Teach Yourself German (1969)

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0ermän The raost successful seit-instruction book in the German language

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In Europe, French and Italian serve the western and southern fringes; Enghsh is the vogue language; Spanish, outside of Spain,

is

important language

unheard of. The really big, German. It may surprise some to the leading European tongue.

practically is

hear it, but German is In part this is due to the fact that German is almost exclusively a European language. English covers the British Isles, but the real stamping grounds of English are America, the

Commonwealth and

the

Crown

possessions,

where

nearly 75 per cent of English speakers are located. French is

a fairly widespread language (at least

fifty

million Euro-

peans speak it as a native tongue), but French is widespread all over the globe. Spanish is primarily a Western Hemisphere tongue, and the European speakers of Spanish do not go beyond thirty million. Russian, the giant of eastern Europe, has an over-all speaking population that

German, but Russian straddles the Urals and extends over the vast expanses of northern Asia. German, on the other hand, is concentrated in the heartland of the European continent. Its one hundred million speakers embrace not only the total populations of West and East Germany and of Austria, but also three-fourths of Switzerland. This would total up to only about eighty million, but it is far from telling the entire story. There are at least

surpasses that of

twenty million people who speak German as a second language in the countries at the periphery of the Teutonic homeland-Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, northern Italy, eastern France. If you find yourself in any of these countries and your international English and French won't work, by all

means

try

German.

-MARIO

PEI

in Talking Your

Around

the

Way

World

Other Fawcett Books

TEACH YOURSELF

in

the

SERIES

TEACH YOURSELF FRENCH Sir

John Adams and

N, Scarlyn )Vil5on

TEACH YOURSELF SPANISH N. Scarlyn Wilson

WOUVBClf

0erman A BOOK OF SELF-INSTRUCTION IN GERMAN, BASED ON THE WORK BY SIR JOHN ADAMS, M.A., LL.D., COMPLETELY REVISED AND ENLARGED BY SYDNEY W. WELLS, B.A., AND FURTHER REVISED BY E. S.

JENKINS,

B.A.

A FAWCETT PREMIER BOOK

FAWCETT PUBLICATIONS,

INC.,

GREENWICH, CONN.

A

Fawcett Premier Book published by arrangement with David McKay Company, Inc. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof.

First

Printed

Premier printing, March 1969

in

the United States of America

FOR A FREE CATALOG

of Fawcett paperbacks,

send a postcard to Fawcett Publications, Book Department, Greenwich, Conn. 06830.

INTRODUCTION To know it

a language properly implies the power of using

freely for three different purposes

:

reading, writing

and speaking. Those who learn a foreign language learn

it

for all three purposes, or for

may

desire to

one or two of them

This work has been designed to enable the student powers as quickly and as easily as possible A language is a vast field, which can never in all three. be fully explored, and learning a language means hard work, careful thought and constant practice. If the student thinks he is going to speak or write or read German in a few months by means of a lesson or two done now and then, he had better give up the idea completely, for he is wasting his time. But this work, if followed conscientiously, will enable the average student not only to read German, but also to write and speak it in a fairly simple way. The student without exceptional facilities must get into the habit of reading aloud, asking himself questions aloud and answering them himself always, or as often as possible, aloud. The learning of words is important. To a large extent the vocabulary has been carefully kept up-to-date and thoroughly modern, with an eye to those who wish to read modern literature, to listen in to German broadcasts, or to travel on the Continent. These words should be mastered somehow, even if it means learning them off in lists. You must always have the subject in your mind. When you cast your eye on a thing, if you have known the German for it and forgotten, do not fail to look it up again at the first opportunity. Conversational power is what you make it yourself. Not much has been given in actual conversations in this book, but all the exercises given are conversational m only.

to develop his

—

INTRODUCTION tone and subject matter. Make up your own converby rearranging the sentences given here. A Key to the Exercises is given. This sliould be used Do your exercise before consulting the Key, sensibly. and then correct your own. Afterwards, do the exercises the other way round, testing your translation of the Key sations

with the original exercises. The student should revise constantly. In the scope of this little work it is impossible to give a thorough revision, but the student should, after every three lessons, go back and quickly refresh his mind on grammar and vocabulary. As all the Exercises have their counterpart in the

Key, no Vocabulary is given. But as many as possible words as they occur should be thoroughly committed to memory in order to render easier the task of translating subsequent exercises. The section on Pronunciation is full and if the student follows it carefully he should have no difficulty in acquirIf he can ing a fair pronunciation, if not a good one. of the

g^X native help so

One word

much

of warning

:

the better.

we have kept

We

all

the exercises

have attempted nothing very clever, nothing " high-falutin', " and you must also school yourselves to this. As soon as you start trying difficult constructions you will find yourselves Keep your sentences fairl}" short and in deep water. make sure of the matter given you here before attempting anything else. If you would like to add a little reading of continuous German prose you could not do better than buy Guerber's Märchen und Erzählungen, Part I (Harrap), after the fourth or fifth lesson of this work. These Märchen, or tales, may strike you as childish, but if you can overcome this, you will find that the easy style and constant repetition will give you a confidence which is very in this

book within certain

important.

limits.

CONTENTS

CONTENTS LESSON

PART §

I.

THE GERMAN ALPHABET

Some German books

are

still

to

printed in

with

for the student to familiarize

fore,

German alphabet

pages worked through this book.

Note

I.

(see

—^There are

lo

five vowels:

are the further combinations ai

eu

be found with Gothic

modem books and newspapers are Roman type, and German typewriters are Roman letters. It would be useful, there-

although

letters,

fitted

I

himself with the

and

u,)

after

o, u,

a, e,

i,

(ai),

au

he has

and there

(au), ei

(ai),

(oi), ie (i).

u and au may modify, i.e. change and pronounced: ä (e), Ö (0 or ce), ü (y), au (oi). The two dots are referred to as the Umlaut, meaning a change of sound. Note 2. There are several digraphs or trigraphs, i.e. groups of two or three consonants with a single sound: Of the above,

their sound.

a, o,

They

are then written

ch pronounced 9 or x ck k ,,

ph

„

f

ss

pronoimced s

sch th

„ „

J t

—

N.B. ^The following notes in this section refer to the Gothic letters only and should be left until the student has worked through this book. The student should now pass to page 13 and study the section on German pronunciation. Note.

—^The

a word, even

small round 5 is used only at the end of this word is the first part of a compound

if

word: (5las (glass),

but (Slafcs

(of

a glass)

and bi5l)er (until now) Staatsmann (statesman)

bis (until)

English

—

:

TEACH YOURSELF GERMAN Note

4.

—The double s

word or a

written ^ (sz) at the end of a this syllable is not an integral

is

(when

syllable

part of the whole word but merely a prefix), and also after a long vowel and before a consonant

mu6, must

tfet,

cfebar, eatable,

but

Äu6,

gu6, foot

Although the

e in

eats

e[[cn, to eat

e^bar

kiss

short, the double 5

is

is

written

B because at the end of a syllable, bar not being an integral part of the word, but an adjectival or adverbial suffix (-able).

In

gu^ and

latter short,

above rule we have

5^u6, the u in the former is long and in the but both have ^ because this is, as the

said, at the

end of the word

hut in the plural

:

gufec (the double s not at the end but following a long vowel), 5^ü([c (not ^ because the vowel ü is short in this word,

and the double

now

5 is not

at the end).

—In writing German

with Roman charwrite Füße, or Fiisse (as many Germans do), but if he keeps to the former, it will help to keep his pronunciation correct, i.e. to remember that Observations.

acters the student

may

the preceding vowel is long. There is no rule we can give for helping the student to know whether the vowel He must before a final fe in nouns is long or short. learn this by experience. Note carefully these printed capital letters, which

beginners are apt to confuse 93 (B)

and

:

S3 (V)

G: (C), (5 (G)

91 (R)

£) (O)

and and

and

Ä

(K)

Q

(Q)

12

S

(S)

GERMAN PRONUNCIATION Also f (f) and f (s) (the whereas the f has not).

Note carefully

:

b

(b),

has the stroke right across,

f

b

(d)

Note also the difference between

in

and

()

(h).

German

written letters

:

^

^

(c)

and

yt/

(c,

joining near top)

^^

(n)and

§

^

2.

(t,

(u,

with dot)

and xv\^

(n,

joining at bottom)

distinguished from n

by stroke over it)

GERMAN PRONUNCIATION Preliminary Note

Before we go any further we must explain that the symbols we are using here to indicate the pronunciation are symbols only and not ordinary German letters. These symbols have been devised by the International Phonetic Association so that the pronunciation of all languages can be clearly explained by this International Pronouncing Alphabet. If you take the trouble to learn the soundvalues of these symbols now you will be able to follow the phonetic transcription of any other language you undertake. Practise your sounds aloud, clearly and continuously, and use a mirror to get your lip positions as indicated here.

A good pronunciation is well worth acquiring, and there no reason why the average student who follows these notes conscientiously and continuously should not achieve this, although if he can obtain the help of a native or a good gramophone record on German pronunciation so much the better. is

»3

TEACH YOURSELF GERMAN

A

Table of the Vowel-Sounds

Letter and

in

German

GERMAN PRONUNCIATION Table of the Vowel-Sounds t

-

Letter and

Symbol

In

German

—continued

— TEACH YOURSELF GERMAN Table of Consonant-Sounds Letter and

In

German

continued

— GERMAN PRONUNCIATION Table of Consonant-Sounds Letter and

in

German

continued

:

TEACH YOURSELF GERMAN This

is

not

pression

unknown

not entirely

sometimes say,

will

A

in English.

