German grammar with a human face - Frank I.M. Ilya Frank German grammar with a human face Deutsche Grammatik mit menschlichem Antlitz

Human Grammar of German

As a tip: to begin with, understand only what is in this document, without clicking on links with the name More .

Yes, it can be aesthetically unreadable. But you will immediately see the volume that you need to swallow so as not to choke and not be poisoned by the German language.

And only then, after you have learned this page and understood it, put it into practice, heard the constructions in a conversation, read it in a book, you can return and work out the links. But only on a topic that is really obscure.

This is how I learned German for 2 weeks and before the re-interview at the embassy. When a one-year visa to Germany is at stake, you will learn this and a little more.

But you can also look at the section on classical grammar and German if this section seems incomprehensible to you.

Pronouns in German

Pronomen













you (a lot of you)



you (polite)

German grammar	http://speakasap.com

Conjugation of verbs

For example, think - denken, the ending - en goes away, instead it is added:

	Denken

	denk+e

	denk + st

	denk+t

	denk + en

	denk+t

	denk + en

Conjugation of strong verbs

The letter in the word changes (always only for du , er , sie , es ).

For example:

take - nehmen

		Nehmen

		nehm+e



		nimmt

		nehm+en

		nehm+t

		nehm+en

c pat - schlafen

		Schlafen

		schlaf + e



		schlaft

		schlaf+en

		schlaf+t

		schlaf+en

These materials may not be modified, transformed or taken as a basis. You can copy, distribute and transfer them to other persons for non-commercial purposes, subject to the obligatory indication of the author (Elena Shipilova) and the source http://speakasap.com

German Grammar http://speakasap.com

to go - fahren

	Fahren

	fahr + e





	fahr + en

	far + t

	fahr + en

Verbs with separable prefixes

Separables include: ab-, an-, auf-, aus-, ein-, empor-, vorbei-, zurück-, fest-, frei-, hoch-.

Conjugation of verbs with separable prefix

watch TV - fern sehen

		Fernsehen

		seh + e fern



		sieht fern

		seh + en fern

		seh + t fern

		seh + en fern

start - an fangen

		Anfangen

		fang + ean





		fan + en an

		fang + tan

		fan + en an

German grammar	http://speakasap.com

Verbs with inseparable prefixes

Inseparables include: be-, emp-, ent-, er-, ge-, hinter-, miss-, ver-, zer-.

Conjugation of verbs with an inseparable prefix

receive - be kommen

		Bekommen

		bekomm+e

		bekomm + st

		bekomm + t

		bekomm+en

		bekomm + t

		bekomm+en

try, try - ver suchen

		Versuchen

		versuch+e

		versuch + st

		versuch+t

		versuch + en

		versuch+t

		versuch + en

Detachable (under stress) and non-separable (unstressed) prefixes

durch-, über-, um-, unter-, wieder-, wider-.

Page 1 of 42

This book, written in the style of an oral story,
You will read at once.
And then, in order to understand everything properly,
Read it five more times...

Dieses Büchlein, wie leichte Lekture geschrieben,
Werden Sie auf einmal lesen und lieben.
Aber nachher, um alles ganz gut zu verstehen,
Lesen Sie es bitte noch einmal - oder zehn.

Why is this book needed?

I wanted to read a coherent story about German grammar - a story, a story that you can read in a row without stopping. In Russian, I came across only grammar reference books. The thing is necessary, but the guide is not intended for reading, you can only look into it. If you try to read it, it will give you a headache.

This is first. Secondly, in order for a book to be readable, it must be authorial, that is, not only have the name and surname of the author on its cover, but also be individual in language and content - you must feel the personality of the person who is talking to you, hear him temperament, his breathing, even if not always even.

The book is written spoken language- in the style of oral explanation. But what is the originality of the content? After all, this is not a novel, not an essay on a free theme, this is German grammar!

At the risk of frightening you, I will nevertheless say: how many authors, so many German grammars. And even so: how many people who speak German, so many German grammarians. Because grammar is not a set of rules, but a linguistic picture of the world. How many people, so many pictures of the world.

But it is so, lyrical digression. I am not a scientist, I am a German language teacher, a person of practice. When you write grammar, the question arises - what to write about, and what not to write about? What is important, essential, and what is secondary? It is obviously impossible to write about everything, because grammar smoothly turns into vocabulary - in various cases of the use of certain words. I tried to write only about what really causes difficulties and hesitation in mastering the language. And he didn’t write anything just like that, “for the sake of completeness.”

