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German Language
Learning – An initiation
Version 3.0
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Objective
The main objective of “German Language
Learning – An Initiation” is to teach the
participants spoken German and give them an
idea about the cultural aspects of Germany, thus
creating in them an interest in communicating in
German.
References
Wolfgang Hieber – Lernziel Deutsch,
Deutsch als Fremdsprache Grundstufe 1
A guide to pronunciation
Chapter 1
PART A
I Guten Tag !
Guten Tag, Herr Doktor Schmidt! Guten Tag, Frau Rose! Wie geht
es Ihnen?
PART B
Hallo Erich!
Tag, Marianne! Wie geht’s?
Danke, gut.
Und du, was machst du hier?
Ich lerne Deutsch.
Sprichst du schon gut Deutsch?
Ein wenig
Tschüs, Erich
Tschüs, Marianne.
Notes
1. Guten Tag! This is an everyday greeting used by people who know each
other, as well as on occasions when we would say, “How do you do?”. It can
be used any time of the day except evening. The Germans tend to be formal
and will usually shake hands when meeting you and add your name to the
greeting.
4. Wie geht es Ihnen? or the shorter, more familiar “Wie geht’s?” both meaning
“How are you?”
8. Arbeiten Sie? (Are you working?). Questions without question words. Here
the immediate answer will be “Ja” or “nein” (yes or no). In English, we
usually make such question-forms using “do” or “does”. For e.g. Do you
speak German? Does he come? etc. In German we don’t have “do” or
“does”. We simply invert the position of subject and verb and put the verb in
the first position, such as “Sprechen Sie Deutsch?”
9. “Du” is the form of address for friends, acquaintances and relatives as well
as for children and young people up to about 16. For e.g. “Was machst du?”
(What do you do?)
10. Goodbyes in Germany are the occasion for another round of handshaking
among relative strangers and business associates. “Auf Wiedersehen” is
the standard way of saying goodbye, literally translated, it is an optimistic
“until we see each other again”. More informally, people use “Tschüs”
(goodbye) among friends and close relatives.
er lernt Deutsch
Sie she
they
Vocabulary
aber but
arbeiten to work
auch also
auf Wiedersehen good bye
aus from
bei (for e.g. “Ich arbeite bei TCS”) with
danke, gut. thank you, fine.
Deutsch German
Doktor doctor
du you (informal)
er he
es geht I am well
Frau Ms/Mrs.
gut good
guten Tag good day
heißen (for e.g. “Wie heißen Sie?”) to be called
Herr Mr.
hier here
ich I
Ihnen to you (formal)
ihr plural form of du.
ja / nein yes / no
kommen to come
Koreanisch Korean
lernen to learn
machen (for e.g. “Was machst du?”) to do
Medizin, f medicine
schon already
Sie (for e.g. “Wie heißen Sie?”) you (formal form)
sie (for e.g. “Sie heißt Indira Mehta”) she
sie (for e.g. “Sie heißen Deepak und Indira”) they
Sprache, f; Sprachen pl. language
sprechen to speak
studieren to study
Tag (for e.g. “Tag, Marianne”) good day
tschüs bye (informal)
und and
was what
wie (for e.g. “Wie geht es Ihnen?”) how
wir we
welche which
ein wenig a little bit
Nouns
Verben
Affirmative statements:
With question words (wie, wo, woher.....) the verb is in position 2 and the subject
in position 3.
Without a question word, the verb is in postion 1 and the subject in position 2.
Personal Pronouns
Singular:
plural:
masculine er
feminine sie
neutral es
Note that the polite form “Sie” is used for both the 2nd person singular and plural:
Wohnen ( to live)
Note that the forms of the 1st and 3rd person plural (wir and sie) and the polite
forms of the second person singular and plural (Sie) have the same ending as
the infinitive_ -en.
The forms of the 3rd person singular (er / sie ) and 2nd person plural have the
same ending: -t.
The Alphabet
A [a:] B [be:] C [tse:] D [de:] E [e:] F [εf]
Pronunciation-tips 1
Chapter 2
PART A
PART B
Notes
1. Guten Morgen. Used in the morning until about 10 a.m. You can also greet
each other with Guten Morgen (good morning).
