German A2 exam grammar: core review checklist

Goethe-Zertifikat A2 and telc Deutsch A2 sit at the point where learners add a third case, a common spoken-past form and pronouns that change with their role. The DTZ can also report an A2 result. This page reviews four core grammar areas that build on A1, with worked examples and a readiness test; it is not a complete provider syllabus.

Where grammar appears at A2

At A2, practical tasks increasingly require past-tense narration („Gestern bin ich…"), dative constructions and correct pronoun forms. Gap-text practice is useful for rehearsing case endings after prepositions, but candidates should check the official model test for the current task structure of their chosen exam.

Markers at A2 begin to distinguish between communication errors and grammar errors. A wrong participle („gegeht") still communicates — but it costs points. That shift is why targeted grammar drilling starts paying off measurably at this level.

The A2 core grammar checklist

These are the four core topics in KasusKnacker's focused A2 review track. Each links to a grammar guide with tables and examples.

Dative in everyday life. The dative marks the receiver or beneficiary: after verbs like helfen, danken, gehören („Ich helfe dir"), and for indirect objects („Ich gebe der Frau das Buch"). The article shifts are the test material: der → dem, die → der, das → dem.

Prepositions with dative and accusative. Some prepositions are fixed — mit, nach, bei, zu always take dative; für, ohne, gegen always take accusative. A2 exams test these as pure memory items: „mit dem Bus", „für meinen Bruder". The two-way prepositions get their full workout at B1, but their everyday uses („in der Schule") already appear here.

Personal and reflexive pronouns. mich or mir? The case logic from nouns carries over to pronouns: „Er sieht mich" (accusative) but „Er hilft mir" (dative). Reflexive verbs add their own pattern: „Ich freue mich", „Ich wasche mir die Hände."

Irregular verbs and the perfect tense. The Perfekt is Germany's spoken past: haben or sein plus a participle. The choice of auxiliary („Ich habe gegessen" vs. „Ich bin gefahren") and the irregular participles (gegangen, genommen, geschrieben) are the two most-tested items in the entire A2 inventory.

The four exercise formats, with examples

KasusKnacker's A2 track uses four exercise formats modeled on how exams present grammar. Here is each one, with a real A2-level example — try it before revealing the answer.

Gap texts (cloze)

Short everyday texts with gaps — the format used in the telc grammar section.

Word-bank texts

Fill the gaps from a shared word bank — the second telc grammar format.

Spot the error

One part of each sentence is wrong — find it and correct it.

Transformations

Rewrite a sentence in a new form — tense, case or structure.

Coming from A1, heading to B1

If articles or present-tense forms still cost you thought, revisit A1 exam grammar — the dative is easier once nominative and accusative are automatic. When this checklist feels solid, B1 exam grammar brings all four cases together and adds adjective endings, relative clauses and Konjunktiv II.