The simple past (Präteritum) is the standard past tense used in writing/narration/news, and applies to all verb types.

Past perfect = hatte/war (simple past) + past participle, expressing an action that happened before another past action.

Passive = werden (conjugated) + past participle, used when the action matters more than who performs it; the accusative object of the active sentence becomes the nominative subject of the passive.

Passive simple past = wurde (conjugated) + past participle, used to narrate past events from the passive perspective, especially in historical/news writing.

Subjunctive II expresses unreal/hypothetical statements in the present: sein→wäre, haben→hätte, modal verbs→umlaut change, other verbs use 'würde' + infinitive.

Subjunctive II past = hätte/wäre + past participle, expressing a hypothetical unreal situation in the past.

Relative pronouns agree in gender/number with the noun they refer to, but their case (nom./acc./dat.) follows their role inside the relative clause; the verb always goes at the end of the clause.

When the verb in the relative clause requires a fixed preposition, the preposition stands right before the relative pronoun, and the pronoun's case is determined by that preposition.

The genitive expresses possession; article: der/das→des(+s/es), die→der, plural→der; masculine/neuter singular nouns add -(e)s.

A group of masculine nouns (der Student, der Junge, der Mensch, der Herr...) add '-(e)n' in every case except the nominative singular.

After a definite article, the adjective ending has only 2 forms: '-e' (nominative for every gender, accusative for feminine/neuter) and '-en' (every other case).

After the indefinite article (ein/eine), the adjective 'carries' the gender/case marker that 'ein' lacks; with no article at all, the adjective carries the full marker exactly like the definite article.

'obwohl' (although) introduces a concessive clause, expressing a contrast between the two clauses; the verb goes to the end of the subordinate clause.

'um...zu' + infinitive is used when the subject of both clauses is the same; 'damit' + a full subordinate clause is used when the subjects differ.

'sodass' (so that, with the result that) introduces a clause expressing the result/consequence of the main clause, pushing the verb to the end of the clause.

Indirect questions turn a direct question into a subordinate clause: WH-questions keep the question word, yes/no questions use 'ob'; the verb goes to the end of the clause.

Formal reported speech uses subjunctive I (sei, habe, könne...) to relay someone else's words; in speech it's often replaced by subjunctive II or plain indicative.

Two-part connectors (sowohl...als auch, entweder...oder, weder...noch, je...desto) link two elements/clauses with a specific logical relationship.

Participle I (infinitive+d) has an active/ongoing meaning; participle II has a passive/completed meaning; both take adjective endings when placed before a noun.

Many German verbs pair with a fixed preposition whose meaning isn't literal (warten auf, sich freuen über/auf, denken an, sich interessieren für); the object's case is determined by that preposition.

An infinitive verb can be nominalized by capitalizing its first letter, becoming a neuter noun (das + infinitive).

Modal verbs in the perfect use a 'double infinitive' (2 infinitives at the end instead of a past participle) when a main verb is present; modal verbs also have a subjective/epistemic meaning.

'während' (+ genitive) expresses an ongoing period; 'seit' (+ dative) expresses a starting point continuing to the present; 'innerhalb/außerhalb' (+ genitive) express within/outside a time period.

Future II = werden (conjugated) + past participle + haben/sein (infinitive, at the end), expressing an action that will be completed before a future point in time, or a guess about the past.