English Grammar vs. German Grammar — which is more difficult?

English Grammar

This is a very good question.

I guess, it finally depends on who you ask. Many students find English grammar difficult, especially when it comes to the tenses.

For example, the Present Perfect tense can be very difficult and frustrating for my students because in German it can be used to talk about a finished past action and time, whereas in English it is used to talk about a finished past action, but an unfinished time.

Here is an example: Yesterday I saw a film (this is the correct use of the Past Simple in English). But in German it is possible to say: Yesterday I have seen a film. (Gestern habe ich einen Film gesehen.) But in English, this is incorrect. The correct sentence would be “Today, I have seen a film.”

So, many German speakers make this mistake rather automatically when they speak English, and find it very difficult to correct; and thus find English grammar more difficult than German.

German Grammar

On the other hand, the use of the articles in German is very difficult for English native speakers. Depending on whether the sentence is nominative, dative or accusative, will determine the correct ending of the definite or indefinite article and adjective.

In the above German example: Gestern habe ich einen Film gesehen, the article here ‘einen’ is masculine and in the accusative case, which means -en needs to be added to the indefinite. There are no simple ways to learn the gender of each noun; it requires a lot of memorization and, for the English native speaker, this part of German grammar is very difficult!

These are only two examples of difficulty for German native speakers learning English and for native English speakers learning German. Confusing!

What us your experience? Please share it here.

Best regards,
The English Consultant