In addition, I, perhaps, feigned innocence, calling myself a "man of practice." After all, language teaching has its own theory - a method. Given grammar will help you correct speech "on the go", in the process of speaking. So, for example, you will not find here numerous tables of adjective declensions, you will not even find the names of these declensions. But get three rules that will be easy to apply and that cover all tables (usually given in reference books). After all, when you speak, you cannot keep several tables in your head! You are a human, not a computer! (Pay attention to the title of the book again.) You will not find different declensions of nouns either, each case is given separately - and together with the corresponding pronouns (this will make it easier for you to navigate). Etc. This combination of topics, by the way, made possible the relatively small volume of the book, which contains very great material. I tried to show you not a map of the language, but its globe.

Who is the book for? For everyone - and I'm not saying this just for everyone to buy it. It is intended for beginners - because, unlike reference books, it starts from the beginning and does not require any prior knowledge from the reader. (In the handbook, in each paragraph, you will find examples that you need to know other paragraphs to understand.) In addition, all examples are given with literal translation, even to the detriment of good Russian. This book is also intended for those who speak the language, as it contains various grammatical subtleties in which Germans themselves can get confused (just as we sometimes do not know how to say something in Russian). The subtleties are given in smaller print so that beginners can skip them with a clear conscience.

I will be grateful for feedback, especially specifically critical ones that can be sent by e-mail: [email protected]

Reading and pronunciation rules

Consonants

W(ve) reads like Russian in: was? – what?

Z(tset) reads like c: Mozart.

S(es) reads like from: Post - mail, but before (and between) vowels - like h: Saal - hall, lesen - read.

ß (escet) reads like from(this letter contains two s).

F(ef), V(fau) are read as f: Frankfurt, Vater - father. in borrowed words v reads like in: vase.

J(yot) reads like th: Ja - Yes.

L(el) - medium between mild and solid email, but closer to soft: Land - country.

H at the beginning of a word or root, it is read as an exhalation: Haus - house, dahinten - over there (da-hinten), and in the middle or at the end of the root (after the vowel) is not read at all: gehen - go, Kuh - cow.

Consonant letter combinations

Suffix -tion(always stressed) read zion.

ß or ss.

in the letter ß (escet) two s. However, it is sometimes written ß , and sometimes ss- sometimes even in different forms of the same word. In accordance with the new spelling reform, after a long vowel or double vowel is written ß , and after a short ss:

wissen-weiß, dass, groß.

Vowels

Vowels with change-re-warp (Umlaut – two dots above) are read narrower (with a narrower mouth) than their corresponding regular vowels: schon (already) – schön ("shen" - fine), Zug (train) - Züge ("tsyuge"- trains).

"A Umlaut" reads like uh: Sale - halls.

Y (upsilon) reads like ü : Lyrik.

This book, written in the style of an oral story,
You will read at once.
And then, in order to understand everything properly,
Read it five more times...
Dieses Büchlein, wie leichte Lekture geschrieben,
Werden Sie auf einmal lesen und lieben.
Aber nachher, um alles ganz gut zu verstehen,
Lesen Sie es bitte noch einmal - oder zehn.

Why is this book needed?

Why another German grammar? A lot of them have been written. Maybe the author thought: Everyone writes - and I will write. And I will no longer be just “I”, but the author of the grammar of the German language. Before, I was tormented by reading and memorizing all this, but now let others suffer. To be honest, it's nice to be the author of a German grammar, but still this is not the only reason for the birth of this book.
They say that the author writes the book that he actually would like to read. But, having learned that such a book does not exist, he sits down to write it himself. So what to do?
I wanted to read a coherent story about German grammar - a story, a story that you can read in a row without stopping. In Russian, I came across only grammar reference books. The thing is necessary, but the guide is not intended for reading, you can only look into it. If you try to read it, it will give you a headache.
This is first. Secondly, in order for a book to be readable, it must be authorial, that is, not only have the name and surname of the author on its cover, but also be individual in language and content - you must feel the personality of the person who is talking to you, hear him temperament, his breathing, even if not always even.
The book is written in colloquial language - in the style of oral explanation. But what is the originality of the content? After all, this is not a novel, not an essay on a free theme, this is German grammar!
At the risk of frightening you, I will nevertheless say: how many authors, so many German grammars. And even so: how many people who speak German, so many German grammarians. Because grammar is not a set of rules, but a linguistic picture of the world. How many people, so many pictures of the world.
But this is so, a lyrical digression. I am not a scientist, I am a German language teacher, a person of practice. When you write grammar, the question arises - what to write about, and what not to write about? What is important, essential, and what is secondary? It is obviously impossible to write about everything, because grammar smoothly turns into vocabulary - in various cases of the use of certain words. I tried to write only about what really causes difficulties and hesitation in mastering the language. And he didn’t write anything just like that, “for the sake of completeness.”
In addition, I, perhaps, feigned innocence, calling myself a "man of practice." After all, language teaching has its own theory - a method. This grammar will help you correct your speech "on the go", in the process of speaking. So, for example, you will not find here numerous tables of adjective declensions, you will not even find the names of these declensions. But get three rules that will be easy to apply and that cover all tables (usually given in reference books). After all, when you speak, you cannot keep several tables in your head! You are a human, not a computer! (Pay attention to the title of the book again.) You will not find different declensions of nouns either, each case is given separately - and together with the corresponding pronouns (this will make it easier for you to navigate). Etc. By the way, this combination of topics made possible the relatively small volume of the book, which contains a very large amount of material. I tried to show you not a map of the language, but its globe.
Who is the book for? For everyone - and I'm not saying this just for everyone to buy it. It is intended for beginners - because, unlike reference books, it starts from the beginning and does not require any prior knowledge from the reader. (In the reference book, in each paragraph, you will find examples that you need to know other paragraphs to understand.) In addition, all examples are given with a literal translation, even to the detriment of good Russian. This book is also intended for those who speak the language, as it contains various grammatical subtleties in which Germans themselves can get confused (just as we sometimes do not know how to say something in Russian). The subtleties are given in smaller print so that beginners can skip them with a clear conscience.
I will be grateful for feedback, especially specifically critical ones that can be sent by e-mail: [email protected]

