German A1/A2 Grammar for Fide Exam: What You Need (and What You Can Skip)

Every inexperienced language learner starts learning German trying to understand the grammar. I still remember being in school and trying to memorise endless irregular verbs tables and word order in different types of sentences.

When my husband started preparing for his Fide exam, the first thing he did was buy a thick German grammar book. He flipped through it, saw words like Genitiv and Konjunktiv I, and gave up that same evening. I will never learn German, he said.

He didn't need that book.

The Fide exam doesn't test whether you can name grammar rules. It tests whether you can describe a picture, make a phone call, and talk about your daily life in simple German. That is all.

After watching my husband pass — and after working with many other learners who needed to get through Fide quickly — one thing became very clear: most German grammar is not relevant for the Fide A1/A2 exam. You need about ten grammar topics. You can comfortably skip the rest.

This article is a map. It shows you the grammar you actually need, organized by the three speaking tasks on the exam. Bookmark this page and use it as a checklist. We will publish a detailed article for each grammar point and link them here as they go live.

How Fide A1/A2 actually tests grammar

The Fide speaking exam has three tasks. Each task tests different grammar:

This is the whole grammar map for A1/A2. Below, we break down each task and the grammar it tests, with simple examples you can copy and adapt.

Grammar for Aufgabe 1: Describing a picture

In Aufgabe 1, the examiner shows you a picture and says: "Erzählen Sie, was Sie sehen." (Tell me what you see.) You need to describe people, places, and what is happening. The grammar for this task is the most basic German grammar — but you must use it correctly.

Present tense conjugation

This is the first thing to master. In German, verbs change their ending depending on who is doing the action.

Regular verb wohnen (to live):

• ich wohne in Bern.
• du wohnst in Bern.
• er / sie / es wohnt in Bern.
• wir wohnen in Bern.
• ihr wohnt in Bern.
• sie / Sie wohnen in Bern.

You also need sein (to be) and haben (to have), because they are everywhere:

• ich bin müde, du bist müde, er ist müde, wir sind müde, ihr seid müde, sie sind müde.
• ich habe Hunger, du hast Hunger, er hat Hunger, wir haben Hunger, ihr habt Hunger, sie haben Hunger.

For Aufgabe 1, focus on these patterns. You will use them in almost every sentence.

Word order: where the verb goes

German has one strict rule that English learners often forget: the conjugated verb always comes in the second positionin a normal statement.

• Ich sehe einen Mann. (I see a man.)
• Auf dem Bild sehe ich einen Mann. (In the picture, I see a man.)

Notice that even when the sentence starts with Auf dem Bild, the verb sehe is still in second position. The subject ichmoves after the verb. This feels strange at first, but it is the most common mistake at A1/A2 — and it is easy to fix once you know the rule.

For questions, the verb comes first or right after the question word:

• Sehen Sie den Mann? (Do you see the man?)
• Was sehen Sie auf dem Bild? (What do you see in the picture?)

Prepositions of place

To describe a picture, you need to say where things are. German uses prepositions like auf, in, an, vor, hinter, neben, zwischen, unter, über. When you describe a static location (nothing is moving), these prepositions take the Dativ case.

• Das Buch liegt auf dem Tisch. (The book is on the table.)
• Die Frau steht vor dem Haus. (The woman is standing in front of the house.)
• Der Hund sitzt unter dem Stuhl. (The dog is sitting under the chair.)
• Das Bild hängt an der Wand. (The picture is hanging on the wall.)

You do not need to master Dativ in all situations. For Aufgabe 1, just learn these patterns by heart for the most common picture elements (table, chair, wall, house, person, car, street).

The Akkusativ case (the basics)

When you say I see something, the something is in the Akkusativ case. The only article that visibly changes is the masculine one:

• der → den
• ein → einen
• Ich sehe einen Mann.
• Ich sehe eine Frau.
• Ich sehe ein Kind.
• Ich sehe die Kinder.

For Aufgabe 1, just remember the einen / den pattern for masculine nouns. The other forms stay the same.

Grammar for Aufgabe 2: Making a phone call

In Aufgabe 2, you call someone to book, change, or cancel an appointment. This is the most predictable task on the exam — and the grammar is very limited. Master these three topics and you can handle any phone call scenario Fide throws at you.

Modal verbs

Modal verbs let you express what you want, can, must, or would like. They are the backbone of polite German. The four you must know:

• möchten (would like): Ich möchte einen Termin.
• können (can / be able to): Können Sie mir helfen?
• müssen (must / have to): Ich muss den Termin absagen.
• wollen (want): Ich will am Montag kommen. (Use this carefully — möchten is more polite.)

The pattern is always: modal verb in position 2, main verb at the end of the sentence in its infinitive form.

• Ich möchte einen Termin buchen. (I would like to book an appointment.)
• Können Sie den Termin verschieben? (Can you move the appointment?)
• Ich muss den Termin leider absagen. (Unfortunately, I have to cancel the appointment.)

Polite forms: ich möchte, könnten Sie, hätte gern

In real Swiss life — and on the exam — politeness matters more than complex grammar. Three forms are enough to sound respectful in almost any phone call:

• Ich möchte... (I would like...)
• Könnten Sie...? (Could you...?)
• Ich hätte gern... (I would like to have...)

