German for Reading - Karl C. Sandberg

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Tib the Student

You may find it helpful at the outset to know the biases of the authors. Wegladly admit them : language is the most significant and fascinating of human

phenom ena; for the serious scholar it is useful and necessary to read otherlanguages than his ow n; for everyone it is interesting and enlightening to seehow another culture expresses its perception o f reality through its language;everyone can learn language; everyone who can learn, his own language canlearn a new language; the principles and techniques o f prog rammed learningcan significantly increase the efficiency and decrease the frustrations oflanguage study.

We have also assumed tha t your study time is valuable and th at if you have been introduced to this text it is because sometime you seriously wanted tolearn to read German. We have therefore made use of new approaches anddevelopments in program med learning in order to provide you with the mostsystematic and direct means possible of doing so. We have likewise assumedthat the students using this type of text are of m ature interests, and we have

consequently included passages that will introduce you directly though briefly to some of the thinkers, scholars, auth ors and political leaders whohave given Germ an culture its diversity and impact.

German fo r Reading presupposes no previous acquaintance with Germanandean be used with equal effectiveness by graduate students in the arts andsciences who are preparing to pass a reading knowledge examination, or byundergraduates who are beginning to deal seriously with the problems ofreading. It may be used before, simultaneously with, or after an aural-oral

introduction to G erm an. Its program med format permits it to be used eitheras a classroom text or by individuals working on their own. In an audio-lingual course it can be used as a complem ent to the audio-lingual text; in acourse oriented principally toward reading, it can be used as the primarytext, with the course moving at a p ropor tionately m ore rapid rate.

What you may expect to get out of the course

When you finish German fo r Reading you should be able to recognize themeanings signaled by all the basic grammatical patterns o f German, plus themeanings of about twelve hundred content words. You will also havedeveloped num erous techniques of reading in a foreign language which willenable you to learn new vocabulary and derive meanings from contextwithout depending totally on a dictionary. With some additional work to

build vocabulary in special fields, you will be able to sta rt using G erm an as anacademic tool in research or in course work in some field. You should be able,for example, to read a German newspaper or journal with fair to goodcomprehension or to begin the serious study o f Germ an literary texts.

xi



TO THE STUDENT

What you should expect to put into the course

The above results are predictab le on the basis of classroom testing and dependon your fulfilling the following conditions:

1. That you spend the 80-120 hours of study time that it has taken other

students to complete the course2. That you study and review consistently .3. That you familiarize yourself with the theoretical base of the book and

follow the instructions.

Format o f the text

One of the basic assumptions of German for Reading is that among the10,000-20,000 words that one must be able to recognize in order to readGerman easily (estimates differ), the first priority in order of presentationshould go to the function words (those that do not have a meaning in and ofthemselves, e.g. wo, where or denn ,fo r) and grammatical signals (e.g. verbendings) as opposed to the content words (the words that do express ameaning by themselves, e.g. vergessen, to fo rget or Pferd, horse), It is thefunction words and grammar structures of the language which provide theframework of context. Accordingly, this text is so organized as to make asystematic presentation of the patterns and function words of Germ an whilehelping you to develop reading skills and to build a basic recognition vocabulary of content words.

Each chapter is thus composed of several sets of grammar explanationswith accompanying exercises and a short reading passage. As you do theseexercises, you will find that they introduce the vocabulary and structures ofthe reading passage while also reviewing pertinent material from previous

chapters. Each exercise calls for some kind of response from you and is programmed through the left-hand column to provide you with an immediateverification of the accuracy of your response. A t the end o f each chapter is a

progress test which enables you to determine for yourself how well you havelearned the material.

The advantages o f this format are numerous—you spend all of your time inactive reading instead of in the mechanical process of thumbing to the endvocabulary ; you are not dependent on the classroom or professor in orde r to

establish meaning; you can thus proceed as rapidly as you want to or asslowly as you need t o ; and at the same time you are learning to read eminentGerman writers in their own words almost at the outset.

How to use the text

1. Begin each section by reading the explanations of the grammar. If theterminology used is unfamiliar to you, consult the definitions ofgrammatical terms in the appendices.

2. Proceed then to do the exercises following each section. They ask for



TO THE STUDENT x iii

some kind of response from you, such as supplying the missing words,choosing the correct alternative, or simply stating the meaning of theGerman sentence. Cover the left hand verification column with a card until you have made the response asked for.