Reading and pronunciation rules

Consonants

W(ve) reads like Russian in: was? – what?
Z(tset) reads like c: Mozart.
S(es) reads like from: Post - mail, but before (and between) vowels - like h: Saal - hall, lesen - read.
ß (escet) reads like from(this letter contains two s).
F(ef), V(fau) are read as f: Frankfurt, Vater - father. in borrowed words v reads like in: vase.
J(yot) reads like th: Ja - Yes.
L(el) - medium between mild and solid email, but closer to soft: Land - country.
R(er) you can read grazing (burr), you can - like ordinary Russian R(depending on the region): Russe - Russian, Mutter - mother.
H at the beginning of a word or root, it is read as an exhalation: Haus - house, dahinten - over there (da-hinten), and in the middle or at the end of the root (after the vowel) is not read at all: gehen - go, Kuh - cow.

Consonant letter combinations

Ko ch (X) - Cook, Fu chs(ks) - a fox, Sch iller ( w ), sp ort( sp) And st ill ( PCS) – at the beginning of a word or root, Deu tsch( solid h),ba ck en ("ba to n")- bake, qu aken ( sq.) - croak.
Suffix -tion(always stressed) read zion.
ß or ss.
in the letter ß (escet) two s. However, it is sometimes written ß , and sometimes ss- sometimes even in different forms of the same word. In accordance with the new spelling reform, after a long vowel or double vowel is written ß , and after a short ss:
wissen-weiß, dass, groß.

Vowels

Vowel combinations

W ei mar(ah), L ie be(And) - love (a dash under the vowel - a sign of longitude), h eu te(Oh) - today, H au ser(Oh) – at home.

stress

The stress in German words most often falls on the first syllable. (Flugzeug - aircraft) except for some exceptions (warum - why), words with unstressed prefixes (verstehen– understand) and words that came into German from other languages (Computer).
Hammerless attachments:
be-, ge-, er-
ver-, zer-,
ent-, emp-, miss-

Soften your accent

If the syllable is closed by a consonant, closed, then the vowel in it will be short, if open - long:
da(long) -das(brief); Dame (Da-me), danke (dan-ke).
(Long but, by the way, differs from the short one not only quantitatively, but also qualitatively: it is deeper, throatier).
However, if a syllable with a consonant at the end has a “loophole” in the form plural of this word (where the syllable opens), then it will be long:
Tag (day), gut (good), kam (came) - Ta-ge (days), gu-te (good), ka-men (came). Such a loophole exists, of course, in nouns, adjectives and verbs - and there are no such words as, for example, das (this). It follows that if a syllable is locked with only one consonant (and if it is not some unchangeable word), then it is likely to be long.
The letter combination of consonants, even if it means one consonant sound, in syllabic accounting is considered at least two - that is, the syllable is always short before the letter combination:
kochen (cook), backen (oven), waschen (wash).
In a few invariable monosyllabic words in r long syllable:
wer (who), er (he), der (definitive article), nur (only), mir (for me), dir (for you) …
There are also simple exceptions to the rule:
Erde (earth), Arzt (doctor), hoch (high), nach (following), Buch (book), Städte (cities), Mädchen (girl) …
As well as sprach (spoke), brach (broke) And wusch (soap), although sprechen (to speak), brechen (break) And waschen (to wash) pronounced with a short vowel in the root.
Longitude can be expressed by doubling the vowel, for example:
Tee (tea).
Incidentally, e(long) is pronounced narrowly: the mouth turns into a slit, the corners of the lips stretch as much as possible, and e(short) pronounced like uh(i.e. with wide open mouth). Compare: leben (live) - ernst (seriously), Ende (end).
Long uh is also possible, but then it is expressed in terms of ä :
Bär (bear).
Another case of designating longitude is through h(which itself is not pronounced), compare:
in-ihn.
Sometimes it h redundant, since without it it would have been pronounced for a long time, but it is preserved due to historical tradition:
gehen (to go), nahm (took).