Cockney

for instance, Git aht o' 'ere, the ex-

being smoothly carried

on,

but

rather

awkwardly broken up. The Glottal Stop is written phonetically ?

The

German

Stress In

The German spoken language is strongly stressed. You have only to listen in to a German broadcast to realize that. later on,

but

The following rules will be more helpful meantime the stress will be indicated

in the

by a mark after the stressed syllable. 1. The stress is laid on the stem of the word '

:

geh'-en, ge-fähr'-lich, Mäd'-chen

(The principal parts in these words being geh, fähr, Mäd). 2. In compound words the stress is usually on the first

part

Turm'-uhr,

Va'ter-land

eis'-kalt,

But not with the adverbial

particles:

hin-ein', da-mit',

etc. 3.

Separable prefixes take the main stress

aus'-gehen, hin-ajif'-klettern, 4.

The negative

prefix un-

is

:

her-un'ter-kommen

always stressed

:

un'-artig, Un'-sinn, un'-erwartet

A The next script,

Simple Exercise

following passage

is

In

given

Reading first in

Roman

type,

German Fraktur type, thirdly in phonetic fourthly in German handwriting, and finally

in

English. Practise the pronunciation carefully, referring constantly to the foregoing notes.

18

GERMAN PRONUNCIATION Roman Type Der Winter ist kalt. Es regnet oft und es schneit manchmal. Dann sind die Dächer der Häuser mit Schnee bedeckt. Der Schnee ist weiss und schön. Die Jungen und Mädchen spielen gern mit dem Schnee. Manchmal sind die Flüsse und Teiche zugefroren. Dann nehmen die jungen Leute ihre Schlittschuhe und sie gehen auf das Eis. Dort haben sie viel Spass. Wenn aber das Tauwetter eintritt, ist es gefährlich, auf das Eis zu gehen.

German Fraktur

Der

SBintcr

man^md.

i[t

Dann

6(f)nee ht\itdt

Gs regnet

!alt.

bie

ftnb

Der

(B6:)X\tt

Sungcn unb äRäbd)en

fpielen

9Jlancf)maI jinb bie 5Iü[[e

oft

Dä^er x\i

toeife

unb

ber

unb

gern mit

es

f^neit

§äufer

mit

fd)ön.

Die

bem

unb %t\6)t zugefroren.

Sd)nee.

Dann

jungen fieute \fyct S^Uttfc^uf)e unb [ie Dort f)aben [ie oiel Spa6. 2Benn 0el)en auf bas (Sis. aber bas Xautöetter eintritt, ift es gefäi)rlicf), auf bas (Bis 3U gel)en.

nehmen

bie

Phonetic Version der vm't9r ^ist kalt, es reg'nat oft ?unt ?es Jnait mang'mail. dan zint di de'gar der hoi'zar mit Jne: badekt'. der Jne': ?ist vais unt Jörn, di ju'gan ^unt met'gan Jpi'ilan gern mit dem Jne: mang'ma:! zint di flv'sa ?unt tai'99 tsu'gafro'ran. dan ne':m9n di ju'r)9n bi't9 i:r9 Jlit'Ju:9 ^unt zi ge':9n auf das ?ais. dort ha':b9n zi fi:l Jpa:s. ven ^a:b9r das tau'wet9r ^aintrit, ^ist ?es g9fe:r'lig, auf das ?ais tsu ge':9n.

The

is given as a rough guide, although the he seriously wishes to acquire a good pronunciation, must read and re-read the foregoing rules, and practise continually the previous phonetic version

following

student,

if

:

TEACH YOURSELF GERMAN dair vinter

ist

kahlt.

es reegnert

(ert

very short!)

unt (u as oo in book, not as u in hut) es shnite (to rhyme with kite) manchmahl. dahnn zint dee decher (deHer, H as in huge) dair hoyzer mit schnee berdeckt (ber very short!), dair shnee ist vice unt shern (lips rounded!), dee yungen unt met-Hern (ern very short!) shpeelern (ern very short !) gairn mit dem shnee. manHmahl zint die flisser (i pronounced with rounded lips !) unt tie-Her tsooge froren (stress on tsoo and fror). Etc. oft

German Handivriting

H/J/'Cn/w^/iwV^

yV^/ryvfe

•W-wH'

-'vC'v^

^vt-k^/»»'h/'

./tv;^»^v^

.

/thlv/J-U'i/^

Arv-h,

.

'\JrV\f

'U-v^-wOV'VVVV

aA^pvv>/»v

^VVVVV

xvti'

?J1aAA>1^V7VV^

English Version

The winter is cold. It rains often and snows sometimes. Then are the roofs of-the houses with snow covered. The snow is white and beautiful. The boys and

play gladly with the snow. Sometimes are the and ponds over-frozen. Then take the young people their skates and go on-to the ice. There have girls

rivers

they

much

(sets in), is

fun. it

When

the

dangerous on the

thaw-weather ice to go.

in-steps

LESSON

I

THE SIMPLE SENTENCE I.

We now The name apple and Apple

The

is

The Masculine Nouns

come to the study any person or thing

of

nouns. singular, apples

of the language itself. is

called a noun.

Thus

tailor are

plural of

nouns

in

is

plural.

German

is

formed

in different

ways. After all, we have, in addition to apple, apples, such plurals as ox, oxen, man, men, woman, women, sheep, sheep, child, children.

We

some of these man, men; woman This change of vowel see in

plurals a change of vowel sound:

(wuman), women (wimm),

etc.

sound, or Umlaut, as the Germans call it, occurs in the plural of many German- nouns, but not all. All German nouns, whether representing persons or things, are masculine, feminine or neuter, whereas in English things are usually neuter, although we often say she of a ship and other things. The gender, or sex, as it were, of a noun is very important, as the word for the (which is always the same in English) changes according to the gender. The student must therefore learn every noun with the article (the) before it. Thus it is not only necessary to know that apple is Apfel in German he must know it is der Apfel. In this first section we are going to deal only with masculine nouns ending in -el, -en or -er. In the following list notice which nouns have the Umlaut in the plural and which have not. Notice also that the plural form of der [the) is die (the). Notice further that all nouns are written with a capital :

letter in

German.

:

TEACH YOURSELF GERMAN Singular • der Garten,

Plural

garden

die Gärten die Äpfel

• der Apfel, apple

der der • der • der • der • der der • der ^ der •

Schneider, tailor Bruder, brother Vater, father Lehrer, teacher Schüler, schoolboy Onkel, uncle Bäcker, baker

die Schneider die Brüder die Väter die Lehrer die Schüler die Onkel

Laden, shop

Wagen,

cart, carriage,

motor-car

Bäcker

die die

Läden

die

Wagen

Notice that Schneider, Lehrer have no Umlaut in the plural because e's and i's cannot take one. Of the

Wagen have no Umlaut in the and Bäcker have the Umlaut already

others only Onkel and

and

plural,

Schiiler

in the singular.

Vocabulary • schön, beautiful

• er, he

they

• sie,

ehrlich, honest

unehrlich, dishonest

^ ist, is ,

sind, are

«

•

nicht, not

• nein,

hier,

here

gut,

good

yes

no

• manchmal, sometimes • immer, alwa^'s

• dort, there • •

ja,

• oft, often

•

schlecht,

bad • arm, poor

• freundlich, friendly böse, angry, wicked

•

reich, rich

4

Exercise

Read and then turn

ganz, quite i

into English

ist arm. Der Vater ist nicht schlecht. der Onkel hier? Nein, er ist dort. Ist der Laden

Der Bruder Ist

nicht hier

?

Ja, er

^ ist

Der Schüler

hier.

Der Bäcker

manchmal

ist oft

ganz

der Apfel nicht gut ? Nein, er ist schlecht. Ist der Garten Note that, as these words are masculine, even though some of them refer to things the English it must in all these cases become er {he) in German. unehrlich.

^

ist

böse.

Ist

THE SIMPLE SENTENCE schön lich

?

Ja, er ist schön.

?

Nein, er

Nein, er

ist

ist

ganz

Ist

manchmal

der Lehrer immer freundIst der Onkel arm ?

böse.

reich.

Exercise 2

Turn the above sentences

into the plural.

that the adjective after the verb

is

Remember

or are does not change.

We will show you by doing the first one

Die Brüder sind have completed the exercise (but not before) turn to the Key beginning page 149 and see whether you have made any mistakes. arm.

:

When you

2.

The Feminine Nouns

We are now going to deal with a number of feminine monosyllables (words of one syllable). Notice that the word for the is die in both the singular and the plural. All these words have the Umlaut in the plural (except where the vowel is e or i) and take -e as their plural ending: Singular

:

TEACH YOURSELF GERMAN Exercise 3

Read and then

turn into English

alt. Ist die Nuss reif ? Die Kuh Die Magd ist nicht sehr gross. Ist Ist die Wurst fertig ? die Nacht nicht dunkel ? Die Wand ist sehr schön. Ist die Hand braun ? Nein, sie Ist die Kuh durstig ? Nein, sie ist hungrig. ist weiss. Die Stadt ist nicht alt, sie ist neu. Ist die Maus immer Die Magd ist manchmal sehr freundlich. Die klein ? Nuss ist alt und sauer. Die Nacht ist ganz schwarz. Die Magd ist gross und dünn.

Die Stadt

ist

ist

sehr

nicht braun.

Exercise 4

Turn the above comparing

it

exercise into the plural, afterwards

with the answers in the 3.

Now we come

Key

(see

page

150).

