Learn each tech noun with article + plural
Fix each tech noun's gender from the start: das Handy, -s (German-only, neuter), der Computer, -, die Maus, ¨-e (same word as the animal), das Passwort, ¨-er, das Internet / das WLAN (no pl), die App, -s, die SMS, - (invariable — same singular and plural), die Nachricht, -en, der Anruf, -e. Group the social side: die sozialen Medien (plural) and das soziale Netzwerk, -e.
Communication verbs + "mit" + dative; anrufen
Core verbs — schreiben, chatten, simsen, telefonieren, schicken, posten, teilen, benutzen — are regular in the present tense. Say WHO with mit + the dative: Ich telefoniere mit meiner Mutter; ich chatte mit meinen Freunden — never leave the person in the nominative. But anrufen is separable, taking a bare accusative object with NO preposition: Ich rufe meine Oma an (prefix an to the clause end).
Drawn from real examiner reports.
"anrufen" needs no preposition
Because most verbs here take mit + dative, learners assume anrufen also needs a preposition. It does not: the prefix an already carries the meaning, so the person is a plain accusative object — Ich rufe meine Oma an, never ✗ Ich rufe an meine Oma an (a doubled "an"). Contrast telefonieren/chatten mit + dative: the test is the verb itself.
"mit" always takes the dative
mit (with, or "using" a device) always takes the dative, whatever follows: mit meinem Handy, mit meiner Freundin, mit dem Computer. This matters constantly here — "who do you chat with?" or "what do you use?" is nearly always mit + dative. ✗ mit mein Freund → mit meinem Freund (dative meinem, not nominative mein).
Grammar/Prepositions: the dative rarely used after mit (s22 42 Q3(a); s22 43 Q3(a)).
"das Handy" gender and noun capitals
das Handy is neuter — do not guess "der/die Handy" from English "mobile". Every tech noun must keep its correct gender AND its capital letter wherever it appears, not only at the start: der Computer, die Tastatur, das Passwort. Writing "handy" in lower case, or pairing it with the wrong article, loses an easily-avoidable Accuracy mark.
Grammar/Accuracy: noun capitalisation patchy and inconsistent (w22 42; s23 42/43; w23 42).
Match the verb ending to its subject
This topic is nearly always in the present tense, so the verb ending must match the subject exactly: ich chatte, du chattest, er/sie chattet, wir/sie chatten — not a bare infinitive (✗ ich chatten). The same care applies to simsen (du simst — the sibilant -s contracts the ending to -t) and posten (du postest — an epenthetic -e- after the -t stem).
Grammar/Subject-verb agreement: present endings not matched to the subject, e.g. ich hat gespielt (w22 42; w23 42).
"die SMS" adds no plural -s
die SMS is an invariable loanword: eine SMS, zwei SMS — the form does not change in the plural, so do not add an English-style -s (✗ zwei SMSs). Likewise das Internet and das WLAN have no plural at all. Learn which tech nouns are invariable or plural-less alongside their gender.
(general FL trap)
"die Maus": device and animal, one word
die Maus is the SAME word, gender and plural (Mäuse) whether it means a computer mouse or the animal — only context tells you which is meant. Do not invent a different word or gender for the device. This overlap is easy to mishandle under time pressure in a text that mentions computers and, separately, animals.
(general FL trap)
Send the separable prefix to the clause end
With a separable verb like anrufen, the finite part is conjugated but the prefix an moves to the very end of the main clause: Ich rufe meine Oma an — not ✗ Ich anrufe meine Oma. The same applies to herunterladen/hochladen. Forgetting to detach and re-place the prefix is a word-order slip that costs Accuracy marks.
(general FL trap)
Build a tech answer from a fixed checklist
For a technology task: 1) name the device with its article (ein neues Handy); 2) say what you do (ich chatte, ich simse); 3) say WHO with, mit + dative (mit meiner Oma); 4) add a frequency word (jeden Tag, oft); 5) give an opinion with a reason.
Case-check every noun after "mit"
Before writing a person or device after mit, put it into the dative: mit meinem Handy, mit meiner Freundin. This check targets the dative-after-mit slip flagged every sitting. The exception is anrufen, which needs no preposition at all.
Vary tense and connective to lift Range
Widen a tech answer beyond a flat present: add what you used to do (früher hatte ich kein Handy) and what you will do (ich werde weniger Zeit online verbringen), and vary your connective beyond weil (denn, obwohl, also).
This topic covers the vocabulary and structures for talking about the digital world: phones, computers, the internet, social media, and how you communicate with other people.
Devices and digital-world nouns (learn WITH the article and plural):
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