erin
COLA
sata SROsCONTENTS
Chapter 1
The Sounds of German: A Key to Pronunciation 1
‘The German Alphabet 1
Avoiding Misunderstandings 2
Remember, there are differences 2
The Vowels 3
Long vowels versus short vowels.
‘The Diphthongs 4
‘The Consonants 5
Similarities. Differences. Other differences.
The Glottal Stop 8
Stress 8
Syllabification 9
Single consonants and double consonants. Consonant clusters and groups of consonants.
Chapter 2
Nouns and Articles 4
Capitalization 4
Gender 4
Gender Identification by Noun Groups 4
Nouns referring to people. Masculine nouns. Feminine nouns. Neuter nouns.
Gender Identification by Word Endings 18
‘Masculine endings. Feminine endings. Neuter endings.
Words with Different Meanings in Masculine, Feminine, and Neuter Forms 21
‘Compound Nouns 22
Formation. Gender. 24
Nouns Used Only in the Singular 25
Plural Forms of Nouns 32
Cases of Nouns 32
Nominative case. Accusative case. Dative case, Genitive case.
Review of Case Endings for the "der" Words (der, dieser, jeder, jener, mancher, solcher,
welcher) 47
Review of Case Endings for the "ein" Words (ein, kein, mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser, ener,
ihr) 48
Special Uses of the Definite Article 48
Omission of the Indefinite or Definite Article 50
Chapter 3
Prepositions 52
Prepositions Governing the Accusative Case 52
Contractions of prepositions governing the accusative,
Prepositions Governing the Dative Case 34
Contractions of prepositions governing the dative,
Prepositions Governing either the Accusative or the Dative Case 37Contractions of the Two-Way Prepositions. Combinations with verbs of direction.
Combinations with verbs of location. Da- Compounds with accusative and dative prepositions.
Wo- Compounds with accusative and dative prepositions.
Prepositions Governing the Genitive Case 64
Word Order in Prepositional Phrases 66
Chapter 4
Pronouns 69
Personal Pronouns 69
Nominative case. Accusative case, Dative case. Position of pronoun objects. Pronouns in
idiomatic verb + preposition combinations (Phrasal verbs).
Reflexive Pronouns 76
Accusative case, Dative case, Position
Possessive Pronouns 78
Demonstrative Pronouns ®
Indefinite Pronouns 9
Relative Pronouns 82
Nominative case. Accusative case. Dative case. Genitive case. Indefinite relative
pronouns.
Chapter 5
Adjectives and Adverbs 88
Demonstrative Adjectives 88
Descriptive Adjectives 89
Predicate adjective. Attributive adjective-preceded by "der" words or definite articles,
Altributive adjective-preceded by the indefinite article or other "ein" words (Preceded adjectives).
Atributive adjective-not preceded by "der" or "ein" words (Unpreceded adjectives),
Adjectival Constructions: Adjectives Derived From Verbs 110
Present participle used as adjective. Past participle used as adjective.
Adjectives used as nouns ui
Neuter adjectives used as nouns: preceded by etwas nichts viel wenig.
Possessive Adjectives 13
Comparison of Adjectives and Adverbs us
Vowel change in monosyllabic adjectives, Imegular adjectives. Comparison of adjectives
and adverbs,
Adverbs 122
Adverbs referring to time, Adverbs referring to manner. Adverbs referring to place.
Position of adverbs, Idiomatic use of adverbs.
Chapter 6
Numbers, Dates, Time 126
‘Numbers 126
Cardinal numbers. Numbers over 1,000,000. Measurements, prices, and other decimal
fractions. Ordinal numbers. Fractions.
Dates 129
Days of the week. Months. Seasons. Days of the month and year. Dating a letter.
Reversal of numbers
Time 131Conversational German. Official time. The use of um_ ‘Uhr. Periods of the day.
Customary action. Other adverbs of time, Time expressions in the accusative case. Time
expressions in the dative case. Time expressions in the genitive case.
Chapter 7
Verbs 137
Verb Overview 137
‘Transitive and intransitive verbs. Personal endings. Forms of address: formal versus
informal. Verb tenses. Strong verbs and weak verbs.
Simple Present Tense 138
‘Weak and strong verbs. Irregular verbs. Special use of the present tense
Simple Past Tense 148
Weak verbs, Inegular weak verbs. Strong verbs, Auxiliary verbs sein, haben, werden.
Present Perfect Tense iF
Formation of the past participle. Regular weak verbs. Imegular weak verbs. Intransitive
verbs, Strong verbs. Auxiliary verbs sein, haben, werden,
Past Perfect Tense 168
‘Weak and strong verbs. Uses of the past perfect tense.
Future Tense 169)
‘Weak and strong verbs. Use of the future tense.