These are technically a grammar form called Konjunktiv II, but you do not need to study the theory. Just memorize these three openings. They cover 90% of polite requests at A1/A2.

Separable verbs

Some German verbs come in two parts that separate in a sentence. Many of them are common in Fide phone calls:

• anrufen (to call): Ich rufe Sie morgen an.
• absagen (to cancel): Ich sage den Termin ab.
• einkaufen (to shop): Wir kaufen am Samstag ein.
• abholen (to pick up): Ich hole das Paket ab.
• vereinbaren (not separable, but you will use it constantly): Ich möchte einen Termin vereinbaren.

The rule: in the present tense, the prefix (an, ab, ein, auf) jumps to the end of the sentence. In the infinitive (with modal verbs), the verb stays whole: Ich möchte den Termin absagen.

Grammar for Aufgabe 3: Conversation about your life

Aufgabe 3 is a short conversation. The examiner asks about your habits, an experience you had, or a routine. To handle this part, you need to talk about yourself in the present tense and the past tense. The grammar below is what makes the difference between a stuck candidate and a confident one.

The Perfekt tense

This is the single most important grammar topic on the entire A1/A2 exam. If the examiner asks "Was haben Sie am Wochenende gemacht?" (What did you do on the weekend?), you must be able to answer in the past — and German uses the Perfekt tense for spoken past, not the Präteritum.

Perfekt has two parts: haben or sein in position 2, and the past participle at the end of the sentence.

• Ich habe Pizza gegessen. (I ate pizza.)
• Ich bin ins Kino gegangen. (I went to the cinema.)
• Wir haben Freunde getroffen. (We met friends.)
• Ich bin früh aufgestanden. (I got up early.)

Most verbs use haben. The exceptions use sein: verbs of movement (gehen, fahren, kommen, fliegen) and verbs of change of state (aufstehen, werden, einschlafen). You do not need to study lists. Just learn the Perfekt form of the 30 most common verbs, and you will handle every Fide question.

Time expressions

To talk about your life, you need to place events in time. The most useful expressions for Fide:

• seit + Dativ: Ich wohne seit drei Jahren in der Schweiz. (I have lived in Switzerland for three years.)
• vor + Dativ: Ich bin vor zwei Jahren gekommen. (I came two years ago.)
• am + day: Am Montag arbeite ich. (On Monday, I work.)
• um + time: Um 8 Uhr beginne ich. (At 8 o'clock, I start.)
• jeden Tag / jede Woche: Jeden Tag lerne ich Deutsch. (Every day, I learn German.)

Possessive pronouns

To talk about your family, your job, and your apartment, you need mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser. The endings change with the gender of the noun:

• Mein Mann arbeitet in Zürich. (masculine)
• Meine Tochter ist fünf Jahre alt. (feminine)
• Mein Kind geht zur Schule. (neuter)
• Meine Kinder spielen draußen. (plural)

For A1/A2, just learn mein and Ihr (formal "your") well. Other persons come up less often in the exam.

Negation: nicht vs kein

Two simple rules:

• Use kein when you would normally use ein or no article. Ich habe keine Zeit. Das ist kein Problem.
• Use nicht for everything else (verbs, adjectives, specific things). Das ist nicht teuer. Ich kenne den Mann nicht.

This distinction trips up almost everyone in the first weeks of studying. Once you get it, it stays.

What you can skip

You will see these topics in many German textbooks. You do not need them for Fide A1/A2:

• Genitiv case (des Mannes, der Frau)
• Konjunktiv I (indirect speech: er sagt, er sei...)
• Plusquamperfekt (Ich war gegangen)
• Passiv constructions (Das Haus wird gebaut) — use man instead
• Most complex subordinate clauses beyond weil and dass
• Adjective endings in all cases (just get the article right; adjective endings are not strictly judged at A2)
• Präteritum for most verbs (only war and hatte are used in speaking)

If a grammar book tries to teach you these topics, close it. They will not appear in your speaking exam, and learning them now will only slow you down.

In what order should you study?

If you have limited time before your exam, study in this order:

1. Present tense conjugation (sein, haben, regular verbs)
2. Word order (verb in second position)
3. Perfekt tense (you cannot pass Aufgabe 3 without it)
4. Modal verbs (möchten, können, müssen)
5. Polite forms (ich möchte, könnten Sie, hätte gern)
6. Prepositions of place (for Aufgabe 1)
7. Time expressions (for Aufgabe 3)
8. Akkusativ basics (einen / den pattern)
9. Separable verbs (anrufen, absagen)
10. Possessive pronouns and negation

Most learners spend two evenings on each topic, with practice in real Fide-style sentences. That is around three weeks of grammar work in total — manageable even with a full-time job.

How to practice this grammar in Fide-style sentences

Grammar rules in a textbook will not get you through the exam. You need to use these grammar points in real Fide situations — describing pictures, making phone calls, answering personal questions. Two ways to do that:

• Read and copy real Fide-style dialogues. Our Fide A1/A2 exam prep book contains hundreds of dialogues organized by exam topic. Every sentence uses the grammar above in context. You read the dialogues out loud, you copy the patterns, and the grammar sticks.
• Practice with our Fide app. The app at app.fide-prep.ch shows you one task at a time — a dialogue to read, a sentence to write, a picture to describe — and adapts to what you already know. No textbook can replicate spaced practice, and consistent daily practice beats long weekend sessions every time.