If a word or word root begins with a vowel, then it is pronounced with a strained, abrupt sound ("hard attack"):
"alles (everything)," und (and), "ich (I)," Esel (donkey), ver "arbeiten (recycle).

At the end -en no need to pronounce e:
machen (to do)- reads: " mahn".

Sound X, as you already know, is transmitted by a combination of letters ch. If before ch there is any "narrow" (pronounced by a narrow mouth) vowel (i, e, ö, ü), double vowel eu (oh) or consonant l, n, r, then this combination of letters is pronounced softly - X".
ich (I) - ich, richtig (correct) - rich, sprechen (speak) - spreh "en, euch (you, you) - oh"), solche (such) - zolch "e.
note that -ig(at the end of a word) pronounced uh.

Consonants p, t, k breathed out:
Peter, Tee, Kaffee.

Voiced consonants at the end of a word are stunned (as in Russian: oak read dup, but not like in English: dog):
Tag, gab (gave), Hund (dog).

The voiced consonants are generally not as voiced as in Russian, but somewhat muffled. They need to be pronounced weakly, without pressure:
sehen (see), Gott (God), Beeren (berries).

Part I. WHO AND WHAT?
Article

A German can't just say House. He says either:
ein Haus – one (some) house, or:
das house – that (same) house.
Or:
Eva bekommt ein Baby. - Eve will have (one) child (literally: receives).
Das Baby heist Kain. - (This) child's name is Cain.
That is: each noun is preceded by a word that expresses its certainty or indefiniteness - definite or not. definite article. Article is a Latin word meaning joint or small auxiliary sentence member. IN this case, ein– indefinite article, but das- definite article (neuter: it). Recall also that nouns are words denoting persons, objects and phenomena (that is, what exists), they all answer the question who? or what?(The Germans, by the way, treat nouns with special respect and write them with capital letter.)
The article has no stress, it is pronounced in one breath with the noun, it sticks to it completely. Therefore, we indicated the meaning of the article in brackets. In general, the article is not translated, since in Russian there is no correspondence to it. If you emphasize the article, then you get: Eve will have one child (not two); this child (and not another). Here, in fact, we are no longer dealing with the article, but with an independent full-fledged word, which is translated into Russian.

So you are asking:
Gibt es hier in der Nähe eine Bar? – Is there (one) bar near here?
You used the indefinite article because you don't know what a bar is and whether there is one at all. You will be answered:
Ja, ich kenne hier eine Bar. – Yes, I know (one) bar here.
This is, of course, a very specific bar. Why is the indefinite article used? The fact is that the indefinite article can mean not only some one(as in your question) but also one of(as in the answer). That is, it can express not only uncertainty, but also the belonging of a particular thing to a general concept: This is one of the bars..
Finally, you have already approached the bar and, surprised at its homeliness, exclaim:
East das eine Bar? - And this is a bar (called)? And this is one of the bars?
To which your companion, without losing his composure, replies:
Ja, das ist eine Bar. – Yes, this is a bar, this is one of the bars.
He loves this bar and adds:
Die Bar ist gut. - This bar is good.
Here, as you can see, the definite article (this time female).
So, if you simply name or characterize something (thus raising the particular to the general), then you need to use the indefinite article:
Unser Präsident ist ein Mensch wie du und ich. - Our president is the same person as you and me (that is, simple, "one's own").
Compare:
Das ist der Mensch. - This is the same person. (Which we already talked about. Der- masculine definite article.
Here you do not name, but indicate.

True, if you name the occupation, profession or nationality, then it is better to do without the article at all:
Ich bin Geschäftsmann. - I'm a businessman(verbatim: business person).
Sie arbeitet als Krankenschwester. - She is a nurse(verbatim: as a nurse, as a nurse).
Ich bin Deutscher. - I am German.

But:
Ich weiß, dass du ein Künstler bist. – I know that you are an artist (in the broadest sense).
Here we mean not so much the occupation as the characteristic of a person, the correlation of the particular with the general: you belong to the category of artists, you are one of them.

