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A Foundation Course in Reading German

By Howard Martin, revised and expanded as an open online textbook by Alan Ng

Offline Textbook

You are reading here a snapshot taken on 08 December 2017 of the entire
textbook. You can simply print this web page to generate the printed edition.

If you choose the “download PDF” option, that snapshot was made on 23
October 2017. The purpose of this presentation is for readers who may not
have Internet access for some period of time and need to read the entire
textbook while offline. Generally you will be more satisfied working instead from
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printing/PDF-ing individual units as you need them.

This open textbook is currently maintained by Dr. Alan Ng to support the University
of Wisconsin online course German 391.

German 391, German for Reading Knowledge, offered

online by University of Wisconsin Independent Learning:
◾ Open to students around the world.
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This textbook guides a learner who has no previous German experience to gain the
ability to accurately understand formal written German prose, aided only by a
comprehensive dictionary.
Two Things You Will Need to Succeed

1. You are assumed to have no previous German experience, but thorough

competence in English grammar and syntax. If you need help with English
grammar while working through this textbook, we recommend, for example,

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English Grammar for Students of German, by Cecile Zorach, Charlotte Melin,

and Adam Oberlin, Olivia and Hill Press (any edition).
2. You will also need access to a comprehensive, full-sized German-English
dictionary to succeed with this material. Students in University of Wisconsin
German 391 typically need a dictionary equivalent to the Oxford-Duden
German Dictionary, which weighs in at over 5 pounds with over 1,700 full-size
pages.

This open textbook was launched publicly on 22 October 2014 and is revised
continually. You are permitted to adapt this work, titled A Foundation Course in
Reading German, under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-
ShareAlike 4.0 International License. This original work should be attributed to
"Howard Martin, revised by Alan Ng."

Howard Martin's "Preface" to the last print edition, 2001

This book’s third edition is a field-tested manual designed to give individuals, no

matter what their field of interest, the basic tools and knowledge to read German. It
does not pretend to cover all of the rules of German grammar and syntax nor to
address in detail exceptions to those rules. Rather it focuses on the essential
elements of grammar, syntax and word formation drawing on similarities to and
differences from English. With this focus, it aims to enable individuals to read and
translate materials related to their interests with the aid of a dictionary or
dictionaries in specialized fields. The material in this manual is suitable for use in
distance learning courses. The format of the book owes much to the late Hubert
Jannach’s (Professor Emeritus, Purdue University) book, German for Reading
Knowledge, which I used for many years to teach graduate students from
humanities, social studies, and natural sciences departments. Its style, I believe, is
my peculiar own. The motivation to write it came from my students and particularly
from Professors Lester Seifert and Richard Ringler who stimulated my interest in
investigating the many similarities between English and the other Germanic
languages. Further, I owe much to Carol Crary and Kris Falk, who typed, retyped
and formatted the first edition. My thanks go to former graduate students
Friedemann Weidauer and Sue Tyson for developing many of the exercises, to the
latter for her field testing and editing the second edition, and more recently to
graduate students Hope Hague, for her suggestions, and Alan Ng, for incorporating
them in this third edition. Last but not least, my thanks go to my wife, Cathie, who
sacrificed much to enable me to continue my schooling.

Unit: Introduction

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1. Introduction
Objectives

As you work through this textbook you will:

◾ Gain enough grammatical and syntactical information about the German

language to enable you to read any desired text with the aid of a dictionary.
◾ Apply patterns of word formation to accelerate the process of learning
vocabulary.
◾ Practice small-scale translation as the necessary foundation for dealing with
more complex readings.

Relationship between German and English

Both of these languages belong to the Germanic family of languages. They share an
evolutionary origin and have many common features, although just like their
relatives Danish, Dutch, Norwegian and Swedish, they have since diverged in
various ways.

These examples show how close the vocabulary relationship can be:

Eng. sing, Dutch zingen, Ger. singen, Dan. synge, Sw. sjunga

Eng. broad, Dutch breed, Ger. breit, Dan. bred, Sw. bred, Nor. breid

You can see that some vocabulary will be easy to learn. The syntactical
differences between modern German and modern English will be more challenging,
and they will occupy us for most of this textbook.

Learning Vocabulary

For some individuals, this is perhaps the most difficult of tasks, and it is one that
many perceive as particularly difficult with German. The following points are made
to counter that perception:

◾ Like English, German borrows words from other languages, and often either
from the same source that English does, or directly from English:

Auto, Hotel, Manager, Orange, Handling

◾ There are many easily recognizable words, called cognates, such as:

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Musik, Literatur, Maschine, Kaffee, Tee, Bier, Traktion

These words have the same meaning as their English cognates, and indeed
there are historical relationships between them, but over time they have
become spelled and pronounced slightly differently in the two languages.

◾ Then there are cognates which have undergone considerable sound changes
but the meaning of which can often be guessed correctly:

Pfeffer, Apfel, helfen, Wasser, tanzen, trinken, Bett, machen, and

Ralleystreifen!

◾ German also builds words from roots or stems of common words just as we do
in English to a lesser extent. For example, in English, these two series of words
all share the same roots:

bind, bound, binder, bindery, band, binding

flow, influence, confluence, fluent, flowing, float

German has similar examples but you will find many more examples of this
way of word building as you learn more about the language. Let’s use the
German equivalents of the above:

binden, gebunden, Binder, Binderei, Band, Bindung

fließen, Einfluß, Zusammenfluß, fließend (for both fluent and flowing),

Floß and we can add: Flüssigkeit (the liquid) or flüssig (liquid) and
beeinflüssen (to influence)!

◾ German also uses many compound nouns, more than English does. You will
find that there is a logic to this compounding, even though some of the long
words in German often cause consternation. Examples:

Unterseeboot = submarine (undersea boat)

Arbeitsmethode = work method

Jahreszeit = season (year’s time)

Vorderradantrieb = front wheel drive

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(Vorder = front / fore, Rad = wheel, Antrieb = drive).

And how about this?

Flugzeugabwehrkanone = Flak!

(Flugzeug = airplane; Abwehr = defense; Kanone = cannon/gun, hence:

air defense artillery)

We will be dealing with word formation in a number of the chapters in this book in
order to help you learn vocabulary and understand how German builds much of its
vocabulary.

Unit: Introduction

2. Tips for Using this Textbook

A few tips to help you make the most of this open, online textbook:

1. Familiarize yourself with the Contents links on the right side of this page. Learn
the difference between a unit and the multiple sections within each unit.
◾ Click the gray triangle ► next to each unit heading to open up the
sections within that unit. Click a section title to go directly to that section.
◾ Click a unit heading to reach the printer-friendly compilation of that entire
unit. To print that unit then, simply use your browser’s “Print” command
to get a print-optimized edition of the entire unit.
2. For reading online, the best way to read is to read each section separately. You
can use either the section-specific links in the Contents menu (see above), or
use the “Next” and “Previous” links at the top and bottom of every section to
move through the sections in sequence.
3. Make note of the big white “Search” box above, and note that that is always
available. This feature may come in very handy as you work through this
material.
4. Note the “Recent Changes” link above, also always available. That will show
you an automatically-generated list of textbook sections that have been
recently revised, so that you can occasionally check there to see if something
you already studied has since been revised.
5. Make sure you noticed the “Two Things You Will Need to Succeed” described on
the “About this Book” “cover” of this book.

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Unit: 1: Basics

1. Objectives
In this unit, in the context of simple sentences that only involve the nominative and
accusative cases, you will learn how to:

◾ Identify the case, number and gender of nouns, pronouns, definite articles, and
indefinite articles.
◾ Identify the subject, verb, and object.
◾ Decide whether a sentence is a statement, a yes/no question, or a question-
word question.
◾ Select the appropriate English verb tense to use to translate various German
present-tense and simple-past verb tense usages.

Unit: 1: Basics

2. Nouns
Unlike English nouns, all German nouns are capitalized. This is very useful as you
learn to read German. You can easily identify the nouns in these two sentences:

Der Mann hat einen Bruder und eine Schwester, aber keine Eltern mehr. Die
Frau hat keine Schwestern und keine Brüder, aber zwei Tanten.

Of course, the first words of each sentence are also capitalized. Der and Die are
articles, not nouns.

Unit: 1: Basics

3. Noun Gender and the Nominative Case

German nouns have gender, i.e., they are masculine, feminine or neuter, but
memorizing the gender of every noun is not particularly important for reading
German. What is of significance is that the definite articles (the words for “the”)
differ according to gender and undergo changes according to the role the word plays
in a sentence. (More on this later.)

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For example, in the nominative case (used when nouns are sentence subjects), the
articles are:

Masculine: der Tisch (the table)

Feminine: die Feder (the feather, quill pen)

Neuter: das Bett (the bed)

It is recommended that, as you learn the nouns you choose to memorize, you learn
each noun with its definite article, because there are only a few cases when you
can determine what the gender is by simply looking at the noun. Some of these
exceptions are:

a) Nouns that end in –chen or –lein are neuter. These suffixes denote
diminutives, e.g. das Städtchen (little town).

b) Humans and animals that are obviously male or female usually have the
equivalent gender. For example,

der Mann (the man die Frau (the woman)

der Bulle (the bull) die Kuh (the cow)

der Vater (the father) die Mutter (the mother)

c) All nouns that end in –ei, –heit, –ie, –in, –keit, –schaft, –tät, –ung are
feminine. For example:

die Bäckerei (bakery) die Freundlichkeit (friendliness)

die Tragödie (tragedy) die Landschaft (landscape)
die Gesundheit (health) die Zeitung (the newspaper)
die Lehrerin (woman teacher) die Universität (university)

Unit: 1: Basics

4. Noun Plurals
The most important thing to learn about German noun plurals is that, unlike in
English, how a noun is spelled is neither an easy nor a reliable way to tell whether it

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is singular or plural. Instead you will need to rely on other reading cues introduced
over the first four units of this textbook.

In English, noun plurals are generally formed by adding –s or –es, but there are
some exceptions such as men, geese, oxen, children, fish, and deer where
respectively we have: changed a stem vowel; added –en; added -ren; or – as in
the last two examples – where we have made no change at all. Whereas in German,
very few nouns form their plurals with an –s. Those that do are usually borrowed
foreign words such as Hotel, Auto, Restaurant; these have plural forms ending with
–s: zwei Hotels.

German nouns use a very wide range of plural forms, much wider than the range of
the English "exceptions" given above. And what’s more fundamentally disturbing to
our English habit of relying on noun spellings is the fact that German nouns change
their spelling for more reasons than just their singular or plural status. (You’ll learn
about other reasons for noun spelling changes in upcoming units). So the bottom
line for readers of German is that you cannot simply rely on a noun’s spelling.
Instead you must learn to pay attention to the context of the noun, for example the
particular form of the noun’s article, whether a verb is conjugated for a singular or
plural subject, etc. By Unit 4 of this course you will have learned all the possible
clues you can look for to determine whether a noun is singular or plural. You will
also discover that it is faster and easier to "read" the surrounding articles and word
endings that modify a noun (since there are only a handful of articles and endings
to learn) than it is to consult your dictionary for every single noun to check what the
noun’s spelling might be telling you. Use your dictionary for this purpose only as a
last resort, because that is the source most likely to mislead you.

However, it is important to gradually become familiar with the types of German

spelling changes that happen to plural nouns so that you can look up nouns in your
dictionary, where nouns are listed only under their singular spelling. German-
English dictionaries conventionally display two spelling variants or endings for every
noun: the first is typically the genitive-case spelling (more about that in Unit 2), and
the second is the plural spelling. Consult your dictionary to check its formatting
conventions.

Compare:

der Mann (man) die Männer (men)

die Frau (woman) die Frauen (women)

das Ergebnis (result) die Ergebnisse (results)

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Note: The definite article in the plural (nominative case) is die, regardless of the
gender of the noun.

Unit: 1: Basics

5. The Verbs Haben and Sein

The verbs sein (to be) and haben (to have) are two of the most common verbs in
German and therefore you must memorize their forms. Sein and haben are the
infinitive forms of the verbs. "Infinitive forms" are important to know since
dictionaries list verbs in that form.

Present Tense Forms

The verb sein is highly irregular in its forms, just as is its English counterpart “to
be.” In the present tense it is conjugated as follows:

S I N G U L AR PLURAL

ich bin (I am) wir sind (we are)

du bist (you are) ihr seid (you are)
er ist (he is) sie sind (they are)
sie ist (she is) Sie sind (you are)
es ist (it is)

NOTE:

a. du and ihr are the informal pronouns for “you” and are used only with family
and friends. Sie (always capitalized) is the formal “you” and is used for both
the singular and plural meanings of formal “you.” Be sure to clarify in your
translation that you understood which “you” meaning was conveyed in the
German original in terms of both number and social level.
b. Unlike English, which always uses the pronoun “it” for objects that are not
equivalent to people, in German the third person singular pronouns, er, sie and
es, are also used to refer to masculine, feminine, or neuter nouns. For
example: der Tisch (table) would be referred to as er, or die Wand (wall) as
sie.
c. It is helpful to remember that ist is always singular. And sind is always plural,
although remember that the pronoun Sie can refer to one or more people.
These rules let you quickly identify whether the subject of the sentence is
singular or plural, simply by looking at the verb conjugation.

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In the present tense, the verb haben is conjugated as follows:

S I N G U L AR PLURAL

ich habe (I have) wir haben (we have)

du hast (you have) ihr habt (you have)
er hat (he has) sie haben (they have)
sie hat (she has) Sie haben (you have)
es hat (it has)

Note: Verb forms ending in –en are always plural (although Sie sometimes refers
to a single person). This applies for all verbs except sein, so it is useful to memorize
this right away.

Simple Past Forms

sein (to be)

S I N G U L AR PLURAL

ich war (was) wir waren (were)

du warst ihr wart
er war sie waren
sie war Sie waren
es war

haben (to have)

S I N G U L AR PLURAL

ich hatte (had) wir hatten

du hattest ihr hattet
er hatte sie hatten
sie hatte Sie hatten
es hatte

Unit: 1: Basics

6. Understanding Present Tense

Translating the German present tense is not always straightforward, because in
English we express present tense in a variety of subtly different ways. Let’s take the

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sentence, “Das Kind hat eine Krankheit,” as our example. In English this may be
translated in three different ways, depending on the larger context of the
statement: “The child has an illness,” “The child does have an illness,” or “The child
is having an illness.” As you progress to translating sentences with more context
provided, be sure to keep in mind that English present tense is more complicated
than German, and thus you should consider which of the English options is the most
suitable for each particular sentence.

Furthermore, in a German present-tense sentence, time information might be

provided that calls for a different English verb tense in your translation. For
example:

Das Kind hat ab morgen Fieber.

The child will have a fever starting tomorrow.

Das Kind hat seit gestern Fieber.

The child has had a fever since yesterday.

The additional time information “ab morgen” (starting tomorrow) or “seit

gestern” (since yesterday) is the key to deciding whether a form of English present
tense, English future tense, or English present-perfect tense is the appropriate
translation of the German present-tense verb.

German present tense never conveys a past, completed event. Therefore English
past tense is never a translation option for German present tense. Note that in the
second example above, which calls for English present-perfect tense, the child still
has a fever in the present moment.

Unit: 1: Basics

7. The Accusative Case of Nouns

The concept of cases such as nominative and accusative, etc. is actually familiar to
English speakers, although many are often not conscious of it. Note, for example,
how our nominative pronouns “he” and “she” change to “him” and “her” when they
are used in the accusative case. If you would like more explanation of the concept
of cases (or other grammatical concepts), it often helps students to review English
grammar using any English grammar reference book.

In German, just as in English, the accusative case is used primarily for the direct
objects of sentences. For example, in “They hit the ball,” the direct object is “the

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ball.” The German definite article changes in accusative case only for those direct
objects which are masculine, as the following chart indicates:

CASE MASCULINE FEMININE NEUTER PLUR A L

N O MIN A T I VE der die das die

(SUBJE CT )

ACCUSATIVE den die das die

(DIRE CT

O B J E CT )

Our sentence in German then is: Sie schlagen den Ball (They hit the ball). In
vocabulary lists you will often see that Ball is listed as der Ball, which is its
nominative-case singular form.

Unit: 1: Basics

8. The Indefinite Article ein

The German word for “a,” “an,” or “one” is ein, and like the definite article, the
various endings it takes can help you identify case, gender, and number of the
following noun phrase. Thus, taking the examples Tisch, Feder and Bett, we have in
the nominative and accusative cases:

MASCULINE F EMININE NEUTER P LURAL

N O MIN A T I VE ein Tisch eine Feder ein Bett keine

Tische

ACCUSATIVE einen Tisch eine Feder ein Bett keine

Federn

There is no plural of ein, obviously, but to use kein- (“no”, “not a”) shows us that
the -e ending on indefinite articles can indicate either a plural or feminine status.
For example: keine Betten (no beds).

Unit: 1: Basics

9. Word Order

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The various forms of the articles, both definite and indefinite, are important
indicators of the function a noun plays in a given sentence. Consider that in English
we use only one form for all cases (“a”, “an”, “the”). This allows German to have a
more flexible word order (syntax) than English. In English we usually begin
sentences with the subject, e.g. “The dog has the ball,” and that English word-order
rule is necessary for us to understand that “the dog” is the subject and “the ball” is
what is being hit.

However, in German, there is no expectation at all that the subject must come first
(although it often does). These two German sentences share the same meaning:

Der Hund hat den Ball.

Den Ball hat der Hund.

The reader (and listener) does notice the word order, but first pays attention to the
articles in order to understand the sentence. In this case the article der for Mann
indicates that der Mann must be the subject, and likewise the article den for Ball
indicates that den Ball must be the direct object. Changing the word order in English
fundamentally changes the meaning, but not so in German.

Take another example: “Erst die Frau, dann den Mann beißt der böse Hund.” If you
ignore the case signals given to you by the definite articles and rely on standard
English word order, then you come up with the amusingly ridiculous meaning: “First
the woman, then the man bites the bad dog.” In fact the sentence means “The bad
dog bites the woman first, then the man.”

Side note: A subtle difference in emphasis is expressed between the two variants of
the first example above:

Der Hund hat den Ball.

The dog has the ball. [without a particular emphasis]

Den Ball hat der Hund.

The ball is what the dog has.
[or:] The dog has the ball.
[or:] The dog has this ball.

Any of those four translations could be acceptable for the above two German
sentences, given no further context, but once you begin working with longer
passages that provide more context, your sensitivity to differences like this can help
you make better sense of a text.

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Verb in Second Position

In German, the main verb in a statement is always in second position, no matter

how we begin the sentence: Morgen früh lande ich in Frankfurt (Tomorrow morning
I will land in Frankfurt).

This absolute rule becomes a very powerful tool for you once you begin
encountering longer sentences. Practice the skill of marking up German sentences
you encounter to recognize 1) the part before the verb, which therefore must be a
single unit of meaning, 2) the verb, which – also usefully for you – will always be a
verb form appropriately conjugated to match the sentence subject, and 3) the part
after the verb, which may include several units of meaning.

Yes / No Questions

Yes / no questions always begin with the verb:

Sind Sie gesund? (Are you healthy?)

Remember that sometimes English uses the verb “do”:

Hat er Fieber? (Does he have a fever?)

Hatte er Fieber? (Did he have a fever?)

English also complicates matters by using “do” to negate simple statements and
questions. German’s straightforward “Haben Sie keine Schuhe?” is expressed in
English as “Do you not have any shoes?” or “Don’t you have any shoes?” or “Do you
have no shoes?”

Unit: 1: Basics

10. Question Words

Important question words are wer – who, wen – whom (accusative) and was –
what. More on such pronouns will come in the next unit. Note that some books refer
to question words as “interrogative pronouns.”

Examples:

Wer kennt den Hund? Who knows this dog?

Wen beißt der Hund? Whom is the dog biting?

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Was weiß ich? What do I know?

Unit: 1: Basics

11. Common Abbreviations

For reading German, it is useful to remember the following common abbreviations:
z.B. = zum Beispiel (for example); usw. or usf. = und so weiter and und so fort (et
cetera); d.h. = das heißt (in other words / that means); bzw. = beziehungsweise
(respectively / that is to say).

Now that you have studied two of the noun cases (nominative and accusative),
noun plurals, the present and past tenses of sein and haben, and German word
order, you are ready to apply these skills by translating simple sentences.

A good practice opportunity is to play the Unit 1 Syntax Untangler activity at

this point. (Link opens in new window.)

Unit: 2: Cases, present tense

1. Objectives
In this unit, in the context of simple sentences that involve all four German cases,
you will learn how to:

◾ Identify the case, number and gender of nouns, pronouns, definite articles,
indefinite articles, and question words.
◾ Identify and translate genitive-case noun chains.
◾ Identify and translate dative-case objects.
◾ Use present-tense verb forms to identify whether the corresponding subject
must be first, second, or third person, and singular or plural.
◾ Translate sentences that use es gibt or man.
◾ Translate nouns that are formed from adjectives.

Unit: 2: Cases, present tense

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2. Genitive and Dative Cases

Whereas English has only tiny traces of three noun cases (nominative, objective,
and possessive – link opens in new window), German is thoroughly dependent on four
noun cases. Beyond nominative and accusative, which were covered in Unit 1, we
now add the genitive and dative cases.

Genitive

Genitive case signals a relationship of possession or “belonging to.” An example

translation of this case into English might be from das Buch des Mannes to “the
man’s book” or “the book of the man.” In English, possession is usually shown by
either an ending (apostrophe + s) or with the preposition “of.” In German, the
genitive case is primarily recognized from article forms and sometimes from noun
endings.

MASCULINE F EMININE NEUTER

D EF I N I T E das Buch des Mannes das Buch der Frau das Buch des
ARTI CLE (the man’s book) (the woman’s Mädchens
book) (the girl’s book)

INDEFINITE das Buch eines das Buch einer das Buch eines
ARTI CLE Mannes Frau Mädchens
(a man’s book) (a woman’s book) (a girl’s book)

PLURAL

D EF I N I T E die Bücher der Frauen

ARTI CLE (the women’s books)

INDEFINITE die Bücher keiner

ARTI CLE Frauen
(no women’s books)

Note:

1. The noun in the genitive case follows the noun which it modifies.
2. des and eines are useful forms to remember because they are completely
unique to the singular genitive case and are thus helpful as starting points to
figure out the grammatical structure of a sentence.
3. Masculine and neuter nouns change forms in the genitive case (when singular).
The noun endings –s or –es are added (-s for polysyllabic nouns, –es for
monosyllabic).

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Genitive Noun Chains

In formal or scientific German you will sometimes encounter chains of genitive-case

noun phrases which are straightforward to read, but can be awkward to translate
into smooth English. For example:

die Bücher der Professorinnen der Universität

(the books of the women professors of the university)

Use sentence diagramming to help you keep the relationships straight when working
with long genitive noun chains:

main noun: die Bücher

modified by: der Professorinnen
modified by: der Universität

Dative

Dative case is used for the indirect object of sentences and with certain prepositions
(prepositions are covered in Unit 5). First review the concept of “indirect object” in
English. An example is: “The woman (subject) gives the man (indirect object) the
book (direct object).” Here we can see that English relies on the order of those two
nouns to signal which noun is the direct vs. indirect object. Or consider: “The
woman gives the book to the man,” in which English relies on the preposition “to” to
signal that the man is getting the book, not the book getting the man!

In German, word order is much more flexible. You need to be able to distinguish
which phrases are in dative case and which are in accusative case, because this –
rather than word order or prepositions as in English – is often what communicates
the meaning of the sentence to the reader. Case distinctions can in fact
communicate a variety of meanings, as you will learn throughout this course.

MA S C U L I N E FE MI N I N E NE U T E R

D E F I N I TE dem Mann der Frau dem Mädchen

I ND E FIN ITE einem Mann einer Frau einem Mädchen

PL UR A L

D E F I N I TE den Männern

I ND E FIN ITE keinen Männern

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Some sample sentences:

Masculine Die Frau gibt dem Mann das Buch.

The woman gives the book to the man.
(or:) The woman gives the man the book.

Feminine Der Mann gibt der Frau das Buch.

Neuter Die Frau gibt dem Mädchen das Buch.

Plural Die Frauen geben den Männern die Bücher.

Don’t forget the word-order rules from Unit 1. The first example sentence above
may also appear in the following forms, but will still have the exact same meaning,
although a subtle emphasis is slightly different in each sentence.

Dem Mann gibt die Frau das Buch.

Das Buch gibt die Frau dem Mann.

Think of this as German taking advantage of the expressive freedom granted by the
use of cases and endings, a freedom we don’t have in English.

Points to remember:

1. dem and einem (i.e., the -m ending) are unique to dative singular, and are
thus useful anchors when reading a sentence.
2. Dative plural always adds an –n to the plural form of the noun if one does not
already exist, e.g., den Männern (dative n) but den Frauen
3. Many singular nouns appear sometimes with an optional -e ending in the
dative case only. Examples: dem Staate, nach Hause, im Grunde
4. When grammar and real-world sense are insufficient to clarify which parts of a
sentence are nominative or accusative, you can assume that the subject of the
sentence will be the one positioned closer to the verb than the object or
indirect object. See for example the first example of the pair above, “Dem
Mann gibt ….”

Memorization

Now is a good time to begin memorizing the article forms for all four cases, three
genders, and plural. You will find that it’s much, much simpler to memorize the
meanings of the handful of different articles than to learn to recognize the multiple
unique forms (plural, genitive, etc.) of every noun in the German language. By Unit
4 you will have finished learning about all the types of word endings associated with

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the four noun cases, three genders, and singular/plural status. Article forms and
word endings give you essential information about a German sentence even before
you recognize what individual words mean. Section 3 of this unit gives you a handy
chart. As soon as you have these internalized, you’ll start saving yourself a lot of
dictionary time and mental work.

Dative Verbs

Some frequently used verbs whose objects always appear in the dative case are:

antworten (to answer)

Der Junge antwortet dem Polizisten mit “Ja.”
The boy answers the policeman with “Yes.”

danken (to thank)

Das Kind dankt seiner Großmutter.
The child thanks its grandmother.

glauben (to believe)

Die Frau glaubt dem Mann nicht.
The woman does not believe the man.

helfen (to help)

Dem Passagier hilft die Flugbegleiterin.
The woman flight attendant helps the male passenger.

gehören (to belong to)

Das Geld gehört dem Staate.
The money belongs to the state.

gefallen (literally “to be pleasing to,” but often translated as “to like”)
Shakespeares Schauspiele gefallen mir sehr.
(informal context:) I really like Shakespeare’s plays.
(formal context:) I enjoy Shakespeare’s plays very much.

