentence usually uses.B2Passive with seinsein plus a participle describes how things are — and English writes it the same way as the other one.B2The passive in every tensewerden carries the tense, the participle never changes, and the perfect uses worden rather than geworden.B2Naming who did it: von and durchA passive usually names nobody; when it does, a person takes von and a cause takes durch.B2Impersonal passive: es wirdGerman can build a passive out of a verb with no object at all — and English cannot.

Cases, nouns and articles4

The four cases

1
B2Apposition and its caseAn added description takes the case of the noun it describes, which is easy to say and easy to forget.

Pronouns

1
B2Relative clauses with wasWhen there is no noun to attach to, the relative pronoun is was — and after a preposition it is a wo-form.

Adjectives

2
B2Participles used as adjectivesBoth participles can stand in front of a noun — one means it is doing something, the other that it has been done to.B2Adjectives with a case or a prepositionSome adjectives take a dative, some a genitive, and many a fixed preposition — none of it derivable.

Sentence structure2

Subordinate clauses

2
B2Concession: obwohl, trotzdemFour ways to concede a point, and each one places the verb somewhere different.B2Result and means: sodass, indem, ohne dassClauses that say what followed, how something was done and what did not happen — all with the verb at the end.

Style and fine points2

Fine points and style

2
B2Modal particlesWords with no dictionary meaning that change what a sentence is doing.B2Word formationA stem, a prefix and a suffix — and a word nobody taught you becomes readable.

Word lists at level B2

Lists: 54 · words: 2268

All word lists →

Reading texts at level B2

Sentences from this level’s topics

Das ist Anna, meine Schwester.This is Anna, my sister.

Alles, was glänzt, ist nicht Gold.Not everything that glitters is gold.

Er wird es vergessen haben.He will have forgotten.

Er muss schon zu Hause sein.He must be home by now.

Practise level B2 only