2. Ihr Name. (your name) Ihr: ”your” is always written with a capital “I” – a sign
of the formal courtesy it implies. “Ihr” is used before masculine or neuter
nouns. For e.g.: “Ihr Vater” (your father); “Ihr Kind” (your child). “Ihre” is
used before feminine nouns. For e.g.: “Ihre Mutter” (your mother).
3. Bitte has got different meanings and in this context it means “please”.
7. Danke schön, bitte schön (thank you very much, welcome) are just an
elaboration of “danke” and “bitte”.
9. Meine Frau und meine Kinder. “My” is “mein” and when it occurs before a
so-called feminine noun and plural nouns, an “e” is added. For e.g. “Meine
Mutter”, “meine Kinder”.
10. Wir sagen doch du, ja? When a shift is made from “Sie” to “Du”, a big fuss
ensues: much hooking of arms, kissing and drinking from each other’s
glasses. This doesn’t apply to young people, who tend to move to “Du”
rather quickly and informally if they ever start out with “Sie” in the first place.
11. Ich heiße Bettina. If you are allowed to use “du”, then address each
other with first name.
Vocabulary
allein alone
Arzt, m; Ärzte pl. doctor
Ärztin, f; Ärztinnen pl. lady doctor
Beruf, m; Berufe pl. profession
bitte please
bitte schön welcome
buchstabieren to spell
das that
dein/deine your
Deutscher, m; Deutsche pl. German
doch then
einverstanden agreed
Eltern pl. parents
Engländerin, f; Engländerinnen pl. English woman
Frau (for e.g. “ meine Frau” f); Frauen wife
pl.
Familienname, m; Familiennamen pl. family name
Ihr/Ihre your
im Technopark at Technopark
Ingenieur,m; ingenieure pl. engineer
ist is
Kind, n; Kinder pl. child
langsam slowly
Lehrer, m; Lehrer pl. teacher
man you, one
Mann, m; Männer pl. husband
Mutter, f; Mütter pl. mother
Name, m; Namen pl. name
noch einmal once again
oder or
Programmierer,m; Programmierer pl. programmer
sagen to say
Sekretärin, f; Sekretärinnen pl. secretary
schreibt writes
sind are
Student, m; Studenten pl. student
studieren to study
Vater, m; Väter pl. father
Verkäuferin, f; Verkäuferinnen pl. salesgirl
von (for e.g. “Was sind Sie von Beruf?”) by
Vorname, m; Vornamen pl. first name, christian name
wer who
wie bitte? pardon
wirklich? really?
Grammar
Nouns
All German nouns, whether representing persons or things, are either masculine,
feminine or neuter, whereas in English things are usually neuter. The plural of
nouns in German is formed in different ways. So, when you come across a new
noun learn its Gender or sex and also practise its plural form. Notice further that
nouns are written with a capital letter in German. For example: Lehrer, Vater,
Mutter etc.
Singular Plural
Techniker Techniker –
Verkäufer Verkäufer –
Lehrer Lehrer –
Programmierer Programmierer –
Ingenieur Ingenieure –e
Maskulin Dolmetscher Dolmetscher –
Übersetzer Übersetzer –
Vater Väter
Beruf Berufe –e
Arzt Ärzte e
Mann Männer e
Name Namen –en
Student Studenten –en
Mutter Mütter ¨
Frau Frauen –en
Ärztin Ärztinnen –nen
Feminin Ingenieurin Ingenieurinnen –nen
Studentin Studentinnen –nen
Medizin
Verbs
Singular:
Was sind Sie von Beruf? Ich bin Lehrer.
Was bist du von Beruf? Ich bin Programmierer.
Was ist Antonio? Er ist Student.
Was ist Bettina? Sie ist Studentin.
Plural:
Was sind Sie von Beruf? Wir sind Techniker.
Was seid ihr von Beruf? Wir sind Studenten.
Was sind Antonio und Bettina? Sie sind Studenten.
