German Syllabus

German for the Humanities Grammar Course - Revised 2010
UNIT 1 - NOUNS - Singular

The grammatical term noun, which originally comes via French from the Latin word nomen meaning
'name', is traditionally defined as 'the name of any person, place or thing'.
The German grammarians who standardised their language in the 18th century have been very kind to
foreigners learning to read it: they decided that all nouns should be written with an initial capital letter.
It is therefore easier to identify nouns in German than it is in any other language in the world, since it
is the only one that so marks them. However, the noun is a considerably more complex word in
German than it is in English, and in order to understand what its role is in a sentence we have to pay
attention to any endings - technically called inflections - that the noun itself may have and the endings
that the words belonging with it in the noun phrase have. The study of the endings and variations in
form of these words is technically called morphology.
This Unit develops the concepts of noun classes (grammatical gender) and the morphological marking
(changing endings) of case relations (doer/sufferer: nominative/accusative) demonstrated in terms of a
native German reader's expectations.
English nouns fall into three groups, masculine, feminine and neuter (from Latin ne + uter = 'not
either', i.e neither masculine nor feminine). Natural gender, allowing for occasional personifications,
decides which nouns belong in which group and determines whether we refer back to the noun as he,
she or it respectively. German nouns also fall into three groups, - traditionally also referred to as
masculine, feminine and neuter genders but natural gender is only a minimal factor in deciding which
nouns belong where, so, although we will stick with the traditional terminology, it might have been
less misleading to refer to them merely as Class 1 nouns, Class 2 nouns and Class 3 nouns. Whereas in
languages like Latin and Greek we can tell the noun class from the ending on the noun itself, in
German we mostly use the so-called definite article, i.e. the word meaning the (and so referring to
some definite thing or person we already know about), because most German nouns lost their
distinctive gender endings about a thousand years ago.
Consider the following vocabulary:
VOCABULARY 1
Class 1 (masculine) nouns
der Mann - the man, husband
der Knig - king
der Feind - enemy
der Tisch - table
der Freund - friend

der Kater - tomcat / hangover
der Fhrer - leader
der Wagen - cart, car, carriage
Class 2 (feminine) nouns

die Frau - the woman
die Knigin - queen
die Geisel - hostage (male or female)
die Nation - nation
die Armee - army
die Maschine - machine, aeroplane
die Mutter - mother

die Katze - cat
die Wache - guard, watch
die Universitt - university
die Pistole - pistol
die Blume - flower
Class 3 (neuter) nouns

das Weib - the woman (pejorative)
das Kind - child
das Tier - animal
das Haus - house
das Heer - army
das Flugzeug - aeroplane
das Mdchen - girl

das Girl - girl (from English)
das Ding - thing
das Volk - people
das Gewehr - gun, rifle
das Auto - car
In virtually every sentence we read some action or state is described. The word in the sentence that
refers to the action or state is the verb, traditionally defined as a 'doing word'. The nouns of the
sentence have some relation to the verb and in English this relation is interpreted according to whether
the noun is in front of the verb or after it: if the noun is in front, then it signifies the doer of the action,
if it is after the noun, then it signifies the undergoer or sufferer of the action. But this is not necessarily
the case in German, especially with Class 1 nouns.
The function of Class 1 (masculine) nouns in a sentence may be deduced from the form of the
accompanying word in the noun phrase, the determiner, which in the above lists takes the form of the
definite article. Let us consider the sentences below, though we will first need the following list of
verbs to understand them:
VOCABULARY 2
Verbs
beit - bites, is biting (NB Read as ss)
liebt - loves
hasst - hates
braucht - needs
sucht - seeks, is seeking, looks for, is looking for
findet - finds
ttet - kills, is killing
macht - makes, is making, does, is doing
sitzt - sits, is sitting
Der Mann liebt das Tier. - The man loves the animal.
Das Tier liebt den Mann. - The animal loves the man.
Der Hund beit den Mann. - The dog is biting the man.
Der Hund beit die Katze. Nein, den Mann beit der Hund! - The dog is biting the cat. No, the dog is
biting the man!
The form of this masculine article is unambiguous, namely:
the DOER of an action = der Mann
the SUFFERER or UNDERGOER of an action = den Mann
The same does not apply to Class 2 and Class 3 (feminine and neuter) nouns. Consider:
Die Frau liebt die Blume. - The woman loves the flower.
Die Katze liebt die Blume. - The cat loves the flower.
Die Frau liebt die Katze. - The woman loves the cat.
Die Katze liebt die Frau. - The cat loves the woman.
and further:
Das Mdchen liebt das Tier. - The girl loves the animal.
Das Tier liebt das Mdchen. - The animal loves the girl.
Das Mdchen liebt die Frau.
Die Frau liebt das Mdchen.
The form of the article for feminine doers and sufferers is the same, namely die, so it is ambiguous,
and for neuter doers and sufferers it is the same, namely das, so again it is ambiguous. For these nouns,
the order of the words in the sentence, the word order, provides, as it does in English, the cue as to
their function in the sentence.
Consider the cues provided by the articles in the following sentences or sentence segments. What do
they indicate about the role (doer or undergoer) of the nouns following them?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Der Mann .....

- the man must be the doer of an action
Der Mann beit .....
- doing some biting, not being bitten
Den Mann .....
- the man is going to suffer an action
Den Mann beit .....
- the man is being bitten
Den Mann beit der Hund.
Der Mann beit den Hund.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
Die Frau .....

Die Frau beit .....
Die Frau beit der Hund
Die Frau beit den Hund.
Die Katze beit die Frau.
Die Frau beit die Katze.
- the woman does or suffers something

- unclear if biting or being bitten
- she suffers the bite
- she inflicts the bite
- the cat is biting (word order decides)
- the woman is biting
Who or what is doing the action in the following?

13. Das Mdchen .....
14. Das Mdchen beit .....
15. Das Mdchen beit den Hund.
16. Das Mdchen beit der Hund.
17. Das Mdchen beit die Frau.
18.
Die Frau beit das Mdchen.
VOCABULARY 3
Other types of article, as we have seen, technically called determiners, have the same ending
variations as those seen in der/die/das, except that -as is replaced by -es:
Doer:
dieser/diese/dieses - this, that; this one here, the latter
Undergoer: diesen/diese/dieses
jener/-e/-es etc.
- that; that one over there, the former (cf. Eng. yon)
jeder/-e/-es etc.
- each, every (BEWARE: easily confused with jener!)
welcher/-e/-es etc.
- which?
solcher/-e/-es etc.
- such
mancher/-e/-es etc.
- many a
Consider:
1. Diese Frau beit das Mdchen.
2. Dieses Mdchen beit die Frau.
3. Dieser Mann beit das Mchen.
4. Diesen Mann beit das Mdchen.
Doer
Class 1
Class 2
Class 3
der / -er
die / -e
das / -es
Sufferer
den / -en
die / -e
das / -es
Exercise 1 - Translate:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Das Mdchen sucht das Kind.

Der Feind hasst den Knig.
Den Feind hasst der Knig.
Der Hund beisst die Frau.
Das Volk braucht die Knigin.
Der Freund findet den Hund.
Den Hund findet das Kind.
Die Mutter findet das Kind.
Die Katze ttet den Hund.
Die Katze ttet die Maus.
Technically we call the case of someone doing an action, or the case of the doer, the nominative case
and the doer is technically called the subject of the verb. We say the noun is in the nominative case.
Technically we call the case of someone undergoing or suffering an action, or the case of the
undergoer/sufferer, the accusative case and the undergoer/sufferer is technically called the object of
the verb. We say the noun is in the accusative case.
UNIT 2 - NOUNS - Plural

The form of the article for plural doers and sufferers, regardless of class or gender, is ambiguous. Once
again, word order provides the cue as to their function in the sentence. The plural article, for doers and
sufferers, is "die".
Plural nouns add one or other of the following endings:
-, -e, -er, -n, -en, -nen
", "e, "er,
-s (a few words of foreign origin)
eg.
der Mann - die Mnner (dictionary entry: Mann, n[oun]. m. ("er))

die Frau - die Frauen
(
Frau, n. f. (-en))
das Mdchen - die Mdchen(
Mdchen, n. n. (-))
VOCABULARY 2
der Mensch (-en) - person, human being
das Volk ("er)
- people (of a country)
die Nation (-en) - nation
der Knig (-e) - king
die Knigin (-nen)- queen
der Fhrer (-)
- leader
das Kind (-er)
- child
das Tier (-e)
- animal
der Freund (-e) - (male) friend
die Armee (-n) - army
das Haus ("er) - house
die Revolution (-en)- revolution
der Diener (-)
- servant
der Mrder (-) - murderer
die Blume (-n) - flower
NB ALL FEMININE NOUNS CHANGE IN THE PLURAL. WHY?
Learn also:
nicht
mehr
nicht mehr
auch
jetzt
aber
nur
- not
- more
- no more, no longer
- also
- now
- but, however
- only
EXERCISE 2: Translate the following sentences. (NB Some may have more than one possible
meaning.)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Das Volk liebt den Knig.

Die Knigin hasst das Kind? Nein, den Knig hasst die Knigin.
Dieser Mann hasst jedes Kind.
Die Revolution sucht der Fhrer.
Welche Nation braucht die Revolution nicht?
Dieses Tier hasst jedes Kind.
Dieses Kind hasst jedes Tier.
Diese Nation braucht jeden Mann, jede Frau und jedes Kind.
Die Frau sucht das Kind, findet aber nur die Blumen.
Das Volk sucht den Fhrer, findet aber die Knigin.
Das Volk hasst die Mrder.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Jenes Kind liebt Tiere, dieses Kind aber nicht.