Familiarize yourself, by looking up the example verbs above, with how your
dictionary indicates when verbs take a dative object. How can you tell which English
translation you should use, and what special abbreviations does your dictionary use
in these cases?

Common Nouns with Endings in the Singular

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The singular forms of certain masculine nouns (such as Mensch, Student, Herr,
Nachbar, Polizist, and Junge) will take an –n or an –en on the end in all cases but
the nominative. These special nouns are sometimes called “n” nouns. Thus, for
example, Student becomes Studenten in sentences such as Ich glaube dem
Studenten and Das ist das Buch des Studenten. Because these singular nouns can
be easily confused with their plural forms (which are often exactly the same: for
example, the plural of der Student is die Studenten), you can see why your reading
success is dependent on paying close attention to all the case markers on display in
every sentence.

Unit: 2: Cases, present tense

3. Definite and Indefinite Article (All

Cases)
The following charts summarize the article forms and noun spelling changes across
all four cases. What you need to memorize is the "range of meanings" of each
article. For example: Whenever you encounter der, you need to know that you are
dealing with either nominative masculine, dative feminine, genitive feminine, or
genitive plural. This reading skill is sometimes going to be crucial for understanding
the structure of German sentences.

Definite Article

MASCULINE F EMININE NEUTER P LURAL

N O MIN A T I VE der die das die

ACCUSATIVE den die das die

D AT I V E dem der dem den + n

GE NITIVE des + s/es der des + s/es der

Indefinite Article

MASCULINE F EMININE NEUTER P LURAL

N O MIN A T I VE ein eine ein keine

ACCUSATIVE einen eine ein keine

D AT I V E einem einer einem keinen + n

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MASCULINE F EMININE NEUTER P LURAL

GE NITIVE eines + s/es einer eines + s/es keiner

Remember:

1. das and ein always indicate singular.

2. des and eines are unique to singular genitive.
3. dem and einem are unique to singular dative.
4. die with nouns ending in –en is always plural.

Difference from English Usage

As you can see, German definite articles – in all their variety – carry a lot more
information than does our one-size-fits-all, English "the." Accordingly, German uses
definite articles more often than English does. This is particularly important for you
to consider when a German sentence makes a universal statement. In English we
signal a universal statement by avoiding "the" and/or using plural forms of nouns.
German, however, often still needs the noun articles in order to clarify the sentence
syntax. So it is up to you to interpret whether a statement is universal or not from
the context and sense of the sentence.

Der Katzenschwanz ist ein Indikator für die unterschiedlichen Stimmungen der
Katze.
The tail of a cat is an indicator of the various moods of a cat.
[or:] Tails of cats are indicators of the various moods of cats.

Die Freiheit der Meinung erlaubt aber nicht die Verächtlichmachung von
Religionen.
Freedom of thought does not, however, permit the disparagement of religions.

The second example is a quotation from an online discussion forum in Germany.

Your own knowledge of English tells you that translating the first phrase as "The
freedom of the thought" would be inappropriate (because it doesn’t make sense,
right?).

Similarly, German speakers may use definite articles with proper nouns or specific
individuals (which we don’t do in English) in order to clarify sentence syntax. This
usually occurs in more informal situations. For example:

Nein, Willi, das gehört der Mutter.

No, Willi, that belongs to Mom (or: to your mother).

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Dem Karl verdanke ich die blauen Flecken hier.

I owe these bruises here to Karl.

The reverse is not true, however. You must always understand a German noun that
has no article just as you would an English noun that has no article (like Religionen
in the earlier example above).

Finally, do not over-apply this rule. When inclusion of the definite article in German
does make sense to carry over in to your English translation, you must do that.
Imagine if the German sentence had omitted the definite article: if that would give
you a different meaning, then clearly you need to respect the fact that the German
sentence chose to include the definite article.

Unit: 2: Cases, present tense

4. Pronouns (All Cases)

As you begin memorizing the articles for the four German cases, it may help to
simultaneously be memorizing the pronouns for the four cases, since articles and
pronouns share some patterns of case and gender-specific spellings. It may all
"make sense" as you begin to recognize the spelling patterns. Memorizing the
articles and pronouns for the four cases, three genders, and plural is a tedious but
necessary and relatively small-scale task for learning to read German.

You should be able to find complete charts of all the article and pronoun forms in a
reference section within your German-English dictionary. Meanwhile, here is a
pronoun chart:

NOMINATIVE ACCUSATIVE D ATIVE

SINGULAR ich I mich me mir

du you dich you dir

er he / it ihn him / it ihm

sie she / it sie her / it ihr

es it es it ihm

PLURAL wir we uns us uns

ihr you euch you euch

sie they sie them ihnen

SING./PLURAL Sie you Sie you Ihnen

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NOMINATIVE ACCUSATIVE D ATIVE

Compare the article charts. Some example similarities to note which aid your
memorization task: –m as in ihm is always dative singular, –r as in ihr dative
singular, –en as in ihnen and Ihnen dative plural.

Points to remember:

1. Remember the tip from Unit 1, section 5: that German is very consistent about
using the appropriate, gendered pronoun to refer to inanimate nouns, not just
for people and animals. That’s why all of the third person singular pronouns
can mean “it” as well as “him” and “her”.
2. Pronouns agree in gender and number with the noun to which they refer, and
are therefore useful clues for understanding sentences and especially for
shared references across multiple sentences. Let pronouns be an easy, reliable
way for you to get case, gender, and number information.

Unit: 2: Cases, present tense

5. Present Tense of Regular Verbs

“Regular” verbs are simply those which follow the most common pattern of
conjugation. Some grammar books refer to these verbs as “weak” verbs. Thus,
using spielen (to play) as our model the present tense is formed as follows:

PERSON SINGULAR PLURAL

1ST ich spiele (I play) wir spielen (we play)

2ND du spielst (you play) ihr spielt (you play)

3RD er/sie/es spielt (he/she/it plays) sie/Sie spielen (they/you play)

For our purposes the third person singular and plural forms are the main ones.
Thus, the ending –t indicates singular and the ending –en plural.

Should the stem of the verb end in –t or –d, for example, warten (to wait) and
finden (to find), the stems of which are wart- and find-, then the verb is conjugated
as follows:

PERSON S I N G U L AR PLURAL

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PERSON S I N G U L AR PLURAL

1ST ich warte/finde wir warten/finden

2ND du wartest/findest ihr wartet/findet

3RD er/sie/es wartet/findet sie/Sie warten/finden

The only differences then are in the singular, second and third person, where an –e
is added so that we can append the personal endings –st and –t.

Note: The majority of verbs in German form their present tense in the way shown
for our example spielen.

Remember that the German present tense can be translated variously: “he does
play,” “he is playing,” “he plays,” or even – depending on time information given in
context – “he will play,” “he has played,” or “he has been playing.” Note that all of
these translations still share the meaning that the action is taking place at the
“present moment” (although that can be defined by a specific future time reference)
– whether the action is ongoing, starting, finishing, or only momentary is what you
need to interpret from context. In any case, German present tense never indicates a
completed, past event.

Unit: 2: Cases, present tense

6. Present Tense of Irregular Verbs

Irregular verbs (also called “strong” verbs) change their root form as they are
conjugated. For the most part, they form their present tense in exactly the same
way as regular verbs. Thus “he swims” is er schwimmt, “they swim” sie
schwimmen.

Some irregular verbs, however, will undergo a change in the stem vowel in the
present tense singular, second and third person, for example: du gibst (you give)
and er gibt (he gives) are conjugations of geben (to give). The importance of this
change to the reader of German is that you will have to recognize that the meaning
of, for example, gibst, will be found under the dictionary entry for geben. You
should remember that there are four patterns of vowel changes in case you need to
look up a verb in the dictionary:

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EXAMPL E VERBS

I NFINITIVE > 3RD PERSON SING. V OWEL CHANGE

geben > gibt e>i

stehlen > stiehlt e > ie

halten > hält a>ä

laufen > läuft au > äu

A list of the most common irregular verbs (strong verbs) is included in most
dictionaries and grammar books. You do not have to memorize all the verb changes
for reading purposes. The present tense singular, both second and third person, of
these verbs will still carry the endings described above for weak verbs, ending in
–st or –t.

There is one notable exception: the modal verbs, which are covered in Unit 10, and
the verb wissen (to know a fact). The latter is conjugated in the present tense as:

PERSON SI NG U L A R P L U R AL

1ST ich weiß wir wissen

2ND du weißt ihr wißt

3RD er/sie/es weiß sie/Sie wissen

Unit: 2: Cases, present tense

7. More Question Words

The genitive and dative forms of wer (who) are wessen (genitive: “whose”) and
wem (dative: “to/for whom”). Examples:

Wessen Hund ist das?

Whose dog is that?

Wem gehört der Hund?

To whom does the dog belong?

Unit: 2: Cases, present tense

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8. “es gibt” and “man“

es gibt

es gibt = “there is” and “there are.” Example:

Es gibt jetzt zwei Zeitungen in Darmstadt.

There are now two newspapers in Darmstadt.

man

The pronoun man can be translated directly as “people,” “they,” and “one”.

Man sagt, es regnet.

They (people) say it is raining.

Sometimes it makes more sense in English to use an even more abstract way to
translate man, by using English passive voice. For example:

In schlechten Zeiten kürzt man die Budgets.

In bad times, budgets are reduced.

Keep in mind that the essential meaning of man is that the speaker cannot or does
not want to specify a subject for the sentence’s main verb. The next two examples
contrast a situation calling for direct translation with one requiring a more abstract
translation:

Wie sagt man “Hund” auf Englisch?

How does one say “Hund” in English?

Man sagt, daß Deutsche pünktlich sind.

It is said that Germans are punctual.

Unit: 2: Cases, present tense

9. Adjectival Nouns

WORD FORMATION

These sections of the textbook help improve your speed during the skimming phase
of reading and gradually build vocabulary.

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Many adjectives, particularly those expressing abstract ideas, can be formed into
neuter nouns according to the pattern which follows below. These adjectival nouns
get modified by adverbs rather than by adjectives, in agreement with the normal
relationship of adverbs to adjectives, including adverbial usages of words such as
viel (much) and nichts (nothing).

nichts Gutes nothing that (is / was) good

viel Interessantes (much / a lot) that (is / was) interesting

wenig Schönes little that (is / was) (beautiful / pretty / nice)

etwas Neues something that (is / was) new

The original adjectives, “gut,” “interessant,” “schön,” and “neu”, are capitalized and
appear (for our current purposes) with an –es ending. By Unit 4 you’ll learn to
recognize the other endings these adjectival nouns will get when they’re used in
genitive and dative cases. Just remember that adjectival nouns are spelled – and
take their own modifiers – as if they were modifying some (absent) neuter noun,
but otherwise they function as that neuter noun.

Unit: 3: Articles, simple past

1. Objectives
In this unit, in the context of simple sentences that involve all four German cases,
you will learn how to:

◾ Identify and translate der-words and ein-words.

◾ Decide whether a conjugated verb is in present tense or simple-past tense, and
use its endings to predict what the corresponding subject must be.
◾ Locate the infinitive form of a verb in a dictionary given only its simple-past,
conjugated form.
◾ Translate compound nouns, including when they appear in hyphenated lists of
related nouns.
◾ Translate German number formats.

Unit: 3: Articles, simple past

2. Der– words

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These are the words that function like the definite article in that they share the
same endings with articles. The stems of these words are:

dies- this

jen- that

jed- every / each

manch- (many a) (plural = some, many)

solch- such, so, those, etc. Consult your dictionary.

welch- which / what

all- all

Using dies– as our example der-word, our chart looks as follows (compare with the
chart of definite articles in Unit 2):

MASCULINE F EMININE NEUTER P LURAL

N O MIN A T I VE dieser diese dieses diese

ACCUSATIVE diesen diese dieses diese

D AT I V E diesem dieser diesem diesen

(Noun +
n)

GE NITIVE dieses dieser dieses dieser

(Noun + s/es) (Noun + s/es)

Points to remember:

1. Der– words share the same endings as the definite article.

2. All– will only appear in plural usages.
3. Dies– and jen– when used alone can mean “the latter” and “the former”
respectively. Example:

Die Eltern meiner Frau heißen Johann und Margarete. Diese ist 62 Jahre
alt, jener 65 Jahre alt.
The parents of my wife are named Johann and Margarete. The latter is 62
years old, the former 65 years old.

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Note that your cue for this special meaning is that diese and jener in the
second sentence do not "belong to" – or modify – a noun. They are standing
alone. Normally you expect a noun (possibly with that noun’s other modifiers)
to follow any der-word.

Unit: 3: Articles, simple past

3. Ein– words (including possessive

pronouns)
These are the words similar to the indefinite article in the way they take or do not
take endings. They are:

mein my

dein your (singular and familiar)

sein his / its

ihr her / its / their

unser our

euer your (plural and familiar)

Ihr your (formal)

kein not a, no, not any

Using mein as our example ein-word our chart looks as follows (compare with the
indefinite article chart in Unit 2):

MASCULINE F EMININE NEUTER P LURAL

N O MIN A T I VE mein meine mein meine

ACCUSATIVE meinen meine mein meine

D AT I V E meinem meiner meinem meinen

(Noun +
n)

GE NITIVE meines meiner meines meiner

(Noun + s/es) (Noun + s/es)

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Points to remember:

1. Ein– words with no endings are always either nominative singular or accusative
singular.
2. The ending –em on both ein– words and der– words is unique to dative
singular.
3. The ending –es with the noun adding an –s or –es is unique to genitive
singular.
4. When euer has an ending, the stem changes to eur-. Examples:

Euer Kind bekommt gute Noten.

Your child gets good grades.

Eure Freunde kommen bald.

Your friends are coming soon.

5. Because German nouns are gendered, pronouns referring to them are also
gendered. Review Unit 1, section 5, note "b)" and keep in mind that sein/ihr
references might best be translated as "its."

Take the memorization advice from Unit 2 and expand your memorization task to
include possessive pronouns. You should be noticing that the possessive pronouns,
too, fit the general German spelling patterns for gender, case, and number
distinctions.

Unit: 3: Articles, simple past

4. Simple Past Tense of Verbs

Keep in mind that English’s past-tense complexity leaves you with a choice of
various English ways to translate German’s straightforward past tense. Given ich
hatte, you will need to consider context in order to choose from: “I had,” “I was
having,” or “I did have.” In any case, German past tense always indicates that the
action or status is completed and done.

Regular Verbs

Most English verbs form their past tense by adding the suffix –ed (example:
played), and German regular verbs behave similarly, by adding the suffix –t– (or,
when pronounceability requires it, –et-). However, unlike English verbs, which lose
their person/number verb suffixes in past tense (example: I played, she played)

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German verbs do carry person/number suffixes: They are simply appended to the
past-tense suffix. Compare the person/number suffixes you already learned in Unit
2 on p. 12, and note the similarities between those present-tense endings and these
past-tense endings. Thus, using spielen (to play) and warten (to wait) as our
examples:

PERSON SINGULAR P L U R AL

1ST ich spielte (I played) wir spielten

2ND du spieltest ihr spieltet

3RD er/sie/es spielte sie/Sie spielten

PERSON SINGULAR P L U R AL

1ST ich wartete wir warteten

2ND du wartetest ihr wartetet

3RD er/sie/es wartete sie/Sie warteten

NOTES

1. The third person singular past tense is the same as the first person singular.
2. Watch out for potential confusion between present-tense and past-tense forms
of regular verbs. Consider:

Wartest du? (Are you waiting?)

Wartetest du? (Did you wait?)

Let’s examine wartetest: First you can recognize the ending –est as the
person/number marker, since it matches the subject du. That leaves you with a
stem of wartet-. Your dictionary will tell you that there is no such infinitive-
form verb as warteten, and there is such a word as warten, so therefore the
root of this word must be wart-, and the –et– suffix must be a past-tense
marker.

Irregular Verbs

These verbs form their simple past tense by undergoing a vowel change just as
“swim” and “give” do in English (swam, gave). The changes are always indicated in
the list of irregular verbs in your dictionary. With a few exceptions, these verbs all
share the same pattern of endings. Let us use schwimmen (to swim) as our typical
example:

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PERSON SINGULAR PLU R A L

1ST ich schwamm wir schwammen

2ND du schwammst ihr schwammt

3RD er/sie/es schwamm sie/Sie schwammen

Note: Both the first and third person singular past tense forms of irregular verbs
have no endings.

Exceptions to the Rule

There are a few common verbs in German that do not follow the general rule in the
formation of their simple past forms. These are listed in the list of irregular verbs,
because they have a change of vowel in the past tenses. Some common examples
are:

I NF I N I T I V E P AS T T E N S E 3 R D P E R SO N SIN G U L A R

brennen (to burn) brannte

bringen (to bring) brachte

denken (to think) dachte

senden (to send) sandte

wenden (to turn wandte

wissen (to know a fact) wußte

kennen (to know a person/object kannte

Finally, note that “simple past” is called “preterite” in some grammar reference
works.

Unit: 3: Articles, simple past

5. Verbal Prefixes and Compound Nouns

WORD FORMATION

These sections of the textbook help improve your speed during the skimming phase
of reading and gradually build vocabulary.

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Verbs with Prefixes

As you encounter verbs in German texts, they will of course usually be in a

conjugated form, rather than their infinitive form, which is the form you need in
order to find the verb in your dictionary. Now that you have learned about both
regular and irregular verbs, and furthermore those in two different tenses, you have
become quite dependent on the "irregular verb" or "strong verb" chart in your
dictionary. In particular, keep in mind that you will need to recognize the root verb
within a verb.

For example, when you encounter a verb form such as verbrachte, you won’t find
that in your dictionary. Instead, you must recognize that ver- is a prefix and that
-brachte is the part you can find in your irregular verb chart, which in turn will tell
you that it is the simple-past, 3rd-person, singular, form of the verb bringen. Then
you know to look for the infinitive form verbringen in your dictionary to find out
what it means.

The most common verbal prefixes are be-, ent-, and ver-.

Compound Nouns

As shown in the introduction, German has a propensity to form compound nouns

such as Unterseeboot (submarine) and Arbeitsmethode (work method). Not all
compound nouns are listed in dictionaries. Hence it is useful to understand how
such nouns are formed and how we might best translate them.

Often a compound noun has an s after the first component. This shows possession
as in Arbeitsmethode (method of work, or work method) and Entwicklungszentrum
(development center). The last component of a compound noun is usually the key
word with the preceding component(s) being modifiers (descriptors) of the last as in
Unterseeboot (undersea boat = submarine).

Sometimes the occurrence of consonants next to one another which would be

difficult to pronounce will indicate the dividing point between the components as in
Computerbauer (computer builder) and Teststrecke (testing ground), i.e., rb and
tst respectively.

The gender of compound nouns is always determined by the last component. Thus,
Teststrecke is die Teststrecke because Strecke is feminine.

Look at the following compounds and by using your dictionary and the guidelines
above determine their component parts and their meanings.

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1. Durchrostung
2. Fahrstil
3. Flugmanager
4. Grundmodell
5. Kernkraftwerk
6. Kommunikationssystem
7. Sicherheitsfunktion
8. Staubproblem
9. Vorstandschef
10. Weltraumtechnologie
11. Weltunternehmen
12. Zeitungsanzeigen

Finally, since compound nouns are so common in German, you will often see
compound nouns that are related printed in a hyphenated, abbreviated form, such
as:

Der Windsturm verursachte Dach-, Auto- und Baumschäden.

The wind storm caused damage to roofs, cars, and trees.

Weltraumraketen und -satelliten benutzen diese Technologie.

Space rockets and space satellites use this technology.

Unit: 3: Articles, simple past

6. Number Formats
It is very important to remember a few small but crucial differences between printed
numbers in German and English. Compare:

G ER MA N E N GLIS H

12.000 12,000

10,354% 10.354%

1 353 432 1,353,432

SF 5.000,– 5,000.00 Swiss franc

€235.500,34 €235,500.34

1,3 Millionen 1.3 million

3 Milliarden 3 billion

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G ER MA N E N GLIS H

2 Billionen 2 trillion

See the Reference section for more information about numbers in German.

Unit: 4: Verbs with prefixes; adjective endings

1. Objectives
In this unit you will learn how to:

◾ Identify when a separable-prefix verb is being used, and translate it.

◾ Decide whether a verb in use is a separable-prefix or an inseparable-prefix
verb.
◾ Use adjective endings to identify the case, gender, and number of noun
phrases.
◾ Distinguish adverbs from adjectives within a noun phrase.
◾ Identify and translate adjectives and verbs being used as nouns.
◾ Identify and translate place names being used as adjectives.

Unit: 4: Verbs with prefixes; adjective endings

2. Verbs with Inseparable Prefixes

Some verbs appear both with and without prefixes, and the meanings of the verb
change quite considerably with the prefix. The inseparable prefixes are: be-, ent-,
emp-, er-, ge–, miß-, ver-, and zer-. Examples of some verbs in this category
are:

WI TH PREF IX WITHOUT PREF IX

begehen (to commit) gehen (to go)

empfangen (to receive fangen (to catch)

enthalten (to contain) halten (to hold)

erhalten (to receive) halten (to hold)

gefallen (to please) fallen (to fall)

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WI TH PREF IX WITHOUT PREF IX

mißverstehen (to misunderstand) stehen (to stand)

verstehen (to understand) stehen (to stand)

zerfallen (to fall to pieces) fallen (to fall)

Note how the prefix has changed the meaning. Only in the case of miß– and zer–
can we always attach a meaning to the inseparable prefix, i.e., “mis-“ and “to
pieces” respectively. Quite often however the addition of ent– to a verb lends the
meaning “away from,” e.g. entnehmen = to take away, remove; entkleiden = to
remove clothes, undress. And often the addition of a be– turns an intransitive verb
transitive, e.g., bewohnen = to inhabit (something).

As mentioned at the end of Unit 3, the conjugations of verbs with inseparable

prefixes simply follow the same forms as the root verb. For example, verstehen (to
understand), bestehen (to exist; to insist), gestehen (to confess), and entstehen
(to be created, to develop, to form) all share the same endings and forms as stehen
(to stand):

Die Frau versteht die Kinder.

The woman understands the children.

Die Frauen verstanden die Kinder.

The women understood the children.

These prefixed verbs are found in dictionaries as separate entries, not under the
root verb.

Unit: 4: Verbs with prefixes; adjective endings

3. Verbs with Separable Prefixes

The number of separable prefixes is far greater than that of inseparable prefixes.
Separable prefix verbs, as the name implies, separate into two parts when used in
any way other than in their infinitive form. Let us consider two examples: aufgehen
(to rise, go up) and untergehen (to descend, go down):

Die Sonne geht um sechs Uhr auf.

The sun rises at 6 o’clock.

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Die Sonne geht am Abend unter.

The sun sets in the evening.

Here is a list of common separable prefixes:

ab off, down, away über over

auf up, open um around

aus out umher around

ein in unter down

empor up vor ahead, forward

entgegen toward, to vorbei past, by

fest fast, firm vorüber past

fort away weg away

heim home weiter on, farther

her here, towards wieder back, again

hin there, away from zu to, toward; shut

mit along, with zurück back

nieder down zusammen together

You can see that prepositions are the most common separable prefix, and some are
not prepositions at all. Your challenge is to use what you’ve learned so far about
German syntax to recognize when a word is apparently functioning as a separated
verbal prefix.

Points to remember:

1. The prefix appears after the predicate. From now on you will need to finish
reading to the end of each sentence or clause before you can be certain about
the meaning of any conjugated verb. If you find a prefix there, you must
associate it with the conjugated verb and consider the meaning of, for
example, aufgehen, not of gehen. If you are trying to locate the verb in a
dictionary, this can be a very important difference.
2. Likewise, you can decide whether a word appearing in the middle of a sentence
is a verbal prefix or not by identifying the roles of the words after it – if they
start a whole new statement, then perhaps this word is indeed a verbal prefix.
Here’s an example in which a single subject is shared between two statements,
both using a separable-prefix verb:

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Das Schiff saß auf der Sandbank fest und ging nicht weiter.
The ship was stuck on the sandbar and went no further.

Keep in mind that German punctuation rules do not call for a comma as often
as English does, so you may not see a comma to help you decide whether the
predicate has ended.

3. Most of the separable prefixes can be translated literally and will give you a
simple meaning to a verb, e.g., ausgehen = to go out, to exit; vorübergehen =
to go past, to pass by.
4. Sometimes verbs will have different meanings dependent upon whether the
prefix is separable or not. The most common prefixes to play this double role
are durch, über and unter. Your dictionary will indicate which verbs have this
double role. Compare:

Das Schiff setzt die Autos nach Japan über.

The ship is transporting the cars to Japan.

Er übersetzt das Buch ins Englische.

He is translating the book into English.

Look up übersetzen in your dictionary to see how it describes the difference

between the separable and the inseparable verbs.

Unit: 4: Verbs with prefixes; adjective endings

4. Adjective Endings
You learned in Unit 3 how endings are added to the der– and ein– words. In
addition, German adds endings to regular attributive adjectives when they are
modifying a noun. Recognizing these endings can sometimes be a crucial reading
skill in order to detect the case and number of a noun.

Noun Phrases without an Article

When a noun phrase does not begin with either a der– word or an ein– word, then
essentially any adjectives have to take their place as far as providing signals to you
about the case, number, and gender of the noun they are modifying. The chart or
“paradigm” below shows what happens to the adjectives if we take the three nouns
der Wein, die Milch, and das Bier and describe them with the simple adjectives rot
(red), frisch (fresh) and kalt (cold):

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MASCULINE FEMI NINE NEUTER P LURAL

N O MIN A T I VE roter Wein frische Milch kaltes Bier rote Weine

ACCUSATIVE roten Wein frische Milch kaltes Bier rote Weine

D AT I V E rotem Wein frischer Milch kaltem Bier roten Weinen

GE NITIVE roten Weines frischer Milch kalten Bieres roter Weine

Compare this to the der– word chart in Unit 2 and you will notice only one
difference; the genitive singular (masculine and neuter) ends in –en rather
than -es. Otherwise the endings are the same. In other words, you will be able to
apply that same skill from Unit 2 to this kind of noun phrase, so that you can use
the above adjective endings to help you identify the case, number, and gender of
the noun being modified.