Possessive Pronouns
ich mein/meine my
du dein/deine your
er sein/seine his
sie ihr/ihre her
wir unser/unsere our
ihr euer/euere(eure) your(pl.)
Sie Ihr/Ihre your
sie ihr/ihre their
“mein” is the word for my before any masculine nouns for e.g. mein Vater
“mein” is the word for my before any neuter nouns for e.g. mein Kind
but “meine” is the word for my before any feminine nouns for e.g. meine Mutter
Observe that the visible difference between “ihr”(her, its, their) and “Ihr”(Your) is
the capital letter “I”. There are actually three ways of expressing the word “your”
in German, since there are three different forms of “you”.
For example: your father can be translated as “Ihr Vater”, “dein Vater”, or “euer
Vater”.
Professions
Pronunciation – tips 2
A aa as in Anton N en as in Nordpol
F ef as in Friedrich S es as in Samuel
ö sounds (oe) neither has any parallel in Englisch. For long ö say
German long e while rounding and protruding the lips.
For example Danke schön
g sounds “k” at the end of the word for example Guten Tag
Chapter 3
PART A
I Haben Sie Geschwister?
Ja.
Und das? Sind das deine
Großeltern?
Doch, ich habe zwei Brüder.
Hier, das ist Gerd. Er ist erst
PART B
Macht nichts.
I Ein Telefongespräch
Müller.
Wer ist da, bitte?
Müller.
Ist da nicht Graf? 32 56 78.
2 Brötchen 0,40 €
2 Flaschen Bier 2,40 €
100g Schinken 2,60 €
200g Käse 3,60 €
Danke schön
Notes
1. Einen Bruder - a brother. Together with the verb “haben”, all masculine
singular nouns take this form. e.g. Ich habe einen Bruder, sie hat einen
Kongress etc.
2. Nach means “to” before a place (proper name) e.g. “Er kommt nach
Trivandrum”. “Zur” means “to the” if it indicates motion towards a place (not
a proper name) and if the noun is feminine. Here “Schule” is feminine and
therefore Peter goes to the school is translated as “Peter geht zur Schule”.
3. Keine. German has a special word for “not a”, “not any” or “no” before a
noun and such expressions can only be dealt with by using this word “kein”.
It changes according to the class of the following noun in precisely the same
way as “ein”. Together with the verb haben masculine nouns take “keinen”.
5. 32 56 78. Germans often say their telephone numbers (apart from the code)
in twos: eg. you write 32 56 78. You say: zwounddreissig sechsundfünfzig
achtundsiebzig. On the telephone you often say “zwo” instead of zwei, in
order to avoid confusion with “drei”. You can also say: drei – zwei fünf –
sechs sieben – acht.
6. Hier, bitte. “ Here you are”. The conventional English phrase, inviting the
person addressed to help himself. Bitte really means “please”, but is also
used when you are offering someone something.
7. Wer? means "who?” (never where, as you might think) except with the verb
sein (to be), wer takes the singular verb ending even if it refers to several
people: eg. “Wer kommt?” Who is coming?
9. “Machen” literally means “to do” and has different meanings in different
contexts. e.g. “Was machen Sie?” (What do you do?) - “Ich arbeite bei
TCS, was machen Sie? (What are you doing) - Ich lerne Deutsch etc.
“Das macht nichts” (Never mind). Das macht zusammen. That comes
to......... (when totalling).
Vocabulary
alles all
alt old
Bier, n beer
Brötchen, n bread roll
Bruder, m; Brüder pl. brother
Chemikerin, f; Chemikerinnen pl. chemist
da there or hier
das that
doch yes
Entschuldigung, f; Entschuldigungen pl. apology, excuse
erst only
Familie, f; Familien pl. family
Flasche, f; Flaschen pl. bottle
geht goes
Gramm, n gramm
Gerd short for Gerhard
Geschwister pl. sibling
Grosseltern pl. grandparents
haben to have
Käse, m cheese
keine not a
Kongress, m; Kongresse pl. conference, meeting
lebt lives
macht nichts never mind
möchten “ would like”
nach to
nehmen to take
nichts nothing
noch still
nur only
Onkel, m; Onkel pl. uncle
Schinken, m ham
Schule, f; Schulen pl. school
Schwester, f; Schwestern pl. sister
sehr very
sonst else, otherwise
sonst noch etwas anything else
Tante, f; Tanten pl. aunt
verheiratet married
was gibt es Neues? what’s new?
