German Made Simple: Learn to Speak and Understand German Quickly and Easily
Read German Made Simple: Learn to Speak and Understand German Quickly and Easily Online
Authors: Ph.d. Arnold Leitner
Tags: #German Language
GERMAN MADE SIMPLE
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The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
eISBN: 978-0-307-43418-0
v3.1
CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
German and English belong to the same family of languages—Related German and English words—German is not difficult to pronounce and spell—A preview of some interesting features of German.
GERMAN LETTERS AND SOUNDS IN WORDS AND SENTENCES
The vowels
a, e, i, o, u
—The consonants—The vowel combinations
au, ei, eu
—The modified vowels
ä, ö, ü
—Front
ch
, back
ch
—Final
g
—The German alphabet—The German letter ß—Summary of letters and sounds.
Die Familie Clark
THE CLARK FAMILY
The family (
die Familie
)—Gender of nouns—Definite article and noun in the nominative case—Agreement of third-person pronouns—Asking somebody’s name.
Herr Clark Ist Hungrig
MR. CLARK IS HUNGRY
The indefinite article
ein, kein
—Some German verb endings—The negative
nicht
—The formation of questions.
Wer Ist Herr Clark?
WHO IS MR. CLARK?
Noun plurals—Common professions—Present tense of
gehen
—Three ways of saying
you
—Familiar verbs like
gehen
in the present tense—Question words—Asking somebody’s age.
Frau Clark Geht Einkaufen
MRS. CLARK GOES SHOPPING
Imperative (command) forms—Accusative case of nouns, definite and indefinite articles,
kein, wer
and
was
—Feminine nouns with the ending-
-in
—Asking for the price.
Das Haus der Familie Clark
THE HOME OF THE CLARK FAMILY
The one-family house (
das Einfamilienhaus
)—More noun plurals—Present tense of
sein
and
haben
—Accusative case, third-person pronouns—Some prepositions with the accusative case—Looking for a new home.
Warum Lernt Herr Clark Deutsch?
WHY IS MR. CLARK LEARNING GERMAN?
Compound nouns—Opposites—Present tense of
antworten, reden, sprechen
—Modal verb
wollen
—Word order: normal and inverted word order—Position of infinitives.
Eine Deutschstunde
A GERMAN LESSON
Modal verb
müssen
—Dative or “to” case of nouns, articles and
kein
—Some common verbs that may take indirect objects—Dative of third person pronouns and of
wer
—Dative prepositions.
Wo Wohnt die Familie Clark?
WHERE DOES THE CLARK FAMILY LIVE?
Expressions of “liking” with
gern
and
lieber
—
Es gibt
there is, there are—Present tense of
laufen, fahren
—Prepositions with the dative or accusative—
Da(r
) and
wo(r
) combinations—What a mess!
Das Geheimnis des Herrn Clark
THE SECRET OF MR. CLARK
Genitive case—The use of von in place of the genitive—The interrogative
wessen
—Prepositions with the genitive case—Present tense of
kennen
and of
wissen
.
Summary: Nouns, verbs, prepositions (dative, dative or accusative, accusative, genitive)—German expressions—Vocabulary exercises—Grammar review and exercises: noun declensions, all cases; masculine nouns with
-n
or
-en
endings—Compound nouns—Dialogues:
1. Wo ist die Thomasstraße? 2. Wo hält der Bus an?—Lesestücke: 1. Herr Clark lernt Deutsch. 2. Die Deutschsprachigen Länder: Deutschland, Österreich und Schweiz
.
Ein Freund Besucht Herrn Clark
A FRIEND VISITS MR. CLARK
Present tense of
lesen, treten
—Possessive adjectives (
ein
-words)—Packing a suitcase.
Herr Clark Telefoniert
MR. CLARK MAKES A PHONE CALL
Infinitives used as nouns—Numerals 1 to 100—Present tense of
können, tun
—
Der
-words:
dieser, jener, jeder, welcher, aller
—Making phone calls.
Dollar und Euro
DOLLARS AND EUROS
The European currency—Numerals over 100—Arithmetic Subordinate word order—Subordinating conjunctions
dass, wenn
—Coordinating conjunctions
und, aber, oder, denn
—Talking about prices.
Frau Clark geht mit ihren Kindern einkaufen
MRS. CLARK GOES SHOPPING
WITH HER CHILDREN
Clothes—The “Do-er”—Present tense of
tragen, lassen
—About adjective endings—Adjectives preceded by a
der
-word—Adjectives preceded by an
ein
-word—Adjectives preceded by neither a
der
-word nor an
ein
-word—Colors.