The Neuter Nouns

and last gender. Neuter a Latin word meaning neither, i.e. neither masculine nor feminine. Notice that in this case the singular definite article is das {the), while the plural is, as for the masculine and feminine, again die. These neuter nouns we give here all take the Umlaut in the plural (except where the vowel is e or i) and the plural ending is -er. to the third

is

Singular

das das das das das das das das das das das das das das

Plural

Blatt, leaf

die Blatter

Buch, book Dach, roof

die die die die die die die die die die die die die

Dorf, village Ei, egg

Feld, field Glas, glass

Haus, house Horn, horn Kind, child Kleid, dress Lied, song

Rad, wheel Wort, word

Bücher Dächer Dörfer Eier Felder Gläser

Häuser Hörner Kinder Kleider Lieder

Räder Wörter

:

THE SIMPLE SENTENCE Vocabulary lang, long

viereckig, square

kurz, short

hoch, high

voll, full

niedrig,

leer,

low they aber, but

empty

sie,

grün, green rot, red

oder, or ziemlich, fairly fast, almost, nearly

es, it

schwer, difficult leicht, easy rund, round

zu, too selten,

seldom

Exercise 5

Read and then

translate into English:

Das Rad ist rund. das Dorf nicht klein und sehr alt ? Das Ei ist nicht rund. Das Dach ist rot. Das Buch ist nicht zu schwer. Nein, es ist fast zu voll. Ist 1st das Glas nicht leer ? das Wort leicht ? Nein, es ist sehr lang und schwer. Nein, es ist sehr klein. Das Haus Ist das Kind gross ? Ist das Feld rund oder viereckig ? ist ziemlich hoch. Es ist \aereckig. Das Kleid ist ganz neu, aber es ist Das Blatt ist lang und grün. Ist das nicht sehr schön. Haus nicht zu niedrig ? Das Lied

ist

nicht sehr schön.

Ist

Exercise 6

Turn tlie above exercise into the compare your answers with the Key.

plural,

and then

Revision Exercise

Translate into

German

Are the gardens long and beautiful? They are beautibut they are not very long. Is the tailor always honest? Yes, he is always honest. Is the glass alwaj^s full? No, it is often empty. Are the cities old or new? They are old. The fields are nearly always green. Are ful,

25

TEACH YOURSELF GERMAN The apples are too green and sour. house big or small ? It is very big. Are the shops always empty? No, they are seldom empty. Are the maids tall and thin? No, they are short and fat. Are the children always good? No, they are sometimes very wicked. The night is long and very dark. The brother is poor but quite honest, and the father is rich but quite dishonest. The songs are too long and too difficult. the nuts not ripe? Is the

Here

is

the village, and there

is

the house.

The

child

is

nearly always hungry.

LESSON

II

THE WEAK VERB Pronouns are

little

repetition of nouns,

words which are used to avoid the and a few English pronouns are:

you, we, us, them, it. Pronouns are divided There are three persons: /,

First person

:

into

persons

the person speaking

(7,

and numbers.

we, me, us).

Second person: the person addressed (you). Third person: the person spoken about [he, they,

she,

it,

him, her, them).

The numbers are singular (one person, as /, you, he, it) and plural (as we, you, they). As in English we must say / am, he is, we are, and it is wrong to say we is, he am, they loves, etc., so in German there are certain endings to the verb (the word which

she,

expresses a state or an action, as am, do, love, hate, etc.) and these endings must be learnt carefully by heart,

and must never be confused. Let us look at the following conjugation, or arrange-

ment

of the verb:

26

THE WEAK VERB lieben, to love

Sing

;

TEACH YOURSELF GERMAN er

r

1

sie

I

V

^g

,,

,

,.

,

have the verb ending

m

er liebt

sie liebt * -t (-et) * < o^

..

,

^^ j.^^^^

ihr J

L

ihr hebt

wir

r

wir lieben

1

sie

„

„

„

>

-en

lieben

< sie

Sie J

[^

Sie lieben

—

*Note. With the -st (-est) and -t (-et) endings the extra e is put in when the stem of the verb {i.e. that part left when the endings are taken away) ends in a consonant followed by d, t, or n, in the du, er and ihr forms;

m

and when the stem ends the extra e

is

in a hissing consonant kept in the du form only.

Examples (using the verbs reisen, tanzen)

(s, z, ss)

öffnen, landen, atmen, zeichnen,

:

öffnest (you open), er landet (he lands), du atmest (you breathe), er zeichnet (he draws); du reisest (you travel), but er reist (he travels) du tanzest (you dance), but ihr tanzt (you dance)

du

:

:

Notice further that verbs whose infinitive (or simplest) form ends in -em or -ein have -ere and -le after ich,

and

-ert

and

-elt after er

or ihr:

ändern, to change

:

change you change he changes

ich ändere, du änderst, er ändert,

I

lächeln, to smile

:

smile

ich lächle,

I

du

you smile

lächelst,

he smiles

er lächelt,

Asking a Question

The

interrogative form

is

The English

quite simple.

Do I smoke.^ Does she dance? Do you telephone.^ Does the man travel? do not exist in German. The German question form is always Smoke I? Dances she? Telephone you? Travels the man? etc. Thus:

do or does in such forms as

Do I smoke ? Does she dance ? Do you telephone ? Does the man travel

Rauche Tanzt

ich

sie

?

?

Telefonieren Sie ? Reist der Mann ?

?

88

THE WEAK VERB The Negative Form and does in making a negative stateWe ment. The Germans never do this, but say quite simply / smoke not, she dances not, etc. also use do

I do not smoke She does not dance. You do not telephone.

The man does not

Ich rauche nicht. Sie tanzt nicht. Sie telefonieren nicht. Der Mann reist nicht.

travel.

Vocabulary machen, to make

träumen, to dream atmen, to breathe

kochen, to boil spielen, to play sagen, to say antworten, to answer lachen, to laugh

reisen, to travel

zeichnen, to draw lieben, to love hassen, to hate schicken, to send telefonieren, to telephone rauchen, to smoke arbeiten, to work reichen, to hand, pass öffnen, to open

lächeln, to smile suchen, to seek, look for

hören, to hear weinen, to weep besuchen, to visit

Exercise 7

Put the following into the

plural, thus: wir träumen

Ich träume Du tanzest Er raucht Der Schneider arbeitet

Du

Ich besuche.

Der

Bruder

Schüler? suchen.

sie

Er

Ich höre.

Telefoniert sie?

sagt.

Magd

Die

sagst.

rauchen

die Schneider arbeiten

suchst.

lacht.

Du

ihr tanzt

kocht.

Sie hasst.

Spielt

Sie

der (you)

Exercise 8

Put the following into the singular:

Träumen

wir?

Ihr

antwortet.

Sie

(thej^

Kinder

masc.)

atmen. Hören Sie (you)? Sie (they, fem.) a.rbeiten. Die Brüder hassen. Wir lächeln. Antworten die Lehrer? zeichnen.

Die

Onkel

reisen.

29

Die

.

TEACH YOURSELF GERMAN Exercise 9

Translate into German: I

(a)

hear the cow.

The uncle hates the maid.

The

maids boil the sausages. We love the maid. You (du, The tailors make the or 2nd sing,) look for the nuts.

The brother visits the village. I pass the The children hate the song. She draws the

dresses. glcLsses.

smile, but she weeps. I hear the mice. Do you look for the cows. Does she smoke? Do you (Sie) (Sie) send the books? not dance? Does the father work? Do the children I dreaming? play? Is the maid boiling ^ the leaves? Are you {2nd sing.) weeping? Is the child breathing?

house. {b)

I

We

Am

LESSON

III

THE CASES

We

which is or the Subject. The Subject is always in what is called the Nominative Case. This is so in English, but it does not matter much to us, as our words, do not change much, but it is importaYit in German. When the action of the verb passes directly on to somebodj' or something else, that somebody or something is the Direct Object, and is in the Accusative Case. If we take the sentence The tailor makes the dress, and ask: Who snakes the dress? we get the answer The tailor. The tailor is there the Subject and in the Nominative Case. If we ask: What does he make? we get the answer The dress. The dress is therefore the Direct Object, in the Accusative Case. In Exercise 9 we successfully did a number of sentences said before that the person or thing

does something

is

30

—

1

:

THE CASES like this

without needing to

know anything about

cases.

But that was because the sentences were carefully chosen If you go back to that exercise to avoid difficulties. you will find that no masculine singular nouns occurred Object or Accusative Case, because der (Nominative singular) becomes den (Accusative singular), although the feminine singular, neuter singular and the plural forms (die, das and die) remain the same. We will now do an exercise including some masculine Compare the singular nouns in the Accusative Case. in the Direct

following

Der Bruder

arbeitet

Ich besuche den Bruder.

In

the

first

sentence,

who works?

The brother

therefore the Nominative Case.

In the second sentence, whom do in the Accusative.

I visit?

—therefore

The brother

Exercise 10

Besuchst du den Onkel? Ich suche die Eier. Der Bruder besucht den Laden. Der Schneider reicht das Kleid. Der Lehrer sucht den Schüler. Wir hören die Schüler. Der Bäcker schickt die Würste. Die Magd kocht den Apfel. Sie kocht Äpfel. Exercise

1

hear the song? I visit the brother. We look The schoolboy looks for eggs. I draw the house. The teacher says the word. The father visits the uncle. She does not answer. Does the uncle

Do you

^

for the teacher.

visit

the town?

You

(du) visit the baker.

There is another kind of object, the Indirect Object. This might be said to answer the question To whom? ^

Use Sie unless told

differently.

TEACH YOURSELF GERMAN Consider the sentence:

The

tailor

sends the baker the apples.

Who

sends ? What does he send ? To whom does he send

?