wer who
wünschen to wish
zusammen together
zur to the
GRAMMAR
Nouns
My Family
Maskulin Feminin
Großvater, ¨ Großmutter, ¨
Vater, ¨ Mutter, ¨
Bruder, ¨ Schwester, –n
Sohn, ¨ e Tochter, ¨
Onkel, – Tante, –n
Cousin, –s Cousine, –n
Verben
haben, nehmen and möchten ( this is a special category) are irregular verbs.
Indefinite articles
singular plural
ein(mas.)
a,an eine(fem.)
ein(neut.)
Negation
nicht
Verbs are negated with “nicht”. “Nicht” comes after the verb.
e.g.: Kommen Sie aus Deutschland? (do you come from Germany?)
Nein, ich komme nicht aus Deutschland (no, I don’t come from Germany).
kein
The negative of ein: kein is also declined like an indefinite article. In contrast
to ein, kein also exists in the plural.
Particles
Very often in German, we see that even a simple sentence consists of some
words which are not necessary in the sentence, and might confuse the student if
he/she tries to translate them and apply some meaning. In this chapter Part A (II)
you can see a similar type of sentence:
“Wer ist denn das?” Here, denn is called particle. It is used only in questions
and it makes the question sound less direct.
Er wohnt in Neu Delhi Sie kommt aus Chennai Sie kommt nach Mumbai
Number
Pronunciation – tips
e sounds “uh” at the end of the word for example Familie, eine, keine
Chapter 4
PART A
Erst um zehn? Aber wir haben Ja, aber die Besprechung beginnt
doch eine Besprechung! erst um halb elf.
Notes
2. Fahren. Use “fahren” for “to go” when speaking of vehicles moving or people
travelling in vehicles, and “gehen” when speaking of people going on foot.
3. Ins Kino: to the cinema. In this context “in” means “to” and Kino is a neuter
noun. So, “to the cinema” is “ in das Kino”. “Ins” is short for “in das” and is
nearly always used. “Ins”, then, always means “to” or “into” and the following
noun is always neuter.
4. Halb eins. “Eins” means one, of course, so this way of saying “twelve thirty”
calls for some mental adjustment. You must always think of the next hour
coming up, not the one that is past. “Halb eins” means “half past twelve”.
Vocabulary
Grammar
Nouns
Verbs
Time words are often at the beginning of the sentence. In this case the position
of the subject and the verb changes.
1 2 3a 3b
Ich gehe um sechs Uhr nach Hause
Definite Article
“Der”, “die” and “das” are the definite articles in German equivalent to “the” in
English. German nouns are of three kinds or classes, which are named
“masculine”, “feminine” and “neuter”. The German word for “the” before a noun
depends on the class to which the noun belongs. The best way to remember
which class new nouns belong to is to learn the right word for the along with
them. Beware of confusion with English, however, which uses masculine,
feminine and neuter to distinguish between male and female beings and
inanimate objects. You will discover that in German, inanimate objects can also
be masculine or feminine!
Expressions of time
Wo-------? Wohin------?
Ist Herr Hartmann schon im Büro? Herr Hartmann geht ins Büro.
Ich bleibe zu Hause. Deepak fährt zum Deutschkurs.
Herr Misra wohnt in Trivandrum. Er fährt nach Hause.
Sie fährt nach Berlin.
Pronunciation tips
Chapter 5
PART A
Frau Nagel ruft Fräulein Hermann an Ah, guten Tag, Frau Nagel! Ist
Ihr Mann noch nicht zu Hause?
Guten Tag, Fräulein Hermann!
Hier ist Edith Nagel! Nein, noch nicht. Warum?
Doch, doch.
Nur eine Frage: Haben Sie heute
abend schon etwas vor? Hm.....ins Kino? Heute abend?
PART B
Komm doch mit!