In addition, the article can be dispensed with if we are talking about feelings, substances and materials, or simply about something general, indivisible and incalculable (that is, about something that is rarely talked about one of a kind or the same):
Jeder Mensch braucht Liebe. “Every person needs love.
Die Tasche ist aus Leder. This bag is made of leather.
Ich habe Durst. - I'm thirsty. Literally: I'm thirsty(not one thirst and not that thirst, but just thirst).
Ich trinke Bier. - I drink beer.
Die Deutschen essen viel Schweinefleisch. The Germans eat a lot of pork.
Wir haben Gluck. - We are lucky (literally: we have happiness).
in Zukunft - in the future.
Compare, however:
Ich trinke ein Bier. I will drink one (= one mug) beer.
Ich esse ein Schweinefleisch. I will eat one serving of pork.
Ich trinke das Bier. I drink (or will drink) this beer.
Ich esse das Schweinefleisch. I eat (or eat) this pork.
Here we are no longer dealing with articles, but with independent words, words with their own stress.

Sometimes the article is needed purely formally, to clarify the case:
Ich ziehe Wein dem Wasser vor. – I prefer wine to water.
Unter dem Schnee - under the snow.

With a definite article, a word can be used not only if it denotes something specific, but also if it has a general meaning, that is, it denotes a set of specific things (general, but at the same time divisible, calculable):
Der Menschist, was er isst. - Man is what he eats.(The slogan of materialism.)

The article may not be in the enumeration or in already established speech turns and in sayings:
mit Weib und Kind - with a wife and a child (or children) (that is, the whole family).
in Familie und Beruf - in the family and in the profession (that is, at work).
Ende gut - alles gut. - The end is the crown of business(verbatim: the end is good - all is well).
Zeit ist Geld. - Time is money.
And also in newspaper headlines, announcements, telegrams, commands (for brevity):
Bankräuber nahm Kind als Geisel. The bank robber took the child hostage.
Einfamilienhaus zu verkaufen. - Single-family house for sale.
Hande hoch! - Hands up!
The article is also omitted when naming various time periods in phrases like:
Es ist Abend. – Evening(verbatim: it is evening).
Heute ist Mittwoch. - Today is Wednesday.

As a rule, the definite article is not needed before the names, since they themselves designate certain persons:
Auf Klaus ist Verlass. - You can rely on Klaus(verbatim: there is trust).
Quite often, in everyday colloquial language, the article is still put, which somehow enlivens the speech:
Weiß jemand, wo der Klaus ist? Does anyone know where (this) Klaus is?
The article is placed before the surname in the plural, and also if the name has a definition:
Die Meyers sind eine glückliche Familie. The Mayers are a happy family.
die kleine Susanne, der große Goethe, der edle Winnetou - little Susanna, great Goethe, noble Winnetou(Chief of the Indians from the books of Karl May).
As for cities and countries, they mostly do without the article:
Österreich (Austria), Wien (Vienna)…
A small number of country names are used with the article:
die Schweiz (Switzerland), die Türkei, der Iran, die Niederlande…
With the exception of this small group, countries and cities are neuter. Usually the gender is not visible because there is no article. But if the name of the city or country is accompanied by a definition, then the article is needed:
das neue Deutschland (new Germany), das schöne Paris (beautiful Paris)…

Genus

Nouns in German, as in Russian, can be of three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter:
der (ein) Mann (m) - man (masculine - Maskulinum),
die (eine) Frau (f) - woman (feminine - Femininum),
das (ein) Fenster (n) - window (neuter - Neutrum).
Gender, as you can see, is expressed through the article. Therefore, it is more convenient to mark it not with the Latin names of the genus (which, however, you will find in the dictionary), but with the endings of the definite article:
Mann (r), Frau (e), Fenster (s).

Man will, of course, be masculine, but female- female. However, here, too, it was not without "oddities": das Weib (woman, woman), das Mädchen (girl, girl). But with inanimate objects already more difficult. They, as in Russian, are not necessarily of the middle, “neutral” gender, but belong to different genders. Cupboard in Russian, for some reason, a man, but shelf- a woman, although they have no sexual characteristics. Likewise in German. The trouble is that the gender in Russian and German often does not match, that the Germans see the gender of objects in a different way. It may (accidentally) coincide, it may not. For example, der Schrank (cabinet)- male, das Regal (shelf)- average. In any case, you should try to remember the word with the article.

Sometimes, by the shape of a word, you can guess what kind it is. For example, by the way the word ends. As in Russian words for -ost, - tsiya, - iya, - aya, - tsa, - ka, - ah ...- feminine, and german words on the: die Melo die- melody, die Situa tion– situation, die Kult ur– culture, die Tend enz- trend, die Speziali tat- a traditional dish (of any region), die Maler ei– painting, die Fest ung- fortress, die Frei heit- freedom, die Möglich keit– opportunity, die Wissen schaft- the science…
Some suffixes that correspond in Russian masculine, in German, on the contrary, are a sign of the feminine gender: die Reg ion- region, die Diagn ose– diagnosis, die Gar age- garage…
Words that end in -e, most often feminine: die Wanna – bath, die Woche - a week. This -e corresponds to the Russian ending -and I). But in Russian there are also masculine words with a similar ending (uncle, cabin boy). Likewise in German: der Junge is a boy.
Note also that the words -ling always masculine: Lehr ling (student, apprentice).