Die Revolution braucht Fhrer; der Knig braucht Freunde.
Das Volk liebt Kniginnen, hasst aber Knige.
Sucht die Katze die Kinder?
UNIT 3 - PRONOUNS
Each class of noun has a corresponding pronoun:
Class 1
Noun Doer: der Mann // Pronoun Doer: er / der (stressed)
Noun Undergoer: den Mann // Pronoun Undergoer: ihn / den (stressed)
Class 2
Noun Doer and Undergoer: die Frau // Pronoun Doer and Undergoer: sie / die (stressed)
Class 3
Noun Doer und Undergoer: das Kind // Pronoun Doer and Undergoer: es / das (stressed)
Plural
Noun Doers and Undergoers: die Mnner, die Frauen, die Kinder
Pronoun Doers and Undergoers: sie / die (stressed)
Doer
Undergoer
Class 1
Class 2
Class 3
der / er die / sie das / es die / sie
den / ihn die / sie das / es die / sie
Plural
EXERCISE 3A - translate:
Das Volk liebt den Knig nicht mehr und die Revolution beginnt. Jetzt sucht es nur den Fhrer; den
findet es aber nicht. Der liebt die Konigin (die heisst Eva), und sie liebt ihn. Den Fhrer liebt auch das
Volk. Endlich findet es ihn und bringt ihn zurck. Der Knig sitzt aber mittlerweile da und denkt
grimmig, wie sehr er diesen Mann hasst. Der Mann macht ihn wtend.
NB
mittlerweile
- meanwhile
wtend - furious
grimmig - angry, angrily
endlich - at last
sehr
very, very much
auch
- too, also
zurck
- back
wie
- how
VERBS - "Doing words"

The form of the verb as it is found in the dictionary is called the infinitive. The German infinitive ends
with -en, or occasionally -n:
German infinitive - lieben // English infinitive - to love
As in English, the ending on the German verb changes to agree with the subject of the verb, the doer of
the action:
er / sie / es liebt // sie lieben
he / she/ it loves // they love_
Compare the following:
Sing.: der Mann / er liebt
Plural: die Mnner / sie lieben
die Frau / sie liebt

das Kind / es liebt
die Frauen / sie lieben

die Kinder / sie lieben
These verb endings can help disambiguate subject pronouns. Compare:

Sie liebt den Fhrer.
Sie lieben den Fhrer.
Note that the following sentence relies on a wider context to make its meaning clear:
Der Fhrer liebt sie.
The leader loves her / them.
Note too the most common IRREGULAR VERBS:
sein - to be
er / sie / es ist // sie sind
he/ she/ it is // they are
haben - to have er / sie / es hat // sie haben
he/ she/ it has // they have
VOCABULARY 3
Verbs
kmpfen - to fight
ermorden
- to murder
gehen
- to go, walk
stehen - to stand
heien - to be called (Sie heit Eva - She is called Eva)
kommen - to come
hren
- to hear
Adjectives / Adverbs
(Adjective: she is eloquent, an eloquent speaker)
(Adverb:
she speaks eloquently)
Unlike in English, which usually adds -ly to the adjective to form the adverb, there is, for present
purposes, NO DISTINCTION OF FORM IN GERMAN BETWEEN ADJECTIVES AND
ADVERBS.
treu
- loyal(ly)
schnell - quick(ly)
pltzlich - sudden(ly)
laut
- loud(ly)
allein - alone
traurig - sad(ly)
kaputt
- broken, ruined
schrecklich
- terrible(terribly)
glcklich
- happy, lucky (happily)
froh
- glad(ly)
NOTE: Occasionally, a German word may have one meaning when used as an adjective, but a
different meaning when used as an adverb, e.g.
ganz (adj.)
- whole, unbroken (Das Ei ist noch ganz - The egg is still
whole.)
(adv.)
- quite (Das Ei ist ganz gut. - The egg is quite good.)
NOUN
das Fenster (-)
- window
MISCELLANEOUS
- almost, nearly
- still
- probably
- for, because
- 1) yes (at beginning of sentence);
- 2) of course, as you would know (within sentence).
sofort
- immediately
da
- then, there
gar nicht
- not at all
fast
noch
wohl
denn
ja
doch
- yet, nevertheless
NUMBERS
1 eins (ein-)
4 vier
7 sieben
10 zehn
13 dreizehn
2 zwei
5 fnf
8 acht
11 elf
14 vierzehn
3 drei
6 sechs
9 neun
12 zwlf
15 fnfzehn
etc. then
20 zwanzig
30 dreiig
40 vierzig
50 fnfzig
60 sechzig
70 siebzig
80 achtzig
90 neunzig
100 hundert
NB 21 einundzwanzig
32 zweiunddreiig
44 vierundvierzig
178 hundertachtundsiebzig
596 fnfhundertsechsundneunzig etc.
EXERCISE 3B - Translate:
1. Sie hren den Feind nicht.
2. Sie hrt den Feind nicht.
3. Den Knig liebt sie nicht.
4. Das Kind beit der Hund.
5. Das Volk ist treu, die Knigin aber nicht.
6. Knige hassen die Revolution,* aber die Vlker brauchen und suchen sie.
7. Jede Nation braucht ja Freunde, aber diese braucht auch Feinde, denkt der Fhrer halblaut.
8. Welches Ding braucht der Knig? Die Diener bringen es sofort.
9. Acht Diener hat er, und er braucht sie alle.
10. Sie finden den Feind und tten ihn sofort.
11. Die Fenster sind alle kaputt.
12. Er hrt sie nicht mehr.
13. Sie hrt ihn nicht mehr.
14. Sie hren sie nicht mehr.
*NB here German does not distinguish between the the revolution (some specific revolution) and
revolution [in general]. It uses die for both, so context has to tell you which is meant.
UNIT 4 - THE CASE OF THE BENEFICIARY (Dative Case)
There is a further case in German, the case of someone benefitting from an action, or the case of the
beneficiary, which is technically called the dative case. Consider the following sentences:
1. Das Kind gibt dem Mann den Hund.
2. Das Kind gibt der Frau den Hund.
3. Das Kind gibt dem Mdchen den Hund.
4. Das Kind gibt den Mnnern, den Frauen und den Mdchen den Hund.
dem is the mark of the masculine and neuter singular beneficiary.
der is the mark of the feminine singular beneficiary.
den + -n is the mark of the plural beneficiary.
(NB If the plural of the noun already ends in -n, there will not be an extra one added.)
Consider the expectations of the German reader:
Dem Mann . . . . .
Dem Mann gibt das Kind den Hund.
the man must be the beneficiary of some action

the man must be beneficiary
the dog must be the sufferer of the action
Der Frau . . . . .
Der Frau gibt der Mann den Hund.
the woman must be the beneficiary

the woman must be beneficiary
the man must be the doer
the dog must be the sufferer of the action
Dem Mdchen . . . . .
Dem Mdchen gibt das Kind das Tier.
the girl must be beneficiary

the girl must be beneficiary
the child must be the doer
the animal must be the sufferer of the action
(word order decides the function of ambiguous
noun forms)
Den Mnnern . . . . .
Den Frauen . . . . .
the men must be beneficiaries

the women must be beneficiaries
Den Mdchen . . . . .
the girls must be beneficiaries
Den Frauen geben die Mnner den Hund.
the women must be beneficiaries

the dog must be the sufferer
the men are the doers
TABLE: THE FORMS OF THE ARTICLE

masc.sing.
fem.sing.
Nominative:
der
die
Accusative:
den
die
Dative
dem
der
neut.sing.
das
das
dem
plurals
die
die
den + -n
THE FORMS OF THE PRONOUN: stressed/ unstressed

masc.sing.
fem.sing.
neut.sing.
plurals
Nominative:
der/er
die/sie
das/es
die/sie
Accusative:
den/ihn
die/sie
das/es
die /sie
Dative: dem/ihm
der/ihr
dem/ihm
denen/ihnen
(NB how the plural dative pronoun has an extra -n, just as the dative plural noun usually does.)
VOCABULARY 4:
Nouns:
der Brief (-e)
letter
der Bericht (-e) report
der Vater (")
der Sohn ("e)
der Bruder (")
die Mutter (")
die Tochter (")
die Schwester (-n)
father
son
brother
mother
daughter
sister
Verbs:
kaufen
verkaufen
schenken
to buy
to sell
to give (as a present)
Miscellaneous
alles
nichts
etwas
everything
nothing
1) something, anything; 2) somewhat, rather
EXERCISE 4A
A. Underline the beneficiary, if any, in the following English sentences:
1. Read me a story.
2. Give Peter the book.
3. He bought a rug for his parents.
4. He bought his parents a rug.
5. When did you tell him the rumours?
6. I can't see him now.
7. Do me a favour!
8. She threw him stones.
9. She threw stones to him.
10. Will you do my homework for me?
11. They'll make it easy for you!
12. Give the cat breakfast!
13. Pass me the salt!
14. Write your uncle a letter.
15. Write a letter to your uncle!

