German Made Simple: Learn to Speak and Understand German Quickly and Easily

BOOK: German Made Simple: Learn to Speak and Understand German Quickly and Easily
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GERMAN MADE SIMPLE
. Copyright © 1965, 1985, 2006 by Broadway Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.

For information, address Broadway Books, a division of Random House, Inc.,

1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.

Produced by The Stonesong Press, LLC

BROADWAY BOOKS and its logo, a letter B bisected on the diagonal, are trademarks of Random House, Inc.
MADE SIMPLE
is a trademark of Broadway Books.

Visit our website at
www.broadwaybooks.com

The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

eISBN: 978-0-307-43418-0

v3.1

CONTENTS

Cover
Title Page
Copyright

CHAPTER 1

MEET THE GERMAN LANGUAGE

German and English belong to the same family of languages—Related German and English words—German is not difficult to pronounce and spell—A preview of some interesting features of German.

CHAPTER 2

GERMAN LETTERS AND SOUNDS IN WORDS AND SENTENCES

The vowels
a, e, i, o, u
—The consonants—The vowel combinations
au, ei, eu
—The modified vowels
ä, ö, ü
—Front
ch
, back
ch
—Final
g
—The German alphabet—The German letter ß—Summary of letters and sounds.

CHAPTER 3

Die Familie Clark
THE CLARK FAMILY

The family (
die Familie
)—Gender of nouns—Definite article and noun in the nominative case—Agreement of third-person pronouns—Asking somebody’s name.

CHAPTER 4

Herr Clark Ist Hungrig
MR. CLARK IS HUNGRY

The indefinite article
ein, kein
—Some German verb endings—The negative
nicht
—The formation of questions.

CHAPTER 5

Wer Ist Herr Clark?
WHO IS MR. CLARK?

Noun plurals—Common professions—Present tense of
gehen
—Three ways of saying
you
—Familiar verbs like
gehen
in the present tense—Question words—Asking somebody’s age.

CHAPTER 6

Frau Clark Geht Einkaufen
MRS. CLARK GOES SHOPPING

Imperative (command) forms—Accusative case of nouns, definite and indefinite articles,
kein, wer
and
was
—Feminine nouns with the ending-
-in
—Asking for the price.

CHAPTER 7

Das Haus der Familie Clark
THE HOME OF THE CLARK FAMILY

The one-family house (
das Einfamilienhaus
)—More noun plurals—Present tense of
sein
and
haben
—Accusative case, third-person pronouns—Some prepositions with the accusative case—Looking for a new home.

CHAPTER 8

Warum Lernt Herr Clark Deutsch?
WHY IS MR. CLARK LEARNING GERMAN?

Compound nouns—Opposites—Present tense of
antworten, reden, sprechen
—Modal verb
wollen
—Word order: normal and inverted word order—Position of infinitives.

CHAPTER 9

Eine Deutschstunde
A GERMAN LESSON

Modal verb
müssen
—Dative or “to” case of nouns, articles and
kein
—Some common verbs that may take indirect objects—Dative of third person pronouns and of
wer
—Dative prepositions.

CHAPTER 10

Wo Wohnt die Familie Clark?
WHERE DOES THE CLARK FAMILY LIVE?

Expressions of “liking” with
gern
and
lieber

Es gibt
there is, there are—Present tense of
laufen, fahren
—Prepositions with the dative or accusative—
Da(r
) and
wo(r
) combinations—What a mess!

CHAPTER 11

Das Geheimnis des Herrn Clark
THE SECRET OF MR. CLARK

Genitive case—The use of von in place of the genitive—The interrogative
wessen
—Prepositions with the genitive case—Present tense of
kennen
and of
wissen
.

CHAPTER 12

REVIEW OF CHAPTERS 1–11

Summary: Nouns, verbs, prepositions (dative, dative or accusative, accusative, genitive)—German expressions—Vocabulary exercises—Grammar review and exercises: noun declensions, all cases; masculine nouns with
-n
or
-en
endings—Compound nouns—Dialogues:
1. Wo ist die Thomasstraße? 2. Wo hält der Bus an?—Lesestücke: 1. Herr Clark lernt Deutsch. 2. Die Deutschsprachigen Länder: Deutschland, Österreich und Schweiz
.

CHAPTER 13

Ein Freund Besucht Herrn Clark
A FRIEND VISITS MR. CLARK

Present tense of
lesen, treten
—Possessive adjectives (
ein
-words)—Packing a suitcase.

CHAPTER 14

Herr Clark Telefoniert
MR. CLARK MAKES A PHONE CALL

Infinitives used as nouns—Numerals 1 to 100—Present tense of
können, tun

Der
-words:
dieser, jener, jeder, welcher, aller
—Making phone calls.

CHAPTER 15

Dollar und Euro
DOLLARS AND EUROS

The European currency—Numerals over 100—Arithmetic Subordinate word order—Subordinating conjunctions
dass, wenn
—Coordinating conjunctions
und, aber, oder, denn
—Talking about prices.