Many monosyllabic (sometimes two-syllable - because of the prefix) nouns formed from verbs belong to the masculine gender:
derBeginning< – beginnen (начало – начинать), der Blick < – blicken (взгляд, вид – взглянуть), der Klang < – klingen (звук – звучать), der Begriff < – begreifen (понятие – понимать), der Sieg < – siegen (победа – побеждать). But: Das Spiel< – spielen (игра – играть).
It also greatly facilitates the fact that you can take any verb in the indefinite form and attach the neuter article to it. Get the name of the process:
Das Sprechen< – sprechen (говорение – говорить), das Leben < – leben (жизнь – жить), das Essen < – essen (еда – есть).

Interestingly, some nouns have different meanings depending on the gender. For example:
der See (lake) - die See (sea),
der Band (volume) - das Band (tape),
das Steuer (rudder, steering wheel) - die Steuer (tax),
der Leiter (leader) - die Leiter (ladder),
der Tor (fool) - das Tor (gate),
der Schild (shield) - das Schild (signboard, tablet),
der Bauer (peasant) – das Bauer (cage)…

Cube words

The Germans are very fond of compound words - they play with words, like with cubes. Where a Russian would use a separate definition, a German will often say in one word. Compare:
der Wintersport (Winter + Sport) – winter sport(winter + sport),
der Hauptbahnhof (Haupt + Bahn + Hof) - main railway station (head + Railway+ yard).
At first glance, such a long word may be intimidating, but in fact it is quite convenient. The main thing: perceive (and pronounce) such a word in parts, as several separate words, then it will be easy to deal with it.
What kind of compound word will be, what article will it receive? The genus is determined by last word- on the "locomotive":

Ilya Frank

German grammar from human face

Deutsche Grammatik mit Menschlichem Antlitz

This book, written in the style of an oral story,

You will read at once.

And then, in order to understand everything properly,

Read it five more times...

Dieses Büchlein, wie leichte Lekture geschrieben,

Werden Sie auf einmal lesen und lieben.

Aber nachher, um alles ganz gut zu verstehen,

Lesen Sie es bitte noch einmal - oder zehn.

WHY IS THIS BOOK NEEDED?

NAMES OF LETTERS AND THEIR READING

Part I. WHO AND WHAT?

Cube words

Plural

Accusative

Not / none (nicht/kein)

Pronouns that shorten the answer

Weak nouns

Prepositions with Accusative/Dativ

Prepositions with Accusative

Prepositions with Dative

Prepositions with Genitive

Non-coincidence of Russian and German prepositions

Declension of adjectives

Prefixes to adjectives (not ..., too ...)

Adjectives-nouns

Adjectives without article

Degrees of comparison

Which one is this (welch - solch, was fur ein - so ein)

Same - different (derselbe - der andere, ein anderer)

someone/no one (jemand/niemand)

Ordinals

Part II. WHAT TO DO?

Verb in present tense (Prasens)

Strong verbs that change the root vowel in the present tense

Irregular verbs sein, haben, werden

imperative form (Imperative)

Same, even, only (doch, ja, denn, sogar - nicht einmal, erst - nur)

Indefinitely personal and impersonal sentences (man, es)

Present and past participles (Partizip 1, Partizip 2)

Perfect (past) tense (Perfect)

Modal verbs, zu before the second verb in the sentence. Turnovers from zu

Ordinary verbs as modals

Verb lassen

Wissen verbs, kennen

Modal verbs in Perfect

Indefinite past (perfect) tense (Infinitive Perfect)

Detachable and non-detachable attachments

Reflexive verbs

Controlled verbs

To and fro (hinein-herein)

That, - either, - something (irgend-)

Past tense (Prateritum)

Conditional form 2 (Konjunktiv 2)

Conditional form 1 (Konjunktiv 1)

Future (Future)

Verbs-nouns, turnover war + infinitiv

More particles

Part III. SAY CONNECTED

Word order

Expression of cause and effect

Time expression

Plusquamperfekt and nachdem

Condition expression

Or - otherwise - either ... or ... (oder - sonst - entweder ... oder ...)

Target expression

Concession Expression

Refine expression

Expression of how to perform an action (indem)

Positive expression ( so dass- so (something happens) and negative ( als dass- so that (there will be no action) consequences

Expression of imaginary (apparent). Different als

Double alliances

What ... so ... (Je...desto...)