B. Underline the undergoer, if any, in the above sentences.
C. In each of the following sentences, circle the beneficiary of the action and underline the
undergoer.
1.
Der Knigin schickt der Knig zwei Diener und vier Dienerinnen.
2.
Die Knigin ermordet die fnf Diener.
3.
Dem Fhrer schicken sie diesen Bericht sofort.
4.
Er gibt der Katze nur Fisch.
5.
Sie verkauft den Mdchen zwei Hunde.
6.
Sie verkaufen dem Mdchen zwei Hunde.
7.
Ihnen verkauft das Mdchen acht Hunde.
8.
Dem Fhrer schenken sie jeden Sohn.
9.
Vter kaufen Kindern alles.
10.
Kindern kaufen Mtter nichts.
11.
Kinder kaufen Vtern nichts.
12.
Mttern kaufen Kinder alles.
13.
Der Knig gibt dem Ungeheuer die Prinzessin.
14.
Der Knigin gibt der Knig zwei Ungeheuer!
15.
Zwei Ungeheuern geben die Knige das Mdchen!
16.
Die Mdchen geben dem Knig das Ungeheuer.
17.
Das Ungeheuer gibt dem Mdchen den Knig.
18.
Das Ungeheuer gibt den Mdchen den Knig.
19.
Den Knig gibt die Konigin dem Ungeheuer!
20.
Die Knigin gibt der Knig den Ungeheuern!
21.
Das Ungeheuer gibt dem Volk die Prinzessin.
22.
Das Volk gibt dem Ungeheuer die Prinzessin zurck.
23.
Die Minister geben ihm auch den Knig zurck.
NB das Ungeheuer (-) = das Monstrum (Monstren).
UNIT 5 - 1st , 2nd, 3rd pronouns
present tense of regular verbs
present tense of haben and sein
PRONOUNS - 1st, 2nd and 3rd Person
Person
1
3
m.
Singular
Nom.
Acc.
Dat.
ich
mich
mir
du
dich
dir
er
ihn
ihm
Plural
Nom.
Acc.
Dat.
wir
uns
uns
ihr
euch
euch
sie
sie
ihnen
f.
sie
sie
ihr
n.
es
es
ihm
NB The 3rd person pronouns when written with a capital letter (apart from at the beginning of a
sentence) also mean you, both singular and plural, so Sie doer or undergoer, singular or plural, and
Ihnen to/for you, both singular or plural. This is the so-called polite or formal way of saying you
and will probably only be found in academic texts when the author addresses the reader or is quoting
from some source where it occurs.
PRESENT TENSE - Regular Verbs
sample infinitive: machen - to make, to do
Singular
10
1. ich machE
- I make, am making, do make
2. du machST
- you (sing. fam.) make, are making, do make
3. er/sie/es machT
- he/she/it makes, is making, does make
Plural
1. wir machEN
- we make, are making, do make
2. ihr machT
- you (pl. fam.) make, etc.
3. sie machEN
- they make, etc.
NOTE the difference in meaning between: sie (she) macht, and sie (they) machen, and Sie (you)
machen
VOCABULARY 5
Nouns:
s Geld
e Dame
- lady
Verbs
schicken
senden
schenken
bringen
kaufen
verkaufen
- to send
- (Guess this one!)
- to give (as a present)
- to bring, take (to some place)
- to buy
- to sell
Adjectives
leicht
schwer
krank
gesund
arm
reich
alt
jung
- light, easy
- heavy, difficult
- sick
- healthy
- poor
- rich
- old
- young
- money
Miscellaneous:
nach Hause = heim - (to) home
genug
- enough
zu
- to, too
EXERCISE 5
1. Ich kaufe ihm etwas.
2. Er bringt mir etwas.
3. Wir verkaufen euch nichts.
4. Sie schenken ihr immer Blumen, aber sie schenkt ihnen nie etwas.
5. Du liebst den Fritz.* Er ist mir zu arm und etwas zu alt.
6. Ihr verkauft ihr das Auto!
7. Wir schicken euch Wein.
8. Sie senden dir Zigaretten.
9. Sie raucht nur Zigarren.
10. Ich bringe sie jetzt nach Hause.**
*NB the article is often used in German with personal names with well-known people or colloquially
about friends or family. English does not use it like this.
**NB The present tense form of the verb can often refer to the future in German, so will. The
context usually makes it clear which is meant.
PRESENT TENSE: haben and sein
HABEN - to have
Singular
11
ich habE
du haST
er/sie/es haT
- I have, am having, do have

- you have, etc.
- he/she/it has, etc.
Plural
wir habEN
ihr habt
sie haben
(Sie habEN
- we have, etc.
- you (pl. fam.) have
- they have, etc.
- you (sing. & pl. polite) have, etc.)
SEIN - to be
Singular
ich bin - I am
du bist
er/sie/es ist
Plural
wir sind
ihr seid
sie sind
EXERCISE 5B - Translate:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Ihr habt es sehr leicht!

Reich sind wir nicht, wir haben aber genug.
Du bist so alt wie der Michael!
Er ist nicht so krank wie ich.
Ihr seid nicht so gesund wie wir.
Er hat mehr Geld als die Dame.
Sie hat mehr Geld als das Mdchen.
NB
so...wie... - as...as...
als - than
UNIT 6 - the indefinite article eine/eine/ein

- verb position in statments and questions
EIN-words
In Unit 1, Vocabulary 3 we met the determiners dieser, jener, jeder etc. whose endings go like those of
der, so that they are often called in German grammar der-words. There is another group of
determiners, however, that go differently from the der-words in that they have what some linguists call
a zero-ending i.e. no ending at all. The word ein (= one, a, an) is a case in point: whereas German
has the er ending in der Mann, dieser Mann for the man, this/that man etc., using ein it has just
ein Mann for one man, a man, that is there is no er ending at all. Apart from the masculine
nominative singular, this also the case with the neuter nominative and accusative singular, so instead
of das/dieses Haus, we have just ein Haus. Otherwise ein takes the same endings as the der-words.
Words that go like ein are often called ein-words.
Here is a table of the ein-word kein , meaning no, not a. It is used because ein because of its meaning
one has no plural forms. The capitalized forms are the ones that diverge from the der-words endings.
kein - no, not a (used as the model, since ein (= a. an. one) has no plural)
N.
A.
D.
m.
KEIN
keinEN
keinEM
The other ein-words are:
Sg.
f.
keinE
keinE
keinER
Pl.
n.
KEIN
KEIN
keinEM
keinE
keinE
keinEN
12
ein - a, an, one calld technically the indefinite article)

mein - my
dein - your
sein - his, its, her (if referring to a neuter word like Mdchen)
ihr - her, its, their
unser - our
euer - your
Ihr - your
---------------------------------------EXERCISE 6A
1.
Die Minister bringen dem Knig ihren Bericht.
2.
Der Fhrer sucht seinen Brief, findet ihn aber nicht.
3.
Die Knigin braucht ihren Brief und sucht dann das Mdchen, aber sie findet es nicht. (dann =
then)
4.
5.
6.
7.
"Ihr habt euren Fhrer, mich braucht ihr nicht mehr, sagt der Knig zu seinem Volk.
Nur einen Sohn hat der Bruder, aber die Schwestern haben je drei (= jede Schwester hat drei).
Ihr Sohn kauft Ihnen alles.
Ihr kauft euer Sohn gar nichts.
---------------------------------------Verb Position
In all statements the German verb occurs in second position in its sentence, i.e. only one potential
question about the action in the verb can be answered in front of it, e.g. Who did the action? (subject)
Who underwent the action? (direct object) For whose benefit was it done? (indirect object) When did it
happen? (time phrase or clause) etc. E.g.
Der Knig kommt jedes Jahr. OR Jedes Jahr kommt der Knig.
The king comes every year / Every year the king comes.
In these German statements the verb is always the second concept, whereas in the English ones the
verb is 2nd in one statement but 3rd, after every year and the king in the other.
In yes/no questions the verb is in first position.
E.g. Kommt der Knig jedes Jahr?
Answer: Ja, or Nein.
In w-questions (English wh-questions) the verb follows straight after the w-word or the phrase
containing the w-word.
E.g. Was macht der Knig?
Welcher Mann liebt die Knigin?
Welchen Mann liebt die Knigin?
The w-words are:
was? - what?
What is the king doing?
wie? - how?
wieviel? - how much?
wer? - who? (doer)

wieviele? - how many?
wen? - whom? (undergoer)
wo? - where? (in what place?)
wem? - to/for whom? (beneficiary)
wann? - when?
warum? - why?
weshalb? - why?
weswegen? - why?
wohin? - where to? whither?

woher? - where from? whence?
welcher? - which?
wieso? - why? how come?

---------------------------------------Vocabulary 5
r Maler (-) - painter
r Schriftsteller (-) - writer, author
r Krieg (-e) - war
e Zeit (-en) - time
e Zeitung (-en) - newspaper
e Arbeit (-en) - work
e Regierung (-en) - government
s Buch (er) - book
s Werk (-e) - work (of art, lit.)
s Bild (-er) - picture
s Leben (-) - life
e Wahrheit (-en) - truth
sagen - say, tell
zeigen - point, show
schreiben - write
malen - paint
verstehen - understand
glauben - think, believe
hoffen - hope
--schon - already*
schn - beautiful*
nie - never
noch nicht - not yet
sehr very, very much
sonst - 1) otherwise, (or) else
leider unfortunately
wieder - again
2) formerly
noch ein - another, an additional
bald - soon
oder - or
denn - for (= because)
sogar - even
* NOTE the importance of the presence/absence of an Umlaut in these two words!
---------------------------------------Exercise 6B
1. Wem schenkt der Professor sein Werk?
2. Der Maler malt der Knigin ihr Bild, dann zeigt er es ihr.
3. Der Bibliothek schenkt dieser Schriftsteller sein Lebenswerk.
4. Jetzt haben wir schon wieder Krieg.
5. Wer macht mir diese Arbeit?
Ich nicht, denn ich habe keine Zeit.
6. Die Knigin schreibt dem Fhrer einen Brief und sagt: "Mein Adolf!
Ich gebe Dir alles, was ich habe, sogar mein Leben, aber meinem Mann, dem Knig, gebe ich gar
nichts mehr, denn den hasse ich. Glaubst Du das? Oder denkst Du, ich sage Dir nicht die
Wahrheit? Ach, ich brauche Dich so sehr, aber ich habe Dich leider nicht. Liebst Du mich noch?
Oder hasst Du mich schon wieder? Schreibst Du mir noch einen Brief? Wann hre ich wieder von
(= from) Dir?
Deine Eva.
P.S. Ich hoffe, Deine Frau, die Brnhilde, findet diesen Brief nicht, sonst ttet sie Dich sofort.
Dann habe ich Dich nicht mehr.
E.
7. Die griechische Sage erzhlt von Knig Minos von Kreta. Ihm erbaut der athenische Knstler
Daidalos einen Palast mit enorm viel Rumen und Gngen: jeder Fremdling verirrt sich darin.
Labyrinth nennen die Griechen diesen Irrgarten. Dort wohnt der Sohn von Minos, der
Minotauros, ein Ungeheuer, halb Mensch, halb Stier.
Eine Wandmalerei erzhlt uns von den Stierspielen - die liebten* die Kreter -: ein Jngling und
zwei Mdchen wagen ein gefhrliches Spiel mit einem riesigen Stier. Sie tragen nur ein Hfttuch;
das hlt ein Grtel.
*NB liebten is a past tense form meaning loved.
Nouns:
Adjectives:
r Fremdling (-e) = fremde Person