Noun Phrases with an Article

When articles (der– and ein– words) begin the noun phrase, than any adjectives
modifying a noun show a different pattern of endings than above. It is not
necessary to memorize these declensions in order to read and comprehend German.
Remember that it is the article that begins the noun phrase that best helps you
identify the role the noun is playing in a sentence.

Nevertheless, it is often useful to recognize that some ending has been added:

1. To help you distinguish adjectives from other kinds of modifiers within the
noun phrase which, naturally, do not appear with “adjective endings.” We’ll
return to this in the next section.
2. To give you confidence when looking up adjectives in the dictionary, knowing
what letters at the end will not be included in the dictionary listing.
3. In the case of some ein– word phrases, the endings immediately give you
more information about the noun than the ein– word does alone.

So, here are the adjective endings when an article is present:

MASCULINE F EMININE NEUTER P LURAL

N.

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MASCULINE F EMININE NEUTER P LURAL

der alte Mann die alte Frau das junge Mädchen die alten Frauen
ein alter Mann eine alte Frau ein junges Mädchen keine alten
Frauen

A. den alten Mann die alte Frau das junge Mädchen die alten Frauen
einen alten eine alte Frau ein junges Mädchen keine alten
Mann Frauen

D. dem alten Mann der alten Frau dem jungen den alten Frauen
einem alten einer alten Mädchen keinen alten
Mann Frau einem jungen Frauen
Mädchen

G. des alten der alten Frau des jungen der alten Frauen
Mannes einer alten Mädchens keiner alten
eines alten Frau eines jungen Frauen
Mannes Mädchens

Points to remember:

1. The first word in the noun phrase indicates in most instances the role the noun
plays in the sentence, i.e., its case and its number.
2. No ending on an ein– word is unique to singular nominative and singular
accusative.
3. The ending –em is unique to dative singular.
4. die or an ein– word ending in –e (e.g. keine) followed by an adjective which
ends in -en is always plural.
5. Note the significance of adjective endings on number words. See the end of
Reference section 1.

Unit: 4: Verbs with prefixes; adjective endings

5. Recognizing Adverbs vs. Adjectives

Any German adverb/adjective, for example gut, appears identically whether used as
an adjective (meaning "good") or as an adverb (meaning “well” or "in a good way").
Often you have to decide from context how the German word is functioning—unless
it is an adjective modifying a noun. That case is simpler: as you learned above, it
then must have the appropriate adjective ending. This is crucial for you to learn

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how to use for determining whether a word is being used adverbially or adjectivally
within noun phrases. Adverbs, of course, never have an adjective ending.

Der gute, dicke Kuchen schmeckt.

The good, thick cake is tasty.

In the above example, the presence of the endings on both gut and dick reveal that
they are both adjectives which modify the noun Kuchen.

Der gut dicke Kuchen schmeckt.

The nicely thick cake is tasty.

In the above example, the lack of any ending on gut and its position relative to the
words around it reveal that it is an adverb which modifies the adjective dick. It
cannot possibly be an adjective modifying the noun Kuchen because it lacks the
ending which would have been required. And the position of gut inside the noun
phrase for Kuchen clarifies that it modifies dick, as opposed to modifying the main
verb of the entire sentence as it would if it were located outside the noun phrase.
And yes, the presence or absence of that comma can be a helpful clue, as well.

However, it is possible for German adjectives to appear without any endings. Like in
English, an adjective can be the predicate of a statement with the verb "to be." In
German, then, the adjective would take no ending, since it is not modifying a
particular noun. Example:

Das ist gut.

That is good.

Unit: 4: Verbs with prefixes; adjective endings

6. Adjectives as Nouns
In English we sometimes use adjectives as nouns, e.g., "the rich and the poor," and
German does the same. In both languages, essentially the adjective is standing for
a missing, unspecified noun which this adjective would be modifying. For example:
"the rich (people) and the poor (people)" or "I’ll take the blue (one) and the green
(one)". But you’ll note two differences in how such words appear in German: they
are capitalized like all other nouns, and they also carry the meaningful adjectival
ending they would have as if they were modifying a noun. For example, in
nominative case, referring to the plural idea of "rich (people)" and "poor (people)":

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"the rich" = die Reichen, "the poor" = die Armen. Such adjectival nouns are far
more common in German than in English. Here are several more examples:

der Alte (nominative case, singular) “the old man” or some other masculine
being, depending on context

die Alte (nominative or accusative case, singular) “the old woman” or some
other female being, depending on context

einen Grünen (accusative case, singular) could refer to “a person associated

with the Green party” or in a more general context, simply “a green one”

das Alte (nominative or accusative case, singular) “the old one” (given the
neuter gender, it presumably refers to an object) or more abstractly, “that
which is old”

das Gebaute (nominative or accusative case, singular) “that which was built” or
"what was built" or perhaps "the buildings" – as always, adjust to the context

das Beste an der Sache (nominative or accusative case, singular) "the best
part of the affair/story" or "what was best about this" (where Sache would be
referring back to something previously explained)

As you can see, you must have mastered the meanings of the adjectival endings
you learned in section 3 above, and you will need to pay attention to the form of
any definite or indefinite articles which belong to this noun, in order to figure out
this noun’s role and number within the sentence.

Also keep in mind that such nouns would be modified by adverbs rather than by
other adjectives, in agreement with what you learned in the preceding section, and
like the adjectival nouns you learned about in Unit 2. The third example below
includes this situation.

Examples:

Ich tue immer mein Bestes.

I always do my best.

Vermeers Gemälde zeigen oft das Schöne in dem Häuslichen.

Vermeer’s paintings often reveal the beautiful in the household sphere.

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Ich suche immer stark Überraschendes als Geburtstagsgeschenk für meine

Schwester.
I always look for something really surprising as a birthday present for my
sister. [or:]
I always look for really surprising things as a birthday present for my sister.

Unit: 4: Verbs with prefixes; adjective endings

7. Place Names as Adjectives

German has a very simple way of using place names as adjectives: add the ending
–er. Note that no other adjective endings are added, regardless of case or number.

das Genfer Abkommen the Geneva Convention

der Hamburger Flughafen the Hamburg airport

These adjectives can also be used as nouns:

der Berliner the Berliner (male from Berlin)

die Berlinerin the Berliner (female from Berlin)

Unit: 4: Verbs with prefixes; adjective endings

8. Verbs as Nouns
You can recognize verbs functioning as nouns by their capitalization and their
grammatical behavior as nouns. All such nouns are neuter. Thus, das Schwimmen
means “the activity of swimming,” das Schreiben “writing,” das Lernen “learning.”
You will often see these words used without an article. Examples:

Im tiefen Schnee ist das Gehen sehr schwierig.

In deep snow, walking is very difficult.
(a more natural translation:) It is very difficult to walk in deep snow.

Wo lernt man Segelfliegen in Deutschland?

Where does one learn hang-gliding in Germany?
(a more natural translation:) Where does one learn to hang-glide in Germany?

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Ich lernte das Schwimmen.

I learned how to swim.

Das Schwimmen in der See ist nicht leicht.

Swimming in the ocean is not easy.

To practice some key skills covered in this unit, play the Unit 4 Syntax
Untangler activity. (Link opens in a new window.)

You may find the Review Units 1-4 exercise more valuable now or as a later
review opportunity.

Unit: 5: Prepositions, reflexives

1. Objectives
In this unit you will learn how to:

◾ Translate prepositions.
◾ Identify and translate prepositional phrases.
◾ Translate adverbs correctly based on German word order.
◾ Identify and translate reflexive pronouns and reflexive verbs.
◾ Identify relationships between certain categories of nouns and their root word.

Unit: 5: Prepositions, reflexives

2. Prepositions
Almost all of the prepositions you will encounter in German are listed here with their
most common meanings:

an at nach to (with place names),

after, according to

(an)statt instead of neben next to

auf up, on ohne without

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aus out of, from seit since, for (with time)

außer except trotz in spite of

bei with, in the case of, at über over, about / concerning

durch through, by means of um around, at (with time)

entlang along unter under, among

für for (on behalf of) von from, of, by (means of)

gegen against, towards vor in front of / before, ago

gegenüber opposite während during

gemäß according to wegen on account of / because of

hinter behind wider against

in in zu to

mit with zwischen between

Meaning

It is advisable to learn the above list of prepositions and their common meanings
because, as in English, they occur frequently, and in German many of them are
used in the formation of other words (for example, as verb prefixes).

Just be careful to not count on any German prepositions equating to any single
English preposition. As your dictionary will show you (for both English and
German!), the meanings of prepositions are very context-dependent.

Sometimes the combination of particular prepositions with certain verbs or

adjectives will determine the meaning of the preposition involved, as in the idioms:
denken an (to think of or about), glauben an (to believe in), stolz auf (proud of),
warten auf (to wait for), or sich fürchten vor (to be afraid of).

Therefore, when consulting your dictionary for verbs and nouns generally, pay
attention to how particular word + preposition combinations can determine very
different directions for the meaning of the main word. For example, compare your
dictionary entries for bestehen + aus vs. bestehen + auf. Dictionaries explain such
prepositional combinations within the entry for the main word, not under the
preposition’s own entry.

In other words, it’s often best to translate prepositions last, after you’ve analyzed
the sentence structure and after understanding the surrounding context. Always
start with the meaning of the entire construction, rather than how you would

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translate the preposition if it stood on its own, and only then express that meaning
using English.

Unit: 5: Prepositions, reflexives

3. Prepositional Phrases
Prepositional Phrases

“Pre-positions,” as their name suggests, usually appear before nouns, pronouns,

and sometimes adjectives. They mark the beginning of a prepositional phrase, and
the corresponding noun marks the end of that phrase. Examples:

Der Junge steht hinter dem Stuhl.

The boy is standing behind the chair.

Sie fährt in die Stadt mit ihrer Freundin.

She is travelling to town with her girlfriend.

Trotz schweren Unwetters kam das Flugzeug pünktlich an.

Despite bad weather, the airplane arrived on time.

As you begin to read longer German sentences, it becomes very useful to recognize
prepositional phrases and remember the absolutely reliable law that prepositional
phrases are stand-alone, self-enclosed units of meaning (just as in English). All of
the words enclosed between a preposition and its object (usually a noun) all belong
within that phrase – and thus are not modifiers of anything outside of that phrase!
Consider, for example:

Lange sinnte sie über seine frühen Gedichte in der Zeitschrift nach.

First you can easily identify über seine frühen Gedichte and in der Zeitschrift as two
prepositional phrases. That leaves you with a much simpler sentence skeleton to
work on: Lange sinnte sie … nach, or roughly: “For a long while she pondered ….”
Next, moving your attention to the prepositional phrases, you can confidently take
as an absolute law that, for example, seine frühen are words applying only to
Gedichte. Even as you then add in the prepositional phrases, respect the solid work
you’ve done so far on the skeleton; don’t let the addition of the prepositional
phrases corrupt it. Likewise, as you add on the prepositional phrases to your
skeleton, respect the integrity of the prepositional phrases. Thus: “For a long while

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she pondered his early poems in the journal,” or, equivalently: “She meditated for a
long time on his early poems in the magazine.”

Handy tip: Sometimes the object of a preposition is a noun that itself has further
genitive-case nouns modifying it. The above rule still holds: all of the genitive-case
nouns tied to the actual prepositional object are still just modifiers of that object, so
they also belong inside of the prepositional phrase. Example:

Hegels Vorlesungen über die Philosophie der Geschichte

Object: die Philosophie, which is modified by der Geschichte
Hegel’s lectures on the philosophy of history

Now play the Syntax Untangler activity with prepositional phrases to practice
this skill. (Link opens in a new window.)

Word Order Exceptions

Notable exceptions to the “pre“-position placement of prepositions are – in certain

situations – the prepositions entlang (along), gegenüber (opposite), gemäß
(according to), and in even rarer cases nach (according to), and wegen (on account
of / because of). Examples:

Er läuft die Straße entlang.

He runs along the street.

Diese Familie wohnt dem Hotel gegenüber.

This family lives opposite the hotel.

Meiner Meinung nach ist diese Aufgabe schwierig.

In my opinion this exercise is difficult.

Des Wetters wegen bleiben sie zu Hause.

Because of the weather, they are staying at home.

The reliability of prepositional phrases as inviolable units of meaning still applies in

these cases, too. The boldface above demonstrates where the prepositional phrases
begin and end.

Unit: 5: Prepositions, reflexives

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4. Prepositional Cases

Cases

German prepositions govern different cases. That is, the phrase that follows them
will be in either the accusative case, the dative case, or the genitive case.
Memorizing which case each preposition governs is not critical for reading
comprehension, but you should be aware that articles, pronouns, and adjectives will
change form after the preposition. If you wish to know which case(s) a preposition
governs, refer to your dictionary.

Rarely, you may encounter situations where case does matter for reading
comprehension. The meaning of a certain group of prepositions – the so-called
"two-way prepositions" (an, auf, hinter, neben, in, über, unter, vor and zwischen) –
changes subtly depending on whether the accusative or dative case is used after
them. If you see accusative case, then a changing condition is being described. If
dative case, then a static, unchanging condition. Normally the rest of the sentence
will clarify the preposition’s meaning for you, but in a few circumstances, mainly
relating to physical movement or location, you may be left unsure, and you will
need to consider the case as useful information. For example:

Er geht in das Haus.

He walks into the house.

Note the accusative case. Here a change is being described, from "not in the
house" (before) to "in the house" (afterwards). Compare to:

Er geht in dem Haus.

He is walking, in the house.

Note the dative case. Here there is no change regarding the state of being "in the
house." In English we don’t have this clarity, so you may need to take extra care to
communicate this in your translation. The second sentence could also be translated
as: "He is in the house, walking," or, using parentheses to acknowledge that we’re
embellishing the sentence: "He walks (around) in the house."

Unit: 5: Prepositions, reflexives

5. Reflexive Pronouns

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A reflexive pronoun is a reference back to the subject. In the English sentence, “I

dress myself,” the reflexive pronoun is “myself.” In German, just as with other
pronouns, reflexive pronouns come in a greater variety than they do in English, and
they reflect the case and number of the subject.

First let’s consider a third-person example, because in this case the distinctive word
sich will be the reflexive pronoun. The separable-prefix verb anziehen is a verb that
– only when used reflexively – means “to dress oneself / to get dressed.”

Er zieht sich an.

He dresses himself. / He gets dressed.

Jeden morgen ziehen sie sich an.

Every morning they dress themselves.

Contrast this with the non-reflexive use of anziehen (to put on an article of
clothing):

Er zieht die Jacke an.

He puts on the jacket.

Because the meanings of verbs can be quite different when used reflexively, it is
important to recognize when pronouns are reflexive or not.

The only instantly recognizable reflexive pronoun is sich. This pronoun is used for all
third-person singular and third-person plural reflexive references. English
equivalents of sich are: “himself,” “herself,” “itself,” “themselves,” and
“yourself” (formal only). Whereas the German reflexive pronoun for all other
situations is simply the normal pronoun for that subject as you learned them in Unit
2.

For example, mich and uns are reflexive pronouns in the next two sentences,
corresponding in each case to the sentence subjects ich and wir:

Ich ziehe mich an.

I get dressed.

Wir ziehen uns an.

We get dressed.

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If a direct object is also present in the sentence, the reflexive pronoun will appear in
the dative form instead of the accusative form. Example:

Ich kaufe mir einen Hut.

I am buying myself a hat.

Kaufst du dir morgen eine neue Armbanduhr?

Are you going to buy yourself a new watch tomorrow?

Unit: 5: Prepositions, reflexives

6. Reflexive Verbs
There are some verbs in German that are always used with a reflexive pronoun and
it may not be appropriate to translate that pronoun literally. Such verbs are
indicated in dictionaries with a “sich” or “v.r.,” or “refl.” which means that the verb
is used with a reflexive pronoun. Familiarize yourself with how your dictionary
describes these two common examples: sich + interessieren + für (to be interested
in) and sich + erinnern + an (to remember).

Die Studenten interessieren sich für die Musik.

The students are interested in music.

Ich erinnere mich immer an den Geburtstag meiner Mutter.

I always remember my mother’s birthday.

Note that many German verbs are only sometimes used reflexively, and then they
have slightly different meanings accordingly. One example is anziehen, as
demonstrated in the preceding section. German-English dictionaries will usually give
translations of the reflexive meanings separately from the non-reflexive meanings
of these verbs. Watch out for abbreviations such as refl. in your dictionary, and
remember in any case that the German reflexive pronoun in the sentence will often
not correspond to an English word – it is instead primarily a signal that the German
verb is being used reflexively.

Unit: 5: Prepositions, reflexives

7. Position of nicht and other adverbs

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Like all adverbs, and as with English adverbs, nicht modifies the sentence’s main
verb unless it appears within a particular phrase, such as within a prepositional
phrase, a noun phrase, etc. Also, like in English, adverbs in German placed before
a word or phrase are thereby given emphasis that they modify that following word
or phrase. Thus you can generally rely on your English-language sensibilities to
interpret the role of German adverbs.

In German we do encounter a few uses of multiple, neighboring adverbs which we

aren’t familiar with in English. When you do, keep the above word-order rule in
mind. This can be particularly crucial with the adverb nicht when it precedes another
adverb.

Die Stadt fühlt sich nicht besonders für Radfahrer verantwortlich.

The city does not feel particularly responsible for bicyclists.

In the above example, nicht is placed to emphasize that it modifies besonders. That
leaves the meaning "not particularly" as the adverbial modifier of "for bicyclists."
Compare when the order of nicht and besonders is reversed, so that besonders now
modifies nicht, which in turn modifies für Radfahrer:

Die Stadt fühlt sich besonders nicht für Radfahrer verantwortlich.

The city feels not responsible for bicyclists in particular.
(Literally: "especially not for bicyclists," a phrase which would be clumsy in
English in the context of this whole sentence.)

In summary: Remember to first determine what an adverb is modifying, by using

this word-order rule, before translating. Adverbs modify their following word or
phrase, if there is one and if that’s possible. Otherwise, it modifies the main verb of
the entire sentence.

Unit: 5: Prepositions, reflexives

8. Noun Formation

WORD FORMATION

These sections of the textbook help improve your speed during the skimming phase
of reading and help you gradually build vocabulary.

Knowing how words are formed is most helpful in learning vocabulary and preparing
yourself to be able to determine the meaning of new vocabulary. It is very useful to

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know that German forms nouns from verbs, from adjectives, and from adding
suffixes to other nouns and adjectives among other ways. Study the following
examples of word relationships, and as you work on translating the exercises in this
book, look for possible connections between words. Check your guesses in the
dictionary and list related words together for purposes of learning them more
quickly. Remember, these are just some examples; there are thousands of words
formed in these various ways.

Noun – Verb Relationships

Related to simple verbs:

NOUN VERB

das Band (string / band) binden

die Bindung (bond / binding) binden

die Fahrt (drive / ride) fahren

die Reise (journey) reisen

der Spruch (saying) sprechen

Related to verbs with prefixes:

NOUN VERB

die Abfahrt (departure) abfahren

der Ausgang (exit) ausgehen

der Eingang (entrance eingehen

der Gewinn (gain / winning) gewinnen

der Niedergang (decline) niedergehen

der Übergang (crossing) übergehen

der Umgang (circuit) umgehen

der Verstand (reason) verstehen

der Widerstand (resistance) widerstehen

Noun – Adjective Relationships

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NOUN A D J E CT I V E

die Breite (breadth) breit

die Dicke (thickness) dick

die Größe (size) groß

die Länge (length) lang

die Kälte (cold) kalt

die Röte (redness) rot

Noun Suffixes

1. –chen and –lein (diminutives, always neuter)

Bettchen (little bed) Bett

Städtlein (little town) Stadt

2. –er denotes “doer” or “that which does”

These are always masculine, but can take feminine form with -in ending if
appropriate (see number 4 below).

Musiker (musician) Musik

Tänzer (dancer) tanzen

Zeiger (pointer / indicator) zeigen

3. –heit and –keit denotes “state of being” (always feminine)

Abhängigkeit (dependence) abhängig

Aufmerksamkeit (attentiveness) aufmerksam

Freiheit (freedom) frei

Gesundheit (health) gesund

Schönheit (beauty) schön

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4. –in denotes females

Lehrerin (female teacher) Lehrer

Professorin (female professor) Professor

5. –schaft denotes “relationship,” “collective state” (always feminine)

Bruderschaft (brotherhood) Bruder

Freundschaft (friendship Freund

Landschaft (landscape) Land

Wissenschaft (science) wissen

6. –tum denotes “condition”

der Reichtum (wealth / richness) reich

das Wachstum (growth) wachsen

7. –ung (always feminine)

Sammlung (collection) sammeln

Vergrößerung (enlargement) vergrößern

Zeitung (newspaper) Zeit

The topic of word formation will continue to be covered throughout later units to
help you both with building vocabulary and with quickly guessing the meaning of
unfamiliar words.

Unit: 6: Conjunctions, comparatives

1. Objectives
In this unit you will learn how to:

◾ Translate sentences that use coordinating or subordinating conjunctions.

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◾ Explain the differences in meaning between als, wenn, and wann.

◾ Identify when an adjective appears with a comparative or superlative ending
and translate it appropriately.
◾ Identify whether a word is being used as an adverb or adjective and translate it
appropriately.
◾ Identify relationships between verbs and their related words for some verbs.

Unit: 6: Conjunctions, comparatives

2. Conjunctions
Conjunctions are those words that connect other words, phrases, clauses, and
sentences. English examples include: “and,” “but,” “because,” and “although.”

These words fall into two categories: coordinating and subordinating conjunctions.
In German, these two categories are important to be aware of because of their
differing effect on sentence word order.

Coordinating Conjunctions

These conjunctions do not alter the word order of a sentence. The most common
German coordinating conjunctions are:

aber but, however

denn for / because

entweder . . . oder either . . . or

oder or

sondern but rather (used after a negative)

sowohl . . . als as well as

und and

weder . . . noch neither . . . nor

Examples of their use:

Er lernt fleißig, denn er findet Deutsch schwer.

He studies hard because he finds German difficult.

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Sie geht in den Laden und kauft ein neues Fahrrad.

She goes into the shop and buys a new bicycle.

Wir gehen nicht ins Kino, sondern in die Bibliothek.

We are not going to the cinema but (rather) to the library.

Entweder wir fahren mit dem Bus, oder wir gehen zu Fuß.
Either we take the bus, or we walk.

You can use the “verb in second position” rule from Unit 1 to help you identify the
core elements of subject, verb, and object in these sentences. For example, if, after
a coordinating conjunction, the first word is a conjugated verb, then you know the
missing “first position” element must be implied (carried over) from the preceding
clause.

Subordinating Conjunctions

These conjunctions do affect the sentence word order. The verb in a subordinate
clause stands in final position within that clause. Note the locations of the verb
waren and its subject ihre Eltern in this example, using the conjunction als (when /
while):

Sie wohnte in Berlin, als ihre Eltern noch Studenten waren.

She lived in Berlin while her parents were still students.

When a subordinate clause is first in a sentence, then the finite verb of the main
clause immediately follows the subordinate clause. Note the locations of the verb
wohnte and its subject sie (its second occurrence in this sentence) in the next
example, which simply follows the basic rule that the main verb of a German
statement always comes in second position.

Als sie jung war, wohnte sie in Berlin.

When she was young she lived in Berlin.

A subordinate clause is also called a dependent clause because it does not make
sense by itself. In German all dependent clauses are separated from main clauses
by commas and the verb or verbs of the dependent clause stand at the end of that
clause. This is an important punctuation practice worth remembering since it will
enable you to split longer sentences apart when reading and translating.

The most common German subordinating conjunctions are:

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als when (referring to past events)

Als er in Deutschland war, sah er seinen Bruder.

When he was in Germany, he saw his brother.

Caution: this word also has uses as an adverb, in which case it behaves
like a normal adverb:

◾ “than.” Example: besser als – “better than”

◾ “as.” Example: als Ingenieur – “as an engineer”

als ob as if
(see Unit 15 for examples)

bis until

Bis es regnet, bleibt es trocken.

Until it rains, it will remain dry.

da since (because)

Ich gehe nicht ins Kino, da ich kein Geld habe.

I don’t go to movies because I have no money.

Caution: This word can also be used as an adverb (“there”) and is used
in da-compounds where it means “it” (see Unit 12). Those uses appear
with standard word order.

damit so that

Damit Sie das Examen bestehen, sollen Sie fleißig studieren.

So that you pass the exam, you should study hard.

Caution: Not to be confused with the da-compound meaning “with

it” (see above).

daß that

Die Kinder wußten sehr wohl, daß Feuer gefährlich ist.

The children knew very well that fire is dangerous.

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Note that the current German spelling of daß is dass, which you will see
in 21st-century newspapers and other mass-media publications.

Like English, German sometimes omits this very common conjunction.

You can tell this has happened because then the word order of the
subordinate clause appears in normal German statement order. And
more helpfully than in English, such sentences in German will always
use a comma to signal where one clause ends and the next one begins.
For example:

Ich glaube, ich kriege ein Fahrrad zum Geburtstag!

I think I’m getting a bicycle for my birthday!

Just for illustration, this is how the same sentence would look if the
speaker bothered to use the daß conjunction:

Ich glaube, daß ich ein Fahrrad zum Geburtstag kriege!

bevor before

Bevor es regnete, sahen wir Wolken.

Before it rained we saw clouds.

nachdem after

Erst nachdem der Schnee schmilzt, sieht man Tulpen.

Not until after the snow melts does one see tulips.

ob whether / if (only used for true/false possibilities)

Wir wissen nicht, ob er kommt.

We don’t know if he’s coming.

obwohl / although
obgleich
Obwohl zwei fertig waren, blieben noch drei in Arbeit.
Although two were done, three were still being worked on.

seitdem since (the time when) / ever since

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Seitdem sie heirateten, reisen sie jedes Jahr nach Mallorca.