The tailor. (Nominative Case.) The apples. (Accusative Case.) To the baker. (Dative Case.)

Very often the Dative Case is expressed in EngHsh by to: The tailor sends the apples to the baker. But does not imply physical motion towards, but a receiving of something, the to is not expressed in German, the Dative Case of the article and the noun being sufficient. as this to

The Dative Case Singular

of the Article is as follows:

:

THE CASES in English the uncle's book or the book of the uncle.

thing

we

are really talking about

is

the book, and

The we The

uncle's or of the uncle to describe which book. case of this expression uncle's or of the uncle is called Possessive in English, and in German it is referred to

add

as the Genitive Case. The noun in the Genitive Case usually (but not always) follows the noun on which it depends, and the Definite Article is also put into the

Genitive Case. The Genitive follows Singular

Case

of

the

Definite

Article

is

as

TEACH YOURSELF GERMAN Das Glas des Kindes ist leer. Der Lehrer öffnet Bücher der Schüler. Der Bruder des Schneiders schickt der Magd des Vaters das Kleid. Hörst du nicht die Lieder der Kinder? Ich telefoniere dem Vater des Bäckers. Die Magd des Schneiders schickt dem Bruder des Bäckers Äpfel und Nüsse. Die Homer der Kuh sind nicht sehr lang. Die Hände der Magd sind klein und weiss, aber die Hände der Brüder sind ^anz gross und klein.

die

rot.

Exercise 15

Remember

that of two noun objects, the Indirect (Dative) usually precedes the Direct (Accusative).

The horns

of the

cows are not too

to the brother of the maid.

The

long.

I

telephone

roof of the house

is

The schoolboy's father answers the teacher. The uncle's maid sends eggs and apples to the tailor's brother. Does he not visit the tailor of the village? Do you not hear the maid's song? The bakers' shops are quite full. The baker's brother hears the songs square and red.

of the children.

I

do not send the maid's dress to

the tailor.

LESSON

IV

HABEN. SEIN AND THE IMPERFECT masculine nouns ending in e form all their by simply adding n. Thus Knabe, a boy:

Nearly

all

cases except the Nominative sing,

Singular

Plural

Nom. der Knabe Ace. den Knaben Gen. des Knaben Dat. dem Knaben

Knaben Knaben der Knaben den Knaben

Note that there

is

die

die

no Umlaut.

34

HABEN. SEIN AND THE IMPERFECT There are two verbs that you cannot learn too soon or Here they are haben, to have, and sein, to be.

too well.

:

Present of haben Plural

Singular 1.

habe

ich ,

I ,,

,

,

2.

du hast

thou hast

3.

er hat

he has

Observe that haben

know

it

Sein

yet.

|.,

sie

is

we have

wir haben rSie haben-j

have

a

little

Kaht haben

Y^^ have

/

they have

irregular so far as

we

quite irregular.

is

Present of sein Plural

Singular

am

1.

ich bin

I

2.

du

thou art

3.

er ist

bist

he

we are

wir sind (.,

.

you are

\

,

they are

sie sind

is

we have been dealing with the Present tense, our verbs have dealt only with things now going In dealing with things that were done in the past we on. use a form of verb called the Imperfect tense. It is easily learned, and diffei's from the Present in having a t all through, and in having a final e in the third person singular. Compare the following with the Present of lieben as given on page 27 So

that

far

is,

:

Imperfect Indicative of lieben Singular 1.

ich liebte

2.

du

3.

er liebte

liebtest

I

Plural

we loved

wir liebten

loved

thou lovedst he loved

|-j^

sie

The Imperfect may be put

bebtet hebten

J

^^^ loved they loved

into EngUsh in two ways: / was loving. Ich liebte does duty for In English we often use do and is, and was and did along with verbs. / aw loving, you were loving, etc., are called the progressive form, because they show

/ loved, both forms. (i)

(2)

35

TEACH YOURSELF GERMAN that the loving

is

was going on continuously

or

:

I do

love,

she did love, etc., are called the emphatic form. But German does not allow this use of a^n, was, do, did; these little words are never put into German along with verbs.

I

do love

is

just ich liebe.

the same, ich liebe. loving? is the same, liebte.

ich?

I

She

did love loving

is

= =

Do

I

love?

I

am

loving

= liebe

is

ich?

just

Am

I

was loving = ich ich liebte. Did I love = liebte sie liebt. Does she love? = liebt liebe

ich?

I

sie?

Vocabulary der der der der der der der tot,

Neffe,

nephew

Löwe,

lion

leben, to live, be alive lernen, to learn erzählen, to tell, relate wohnen, to dwell, live

Franzose, Frenchman Hase, hare Ochse, ox Matrose, sailor Junge, boy

wo ? where

?

oben, upstairs unten, downstairs noch, still

dead

Exercise 16

Wo wohnen die Brüder des Matrosen? Sie wohnen nicht hier. Erzähltest du dem Jungen das Lied der Matrosen? Sind die Neffen des Franzosen oben? Nein, sie sind unten. Leben die Hasen des Knaben? Nein, sie sind tot. Die Junger zeichneten die Löwen. Lernten Sie nicht das Lied des Matrosen? Wir besuchten nicht oft den Neffen des Franzosen. Die Hörner des Ochsen sind sehr lang. Sie schickten den Matrosen Äpfel, Nüsse und Eier. Wir

sind Franzosen.

Exercise 17

Where do you still)?

No,

is

it

to the baker's It is there.

are not here.

live?

dead.

nephew?

Where Is

Does the hare still live (= live Did you send the boy's book

Where

is

the sailor's house?

are the Frenchman's oxen?

not the Frenchmen's house white?

36

They No,

THE DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVES there

red;

it is

the roof of the house.

is

Is the sailor's

nephew not learning the song? Was the Frenchman's nephew smoking? No, he was not smoking, he was working. Are the sailor's children playing? I was laughing, but she was weeping. Did you live upstairs or downstairs? Exercise 18

We

are poor, but

you are

Marie

rich.

is

upstairs

and

Peter is playing downstairs. Gretchen and Paula have the hare. It is big and brown. Has the sailor the ox? Are you (du) still there? Yes, I am here. Have the Yes, they have glasses, but they are sailors glasses?

Where

empty.

We

are we?

you

cows and oxen?

(du)

Where are Have

are upstairs.

the sailor's nephews playing?

They

No, but

are there.

have the hare.

I

Conversational Expressions Guten Morgen Guten Abend Guten Tag Gute Nacht

Good Good Good Good

I

I

!

!

Wie geht

es

Ihnen

?

Sehr gut, danke, und Ihnen

?

morning evening

day

I

!

I

How

night are you

Very

well,

!

?

thank you, and you

LESSON V THE DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVES— SOME PREPOSITIONS Imperfect of sein Singular

war

1.

ich

2.

J du warsti

3.

er

war

I

Plural

was

XI-

wir waren rSie waren-»

J.

thou wast

we were

|.j^^ ^^^^ | you were sie waren they were

he was

37

?

TEACH YOURSELF GERMAN Imperfect of haben Singular

Plural

had

ich hatte

2.

du hattest thou hadst

3

er hatte

I

we had

wir hatten

1.

|.,

he had

^

hattet

sie

hatten

J

^^^ ^^^ they had

Exercise 19

Die Nüsse und Äpfel waren nicht reif. Der Neffe des Lehrers war oben. Die Brüder der Magd waren tot. Die Kühe des Onkels waren gross und braun. Ich hatte den Hasen, aber er ist tot. War der Vater des Schülers sehr böse? Nein, er war ziemlich freundlich. War das Glas des Matrosen leer? Nein, es war ganz voll. Hattest du den Garten? Ja, er war sehr schön. Wo warst du? Ich war oben. Exercise 20

He was not here. Were the teachers there? Yes, and the scholars. Was the teacher always friendly? No, he was often very angry. Did Where was the

sailor?

Yes, we had the house and the garden. Were the sausages ready? No, but we had apples and nuts. I was very thirsty and the glass was quite empty.

you have the house there?

The

Definite Article and the Demonstratives

It is better to learn the article, as

by using forms,

it

reference.

it.

may

But

since

you have been doing,

we have now

be well to gather

it

up

seen

it

in all its

into one table for

THE DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVES There is another reason for giving the article in full There are certain little words called demonstratives that are used to point out nouns in German, and these are declined exactly like der, die, das. These words are here.

dieser

=

this ;

=

jener

that

;

jeder

= every.

With

the

three genders they appear: Plural

Singular

Masc.

Fem.

Neut.

M., F. and N.

dieser jener jeder

diese

dieses jenes jedes

diese

jene jede

The very meaning

of the

jene alle

word shows us that we cannot

We cannot of jeder; we use alle instead. say every houses, but we can say all houses alle Häuser. Another word, which does not point out but asks a question, is declined in the same way. It is welcher, welche, welches (sing.), welche (plural). It means which ? this ox; jene Kuh Thus: dieser Ochse that cow; jedes Buch every book; welches Buch? which have a plural

:

=

=

=

=

book?

Some

Prepositions

Prepositions are little words like to, with or in, which show the relation between certain words in sentences. In

English prepositions are said to govern the Accusative Case, but German they may govern the Accusative, the Dative or the Genitive Case. We shall begin with six which govern the Dative.

m

aus, out mit, with

in,* in

von, of or from zu, to or at

nach, after or to

=

aus dem Hause out of the house, the town, nach dem Lehrer after the teacher, zu Hause at the house or at home.

Thus we

write:

in der Stadt

= in

=

=

*

In can

shall use

it

also govern the Accusative only with the Dative.