r Gang (e) - passageway
fremd - strange, foreign

gefhrlich - dangerous
(e Gefahr (-en) - danger)
riesig - gigantic (r Riese - giant)
Verbs:
erbauen - build (bauen - build)
r Grtel (-) - belt

e Hfte (-n) - hip
r Jngling (-e) = junger Mann
13
14
r Knstler (-) - artist

e Malerei - painting
r Raum (e) room, space, area
e Sage (-n) - tale, legend
s Spiel (-e) - game
r Stier (-e) = r Bulle (-n)
s Tuch (er) - cloth
e Wand (e) - wall
Miscellaneous:
erzhlen - tell, recount, narrate

halten - hold
irren - err, be wrong, wander
malen - to paint
er verirrt sich - he loses himself
nennen - name
tragen - wear, carry
wagen - dare, risk
wohnen - dwell
darin - (Guess!)
dort = da
mit - with
von - of, from
UNIT 7
Irregular Verbs
(a)
Strong Verbs (vowel-changing verbs)
Some verbs have a different vowel ( and a couple also have a different consonant) in the du and
er/sie/es forms from the vowel they have in the infinitive, i.e. the dictionary form. You need to be able
to identify such verbs so that you do not try to look up an infinitive form in the dictionary that doesn't
exist. Examples are:
sehen
(to see)
fallen
(to fall)
nehmen
(to take)
geben
(to give)
ich sehe
falle
nehme
gebe
du siehst
fllst
nimmst
gibst*
er/sie/es sieht
fllt
nimmt
gibt*
wir sehen
fallen
nehmen
geben
ihr seht
fallt
nehmt
gebt
sie sehen
fallen
nehmen
geben
* In pre-20th century texts giebst and giebt.

Vowel-changing strong verbs of this type will be shown in vocabularies as follows:
sehen (ie) - to see
geben (i) - to give
fallen () - to fall
lesen (ie) - to read
nehmen (nimmt) - to take

N.B. tun - to do
ich tue
wir tun
du tust
ihr tut
er tut
sie tun
lassen () - to let, leave, cause
15
----------------------------------------
(b)
Auxiliary Verbs (so called because they assist in making up complex verb forms, i.e. verb
constructions consisting of more than one word.)
sein
(to be)
haben
(to have)
werden
(to become)
ich bin
ich habe
ich werde
du bist
du hast
du wirst
er ist
er hat
er wird
wir sind
wir haben
wir werden
ihr seid
ihr habt
ihr werdet
sie sind
sie haben
sie werden
-----------------------------------------------------------------------(c)
Modal verbs (verbs which in some of their meanings indicate the mood or attitude of the
speaker.)
knnen
(can, to be able)
drfen
(may, to be
allowed)
mgen
(may, to like)
mssen
(must,
to have to)
ich kann_
ich darf_
ich mag_
ich muss_
du kannst
du darfst
du magst
du musst
er kann_
er darf_
er mag_
er muss_
wir knnen
wir drfen
wir mgen
wir mssen
ihr knnt
ihr drft
ihr mgt
ihr msst
sie knnen
sie drfen
sie mgen
sie mssen
sollen
(shall, ought,
be supposed to,
be said to, to be to)
wollen
(want, claim,
be going to)
wissen (not a modal verb)

(know)
ich soll_
ich will_
ich wei_
du sollst
du willst
du weit
er soll_
er will_
er wei
wir sollen
wir wollen
wir wissen
ihr sollt
ihr wollt
ihr wisst
16
sie sollen
sie wollen
sie wissen
Important note on modal verbs:

These verbs are usually linked to a following verb (the verb with the main meaning in the
clause), which is in the infinitive or dictionary form.
E.g. Ich will gehen. - I want to go (NB NOT I will go).
Er soll jetzt gehen he is to go now.
Er soll sehr reich sein He is said/supposed to be very rich.
If there are any other words or phrases referring to the action in the verb, they come between the modal
verb and the infinitive, i.e. the infinitive will be located at the very end of the clause or sentence.
E.g.
Ich will jetzt alle meine Bcher sofort mit nach Hause nehmen.
I want to take all my books home with me now immediately.
In English the two verb parts almost always occur side by side.
NOTE the following idiomatic uses where German can leave the infinitive understood, but English
must express it explicitly.
(a)
Ich will jetzt sofort nach Hause. (gehen)

I want to go home now immediately.
(cf. Eng. I want out = I want to get out)
(modal + directional (i.e. a word or phrase answering the
implied question Where to?) implies to go.)
(b)
Ich kann das einfach nicht (tun/machen).

I simply can't do that.
(modal + accusative object implies to do.)
-----------------------------------------------Prepositions (words that are put in front - preposed - of noun phrases.)

(a)
Prepositions always followed by the accusative case:

Durch - through
Ohne - without
Gegen - against
Wider - against
Um - around
Fr - for
N.B. also bis - till, until, as far as, by (the time that, etc.)
entlang - along
(b)
Prepositions that are always followed by the dative case:
zu - to, to the house of, for the purpose of, on the subject of/about
aus - out of, from
bei - near, at the house of, in the works of
seit since (sometimes from in the time sense)
mit - with
nach - after, to (a place), according to*
von - of, from, by
auer - besides, except (for), aside from
gegenber opposite, over against*
(*In the sense of according to nach may be found after the noun phrase, as may gegenber, i.e. as
postpositions.)
---------------------------Exercise 7
1.
Wir mssen alle diese Arbeit machen.
2.
Die Armee mag noch kommen, aber ich wei nicht, wann.
3.
Deine Diener sollst du nicht ermorden.
4.
Das Volk darf die Knigin nicht mehr sehen, denn sie ist ihrem Mann, dem Knig, nicht treu; es
will sie sehen, aber es darf es nicht.
5.
Der Student gibt dem Professor das Buch, aber dieser versteht es nicht, denn er kann kein Deutsch
lesen. Dann wei er aber, er mu Deutsch lernen, denn alle seine Studenten knnen diese Sprache
schon sprechen und lesen.
6.
Eine Knigin ist die Frau von einem Knig, eine Prinzessin ist die Tochter von einem Knig und
einer Knigin, und ein Prinz ist der Bruder von der Prinzessin und der Sohn von dem Knigspaar.
Additional vocabulary:
denn - for (= because)
sprechen (i) - speak
s Paar (-e) - pair, couple

e Sprache (-n) - language, speech
------------------------------
17
20
German for the Humanities - Grammar Course May 2010
UNIT 8 - The Genitive Case

The case of the possessor can be indicated in German by von (cf. Ex.7, sentence 6), but it can also be
indicated, especially in written German, by the endings of a further case, the genitive case.
E.g.
1.
Die Knigin ist die Frau des Knigs.

= Die Knigin ist die Frau von dem Knig.
2.
Der Knig ist der Mann der Knigin.

= Der Knig ist der Mann von der Knigin.
3.
Der Knig ist der Herrscher des Volkes.

( = ruler)
= Der Knig ist der Herrscher von dem Volk.
4.
Die Prinzen sind die Kinder der Knige.

= Die Prinzen sind die Kinder von den Knigen.
From the above examples it can be inferred that the genitive is formed in the following ways:
M.
Sg.
dES KnigS
Pl.
F.
dER Knigin
N.
dES VolkES
dER Knige, Kniginnen, Vlker
System:
Sg.
det.
Pl.
noun
M. -es
+(e)s
F. -er
------
N. -es
+ (e)s
det.
noun
-er
pl. form of noun
The full (four-) case system of German can now be schematised as follows:
Sg.
Pl.
M
F
N
Nom.
-ER
-E
-ES
-E
Acc.
-EN
-E
-ES
-E
Gen.
-ES
-ER
-ES
-ER
(+ (E)S
)
(+ (E)S
(on noun)
( on noun)
Dat.
-EM
(sometimes
+ E on noun)
-ER
-EM
(sometimes
+ E on noun)
-EN
(+ N on noun)
Exercise 8A (Revision)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Woher kommt er mit diesem Mdchen?

Wollen Sie etwas fr mich tun?
Der Fhrer kmpft fr die Revolution, aber die Regierung kann nur gegen ihn und seine
revolutionre Armee kmpfen.
Ohne dich kann ich nicht leben, doch mit dir darf ich nicht leben.
Seit dem Krieg will das Volk nicht wieder kmpfen; es will nur arbeiten und fr Haus und Kinder
sorgen. (sorgen = to care)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Exercise 8B
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Der Knig schickt der Knigin eine neue Dienerin.