Ever since they got married, they travel to Mallorca every year.

sobald as soon as

Wir fliegen, sobald das Unwetter vorbei ist.

We will fly as soon as the storm has passed.

solange as long as

Solange es so stark regnet, starten wir nicht.

As long as it rains this hard we won’t take off.

während while / whereas

Während er auf der Universität studierte, lernte er seine Frau

kennen.
While he was a university student, he got to know his wife.

Caution: Not to be confused with its use as a preposition meaning

“during,” with normal prepositional word order.

weil because

Ich trinke nachmittags Kaffee, weil ich dann schläfrig bin.

I drink coffee in the afternoon because that’s when I’m sleepy.

wenn when(ever) / if (used to set a condition)

Wenn es regnet, fährt sie mit dem Bus, nicht mit dem Fahrrad.
When it rains, she takes the bus, not her bike.

Unit: 6: Conjunctions, comparatives

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3. Als, Wenn, and Wann in Expressing

Time
When used to express time relationships (like the English word “when”), als, wenn,
and wann have quite different meanings, and they are not at all interchangeable.

The first two, als and wenn, are subordinating conjunctions as described in the
previous section, and they are each used for different senses of time. Wenn carries
the meaning of “when” in the sense of “whenever” or “if” when describing either the
past or the present. Als is used to refer to a single event or block of time when
referring to the past.

Wenn ich krank bin, bleibe ich zu Hause.

When(ever) I am sick, I stay at home. [or:] If I am sick, I stay at home.

Wenn ich krank war, blieb ich zu Hause.

When(ever) I was sick, I stayed at home.

Als ich krank war, blieb ich zu Hause.

When I was sick, I stayed at home.

The first sentence denotes repeated occurrences in the past or present, as well as
potential occurrences in the future. The second sentence covers only repeated
occurrences in the past, while the third refers to a particular single event in the
past, in this case a particular bout with an illness.

Als sie Studentin war, war sie immer gut vorbereitet.

When she was a student she was always well prepared.

This usage of “als” refers to a single block of time in the past: one’s time as a
student, one’s childhood, etc.

The question word wann is used solely in forming direct or indirect questions. Study
the examples below:

Wann kommt der Bus? Ich weiß nicht, wann der Bus kommt.
When is the bus coming? I don’t know when the bus is coming.

Note that here the use of “wann” indicates either a direct or an indirect question.

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Unit: 6: Conjunctions, comparatives

4. Comparison of Adjectives
Up to this point we have only dealt with adjectives in the positive form, e.g., klein –
“small,” rot – “red,” etc. Now we shall consider the comparative and superlative
forms of adjectives, e.g., “smaller,” “redder,” and “smallest,” “reddest.”

Comparative

The German form of the comparative is more consistent than that of English. In
English, sometimes we use the word “more” to signal a comparison (example:
“more consistent”), and sometimes we add a suffix –er (example: greener).
German simply adds an –er– to all its adjectives. Thus, the comparative of grün
(green) is grüner, that of konsequent (consistent) is konsequenter. Note that on
adjectives with the vowels a, o and u, an umlaut is usually added in the
comparative form. For example, groß (big) becomes größer (bigger), schwarz
(black) becomes schwärzer (blacker).

As far as sentence constructions go, German uses the comparative form of

adjectives in much the same way as English. For example:

With als (than):

Der Stille Ozean ist größer als die Atlantik.

The Pacific Ocean is bigger than the Atlantic.

With je and desto or umso:

Je älter ich werde, desto weiser bin ich.

The older I become, the wiser I am.

Je reicher er wird, umso öfter fährt er in Urlaub.

The richer he gets, the more often he travels on vacation.

But it has some other uses, too:

With immer:

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Er läuft immer schneller.

He runs faster and faster. (immer is translated as another “faster.”)

As an adjective modifying a noun:

Diese Familie verbrachte eine längere Zeit in Rußland.

This family spent a rather long time in Russia.

When comparative forms of adjectives are used in front of nouns, they must, like all
other adjectives, have the appropriate endings. Consequently, in order to translate /
read correctly, one must look closely at the form of the adjective(s) preceding a
noun. Consider the following:

Gestern war ein schöner Tag.

Yesterday was a beautiful day.

Vorgestern war ein schönerer Tag.

The day before yesterday was a more beautiful day.

In the first example, read schöner as (schön + adjectival ending –er). In the
second, read schönerer as (schön + comparative suffix –er– + adjectival ending
–er).

Thus, when translating, you must analyze any adjective endings before rendering
your translation into English. Otherwise you may mistake a normal adjective ending
for a comparative suffix or vice versa.

Superlative

In English, superlative adjectives are either prefaced by “most” (as in “most

beautiful”) or carry the suffix –est (as in “biggest”). Whereas in German, you will
always see the suffix –est or –st on the adjective as the only way to indicate
superlative meaning. A general rule is: if the root adjective ends in –d or –t, then
–est is added, otherwise –st.

klein– (small) kleinst– (smallest)

rot– (red) rötest– (reddest)

Usually you will see superlatives as modifiers of a noun, with the appropriate
adjective ending appended after the superlative suffix. Take the superlative
adjective ältest– (oldest):

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Das ist das älteste Buch in unserer Bibliothek.

That is the oldest book in our library.

German uses this superlative form in a different way when the adjective is not
modifying a noun:

Der Mercedes ist am teuersten.

The Mercedes is the most expensive.

This form is always am (contraction of an + dem, see your dictionary) followed by

the superlative form of the adjective plus the grammatically appropriate adjective
ending –en.

Unit: 6: Conjunctions, comparatives

5. Adjectives as Adverbs
In English, we generally differentiate adverbs and adjectives by adding the ending
–ly to adjectives to form adverbs (for example: “hot”, “hotly”). In German, there is
no such visible difference when a word is used either as an adverb or as an
adjective. (Recall, however, Recognizing Adverbs vs. Adjectives in Unit 4.) This
applies even for comparative and superlative adjectives. In all cases you can tell
from the context which meaning is being used.

Das Kind liest gut.

The child reads well.

Er läuft schneller.
He runs more quickly.

Sie läuft am schnellsten.

She runs fastest.

There are a few commonly used superlative words that are used only as adverbs
such as höchst (highly), äußerst (extremely), and meistens (mostly). For instance,

Dieses Buch ist höchst interessant.

This book is (highly / most) interesting.

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You will often see superlative constructions with am used in an adverbial sense,
especially based on the adverbial meanings of the superlative adjectives best–
(best), meist– (most), and wenigst– (least):

Meine Freunde haben gute Boote, aber mein Boot ist am besten ausgestattet.
My friends have good boats, but my boat is best equipped.

Sylvias Boot ist am wenigsten ausgestattet.

Sylvia’s boat is the least equipped.

Sylvia brauchte am meisten unsere Hilfe.

Sylvia needed our help the most.

If you are curious about the relation between gut and best, bear with us until the
next unit.

Unit: 6: Conjunctions, comparatives

6. So . . . Wie . . . Construction
The construction so + (adjective or adverb) + wie expresses a comparison of
equation, equivalent to the English expression “as . . . as . . .” These two examples
demonstrate an adverbial and an adjectival use:

Sie läuft so schnell wie er.

She runs as (fast / quickly) as he does.

Ihre Wohnung ist so groß wie die Wohnung ihrer Freundin.

Her apartment is as large as her friend’s apartment.

Unit: 6: Conjunctions, comparatives

7. Verb Formation

WORD FORMATION

These sections of the textbook help improve your speed during the skimming phase
of reading and help you gradually build vocabulary.

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In Unit 5 we dealt with the formation of nouns from verbs and common adjectives.
Now we will look at the formation of verbs from adjectives and their different
forms. For example:

breit (broad, wide) verbreiten (to broaden, widen)

ganz (whole) ergänzen (to make whole, complete)

größer (bigger) vergrößern (to make bigger, increase)

länger (longer) verlängern (to make larger, lengthen)

klar (clear) erklären (to make clear, explain)

rot (red) erröten ( to make red, blush)

As you can see we have used a simple adjective in its comparative form to make a
verb by adding a prefix and the infinitive ending –n or –en.

Formation of Nouns from More Verbs

German also changes verbs into nouns by capitalizing the word and adding a noun
ending. Thus, using some of our examples from above:

verbreiten (to broaden) Verbreiterung (widening)

ergänzen (to make whole) Ergänzung (completion)

vergrößern (to make bigger) Vergrößerung (enlargement)

verlängern (to make larger) Verlängerung (lengthening)

erklären (to make clear) Erklärung (explanation)

Compare these -ung nouns with the kind of nouns you learned how to read in Unit
4, Verbs as Nouns, which were nouns formed directly from infinitive verb forms. For
example, whereas Vergrößerung (feminine) refers to a photographic enlargement as
an object – thus as the end product of the act –, Vergrößern (neuter) refers to the
act of enlarging a photo. The neuter, infinitive-form nouns always refer specifically
to the act, action, or process itself. Similarly, compare Erklären (the act of
explaining) with Erklärung (the explanation itself).

As you seek to expand your vocabulary, always look closely at a word to see if a
part of it is familiar to you. This will give you some indication as to the word’s

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general meaning, and often the context in which it appears will enable you to
choose a precise meaning.

One way to increase your vocabulary is to group related words together. Thus,
using one of our examples, breit (broad, wide), we would group it with die Breite
(breadth, width), verbreitern (to make broader / to widen), and Verbreiterung
(widening) etc. This can be one of the more stimulating ways of learning
vocabulary.

Unit: 7: Perfect tenses and participles

1. Objectives
In this unit you will learn how to:

◾ Identify and translate present-perfect and past-perfect tenses.

◾ Identify and translate participles used as adjectives or as nouns.
◾ Identify and translate present participles used as adjectives or adverbs.
◾ Analyze and translate participial phrases.

Unit: 7: Perfect tenses and participles

2. Present Perfect Tense

In English, present perfect tense is formed with the auxiliary verb “have” plus the
past participle of the main verb, for example: “He has studied for a month.”
German present perfect tense likewise relies on an auxiliary verb plus the main
verb’s past particle. The three main differences are: 1) German allows for two
possible auxiliary verbs: haben or sein, 2) the word order is different, and 3) their
meanings are usually not the same (as discussed below).

Formation of Past Participles

German past participles are generally more instantly recognizable than English
participles thanks to most of them using a ge– prefix. The participles of German
regular (also called “weak”) verbs are usually formed simply by adding ge– before
the stem of the infinitive and ending with –t or –et. Thus, gesagt is the past
participle of sagen, gewartet is that of warten. You will not find regular-verb
participles listed separately in your dictionary, so you must be able to figure out the
corresponding infinitive form on your own in order to look up the meaning.

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The past participle of irregular (also called “strong”) verbs usually ends in –en and
also begins with ge-. Thus, geschwommen is the participle of schwimmen, geworfen
is that of werfen. Note the vowel change. Irregular-verb participles are listed with
their own entries in your dictionary, so you don’t necessarily need to memorize
them. Your dictionary may also have a section listing a large number of irregular
verbs in all their forms.

There are exceptions to these rules for verbs with:

1. Inseparable prefixes (see Unit 4): no ge– is added. Thus, verkaufen (to sell) –
verkauft (sold) and verstehen (to understand) – verstanden (understood).
2. Separable prefixes (see Unit 4): the ge– appears between the prefix and the
stem of the verb e.g., einkaufen (to shop) becomes eingekauft, aufgehen (to
rise) becomes aufgegangen.
3. Verbs ending in –ieren, e.g., studieren: all of these verbs are regular and
therefore end in –t, but they never add ge-. Thus, the past participle of
studieren is studiert, that of interessieren, interessiert. (Caution: the
inseparable-prefix verb verlieren, the past participle of which is verloren, is not
an –ieren verb.)

Syntax

As mentioned, either haben and sein may appear as the auxiliary verb in German,
whereas English only ever uses “to have”. Examples:

Er hat ein Buch gekauft. He bought a book.

Wir haben in München studiert. We studied in Munich.

Er ist in die Stadt gegangen. He went to town.

Wann seid ihr nach Hause gefahren? When did you drive home?

When is sein the auxiliary? Sein is the auxiliary for many intransitive verbs, i.e.,
verbs that do not take a direct object. These verbs are usually verbs of motion
(gehen) or those depicting a change of state, such as werden (to become) or
verschwinden (to disappear).

The basic law of German word order covered in Unit 1, “verb in second position,”
explains why you see the auxiliary verb – the part of the verb that is conjugated to
match the subject – take the second position, while the participle appears at the
end of the clause.

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The position of the participle is a useful reading cue that we don’t get to enjoy in
English. Everything between the helping verb and the participle is the predicate of
that sentence or clause. Of course, in subordinate clauses, as you learned in Unit 6,
the auxiliary verb will appear at the very end of that clause, thus immediately after
the participle.

Nachdem sie in den Laden gegangen ist, ist sie gleich wieder
herausgekommen.
After she went into the store, she came right back out again.

Meaning

In German, unlike in English, the meaning of present-perfect tense is not different

than simple past tense. Accordingly, it’s usually more naturally translated using
English simple past tense: “Er hat gelernt.” > “He studied.” Other time
information in the context of the text you are reading will allow you to select the
best tense to use for an English translation.

Keep in mind that the term “present-perfect tense” is just a linguistic term
describing how this tense is built, not what it means. The term “present-perfect
tense” merely describes the technique of using a present-tense helping verb
combined with the main verb’s perfect (participle) form. You may find it useful to
review your English grammar to become conscious of what exactly English present-
perfect tense means.

◾ If an action is complete, i.e., “over and done with,” then use the English simple
past tense:

Österreich ist 1995 Mitglied der EU geworden.

Austria became a member of the EU in 1995.

Er ist eine halbe Stunde Richtung Norden gefahren.

He drove northwards for half an hour.

◾ Whereas if the action is still continuing from the past into the present, then use
English present-perfect tense:

Österreich hat in diesem Jahr vorläufig mehr an das Ausland geliefert als
vom Ausland angekauft.
So far this year, Austria has shipped more to foreign countries than it has
purchased from foreign countries.

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It may help to review the meaning of German present tense at this point. German
present tense is actually closer to the meaning of English present-perfect tense,
because English present-perfect tense expresses that the action is continuing from
the past into the present, quite specifically including the present. Compare:

Ich bin seit sechs Jahren Student. (German present tense)

I have been a student for six years. (English present-perfect tense)

Ich bin Student gewesen. (German present-perfect tense)

Ich war Student. (German simple-past tense – exactly the same meaning)
I was a student. (English past tense)

Again, pay attention to additional time information given in the sentence when
deciding how to translate German present and present-perfect verb tenses. And in
the absence of additional time information, understand German present-perfect
tense as English past tense.

Unit: 7: Perfect tenses and participles

3. Past Perfect Tense

German past perfect (also called pluperfect) visually differs from the German
present perfect only in the tense of the auxiliary verb. The meaning of German
past-perfect tense is identical to English past-perfect tense. Compare these
examples:

P A ST P E R F E CT P R ES EN T P ER F EC T

Er hatte ein Buch gekauft. Er hat ein Buch gekauft.

He had bought a book. He bought a book.

Er war in die Stadt gegangen. Er ist in die Stadt gegangen.

He had gone to town. He went to town.

The past perfect has only this one use. Just as is in the present perfect, note that
the past participle appears in final position.

Unit: 7: Perfect tenses and participles

4. Word Formation from Past Participles

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1. Past participles may also be used as adjectives, just as they can in English. You
will usually not find these adjectives listed separately in your dictionary; you
are responsible for recognizing them as participles functioning as adjectives,
and for using the dictionary entry for the infinitive form of the verb to look up
their meaning.

Das Fenster ist geschlossen.

The window is closed.

ein gekochtes Ei
a boiled egg

The first example should not be confused with the present perfect tense. Keep
in mind that the verb schließen uses haben as a helping verb, not sein, to form
present perfect tense. Since it is grammatically (and sensibly) impossible to
read this as a verb, it is apparently being used as an adjective; it tells you the
condition of the window, not what is happening to it.

2. Past participles may also be used as adjectival nouns.

As you learned in Unit 4, you can recognize adjectival nouns from their normal
noun capitalization and syntax position, but with the addition of an appropriate
adjective ending. Thus, for example, in nominative case:

das Geschriebene (from schreiben – to write)

[literally:] the written / [usually:] that which was written / [or:] what was
written

das Gesagte (from sagen – to say)

[literally:] the said / [usually:] that which was said / [or:] what was said

In the next example, you should recognize nouns formed from the verbs
fangen and sagen:

Der Gefangene entnahm dem Gesagten, daß es spät war.

The prisoner gathered from what was said that it was late.

Unit: 7: Perfect tenses and participles

5. Present Participles

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Present participles are easily recognized by the addition of a –d to the infinitive

form of the verb. Thus schwimmend = swimming, laufend = running, etc.

German uses present participles primarily as adjectives and adverbs, not as verbs.
Remember that English present tense, “he is running,” “she is swimming” etc., is
expressed in German with the present tense: er läuft, sie schwimmt.

Examples of present participles as adjectives and adverbs:

Adjectives:
das spielende Kind
the playing child [or, more naturally in English:] the child who is playing

der singende Vogel

the singing bird

Adverbs:
Das Spiel ging enttäuschend aus.
The game ended disappointingly.

Der Hund stand bellend am Fenster.

The dog stood at the window barking.

Unit: 7: Perfect tenses and participles

6. Translating Participial Adjectives and

Adverbs
As demonstrated previously, adjectives can be used as adverbs in German (Unit 4,
Unit 6). When participial adjectives or adverbs are involved, it is common to see an
adverb modifying an adjective, which can extend the complexity within a noun
phrase.

das schnell steigende Flugzeug

the rapidly climbing airplane

das siedend heiße Wasser

the boiling-hot water

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ein hart gekochtes Ei

the hard-boiled egg

die gestern gekochten Eier

the eggs boiled yesterday

mein brauner, schon gepackter Koffer

my brown suitcase, already packed

These complex noun phrases are a good opportunity to see the value in first
marking off where each noun phrase begins and ends before attempting to translate
a long sentence. It simplifies your task to know that everything inside a noun
phrase can only be modifying the noun, not anything outside of the noun phrase.
Remember that you can easily see which are adverbs and which are adjectives by
simply noting which have adjective endings and which do not.

Unit: 7: Perfect tenses and participles

7. Participial Phrases
Both present and past participles are used in participial phrases.

Example using a present participle:

Im Garten spielend, sang das Kind.

Playing in the garden, the child sang.

Example using a past participle:

Immer an die Musik interessiert, ging der Student oft in die Oper.
Always interested in music, the student went to the opera often.

Note that the participle is functioning (and is located in final position) as if it were
the main verb in a subordinate clause. Here’s how you could diagram the syntax of
the above participial phrases:

Verb: spielend
Predicate (a prepositional phrase): im Garten

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Verb: interessiert
Predicate (a prepositional phrase): an die Musik
Which is modified by an adverb: immer

This highlights a fundamental reading skill: how to mentally re-order German

phrases so that they make sense to you in English. The various verb tenses covered
in this unit all require you to look for a participle as marking the end of a phrase,
and then to work backwards from that participle in order to find the object or
predicate of the phrase. In the two examples above, see the pattern of word-order
shifts between the German and English renditions of the participial phrases. You will
find this re-ordering skill useful throughout this course.

Try solving this more complex example yourself:

Sein Handy in der linken Hand noch am Ohr haltend, reicht mir Thomas seine
rechte Hand.

Diagram of the participial phrase:

Verb: haltend
Object: sein Handy
Prepositional phrase: in der linken Hand
Prepositional phrase: am Ohr
Which is modified by an adverb: noch

Unit: 7: Perfect tenses and participles

8. Irregularities in the Comparative and

Superlative

WORD FORMATION

These sections of the textbook help improve your speed during the skimming phase
of reading and help you gradually build vocabulary.

Like English, German has some irregular forms of the comparative and superlative
forms of adjectives and adverbs. Consider the irregular forms “good,” “better,”
“best,” compared to the regular forms “red,” “redder,” “reddest.” (See Unit 6.)

The most common of the adjectives and adverbs with irregular forms are:

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ROOT COMPAR ATIVE S UPERLATIVE

gern (gladly) lieber (preferably) am liebsten (to like most of all)

gut (good) besser best-, am besten

hoch or hoh– (high) höher höchst-, am höchsten

nah (near) näher nächst-, am nächsten (next, nearest)

oft (often) öfter häufigst-, am häufigsten

viel (much) mehr meist-, am meisten

Unit: 8: Werden, relative clauses

1. Objectives
In this unit you will learn how to:

◾ Identify whether werden is being used in its root meaning or as a future-tense

indicator.
◾ Identify and translate sentences using future or future-perfect tenses.
◾ Identify and translate probability statements.
◾ Identify and translate relative clauses.

Unit: 8: Werden, relative clauses

2. The Verb Werden

This verb is one of the most important verbs in the German language to master
because it has a range of quite different uses and meanings. Three are covered in
this unit, another (passive voice) in the next unit, and another in Unit 15
(subjunctive). So it is important for you to practice distinguishing the different
usages.

When used by itself as a simple, “full” verb, werden means “to become,” “to turn
into,” or in colloquial English, “to get,” as in:

Wir werden nicht älter, wir werden nur besser.

We don’t get older, we just get better.

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It has an irregular conjugation:

Present tense:

PERSON SI NG U L A R P L U R AL

1ST ich werde wir werden

2ND du wirst ihr werdet

3RD er/sie/es wird sie/Sie werden

Simple past tense:

PERSON SI NG U L A R P L U R AL

1ST ich wurde wir wurden

2ND du wurdest ihr wurdet

3RD er/sie/es wurde sie/Sie wurden

Perfect Tenses

Werden uses the auxiliary verb sein and the past participle geworden. Examples
using the third person singular and plural are:

Present perfect:

Er ist alt geworden.

He has become old. / He became old.

Sie sind alt geworden.

They have become old. / They became old.

Past perfect:

Diese Maschine war zu alt geworden.

This machine had become too old.

Diese Maschinen waren zu alt geworden.

These machines had become too old.

Unit: 8: Werden, relative clauses

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3. Future and Future Perfect Tenses

Werden and its present tense forms can also be used with an infinitive of a verb to
form the future tense in German. For example:

Dieses Auto wird sicher schneller fahren.

This car will surely go faster.

Sie weiß nicht, ob sie heute abend kommen werden.

She doesn’t know if they will come this evening.

Note: The dependent infinitive (fahren and kommen in these examples) stands in
final position.

Future perfect tense is not used frequently but it is wise to be aware of it. Examples
of it are:

Unser Direktor wird eine Reise um die Welt gemacht haben.

Our director will have travelled around the world.

Wir werden über 15.000 km geflogen sein.

We will have flown over 15,000 kilometers.

Note: The auxiliary verb (haben or sein) that accompanies the dependent infinitive
appears after the past participle. To summarize: future perfect is composed of a
present tense form of werden plus a past participle and its auxiliary:

werden + past participle + haben or sein

Unit: 8: Werden, relative clauses

4. Werden in Probability Statements

The verb werden can furthermore be used with an infinitive and usually the word
wohl, but sometimes doch or schon, to express probability. As you will see, the
examples look exactly like future tense and future perfect statements. The
difference is the addition of wohl, doch, or schon, which can change the meaning
dramatically.

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A present tense probability statement:

Er wird wohl Deutsch studieren.

He is probably studying German. [or:] He is probably a German major.

A past tense probability statement:

Er wird wohl Deutsch studiert haben.

He probably (studied / has studied) German.

Follow these steps whenever you see a sentence that looks like a future or future
perfect statement that contains wohl, doch or schon as an adverb:

1. Attempt to translate the sentence with both the verb tense (future or future
perfect) and wohl/doch/schon in their "normal" meanings.
2. Compare that result with when you attempt to translate the sentence as a
probability statement, in which case two meanings change:
A. Understand the verb tense as present instead of what looks like future, or
as past instead of what looks like future perfect.
B. Understand wohl/doch/schon as the "probability" adverb: "probably /
surely / likely" etc.
3. Pick the reading (step #1 or #2) that makes more sense. If they both could
make sense, then pick #2. In other words, generally werden +
doch/schon/wohl
indicates a probability statement (option #2), unless that doesn’t make real-
world sense.

Work out your own translations of the five examples on this page to experience this
decision-making process.

More examples:

Der spricht aber fließend! Er wird doch Deutsch studieren!?

Wow, that guy speaks fluently! Surely he’s a German major!?

Sie werden dir schon die Wahrheit sagen.

I’m confident they will tell you the truth. (Note: not a probability statement,
just regular future tense and regular schon.)

Sie werden dir schon viel Geld gekostet haben.

They likely cost you a lot of money.

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Unit: 8: Werden, relative clauses

5. Relative Pronouns and Relative Clauses

In Unit 6, we dealt with dependent clauses as introduced by subordinating
conjunctions. Now we will deal with another type of dependent clause, the relative
clause which is introduced with the German equivalent of “which,” “that,” “who,”
“whom,” etc. Examples in English:

I saw the cat which my dog hates.

I saw the cat that ate the mouse.
I saw the man who owns the cat.
I saw the house in which they live.

The German relative pronouns in the different cases are exactly the same as the
definite article, except for those bolded below. They are translated either as “who”
and its forms (“whose”, “whom”) or as “which,” “that,” and “what”:

MASCULINE F EMININE NEUTER P LURAL

N O MIN A T I VE der die das die

ACCUSATIVE den die das die

D AT I V E dem der dem denen

GE NITIVE dessen deren dessen deren

Compare these with the definite articles in Unit 2. The differences are in the genitive
(“of which,” “whose”), where we see dessen and deren, and in the dative plural (“to
which,” “to whom”), where we see denen.

In much older German texts, we will find another form of the relative pronoun,
welch-, which is declined like the der– words as shown in Unit 3. There is no
genitive form of welch– as a relative pronoun.

Relative pronouns are used to introduce relative clauses. In the English sentence,
“The book that he is reading is very interesting,” the relative clause is, “that he is
reading,” and the main sentence is: “The book is very interesting.” The meaning of
a relative clause is to modify the item in the main sentence to which the entire
relative clause refers – in this case, “book.”