Future Perfect Tense 71
‘Weak and strong verbs. Use of the future perfect tense.
Verbs with Inseparable Prefixes 171
Verbs with Separable Prefixes 172
Position of the separable prefix. Separable prefix. verbs in dependent clauses.
Case Following Verbs 176
Accusative and dative case for direct and indirect objects. Dative case, Prepositional
objects.
Reflexive Verbs 178
Reflexive verbs governing the accusative case. Reflexive verbs with separable prefixes.
Reflexive imperative forms. Reflexive versus nonreflexive use of verbs, Reflexive verbs
governing the dative case.
Modal Auxiliary Verbs 184
Present tense. Simple past tense. Compound tenses.
Dependent Infinitives 189
Simple tenses-present and past. Compound tens
tense, Dependent clauses. Infinitives preceded by zu (to).
Verbs as Other Parts of Speech 193
Infinitives used as nouns. Present participles used as adjectives and adverbs. Past
participles used as adjectives and adverbs. Participles used as nouns.
Imperatives 195
‘Weak and strong verbs, Formal commands (singular and plural)-Sie, Familiar commands.
Irregular imperative forms. First person command (Let's). Impersonal imperative,
-present perfect and past perfect. Future
The Conditional 198
Weak and strong verbs. Use of the conditional
‘The Subjunctive 199
General subjunctive and special subjunctive. Present-time subjunctive. Past-time
subjunctive. Indirect speech. Special subjunctive.
Passive Voice 212Present tense, Past tense. Compound tenses. Substitute for the passive. Passive versus
false (or apparent) passive.
Special Meanings of Certain Verbs 217
Chapter 8
Negative Words and Constructions 221
Negation 221
‘Nicht in final position, Nieht preceding certain other elements in the sentence. Nicht in
dependent clauses. Nicht with sondern. Nicht with interrogative.
Answering Affirmative and Negative Questions Ja and doch 224
‘The Negative Form of brauchen 224
Other Negative Words 225
Negative article kein-. Pronouns nichts, niemand.
Chapter 9
Interrogative Words and Constructions 227
General Questions 227
Formation of questions by inversion. Simple tenses. Compound tenses and dependent
infinitives. Use of doch in answer to negative questions.
Specific Questions 228
Interrogative adverbs and adverbial expressions, Interrogative Pronouns. Interrogative
Adjective.
Chapter 10
Word Order and Conjunctions 235
Word Order 235
Statements. Questions. Commands (V( + $)). Exclamations.
Coordinating Conjunctions-Regular Word Order 240
Subordinating Conjunctions-Verb in Final Position, 241
Words Functioning as Subordinating Conjunctions-Verb in Final Position, 244
Relative pronouns and interrogatives. Haben or werden with the double infinitive.
Conditional sentences. Main clauses following dependent clauses.
Position of the Object 246
Position of the Adverb 247
Answers 249
Verb Chart 285
Index 287Chapter 1
The Sounds of German: A Key to
German Pronunciation
Since German pronunciation is to a large extent phonetic and regular, an understanding of the
basic sounds and stress patterns of German will enable the student to pronounce most words easily and
correctly.
THE GERMAN ALPHABET
‘The German alphabet has the 26 standard letters found in the English alphabet plus four letters
that are specific to German.
Alphabet
Letter
German Name
SOmNK XK E< ET eT aves 3 —R —se-eaoTe
‘ah
beh
taoh
doh
on
ott
geh
hah
th
yot
keh
omm
oh
peh
kuh
err
oss
teh
uh
fou
veh
ks.
Uppstion
taott
4h (a-umiaut)
6h (o-umlaut)
th (u-umiaut)
ess-tzott (scharfes ess)2 THE SOUNDS OF GERMAN: A KEY TO GERMAN PRONUNCIATION (CHAP. 1
It is important to learn to pronounce the German names of the letters of the alphabet so that you
will be able to spell names, addresses, and other essential information when needed during stays in
German-speaking countries and over the telephone.
AVOIDING MISUNDERSTANDINGS
Sometimes a bad connection makes it particularly difficult to understand the spelling of a word
over the telephone. For this reason the Federal Post Office in Germany has issued an alphabet of code
words that will make it perfectly clear what letter is intended. The post office spelling chart is as follows.
‘Anton
irger
Berta
Ciisar
Charlotte
Dora
Emil
Friedrich
Gustav
Heinrich
ida
Jullus
Kaufmann
Ludwig
Martha
Nordpot
Otto
Okonom:
Paula
Quetie
Richard
Samuel
th Schule
‘Theodor
Ulrich
Obermut
Viktor
Wilhelm
Xantippe
Ypation
Zacharias
goom>
N