Der Knig schickt die neue Dienerin zu der Knigin.
Der Knig kauft der Knigin eine neue Sklavin.
Der Knig kauft fr die Knigin eine neue Sklavin.
Frage: Wen schickt der Knig?
Antwort: Die Dienerin der Knigin.
6. Das sind die Bcher meines Bruders.
7. Wann beginnt die Konferenz der Minister?
8. Wann beginnt die Konferenz der Ministerin?
9. Wann beginnt die Konferenz des Ministers?
10.Eine Knigin ist die Frau eines Knigs, eine Prinzessin ist die Tochter eines Knigs und einer
Knigin, und ein Prinz ist der Bruder der Prinzessin und der Sohn des Knigspaares.
11.Den Brief schreibt die Knigin ihrem Liebhaber, dem Fhrer. Dann schickt sie nach einer ihrer
Dienerinnen. Diese Dienerin nimmt den Brief von der Knigin, denn sie soll ihn zu dem Fhrer
bringen. Sie geht schnell weg, denn sie will den Brief so bald wie mglich zu ihm bringen, aber sie
mu den Weg vor den Rumen des Knigs entlang gehen. Sie hofft, der Knig sieht sie nicht. Aber
der Knig schaut gerade aus dem Fenster seines Arbeitszimmers und erblickt die Dienerin. Er
wei genau, was sie tut, denn er wei, seine Frau hat einen Liebhaber und schickt diesem oft
Briefe. "Das darf sie nicht mehr," denkt er. Er schickt einen seiner Diener der Dienerin der
Knigin nach und sagt ihm, er soll den Brief stehlen, bevor er in die Hnde des Fhrers kommt.
Kann der Diener des Knigs den Brief der Knigin stehlen? Das wissen wir noch nicht. Wir
mssen noch etwas warten.
r Wortschatz - Vocabulary (< s Wort + r Schatz - treasure)
bald - soon
mglich - possible
weg - away
r Weg (-e) - way, road
r Raum (e) = s Zimmer (-)
vor - in front of, before
schauen = sehen;
erblicken - catch sight of
noch - 1) still, 2) more
noch nicht - not yet
gerade - 1)(adj.) - straight, 2)(adv.) just (with a verb it gives the idea of: is just (do)ing.)
------------------------------------------------------------Verbs that are followed by the Dative Case
So far all the verbs we have encountered have the object in the accusative case form, but just as there
are prepositions that always take the dative case after them while others always take the accusative, so
there are a number of verbs that always have their object in the dative case, probably because the object
is felt to be a beneficiary or recipient rather than an 'undergoer'.
Some of the most common of these verbs are:
antworten - answer
begegnen - meet, encounter, come across
danken - thank
dienen - serve
entsprechen -correspond to
fluchen - curse
folgen - follow
glauben - believe
gratulieren - congratulate
helfen - help
ntzen OR nutzen - benefit, be useful to
raten - advise
schaden - hurt, injure, damage
schmeicheln - flatter
Note how occasionally a verb may be followed by accusative or dative but with a
difference of meaning
trauen (+ dat.) - trust VERSUS trauen ( + acc.) - join in marriage). E.g.
Der Priester traut ihnen nicht - The priest does not trust them.
21
22

Der Priester traut sie nicht. - The priest does not marry them.
versichern (+ dat.) - assure BUT versichern (+ acc.) - insure
Sie versicherte mir, sie wollte mir helfen.
She assured me she wanted to help me.
Sie versicherte mich gegen Krankheit und Unfall.
She insured me against illness and accident.
The following verbs have the person as object in the dative, though they may have a
thing as object in the accusative as well:
befehlen - order, command
(E.g. Er befiehlt es ihnen - he orders them to [do it].)
erlauben - allow (Er erlaubt ihm zu gehen. Er erlaubt es ihm.)
verbieten - forbid
(E.g. Sie erlauben (verbieten) ihm die Fahrt.
They allow (forbid) him [to make] the trip.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Weak Nouns
Historically, the nouns we have dealt with so far are called strong nouns, because their endings are
strong enough to tell you something about their case and number, e.g with, for example, Mann: the -es
of Mannes indicates genitive case singular, the (optional) -e of Manne indicates dative singular, the
umlaut + -er of Mnner indicates plural - nominative, accusative or genitive -, and the -n of Mnnern
indicates dative case plural.
In older German, there were nouns in all three genders that are referred to by grammarians as weak
nouns, because they do not add such strong endings, but only the weak ending -en in all case and
number forms apart from the nominative singular, so that their form tells you almost nothing about their
case and number, and the reader is dependent on the form of the determiner in front of them and/or on
context to know what case and number they are in.
In modern German such completely weak nouns are all masculine; no longer are there any feminines or
neuters. Take the word Prinz, for instance. This endingless form can only be nominative singular, but
the form Prinzen could be accusative, genitive (no -(e)s!) or dative singular, or it could be any of the
four cases in the plural.
Masculine weak nouns are characteristically certain monosyllabic nouns, almost all nouns ending in -e,
and nouns of foreign (French, Latin, Greek) origin stressed on the last syllable and ending in a
consonant (so not those ending in -er or -or)
The weak masculine noun case and number table would thus look like this:
Nom.
Acc.
Gen.
Dat.
Sg.
der Prinz
den PrinzEN
des PrinzEN
dem PrinzEN
Pl.
die PrinzEN
die PrinzEN
der PrinzEN
den PrinzEN
As can be seen from the table, the reader is indeed dependent on the form of the determiner (here der,
den, des etc.), but even then den Prinzen is ambiguous as between accusative singular and dative plural,
so there the context must decide which it is, e.g
1.
whether the preposition before the phrase takes the accusative or dative case, so a) gegen den
Prinzen must be acc. sing., against the prince, whereas b) mit den Prinzen must be dat. pl., with
the princes;
2.
whether a verb is followed by the accusative case or the dative case will also be crucial too. Cf. a)
Sie sieht den Prinzen nicht. - she doesnt see the prince (sehen takes the accusative) vs. b) Sie
glaubt den Prinzen nicht - she doesnt believe the princes (glauben takes the dative).
Now that we have covered all four German cases, it is important to see how a German-English
dictionary will indicate the grammatical information about a strong or weak noun. By way of example,
the Collins German Dictionary typically starts its entry for the strong noun Mann as follows:

Mann m -es,er man, husband. Thus it shows that the noun is masculine (m), that it takes -es in the
genitive singular and er in the plural (and, by implication, an extra -n in the dative plural), and so it is a
strong noun.
The entry for the weak noun Prinz, however, starts as follows:
Prinz m -en, -en prince. Thus the -en, -en shows it is a weak masculine noun with the -en ending
everywhere outside the nominative singular.
Some weak masculine nouns
r Ahn* (-s OR -en, -en) OR r Ahne (-n, -n) ancestor, forebear.
(NB e Ahne (-n) OR e Ahnin (-nen) - ancestress)
r Archologe (-n, -n) - archaeologist
r Bote (-en, -en) - messenger
r Christ (-en, -en) - Christian
r Chronist (-en, -en) - chronicler
r Doktorand (-en, -en) - doctoral student
r Erbe (-n, -n) - heir, inheritor
(NB s Erbe (no pl.) - inheritance, heirtage, legacy)
r Frst (-en, -en) - prince, ruler
r Gedanke (-n, -n) - thought, idea
r Geograph/Geograf (-en, -en) - geographer
r Graf (-en, -en) - count (aristocrat)
r Grieche (-en, -en) - Greek
r Held (-en, -en) - hero
r Katholik (-en, -en) - Catholic
r Matrose (-en, -en) - sailor
r Mensch (-en, -en) - human being, person
r Nachbar* (-s OR -n, -n) - neighbour
r Photograph/Fotograf (-en, -en) - photographer
r Prinz (-en, -en) - prince (non-ruling member of a ruling house)
r Protestant (-en, -en) - Protestant
r Soldat (-en, -en) - soldier
r Student (-en, -en) - (university) student
r Untertan*(-s OR -en, -en) subject (of a ruler)
*These nouns may be encountered also as strong nouns, hence the -s alternative in the genitive singular.
NOTE the following word which is unique amongst weak nouns as it adds only -n in the singular, but en in the plural:
r Herr (-n, -en) - lord, master, gentleman, Mr.
(cf. Lobe den Herrn - Praise the Lord vs. Glaube den Herren - Believe the gentlemen)
Exercise 8C
1. Das Mdchen liebt den Matrosen.
1. Die Soldaten folgen den Matrosen durch die Stadt.
2. Das Leben dieses Menschen ist sehr wichtig fr uns.
3. Jene Helden kmpfen mit ihren Nachbarn gegen ihren Herrn.
4. Der Geograf kann den Archologen kaum glauben.
5. Den Grafen lieben seine Untertanen, sie hassen aber den Frsten.
6. Kann der Doktorand dem Studenten wirklich helfen?
7. Durch die Geschichte kann ein Knig die eigenen Ahnen und auch die Vorfahren seiner Gemahlin
kennen lernen.
e Geschichte (-n) - 1) story 2) history eigen - (my/ his/ her etc.) own
r Gemahl (-e) - husband, consort
----------------------------------------------------------------------------UNIT 9 - The Simple Past Tense (also called the Imperfect Tense or Preterite Tense)
(a)
Weak or Regular Verbs
23
24

These verbs form their past tense by adding a -t- to their stem to indicate that they are referring to
a past action (just as English verbs add -ed (leaned), sometimes -t (leant)), and then comes a
further ending to indicate person and number. This latter ending is the same as in the present
tense, except that:
a) an -e- is inserted if the combination of endings will be hard to pronounce,
b) the er/sie/es ending is not -t, but -e.
machen - Formula: stem mach- + t + person/number ending
ich machTe - I made, was making, used to make, did make, have made
du machTest - you made, etc.
er machTe - he made, etc.
wir machTen - we made, etc.
ihr machTet - you made, etc.
sie machTen - they made, etc.
This aspect of the grammar should not cause you any problems except for the difference
between:
sie machte she made and sie machten they made.
(b)
Vowel-changing Weak Verbs