Why is this book needed?

The book is written in colloquial language - in the style of oral explanation. But what is the originality of the content? After all, this is not a novel, not an essay on a free theme, this is German grammar!

But this is so, a lyrical digression. I am not a scientist, I am a German language teacher, a person of practice. When you write grammar, the question arises - what to write about, and what not to write about? What is important, essential, and what is secondary? It is obviously impossible to write about everything, because grammar smoothly turns into vocabulary - in various cases of the use of certain words. I tried to write only about what really causes difficulties and hesitation in mastering the language. And he didn’t write anything just like that, “for the sake of completeness.”

In addition, I, perhaps, feigned innocence, calling myself a "man of practice." After all, language teaching has its own theory - a method. This grammar will help you correct your speech "on the go", in the process of speaking. So, for example, you will not find here numerous tables of adjective declensions, you will not even find the names of these declensions. But get three rules that will be easy to apply and that cover all tables (usually given in reference books). After all, when you speak, you cannot keep several tables in your head! You are a human, not a computer! (Pay attention to the title of the book again.) You will not find different declensions of nouns either, each case is given separately - and together with the corresponding pronouns (this will make it easier for you to navigate). Etc. By the way, this combination of topics made possible the relatively small volume of the book, which contains a very large amount of material. I tried to show you not a map of the language, but its globe.

Who is the book for? For everyone - and I'm not saying this just for everyone to buy it. It is intended for beginners - because, unlike reference books, it starts from the beginning and does not require any prior knowledge from the reader. (In the reference book, in each paragraph, you will find examples that you need to know other paragraphs to understand.) In addition, all examples are given with a literal translation, even to the detriment of good Russian. This book is also intended for those who speak the language, as it contains various grammatical subtleties in which Germans themselves can get confused (just as we sometimes do not know how to say something in Russian). The subtleties are given in smaller print so that beginners can skip them with a clear conscience.

I will be grateful for feedback, especially specifically critical ones that can be sent by e-mail:

Reading and pronunciation rules

Consonants

W(ve) reads like Russian in: was? – what?

Z(tset) reads like c: Mozart.

S(es) reads like from: Post - mail, but before (and between) vowels - like h: Saal - hall, lesen - read.

ß (escet) reads like from(this letter contains two s).

(Long but, by the way, differs from the short one not only quantitatively, but also qualitatively: it is deeper, throatier).

However, if a syllable that ends in a consonant has a loophole in the plural form of that word (where the syllable opens), then it will be long:

Tag (day), gut (good), kam (came) - Ta-ge (days), gu-te (good), ka-men (came). Such a loophole exists, of course, in nouns, adjectives and verbs - and there are no such words as, for example, das (this). It follows that if a syllable is locked with only one consonant (and if it is not some unchangeable word), then it is likely to be long.

The letter combination of consonants, even if it means one consonant sound, in syllabic accounting is considered at least two - that is, the syllable is always short before the letter combination:

kochen (cook), backen (oven), waschen (wash).

In a few invariable monosyllabic words in r long syllable:

wer (who), er (he), der (definitive article), nur (only), mir (for me), dir (for you) …

There are also simple exceptions to the rule:

Erde (earth), Arzt (doctor), hoch (high), nach (following), Buch (book), Städte (cities), Mädchen (girl) …

As well as sprach (spoke), brach (broke) And wusch (soap), although sprechen (to speak), brechen (break) And waschen (to wash) pronounced with a short vowel in the root.

Longitude can be expressed by doubling the vowel, for example:

Tee (tea).

Incidentally, e(long) is pronounced narrowly: the mouth turns into a slit, the corners of the lips stretch as much as possible, and e(short) pronounced like uh(i.e. with a wide open mouth). Compare: leben (live) - ernst (seriously), Ende (end).

Long uh is also possible, but then it is expressed in terms of ä :

Bär (bear).

Another case of designating longitude is through h(which itself is not pronounced), compare:

in-ihn.

Sometimes it h redundant, since without it it would have been pronounced for a long time, but it is preserved due to historical tradition:

gehen (to go), nahm (took).

If a word or word root begins with a vowel, then it is pronounced with a strained, abrupt sound ("hard attack"):

"alles (everything)," und (and), "ich (I)," Esel (donkey), ver "arbeiten (recycle).

At the end -en no need to pronounce e:

machen (to do)- reads: " mahn".

ich (I) - ich, richtig (correct) - rich, sprechen (speak) - spreh "en, euch (you, you) - oh"), solche (such) - zolch "e.

note that -ig(at the end of a word) pronounced uh.

Consonants p, t, k breathed out:

Peter, Tee, Kaffee.

Voiced consonants at the end of a word are stunned (as in Russian: oak read dup, but not like in English: dog):

Tag, gab (gave), Hund (dog).