3. After you have made an active response to the German sentence, slideyour card down on the left-hand column and verify your answer. Whenthe instructions ask you to translate the German to English, rememberthat there are often several ways of translating to achieve the samemeaning. Y our version does not need to coincide exactly with the versionin the text so long as the general meaning is the same.

The success or failure of your efforts depends to a large extent on howwell you follow this procedure. If you do n ot m ake a real effort to readthe Germ an before looking a t the English, you will probably not be ableto read the G erm an passage at the end of the section.

4. Each time you meet a word that you do not recognize immediately,underline it. After you learn its meaning put a circle around it (but do

not write the English equivalent between the lines). After you havefinished the set of exercises, review the circled words, and associate themwith their context.

5. Then, take the progress test and see which points you need to review.

Learn each block o f material thoroughly before going on.6. Study in short blocks o f time. If you were to allot two hours a day to thestudy o f German, it would be better to divide them into four periods ofthirty minutes each than to spend the two hours consecutively.

7. Review frequently! Before each new chapter, spend five minutes or soreviewing the words you have circled in the previous chapter.



Chapter One

1. Cognates—definition2. Nouns—recognition, gender , and

cpgnate pa tterns

3. N ouns—form ation o f the plural fo rm s

4. Compound nouns

5. Cognates—partially similar meanings6. False Cognates

1 . Cognates—definition1. The task of learning Germ an vocabulary is simplified by true cognates ,1.e., words which have similar spellings and identical or similar meanings.From common Germ anic roots come cognates such as Sommer and summer, Wolf and wolf. From other common roots come cognates such as Echo andecho , Sphäre and sphere.

2. The task is sometimes hindered by partial cognates (words which lookalike but have both similar and divergent meanings) and fa lse cognates (words with similar spellings but no related meanings).

Partial cognates:

Existenz ==existence but also subsistence

Fleisch = flesh but also meat or pulp

False cognates:

Rock = coat, sfcir!

Kind = child

3. A logical first step in learning to read German is to learn how to recognize the true cognates and to become aware of the partial or false cognates.

1



NOU NS— RECOGNITION, GENDER, AND COGNATE PATTERNS §2

Nouns—recognition, gender, and cognate patterns

1. All nouns in Germ an are capitalized:

Der Mann trinkt ein Glas Bier. The man drinks a glass o f beer.

2. German nouns, unlike English nouns, are one of three genders : masculine, feminine, or neuter. Masculine nouns are often preceded by a form ofder (the) or ein (a or an), feminine nouns by a form of die or eine, and neuternouns by a form of das or ein. (The case of these articles will be explained inchapter 4.)

3. A knowledge of the following consonant rela tionsh ips which exist between Germ an and English will help you to recognize or remem ber

German-English cognates more readily:

GERMAN ENGLISHf,ff (medial or final) usually corresponds to Pein Schiff a shipdie Hilfe the helppf (initial, medial, or final) usually corresponds to P>PPder Pfeffer the pepper

ein ApfeJ an appleder Trumpf the trumpb (medial or final) usually corresponds to v or / das Silber the silver

d usually corresponds to th

die Erde the earthein Bruder a brother

ch usually corresponds to k

die Milch the milk

der Mönch the monk

cht usually corresponds to gh t

die Macht the might

ein Licht a light

g usually corresponds to y or ider Weg the way

eine Magd a maid

k usually corresponds to ch or c

der Käse the cheese



§2 NOUNS— RECOGNITION, GENDER, AND COGNATE PATTERNS

GERMAN ENGLISHdie Klasse the classs, ss, ß (medial or final) usually corresponds to teine Straße a streetdas Wasser the water

das Los the lot (fate)tz, z usually corresponds to teine Katze a catdas Salz the saltt usually corresponds to d das Wort the word der Traum the dream

What are the English cognates o f the following German words?