These verbs form their past tense by adding the above 'weak' endings, but they also change their
internal vowel from e to a. A couple also change their consonants. These verbs are:
(c)
infinitive
kennen
present
ich kenne
past
ich kannte
nennen
ich nenne
ich nannte
meaning
(be acquainted
(with, know
name
rennen
ich renne
ich rannte
run
brennen
---------senden
ich brenne
ich brannte
burn
send
wenden
ich wende
ich sandte
OR ich sendete
ich wandte
OR ich wendete
---------denken
ich denke
ich dachte
think
bringen
ich bringe
ich brachte
bring, take
ich sende
turn
Modal verbs and wissen

The modals and wissen are rather similar to the verbs in Group (b) in that they take the 'weak'
endings and also change their vowel. They have no Umlaut in the past tense. (If you see a pasttense-looking modal form with an Umlaut, it will in fact have a quite different meaning (namely,
would be able etc.)), as you will see later when we reach the unit on the Subjunctive Mood.)
The modals go as follows:
infinitive
drfen
present
ich darf
past
meaning of past
ich durfte I was allowed
knnen
ich kann
ich konnte I was able
25
mgen
ich mag
ich mochte I liked
mssen
ich mu
ich mute I had to
sollen
ich soll
ich sollte I was supposed to
wollen
ich will
ich wollte
I wanted (to)
---------wissen
ich wei ich wute I knew
----------------------------------------------------------------------------NB kennen - know
ich kannte - I knew
knnen - can, be able
ich konnte - I could, I was able to
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Exercise 9A
Der Freiheitskampf der Hellenen
For this text, which is lifted straight from a German schoolbook, little vocabulary will be given, so you
will have to use your dictionary. Because German capitalises all nouns, you will need to be able to
distinguish common (i.e. ordinary) nouns from proper nouns (names)( so you may need to dip into an
encyclopaedia or atlas as well).
NOTE that German sometimes uses a capital J where English would use I.
The element -kundig means knowing (about), e.g. deutschkundig means knowing German.
Die Griechenstdte Kleinasiens unterstehen seit 546 v. Chr. dem Satrapen von Sardes in Lydien. Sie
mssen den Persern Abgaben zahlen und Heeresdienst leisten. Aus den Schiffen der seekundigen
Jonier und der Phniker stellen die Groknige ihre Flotte zusammen. Die Perser setzen in den
Stdten der Griechen Tyrannen ein, und diese erhalten aus Sardes ihre Weisungen. Das verletzt das
Freiheitsgefhl der Griechen. Die Hellenen sind gewohnt, zu ihren Gttern aufrecht, mit erhobenen
Hnden zu beten, und verabscheuen den Kniefall vor dem Groknig, denn das verlangt man am
persischen Hof.
Die Jonier vertrauen auf die Hilfe des Mutterlandes und erheben sich um 500 v. Chr. unter der
Fhrung Milets, der "Knigin der Griechenstdte". Sparta will sie nicht untersttzen, aber Athen
sendet zwanzig Schiffe. Zwar knnen die Jonier Sardes erobern und zerstren, aber bald kommt der
Gegenschlag der Perser. 494 v. Chr. zerstren diese Milet und verschleppen seine Bevlkerung an den
Tigris.
UNIT 9 (cont.)- The Past Tense of Strong Verbs
Whereas weak verbs are called weak because they need a crutch from outside, the T (written t),
to show the change of tense, the strong verbs are so called because they show it by internal vowel
change within themselves. This phenomenon can be observed in English (strong I spring > I sprang
versus I leap > I leaped *) as well as German (one of the results of the two languages being related in
origin).
(*NB some English verbs, like this one, may have an alternative weak form with t, but with a change of
vowel pronunciation, so I leap > I leapt.)
Compare:
English
Present
weak:
We work_ every day.
strong: We sing every day.
Past
We worked every day.
We sang every day.
26
German
Present
weak:
Wir arbeiten jeden Tag.
strong: Wir singen jeden Tag.
Past
Wir arbeiteten jeden Tag.
Wir sangen jeden Tag.
(Verbs whose stem ends in t or d, e.g. arbeit-, add an e before the t of the ending, otherwise the past
tense t would not be heard, hence arbeitete worked and badete bathed from baden to bathe.)
The endings on the strong verbs are different to those on the weak verbs to the extent that the ich and
the er/sie/es forms have, not an e, but a zero ending, i.e. no ending at all.
Examples of the past tense paradigm of the strong verb are:
singen ziehen
(sing)
fallen
(pull/move)
stehen
(fall)
ich sang ich zog

du sangst
er sang er zog
wir sangen
ihr sangt
sie sangen
ich fiel ich stand

du zogst du fielst du standest
er fiel
er stand
wir zogen
wir fielen
wir standen
ihr zogt ihr fielt ihr standet
sie zogen
sie fielensie standen
(stand)
Note that some verbs also change their consonants. The vowel-changing verbs already met in the
present tense are in reality strong verbs, though not all strong verbs have such a change in the present
tense, but all will have a change in the past tense. All new strong verbs introduced from now on will
have their vowel changes for present and past indicated as follows:
helfen (i, a) - to help
to be read as
helfen
du hilfst
(infinitive)
half
er hilft
(present tense
vowel change)
(past tense)
-----------------------------------------------The Past Tense of the three Auxiliary Verbs

sein
ich war I was
du warst
er war
wir waren
ihr wart
sie waren
haben
werden
ich hatte I had ich wurde I became
du hattest
du wurdest
er hatte
er wurde
wir hatten
wir wurden
ihr hattet
ihr wurdet
sie hatten
sie wurden
Note that in older texts the past tense singular of werden may go:
ich ward, du wardst, er ward.
Larger dictionaries may give the past tense form next to the verb itself or even list it as a separate entry,
while smaller ones may simply mark the verb as irr. = irregular or st. /sv = strong/ strong verb
and leave you to look it up in a list of Irregular Verbs or Strong Verbs at the back of the GermanEnglish section of the dictionary.
--------------------------------------------------------Prepositions followed by the Genitive
whrend - during
wegen - because of
anstatt OR statt - instead of

trotz - in spite of

innerhalb - within
oberhalb - above
auerhalb - outside
unterhalb - beneath, below
dank - thanks to
laut - according to
jenseits - on the other side of, beyond

(NB s Jenseits - the next world
-----------------------------------------------Exercise 9B
diesseits - on this side of

s Diesseits - this world)
1.
Niemand wute mehr als der Aristoteles, denn er konnte besser denken als alle Mitmenschen
seiner Zeit, d.h. als alle seine Zeitgenossen.
(niemand - no one, nobody
r Genosse (-n) - comrade d.h. = das heit - i.e., that is)
2.
"Die Lsung dieses Problems finden Sie in vielen Bchern und Zeitschriften. Doch wissen das
nur sehr wenige Leute. Ich kann es einfach nicht verstehen. Soll ich Ihnen eine meiner
Zeitschriften bringen?" fragte mein Kollege. Ich aber antwortete: "Nein. Das Problem ist gar
nicht wichtig, und ich persnlich will es nicht lsen."
(lsen - to solve; einfach - simple;
e Zeitschrift (-en) - magazine, journal; wichtig - important)
(Note that in German the present tense is often used where in English we would use the future tense,
i.e. will)
3.
Der Maler dachte, der Schriftsteller wollte ihm helfen, aber er kannte ihn nicht sehr gut. Also
glaubte jener alles, was dieser ihm sagte.
4.
Der Professor antwortete den Studenten, aber seine Antworten waren so kompliziert, sie konnten
seinen Gedanken gar nicht folgen. Die Studenten muten also immer wieder fragen, und er
mute immer wieder antworten.
(r Gedanke (-n, -n) - thought, idea immer wieder - again and again)
5.
Drer zeichnete ein Bild von seiner Mutter, dann zeigte er es ihr.
(zeichnen - to draw BUT zeigen - to show)
6.
In seinem Leben malte und zeichnete er Hunderte von Bildnissen, und zwar von Verwandten, von
Mitbrgern und von Mitgliedern des hohen Adels. Er machte sogar einige Selbstbildnisse.
(s Bildnis (-se) = s Portrt; und zwar - and in fact, to be more precise; r Verwandte (-n) relative; r Brger (-) - citizen;
s Mitglied (-er) - member (s Glied (-er) = s Bein (-e)(leg)/ r Arm (-e)); hoch (hoh- before an -e)
- high; r Adel - nobility, aristocracy)
7.
Die Schriftstellerin Dorothea S. kannte die Werke ihrer Zeitgenossen gut, aber sie konnte, ja sie
durfte selbst unter ihrem eigenen Namen gar nichts verffentlichen, denn sie war doch eine Frau,
und zwar eine Frau aus guter Familie, und so etwas machte eine solche Frau ja nicht. So
dachten wenigstens ihre Eltern. (Es ist kein Wunder, sie mochte sie nie.) Ihre Werke muten
also unter einem mnnlichen Decknamen erscheinen. Auf diese Weise verffentlichte sie jedes
Jahr mindestens zwei Romane und ein halbes Dutzend Kurzgeschichten oder Novellen. Das
wuten ihre Eltern natrlich nicht.
(verffentlichen = publizieren; doch - 1) yet, 2) after all;
decken - to cover; erscheinen - to appear; auf diese Weise - in this
way; wenigstens =
mindestens - at least; r Roman (-e) - novel;
e Geschichte (-n) - 1) history, 2) story; e Novelle - novella
ja - 1) yes, 2) indeed, of course)
Unit 10 - Comparison of Adjectives and Adverbs