The voiced consonants are generally not as voiced as in Russian, but somewhat muffled. They need to be pronounced weakly, without pressure:

sehen (see), Gott (God), Beeren (berries).

Part I. WHO AND WHAT?

Article

A German can't just say House. He says either:

ein Haus – one (some) house, or:

das house – that (same) house.

Eva bekommt ein Baby. - Eve will have (one) child (literally: receives).

Das Baby heist Kain. - (This) child's name is Cain.

That is: each noun is preceded by a word that expresses its certainty or indefiniteness - a definite or indefinite article. Article is a Latin word meaning joint or small auxiliary sentence member. In this case, ein is the indefinite article, and das- definite article (neuter: it). Recall also that nouns are words denoting persons, objects and phenomena (that is, what exists), they all answer the question who? or what?(Germans, by the way, treat nouns with special respect and capitalize them.)

The article has no stress, it is pronounced in one breath with the noun, it sticks to it completely. Therefore, we indicated the meaning of the article in brackets. In general, the article is not translated, since in Russian there is no correspondence to it. If you emphasize the article, then you get: Eve will have one child (not two); this child (and not another). Here, in fact, we are no longer dealing with the article, but with an independent full-fledged word, which is translated into Russian.

So you are asking:

Gibt es hier in der Nähe eine Bar? – Is there (one) bar near here?

You used the indefinite article because you don't know what a bar is and whether there is one at all. You will be answered:

Ja, ich kenne hier eine Bar. – Yes, I know (one) bar here.

This is, of course, a very specific bar. Why is the indefinite article used? The fact is that the indefinite article can mean not only some one(as in your question) but also one of(as in the answer). That is, it can express not only uncertainty, but also the belonging of a particular thing to a general concept: This is one of the bars..

Finally, you have already approached the bar and, surprised at its homeliness, exclaim:

East das eine Bar? - And this is a bar (called)? And this is one of the bars?

To which your companion, without losing his composure, replies:

Ja, das ist eine Bar. – Yes, this is a bar, this is one of the bars.

He loves this bar and adds:

Die Bar ist gut. - This bar is good.

Here, as you can see, there is a definite article (this time feminine).

So, if you simply name or characterize something (thus raising the particular to the general), then you need to use the indefinite article:

Unser Präsident ist ein Mensch wie du und ich. - Our president is the same person as you and me (that is, simple, "one's own").

Compare:

Das ist der Mensch. - This is the same person. (Which we already talked about. Der- masculine definite article.

Here you do not name, but indicate.

True, if you name the occupation, profession or nationality, then it is better to do without the article at all:

Ich bin Geschäftsmann. - I'm a businessman(verbatim: business person).

Sie arbeitet als Krankenschwester. - She is a nurse(verbatim: as a nurse, as a nurse).

Ich bin Deutscher. - I am German.

Ich weiß, dass du ein Künstler bist. – I know that you are an artist (in the broadest sense).

Here we mean not so much the occupation as the characteristic of a person, the correlation of the particular with the general: you belong to the category of artists, you are one of them.

In addition, you can do without the article when it comes to feelings, substances and materials, or simply about something general, indivisible and incalculable (that is, about something that is rarely talked about one of a kind or the same):

Jeder Mensch braucht Liebe. “Every person needs love.

German grammar with a human face - Frank I.M. Ilya Frank German grammar with a human face Deutsche Grammatik mit menschlichem Antlitz

Human Grammar of German

Pronouns in German

Pronomen

you (a lot of you)

you (polite)

Conjugation of verbs

Denken

denk+t

denk + en

denk+t

denk + en

Conjugation of strong verbs

Nehmen

nimmt

nehm+en

nehm+t

nehm+en

Schlafen

schlaft

schlaf+en

schlaf+t

schlaf+en

Fahren

fahr + en

far + t

fahr + en

Verbs with separable prefixes

Conjugation of verbs with separable prefix

Fernsehen

sieht fern

seh + en fern

seh + t fern

seh + en fern

Anfangen

fan + en an

fang + tan

fan + en an

Verbs with inseparable prefixes

Conjugation of verbs with an inseparable prefix

Bekommen

bekomm + t

bekomm+en

bekomm + t

bekomm+en

Versuchen

versuch+t

versuch + en

versuch+t

versuch + en

Detachable (under stress) and non-separable (unstressed) prefixes

Why is this book needed?

Reading and pronunciation rules

Consonants

Consonant letter combinations

Vowels

Why is this book needed?

Reading and pronunciation rules

Consonants

Consonant letter combinations

Vowels

Vowel combinations

stress

Soften your accent

Part I. WHO AND WHAT?Article

Genus

Cube words

Part I. WHO AND WHAT?
Article