1. ein Affe

1. an ape 2. der Pfeifer

2. the pepper 3. ein Pfund

3. a pound 4. die Pflaume

4. the plum 5. ein Tropfen

5. a drop 6. der Dieb

6. the thief 7. die Leber

7. the liver 8. eine Öffnung

8. an opening 9. die Pfeife

9. the pipe 10. ein Ding

10. a thing 11. eine Feder

11. a feather 12. der Schmied

12. the smith 13. die Milch

13. the milk 14. der Storch

14. the stork 15. ein Kuchen



4 NOUNS— RECOGNITION, GENDER, AND COGNATE PATTERNS §2

15. a cake 16. die Leuchte

16. the light 17. die Nacht

17. the night 18. das Recht

18. the right 19. das Leder

19. leather 20. eine Tochter

20. a daughter 21. der Pfennig

21. the penny 32. ein Auge

22. an eye 23. der Nagel

23. the nail 24. eine Kirche

24. a church 25. das Kinn

25. the chin 26. ein Kamerad

26. a comrade 27. der Schweiß

27. the sweat 28. der Regen

28. the rain 29. eine Kammer

29. a chamber 30. die Hitze

30. the heat 31. das Zinn

31. tin 32. das Herz

32. the heart 33. der Tag

33. the day 34. das Blut

34. the blood 35. ein Netz

35. a net 36. die Zunge

36. the tongue 37. eine Tür

37. a door



§3 NO UNS— FORMATION OF THE PLURAL FORMS

PROGRESS TEST

Give the English cognate o f the following German words.

1. eine Pfeife

1. a pipe 2. die Leber '

2. the liver 3. das Ding

3. the thing 4. ein Kuchen

4. a cake 5. die Nacht

5. the night 6. ein Auge

6. an eye 7. ein Kamerad

7. a comrade 8. das Kinn

8. the chin 9. die Hitze

9. the heat 10. das Herz

10. the heart 11. der Tag

11. the day

When you can recognize all the above consonant shifts, go on to the next section.

3 . Nouns—formation o f the plural forms

1. English usually signals the plural by means of a final -s (table, tables),

a vowel change (man, men), or by a quantity word + o r a vowel change(some chairs, some men). German usually signals the plural of nouns by theuse of the definite article die (or a quantity word) plus



NOUNS— FORMATION OF THE PLURAL FORMS §3

(a) the noun endings -e, -er, -n, -en :

(Jpr Arm the arm die Arm^ the armsdas Kjpd the child die Kindir the childrender Stgaf the state die Staati/2 the statesdie frau the woman die Frauen the womender flauer the fa rmer die Bauern the farmers

an umlaut added to a medial vowel:

der Vater the fa th er die Väter the fa th ers

die Tochter the daughter die TÄchter the daughter

the noun endings and an umlaut:

die Hand the hand die Händi the handsder Fuß the foo t die Füße the fee tder Mann the man die Männer the men

das Buch the book die Bi/chir the books

Notice th at you rrçyst look for a combination o f die (or various plural markersto be discussed later, e.g. diese, these) and one of the above:

das Mädchen the gir l die Mädchen the girlsdie. Mutter the mother die Mi/tter the mothers

Since Mädchen carries an umlaut in the singular, the only way to tell the plu ral is by the addition of die. Mutter, being feminine, takes die as the

definite article in both the singular and the plural, and the plural is thereforerecognized only by the addition of the umlaut.

2. There are a few words ending in -el or -en that add neither an ending noran umlaut. The plural of these words is signaled only by the definite articledie:

der Onkel the uncle die Onkel the unclesder Wagen the car die Wagen the cars

3. A few nouns taken from foreign languages form their plural by adding -s :

das Auto die Autosdas Restaurant die Restaurants

4. The ending -(e)$ is usually the sign of the gentive (possessive) case ofmasculine and neuter nouns in the singular, which will be explained later.





8 NOUNS— FORMATION OF THE PLURAL FORMS §3

15. die Familien : -n 16. die Türen(families) die Tür

16. die Türen: -en 17. die Radios

(doors) das Radio

17. die Radios: -s and die 18. das Café(radios) die Cafés

18. die Cafés: -s and die 19. die Minute(cafés) die Minuten

19. die Minuten : -n 20. der Satellit(minutes) die Satelliten

20. die Satelliten : -en and die 21. die Nacht(satellites) die Nächte

21. die Nächte: -e and umlaut' 22. die Schulen(nights) die Schule

22. die Schulen : -n 23. die Sofas(schools) das Sofa

23. die Sofas: -s and die 24. das Licht(sofas) die Lichter

24. die Lich ter: -er and die 25. die Sonne(lights) die Sonnen

25. die Sonnen : -n(suns)

PROGRESS TEST

Which o f the following forms is the plural?