39

:

but in the meantime we

TEACH YOURSELF GERMAN Vocabulary one

eins,

zwei,

two

drei, three vier,

four

fünf, five

sechs, six

sieben, seven

acht, eight

neun, nine zehn, ten

eleven zwölf, twelve dreizehn, thirteen vierzehn, fourteen fünfzehn, fifteen sechzehn, sixteen siebzehn, seventeen achtzehn, eighteen neunzehn, nineteen zwanzig, twenty

der Krieg, war das Zimmer, room die Kirche, church

elf,

-das Geschäft, business

die Schule, school die Klasse, class

es war, there

(-it)

es waren, there

was

(-it)

were

Exercise 21

Welches Kind spielt in dem Garten? Dieses Kind dem Garten mit dem Neffen des Schneiders. Waren ^ zehn Kühe in jenem Feld? Nein, es waren acht Ochsen dort. Jeder Schüler hatte vier Bücher. Ich bin in dieser Klasse. In welcher Klasse bist du? Waren Sie sehr arm nach dem Krieg? Der Bäcker In welchem schickte den Neffen aus dem Zimmer. Dorf wohnten Sie? Wir wohnten in diesem Dorf, in jenem Haus dort.

spielt in

Exercise 22

Had every child five or six apples? Which teacher The three children were in sent the father this book? Were I sent the children to (the) school. the church. There were there eight or nine houses in that village? There are (es sind) five teachers in this school, and there are ten children in each class. In which house do you live? Which song did you learn? Which boy did you send out of the class? Which cow did you He sent nine eggs with the dress. Every child hear? In which room in that village has three or four books. He is upstairs in the uncle's is the sailor's nephew? seven.

room. ^

Notice that

when war

or

waren comes

40

first,

the es

is

omitted.

:

DECLENSION OF GERMAN NOUNS Conversation reichen

Bitte,

Sie

mir jenen

Please pass

me

that hat.

Hut! Hier

Here

ist er.

Danke vielmals

Many

!

Not

wo

ist

die Post

thanks.

at Please,

Bitte schön. Bitte,

it is.

?

all.

Office

where

In jener Strasse, links (rechts).

In that street on the

Auf Wiedersehen

Good-bye

I

LESSON

the

is

Post

?

left (right).

1

VI

DECLENSION OF GERMAN NOUNS

We have hitherto of plurals of

dealt in detail only with three types

nouns die Lehrer die Nächte die Dörfer

der Lehrer die

Nacht

das Dorf

We

going to ask the student, in his own inby heart (and the sooner the better) the Table of Declensions given on pp. 185-187. If he does this he will have no difficulty in declining (or giving the different forms of) any noun he may come Learning these lists will also add to his vocabuacross. lary a number of very useful words of which he has Some teachers do not advise learning lists by need. heart, but it is much more important and useful than learning a few poems by heart, and the student should even then constantly refer to the Table and the lists. For instance, suppose he comes across a masculine monosyllable, say, der Kopf, the head. Masculine monosyllables, says the Table, have their plural in -e (except a few easily learnt by heart in List 5 on page 187) and terest,

are

now

to learn

41

:

TEACH YOURSELF GERMAN some have the Umlaut in the plural, while others have not. The list of those which have not is given and reference to that (until the whole on page 185 list is known by heart) will show that der Kopf does not occur there. Therefore der Kopf has the Umlaut ,

in the plural.

Feminine nouns, Mutter and die Tochter only are in Declension i (both taking the Umlaut), there are about 30 in DeclenSimilarly, he will notice that of the

die

monosyllables and all taking the Umlaut whereas all other feminine nouns (except those in -nis in Declension 2) are in Declension 4. There are no feminines in Declension 3, and the student must never forget that no feminine noun has any ending in

sion 2

(all

in the plural),

the singular. It the student has to deal with a Neuter monosyllable, he will refer to List 4 on page 187 If it occurs in that list it takes the Umlaut and ends in -er in the plural. If not it is in Declension 2, does not take any Umlaut .

and its plural ending is -e. Notice particularly that there is always an -n in the Dative plural whether of nouns, articles or adjectives. The brackets round the (e) in the Dative singular of Declensions 2 and 3 mean that this e is not always added. It is added as a rule only in the case of monosyllables and need not be added even then. The brackets round the (e) in Declension 4 mean that where the word already ends in -e or in a weak ending (-el, -en, -er) -n only is added. We give here the full declension of the nouns indicated in the Table in the plural

Declension

der Laden, shop der Laden

den Laden des Ladens

dem Laden

Läden Läden der Läden den Läden die die

I

der Wagen, cart, car

der

Wagen

den Wagen des

Wagens

dem Wagen

Wagen Wagen der Wagen den Wagen die die

DECLENSION OF GERMAN NOUNS Declension 2

Masculine der Kopf, head

der Kopf

den Kopf des Kopfes

dem

der Schuh, shoe der Schuh

Köpfe die Köpfe der Köpfe den Köpfen die

Kopf(e)

den Schuh des Schuhes dem Schuh (e)

Neuter

Feminine

das Schaf, sheep

die Nacht, night

Nächte Nächte der Nächte den Nächten

Nacht Nacht der Nacht der Nacht

das Schaf das Schaf des Schafes

die die

die die

Schuhe Schuhe der Schuhe den Schuhen

die die

dem

Schaf{e)

die Schafe die Schafe

der Schafe den Schafen

Declension 3

MascuHne

Neuter

der Mann,

das Gtes, glass das Glas das Glas des Glases

dem

Glas(e)

Mann den Mann

die Gläser die Gläser

der

der Gläser den Gläsern

des

Mannes

dem Mann{e)

man

Männer Männer der Männer den Männern

die die

Declension 4

Feminine die

Übung, exercise

Übung die Übung der Übung der Übung die

die Schwester, sister

Übungen die Übungen der Übungen den Übungen die

die Schwester die Schwester

die Schwestern die Schwestern

der Schwester der Schwester

den Schwestern

der Schwestern

Mascxiline

der Knabe, boy

Knabe den Knaben des Knaben dem Knaben der

der Student, student

Knaben Knaben der Knaben den Knaben

die Studenten den Studenten die Studenten des Studenten der Studenten dem Studenten den Studenten

der Student

die die

The Table

of Declensions on pages 185-187 sums up a nutshell the whole question of German Nouns, and it will be the student's own fault if he continues to be confused and disheartened by German plurals. The in

43

TEACH YOURSELF GERMAN more he refers to those pages and the sooner he learns them by heart the better. They apply to 95 per cent, of the nouns in the German language. Of the other 5 per cent, we may mention here those nouns in -or (from the Latin) with the stress in the and on the -or in the Such are der Direk'tor, der Dok'tor, der Proplural. syllable before the -or in the singular fes'sor, etc.

die Professo'ren die Professo'ren der Professo'ren den Professo'ren

der Profes'sor

den Profes'sor des Profes'sora

dem

Profes'sor

Finally there are a few modem words of foreign origin that have their plural in -s, such as das Auto, motor-car;

Autos Autos der Autos deu Autos

das Auto das Auto des Autos

die die

dem Auto

It will be seen from the foregoing that the most important parts of a noun's declension are the Genitive Constant practice singular and the Nominative plural.

alone will lead to success.

Vocabulary die Uhr, clock, watch die Taschenuhr, ^ pocket watch

der Mantel, coat das Fenster, window die Tür, door der Stock, stick die Socke, sock der Hut, hat

der das das das der der

die Mütze, cap der Anzug,* suit

Notice that in the case of

Haar, hair Bein, leg Licht, light

Tag, day

Vogel, bird die Brust, breast, chest der Kragen, collar

der Knopf, button der Strumpf, stocking 1

Handschuh,^ glove

Compound Nouns

it is

the final or

main part which has the gender and declension. For example, Therein Anzug, Zug is a masculine monosyllable. An is a prefix. lore der Anzug is dechned as a masculine monosyllable.

44

:

INDEFINITE ARTICLE Exercise 23

Give the number (i, 2, 3, or 4) of the Declension, the CVenitive singular and the Nominative plural of the nouns given in the preceding Vocabulary. Thus des Mantels

der Mantel

LESSON INDEFINITE ARTICLE In

German

definite

AND

die Mäntel

VII

POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES

as in English there are

two

articles,

—^which we now know pretty well—and the

the in-

The indefinite article in English is a or an. In German it is ein or eine. You had better learn it from this table, which you will readily understand by comdefinite.

paring

with the table of the have no plural.

it

ein can

Masc.

Nom.

Fem.

definite article.

Neut.

Obviously

TEACH YOURSELF GERMAN

INDEFINITE ARTICLE

The names of places (countries, towns, etc.) are usually and take no article. They form their Genitive by von or by the Genitive -s: neuter,

Die Hauptstadt von Deutschland (die Hauptstadt Deutschlands) ist Berlin, the capital of Germany is Berlin.

Feminine names of countries

(die

Schweiz, Switzer-

land, die Türkei, etc.) do require the article

:

Die Hauptstadt der Schweiz, the capital of Switzerland.

Notice that

London, not

:

we say

die Stadt Berlin, die Universität

die Stadt

von

Berlin, etc.

may

be added to names of towns to indicate the inhabitant, or to form an adjective: -er

Die Berliner sagen das nicht, the Berliners do not say that. In einer Londoner Zeitung, in a London newspaper. Pilsener Bier, Pilsen Beer.

das Land

TEACH YOURSELF GERMAN die Frau, lady, woman der Völkerbund, League of Nations Genf, Geneva in der Schweiz, in Switzerland nachder Schweiz, to Switzerland der Gesandte, ambassador

England, in England nach England, to England in

in Berlin, in Berlin

nach Berlin, to Berlin aus Moskau, from Moscow der Bolschewist, Bolshevik der Faschist, Fascist der Herr, gentleman

Exercise 24

Der Gesandte aus Berlin

ist

jetzt in

schickte meinen Bruder nach Genf.

