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German/Print version

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German

Main Contents

Introduction

Lessons

Level one lessons (Introductory lessons / einführende Lektionen)

Level two lessons (Grundlegende Lektionen)

Level three lessons (Zwischen-Lektionen)

Level four lessons (Erweiterte Lektionen)

Level five lessons (Review lessons / Überprüfungs-Lektionen)

Grammar

Appendices (Anhänge)

Contributors

GFDL

Introduction

A Textbook on Five Levels

The question arose early in the development of this textbook as to precisely who would be the target audience.

Although intended to be a "beginning" textbook on German, many felt that the early lessons were too difficult for

younger students with very limited or no experience with German and, perhaps more importantly, limited skills in

English grammar. For this reason a textbook on three levels was conceived. Beginning German ( Level I ) puts more

emphasis on building vocabulary around subject matter interesting and useful to young students. Basic German

( Level II ) emphasises grammar, and assumes a greater knowledge of English grammar more typical of an older high

school or a college student. If you are just beginning to learn German or attempting to teach yourself, you may wish

to try both approaches and see which works better for you, since some people require a strong structural approach to

learning a new language while others find this "structure" only impedes progress by adding another layer of

complexity. Intermediate German ( Level III ), which requires even more knowledge of English, is for college

students, preferably for sophomores or juniors. With even more complex lessons, grammar and vocabulary comes

Advanced German ( Level IV ), which with the most complex and difficult parts of the German language, is for late

college students (Seniors) and college graduates. The last level, which is a review level, but also has cultural facts and

the history of the German language, is Reviewed German. ( Level V ). An existing, separate text, German/Grammar ,

may eventually be merged into the lesson modules or developed into useful appendices as a grammar reference. At

present, however, German Grammar is an expanding, significant contribution to the textbook; it provides an important

reference on German language grammar rules useful to the student working through any of the three levels.

The German Language

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German ( Deutsch ) is a member of the western group of the Germanic languages. It is spoken primarily in Germany,

Austria, the major part of Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the Südtirol (South Tyrol) region of Italy, the

Opole Voivodship of Poland, parts of Belgium, parts of Romania, the Alsace (Elsass) region of France and parts of

Denmark. Additionally, several former colonial possessions of these countries, such as Namibia in Africa, have

sizable German-speaking populations. There are German-speaking minorities in several eastern European countries

including Russia, and in the United States as well as countries in South America like Brazil and Argentina. Over 120

million people speak German as their native language. German is the third most popular foreign language taught

worldwide, and the second most popular in Europe. Continue reading about the German language.

German and English

If you are an English speaker unfamiliar with German, you may be surprised to learn that English and German are

closely related languages and share many words that are very similar. Such words are called cognates. This is

particularly true for everyday words in English that are Anglo-Saxon (that is, Germanic) in origin. Consider the

following list of English words followed by their German counterparts:

arm ~ der Arm

book ~ das Buch

cat ~ die Katze

father ~ der Vater

finger ~ der Finger

wagon ~ der Wagen

house ~ das Haus

hand ~ die Hand

June ~ der Juni

man ~ der Mann

mother ~ die Mutter

mouse ~ die Maus

name ~ der Name

son ~ der Sohn

garden ~ der Garten

lamp ~ die Lampe

bush ~ der Busch

baker ~ der Bäcker

net ~ das Netz

storm ~ der Sturm

hat ~ der Hut

fire ~ das Feuer

grass ~ das Gras

fish ~ der Fisch

kindergarten ~ der Kindergarten

Audio : OGG (308KB) ~ Hear these words

Of course, even words whose spelling is no different in English and German may be pronounced quite differently.

But in reading German, you will see the connections between these languages, even in many of the "small" words (the

above examples are all nouns). For example:

This week, my father is with my brother in the city

Diese Woche ist mein Vater mit meinem Bruder in der Stadt .

Audio : OGG (87KB) ~ Hear these sentences

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Note also the general similarity of sentence structure with English. The only real difference in the German is that the

verb is moved forward in the sentence. However, there are many German sentences in which a verb form is the last

word in the sentence.