In English, whenever we want to compare two people or things we add -er to adjectives of one or two
syllables and put more in front of longer adjectives,
e.g.
He is taller and handsomer (OR more handsome) than his brother.
27
28

The Opera House is grander and more inspiring than any building I
know.
When two actions are compared more is put in front of the adverb,
e.g.
She sings more strongly and more beautifully than I/me.
This form is technically called the comparative degree of the adjective and adverb, as distinct from the
simple or positive degree, i.e. tall, handsome, strongly etc.
In German, which does not distinguish adjective and adverb in the comparative degree, -er is added to
any adjective and adverb, though a few common one-syllable ones will also be found with an Umlaut in
the comparative.
Thus:
stark - strong(ly)
strker - stronger, more strongly
gro - big, great
grer - bigger, greater
klein - little, small
kleiner - smaller
lieb - dear (term of affection)
lieber - dearer
schn - beautiful(ly)
schner - more beautiful(ly)
wichtig - important
wichtiger - more important
einflureich - influential einflureicher - more influential
N.B.
hoch - high
hher - higher
gut - good, kind, well
besser - better
wenig - little, not much weniger OR minder - less
viel - much, a lot
mehr - more
gern - gladly (expresses liking) lieber - preferably (expresses preference)
Ich esse gern Kuchen, aber ich esse lieber Schokolade.
I like (eating) cake, but I prefer (to eat) chocolate.
The words gern and lieber are often used with the verb mgen in the sense of to like or to
prefer: ich mag gern - I like / ich mag lieber- I prefer
als - than (after a comparative adjective or adverb, but in other contexts it has other meanings
such as when, as) In some varieties of German wie may occur in the sense of als = than
E.g.
Examples
1.
Er ist grer und schner als sein Bruder.
2.
Das Opernhaus ist feiner und inspirativer als jedes Gebude, das ich kenne.
3.
Sie singt strker und schner als ich.
Note the importance of the case form in German in:
4.
Sie mag ihren Bruder besser als ich.
She likes her brother better than I (do).
5.
Sie mag ihren Bruder besser als mich.
She likes her brother better than (she likes) me.
(English nowadays would say ...than me for both, no matter whether I was the subject of object of the
liking, but German is strict in using the appropriate nominative (ich) or accusative (mich) case form.)
The Future Tense
Although German often uses the present tense as a future,
e.g.
Sein Buch erscheint in einem Monat.

His book will appear in one month.
the language does have a future tense in its own right. Like the English future, the German future is a
compound tense, i.e. unlike the present and the simple past tenses, which we have already learned, it
consists of more than one verb part. The German future tense is formed according to the following
formula:
Present tense
of
infinitive
of

werden
E.g.
29
main verb
(at the end of the sentence or
clause)
Ich werde ihn morgen oder bermorgen besuchen.

I will visit him tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.
Natrlich wird sie noch bei ihm im Palast sein.
Of course she will still be with him in the palace.
Dieser Schriftsteller wird ein solches Werk nie wieder schreiben.
This writer will never again write such a work.
2
Die Eltern werden ihre Kinder nicht mehr sehen drfen.
1
2
The parents will not be allowed to see their children anymore.
We are now meeting a crucial difference in the syntax of the verb phrase between English and German
that we will see repeatedly in the grammar. Syntax means the way words interact in the structure of a
sentence and word order or the order in which words come in a sentence is one aspect of syntax.
Verbs can be finite if, in German, they have an ending that agrees or automatically goes with the
subject (ich mache, du machst, er macht etc.); or verbs can be non-finite, i.e. they dont have a
particular ending that goes with a subject. The infinitive is, as its name indicates, a non-finite verb
form. The infinitives besuchen, sein, schreiben, sehen and drfen would not change in these sentences,
even if the subject and therefore the finite verb were to change (e.g. Der Vater wird seine Kinder nicht
mehr sehen drfen).
In both English and German a sentence or clause (a clause being a string of words containing one finite
verb) may contain only a finite verb or else a finite verb and one or more non-finite verbs. BUT whereas
in English the finite and non-finite verbs will always be placed side by side, or almost side by side, near
the front straight after the subject of the sentence in German the finite verb occurs near the beginning of
the sentence but the non-finite verb(s) occur(s) at the end of the sentence. This is clearly illustrated in
the above German sentences with their translations into English.
The combination of finite and non-finite verbs in a sentence or clause is technically called the verb
phrase. What we have said here so far about the German verb phrase applies only to a main or
principal clause in a sentence. Later in the course we will encounter types of clause where the whole
verb phrase comes at the end of the clause in German.
Adjectives in the Noun Phrase
German adjectives do not take endings when standing alone towards the end of the clause (technically:
when in the predicate, hence they are called technically predicative adjectives), e.g. Diese Frauen
sind jung und schn.
However, adjectives do take endings when they are before the noun in a noun phrase (adverbs never
do). Because such adjectives give some attribute of the noun, they are technically called attributive
adjectives.
(A noun phrase may be made up of: 1) just a noun (Frauen) OR 2) a determiner followed by a noun
(diese Frauen) OR 3) one or more adjectives followed by a noun (schne, junge Frauen) OR 4) a
determiner followed by one or more adjectives followed in turn by a noun (diese schnen, jungen
Frauen).)
Sometimes the endings on attributive adjectives are the same as those of the determiners der, dieser etc.,
thus guter Wein . These are the so-called strong endings, because they can to some extent or other
show the gender, number and case of the noun phrase (so the -er of guter tells us that the masculine
word Wein here is in the nominative singular and so is the subject of the verb). However, if there is a
determiner already at the beginning of the noun phrase with an ending on it, the adjective will be found
to have only -e or -en as its ending, thus dieser gute Wein, where the -er of dieser tells us that Wein is
nominative singular, so the adjective gut doesnt need to, hence it has just the almost undifferentiated
grunt ending -e. These two endings, -e and -en, are the so-called weak endings, because, as there are
only the two, they can virtually not give any information about gender, number and case.
30

E.g.
Dieser Schriftsteller ist interessant. Er ist ein interessanter Schriftsteller.

That writer is interesting. Hes an interesting writer.
(NB Distinguish: Er ist ein interessanterer Schriftsteller He is a more interesting writer.)
Das ist der interessante Schriftsteller..
Thats the interesting writer.
Ich mag interessante Schriftsteller.
I like interesting writers.
Ich mag nur die interessanten Schriftsteller Deutschlands.
I like only the interesting writers of Germany.
The Pronoun man
The pronoun man - often called the "indefinite pronoun" and corresponding to the pronoun one of
educated English - can be translated in a number of ways. Thus:
Man kann nur hoffen, da er kommt.
One can only hope that he comes.
You can only hope that he comes.
We can only hope that he comes.
They can only hope that he comes.
People can only hope that he comes.
It can only be hoped that he comes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Exercise 10
1.
A: Welche antiken Stdte waren Ihrer Meinung nach wirklich schn? Rom, zum Beispiel?
B: Na, Rom war schon schn, doch schner war bestimmt Korinth.
A: Aber galt nicht Babylon als schner als alle anderen Stdte der Antike - wegen der berhmten
Grten? Es gehrte doch zu den sieben Wundern der Welt.
B: Das wei ich. Aber Sie mssen zugeben: architekturmig war Korinth ganz gewi schner
als jede rmische oder griechische Stadt.
e Meinung - opinion;
wirklich - real(ly);
nach (postposition) - according to

schon - 1) already
2) (followed later by aber or
doch) admittedly
bestimmt - definite(ly); sicher = gewi - sure(ly), certainly
gelten (i, a) als - rate as; gehren - belong
doch = aber - 1) but, however (at beginning of clause),
2) Implies: contrary to what you seem to think
(when unstressed within a clause),
3) after all (when stressed within a clause)
zugeben (i, a) - admit, -mig - (here) with respect to, (cf. Eng. -wise); berhaupt - at all, in
general
2.
Die Nachdrucke seiner Romane werden immer zahlreicher, aber auch teurer.
r Nachdruck(-e) = r Reprint (-s); zahlreich - numerous;
2
3
Die Nachdrucke seiner Romane werden in stark sozialistischen Lndern sicher nicht erscheinen, ja
sie werden nicht erscheinen drfen, denn sie sollen "ideologisch" zu konservativ sein.
Die kleine Frstin mochte ihre junge Tante viel lieber als ihre alten Onkel.
e Frstin (see the list of weak nouns in Unit 8) Guess Onkel and Tante.
Unit 11 - The Superlative of the Adjective and Adverb

When we are comparing more than two things or people we use the adjective in the superlative degree.
Adjectives in the superlative degree in English are recognized by their ending in -st or being preceded
by most. When more than two actions are being compared, the adverb is preceded by most.
E.g.
She is the
" " "
" " "
" " "
31
nicest
girl I know.
healthiest
" " " .
most healthy
" " " .
most interesting
" " " .
Of all the writers I know she writes (the) most interestingly.

In German all adjectives in the superlative degree are recognized by their ending in -st; some of them
also have an umlaut on their stem vowel.
E.g.
Sie ist das netteste Mdchen, das ich kenne.

Sie ist das gesundeste OR gesndeste Mdchen, das ich kenne.
" " "
interessanteste
"
, " "
"
Spieglein, Spieglein an der Wand,
Wer ist die Schnste im ganzen Land?
Can you recognize which fairy tale this comes from?

Notice here how the superlative adjective is turned into a noun in text by using a capital letter. What
might der Schnste mean? And das Schnste?
Adjectives occurring in the predicate of the clause and adverbs in the superlative degree are encountered
in the frame:
am + (superlative form of adj. + -en)
E.g.
1.
Der Rhein ist bei Bingen am breitesten.

The Rhine is broadest OR at its broadest at Bingen.
2.
Von allen Sngerinnen der Welt sang sie am schnsten.