London.

Ich

Es sind keine Äpfel

dem Garten. Unser Haus ist in dieser Strasse. Ein Spanier aus Madrid ist unten. Hast du meine Handschuhe? Er ist der Neffe eines Lehrers in Köln (Cologne). Wo ist deine Uhr? Hier ist sie. Ottos Anzug war in diesem Zimmer. Ist dies Ihr Hut? Wo ist Marie? Ist Der Neffe dies nicht Ihre Armbanduhr (wrist-watch) ? Ich reiche meinem Onkel seinen Hut. ihrer Magd ist tot. Unsere Kühe sind in dem Feld. Marie Schmidts (Smith's) Onkel ist in Paris, und Wilhelms Vater ist in der Schweiz. Die Schwester von Fritz ist in dem Laden ihres Onkels.

in

Exercise 25

Did he not send any (= sent he no) stockings with the Her dresses are always very good. I often send shoes? (= send often) apples and nuts from my garden to my nephews in Germany. We sometimes visit (= visit sometimes) our uncle in Switzerland. Did you send your nephew to Geneva or to Rome (Rom)? Max's shoes are black and Gisela's gloves are brown. Where is your uncle's house? It is in London. Are the rooms He did not send any (= sent of his house very big? Have you a Paris newsno) buttons with her dresses. paper? My uncle hasn't a car. Did you send my The houses of our city are brother's books to London? tall and beautiful.

48

LESSON

VIII

RULES FOR GENDER noun meaning a male person masculine, and every noun meaning a female person or animal is feminine. But the endings of words have so much to do with gender that we cannot depend entirely upon the meaning. In what follows we must try to learn something about the meanings of endings, as well as their power in determining gender. In a general way, every

or animal

is

Feminine Terminations In English our great feminine ending is -ess actor, actress, etc. In German the corresponding termination is -in Spieler a player, Spielerin a female player. These nouns double the n before adding -en for the plural thus, the plural of Königin is Königinnen. 2. Most abstract nouns in German are feminine: that is, nouns denoting qualities or abstractions, such as truth (Wahrheit), science (Wissenschaft), beauty (Schönheit), gratitude (Dankbarkeit), slavery (Sklaverei'), rescue (Rettung), music (Musik'), harmony (Harmonie'). You will observe that all these nouns are derived from simpler words. Wahr means true, Wahrheit, the quality of being true wissen means to know, Wissenschaft, the quality of knowing. These words are therefore called derivative words. The most common terminations which are used to form feminine derivative nouns are: -ung (Eng. -ing), -heit (Eng. -hood), -schaft (Eng. -ship), -ei (Eng. -y), and -keit (for which we have no English equivalent). 3. The third rule for feminines is of the greatest possible use. All two-syllabled nouns ending in -e, and meaning things without life, are feminine: as die Tasche the pocket. This rule has few exceptions. 1.

:

=

:

=

:

—

;

=

49

TEACH YOURSELF GERMAN Most nouns 4. The fourth rule is not so important. derived from verbs and ending in -d and -t are feminine. Thus: jagen (to hunt) gives die Jagd (the hunting); fahren (to travel) gives die Fahrt (the journey).

Neuter Terminations -chen and -lein are two terminations which make what are called diminutives of the nouns they are brook, Bächlein little brook attached to. Bach or brooklet Dorf a village, Dörfchen a little village, chen and lein also express endearment, as Väterchen, Mütterchen. These endings make the noun neuter, whatever its gender was before: thus Fräulein, which means a young or unmarried lady (little P'rau), is 1.

=

= =

;

=

neuter. 2, The -en of the Infinitive must be regarded as a neuter termination when the Infinitive is used as a noun. drinking. hunting, das Trinken Thus: das Jagen

=

=

Masculine Terminations T,

Most nouns ending

in -en (excluding Infinitives

and

diminutives) are masculine. 2. Two-syllabled nouns ending in -ich, -ig and -ing are masculine. So far as is consistent with the above rules the following considerations of meaning may be applied in de-

termining gender. Masculine are names of days, months, seasons, stones, winds. Neuter are names of metals (except der Stahl, steel), countries, cities, villages, islands.

Exercise 26

Keeping in view all that has been said, arrange the following nouns into three classes according as they are

50

NON-PERSONAL ELEMENT masculine, feminine or neuter. not across the page.

VERBS

IN

Go down

the columns,

Fürstin, princess Eiche, oak

Blume, flower

Honig, honey Leben, living

Treppe, staircase Regen, rain Edelstein, precious stone

Kindlein,

Eselei, stupid conduct Teppich, carpet Februar, February Gold, gold Übersetzung, translation

baby

Fröhlichkeit, joyfulness Büchlein, httle book Melodie', melody Eisen, iron

Löwe,

Schlacht, battle Garten, garden Griechenland, Greece Stunde, hour JiingUng, youngster Reinheit, purity Paris, Paris Freundschaft, friendship

lion

Sonne, sun Liebling, darling

Väterchen,

little

father

Dummheit, stupidity Helgoland, Heligoland Käfig, cage Tanzen, dancing

Diamant', diamond

Monat, month

Schrift, writing

Pferdchen, little horse Kuchen, cake Union, union

Poesie', poetry

Rauchen, smoking Freitag. Friday

Blümchen,

little

flower

Frau, wife

LESSON IX

NON-PERSONAL ELEMENT it,

IN

VERBS

Not every part of a verb has person. We can say / did or you did it, or they did it. But we cannot use any

pronouns with done. We cannot say I done it, or you done it, or they done it. It is true we can say I But here the personal (or you or they) have done it. pronouns do not belong to the done but to the have. In other words, have is a personal part of the verb; done Done is called the Past Principle, is a non-personal. and can never be used with a personal pronoun without It is for this the help of another verb like have or was.

of these

51

.

TEACH YOURSELF GERMAN reason that certain verbs

—such

as to have

and

to

he—

are called auxiliary or helping verbs.

In English the most common ending for the Past is -ed he has play-ed, work-ed, arrang-ed, borrow-ed, etc. Here are some examples of English and German Past Participles:

—

Participle

Present Tense Past Tense Past Participle

From

this

loves

plays

liebt

we may

spielt

played spielte played gespielt

loved liebte loved geliebt

says sagt said sagte said gesagt

that most German Past and end with t.

infer

Participles begin with ge

Once we know the Past

Participle of a verb, we can Past tense by the help of have. he has said, or simply he said. Thus: er hat gesagt This tense is called the Perfect, because the action is now complete. Again we may say, er hatte gesagt =» he had said. This is called the Pluperfect tense, because the action was completed at some time now past.

use

it

to

make a new

=

Perfect of lieben

Singular

habe geliebt

1

ich

2.

du hast

3.

er hat geliebt

I.

wir haben geliebt

geliebt

I have loved thou hast loved he has loved

Plural

^3.

{fihr^hlM)}g^^^^b* sie

haben

geliebt

we have loved you have loVed they have loved

Here we see that geliebt remains unchanged. Everything depends upon the personal verb haben. Geliebt, in fact, is hardly a verb at all: it is really a sort of The Germans throw the Past Participle adjective. always away to the very end of the sentence. We The Germans say, he has say, he has said the word.

5»

NON-PERSONAL ELEMENT

IN

VERBS

er hat das Wort gesagt. The child had mother of his friend Das Kind hatte die Mutter seines Freundes geHebt. The Infinitive is another non-personal part of the verb, and is treated in the same unceremonious way by the Germans, who put it at the very end. / will not say that Ich will jenes Wort nicht sagen. Observe that word say is here Infinitive, though the to is omitted, just as the zu is omitted before sagen. The full Infinitive in German is zu Sagen, but the zu is omitted with auxiliaries, Examples will be given later in the Course as here. of the retention of this zu. In English all Past Participles do not end in ed, though that is the regular ending. The following are Past Participles: done, been, drunk, slept, arisen. In the same way all German Past Participles do not begin with ge and end with t, though that is the regular thing. In the following list of verbs the first nine are regular, the last the

word said

loved the

=

six irregular:

Pres. Infin.

:

=

:

TEACH YOURSELF GERMAN You will observe that when the stem of a regularverb ends in -d or -t, an extra e is inserted in the Past and Past Participle. This is for the sake of the sound; your ear will keep you right in this matter. The Use

of the Perfect

This tense is used to express an action that has been going on and is still continuing, or a finished action of For example recent occurrence, or vaguely in the past. Ich habe meine Handschuhe gesucht. for

my

I

have been looking

gloves.

Er hat mir nicht geantwortet. He did not answer me. Der Mönch Schwartz hat das Schiesspulver entdeckt. The

monk Schwartz

discovered gunpowder.

Vocabulary die Frau,

die See, sea der Soldat, soldier das Klavier, piano die Musik, music das Radio, wireless

das Grammophon, gramophone der Stuhl, chair der Teppich, carpet

wireless

gern haben, to like (= have wilhngly) hören, to like (Hstening (to)

baden, to bathe, swim gern rauchen, to Hke smoking zu Weihnachten, at Christmas

der Schnee, snow die Annonce, advertisement der Hund, dog im Winter, in winter in

wife

gem

die Zigarre, cigar die Zigarette, cigarette die Pfeife, pipe

im Sommer,

woman,

das Land, country Klavier spielen, to play the piano Radio hören, to listen to the

on (top of) (with Dat.) on (side of), to (with Ace.) der Wald, wood

auf,

an,

summer

der Stock, stick

Exercise 27

Hast du dem Neffen des Bäckers das Buch des Lehrers Ich habe die Löwen in dem Walde gehört. Hat die Magd die Äpfel nicht gekocht? Mein Bruder hat meinem Vater telephoniert. Ich habe meinem Onkel seinen Stock gereicht. Dieses Mädchen hat

geschickt?