CHAPTER 16

Frau Clark geht mit ihren Kindern einkaufen
MRS. CLARK GOES SHOPPING
WITH HER CHILDREN

Clothes—The “Do-er”—Present tense of
tragen, lassen
—About adjective endings—Adjectives preceded by a
der
-word—Adjectives preceded by an
ein
-word—Adjectives preceded by neither a
der
-word nor an
ein
-word—Colors.

CHAPTER 17

Wie Spät Ist Es?
WHAT TIME IS IT?

Travelling—Expressions of satisfaction or approval—
Dieser
the latter,
jener
the former—Travel expressions—Time of day—The 24-hour clock—Separable verbs, present tense—First and second person pronouns (nominative, dative, accusative).

CHAPTER 18

REVIEW OF CHAPTERS 13–17

Summary: Nouns, verbs, German expressions—Vocabulary exercises—Grammar review and exercises: Summary of adjective endings; summary of first-, second- and third-person pronouns (nominative, dative and accusative)—Dialogues:
1. Ihre Uhr geht nach. 2. Wo muss ich aussteigen?—Lesestück: Karl lernt nicht gern Mathematik
.

CHAPTER 19

Der Arbeitstag des Herrn Clark
MR. CLARK’S WORKING DAY

Some foods—The present tense of
nehmen, dürfen
—Reflexive verbs, present tense of
sich setzen
—Some common reflexive verbs—
Reflexive pronouns in the dative—Separable verbs in subordinate clauses.

CHAPTER 20

Die kleine Anna war krank
LITTLE ANNE WAS SICK

Present tense of
schlafen, sollen
—Regular and irregular verbs in English—The past tense of weak (regular) verbs in German—Some familiar weak verbs, present and past—Past tense of strong (irregular) verbs—Some familiar strong verbs, present and past—Some expressions referring to past time—A fairy tale:—
Rotkäppchen
.

CHAPTER 21

Was für ein Schreckliches Wetter!
WHAT HORRIBLE WEATHER!

Expressions of weather—Some familiar separable verbs (present and past)—The position of the separable prefix of verbs (present and past) in simple sentences and main clauses—Position of separable verbs in subordinate clauses—
Hin
and
her
—More subordinating conjunctions—
Wann, wenn, als
.

CHAPTER 22

Der April Macht Was Er Will
APRIL DOES WHAT IT WANTS

The seasons—The months of the year—
Gern, lieber, am liebsten
—Present tense of
werden, mögen
—Inseparable verbs—Verbs that take a dative object.

CHAPTER 23

Ein Besuch für Herrn Clark
A VISIT FOR MR. CLARK

Present and past tense of
essen
—The relative pronouns—
Wo(r
) combinations used for relative pronouns with prepositions—
Wer
and
was
as relative pronouns—Call My Bluff.

CHAPTER 24

REVIEW OF CHAPTERS 19–23

Summary: Verbs (present and past)—German expressions—Vocabulary exercises—Grammar review and exercises: modal auxiliaries, present tense; modal auxiliaries, past tense; subordinate word order; expressions of definite time and duration of time—Dialogues:
1. Zwei Freunde begegnen sich auf der Straße. 2. Ich habe Hunger—Lesestück: Herr Clark war krank
.

CHAPTER 25

Familie Clark Geht ins Kino
THE CLARK FAMILY GOES TO THE MOVIES
Cinema expressions

Ordinal numerals—Dates.

CHAPTER 26

Die Wiedervereinigung Deutschlands
THE REUNIFICATION OF THE TWO GERMANIES

The present perfect tense (“
Perfekt
”)—Formation of the past participle—The principal parts of verbs—Use of the past and present perfect tenses.

CHAPTER 27

Ein typisches Wochenende bei den Clarks
A TYPICAL WEEKEND AT THE CLARKS’

Imperative of
sein
—The past perfect tense Past participle of verbs ending in -
ieren
—Verbs with the auxiliary
sein
—The principal parts of some
sein
-verbs.

CHAPTER 28

Herr Müller Erzählt von Sich Selbst
MR. MÜLLER TELLS ABOUT HIMSELF

Some very special verbs with the auxiliary
sein
—Indirect questions with
wie, wo, wann, wer, was, warum
—The present and past perfect tenses in subordinate clauses.

CHAPTER 29

Herr Clark Schreibt einen Brief an Seinen Geschäftspartner in München
MR. CLARK WRITES A LETTER TO HIS BUSINESS PARTNER IN MUNICH

Formal letters: date, beginning, closing—The future tense—The present tense with future meaning—The future tense in subordinate clauses—Hobbies.

CHAPTER 30

REVIEW OF CHAPTERS 25–29

Summary: Verbs, German expressions—Vocabulary exercises—Grammar review and exercises: Present, past, present perfect, past perfect and future tenses; the subordinate word order of verbs in the present perfect, past perfect, and future; summary of subordinating conjunctions—
Vier Dialoge—Lesestücke: 1. Frau Clark hat Geburtstag. 2. Ein toller Film im Kino
.

CHAPTER 31

Herr Clark Erhält eine Antwort auf Seinen Brief
MR. CLARK RECEIVES AN ANSWER TO HIS LETTER

Related words—Mixed verbs—The infinitive with
zu
—The infinitive without
zu
.
BOOK: German Made Simple: Learn to Speak and Understand German Quickly and Easily
7.45Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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