Wie Spät Ist Es?
WHAT TIME IS IT?
Travelling—Expressions of satisfaction or approval—
Dieser
the latter,
jener
the former—Travel expressions—Time of day—The 24-hour clock—Separable verbs, present tense—First and second person pronouns (nominative, dative, accusative).
Summary: Nouns, verbs, German expressions—Vocabulary exercises—Grammar review and exercises: Summary of adjective endings; summary of first-, second- and third-person pronouns (nominative, dative and accusative)—Dialogues:
1. Ihre Uhr geht nach. 2. Wo muss ich aussteigen?—Lesestück: Karl lernt nicht gern Mathematik
.
Der Arbeitstag des Herrn Clark
MR. CLARK’S WORKING DAY
Some foods—The present tense of
nehmen, dürfen
—Reflexive verbs, present tense of
sich setzen
—Some common reflexive verbs—
Reflexive pronouns in the dative—Separable verbs in subordinate clauses.
Die kleine Anna war krank
LITTLE ANNE WAS SICK
Present tense of
schlafen, sollen
—Regular and irregular verbs in English—The past tense of weak (regular) verbs in German—Some familiar weak verbs, present and past—Past tense of strong (irregular) verbs—Some familiar strong verbs, present and past—Some expressions referring to past time—A fairy tale:—
Rotkäppchen
.
Was für ein Schreckliches Wetter!
WHAT HORRIBLE WEATHER!
Expressions of weather—Some familiar separable verbs (present and past)—The position of the separable prefix of verbs (present and past) in simple sentences and main clauses—Position of separable verbs in subordinate clauses—
Hin
and
her
—More subordinating conjunctions—
Wann, wenn, als
.
Der April Macht Was Er Will
APRIL DOES WHAT IT WANTS
The seasons—The months of the year—
Gern, lieber, am liebsten
—Present tense of
werden, mögen
—Inseparable verbs—Verbs that take a dative object.
Ein Besuch für Herrn Clark
A VISIT FOR MR. CLARK
Present and past tense of
essen
—The relative pronouns—
Wo(r
) combinations used for relative pronouns with prepositions—
Wer
and
was
as relative pronouns—Call My Bluff.
Summary: Verbs (present and past)—German expressions—Vocabulary exercises—Grammar review and exercises: modal auxiliaries, present tense; modal auxiliaries, past tense; subordinate word order; expressions of definite time and duration of time—Dialogues:
1. Zwei Freunde begegnen sich auf der Straße. 2. Ich habe Hunger—Lesestück: Herr Clark war krank
.
Familie Clark Geht ins Kino
THE CLARK FAMILY GOES TO THE MOVIES
Cinema expressions
Ordinal numerals—Dates.
Die Wiedervereinigung Deutschlands
THE REUNIFICATION OF THE TWO GERMANIES
The present perfect tense (“
Perfekt
”)—Formation of the past participle—The principal parts of verbs—Use of the past and present perfect tenses.
Ein typisches Wochenende bei den Clarks
A TYPICAL WEEKEND AT THE CLARKS’
Imperative of
sein
—The past perfect tense Past participle of verbs ending in -
ieren
—Verbs with the auxiliary
sein
—The principal parts of some
sein
-verbs.
Herr Müller Erzählt von Sich Selbst
MR. MÜLLER TELLS ABOUT HIMSELF
Some very special verbs with the auxiliary
sein
—Indirect questions with
wie, wo, wann, wer, was, warum
—The present and past perfect tenses in subordinate clauses.
Herr Clark Schreibt einen Brief an Seinen Geschäftspartner in München
MR. CLARK WRITES A LETTER TO HIS BUSINESS PARTNER IN MUNICH
Formal letters: date, beginning, closing—The future tense—The present tense with future meaning—The future tense in subordinate clauses—Hobbies.
Summary: Verbs, German expressions—Vocabulary exercises—Grammar review and exercises: Present, past, present perfect, past perfect and future tenses; the subordinate word order of verbs in the present perfect, past perfect, and future; summary of subordinating conjunctions—
Vier Dialoge—Lesestücke: 1. Frau Clark hat Geburtstag. 2. Ein toller Film im Kino
.
Herr Clark Erhält eine Antwort auf Seinen Brief
MR. CLARK RECEIVES AN ANSWER TO HIS LETTER
Related words—Mixed verbs—The infinitive with
zu
—The infinitive without
zu
.