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    The Everything German Practice: Practical Techniques to Improve Your Speaking And Writing Skills
    The Everything German Practice: Practical Techniques to Improve Your Speaking And Writing Skills
    The Everything German Practice: Practical Techniques to Improve Your Speaking And Writing Skills
    Ebook387 pages3 hours

    The Everything German Practice: Practical Techniques to Improve Your Speaking And Writing Skills

    By Jeffery Donley

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    About this ebook

    The Everything German Practice Book has all it takes for beginner and intermediate speakers to take their proficiency to the next level. Divided into 10 easy-to-follow sections, this fun and accessible guide boasts more than 200 exercises designed to speed the reader's mastery of:
    • Grammar, syntax, and sentence structure
    • Vocabulary-building methods
    • Pronunciation and usage technique
    • Comprehension in reading and speaking
    PLEASE NOTE:The ebook version of this title does not include a CD or contain interactive audio exercises.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster
    Release dateJul 13, 2006
    ISBN9781605503301
    The Everything German Practice: Practical Techniques to Improve Your Speaking And Writing Skills
    Author

    Jeffery Donley

    "Jeffery Donley is a teacher, preacher, and Biblical scholar, with a storyteller's gift who brings God's Word to life! Jeffery has been a minister and full-time college professor since 1982. He helps you to understand the meaning of the Bible, making it seem as if you were experiencing it firsthand."

    Read more from Jeffery Donley

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    The Everything German Practice - Jeffery Donley

    The Article

    A solid foundation on which to expand and practice German is a thorough knowledge of the German article and rules for its use. You should always have a good German phrase book and a German-to-English and English-to-German dictionary to help you if you have forgotten something. Also, online dictionaries such as www.leo.org or www.foreignword.com provide you with fast and correct answers.

    The Attributive Adjective

    The definite article is an adjective that has to agree in number (singular or plural), gender, and case with the noun that it modifies. There are three German definite articles that have to concur in number, gender, and case with the nouns they modify. All people, animals, and non-animated objects take a masculine, feminine, or neuter article. In order to be proficient in German, you must learn the correct article with each noun.

    Exercise 1

    The following nouns have the wrong definite articles. Provide the correct article and write the translation on the second line.

    Exercise 2

    Match the following German words with their English equivalents.

    Exercise 3

    Whatever the original gender, nouns become neuter when the suffixes -chen and -lei or -lein are attached. Words of affection and words expressing petiteness originate from the -chen and -lein endings. Keep in mind that the vowels a, o, u, and au change to ä, ö, ü, and äu when -chen or -lein are attached.

    Circle the correct definite article before each noun and translate the words on the line that follows.

    Three Genders and Four Cases

    German nouns are either masculine, feminine, or neuter, and the article changes (but not always) with the four cases. The three genders and four cases assign a distinct role for the nouns in a sentence. The change in role of a noun is indicated in the change of the article. Pronouns also change with the four cases.

    Exercise 4

    illustration

    TRACK 1

    Listen to the track on the accompanying CD and repeat each singular noun with its definite article. Then, listen to the track again and translate into English what you hear. On the second line, specify whether it is the nominative, genitive, dative, or accusative case.

    The following examples are definite articles with nouns in the singular. The first answer has been provided for you.

    Exercise 5

    Please translate the following words into English.

    Exercise 6

    You have to attach an -s to the genitive singular for most masculine nouns such as des Haushalts and all neuter nouns such as des Kinderzimmers.

    In addition, you have to insert an e before the -s for one-syllable genitive masculine nouns such as des Stuhles and neuter: des Buches.

    The same rule applies to nouns ending in s or tz — do not forget the e.

    Translate and fill in the blanks, using des and one of the following words:

    Mannes, Kindes, Schatzes, Fußes.

    Exercise 7

    With plural nouns, the three genders are not important. Instead the articles are all the same for all three genders in the nominative and accusative case.

    The article is die. Make sure that you add an n-ending for all plural nouns in the dative, but if they already end in an n, you do not need to add an additional n.

    Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the plural article and the translation.

    Exercise 8

    Translate the words on the short lines and then use the words in a sentence. Try to find the correct articles and be creative.

    Arbeit    ____________________________________________________________________

    Beispiel    ____________________________________________________________________

    Rock    ____________________________________________________________________

    Buch    ____________________________________________________________________

    Gabel    ____________________________________________________________________

    Geld    ____________________________________________________________________

    Freund    ____________________________________________________________________

    Glas    ____________________________________________________________________

    Kaffee    ____________________________________________________________________

    Kekse    ____________________________________________________________________

    Cases in Action

    The nominative case is the subject of a sentence, and the genitive case indicates possession. The dative case is the indirect object of a sentence. The accusative case is the direct object of a sentence. Note that the verb sein requires two nominatives! For example, in the sentence Der Schriftsteller ist auch der Filmproduzent, Der Schriftsteller is in the nominative case, as is der Filmproduzent. The sentence translates as The writer is also the producer. You can only have two nominatives in a sentence if the verb is a form of to be. With a different verb, you would find a nominative and an accusative or a dative case, as in: Der Schriftsteller mag den Filmproduzent. This sentence translates as The writer likes the producer.

    Exercise 9

    Fill in the blanks to the left of the nouns with the correct articles in the proper case and then translate the sentences in the blanks. Hints: Question 1 pertains to the direct object, questions 2 and 3 pertain to the indirect object, the noun in question 4 is in the genitive case, question 5 pertains to the predicate noun, and the noun in question 6 is the subject of the sentence.

    Ich kaufte________________Hut.____________________________________________________

    Er kauft________________Vater einen Hut.____________________________________________________

    Die Frau gibt________________Sohn ein Stück Kuchen.____________________________________________________

    Der Bruder________________Vaters ist gekommen.____________________________________________________

    Herr Zimmermann ist________________ Lehrer.____________________________________________________

    ________________Vater wohnt in Berlin.____________________________________________________

    A Unique Group of Modifiers

    The next exercise follows the declension of the definite articles der, die, das. These words are called the der-words and include dies-, jen-, jed-, welch-, solch-, and manch-, the stems to which the respective endings are added. Take, for example, den Mann and jeden Mann. The endings for the articles are the same endings as the ones for the der-words.

    Exercise 10

    Match the six German der-words, dies-, jen-, jed-, welch-, solch-, and manch-, with their English equivalents. Choose one of the following: that, many (a), each, which, such (a), and this.

    Exercise 11

    Choose the correct translation for each word.

    Exercise 12

    The following der-words are incorrectly declined. Correct them by declining them in the given case in the blanks to the left and then translate the words into English in the blanks to the right.

    The answer to question 1 has been provided for you.

    Exercise 13

    Translate the following words into English.

    Exercise 14

    The plural der-word, dies-, endings are similar for all genders. Fill in the der-words, which are declined in the plural in the blanks to the left, and then translate them into English in the blanks to the right.

    The first answer has been provided for you.

    Exercise 15

    Translate the following words into English.

    Agreement with Nouns

    Indefinite articles agree in number, gender, and case with the nouns they modify. The declension of the indefinite article (singular and plural) is similar to the der-words (dieser, and so on), except that you do not provide case endings to the masculine and neuter nominative singular and the neuter accusative singular.

    Exercise 16

    Fill in the blanks to the left with the correct word. Use either a form of ein + the appropriate ending or use a form of kein (no, not a) + the appropriate ending. Then translate into English in the blanks to the right.

    The first answer has been provided for you.

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