Danke, gut. – Du, was machst du Ich weiss noch nicht. Warum?
heute abend?
Ja. Es ist ein Stück von William Was?... “Der Sturm” von
Shakespeare – “Der Sturm”. Shakespeare? Das ist toll! Ich
komme gern mit. – Wann fängt
das Stück denn an?
Um halb sieben.
Und wie spät ist es jetzt?
Notes
2. Karte. “Karte” means card. This word has got different meanings in different
contexts.
For example: Wir spielen Karten (we play cards)
Das ist eine Karte von Europa.
Herr Ober, die Speisekarte bitte!
Eine Fahrkarte nach Berlin, bitte!
Wir gehen ins Kino. Ich habe zwei Karten.
Vocabulary
also so, therefore
am Theater at the theater
anfangen to begin
anrufen to call
ausgehen to go out
bis gleich see you soon
dort there
etwas some, anything
Filmkomödie, f; Filmkomödien pl. comedy
gern with pleasure.
laufen(läuft) to run
Männer pl. men
mitkommen to come along
noch nicht not yet
vorhaben to plan, to have in mind
schläft sleeps
schnell fast
schon already
sehr lustig funny, enjoyable
Stück, n; Stücke pl. play
Stunde, f; Stunden p hour
Theater, n; Theater pl theater
U-Bahn, f;U-Bahnen pl. underground railway
warten to wait
warum Why
zuerst at first, first of all
zum to the
Grammar
Nouns
Verben
Separable verbs
Separable verbs have two parts. When we use them in statements and
questions, we conjugate the second part of the verb and the separable prefixes
are at the end of the sentences.
Imperative
Kommen Sie doch mit, Fräulein Hermann! (come along, Ms. Hermann!)
Bitte nehmen Sie Platz! (sit down please!)
The imperative is used for orders and direct statements. Therefore the
imperative is only used in 2nd person singular and plural.
Singular Plural
du-Form
The imperative is derived from the 2nd person singular in the present. The ending
–st is omitted.
The umlaut is omitted with regualr verbs where the vowel changes:
ihr-Form
The imperative form and 2nd person plural of the present have the same form.
The imperative form and 2nd person plural have the same form.
anrufen:
du: Ruf mal an!
ihr: Ruft mal an!
Sie-form: Bitte rufen Sie mal an!
Pronunciation – tips
Vokale (Vowels)
Konsonanten (consonants)
“ch” after “a, o, u, au” is like “ach” etc. (almost like “kh” in Hindi)
Bach = stream
Tochter = daughter
Buch = book
Bauch = stomach
"ch" following "e", "i", "ä", "ö", "ü", the diphthongs "eu" or "äu"
is different. (Demonstration by Faculty)
Ich = I
Nicht = not
Recht = right
Bücher = books (das Buch)
Fächer = Deparments, compartments (das Fach)
Löcher = holes (das Loch)
Bäuche = stomachs
Y= The pronunciation of the German "y" depends on the position of the letter in
the word. If it is positioned within a word it sounds just like "ü". As in:
Typisch.
Y=If "y" stands at the beginning or end of a word, then it is pronounced in exactly
the same way as it is in English:
Hobby, party.
J=The letter "j" is always pronounced like the "y" in the English word "yes".
Jahr = year
Ng=At the end of a word the German sound "ng" is pronounced as one nasal sound
only, just like the English "long" or "wing".
R= No other sound in German separates the native from the non-native speaker -
When it is positioned before a vowel, "r" can sound quite guttural.
R= At the end of a word however, the "r" is hardly pronounced at all - much as in the
English words "beer" and "fear".
Bier, Schwester
Sch= The German sound "sch" always equates to the English "sh" at the beginning
of "show" or "short":
Schule = school
Schaum = foam
When they occur at the beginning of a word, both "sp" and "st" are pronounced
"schp" and "scht". This means that the "s" sounds like the "sh" at the beginning of
"show" and "short":
The German letters "v", "f" and "ph" are pronounced like the English "f" as in
"fish" or "face".
W= The German letter "w" is always pronounced like the English "v" in "very" and
"video":