54

PERSONAL PRONOUNS Klavier gespielt. Rauchen Sie gerne (or gern) ZigaretNein, ich rauche immer eine Pfeife. Zu Weihnachten schicken wir unserem Bruder Äpfel, Nüsse, Bücher und Zigaretten. Hören Sie gern Musik an dem Radio? Wir haben in einem Hause in jenem Dorfe gewohnt. Die Soldaten haben die Hauptstadt des Landes verbrannt. Meine Schwester hat die Annonce Wir haben unseren Hund Mops in der Zeitung gesucht. genannt. Welches Buch hat deine Schwester gewählt? Die Soldaten haben keine Frauen und Kinder getötet. Im Sommer haben wir oft in der See gebadet. Die Schüler haben im Winter mit dem Schnee gespielt. Ich ten?

habe Hunde nicht gem. Exercise 28

Have you (du) been dreaming? No, I have been drawing that house. Which book is on your chair? This carpet is very old. I Uke listening to the wireless. Does your father like smoking? Yes, he has always smoked

cigars.

I often

smoke (= smoke

often) cigars

In the summer we have (= have we) at Christmas. Have you sent those visited our uncle in Switzerland. newspapers to Geneva? The baker and his wife have

The tailor has not made their child Margarete. the dress. Otto's sister has been playing the piano, and my brothers have been listening to the music on the wireless. Has the tailor brought the dress? In which shop did you buy (Perfect tense) that hat? Do you like bathing in the sea? I like listening to the gramophone.

named

LESSON X

PERSONAL PRONOUNS He, she and

German they

it

are easily used in English.

require careful watching.

55

We

But in must not

:

:

TEACH YOURSELF GERMAN but only of the gender of the noun words apply. Talking of the town in German, we must not say jt is fine, but she is fine, since Stadt is feminine sie ist schön. So of a table we must say he is round: er ist rund. Of a maiden (Mädchen) think of sex at

to which these

all,

little

:

but we may also say therefore never use he or she or it without looking carefully at the gender of the noun referred to.

we say

clever: es ist geschickt

it is

In English

;

You must

sie ist geschickt.

we have

these words declined:

Singular

Plural

Masc. Fern. Neut.

All Genders

Nom.

he

Ace.

him

she her

it

they

it

them

Corresponding to these

we have

Singular

the

German forms

Plural

Masc. and Fern.

Masc.

Fern.

Nom.

er

sie

Ace. Dat.

ihn

sie

sie

ihm

ihr

ihnen

sie

saw him, but not her. Ich sah ihn, aber nicht sie. have this book fromliim. Ich habe dieses Buch von ihm. We have sent her a present. Wir haben ihr ein Geschenk I I

gesandt.

Pay careful attention to what we have said about it. The fact is that the English it can be put into German in If it three different ways according to what it refers to. refers to a table (Tisch), it is masculine and is rendered er; if it refers to a street (Strasse), it is feminine and is represented by sie; if it refers to a book (Buch), it is neuter and is rendered by es. All these are Nominative if it is

You

in the Accusative, it is ihn (m.), or sie

will learn the use of these

(f.),

or es

(n.).

words much better from

observing the following examples:

Where

is

Feder?

my

pen

?

Ich sah

I

saw it in your room. Ihrem Zimmer.

sie in

56

Wo

ist

meine

:

PERSONAL PRONOUNS where is it ? Sie hat meinen She has brought my shoe Schuh gebracht wo ist er ? Where is the dog? We have sent it to him. Wo ist der Hund ? Wir haben ihn ihm gesandt. It was my house, but the soldiers have burned it. Es war mein Haus, aber die Soldaten haben es verbrannt. :

:

The pronoun as an object, whether direct (Accusative) or indirect (Dative), precedes a noun object, i.e. it follows the verb. Of two pronoun objects, the direct (Accusative) precedes the indirect (Dative), that is, the opposite order to two noun objects. E.g. Ich schicke es dem Bäcker. Ich schicke es ihm. I send

I it

send

it

to the baker.

to him.

Vocabulary der Baum, tree der Wind, wind die Sonne, sun der Mond, moon der Stern, star der Rasen, lawn das Wetter, weather die Wolke, cloud der Regen, rain der Teich, pond der Nebel, fog der Fluss, river das Wasser, water

bright

hell,

stark, strong

schwach, weak teuer, dear billig,

heiss,

cheap hot

warm, warm kalt, cold

young

jung,

who ? wen ? whom wer

?

wem

to

?

wann

?

(Acc.)

?

whom

when

?

(Dat.)

?

kaum, scarcely

niemals, never

nur. only gestern, yesterday

nichts, nothing

Exercise 29

Ich habe nichts gehört. Gestern war die Sonne ganz warm. hast du den Weihnachtsbaum (Christmas-) geschickt? Ich habe ihn meinem Neffen geschickt. Jene Wolken sind gross und schwarz, sie bringen Regen. Das Wetter ist sehr kalt, und es (= there) ist Nebel auf dem Fluss. Wann haben Sie diesen Anzug gekauft?

Wem

57

TEACH YOURSELF GERMAN Ich habe ihn gestern in jenem Laden gekauft. War er oder teuer? Er war ganz billig. Die Sterne sind Haben Sie Ihrer Schweklein, aber der Mond ist gross. ster die Armbanduhr geschickt? Ja, ich habe sie ihr Hat dein Vater den Kindern den gestern geschickt. Weihnachtsbaum geschickt? Ja, er hat ihn ihnen gebillig

Es

stern geschickt.

mein Neffe

spielt

Hunde

sind drei

auf

dem Rasen;

mit ihnen. Exercise 30

The sim was not very bright yesterday.

When

did

answer? There were seven or eight sailors on the river. This river is very long. We scarcely heard (= heard scarcely) the children's song. Whom did you visit in Switzerland? These motor-cars are almost too cheap. To whom did you telephone yesterday? Here is your hat. Where did you buy it? I am sending The children have been it {i.e. the hat) to my brother. I have handed them to them. looking for the apples. We never have (= have never) fog in this country. Who answered him? Have you 'phoned to her? Was the wind very strong yesterday? The sky was blue and the clouds were small and white. The water in >'ou

pond was too cold yesterday. We did not bathe. have said nothing to him. She only smiled (= smiled only). We scarcely heard them. the I

LESSON

XI

STRONG VERBS

—

Taking the three parts of the verb the Infinitive, the Imperfect, and the Past Participle we find that most of the verbs with which we have dealt up till now have had

—

the form lieben, liebte, geliebt is what is known as the

This

New

Conjugation.

The

best

58

;

spielen, spielte, gespielt.

Weak Conjugation, or the way to learn the differ^ce

:

STRONG VERBS New and the Old Conjugation is to examine the following list of verbs, and see how they differ from the verbs we have been dealing with between the

Some Verbs

of the Strong or

Old

:

TEACH YOURSELF GERMAN As a test at this stage, arrange the above nineteen verbs in three classes: (i) Those having three different vowel sounds (2) those in which the Infinitive and Past Participle have the same vowel and (3) those in which the Imperfect and the Past Participle have the same vowel. Observe now the full conjugation of the Imperfect, and note how it differs from the liebte type ;

;

Imperfect of Certain Strong or Old Verbs I.

ich

:

STRONG VERBS The change of vowel in the 2nd and 3rd person does not always take place, as we find from kommen, although the verb stossen, to push, has du stöss (es)t, er stösst. The main changes are (i) a is changed into ä (ii) au äu „ „ (iii) e (long) is changed into (iv)

Keeping

e (short)

view

„

„

ie i

that has been said, write out, as above, the Present and the Imperfect of the following six verbs: bitten

in

all

TEACH YOURSELF GERMAN Exercise 31

Die Spinne war gross und dick sie spann ein Gewebe. Die Biene summte; sie flog von Blume zu Blume und suchte Honig. Was frisst die Wespe? Sie frisst Zucker. Die Esel iahten, die Schweine grunzten, die Hunde bellten und die Katzen miauten. Der Knecht ritt auf einem Pferd. Er fütterte die Ochsen, die Schafe und die Kühe. Sein Hund lief mit ihm. Er bellte zu laut. Der Bauer schlug ihn mit seiner Peitsche. Die Bäuerin melkte (or molk) die Kühe in dem Stall. Es sind acht oder neun Knechte auf dem Bauernhof. Sie arbeiten immer. Im Herbst pflügen sie die Felder. Im Frühling säen sie. Der Bauer hiess Herr Braun. Er stand auf (got up) und begann seine Arbeit. Er fuhr in seinem Wagen zu dem Feld. Was ass er? Er ass Brot und trank Tee mit Zucker. Seine Kinder sangen Lieder. Er gab ihnen Äpfel und Nüsse. ;

Exercise 32

The farmer drove to the fields. He took his children. They liked to see (= saw willingly) the cows, sheep and horses in the fields. The boy was called Karl.

He

liked to ride

The donkey

on a donkey.