Unfortunately, while German is perhaps the easiest "foreign" language for an English speaker to learn, meanings of

words that are spelled similarly are not always identical. These " false friends" can be confusing for the beginner.

Further, German is a more structured language than English, with a more complex grammar, and it will become

apparent as you learn German that you will also learn more about English language structure than you might ever

recall from your high school English classes. For a quick listing of similarities and differences between English and

German, read the Introduction to Level I.

Vocabulary and Grammar

In learning to read or speak any language with which you have minimal acquaintance (that is, are not a native speaker

of), the two aspects to be mastered are vocabulary and grammar. Acquiring vocabulary is a "simple" matter of

memorization. For the language(s) we learn as children, this process is so transparent that we have trouble conceiving

of the importance of having a large vocabulary. By the age of conscious recognition of our communicating with

others through speech, we have already learned the meaning of thousands of words. Even words we have trouble

defining, we readily understand their use in conversation. This process can be "reactivated," as it were, by immersion

in a second language: a method of learning a new language by moving to a place where that language is spoken and

having to get around and live without use of one's native tongue.

The student of German language, if not residing in a German-speaking environment, must put forth substantial effort

to learning words, including their meaning, their pronunciation and their usage in common sentences. Be sure to

"learn"—commit to memory—all of the vocabulary words in each lesson as they are presented. Early lessons have

simple sentences because it is assumed that the student's vocabulary is limited. But throughout the text, more complex

discourses (often as photo captions) are included to introduce the student to regular German in use. It may be helpful

to translate these using a German-English dictionary (access to one is a must; see Appendix 5 for on-line options).

Other sources of German, such as newspapers, magazines, web sites, etc., can also be useful in building vocabulary

and developing a sense of how German words are put together. The German Wikipedia (http://de.wikipedia.org/)

provides an ever expanding source of German language articles that can be used for this purpose. Further, a German

version of the Wikibooks project—a library of textbooks in German—is available at German Wikibooks

(http://de.wikibooks.org/) .

German grammar is more complex than, but sufficiently similar to, English that "reading" German is possible with

minimal vocabulary in the sense that the student should generally recognize the parts of a sentence. With a good

dictionary or an online translator, an English speaker can usually translate a German sentence close to correctly.

However, to accurately speak and understand German, you must learn how each word functions in a sentence. There

are eight basic grammatical functions: case , gender , number , tense , person , mood , voice , and comparison . How

words "signal" these functions is an important aspect of learning a new language. English speakers should know all of

these functions and the signals used in English, but it is often the situation that you know perfectly well how to speak

English, without understanding much about word-functions and signals. For this reason, this textbook incorporates

considerable detail on grammar, including both English and German grammar. The reference book English at

Wikibooks

may be consulted for additional help. When we say German is more complex than English, what we really mean is

that the signals used in German are different from and more numerous than those used by English.

Pronunciation

A guide to pronunciation of German is provided as Appendix 1. You should become familiar with this page early on,

and refer to it often. Nothing can replace learning a language from a native speaker, but the text is liberally sprinkled

with audio files providing the student with valuable input from hearing spoken German. Analyze the spoken words

carefully. The pronunciation guide in Appendix 1 can only closely, not exactly, convey how German words should be

pronounced. And of course, German (like English) has a number of dialects distinguished by differences in

pronunciation.

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Help in the pronunciation of individual words can be found by accessing the sound files of either of the online

dictionaries, links to which are given in the German websites appendix.

Layout of Lessons

This textbook is intended as a beginning course in the German language for English speakers. Early lessons

emphasize conversational subjects and gradually introduce German grammatical concepts and rules. In addition,

sound files accompany appropriate parts of each lesson. Although the basic lessons ( Grundlegende Lektionen ) are

presented at about the (US) high school level, beginners (including those attempting to learn German outside of a

course structure) are expected to work through several basic lessons up to an indicated point, when review is

suggested along with additional study. The basic way lessons go to other lessons is very simple and direct:

Lesson 1 > 2 > 3 > 4 > and on to the end of the text.