1. die Töchterdie Tochter

1. die Töchter 2. die Onkelder Onkel



§4 COMPOUND NOUNS 9

2. die Onkel 3. die Füßeder Fuß

3. die Füße 4. das Buch

die Bücher

4. die Bücher 5. die Lippendie Lippe

5. die Lippen 6. die Studentender Student

6. die Studenten 7. das Hoteldie Hotels

7. die Hotels

When you can recognize the plural form s o f the above nouns, go on to the next section .

4 . Compound nouns

1. Characteristic of German is the coining of new words from simplerGerman w ords:

krank (sick) + das Haus(house) = das Krankenhaus(hospital) die Hand (hand) + der Schuh (shoe) = der Handschuh(glove) das Wasser (water) + der Stoff(stuff) = der Wasserstoff(hydrogen) das Volk (people) + der Wagen (car) = der Volkswagen

There is often a connective (-(e)s- or -(e)n-) between the two elements.

2. The gender of the noun is determined by the last component.

3. Plurals of compound nouns are formed from the last component:

das Krankenhaus the hospita l die Krankenhäuser the hospitals

die Wasserstoffbombe the hydrogen bomb

die Wasserstoffbomben the hvdroken bombs



10 COMPOUND NOUNS §4

Guess the meanings o f the followin g compound nouns.

1. der Zahn = tooth der Arzt = doctor der Zahnarzt =

1. dentist 2. das Jahr = year die Zeit = time die Jahreszeit =

2. season 3. der Flug = fl ight

der Hafen = harbor, port der Flughafen =

3. airport 4. das Schwein = pig , swine das Fleisch = mea t das Schweinefleisch =

4. pork 5. die Bürger = townspeople, citizens

der Meister = mas ter der Bürgermeister =

5. mayor 6. sich rasieren = to shave der Apparat = apparatus Her Rasierapparat =

6. razor 7. das Leben = life

das Mittel = means das Geschäft = business, shop das Lebensmittelgeschäft =

7. grocery storei.v

8. unter = underder Grund = ground die Bahn = railroad, railwaydie Untergrundbahn =

8. subway 9. das Leder =leather die Ware = goods die Produktion = production die Lederwarenproduktion =

9. production of leather goods 10. die Sonne = sun

das System = sy stem das Sonnensystem =



§5 COGNATES— PARTIALLY SIMILAR MÈANINGS 1

10. solar system 11. das Silber = silver der Berg = mountain das Werk = work(s) das Silberhergwerk =

11. silver mine 12. der Friede = peace der Hof = ya rd, court der Friedhof =

12. cemetery

5 . Cognates—partially similar meanings

1. A German cognate may have meanings additional to its English counter part:

die Seite side but also page (of a book) die Macht might authority

der Hund hound dog

2. The meanings of partial cognates must be determined from the contextor from a dictionary :

1. Der Vater sitzt mit der kleinen Tochtei auf der Bank. —The father is sitting on the with his sm all daughter. The German Bank suggests the English bank which normally would not make

sense in this context. In German the letter k may often bq equivalent to the English ch. The word is

1. bench 2. Es gibt Eis zum Nachtisch. =There is fo r dessert.

The reference to dessert suggests that Eis would not be translated byice but by



12 FALSE COGNATES §6

2. ice cream 3. Darf man den Brief mit einer Feder schreiben? = M ay one write the le tter with a

?

Here the context suggests that the trans

lation of Feder is notfeather but

3. pen

6 . False Cognates

1. Many false cognates exist between German and English. Since the meaning will no t always be discernible from the context, you will have to establishthe meaning by means of a dictionary:

das Tier the animal (not deer )

der Tisch the table (not dish)das Gift the poison (not gift)

What is the English meaning of the italicized words?

1. Der Mensch ist einTier. Man is an

1. animal 2. Nimm die Ellbogen vomTisch !Take your elbows off the !

2. table 3. Der Löwe ist der König derTiere. The lion is the king of

3. beasts 4. Arsen ist ein gefährlichesGift. Arsenic is a dangerous

4. poison 5. Er sitzt am Tisch und liest die Zeitung. He is sitting at the and reading the paper.

5. table 6. Gift ist kein schönes Geschenk.is not a nice gift.

6. Poison

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German for Reading - Karl C. Sandberg