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There are two rules in German that make recognizing relative clauses easier than in
English:

1. German only rarely omits the relative pronoun as we often do in English: "The
book he is reading is interesting." Thus, normally, the relative pronoun will be
the first word in the clause, unless it is used with a preposition, which will
precede it – see example #6 below.
2. German marks both the beginning and the end of the relative clause with
commas.

Examples of relative pronouns and clauses:

1. Der Computer, der [nominative case-masculine] in diesem Zimmer steht, ist

neu.

The computer (which is) standing in this room is new.

2. Der Computer, den [accusative-masculine] ich habe, ist neu.
The computer (which) I have is new.
3. Der Professor, dessen [genitive-masculine] Buch ich lese, ist wohlbekannt.
The professor whose book I am reading is well-known.
4. Der Student, dem [dative-masculine] ich das Buch gebe, heißt Hans.
The student to whom I give the book is called Hans.
5. Die Arbeiter, denen [dative-plural] wir Computer geben, sind intelligent.
The workers to whom we give computers are intelligent.
6. Die Maschine, mit der [dative-feminine] ich arbeite, ist komplex.
The machine with which I am working is complex.

The meaning of a relative pronoun can be determined if you note the following:

1. The relative pronoun agrees in both gender and number with the word it
refers to. Therefore, in our examples, if the noun in the main sentence is
masculine and singular then the relative pronoun is masculine and singular,
etc.
2. The case of the relative pronoun agrees with the role it plays within the
relative clause, not by the role of the word in the main sentence to which it
refers.
3. When you are in doubt about which item the clause is referring back to,
assume the nearest preceding noun (whether implied or stated) that meets the
first rule above.

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Thus, in example #1 it is nominative since it is the subject, in #2 accusative since it

is the direct object, in #3 the genitive, in #4, #5, and #6 the dative since it is the
indirect object or is governed by a dative preposition or verb.

Paying attention to the agreement of gender and number can be crucial for reading
comprehension. German can be much clearer and more efficient than English since
one can (and sometimes must) rely on this agreement to determine exactly what is
referring to what.

Unit: 8: Werden, relative clauses

6. Question Words as Relative Pronouns

Just as in English, question words such as wo, was, and wie sometimes function as
unspecific relative pronouns, and in this case they do not signal a question.
Recognize how word order signals to you that this is a relative clause and not a
question:

Sie ist sich unsicher, was sie bestellen wird.

She is not sure what she will order.

Ich weiß, wo Franz Kafka geboren ist.

I know where Franz Kafka was born.

These express a less specific kind of relationship between the two phrases than a
relative pronoun does. Compare the second example above with:

Ich sah das Haus, in dem Franz Kafka geboren ist.

I saw the house in which Franz Kafka was born.

A famous example of this kind of question-word usage is in the first line of a Goethe
poem: Kennst du das Land, wo die Zitronen blühn, …

You may find the

Review Units 5-8 exercise more valuable now or as a later review opportunity.

Unit: 9: Passive voice

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1. Objectives
In this unit you will learn how to:

◾ Identify and translate sentences using the passive voice, in any tense.
◾ Identify and translate demonstrative pronouns.
◾ Identify and translate uses of selbst and selber.

Unit: 9: Passive voice

2. Passive Voice
So far we have been limiting ourselves to the active voice, in which a subject
commits an action as, for example, in “The boy kicks the ball.” But you will
encounter passive voice quite frequently in formal German prose. Passive voice
expresses that something is done to the grammatical subject by someone or
something. A past tense example is, “The ball was kicked by the boy,” or even
just, “The ball was kicked,” which doesn’t specify who did the kicking at all. A
present tense example is: “The election results are counted before the winners are
announced.” As you can see, English expresses passive voice by using the verb “to
be” plus the past participle of the action verb.

German expresses the passive voice by using the verb werden plus the past
participle of the action verb. Passive voice in the various tenses is simple enough,
following the rules you have learned so far, but the results are uniquely
recognizable as passive voice, because werden is the verb that changes tense, while
the action verb(s) remain as past participles:

Present tense
Dieses Schiff wird von der neuen Firma gebaut.
This ship is being built by the new company.
[or:] This ship is going to be built by the new company. (Review the basics of
present tense.)

Past tense
Dieses Schiff wurde von der neuen Firma gebaut.
This ship was being built by the new company.
[or:] This ship was built by the new company.

Present perfect

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Dieses Schiff ist von der neuen Firma gebaut worden.

This ship was built by the new firm.

Note: The auxiliary verb for werden is sein. The past participle of werden becomes
worden only in passive voice (instead of the normal geworden).

Past perfect
Dieses Schiff war von der neuen Firma gebaut worden.
This ship had been built by the new company.

Future
Dieses Schiff wird von der neuen Firma gebaut werden.
This ship will be built by the new company.

Future perfect
Dieses Schiff wird von der neuen Firma gebaut worden sein.
This ship will have been built by the new company.

Points to remember:

1. In the passive voice, werden and its parts correspond to English “to be” and its
parts.
2. The past participle of the action verb stands in final position within the clause
or sentence (but before any parts of verbs that were sent to the end by larger-
scale changes such as perfect tenses or subordinating conjunctions).
3. worden corresponds to English “been”: Almost without exception when you see
worden you are dealing with the passive voice in one of the perfect tenses
(present or past or future). The exception is in older poetry, where worden
may also appear as an alternative form of geworden generally, not just in
passive voice.
4. The prepositions von, durch and mit are translated in the passive voice to
English “by” or “with.” Von is used to refer to agents (people, companies),
durch to refer to means, e.g. Das Haus wurde durch eine Bombe zerstört (The
house was destroyed by a bomb) and mit for instruments, e.g., Spaghetti wird
oft mit Gabel und Löffel gegessen (Spaghetti is often eaten with a fork and
spoon).
5. Passive voice, as you’ll be able to tell from context, is occasionally used to
express an unfriendly, commanding tone or an impersonal, bureaucratic tone.
Examples:

Stille! Hier wird jetzt gearbeitet!

Silence! Get to work now (everyone)!

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Sie sagen nichts. Alle Fragen werden vom Direktor beantwortet.

You will say nothing. The director shall answer all questions.

Review the other usages of werden covered in Unit 8 and then practice identifying
what role werden is playing whenever you encounter it.

Unit: 9: Passive voice

3. Demonstrative Pronouns
The relative pronouns listed in the chart in Unit 8 may also be used as
demonstrative pronouns, which are generally translated as “that one,” “the one,” or
“those.” The most common uses of demonstrative pronouns which are of
significance for reading and understanding written German are as follows:

1. Introducing a relative clause:

Diese Werkzeuge sind die, die wir in Deutschland kauften.

These tools are the ones (those) which we bought in Germany.

Here a demonstrative pronoun (in bold) acts as the antecedent of a relative

clause, which begins after the comma. Note that the demonstrative pronoun
does not change word order. The demonstrative pronoun here acts as a link
between the relative clause and the subject Diese Werkzeuge, allowing the
entire relative clause to modify Diese Werkzeuge, without having to appear
awkwardly immediately after the word Werkzeuge.

Another example of this usage:

Der Kuchen auf dem Tisch ist der, den ich gebacken habe.
The cake on the table is the one I baked.

2. As a reference back to a preceding noun, without requiring a relative clause:

Ich finde die Regeln deutscher Schulen und die der amerikanischen
Schulen ganz anders.
I find the rules of German schools and those of the American schools quite
different.

Here the demonstrative pronoun (in bold) refers back to “die Regeln,” allowing
a genitive relationship, die Regeln der amerikanischen Schulen to be expressed

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without having to restate die Regeln. Note that the demonstrative pronoun die
agrees in number with die Regeln (plural).

Another example of this usage:

Die Computer von gestern sind kaum zu vergleichen mit denen von
heute.
The computers of yesterday can hardly be compared with those of today.

3. As a reference to a noun in a preceding sentence:

Der Porsche ist ein Sportwagen. Der ist wirklich ein Wunderauto.
The Porsche is a sportscar. It is truly a miracle car. [or:] That is truly a
miracle car.

Here the demonstrative pronoun (in bold) is used to refer back to the
masculine singular subject (der Porsche) of the previous sentence.

Another example of this usage:

Rosen riechen am besten. Deren Duft ist wunderbar.

Roses smell the best. Their aroma is wonderful.

Special demonstrative pronouns

1. derjenige, diejenige, dasjenige, diejenigen

These mean “that one” or “those.” As you can see, these are just the definite
articles combined with “-jenige.” Both parts are declined just like any other
combination of article and adjective (see Unit 4) and therefore reflect the
different cases.

Ich werde demjenigen wärmstens danken, der mir jetzt hilft.

I will thank most warmly whomever helps me now.

Unter eingeborenen US-Amerikanern ist der Anteil derjenigen, die eine

andere Sprache sprechen, äußerst gering.
The fraction of US-born Americans who can speak another language is
extremely small. (literally: Among US-born Americans, the fraction of
those who speak another language is extremely small.)

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Biographien können das Leben sowohl als die Umwelt desjenigen

beschreiben, über den die Biographie berichtet.
Biographies can describe the life as well as the environment of their
subjects. (literally: Biographies can describe the life as well of the
environment of the one about whom the biography reports.)

Latein war geprägt von deutlichen Unterschieden zwischen den Varietäten

der ungebildeten Bevölkerung und denjenigen der “High Society”.
Latin was marked by distinct differences between the varieties spoken by
the uneducated population and those of “high society.”

2. derselbe, dieselbe, dasselbe, dieselben

Usually translatable as “the same,” and function just as the words above:

Ich mag es nicht, wenn mein Chef dieselbe Krawatte trägt, die ich trage.
I don’t like it when my boss wears the same tie I’m wearing.

Die Sonne kann nicht zweimal an demselben Tag aufgehen.

The sun cannot rise twice in the same day.

Unit: 9: Passive voice

4. Selbst and Selber

Be careful not to confuse these two words with the similar-looking demonstrative
pronouns dieselbe etc. described in the previous section. The meaning of either
word is determined by its position in the sentence.

When selbst precedes the noun or phrase to which it relates, then it has the
emphatic meaning "even", as an adverb:

Selbst der Direktor hat das nicht gemerkt.

Even the director did not notice that.

Selbst Haifische fressen Quallen nicht.

Even sharks don’t eat jellyfish.

Ich kaufe mir keine Lotteriekarten, selbst wenn der Jackpot groß ist.
I won’t buy lottery tickets even if the jackpot is big.

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In other positions, selbst is completely equivalent to selber, that is, a demonstrative

pronoun translated as a “-self” word. In this meaning, you again need to pay close
attention to position in the German sentence. When it immediately follows an
object, then it’s emphasizing that object, just like in English when you place a
"-self" word immediately after an object:

Die Lehrerin selber hat das Buch geschrieben.

The teacher herself wrote the book. (This emphasizes that the teacher wrote
it).

Die Lehrerin hat das Buch selber geschrieben.

The teacher wrote the book herself. (This emphasizes that the teacher wrote it
herself.)

Den Kuchen habe ich selbst gebacken.

I baked the cake myself.

Unit: 9: Passive voice

5. Compound Nouns with Shared Parts

You will sometimes encounter a peculiar efficiency when a German sentence
contains two or more compound nouns which share a word part. The clue to watch
for is a hanging hyphen at the beginning or end of a word. Examples:

Dabei werden Ursachen von Kinderarmut in Ost- und Westdeutschland

verglichen.
In the process, causes of child poverty in East and West Germany are
compared.

The above example saves the writer or speaker from the tedious phrase
Ostdeutschland und Westdeutschland.

Vorgang zum Richten insbesondere der Bandanfänge und -enden von

gewalzten Metallbändern.
Procedure for straightening especially the ribbon beginnings and ends of rolled
metal ribbons.

This example uses a shorter way of writing Bandanfänge und Bandenden. (You were
introduced to this practice previously at the end of Unit 3, section 5.) Just make
sure your English translation clearly communicates the intended compound

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meaning, given that English lacks the clarity of that hyphen. You may need to write
out each compound in English.

Unit: 9: Passive voice

6. Pronoun es Referring to Clauses

Both German and English sometimes use the neuter pronoun "it" or es without
referring to any specific noun in the surrounding text, but German expands that
usage beyond the needs of English. In particular, German will use es to refer to an
entire clause, particularly as a way to tie together clauses within a complex
sentence, and especially when German syntax "inconveniently" wants a verbal
subject or object. In the next example, es is referring forward to the entire daß
clause, as a way of satisfying the German desire to have a properly located direct
object for the verb ansehen:

Ich sehe es als unser Versagen an, daß diese alten Leute so arm sind.
I see the fact that these old people are so poor as our failure.

In the next sentence, es refers forward to the daß clause, so that the verb stören
can have a grammatical subject, and to obey the German rule that the verb must
be in second position (as covered in Unit 1, section 9):

Es störte Ingrid, daß er sein Zimmer nicht zuerst aufräumte.

It bothered Ingrid that he didn’t first tidy up his room.
[or:] The fact that he didn’t first tidy up his room bothered Ingrid.

How you translate such uses of es may vary: first you must understand its function
in the German sentence, and that should guide you to an English expression of the
same meaning.

Unit: 9: Passive voice

7. More Prefixes and Suffixes

WORD FORMATION

These sections of the textbook help improve your speed during the skimming phase
of reading and help you gradually build vocabulary.

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Adjectival Suffixes

A large number of adjectives/adverbs can be quickly recognized as the addition of a

certain suffix to a noun or to the root of a verb, like in English. Some of the most
common such German suffixes are:

–bar as in eßbar (edible), from essen (to eat); sichtbar (visible, seeable), from
Sicht(sight)

–haft as in lebhaft (lively), from leben (to live); zweifelhaft (doubtful) from
Zweifel (doubt)

–ig as in mächtig (mighty, powerful) from Macht (power); krustig (crusty)

from Kruste (crust)

–isch as in künstlerisch (artistic) from Künstler (artist); politisch (political)

from Politik (politics); kindisch (childish) from Kind (child)

–lich as in tödlich (deadly) from Tod (death) or kindlich (childlike) from Kind
(child)

–los as in endlos (endless) from Ende (end); erfolglos (unsuccessful,

“successless”) from Erfolg (success)

–reich as in erfolgreich (successful, “rich in success”) from Erfolg (success);

ergebnisreich (fruitful, “rich in results”) from Ergebnis (result)

–voll as in kraftvoll (powerful) from Kraft (power); geheimnisvoll (mysterious,

“full of secret”) from Geheimnis (secret)

The Noun Prefix Ge–

Examples:

Gebäck (baked goods) from backen (to bake)

Gebirge (mountain chain) from Berg (mountain)
Gedanke (thought) from denken (to think)
Gepäck (luggage) from packen (to pack)
Gespräch (conversation) from sprechen (to speak)

This prefix gives a collective sense to a word root.

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Unit: 10: Modal verbs

1. Objectives
In this unit you will learn how to:

◾ Identify and translate modal verbs, in any tense, and in a variety of their
usages.
◾ Identify and translate sentences in which a subordinate clause is acting as the
subject.

Unit: 10: Modal verbs

2. Modal Verbs
The modal verbs are those verbs which express a mood, such as “like to” or “want
to.” The German modal verbs and their basic meanings are:

dürfen to be allowed to (in the sense of permission)

können to be able to (in the sense of ability)

müssen to have to

mögen to like to

sollen to be supposed to

wollen to want to

Present Tense

The modal verbs are irregular in the present tense singular but act like any other
verb in the plural. Thus, for example, dürfen conjugates as:

PERSON SINGULAR PLURAL

1ST ich darf wir dürfen

2ND du darfst ihr dürft

3RD er/sie/es darf sie/Sie dürfen

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Similarly, the other modal verbs also change their stem in the singular conjugations
(except for sollen). In the list below, you will also note that all modal verbs also
have no verb ending in the first and third person singular present-tense forms
(ich / er / sie / es). As you may recall from Unit 2, wissen is the only non-modal
verb that shares this pattern.

The following list demonstrates the irregular singular root of each modal verb and
also provides typical translations of each verb:

I NFINITIVE EXAMPLE T YPICAL TRANSLATIONS

dürfen er darf he is allowed to / he may / he can

können er kann he is able to / he can

müssen er muß he has to / he must / he is required to

mögen er mag he likes to / he enjoys

sollen er soll he is supposed to / he should

wollen er will he wants to

Example sentences:

Amerikaner unter 21 Jahren dürfen keine alkoholischen Getränke kaufen.

Americans unter 21 years may not buy alcoholic drinks.

Wer kann mir helfen?

Who can help me?

Der Student muß fleißig lernen.

The student has to study hard.

Meine Töchter mögen nicht laute Musik hören.

My daughters don’t like to listen to loud music.

Was soll man mit diesem Gerät tun können?

What is one supposed to be able to do with this device?

Mein Sohn will ins Kino gehen.

My son wants to go to the cinema.

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In the example above for “sollen,” you can see three verbs. Sollen is conjugated,
but tun können are two infinitives. This construction is often called a “double-
infinitive.” Translating this into English is simple enough, since the infinitives remain
infinitives in English, too.

In general, the dependent infinitive, such as aufräumen or gehen in the examples

above, appears in final position in the clause. Note the position of the infinitives in
the following example:

Er will nicht sagen, ob er morgen zur Schule gehen muß.

He doesn’t want to say whether he has to go to school tomorrow.

Simple Past Tense

The simple past forms of the modals are formed like regular verbs except that they
drop their umlaut. Using the third person singular and plural as our examples:

3 R D - P E R SO N

I NF INITIV E S I N G U L A R , P L U R AL G E N E R AL T R ANS L A T I ON S

dürfen durfte, durften (was / were) allowed to

können konnte, konnten (was / were) able to

müssen mußte, mußten had to

mögen mochte, mochten liked to (Note the change from g to ch.)

sollen sollte, sollten (was / were) supposed to

wollen wollte, wollten wanted to

Sample sentences:

Wir wollten nach Hause gehen.

We wanted to go home.

Der Ingenieur mußte die Maschine reparieren.

The engineer had to repair the machine.

Perfect Tenses

The auxiliary verb of the modals is haben. In the formation of both the present and
past perfect tenses of the modal verbs we are introduced to a variation on the

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“double infinitive” phenomenon. Rather than a past participle, you will see the
infinitive form of the modal next to the dependent infinitive.

Present perfect:
Die Studentin hat diese ganze Woche fleißig lernen müssen.
The (woman) student has had to study hard this entire week.

Past perfect:
Der Ingenieur hatte die Maschine am Sonntag reparieren können.
The engineer had been able to repair the machine on Sunday.

Note that the modal perfect tenses affect the position of the auxiliary verb when it is
in a subordinate clause. Instead of appearing at the very end of the clause as usual,
it will appear before the double infinitive, and even before an adverb, if there is
one. The auxiliary verb is bolded in these examples:

Present perfect:
Die Studentin beklagte, daß sie diese ganze Woche hat fleißig lernen müssen.
The (woman) student complained that she has had to study hard this entire
week.

Past perfect:
Die Fabrik funktionierte weiter, da der Ingenieur die Maschine am Sonntag
hatte reparieren können.
The factory continued to function because the engineer had been able to repair
the machine on Sunday.

Future Tense

To form the future tense of the modal we use werden and its forms as we do for all
future tenses. Thus, using our sentences from the present tense, we have in the
future tense:

Der Student wird fleißig lernen müssen.

The student will have to study hard.

Mein Sohn wird ins Kino gehen wollen.

My son will want to go to the cinema.

Again the dependent infinitives go into final position. The difference between the
structure of the future and perfect tenses is that the future uses werden and its
forms, the perfect tenses haben and its forms.

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Unit: 10: Modal verbs

3. Modal Verb Usages

a. mögen can also be translated as “to like” instead of “to like to”: Das Kind mag
Eis (The child likes ice cream).

In addition mag can mean “may” suggesting possibility: Das mag wahr sein.
(That may be true.)

b. können can also be translated as “to know” in the sense of skills, e.g. Sie kann
Deutsch. (She knows German). See also note f) below, which explains how this
works.

c. sollen is often used to distance the speaker from someone else’s claim, like
English "is said to," "is supposedly," or "allegedly":

Dieses Buch soll interessant sein.

This book is said to be interesting. [or:] This book is supposedly
interesting.

And as demonstrated further in section g) below, you will often encounter

present-tense usages of sollen with this special meaning which refer to a past
event:

Sie soll auch einen dritten Brief geschrieben haben.

She allegedly wrote a third letter, too.

d. wollen has two other common usages. As you will be able to tell from context,
it can mean "to claim to" rather than "to want to":

Der Professor will diese Tatsache entdeckt haben.

The professor claims to have discovered this fact.

wollen can also be used like a regular, non-modal verb (even taking a direct
object), like English "to want a thing":

Er will das Buch.

He wants the book.

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e. dürfen and müssen

Because müssen and its forms so closely resemble English “must,” it is easy to
mistranslate it, above all in the negative sense. For example:

Wir müssen nicht nach Hause gehen.

We do not have to go home.

müssen means “have to” and the nicht negates it. Thus müssen plus a
negative means “to not have to,” NOT “must not.” Thus it would be a common
mistake by English speakers to misunderstand this example as “We must not
go home.”

The same danger applies when translating dürfen:

Wir dürfen nicht nach Hause gehen.

We are not allowed to go home. [or:] We must not go home.

An English speaker might misunderstand this sentence as: “We are allowed to
not go home.”

f. Implied infinitives: More often than in English, in German you may see modal
verbs used in a sentence without any corresponding infinitive verb. In these
cases, the context provides enough information to make the sentence
comprehensible. Note b) above mentioned one common example (in which the
implied infinitive was sprechen) and here are three more:

Willst du jetzt nach Hause?

Do you want to go home now?

Es ist kalt hier auf dem Balkon. Wir müssen bald ins Zimmer.
It’s cold here on the balcony. We’ll have to move inside soon.

Kommst du mit ins Kino? Nein, ich mag nicht.

Are you coming with (us/me) to the movies? No, I don’t want to.

g. With perfect and passive infinitives:

Modal verbs can also be used with dependent verbs that are not in infinitive
form, such as to refer to a past event or with a passive-voice dependent verb.
Note in these examples the difference in tense between the modal verb and its
dependent verb. In the following four examples, the modal verbs are all in
present tense, but modal verbs can potentially be used in any tense,

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independent of the tense of the dependent verb. Watch for those tense
differences and adapt your understanding of the meaning accordingly. In all
cases, you can count on the dependent verb appearing at the end of the clause
and in infinitive form, i.e., not conjugated to match a particular subject.

With perfect infinitives:

Mein Sohn soll das Buch gelesen haben.

My son is supposed to have read the book.

Der Zug muß neulich abgefahren sein.

The train must have departed recently.

With passive infinitives:

Diese Aufgabe muß getan werden.

This exercise must be done.

Der neue Prozeß kann schnell entwickelt werden.

The new process can be developed quickly.

Note: The dependent verbs stand in final position.

h. Past participle with ge-:

It is possible to form a past participle of the modals beginning with ge– and
ending in –t, i.e., gedurft, gekonnt, gemußt, gemocht, gesollt and gewollt.
However, these are only used when:

i. The modal’s special meaning is used as in:

Er hat den Film gemocht.
He liked the film.

ii. The infinitive verb is not present in the sentence, only implied:
Hat er das tun können? Ja, das hat er gekonnt.
Was he able to do that? Yes, he was able to.

Unit: 10: Modal verbs

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4. Subordinate Clause as Sentence

Subject
More often than in English, in German you will encounter subordinate clauses that in
fact function as the sentence subject. Identify the subject, verb, and predicate in
each of these examples:

Ob sie mit uns ins Kino gehen darf, bleibt unklar.

It’s still not clear whether she (will be/is) allowed to go to the movies with us.
[or:] Whether she (will be/is) allowed to go to the movies with us is not clear.

Daß sie jetzt mit uns ins Kino geht, ist schön!
The fact that she is now going with us to the movies is great!
[or:] It’s great that
she is now going with us to the movies!

Note that there are variations on this structure which you should be equally able to
recognize:

Unklar bleibt, wie wir dahin kommen.

It’s still unclear how we’re going to get there.

Es war doch das Beste, daß wir gestern nicht ausgegangen sind.
It worked out for the best that we didn’t go out yesterday.

Unit: 11: Infinitive usages

1. Objectives
In this unit you will learn how to:

◾ Translate clauses involving multiple verbs, specifically including lassen, sehen,

and hören as the primary verb.
◾ Identify and translate infinitive phrases.

Unit: 11: Infinitive usages

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2. Verbs that Function Like Modals

a. sehen = “to see” and hören = “to hear”

With sehen and hören, a dependent infinitive is used and thus a double
infinitive is formed in the perfect tenses.

Present:

Er sieht den Zug ankommen.

He sees the train arrive.

Sie hört ihren Bruder singen.

She hears her brother singing.
[or:] She hears her brother sing.

Present perfect:

Er hat den Zug ankommen sehen.

He saw the train arrive.

Sie hat ihren Bruder singen hören.

She heard her brother sing(ing).

Simple past:

Er sah den Zug ankommen.

He saw the train arrive.

Sie hörte ihren Bruder singen.

She heard her brother sing(ing).

b. lassen

This verb has several uses:

i. lassen – to leave. In this case it functions like any other verb:

Er läßt mich allein.

He leaves me alone.

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Er hat mich nie allein gelassen.

He never left me alone.

ii. lassen + (an infinitive) – to let, to allow

Er läßt ihn gehen.

He lets him go.

Er hat ihn gehen lassen.

He (has) let him go.

In this case, a dependent infinitive is used and in the perfect tenses a

double infinitive, just as with the modal verbs.

c. lassen + (an infinitive) – to have something done.

Wir lassen ein Haus bauen.

We are having a house built.

Wir haben unser Auto reparieren lassen.

We have had our car repaired.

Again, you see a dependent infinitive, with a double infinitive in the perfect
tenses. Note that there is no visible difference between usage 1.b.ii above and
this usage. Now that you are aware of both possible meanings for this
construction, you can rely on real-world sense-making to decide which
meaning is intended.

d. sich lassen + (an infinitive) – as a substitute for the passive voice (compare
Unit 9). More specifically, this usage is exactly equivalent to (and is preferred
over) a combination of the modal verb können with passive voice. It might help
you to think about how this usage of lassen is similar to 1-b-ii above:
something “lets itself be done.”