Layout within Lessons

The following subheadings or categories are offered within the lessons (Level II and above):

One or more conversation ( Gespräch ) or story ( Geschichte ) pieces in German alone to illustrate the language

in use.

Study material ( Lernen ) in English and German to present lists of conceptually related words.

One or more grammar ( Grammatik ) lessons covering elements of German grammar, with illustrations drawn

from the conversation, story, or study materials.

A list of words ( Vokabeln ) and phrases introduced in the lesson, above that point, usually in the conversation,

story, or study presentations. Words and phrases are arranged alphabetically within groups, and the groups are

presented in the following order: 1) nouns, 2) phrases, 3) verbs, and 4) all other words. A guide to

pronunciation of the words presented is consolidated within Appendix 1. However, in each Vokabeln , nouns

stressed on other than the first syllable (the general rule in German) are indicated by bolding of the stressed

syllable (e.g., Biolo gie ). Note that the English translation of all German words in a Vokabeln is the best

equivalent for the lesson example. The lesson Vokabeln is not a dictionary , but a quick reference for translation

purposes. For this reason, verbs are not translated into a typical English infinitive form with a preceeding

particle, "to".

A list of additional, related words or phrases ( Andere Wörter ; advanced lessons only) that relate to, but are not

included in, the vocabulary presented in the basic and advanced lessons.

English sentences and other material to be translated by the student into German ( Übersetzung ). These are

numbered and a matching answer sheet is linked to this category. The student should write out the German

using material from the lesson (and previous lessons) before checking their work against the answer list.

The Student and the Lesson

Each level of the text is designed to constitute a course of study in the German language. For any level selected, each

lesson should be read thoroughly and mastered before moving on. Substantial text in German is included and the

student should read all of it, not once, but multiple times. At Levels II and III, complete translations into English are

included only in selected places. Most of this text must be translated by the student using his or her acquired

vocabulary and the vocabulary presented at the bottom of each lesson. As the German text is read (preferably out

loud), the student must succeed in gaining an understanding of the meaning of each sentence, and of the role each

word plays in establishing that meaning. To the beginner, there will seem to be many words in a German sentence that

are out of place or even redundant or unnecessary. These add subtleties to the language that will make sense

eventually. But it is important to experience these subtleties from the very beginning.

Continue to the level one introduction.

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LEVEL ONE LESSONS

Contents

#Lesson 1.00 - Introduction

#Section 1.01 ~ Starting Point

#Lesson 1.01 - Wie heißt du?

#Lesson 1.02 - Freizeit

#Lesson 1.03 - Essen

#Review 1.01

#Section 1.02 ~ Berlin, Germany

#Lesson 1.04 - Kleidung

#Lesson 1.05 - Volk und Familie

#Lesson 1.06 - Schule

#Review 1.02

#Section 1.03 ~ Vienna, Austria

#Lesson 1.07 - Das Fest

#Lesson 1.08 - Privileg und Verantwortung

#Lesson 1.09 - Wetter

#Review 1.03

#Section 1.04 ~ Berne, Switzerland

#Lesson 1.10 - Zu Hause Essen

#Lesson 1.11 - Filme

#Lesson 1.12 - Das Haus

#Review 1.04

Lesson 1.00 - Introduction

Welcome to Level I German!

Level I is aimed at junior high and high school students. However, it can be used by others just beginning to learn to

speak or read German.

The goal of Level I German is not to overwhelm or confuse the student, but rather to teach the student in an orderly

fashion. Learning German is meant to be fun, not subjective. Thus, the vocabulary is formatted for translating from

English (which the students know) into German.

German and English

German and English are very close to each other. Here are some major similarities:

Both languages use the Latin alphabet.

Normally, sentences follow Subject-Verb order.

Questions have Verb-Subject order or Adverb-Verb-Subject order.

Both languages have prepositions, conjunctions, adverbs, nouns, verbs, interjections, pronouns, and adjectives.

The indirect object usually comes before the direct object.

There are contractions in both German and English.

Many words share the same roots, such as word and Wort , or house and Haus .

Many words, such as Football and Sandwich are the same in English and German.

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