GOETHE A2 · CHEAT SHEETS
Five sheets. The grammar the A2 paper grades.
The step from A1 is real: Nebensätze with verb-final order, Wechselpräpositionen, the Präteritum of sein/haben/modal verbs, and register control — placed where the A2 tasks test them.
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Nebensätze: weil · dass · wenn · ob · Verb ans Ende — the single biggest A2 upgrade
At A1 you could avoid subordinate clauses. At A2 you cannot: Schreiben is graded on whether your sentences are connected, and Sprechen Teil 2 expects at least two Nebensätze. The rule is one line long — the verb moves to the END — and it fixes half your writing instantly.
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Wechselpräpositionen & Dativ/Akkusativ · Wohin? → Akkusativ · Wo? → Dativ
The A2 wordlist is full of places: Wohnung, Bahnhof, Supermarkt, Park, Büro. The exam asks constantly where things are and where people go — and that one question decides the case. Nine prepositions change between the two: in, an, auf, über, unter, vor, hinter, neben, zwischen.
- 036 REGELN
Perfekt & Präteritum · Volle Vergangenheit: zwei Zeiten, drei Muster
A2 adds the Präteritum — but only for three small groups: sein, haben and the modal verbs. Everything else stays in the Perfekt you already know. That means three patterns cover every past sentence the exam can ask for, in Hören (the interview), in Lesen (the biography) and in your reference to the past in Sprechen Teil 2.
- 047 REGELN
Modalverben & Höflichkeit · können · müssen · dürfen · sollen · möchten · werden
Every A2 task is a speech act: you apologise, ask, suggest, request, negotiate. Modal verbs carry those functions — and the exam listens for them specifically in Schreiben Teil 1 and 2 and in Sprechen Teil 3. Learn them as sentence patterns, not as vocabulary.
- 059 REGELN
Register du/Sie & Redemittel · The fixed phrases that are literally worth points
Schreiben grades Register as its own criterion, and Sprechen Teil 3 runs on ready-made phrases. This sheet is a phrase bank, not grammar: learn the blocks whole — Anrede, Gruß, Bitte, Vorschlag, Reaktion — and the register point is free.