Dieses Wort läßt sich nicht leicht übersetzen.

Dieses Wort kann nicht leicht übersetzt werden.
This word cannot be translated easily.

Das Fenster läßt sich öffnen.

Das Fenster kann geöffnet werden.
The window can be opened.

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Unit: 11: Infinitive usages

3. Infinitive Phrases
Modal verbs, as you have already learned, are accompanied by a dependent
infinitive without zu (to) because the “to” is inherent in the modal: Er muß gehen
(He has to go). However, both English and German employ common verbs such as
“to begin,” that we use with a dependent infinitive (“It begins to rain.”). Likewise,
adding a bit more complexity, both English and German use dependent infinitives
that have their own predicates (“It is his plan to develop a new engine.”).

a. Verbs with infinitives and zu

Heute beginnt es zu schneien.

Today it (begins / is beginning) to snow.

Wir haben beschlossen, unsere Ferien in Deutschland zu verbringen.

We have decided to spend our holiday in Germany.

Der Ingenieur versucht, einen neuen Plan zu entwickeln.

The engineer is trying to develop a new plan.

The dependent infinitive stands, as usual, in final position in the sentence, but
it is preceded by a zu. If the dependent infinitive involves an entire phrase, as
in our second and third examples, this phrase is separated from the main
clause by a comma. Note that the structure of longer infinitive phrases appears
to an English speaker to be in reverse order.

When the dependent infinitive is a separable-prefix verb, the zu appears

between the prefix and the stem of the verb, as in:

Er vergaß, das Fenster aufzumachen.

He forgot to open the window.

Modal verbs can also appear in these constructions:

Ich hoffe, eines Tages deutsche Zeitungen ohne Wörterbuch lesen zu

können.
I hope to be able to read German newspapers without a dictionary
someday.

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In the same way English does, German permits infinitive phrases to refer to
completed actions, by using an infinitive form of present-perfect tense.
Compare the preceding, modal example with the following, completed-action
example. Notice how the helping verb of the present-perfect tense (in this
case, haben) fits into the phrase at the same place the modal verb did above:

Sie verspricht, vor nächster Woche eine deutsche Zeitung gelesen zu

haben.
She promises to have read a German newspaper before next week.
or:
She promises that she will have read a German newspaper before next
week.

Here is an extensive but not exhaustive list of German verbs that can be used
with dependent infinitives and zu. Your will notice that they are, for the most
part, counterparts of English verbs which function in the same way.

anfangen / beginnen to begin

aufhören to stop / to cease

befehlen to order

beschließen to decide

brauchen to need

drohen to threaten

hoffen to hope

pflegen to be used to (in the habit of)

scheinen to seem / to appear

vergessen to forget

verlangen to demand

vermögen to be capable

versprechen to promise

versuchen to try />to attempt

wagen to risk

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wünschen to wish

zögern to delay

Note when translating such constructions that English sometimes requires the
gerund form (-ing) of the dependent verb:

Gestern fing es zu regnen an, und heute regnet es immer noch.

It started raining yesterday and it’s still raining today.

b. Infinitive clauses with nouns

Das ist ein Befehl, vorwärts zu ziehen.

That is a command to move forward.

Das ist ein Versuch, die neu entdeckten Mineralen zu untersuchen.

That is an attempt to test the newly discovered minerals.

c. The verb sein plus zu and an infinitive

In terms of how it is translated, this construction is quite different from those
above. Consider the following examples:

Dieses Buch ist zu lesen.

The book is to be read.

In Minnesota sind viele Seen zu sehen.

In Minnesota many lakes are to be seen.

It is sometimes more natural in English to express this meaning using a

passive voice construction with the modal verb “must” or “can.” We could
optionally translate the first sentence as “This book must be read,” or the
second as “In Minnesota many lakes can be seen.” In fact, the sich lassen
passive construction in 1. d) above carries a meaning similar to this
construction.

Note that the above two examples do not have an adjective as the predicate of
sein. When you do see an adjective there, the meaning will be easy to read,
since English uses this same construction to express the same meaning:

Dieses Buch ist schwierig zu lesen.

This book is hard to read.

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Im starken Winde wird das Boot leicht umzukippen sein.

In a strong wind, the boat will be easy to tip over.

Unit: 11: Infinitive usages

4. Common Infinitive Constructions

As is true for all dependent constructions, including the infinitive clauses described
above, it is helpful to remember that German abides by two rules that give you
visual cues about the structure of sentences:

1. All dependent constructions, whether clauses or phrases, are separated from

main clauses by a comma or commas.
2. Verbs stand in final position in dependent clauses and phrases.

There are three prepositions that in infinitive clauses take on special but commonly
used meanings:

a. um . . . zu + infinitive = “in order to”

Sie lernt fleißig, um das Examen zu bestehen.

She studies hard in order to pass the exam.

b. ohne . . . zu + infinitive = “without” + present participle.

Wir sind nach Frankreich gereist, ohne Paris zu besuchen.

We travelled to France without visiting Paris.

c. anstatt (sometimes statt) . . . zu + infinitive = “instead of” + present

participle.

Anstatt zu arbeiten, sind wir ins Kino gegangen.

Instead of working we went to the cinema (movies).

Unit: 12: Da- compounds

1. Objectives
In this unit you will learn how to:

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◾ Identify and translate da- and hier- words.

◾ Identify and translate da- and wo- clauses.

Unit: 12: Da- compounds

2. Da– Compounds
German can use words formed by affixing da– or dar– to the beginning of a
preposition in order to refer back to something. In its most basic usage, we usually
translate a da– compound into English as a preposition followed by a pronoun.

Er hat einen Bleistift. Er schreibt damit.

He has a pencil. He is writing with it.

Hier ist ein Stuhl. Sie sitzt darauf.

Here is a chair. She is sitting on it.

Note that the form dar– is used when the preposition begins with a vowel.

Unit: 12: Da- compounds

3. Some Common Da– Words

In older forms of English and often in English-language legal documents, there are a
large variety of words formed with the prefix there-, such as “therefore,”“thereby,”
“therein,” “thereafter,” etc. In German there are a number of similar adverbs, which
represent special meanings of da– compounds (remember that one of the meanings
of da is “there”).

Be sure not to confuse these da– words with the da– compounds described above.
The difference is that these adverbs use da– to refer not to a specific object already
mentioned in the text, but rather to a more abstract concept, such as a time or logic
relationship. Da– words have their own entries in your dictionary, whereas simple
da– compounds as above do not.

Sie bringt immer einen Regenschirm, damit sie nie naß wird.
She always brings an umbrella, so that she never gets wet.

Er sprang von der Mauer. Dabei brach er das Bein.

He jumped from the wall. In the process he broke his leg.

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Sie kaufte die Aktien rechtzeitig und wurde dadurch reich.

She bought the stock at the right time and thereby became rich.

Ich habe kein Geld. Dafür bin ich gesund und glücklich.
I have no money. On the other hand, I’m healthy and happy.

Following are some commonly used da– words:

dabei in the process, in this matter, there, at the same time, as well

dadurch thereby, in doing so

dafür instead, on the other hand

dagegen but, in comparison, on the other hand, whereas

daher therefore, that is why

damit so that, because of that, with that / this

danach accordingly

daneben compared with (something or someone), at the same time, as

well as (something, that)

darauf after that

darin in this respect

darüber beyond that, furthermore

hinaus

darum because of that

darunter among them

dazu along with (it / that), in addition to (it / that), for (it / that),
about (it / that)

Unit: 12: Da- compounds

4. Hier– Words
Again, just as in older English “herewith,” “hereupon,” and “heretofore,” German
has parallel constructions. Examples are hiermit, hierauf, hierzu. We translate the

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hier– with “it,” “that,” or “those,” whichever fits the context, along with the
preposition as appropriate. For example:

Hiermit schließen wir diese Übung.

With this we end this exercise.

Hierzu brauchen wir viel Geld.

To do that we need a lot of money.
[or:] For this purpose we will need a lot of money.
[or:] To achieve that we need a lot of money.

Unit: 12: Da- compounds

5. Da– Clauses
Some da– compounds are used before a clause beginning with daß or a dependent
infinitive construction with zu. These are anticipatory da– words:

Mein Vater hat nichts dagegen, daß wir oft ins Kino gehen.
My father has nothing against the fact that we go to the movies often.
[or:] My father has nothing against our going to the movies often.

Wir denken oft daran, nach Deutschland zu reisen.

We often think of travelling to Germany.

In both of these sentences, the da– compound serves the grammatical function of
allowing the entire dependent clause to serve as the object of the preposition within
the da– compound. In other words, in the first sentence, you are learning to
recognize that the entire daß clause is the object of the preposition gegen. Likewise,
in the second sentence, the dar– prefix serves like a signpost so that you will see
the neighboring infinitive clause as the object of the preposition an. Observe how
this same relationship gets expressed quite literally in the English translations.

Be sure to remember that the preposition captured inside of a da– compound still
communicates its normal meaning within its local clause. In the first example
above, note how the meaning of gegen is still crucial to understanding the first
clause, as part of the idiomatic phrase nichts gegen etwas haben. In the second
example, note how an is still functioning in its capacity of determining which
meaning of denken is in use here (see dictionary for denken + an).

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By the way, generally speaking, when the da-word refers to an idea in which the
subject is different from the subject of the main clause, the da-word will point to a
dependent clause (a complete statement with subject, verb, predicate). See the first
example above. Whereas when the subjects are the same, an infinitive phrase with
zu is used, as in the second example above.

More examples for you to work through on your own:

Morgen sprechen wir darüber, wie wir das bezahlen werden.

Tomorrow we’ll talk about how we’re going to pay for that.

Eine Vielzahl von Fehlern in medizinischen Doktorarbeiten ist auch darauf

zurückzuführen, dass die Betreuungssituation nicht so gut ist.
A number of errors in medical dissertations can also be traced back to the fact
that the advising situation is not so great.

Sie träumt davon, eine Pflanze zu werden.

She dreams of becoming a plant.

Unit: 12: Da- compounds

6. Wo– Words
In addition to the question words you learned about in Unit 1, more complex
question words exist that follow the same approach as da– compounds. By prefixing
any preposition with wo– or wor-, a “what?” (German was?) question is posed.

Womit schreiben Sie?

With what are you writing?

Worauf stehen Sie?

On what are you standing?

Unit: 12: Da- compounds

7. Wo– Clauses
Wo– words also appear sometimes as equivalents to relative pronouns when they
refer to inanimate objects:

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Das Haus, worin ich wohne, ist neu.

The house in which I live is new.

This sentence has the same meaning as the sentence: Das Haus, in dem ich wohne,
ist neu.

Der Stuhl, worauf sie steht, ist unsicher.

The chair on which she is standing is unsafe.

This sentence has the same meaning as: Der Stuhl, auf dem sie steht, ist unsicher.

You may find the

Review Units 9-12 exercise more valuable now or as a later review opportunity.

Unit: 13: Extended adjective constructions

1. Objectives
In this unit you will learn how to:

◾ Identify and translate extended adjective constructions.

Unit: 13: Extended adjective constructions

2. Extended Adjective Constructions

Using Participles
In Unit 7 we learned how present and past participles can be used as adjectives in
German, e.g., ein gekochtes Ei (“a boiled egg” or “an egg that is boiled”) and der
singende Vogel (“the singing bird” or “the bird that is singing”). Thus you can see
that the participle can be translated with a relative clause beginning with “that.”

German, unlike English, can provide even more extensive information about the
noun simply by placing an entire phrase as a modifier before a noun. For example,
an entire participial phrase of any length can appear between a noun and its article:

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ein in Wasser gekochtes Ei

an egg boiled in water / an egg that is boiled in water

ein in heißem Wasser gekochtes Ei

an egg boiled in hot water / an egg that is boiled in hot water

ein in heißem Wasser gekochtes und dann gegessenes Ei

an egg boiled in hot water and then eaten / an egg that is . . .

The use of such constructions is quite common in scientific and professional

literature and, consequently, we must learn how to identify such constructions and
how to translate them.

Note in the above examples that there is no finite (conjugated) verb and that the
participles have endings, which indicates that they are functioning as adjectives.
Thus we are dealing with a phrase modifying a noun, not with a sentence. Note,
too, that the introductory word is followed immediately by a preposition, which is
one common indicator of an extended adjective construction. Extended adjective
constructions using a participial phrase, such as the examples above using the past
participles gekocht and gegessen, are the most common type. For example, the
structure of der im Käfig singende Vogel, which uses the present participle singend,
can be understood as:

der im Käfig
introductory word (article / adjective) + prepositional phrase +

singende Vogel
participial adjective + noun

To translate this phrase, we link the introductory word with the noun, e.g., der +
Vogel (“the bird”), and then translate in reverse order: singende + im Käfig
(“singing in the cage”).

Example sentences using participles:

Münchener sind die in München wohnenden Leute.

“Münchener” are the people living in Munich.
[or:] “Münchener” are the people who live in Munich.

Ich habe ein in Stuttgart gebautes Auto.

I have a car built in Stuttgart.

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Unit: 13: Extended adjective constructions

3. More Examples of Extended Adjective

Constructions
Using prepositional phrases and regular adjectives:

Diese Flüßigkeit ist kein in Wasser löslicher Stoff.

This fluid is not a substance soluble in water.

Die Kommission sucht die für diese Taten verantwortlichen Soldaten.

The commission is looking for the soldiers responsible for these deeds.

Without introductory articles / adjectives:

In Rußland gefundene Kunstwerke sollen zurückgegeben werden.

Art works found in Russia shall be returned.

Wasser und Öl sind zu festen Stoffen werdende Flüssigkeiten.

Water and oil are liquids that turn into solid substances.

Without prepositional phrases:

Hier wohnen das Landleben liebende Bauern.

Here live farmers who love life on the land.

Die die Literatur liebenden Studenten studieren oft Anglistik.

The students who love literature often major in English.

Er sucht den Lauf der Maschine betreffende Vorschriften.

He is looking for rules concerning the operation of the machine.

With two adjacent prepositions:

In für Strahlen undurchlässigen Stoffen wurde kein solches Molekül gefunden.

No such molecule was found in substances impermeable to rays.

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Viele dieser Frauen werden auf in England sich befindenden Universitäten

arbeiten.
Many of these women will work at universities situated in England.

Unit: 13: Extended adjective constructions

4. Translating Extended Adjective

Constructions
No matter what kind of extended adjective construction you come across, always
remember that none of the words appearing before the noun are the main verb of
the sentence and that they all belong together.

The following examples explain methods to translate some of the example

sentences from the preceding section.

Example: Diese Flüßigkeit ist kein in Wasser löslicher Stoff.

As soon as you see an introductory article or adjective followed by a
prepositional phrase (such as kein in Wasser . . .), then find the word that
follows the prepositional phrase (löslicher). The prepositional phrase is acting
as a modifier of that subsequent word, so mark off the prepositional phrase
and that modified word (a participial adjective or regular adjective) from the
rest of the construction (kein + Stoff) and first translate what remains: “This
fluid is not a substance.” Then come back to the phrase you marked off (as
described in Section 1 of this unit): “soluble”+ “in water,” knowing that it is a
modifier of “substance.”

Example: In Rußland gefundene Kunstwerke sollen zurückgegeben werden.

If there is no article or adjective (such as In Rußland . . .), then separate the
prepositional phrase (In Rußland) and its following adjective (gefundene) and
translate the remaining word(s) (Kunstwerke) before translating the
prepositional phrase and adjective: “works of art” + “found” + “in Russia”

Example: Die die Literatur liebenden Studenten studieren oft Anglistik.

When two articles appear together (Die die), you are dealing with either an
extended adjective construction or a relative-pronoun clause. If it’s the former,
then recognize the first one as the beginning of the entire enclosing noun
phrase. That tells you that everything in between is just modifiers of the main
noun: the second (die) and the noun that follows it (Literatur) plus the word

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after the noun (liebenden). Then follow the same procedure as above: “the” +
“students” + (who are) “loving” + “the literature”

Example: In für Strahlen undurchlässigen Stoffen wurde kein solches Molekül

gefunden.
If you come across two prepositions together (In für), then separate off the
internal prepositional phrase (für Strahlen), as well as any remaining words
(undurchlässigen). Then follow the same procedure as above: “in” +
“substances” + “impermeable” + “for rays”

You can practice your analysis of some of this unit’s examples by playing the
Unit 13 Syntax Untangler activity. (Link opens in a new window.)

Unit: 13: Extended adjective constructions

5. Further Advice Regarding Extended

Adjective Constructions
Despite its length, an extended adjective construction is no different from a regular
adjective: it appears before a noun and has the appropriate adjectival ending. If it
appears in a series of adjectives then it will usually be separated from other
adjectives (or extended adjective constructions!) by a comma:

ein in Stuttgart gebautes, deutsches Auto

a German car built in Stuttgart

das in Frankfurt stehende, von dem berühmten Architekten entworfene

Gebäude
the building which was designed by the famous architect and is situated in
Frankfurt

Occasionally an extended adjective construction will appear within another extended

adjective:

das von dem in Frankfurt wohnenden Architekten entworfene Gebäude

the building designed by the architect who lives in Frankfurt

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The outermost extended adjective construction modifies Gebäude: das von . . .

Architekten entworfene Gebäude. The inner construction modifes Architekten: dem
in Frankfurt wohnenden Architekten. Then we begin to translate in the following
order:

das Gebäude entworfene von dem Architekten wohnenden in Frankfurt

the + building + designed + by the architect + living + in Frankfurt

In other words we do not read in a straight line but rather we move from beginning
to end and then backwards, quite the opposite of what we would do in English. And
when these constructions are nested inside each other, we read from the outermost
to the innermost.

Although you may find these constructions frustrating at first, as you gain comfort
via practice, you will come to appreciate how efficiently they allow complex
relationships to be communicated.

Unit: 14: Subjunctive I

1. Objectives
In this unit you will learn how to:

◾ Identify and translate the subjunctive I verbal mood.

Unit: 14: Subjunctive I

2. Subjunctive Mood
Up to this point we have dealt with sentences in the indicative mood, which is the
verb mood used to communicate facts. Now we introduce the subjunctive mood of
verbs, which signals hypothetical or contingent actions. In German it is also used in
indirect discourse (reported speech), to reflect what someone thinks or feels about
something, and in conditional sentences (i.e., “if . . . then” sentences). German has
two forms of the subjunctive: Subjunctive I, which this unit covers and which
relates to indirect discourse and some special uses; and Subjunctive II, which deals
with conditional sentences and which is covered in Unit 15.

Unit: 14: Subjunctive I

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3. Subjunctive I
In German, whenever someone else’s statements are reported or their feelings or
opinions are expressed, the subjunctive I mood is used, and that mood is signaled
by distinctive forms of the conjugated verbs. Contrast these examples:

In the English sentence, “They say that she is going to Germany,” the verbs “say”
and “is going” are in the indicative mood.

In the German equivalent, Man sagt, daß sie nach Deutschland reise, the verb
“sagt” is in the indicative mood, but the verb “reise” is in the subjunctive mood,
because it is reported speech (indirect discourse).

The meaning of the mood change is to signal that the author of the sentence does
not necessarily vouch for the truth of the statement; it allows a writer to remain
neutral regarding what he or she is reporting. Note that if the statement is given as
a direct quotation, then the indicative mood of the original statement remains: Er
sagte: “Sie reist nach Deutschland.”

The forms of the verb in the subjunctive are as follows (using the weak verb reisen
(to travel) as our example):

Present Tense

PERSON SINGULAR PLURAL

1ST ich reise wir reisen

2ND du reisest ihr reiset

3RD er/sie/es reise sie/Sie reisen

Note: This only differs from the indicative mood in the second person singular and
plural (-est and –et instead of –st and –t) and the third person singular (-e instead
of –t). Compare the chart of indicative endings in Unit 2.

All verbs in German except for the verb sein follow this conjugation in the present
tense subjunctive mood. Thus even the irregular (strong) verb wissen (to know a
fact) follows the same pattern:

P E RS O N SING U LAR PLU R A L

ich wisse wir wissen

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P E RS O N SING U LAR PLU R A L

1ST

2ND du wissest ihr wisset

3RD er/sie/es wisse sie/Sie wissen

The only exception is, however, very important: sein (to be)

PERSON SIN G U L A R PLURAL

1ST ich sei wir seien

2ND du seiest ihr seiet

3RD er/sie/es sei sie/Sie seien

Note that sein takes no ending in the first and third person singular. These forms
are important because they correspond to English “be” and “let be,” dependent on
context (explained in the last section of this unit). Compare the equivalent
indicative chart for sein in Unit 1.

Past Tenses

The verb forms in the past tense subjunctive are likewise very simple. They are
based upon the present tense forms of haben and sein plus the past participle of
the verb in question.

Present perfect:
Man sagt, daß sie nach Deutschland gereist sei.
They say that she went (has gone) to Germany.

Man sagt, daß er fleißig gearbeitet habe.

They say that he (has) worked diligently.

Past perfect:
Es wurde berichtet, daß sie nach Deutschland gereist seien.
It was reported that they had travelled to Germany.

Es wurde berichtet, daß sie das Examen bestanden habe.

It was reported that she had passed the examination.

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You can see that we translate the forms of haben and sein in the subjunctive past
tense according to how the reported statement is introduced. Generally speaking, if
the context is in the future tense or present tense (man sagt) then we translate the
reported statement in simple past or present perfect; if the context is already in
past tense (es wurde berichtet) then the reported statement is best translated in
the past perfect tense.

Future Tense

Just as in the indicative mood, we can recognize future tense by the use of werden
with an infinitive. The conjugated verb, werden, appears in its subjunctive I form:

PERSON SINGULAR PLU R A L

1ST ich werde wir werden

2ND du werdest ihr werdet

3RD er/sie/es werde sie/Sie werden

Examples:
Man sagt, daß sie nach Deutschland reisen werde.
They say that she will travel to Germany.

Es wurde berichtet, daß sie nach Deutschland reisen werde.

It was reported that she would travel to Germany.

Note: The subjunctive forms of werden can optionally be translated as “would.”

Unit: 14: Subjunctive I

4. Challenges of Translation
In each of the sentences we have used to demonstrate the use of Subjunctive I, the
conjunction daß (or dass in the new spelling) has been included. It is not necessary
to include it when we are reporting speech, thoughts, etc., in German, because the
form of the verb in the reported matter is the crucial signal to the reader that the
statement is a reported one (thus not necessarily factually true!). The ability to
specify this mood in German can be difficult to translate into English, since English
has no such accuracy of verb moods.

Here are two different, but successful translations of a subjunctive I verb:

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Die Zeitschrift berichtete, daß Gase aus der Höhle giftig seien.
The journal reported that gases from the cave are poisonous.

Die Zeitschrift berichtete über die Expedition. Die Gase aus der Höhle seien
giftig.
The journal reported on the expedition. According to the report, the gases from
the cave are poisonous.

In the first example, the subjunctive I meaning is successfully conveyed by the

clarity in the English sentence that the “are” claim is only according to the journal.
Whereas in the second example, which is broken into separate sentences, the
English verb "are" is not sufficient to clarify that, so you need to add an English
expression to convey the meaning of German subjunctive I.

Study this example:

Der Kanzler gab gestern eine Pressekonferenz. Er werde morgen nach China
fliegen, da ein Abkommen jetzt vorbereitet sei. Im übrigen komme der
chinesische Premier nächstes Jahr nach Deutschland.
The Chancellor gave a press conference yesterday. He stated that he will fly to
China tomorrow, because a treaty is now prepared. The Chancellor also
claimed that the Chinese Premier will visit Germany next year.

As you can see, you may find various ways to translate the subjunctive I mood, but
there is no simple, direct way to translate it. You should study how English-
language reports like this are phrased in news sources or scientific journals if you
would like inspiration for other ways to express this.

Word Order

Besides using the subjunctive I mood in normal statement word order, as in the
above example, German sentences sometimes omit a conjunction that joins two
phrases. Since subordinating conjunctions affect word order (see Unit 6), omitting a
conjunction can result in a “normal” word order where you may expect something
else. For example, these two sentences have the exact same meaning:

Man sagt, daß sie nach Deutschland reise.

Man sagt, sie reise nach Deutschland.

Summary

In summary, you will not always see the conjunction daß before all that is reported,
nor will you see repetition of the introductory phrase such as Man sagt or Es wurde

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berichtet. In fact, once it is established that someone said, reported, thought or felt
something about a subject, then the subjunctive I mood will be the only signal of
whether the statement is a reported one or one presented by the author of the text
as true.

Unit: 14: Subjunctive I

5. Other Uses of Subjunctive I

Sei and seien – “to let be”:

Es sei hier erwähnt, daß . . .

Let it be mentioned here, that . . .
[or:] Let us mention here that . . .

X und Y seien die Achsen.

Let X and Y be the axes.

Recipes, directions (usually with the pronoun “man” as the subject):

Man koche ein Liter Wasser.

Boil a liter of water.

Man nehme ein Pfund Schokolade.

Take a pound of chocolate.

Wishes and exhortations:

Lang lebe die Königin.

Long live the Queen.

Er ruhe in Frieden.
May he rest in peace.

Unit: 15: Subjunctive II

1. Objectives
In this unit you will learn how to:

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◾ Identify and translate the subjunctive II verbal mood.

Unit: 15: Subjunctive II

2. Subjunctive II Meaning
In the previous unit we dealt with the subjunctive as used in indirect discourse and
a few other special cases. That was Subjunctive I. Subjunctive II is the form of
subjunctive used in wishes and conditional sentences to signal whether a situation is
hypothetical or not. Its most common usage is in “if . . . then” statements. For
example, when the German words wenn (if) and so or dann (then) precede the
clauses in the sentence, you can often expect the verbs to appear in their
subjunctive II forms. This mood is usually expressed in English with the verb
“would” or with the simple past form of the verb: “I would buy one, if I had the
money.”

If the concept of the subjunctive mood is unfamiliar to you, an informal, but

accurate, online introduction to the subjunctive mood as used in both English and
German can be found at: http://german.about.com/od/grammar/a/konjunktivII.htm
(link opens in new window).