He gave

it

(= him)

hay.

likes eating sugar.

dog is in the garden. It is big and strong. breaks the flowers. Karl runs after him and strikes him with his whip. The dog barks loudly. The sun The bees are buzzing and flying is warm and bright. from flower to flower. They like honey. Do you like honey? Karl does not see the spider. It is big and fat. Do you like spiders? It has spun a web. Karl's

It

Have you already begun your work? I have broken ^ my watch. Has your uncle given his nephew a watch? Have you (du) drunk your tea? Yes, and I have already eaten

my

bread and honey. ^

Use zerbrechen.

62

:

LESSON PREPOSITIONS

XII

AND WERDEN

With Accusative or Dative

We have had some prepositions that govern

the dative

and some that govern the accusative. But now we must have some that sometimes govern the dative and sometimes the accusative. There are nine of them an, at (with dat.) an, to (with ace.) auf, on, upon hinter, behind in, in or at (with dat.) in, into (with ace.)

neben, besides, near über, over or across vor, before, in front of unter, under or among zwischen, between

The meaning tells us when to use the accusative, when the dative. If there is any motion towards anything implied, then the accusative is used if no such motion is implied, the dative. ;

Er ist auf dem Berge. Er läuft auf dem Berge. Er läuft auf den Berg. Er ging in das Haus. Er war in dem Hause.

He is on the mountain. He runs on the mountain. He runs to the mountain. He went into the house. He was in the house.

Sie sass auf dem Stuhl. Sie sprang auf den Stuhl.

She sat on the chair. She sprang upon the

chair.

With Dative only

To keep matters

common

clear

we had

better repeat the

prepositions that govern only the dative:

aus, out

more

TEACH YOURSELF GERMAN With Accusative only ohne, without urn, about, round wider, against

durch, through für, for

gegen, against

With Genitive only anstatt or statt, instead of diesseits,

jenseits,

mittels,

trotz, in spite of

on this side of on that side of

by means

während, during wegen, on account of

of

Observe that all except während have the English equivalent ending in of. This is a good way of remembering which case these prepositions govern. Contraction of Preposition and Article Just as we contract do not into don't, so the Gennans are fond of contracting their prepositions and their articles into

one word.

Thus:

an dem becomes am ans an das „ auf das in

„ „ „

dem

in das

Special (i)

When

to

dative

single

dem becomes beim von dem vom „

bei

aufs

(vor das

im

zu dem zu der

ins

vors)

„ „ „

zum zur

Notes on the Translation of To

shows the receiver of an object, use the without

preposition

(see

also

Lesson

XXIV): Er gab

seiner Schwester das Buch.

He gave the book

to his

sister.

Er schickte Resi (ii)

seiner Mutter.

sent a book to Resi.

He came

:

to his mother.

Motion towards a large object or place (not a

proper name), zu

Er

He

Indicating motion towards a person, zu

Er kam zu (iii)

ein Buch.

lief

N.B.

:

dem Bauernhof. He ran to From ... to = von" ... zu. zu

the farm.

:

PREPOSITIONS

: :

:

:

:

AND WERDEN

Motion towards smaller objects, and sending an

(iv)

letters to persons,

Er ging an das Fenster, an den Spiegel, an die Tür. He went to the window (mirror, door). I wrote a letter to Ich schrieb einen Brief an meine Mutter.

my

mother.

—although one would not usually use an with a pronoun but the dative of the pronoun

in this case,

Ich schrieb ihr einen Brief.

To before a place (proper name), nach:

(v)

We

Wir fuhren nach Spanien, nach Köln.

went to Spain,

to Cologne.

=

To

(vi)

auf in the following cases

Auf

die Post, auf den Markt, auf die Universität, auf die auf die Bank, to the post-office (the market, university, pohce-station, bank). Polizei,

To

N.B.

an die

(into)

When

(vii)

To

the country, auf das Land.

the seaside,

See.

into as well as ^o is implied, in

Er geht

in die Schule, in die Kirche, in die Stadt, ins Kino, He is going to school, to church, to the town, cinema, theatre. ins Theater.

(viii)

To

talk

to,

Ich sprach mit mayor. (ix)

To

sprechen mit

dem

Bürgermeister.

— in order to, um

Er ging

aus,

:

.

um die Pferde zu

.

.

I

was talking

zu (+

füttern.

Infinitive)

He went

the horses. (x)

Note the following

indefinite directions

Nach rechts (links), to the right, to the left. Von oben nach unten, from top to bottom. Von hinten nach vom, from back to front.

65

to the

out to feed

:

TEACH YOURSELF GERMAN Vocabulary das Caf^

die Tür, door das Tor, gate die Mauer, wall

das der der das

*

Restaurant, restaurant Park, park Fussgänger, pedestrian

Warenhaus, big stores die Strasse, street die Strassenlampe, street-lamp der Brief, letter der Pohzist, pohceman die Strassenecke, street-corner die Brücke, bridge das Rathaus, Town Hall das Schaufenster, shop- window der Marktplatz, market-place der Briefkasten, letter-box das Gebäude, building schhessen, to shut angestellt,

employed

— — s,

s),«

cafÄ

der Verkehr, die

traffic

Telephonzelle,

telephone-

box Wolkenkratzer, der " scraper

" sky-

*liegen, to lie, be situated kaufen, to buy verkaufen, to sell prachtvoll, magnificent

gefährlich, dangerous führen, to lead, drive, take * wiegen, to weigh verlangen, to ask for be wundem, to admire bezahlen, to pay (for) nach Hause * gehen, to go zu Hause * sein, to be at

home home

strong verbs are marked with an asterisk (*), found in the Appendix, pp

From now on and

(

beim Krämer, at the grocer's das Krankenhaus, hospital

their principal parts are to be

188-192

A Some

care

Note on the

English to put

must be exercised

in translating to put.

Note the following (i) (ii) (iii)

(iv)

In a general way, setzen.

To put a thing standing up (as a vase), stellen, To put a thing lying down (as a book), legen, To put away out of sight, as in a drawer, pocket,

etc.,

stecken, (v)

To put

=

to add (as salt in potatoes,

etc.), •

tun

(hter-

ally to do).

Exercise 33

Unsere Bank liegt zwischen der Post und der MarienIch habe meinem Bruder von einer Telephonkirche.^ 1 die Wand is the surface, die Mauer the thickness. 2 Gen. sing, and Nom. pl. *

die Marienkirche, St. Mary's Church.

PREPOSITIONS

AND WERDEN

telephoniert. Es sind viele Wolkenkratzer in unserer Stadt. Das Gebäude des Völkerbundes war in Genf, in der Schweiz. Es waren Bolschewisten in Russland und Faschisten in Italien und Deutschland. Die Soldaten sind vor dem Tore der Stadt. Es sind Italiener und Spanier. Ich ging ins Restaurant. Ich habe gegessen und Ich kam aus dem Restaurant und ging zum bezahlt. Marktplatz. Ich ging ins Kino. Das Kino war gross und schön, aber es war kein Wolkenkratzer. Im Kino waren Männer, Frauen und Kinder. Ich gehe oft ins Theater. Gehen Sie gern ins Theater? Ich sah ein Krankenhaus neben dem Park. Gegenüber dem Warenhaus (dem Warenhaus gegenüber) war das Rathaus. Dieses Gebäude ist prachtvoll. Ich sagte zu einem Polizisten: " ist ein Briefkasten? " Er antwortete: *' Dort an der Strassenecke." Ich steckte einen Brief in den Briefkasten. Mein Bruder ist bei einem Krämer angestellt. Er verkauft Zucker, Tee usw.^ Hinter dem Rathaus war die Paulskirche. ^ Ich ging unter eine Brücke. Diese Brücke war sehr hoch. Über die Brücke fahren Autos und Pferde. Der Verkehr ist sehr gefährhch für die Fussgänger. zelle

Wo

Exercise 34 I put my book on a chair. The weather was fairly warm. I ran out of the room. I went through the door and into ^ the street. It was dark but the street was quite bright on account of (because of, owing to) the street-lamps. There were eight motor-cars and three horses in the street. I went with my dog round the town. My dog ran between the motor-cars. I went into a telephone box and 'phoned to my sister. She is employed ^

* '

=

usw. und so weiter, and so on, or etc. die Paulskirche, St. Paul's Church. Of persons, vehicles, etc. auf, otherwise in before Strasse.

67

:

:

TEACH YOURSELF GERMAN I live with my brother opposite the Town Hall. We went to the right and came to a bridge. It was fairly low. We looked down ^ on to the traffic. The traffic since the war is v^ry dangerous. My uncle was in that car. He was driving He has a shop there. He often to the Market Place. Our village drives (= drives often) over this bridge. In front of our house lay on the other side of the river. stood a lamp-post (street-lamp). We went into a restaurant to eat. After the meal ^ I went home without my dog, but I saw him at home, in front of the door.

in a hospital near St. Paul's Church.

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Fawcett VVtt

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j.y

J^ SPRECHEN

SIE

Dt Hl SCH?

Did you know tha^ Gcin an is THF leading language of Europe? German, concearated in the heartland of the European continent,

is

spoken not only Dy the inhabitants of

Germany, Austria and Switzer-and, out is the second language of millions who live on ihe borders of the Teutonic homeland. If you travel to Holland, Sweden, Polanu, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, northern Italy eastern France, the chances are you will get along better in German than English or French.

With the unique methods of self-teaching descn d in this book you can learn to speak, read and write r.rni >n easily and quickly. You need no other help. Everything you need to know about grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary and idioms is included in this one volume. The only other t'lin^^ required is your willingness to spend a few minutes e^ery day with it. Anyone who ""ollows this course conscientiously should be able to maste- ihe basic elements of Gc .man

within a very short time.

TEACH YOURSELF GERMAN provides: Condensed Grammar Pronunciation Guide» •

Colloquial Phrases

•

Exercises

•

Translation

Key