Unit: 15: Subjunctive II

3. Subjunctive II Forms
Whereas the subjunctive I forms of the verbs are based on the infinitive form (sei
from sein, habe from haben, etc.), the subjunctive II forms are based on the
simple-past forms of the verbs.

The reading challenge for you is that whereas subjunctive I verb forms are always
clearly, visibly unique to subjunctive I, subjunctive II forms are only distinctively
unique for some irregular verbs. For regular and some other irregular verbs, the
subjunctive II present-tense forms are completely identical to the indicative
(normal) simple-past verb forms. Fortunately, for this very reason, it is for
irregular verbs that you will more often encounter subjunctive II usages.

Present Tense

Taking the irregular verbs haben and sein as examples, note that the verb
endings are all the same as for subjunctive I (which is a helpful cue) and that the

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roots are the verbs’ simple-past forms (which is a similarity you’ll need to watch out
for):

PERSON SINGULAR PLURAL

1ST ich hätte / wäre wir hätten / wären

2ND du hättest / wärest ihr hättet / wäret

3RD er/sie/es hätte / wäre sie/Sie hätten / wären

For these two very common verbs you can also see that the easily recognizable
differences from the simple-past verb forms (e.g., hatte / war) are: 1) the umlaut
and 2) – in some cases – the signature additional syllable (spelled with –e-) that is
shared by subjunctive I and II. For other irregular verbs, consult the irregular-verb
chart in your dictionary to check whether a particular verb form you see is simple-
past indicative or present-tense subjunctive II.

For regular verbs and any irregular verbs that have no such visible distinction, you
will need to consider context, such as the Wenn …, dann … construct, to make that
reading decision.

Examples demonstrating both regular and irregular verbs:

Wenn er viel Geld hätte, (so) reiste er nach Deutschland.
If he had a lot of money, he would travel to Germany.

Wenn sie reich wäre, (so) kaufte sie ein neues Haus.
If she were rich, she would buy a new house.

Wenn ihre Eltern kämen, (dann) gingen sie ins Restaurant.

If their parents came, they would go to a restaurant.

Here’s a time-saving tip to help you recognize subjunctive II for some common
irregular verbs whose vowels do not take an umlaut to signal subjunctive II mood:
Verbs whose past-tense, singular, 1st- and 3rd-person forms do not end with an –e,
such as gehen (ging), bleiben (blieb), etc., do get an –e ending in their subjunctive
II form. The top example here is in indicative past tense, and the lower one is in
subjunctive II present tense:

Ging er ….? Ich blieb….

Did he go …? I stayed ….

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Ginge er …. Wenn ich bliebe, ….

If he were going … If I were to stay …

Past Tense

As with subjunctive I, the subjunctive II past tense follows the model of German
present-perfect tense. (So there are no “simple past” subjunctive forms at all.) So
when you encounter a present-perfect construction which uses the above
subjunctive-II forms of the auxiliary verb haben or sein instead of their normal
present-tense indicative forms, then you are dealing with past tense subjunctive II
mood.

Wenn sie nach Deutschland gereist wären, (so) hätten sie den Kölner Dom
gesehen.
If they had travelled to Germany then they would have seen Cologne
cathedral.

Wenn der Ingenieur die Maschine richtig repariert hätte, (dann) wäre der Unfall
nicht geschehen.
If the engineer had repaired the machine correctly, (then) the accident would
not have happened.

See how this same pattern works even when a modal verb is involved:

Ich hätte das gestern machen sollen.

I should have done that yesterday.

Wir brachten unsere Schlafsäcke mit, falls wir übernachten hätten müssen.
We brought our sleeping bags along, in case we would have had to stay
overnight.

Can you construct how the above examples would appear if they were indicative
(normal) statements instead of subjunctive II?

Unit: 15: Subjunctive II

4. Würde Construction
This construction is a common way of expressing the subjunctive II mood. You will
encounter it as predominant in spoken, informal, and contemporary German
generally, and for those verbs whose subjunctive II form of the verb is

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indistinguishable from simple-past tense. Like the English “would” construction, it is

based on the subjunctive II form of werden plus an infinitive, which makes it quite
easy to read for English speakers:

PERSON SINGULAR PLURAL

1ST ich würde wir würden

2ND du würdest ihr würdet

3RD er/sie/es würde sie/Sie würden

Examples:
Wenn Sie fleißig lernten, so würden Sie das Examen bestehen.
If you studied hard, you would pass the exam.

Wenn ich mehr Zeit hätte, würde ich um die ganze Welt reisen.
If I had more time, I would travel around the whole world.

Wenn sie die Ruinen entdeckt hätten, würden sie ein Buch darüber
geschrieben haben.
If they had discovered the ruins, they would have written a book about it.

The above examples could also have been expressed using subjunctive II forms of
the main verbs. This is less likely, but in any case, the meanings would be identical:

Wenn Sie fleißig lernten, so bestünden [or:] beständen Sie das Examen.
If you studied hard, you would pass the exam.

Wenn ich mehr Zeit hätte, reiste ich um die ganze Welt.
If I had more time, I would travel around the whole world.

Wenn sie die Ruinen entdeckt hätten, hätten sie ein Buch darüber
geschrieben.
If they had discovered the ruins, they would have written a book about it.

Unit: 15: Subjunctive II

5. Challenges of Translation
It is important to note the following points:

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a. hätte and its forms can be translated as “had” or “would have.”

b. wäre and its forms can be translated as “were,” “would be” and “would have.”

c. würde and its forms can be translated as “would” when used with other
infinitives, “would become” by themselves; “would be” or “were” in the passive
voice.

d. Subjunctive II is also sometimes used to "soften" a request, question, or

statement, simply making it more polite. Usually this translates fairly directly
into English, but sometimes it will help you to notice this particular intention
when translating.

e. Sometimes the rules of English will require you to translate German

subjunctive mood using the English subjunctive construction "were to (infinitive
verb)":

Wenn ich es heute kaufen würde, ginge der Preis morgen sicher noch
tiefer.
If I were to buy it today, the price would surely fall even further
tomorrow.

f. In “if – then” sentences, the verb is in final position in the “if” clause, the
clauses are separated by a comma, and the “then” clause is the main sentence.
Also, the words dann or so may be omitted from the “then” clause.

g. You will also encounter “if – then” statements without wenn. Your clue will be
that the verb appears in first position, which otherwise only occurs in questions
or in commands:

In indicative (normal) mood:

Nimmt der Widerstand zu, (dann) mindert sich der Strom.
If resistance increases, then current decreases.

The equivalent sentence in subjunctive mood:

Nähme der Widerstand zu, minderte sich der Strom.
If resistance were to increase, current would decrease.

More examples:
Hätte ich viel Geld, (so) würde ich ein Haus kaufen.
Had I a lot of money, then I would buy a house.
[or:] If I had a lot of money, I would buy a house.

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Führe sie nur öfter Rad, brauchte sie weniger Blutdruckmedikamente.

If she would just bike more often, she would need less blood-pressure
medication.

Unit: 15: Subjunctive II

6. “As If” Clauses

In German, “as if” clauses are expressed by als ob or als wenn or als followed by
the subjunctive form of the verb. For example,

Das Kind sieht aus, als ob es krank wäre.

The child looks as if it were ill.

Der Manager tat, als wenn er entlassen worden wäre.

The manager acted as if he had been fired.

Es schien, als hätten wir den ganzen Tag geschlafen.

It seemed as if we had slept the whole day.

Unit: 15: Subjunctive II

7. Subjunctive II Forms of Modal Verbs

In Unit 10 we dealt with the modal verbs, dürfen, können, müssen, mögen, sollen
and wollen and we learned that the lack of an umlaut on conjugated forms of the
first four was an indicator of simple past tense. When an umlaut does occur, that
indicates the subjunctive II mood:

dürfte would be allowed to / might

könnte would be able to / could

müßte would have to

möchte would like to

Sollte and wollte do not differ visually from their indicative simple past forms. They
mean “should” or “would be supposed to,” and “would want to,” respectively.

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Examples:

Dürften die Gefangenen jetzt nach Hause gehen, was würden sie zuerst essen?
If the prisoners were allowed to go home now, what would they eat first?

Wenn ich es wollte, dann würde ich es auch machen.

If I wanted to, I would just do it.

Unit: 16: Finishing touches

1. Objectives
In this unit you will learn how to:

◾ Correctly translate a number of “false friends.”

◾ Identify and translate a number of common idioms.
◾ Translate four common particles.
◾ Identify and translate commands in imperative mood.
◾ Identify and translate reflexive constructions that are functioning as a passive-
voice equivalent.

Unit: 16: Finishing touches

2. False Friends
By this point in your experiences with German you will have noticed that, despite
the existence of thousands of words which both look like and share the same
meaning as English words, there are a few which look like English words but whose
meanings are completely different. Visual similarities of other kinds can also be
misleading. Here are the most common of these so-called “false friends” – words
that are often confused:

FALSE FRIEND NOT TO BE CONF USED WITH

aktuell (current, up-to- eigentlich (actual, actually)

date)

also (thus, therefore) auch (also)

bald (soon, shortly) kahl (bald)

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FALSE FRIEND NOT TO BE CONF USED WITH

bekommen (to get, to werden (to become)

receive)

erst (only, not until) (when used with time expressions It means “first” when
used as an adjective: das erste Teil [the first part]).

etwa (approximately) etwas (something)

eventuell (possibly, in schließlich / endlich (eventually)

that case)

fast (almost) fest (firm, solid) or schnell (fast, quick)

fehlen (to be lacking or missing) – there is no one-word English equivalent

gelangen (to arrive, to gelingen (to succeed)

attain) (tip: irregular verb!)
(tip: regular verb!)

der Rat (advice, die Ratte (rat)

counsellor)

reichen (to reach, to riechen (to smell, to reek)

suffice)

der Roman (novel) der Römer (Roman person)

schon (already, even) schön (beautiful)

wer (who, whoever) wo (where)

wohl (probably, indeed) gut (well)

Unit: 16: Finishing touches

3. Some Common Idioms and Idiomatic

Expressions
es gibt / es sind
In Unit 2 you learned about the idiom es gibt (there is / are). This is used in
general statements such as:

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Es gibt viele Leute in New York.

There are many people in New York.

When we are talking about a specific number of people / objects, then you will
see the form es sind (there are):

Es sind zwanzig Studenten in diesem Zimmer.

There are twenty students in this room.

es
In both the above examples the pronoun es is translated as “there.” Similar
uses of it are:

Es geschah im Jahre 1990 ein Erdbeben in San Franzisko.

There occurred an earthquake in San Francisco in 1990.

Es spielte ein Kind in dem Garten.

There was a child playing in the garden.

In both of these examples we could ignore the es (there) and simply say “An
earthquake occurred in San Francisco in 1990” and “A child was playing in the
garden.”

abhängen von (to depend on)

Es hängt davon ab, ob wir das Geld haben.
It depends upon whether we have the money.

Meine Urlaubspläne hängen vom Chef ab.

My vacation plans are contingent upon my boss.

sich befassen mit (to deal with)

Dieses Buch befaßt sich mit der Geschichte des Automobils.
This book deals with the history of the automobile.

es geht um (to be a matter / issue of)

Es geht um die Finanzen.
It is an issue of finances.

gelingen (to succeed)

Es ist mir gelungen, die Aufgabe zu beenden.
I succeeded in finishing the task.

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Es ist den Engländern gelungen, über den Stillen Ozean zu segeln.

The Englishmen succeeded in sailing across the Pacific Ocean.

This verb is what we call an impersonal verb: the grammatical subject is es,
and the verb’s actor is in the dative case. We, however, ignore the es and
translate the dative pronoun / noun as the subject.

sich handeln um (to be a matter of, to deal with)

Hier handelt es sich um das neue Modell.
Here we are dealing with the new model.
[or:] This has to do with the new model.

Es handelt sich darum, Geld zu verdienen.

It is a matter of earning money.

liegen an (to be due to / to be the cause of)

Das liegt an den Katastrophen in diesem Land.
That is due to the catastrophes in this country.

Es liegt daran, daß die Autofirma in die Verlustzone gerutscht ist.

The cause is that the auto company slid into the loss column.

denken an (to think about, to think of)

Haben Sie oft an Ihre Tante gedacht?
Did you often think about your aunt?
[or:] Has your aunt often come to mind?

Prepositions Used Idiomatically

In Unit 5 we listed the major prepositions and their most common meanings. You
should have noticed by this point in the course that a preposition – just as in English
– will always take on an idiomatic meaning when used with a certain verb or noun.
Note the varied translations of um and an in the preceding examples. While it is a
good idea to learn idiomatic expressions, you will be able to understand prepositions
correctly only if you always consider the context of the sentence.

For example, in the following sentence für is best translated as “in” to fit our English
idiom. You would first discover this by consulting your dictionary entry for
interessieren.

Der Student interessiert sich für die Musik.

The student is interested in music.

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Likewise, in the next sentence, auf is best translated as “for.” You would first learn
that when you consult your dictionary entry for warten.

An der Straßenecke wartet der Vater auf seine Kinder.

The father waits for his children at the street corner.

Two examples of an idiomatic combination with a noun are zum Wohl! and zu Hause
which you would find explained in your dictionary under Wohl and Haus,
respectively.

When in doubt about the meaning of a preposition, consult the dictionary entry for
the preposition’s object (noun) and/or the verb of the clause. You may see that the
noun and/or verb (along with the preposition) together take on an idiomatic
meaning when used in combination.

Unit: 16: Finishing touches

4. Particles
You will have seen and will continue to see in German-language texts the adverbs
that are listed below. They are used often in German to add shades of meaning and
emphasis to German sentences, and are not usually translateable with one-word
equivalents. In fact, it is sometimes better to avoid trying to add a corresponding
word to your translation. Instead, simply take the effect of these particles into
consideration as you select the most appropriate translations of other words and
phrases in the sentence.

auch also, even

doch really, nevertheless, but certainly, after all

ja certainly, to be sure

schon already, even

Unit: 16: Finishing touches

5. Imperative Mood

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The imperative mood is used in forming commands, and can be recognized based
on unusual word order, unusual verb forms, and / or an exclamation point at the
end of the sentence. The verb will appear at the beginning of the sentence (as do
English imperatives). In the second person singular (du-form), an –e is added to
the stem of regular verbs as follows, although this –e may be omitted:

Bring mir den Salz! [or:] Bringe mir den Salz!

Bring me the salt!

If the stem of the verb ends in a –d or a –t, the final –e is never omitted. Verbs
featuring a vowel change from an e to an i in the stem retain this change in the
imperative, and omit the final –e. Second person plural (ihr-form) imperatives
retain their present-tense forms. The formal Sie-form also is identical with the
present tense, but Sie-imperatives include this pronoun immediately after the verb.
Separable-prefix verbs retain the separation of stem and prefix. Study the following
examples:

Finde mir meinen Hut!

Find me my hat!

Gib mir das Buch!

Give me the book!

Singt bitte lauter, Kinder!

Please sing louder, children!

Sprechen Sie bitte langsamer, Herr Schmidt.

Please speak more slowly, Mr. Schmidt.

Mach(e) das Fenster zu, Wolfgang!

Close the window, Wolfgang!

The verb sein is irregular in the imperative form, as the following commands
indicate:

Sei nicht so hastig, Wolfgang!

Don’t be so hasty, Wolfgang!

Seid nicht nervös, Kinder!

Don’t be nervous, children!

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Seien Sie ein bißchen rücksichtsvoller, Herr Schmidt.

Be a bit more considerate, Mr. Schmidt.

The first-person plural (“we”) imperative in German is simpler than its English
counterpart. It corresponds to English statements beginning with “Let’s . . .”:

Lesen wir die Zeitung!

Let’s read the newspaper!

Fahren wir im Sommer nach Kalifornien!

Let’s drive to California this summer!

Unit: 16: Finishing touches

6. Reflexive Constructions as Substitutes

for the Passive Voice

Certain reflexive forms may serve as substitutes for the passive voice. They may
often be translated with the words “can be,” although there are also other possible
translations:

Dieses Buch liest sich leicht.

This book can be read easily. [or:] This book is easy to read.

Dieser Satz übersetzt sich nicht!

This sentence cannot be translated. [or:] This sentence is untranslatable!

You may find the

Review Units 13-16 exercise more valuable now or as a later review
opportunity.

Unit: Reference

1. Cardinal Numbers

0 null

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1 eins; ein/e

2 zwei

3 drei

4 vier

5 fünf

6 sechs

7 sieben

8 acht

9 neun

10 zehn

11 elf

12 zwölf

13 dreizehn

14 vierzehn

15 fünfzehn

16 sechzehn

17 siebzehn

18 achtzehn

19 neunzehn

20 zwanzig

21 einundzwanzig

22 zweiundzwanzig

30 dreißig

40 vierzig

50 fünfzig

60 sechzig

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70 siebzig

80 achtzig

90 neunzig

100 hundert

101 hunderteins; -eine(r,s)

102 hundertzwei

110 hundertzehn

121 hunderteinundzwanzig

200 zweihundert

700 siebenhundert

1.000 tausend

1.001 tausendeins; -eine(r,s)

2.000 zweitausend

100.000 hunderttausend

1.000.000 eine Million

2.000.000 zwei Millionen

1.000.000.000 eine Milliarde

When number words modify a noun, the absence of an adjective ending indicates
that the number itself is singular, whereas numbers do get appropriate plural
adjective endings when the number word is used in a plural sense:

Mehr als tausend Vögel fielen vom Himmel.

More than a thousand birds fell from the sky.

Hunderttausende Vögel flogen über das Meer.

Hundreds of thousands of
birds flew over the sea.

Unit: Reference

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2. Ordinal Numbers
These counting words usually function as modifiers of a noun, so they will appear
with the appropriate ending to match case, gender, and number of the noun being
counted.

erst- first

zweit- second

dritt- third

viert- fourth

fünft- fifth

sechst- sixth

siebt- seventh

acht- eighth

neunt- ninth

zehnt- tenth

elft- eleventh

fünfzehnt- fifteenth

zwanzigst- twentieth

einundzwanzigst- twenty-first

dreißigst- thirtieth

hundertst- hundredth

hunderterst- hundred and first

hundertzehnt- hundred and tenth

zweihundertst- two hundredth

tausendst- thousandth

millionst- millionth

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Unit: Reference

3. Fractions

die Hälfte / halb half

eineinhalb / one and a half

anderthalb

zwei einhalb two and a half

ein Drittel one third

ein Viertel one fourth, a quarter

ein Fünftel one fifth

ein Sechstel one sixth

ein Siebtel one seventh

ein Achtel one eighth

ein Neuntel one ninth

fünf fünf Sechstel five and five sixths

sieben Zwölftel seven twelfths

ein Hundertstel one hundredth

ein Tausendstel one thousandth

Unit: Reference

4. Calculations

+ und; plus

= ist; gleich; macht

Eins und eins macht zwei. (1+1=2)

– minus; weniger

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× mal
Vier mal sechs gleich vierundzwanzig. (4 × 6 = 24)

÷ geteilt durch (divided by)

3² drei hoch zwei (three to the second power)

√ (Quadrat)wurzel (square) root

Unit: Reference

5. Weights and Measurements

das Kilogramm 1 Kilogramm = 1000 Gramm

der Pfund 1 Pfund = 500 Gramm

Note: 1 pound (American) = 454
grams

der/das Liter liter

der/das Meter, Millimeter, meter, milli-/centimeter,

Zentimeter

Kubikzentimeter, Kubikmeter cubic centimeter, cubic meter

Quadratmeter, Quadratkilometer square meter, square kilometer

Masculine and neuter nouns describing measurement, number, or weight are always
expressed in the singular:

Ich hätte gern drei Pfund Kaffee.

I would like three pounds of coffee.

Zwei Glas Apfelsaft, bitte!

Two glasses of apple juice, please.

Er trank zwei Liter Bier.

He drank two liters of beer.

Unit: Reference

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6. Times

die Stunde (Stunden) hour

die Minute (Minuten) minute

die Sekunde (Sekunden) second

drei Stunden, dreiundvierzig Minuten und zwölf 3 hours 43 minutes and 12

Sekunden seconds

eine halbe Stunde a half hour; half an hour

eine Viertelstunde a quarter of an hour

eine Dreiviertelstunde three quarters of an hour

Wie spät ist es?/ Wieviel Uhr ist es? What time is it?

es ist ein/zwei/usw. Uhr it’s one/two/etc. o’clock

es ist zehn (Minuten) nach zwei it’s ten (minutes) after two

es ist zehn (Minuten) vor zwei it’s ten (minutes) before two

es ist Viertel nach zwei it’s a quarter after two

es ist Viertel vor zwei it’s a quarter of two

es ist halb zwei it’s one thirty

es ist zwei Uhr morgens/nachmittags it’s two o’clock in the

morning/afternoon

es ist sieben Uhr morgens/abends it’s seven o’clock in the

morning/evening

um elf Uhr at eleven o’clock

gegen elf Uhr at around/about eleven o’clock

um Punkt vier Uhr at four o’clock on the dot

um Mitternacht at midnight

um wieviel Uhr at what time

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Unit: Reference

7. Dates
MONTHS DA Y S O F T HE WE EK

Januar January Sonntag Sunday

Jänner January Montag Monday
Februar February Dienstag Tuesday
März March Mittwoch Wednesday
April April Donnerstag Thursday
Mai May Freitag Friday
Juni June Samstag Saturday
Juli July Sonnabend Saturday
August August
September September
Oktober October
November November
Dezember December

der 1. August August first, the first of August

am 1. August on the first of August
am Montag on Monday
Montags on Mondays
am Montag, d. 1. August on Monday, the first of August
vom 12. bis (zum) 14. August from the 12th to the 14th of August
Den wievielten haben wir heute? / Welches Datum haben wir heute?

What is today’s date?

Heute haben wir den 1. August / Heute ist der 1. August

Today is the first of August.

neunzehnhundertzweiundneunzig 1992
die Zwanziger the 20s (a particular decade within a century)
im 20. Jahrhundert in the twentieth century
v.Chr. B.C.
n.Chr. A.D.

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In German, unlike English, dates don’t always need to be introduced by a

preposition:

Ich komme Montag.

I’m coming on Monday.

Sie ist 1985 geboren.

She was born in 1985.

Unit: Reference

8. Syntax Terminology
Regarding elementary syntax terms please see “Two Things You Will Need to
Succeed.” The following higher-level syntax concepts will help you recognize larger-
scale units of meaning when reading a German sentence.

Noun Phrase

The group of words that modify a noun. The value to you of recognizing noun
phrases is the certainty you gain that words outside of the noun phrase cannot be
modifiers of this noun, and vice versa, everything inside applies to this noun, not to
some other part of the sentence. The leftmost word in a noun phrase is often an
article (definite or indefinite). This concept is introduced in this textbook in the Unit
4 section on adjective endings. The underlined words are the noun phrases in the
following examples:

Der starke Junge ißt einen Apfel.

Viele Bäume gehören zu diesem wohl überstrapazierten Förster.

In all cases the rightmost word will be the noun itself, although genitive noun chains
are in fact rightward extensions of the noun phrase, simply adding another sub-
noun phrase. Example:

Gesunde Kinder des vorigen Jahrhunderts aßen mindestens wochentlich zwei

Äpfel.

You can alternatively read genitive noun chains as independent noun phrases, to
help you keep straight the relationships between the parts of the larger genitive
noun chain:

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Gesunde Kinder des vorigen Jahrhunderts aßen mindestens wochentlich zwei

Äpfel.

Extended adjective constructions are just extensions of the noun phrase within the
“normal” boundaries of the noun phrase. Example:

Gebäude der Hauptstädte vieler Länder leiden unter schwereren, saurem

Regen zuzuschreibenden Schäden als Gebäude in anderen Städten.

Again, you can choose to further analyze the noun phrases within these extended
noun phrases, to help avoid confusion:

Gebäude der Hauptstädte vieler Länder leiden unter schwereren, saurem

Regen zuzuschreibenden Schäden als Gebäude in anderen Städten.

Even amidst such complexity, you can still rely on each noun phrase as a
completely enclosed unit of meaning, not to be muddled with things outside of it.

Prepositional Phrase

This topic is covered in the Unit 5 section Prepositional Phrases. Essentially they are
just a preposition plus its associated noun phrase (see above).

Unit: Practice

Review Units 1-4

You should be able to translate these German texts after completing Units 1 through
4 of this textbook. English translations of these exercises follow below for you to
check your work.

1. Wen haben Sie gern? – Meine Verwandten habe ich gern, aber auch viele
andere Menschen.
2. Das Auto hatten die Nachbarn aber gestern noch nicht. – Nein, das haben sie
erst seit heute.
erst seit heute – just since today

3. Du hast 10 Franken, ich habe 20 Franken, zusammen haben wir also 40

Franken. – Nein, ihr habt nur 30 Franken, du bist dumm!
der Franken – Swiss franc (unit of currency)

4. Wen haben wir da? – Das ist ein Freund. Er war schon lange nicht mehr hier.
schon lange – for a long time

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5. Die Sterne, die Sonne, der Mond und die Planeten sind Himmelskörper. Die
Erde hat einen Mond und andere Planeten haben viele Monde.
6. Die Frequenz des Tones beträgt 440 Hz.
7. Die Seiten eines Quadrats bilden vier rechte Winkel.
8. Der Inhalt des Buches zeigt den Fachleuten eine Lösung des Problems.
9. Die Nutzung der Sonnenenergie verschafft der Umwelt eine Entlastung von
Kohlenmonoxid und -dioxid.
die Entlastung – relief (from a load or stress), exoneration

10. Die Leute fuhren auf der Autobahn, verbrachten etwas Zeit in der Stadt,
kauften einige Sachen, tranken ein Glas Mineralwasser, und kamen endlich
nach sechs Stunden wieder nach Hause.
11. Jeder Mensch in dem Zimmer wußte solche Tatsachen, aber manche da gaben
es nicht zu.
12. “Euer Haus kostete sicher viel zu viel” – dies sagte unser Onkel Wolfgang, als
er das Zimmer verließ.
13. Ihre Nachbarn bewohnten ihre Wohnung drei Jahre lang, und dann verloren sie
alles in der großen Flut.
14. Der Freundin der Schwester leiht der Student die Vorlesungsnotizen.
Hoffentlich gibt sie dem Studenten die Vorlesungsnotizen vor der Prüfung
wieder.
15. Eine Steigerung der Löhne stärkt die Kaufkraft der Konsumenten und gibt der
Wirtschaft einen Impuls. Die Beschleunigung der Inflation ist nur eine
Nebenerscheinung.
die Kaufkraft – buying power

16. Eine Senkung der Zinsrate bremst den Zufluß des Auslandskapitals. Dadurch
fällt der Wechselkurs der Inlandswährung. Aber ein niedriger Wechselkurs
bringt der Exportwirtschaft Zuwachs.
dadurch – thereby, that causes, which causes

17. Die Bundesrepublik Deutschland ist ein Bund von sechzehn Ländern. Sie hat
ein Parlament, aber auch die Länder haben eigene Parlamente: jenes heißt
Bundestag, diese heißen Landtage.
18. Der Vertrag legt die Verpflichtungen und Rechte aller Vertragspartner fest. Er
führt außerdem die Bedingungen einer vorzeitigen Kündigung an.
19. Die Biographie des Autors zeigt dem Leser nur einen Teil der Komplexität
literarischer Werke.
20. Die Romantiker verstanden das Leben als ein fortwährendes Dichten. Dies
setzten sie der nüchternen Prosa ihrer Zeit entgegen.
die Romantiker – (here:) contributors to the Romantic period of German cultural history (late 18th–early
19th century); can be translated as “the Romantics”

Suggested Translations

1. Whom do you (formal) like? I like my relatives, but also many other people.

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2. Yesterday the neighbors didn’t have the car yet, though. – No, they just got it
today. (They’ve only had it as of today).
3. You (familiar plural) have 10 francs, and I have 20 francs, so together we have
40 francs. – No, you (familiar plural) only have 30 francs, you (familiar
singular) fool!
4. Whom have we here? – That’s a friend. It’s been a long time since he was
here. (He hasn’t been here for a long time).
5. The stars, the sun, the moon, and the planets are celestial bodies. The Earth
has one moon and other planets have many moons.
6. The frequency of the tone is 440 Hz.
7. The sides of a square form four right angles.
8. The book’s contents show the specialists a solution to the problem.
9. The use of solar energy lessens the burden of carbon dioxide and carbon
monoxide on the environment.
10. The people drove on the Autobahn (highway), spent some time in the city,
bought some CDs, drank mineral water, and finally came back home after six
hours.
11. Every person in the room knew such facts, but many there did not admit it.
12. “Surely your house cost much too much” – this is what Uncle Wolfgang said
(when / as) he left the room.
13. (Her / their) neighbors (lived in / inhabited) their apartment for three years,
and then they lost everything in the great flood.
14. The student is lending the lecture notes to his sister’s friend. (Hopefully / I
hope) she’s giving the lecture notes back to the student before the test.
15. A wage increase stengthens the consumers’ buying power and gives the
economy a boost. Increased inflation is only a secondary symptom.
16. A decrease in the interest rate slows the influx of foreign capital. The exchange
rate of domestic currency is thereby lowered. But a low exchange rate brings
growth to the export economy.
17. The Federal Republic of Germany is a federation of 16 states. It has a
parliament, and each state has its own parliament. The former is called the
“Bundestag,” the latter are called “Landtage.”
18. The contract establishes the duties and rights of all signatories (of all
contracting parties). Along with this, it indicates the conditions for premature
termination.
19. Biographical information about the author gives the reader only a partial view
of the complexity of literary works.
20. The Romantics understood life as a continuous poetic writing. They opposed
this to the sober prose of their time.

Unit: Practice

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Review Units 5-8

You should be able to translate these German texts after completing Units 1 through
8 of this textbook. English translations of these exercises follow below for you to
check your work.

1. Wo in Deutschland regnet es am meisten? Nicht in Hamburg, sondern in

München.
2. “Hunger ist der beste Koch” und “Das höchste ist aber die Liebe” sind
Sprichwörter. Dieses sagt Klaus gern, aber jenes sagt er am liebsten.
3. Sein singender Vogel stört mich viel, aber dein bellender Hund stört mich am
meisten. Ich werde unbedingt mehr als je zuvor schreien, wenn ich diesen
Lärm nochmals höre!
4. Immer mehr Leute werden krank – es wird wohl eine neue Grippe sein, die
jetzt herumgeht.
5. Das Gelernte ist natürlich nicht immer richtig, und das Geschriebene nicht
immer wahr.
6. Die Abhandlung behandelt die Handhabung radioaktiven Materials und seine
Lagerung. Sie stellt nach wie vor ein großes Problem dar.
7. Mit der Auflösung des Subjekts in der Moderne löste sich auch die Auffassung
vom Autor als Originalgenie auf. Parallel verlief die Loslösung von der
Philosophie des Idealismus.
8. Zwischen 1988 und 1998 hat die EU ihre Exporte in die mittel- und
osteuropäischen Beitrittsländer um das 6,5fache, die Importe um das 4,5fache
gesteigert.
das Beitrittsland – country joining or applying to join the EU

9. Weil die Umwelt-Beamten in Frankreich auf die Einhaltung der

Vogelschutzrichtlinie dringen, protestieren die französischen Jäger.
10. Die größten Maßhalter unter den Spülmaschinen, Kühl- und Gefrierschränken
verbrauchen heute fast 40 Prozent weniger Strom als ihre Vorfahren vor etwa
zehn Jahren.
Maß halten – to act, behave, or function in moderation

11. Bei der Herstellung dieses Computers hat man keine Kosten gescheut und den
neuesten Stand der Forschung zur Anwendung gebracht.
12. Nachdem der Wechselkurs des Dollar weiter gesunken war, haben sich die
Exporte erhöht. Das bestehende Handelsdefizit ist zwar kleiner geworden, man
hat es aber noch nicht ganz beseitigt.
das Handelsdefizit – trade deficit

13. Das Problem ihrer Beseitigung außer acht lassend, hat die Produktion von
Giftgas kommenden Generationen viele Probleme bereitet.
außer acht lassen – to leave out of consideration

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14. In der Bundesrepublik, im Vergleich mit anderen EG-Ländern, stehen die

Betriebe bei weitem am kürzesten während der Ferien still.
15. Kommunikation, auch politische, ist an Sprache und sprachlich vermittelte
Welterfahrung und Weltdeutung gebunden.
die Weltdeutung – interpretation of the world

16. Nachdem man die Grenze zwischen der DDR und der BRD geöffnet hatte, ist
die weitere Entwicklung der Ereignisse den Händen der überraschten Politiker
entglitten.
entgleiten (entgleitet, entglitt, (ist) entglitten) – to slip away from, to escape control from

17. Studenten, die schon eine andere Fremdsprache gelernt haben, werden sich
schon mit diesem Thema beschäftigt haben.
18. Bislang hatten die Statistischen Landesämter Verkehrsunfälle nur nach dem
Alter der Fahrzeugführer oder nach den Lichteverhältnissen ausgewertet, die
zum Zeitpunkt des Unfalls herrschten.
der Fahrzeugführer – driver of a vehicle

19. Die Arbeitsgemeinschaft (AG) für Frauen in Forschung und Lehre unterstützt
die Kommission für Gleichbehandlung, deren Vorsitzende eine Frau aus der AG
ist, und den Arbeitskreis für Gleichbehandlungsfragen, deren Vorsitzende
ebenfalls ein Mitglied der AG ist.
die Kommission – the commission
die Gleichbehandlung – equal treatment
das Arbeitskreis – working council, working circle, working group (compare Arbeitsgemeinschaft)

20. Die Forscher veränderten zunächst das Viren-Erbmaterial. Dieses schleusten

sie in Affennierenzellen ein, mit deren Hilfe die kompletten neuen Viren
entstanden.

Suggested Translations

1. Where in Germany does it rain the most? Not in Hamburg, but rather in
Munich.
2. “Hunger is the best cook” and “But the highest thing is love” are sayings. Klaus
likes to say the latter, but he prefers to say the former.
3. His singing bird disturbs me quite a bit, but your barking dog disturbs me
most. If I hear this noise one more time I will definitely scream more than ever
before!
4. More and more people are getting sick – there is probably a new strain of flu
going around now.
5. That which is learned is, of course, not always right, and that which is written
not always true.
6. The treatment (treatise, article) treats the handling of radioactive material and
its storage. Now as then, it presents a big problem.
7. With the dissolution of the subject in the modern age came also the dissolution
of the conception of the author as originary (or original) genius. Parallel to this
occurred the disengagement from the philosophy of Idealism.

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8. Between 1988 and 1998 the EU increased its exports into the potential EU-
member countries in Eastern and Central Europe by 6.5 times, and its imports
by 4.5 times.
9. Because the environmental officials in France insist on enforcing the directive
for the protection of birds, the French hunters are protesting.
10. Among dishwashing machines, refrigerators and freezers, the most energy-
efficient utilize almost 40 percent less electricity today than their predecessors
of ten years ago.
11. In the production (manufacture) of this computer they spared no cost and took
advantage of the latest research.
12. After the exchange rate of the dollar had sunk further, the exports increased.
The existing trade deficit has indeed shrunk, but they have not yet obviated it
entirely.
13. Leaving aside the problem of its disposal, the production of poison gas has left
coming generations many problems.
14. In the Federal Republic, compared to other EC countries, companies halt
production during holidays by far the least.
15. Communication, including political communication, is bound with language and
linguistically mediated experience and interpretation of the world.
16. After they had opened the border between the GDR and the FRG, further
development of events eluded the surprised politicians’ grasp.
17. Students who have already learned another foreign language will have already
dealt with this topic.
18. Up to now, the State Statistical Offices had evaluated traffic accidents only in
terms of the age of the driver or the light conditions prevailing at the time of
the accident.
19. The Working Group for Women in Research and Teaching supports the
Commission for Equal Treatment, whose chair is a woman from the Working
Group, as well as the Working Council on Equal Treatment Issues, which is also
chaired by a member of the Working Group.
20. The researchers first changed the virus’ gene material, which they then
introduced into monkey kidney cells, which in turn allowed the complete new
viruses to reproduce.

Unit: Practice

Review Units 9-12

You should be able to translate these German texts after completing Units 1 through
12 of this textbook. English translations of these exercises follow below for you to
check your work.

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1. Wir haben nichts machen können, weil uns die Zeit fehlte. Um die Aufgabe
fertig schreiben zu können, brauchen wir einfach viel mehr Zeit.
2. Hans hatte eigentlich etwas ganz anderes machen wollen, als der Abend
anfing. Er wollte zu Hause sitzen und lesen, anstatt ins Kino zu gehen.
3. Worüber sprechen die Leute? Ein Mann ist aus dem Restaurant gerannt, ohne
seine Rechnung zu bezahlen.
4. Wenn man beide Filme des Regisseurs vergleicht, ist es fast unglaublich, daß
der erste Film von demselben Regisseur gedreht worden ist wie der zweite.
5. Der Teig für frische Brötchen war vorgeformt und tiefgefroren von großen
Nahrungsmittelkonzernen angeliefert worden und wurde in elektronisch
gesteuerten Öfen fertig ausgebacken.
6. Das Europäische Parlament wird zwar seit 1979 von den Bürgern der
Mitgliedstaaten direkt gewählt, verfügt aber nicht über die Befugnisse
moderner nationalstaatlicher Parlamente, denen Gesetzgebung, Budgetrecht,
Regierungsbildung und Regierungskontrolle zustehen.
die Gesetzgebung – legislation, the making of law

7. Gegen die Regeln des Sportverbandes wurden in den letzten Jahren auf einigen
Turnieren Geldpreise vergeben. Es soll aber künftig verhindert werden, daß
Veranstalter, die Preisgelder aussetzen möchten, gezwungen sind, sich mit
ihren Turnieren außerhalb des Verbandes zu bewegen.
Preisgelder aussetzen – to offer, establish, or underwrite prize monies

8. Als Quelle von Nutzholz wird die Buche, von der sich etymologisch das Wort
“Buch” herleitet, in der Möbelindustrie ebenso geschätzt wie bei den
Eisfabrikanten, die ihr Holz gern als Stiel verwenden – schnödes Ende für einen
der bewundernswertesten, aber auch rigorosesten Überlebenskünstler unter
den Bäumen.
der Überlebenskünstler – survival artist

9. Damit in der landwirtschaftliche Produktion Vermischungen mit genetisch

manipulierten Produkten verhindert werden können, ist Warenflußtrennung
zwischen Lebens- und Futtermitteln gefordert worden.
die Warenflußtrennung – (consider Ware, Fluß, and Trennung in this context of economic/business
supply channels)
das Futtermittel – animal feed

10. In aller Stille hat sich das Verteidigungsministerium von dem Versprechen
verabschiedet, den Tieffluglärm mit Hilfe neuartiger Flugsimulatoren zu
verringern.
11. Ursprünglich wollte sich das Verteidigungsministerium die Verlagerung von
Tiefflugausbildung mehr als eine halbe Milliarde Euro kosten lassen.
12. Mehr als 3000 denkmalgeschützte Gebäude hat die einstige preußische
Beamten- und Garnisonstadt Potsdam immer noch vorzuweisen, obwohl sie in
den letzten Tagen des Krieges schrecklichen Bombardements ausgeliefert war.
denkmalgeschützt – classified as a historical monument
die Garnisonstadt – garrison town

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13. Die sogenannte “Rakete” aus der Schule – ein Klimaanlage, der von den
Schülern selber entworfen und gebaut wurde – läßt sich leicht dorthin
transportieren, wo sie gebraucht wird. Dabei wird sie nicht mehr kosten als
andere Klimaanlagen: rund 2.000 Euro.
14. Das Gemeinschaftsrecht wahrt der Gerichtshof in Luxemburg, der seine
Aufgabe aber eher darin sieht, die Mitgliedstaaten auf Integrationskurs zu
halten, als die Gemeinschaftsorgane in ihre Schranken zu weisen.
15. Daraus folgt zuallererst, daß die notwendige Parlamentarisierung der EG von
einer deutlicheren Kompetenzabgrenzung zwischen der Gemeinschaft und den
Mitgliedstaaten begleitet werden muß.
die Kompetenzabgrenzung – limiting of jurisdiction, definition of boundaries of authority

16. Nachdem er die alte Wasserburg von seinem Freund Knobelsdorff hatte
umbauen lassen, genoß der Kronprinz sein Schloß Rheinsberg, “diesen Ort der
Studie, das Heim der Freundschaft und Ruhe."
die Wasserburg – castle surrounded by a moat
Knobelsdorff – personal name
Rheinsberg – place name

17. Vor über 200 Jahren ließ Friedrich II dieses Sumpfgebiet des Oderflusses
trockenlegen, ein Jahrhundertwerk, auf das er mit Recht stolz war.
Friedrich II – Frederick the Great, 1712–1786
der Oderfluß – the Oder river in Germany

18. Der Konzertmeister entscheidet in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Dirigenten und

den Stimmführern über das Programm, wobei – und das ist der große
Unterschied – nicht selten Werke aus seiner Feder stammen.
der Stimmführer – orchestra section principal, “first chair”

19. Wußtest du schon davon Bescheid, daß der Verleger doch zur Buchmesse
kommen wird?
20. Im Hochhaus in Wiesbaden, in der Zweigstelle in Berlin, und in Büros in
Düsseldorf und Bonn ermitteln 3300 Mitarbeiter, darunter Volkswirte und
Mathematiker, die Zahlen, die als Statistik den Durchblick möglich machen
sollen.

Suggested Translations

1. We (have not been / were not) able to do anything because we had no time. In
order to be able to finish writing the assignment, we simply need more time.
2. Hans had actually wanted to do something completely different at the
beginning of the evening. He wanted to sit at home and read instead of going
to the movies.
3. What are the people talking about? A man ran out of the restaurant without
paying his bill.
4. If one compares both of the director’s films, it is almost unbelievable that the
first film was made by the same director as the second.

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5. The dough for fresh rolls had been delivered, pre-formed and deep-frozen, by
large foodstuff companies, and was baked (to completion) in electronically
controlled ovens.
6. Since 1979, the European Parliament has indeed been elected directly by the
citizens of the member states, but it does not have the power of the modern
national parliaments, which have control over the passage of laws, the budget,
and government formation and operation.
7. Against the rules of the sporting association, cash prizes were awarded at
several tournaments in recent years. In the future, however, it will be less
likely that organizers who wish to offer cash prizes are forced into presenting
their tournaments independently from the association.
8. As a source of utilizable timber, the beech tree, from which the word “book” is
derived etymologically, is treasured in the furniture industry as much as by ice
cream manufacturers, who like to use its wood as a stirring rod – a
contemptible end for one of the most admirable as well as most rigorous
survival artists among trees.
9. In order to to be able to avoid mixtures with genetically manipulated products
in agricultural production, separation between supply channels of food for
human and animal consumption has been urged.
10. Without announcing it, the Defense Ministry (went back / reneged) on its
promise to diminish the noise from low-flying planes with the help of new flight
simulators.
11. The Defense Ministry was originally prepared to spend more than a half billion
euro to change the location of low-altitude flight training.
12. The former official- and garrison-city of Potsdam can still boast of more than
3,000 buildings which are protected as historical monuments, even though it
suffered horrible bombardments in the last days of the war.
13. The so-called “rocket” from the school – an air conditioner designed and built
by the pupils themselves – can be easily transported to the place where it is
needed. At the same time it will not cost more than other air conditioners:
around 2,000 euro.
14. The court in Luxemburg guarantees the communal law, but sees its task more
in keeping the member states on a course of integration than in putting the
communal bodies in their place.
15. From this it follows first and foremost that the necessary parliamentarization of
the EC must be accompanied by a clearer delimitation of authority and
jurisdiction between the Community and the member states.
16. After he had had his friend Knobelsdorff rebuild the old Wasserburg, the crown
prince enjoyed his Rheinsberg Castle, “this place of study, the home of
friendship and peace.”

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17. Over two hundred years ago, Frederick the Second had this swampland of the
Oder River drained, a (major / landmark) achievement of which he was
rightfully proud.
18. Working with the conductor and the section leaders, the concertmaster decides
about the program to be played, whereby – and here lies the big difference – it
is not rare that he has written the works.
19. Did you already know that the publisher is coming to the book fair after all?
20. In the high-rise in Wiesbaden, in the branch office in Berlin, and in offices in
Düsseldorf and Bonn, 3,300 employees, among them economists and
mathematicians, investigate the numbers which, in the form of statistics, are
supposed to make insight possible.

Unit: Practice

Review Units 13-16

You should be able to translate these German texts after completing Units 1 through
16 of this textbook. English translations of these exercises follow below for you to
check your work.

1. Laß mich jetzt in Ruhe!

2. Fragen Sie mich nichts darüber, Herr Schmidt!
3. Diese Tür öffnet sich nicht. Gib mir meine Schlüssel!
4. Vor allem wäre es wichtig, jetzt eine verantwortliche Umweltpolitik zu
entwickeln, bevor es zu spät wird.
5. Es bleibt noch dieser neue Lyriker aus Niedersachsen zu entdecken. Jetzt ist
eine Anthologie von ihm erschienen, die – auf Weisung des Autors – mit dem
neuesten Schaffen beginnt und am Anfang seiner Karriere endet.
6. Nach den Auftragseingängen, einem wichtigen Indikator für die künftige
Beschäftigungslage, könnte sich der Abschwung noch verschlimmern.
der Auftragseingang – order entry, receipt from orders

7. Im Herbst des letzten Jahres gelang es dem Romancier ein triumphaler Einzug
in die Auslagen der deutschen Buchläden.
die Auslage – display

8. Die entlang des Rheins sich befindenden Wasserwerke waren diejenigen, die
zuerst Alarm schlugen, weil sie das Wasser nicht mehr zu Trinkqualität
aufbereiten konnten.
Alarm schlagen – to raise / sound the alarm

9. Die Zuhörer hörten den von der Regierung eingeladenen Sänger singen, ohne
ihn ein einziges Mal mit Beifall zu unterbrechen.

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10. Die Politiker meinten, viel Behutsamkeit sei nötig, um das Vertrauen zu
schaffen, ohne das eine globale Umweltpolitik nicht auskommen könne.
11. Mit Blick auf die Abstimmung sagte der Kandidat, daß das Scheitern nicht so
schlimm sei. Schlimm sei nur, nichts versucht zu haben.
12. Aus diesem elfstelligen Code ließe sich dann nachträglich Hubraum oder
Pferdestärke der Unfallfahrzeuge entschlüsseln.
elfstellig – eleven-digit

13. Die Buche ist mittlerweile, wie der aus 7000 Wissenschaftlern,
Forstwirtschaftlern, Waldbesitzern und anderen Freunden des Waldes
bestehende Forstverein verkündete, stärker als jede andere Baumart, etwa
Eiche und Kiefer, zu Schaden gekommen.
14. Mit Hilfe einer in Köln gezeigten, großangelegten Foto- und Textdokumentation
(Titel: “Das langsame Sterben des Waldes”), für die Förster Möhring mit
seinem halbmeterlangen Teleobjektiv regelmäßig die Kronen sterbender Bäume
fotografiert hat, suchen die beiden Aktivisten nachzuweisen, daß eine
fehlerhafte Methodik der behördlichen Schadensermittler zu
Fehlinterpretationen und damit zu unrealistisch günstigen Bewertungen führt.
Möhring – personal name

15. Nach dem Autor des Artikels hätten Bewunderer seit jeher die Stadt gerühmt.
Als “die schönste der Erde” habe Alexander von Humboldt Salzburg im 19.
Jahrhundert gepriesen, Franz Schubert habe von einem “himmlischen Tal”
geschwärmt, und Hugo von Hofmannsthal sagte, daß die Schönheit dieser
Stadt unantastbar dastehe. Heute aber, behauptet ein Kandidat, zerstöre sich
die Stadt. Die Altstadt sei durch Spekulation gedroht.
16. Skeptiker gäben zu bedenken, daß Aluminium erheblich teurer wäre als Stahl,
dazu ökologisch bedenklich wegen der gewaltigen Energiemengen, welche die
Umwandlung des Rohstoffs Bauxit in brauchbares Aluminium verschlänge.
17. Der Bundesbank, per Gesetz verpflichtet, vorrangig für Preis-und
Währungsstabilität zu sorgen, bliebe wohl nur eine Reaktion: noch weiter rauf
mit den Zinsen, ein neuer Dreh an der Rezessionsspirale, in Deutschland und
weltweit.
18. Auf einem Symposium in München brachte der Autor Cees Nooteboom seine
Haltung auf den Punkt: “Schriftsteller sind Menschen, die über Länder
schreiben, die in Wirklichkeit nicht existieren, oder die Länder, die wohl
existieren, mit Bergen ausstatten, die es in Wirklichkeit nicht gibt.”
19. Das potentielle Mißverständnis ist Methode in seinem Roman;
“polyinterpretabel” solle ein gutes Buch sein, proklamiert der Literat und
erinnert an ein Bild von Umberto Eco: Je mehr Interpretationen möglich sind,
desto besser läuft die Maschine Buch.
Umberto Eco – Italian philosopher and author 1932–

20. Die Phantasie sei schließlich die Macht, die bewirke, “daß es sich zwischen
unseren beiden unendlichen Abwesenheiten hier auf Erden aushalten läßt.”

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Suggested Translations

1. Leave me alone (in peace) now!

2. Don’t ask me anything about it, Mr. Schmidt!
3. This door doesn’t open (isn’t opening). Give me my keys!
4. Above all, it would be important to develop a responsible environmental policy
now, before it gets too late.
5. What remains is to discover is this new poet from Lower Saxony. Now an
anthology of his works has appeared which – at the author’s behest – begins
with his most recent creations and ends with works from the beginning of his
career.
6. According to ordering records, an important indicator of the future employment
situation, the recession could get even worse.
7. The (works of) this novelist succeeded in a triumphant march into the German
bookstore displays in the fall of last year.
8. The waterworks located along the Rhein were the ones which first sounded the
alarm because they could no longer purify the water to drinkable / potable
quality.
9. The listeners heard the singer invited by the government sing without once
interrupting him with applause.
10. The politicians thought that much caution is necessary in order to create the
trust without which a global environmental policy cannot succeed.
11. With an eye to the vote, the candidate said that failing is not so bad. Bad is
only to have tried nothing.
12. From (utilizing) this eleven-digit code, the cubic capacity or horsepower of the
vehicle involved in the accident could be deciphered (ascertained) after the
fact.
13. As the Forest Society, comprised of 7000 scientists, forest economists,
woodlands owners and other supporters announced, the beech has meanwhile
been damaged more than any other type of tree, for example oak and pine.
14. Utilizing an impressive photo and text documentation, which was exhibited in
Cologne (Title: “The Slow Death of the Forest”) and for which Forester Möhring
regularly photographed the tops of dying trees with his half-meter-long
telephoto lens, both activists are attempting to prove that erroneous
methodology is leading government damage overseers to false interpretations
and with that to unrealistically optimistic assessments.
15. According to the author of the article, admirers have always praised the city. In
the 19th century, Alexander von Humboldt lauded Salzburg as “the most
beautiful city on Earth,” Franz Schubert swooned about a “heavenly valley,”
and Hugo von Hofmannsthal said that the city’s beauty was sacrosanct. Today,
however, one candidate maintains, the city is destroying itself. The old section
of the city is threatened by speculation.

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16. Skeptics would voice the concern that aluminum would be much more
expensive than steel; in addition it would pose ecological problems because of
the large amounts of energy which would be consumed in transforming the raw
material bauxite into utilizable aluminum.
17. There would remain only one reaction for the Federal Bank, obligated by law
especially to secure the stability of prices and currency: raise the interest rates
again, one more turn on the spiral of recession in Germany and worldwide.
18. At a symposium in Munich, the author Cees Nooteboom summed up his stance
thusly: “Writers are people who write about countries which do not exist in
reality, or who give to countries which probably do exist mountains which
don’t.”
19. Potential misunderstanding is a method in his novel; the man of letters
proclaims that a good book should be “polyinterpretable,” and reminds us of an
image of Umberto Eco’s: the more possible interpretations, the better runs the
machine that is the book.
20. Finally, fantasy is the power which has as its effect “that we can endure that
life on Earth which we have between both of our infinite absences.”

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