Of all the (female) singers in the world she sang (the) most
beautifully.
The following irregular comparative and superlative forms are worth noting:
gut - good, well
besser - better
best- - best
viel - much
mehr - more
meist- - most
wenig - little
minder - less
mindest- - least
(OR weniger)
(OR wenigst-)
hoch - high
hher - higher
hchst- - highest
gern - gladly
lieber - preferably
am liebsten - best of all
The hyphen with best-, meist- etc. means that as adjectives they are not normally used without some
case/number ending on them, e.g.
Von allen Sngern ist er der beste. (NOT just best)
Of all (the) singers he is best.
Die meisten interessanten Werke seines Repertoires sind verloren.
Most of the interesting works (of =) in his repertoire are lost.
Seine meisten Werke sind verschollen.
Most of his works are missing/lost.
N.B. mehr before an adjective is not a sign of its being in the comparative degree, but means rather;
this sense can also be expressed by the word eher (originally a comparative form of the word ehe
before)
E.g. 1. Sie ist mehr intelligent als schn.
Sie ist eher intelligent als schn
She is more/rather bright than beautiful.
" " bright rather than
"
.
2.
Ihre Schwester ist schn, aber sie selbst ist mehr/eher intelligent.
Her sister is beautiful, but she herself is intelligent rather.
32
When it occurs as a word in its own right, meist means mostly, for the most part and is not a sign that
any following adjective or adverb is in the superlative degree;
E.g. 1. Die meist interessanten Werke dieses Schriftstellers verkaufte man
leicht.
The mostly (OR for the most part) interesting works of that writer were easily sold.
2.
Seine Artikel waren meist beeindruckend.

His articles were mostly impressive.
When it occurs as a word in its own right, hchst means most in the sense of extremely (synonym in
German: uerst), and no comparison is implied;
E.g. 1. Seine hchst OR uerst interessanten Werke . . .
His most (i.e. extremely) interesting works . . .
2.
Seine Artikel waren hchst (OR uerst) beeindruckend.

His articles were most impressive.
Common adverbs ending in -ens based on the superlative are:

meistens - mostly; hchstens - at most; wenigstens AND mindestens (also zumindest) - at least;
frhestens - at the earliest; sptestens - at the latest.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Prepositions that take both the Accusative and the Dative
The following nine prepositions take both the accusative and dative:
an - on (a vertical surface),
vor - in front of, before, ago
against
auf - on (a horizontal surface),
hinter - behind
upon
in - in, into
neben - next to, beside, along with
ber - above, over, across, about, via
zwischen - between
unter - under, among
The two cases are, however, not used arbitrarily.
If you see the accusative after one of these prepositions you know the reference is to the destination of
the action, i.e. there is an answer to an implied question Where to?
E.g.
Die Armee des Knigs marschierte in das Land seines Feindes.

The king's army marched into the land of his enemy.
If the dative occurs after one of these prepositions, you know the reference is to the area within which
the action takes place, i.e. answering the implied question In what place?
E.g.
Die Armee des Knigs verbrannte die Stdte und ermordete die Menschen in dem Land seines
Feindes.
The king's army burnt the towns and murdered the people in the land of his enemy.
There are numerous figurative uses of these prepositions where the criteria of Where to? and In what
place? cannot be applied.
E.g. ber in the sense of about, on the subject of always occurs with the accusative, while vor in the
sense of ago always has the dative.
E.g.
Er schrieb immer am interessantesten ber die Geschichte der frhchristlichen Kirche im

Morgenland.
He always wrote most interestingly on OR about the history of the early Christian church in
the Orient.
Die Priesterehe in der abendlndischen Kirche verschwand ungefhr vor einem Jahrtausend
vllig.

Priestly marriage in the western church disappeared about a millennium ago completely.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Exercise 11
Translate or draw a picture of the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Der Vogel fliegt ber das Wasser.

Der Vogel fliegt ber dem Wasser.
Das Kind rannte in das Haus (hinein).
Das Kind rannte in dem Haus (herum).
Der Lehrer schrieb die Namen in sein Buch.
Ihre Namen standen in seinem Buch.
Der Fisch schwamm unter dem Boot.
Der Fisch schwamm unter das Boot.
Der Redner sprach ber dem wachsenden Lrm der Stimmen.
Der Redner sprach ber den wachsenden Lrm der Industrie.
s Wasser (-) - water

r Vogel () - bird
r Fisch (-e)
s Boot (-e)
r Redner (-) - orator, speaker
r Lrm - noise
e Stimme (-n) - voice
fliegen (ie., o) - fly

lehren - teach
stehen (e, stand) - stand
schwimmen (i, a) - swim, float
reden - talk
wachsen (, u) - grow (cf. Eng. wax)
N.B. -d added to the infinitive of a verb produces an adjective in -end so equivalent to English
adjectives in -ing (technically called present participles)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Unit 12 - The Past Participle and the Compound Past Tenses
So far we have met three tenses of the German verb: two simple tenses - the present and the simple
past - thus tenses where the whole verb consists of only one word, and one compound tense, the
future - thus a tense where the whole verb consists of more than one word, in which case we can speak
of a verb complex. We now want to look at some further past tenses, but these are all compound
tenses, though whereas the future tense consisted of a finite form of an auxiliary verb in combination
with the verbid called the infinitive, the compound past tenses are made up of a finite form of an
auxiliary and another verbid called the past participle.
The past participle in German can mostly be found in one of the two following shapes:
Prefix
Stem
Ending
weak verbs:
GE+
Verb stem
+ -T
gemach
-t
gemacht (Eng. made)
strong verbs:
GEge-
+
Verb stem
+
-EN
(+ or - vowel change)
sung
-en
gesungen (Eng. sung)
Because of this third possible vowel change, strong verbs will be given in vocabulary lists in the form:
singen (i, a, u) = er singt, sang, gesungen
fallen (, ie, a) = er fllt, fiel, gefallen
ziehen (ie, zog, gezogen) = er zieht,
stehen (e, stand, gestanden) = er steht,
laufen (u, ie, au) = er luft, lief, gelaufen.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
33
34
The Perfect Tense

The perfect tense, the first we will learn that incorporates the past participle, can be recognised
from its having the following form:
present tense
of
haben
past participle
(at end of clause)
Although this means that a verb in the German perfect tense form, e.g. Ich habe die Arbeit oft gemacht,
has the same shape as a verb in the English perfect tense, e.g. I have often done the work, and can mean
the same, it can also have any of the meanings it would have if it were in the German simple past tense,
i.e. I did the work, I used to do the work, I was doing the work. In other words, while the English
simple past tense and perfect tense have a distinct difference in meaning, i.e. I often did the work
(implication: I don't do it any more) and I have often done the work (implication: I still do it or may still
go on doing it into the future) and would not usually be interchangeable, the German simple past tense
and perfect tense are, to all intents and purposes, the same in meaning, i.e. Ich machte die Arbeit oft and
Ich habe die Arbeit oft gemacht are virtually synonymous. The difference between these two German
tenses is largely a stylistic one, for the simple past tense is mainly used for narration, i.e. recounting a
series of events that occurred in the past, and the perfect tense is used in conversation, letter-writing
etc., though in written German it can serve to indicate that an event is not merely part of narrative but
has some more direct relevance to the overall argument in hand.
E.g.
"Pippin traf noch eine andere folgenreiche Entscheidung: auf Bitten des Papstes zog er ber
die Alpen und schtzte den Papst und den Kirchenstaat vor den Langobarden. Dies hat fr
alle seine Nachfolger wichtige Folgen gehabt."
"Pippin took yet another momentous decision: at the request of the Pope he marched across
the Alps and protected the Pope and the ecclesiastical state from the Lombards. This had (not:
has had) important consequences for all his successors."
The following illustrates a full set of possible meanings for the German perfect tense (with adverbs and
prepositions often making clear which is meant):
Er hat mir geholfen.
He has helped me.
He has been helping me.
He helped me.
He was helping me.
He used to help me.
He did help me.
He would (often) help me = he used to help me
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Exercise 12
1.
Wer hat meine Bcher gesehen? Ich habe sie in der Bibliothek gelassen, aber ich wei nicht
mehr, wo sie sind. Hat jemand sie vielleicht vom Tisch genommen?
2.
"Habt ihr meine Arbeit schon gemacht, oder sogar schon begonnen?"
"Nein, natrlich nicht. Wir haben noch keine Zeit gehabt. Auch habe ich noch nicht alle
Probleme gelst. Knnen wir nicht noch einen Tag haben?"
In the first sentence here schon would usually be expressed in English as yet, rather than as
already.
3.
Wer hat achtzehnhundertsiebzig den Krieg zwischen Frankreich und Preuen gewonnen?
4.
"Warum hat Gott vor fast zweitausend Jahren seinen Sohn in die Welt geschickt?" fragte der
Prediger.
5.
Csar zog mit seinen Legionen ber die Alpen nach Gallien. Dort kmpfte er lange mit den

keltischen Stmmen, aber endlich konnte er sie alle unterwerfen. Rmische Garnisonen blieben
im Land und errichteten erst Festungen, dann Stdte. So hat Rom den ersten Teil seines Reiches
auerhalb Italiens gegrndet.
Vocabulary:
e Bibliothek (-en) - library
r Tisch (-e) - table
Frankreich - France
Preuen - Prussia
e Welt (-en) - world
r Prediger (-) - preacher
r Stamm (e) - tribe
e Garnison (-en) - garrison
e Festung (-en)- fort, fortress
e Stadt (e) - town, city
Gallien - Gaul
r Teil (-e) - part
s Reich (-e) - empire
jemand - someone, anyone
lassen (, ie, a) - leave, let

nehmen (nimmt, a, genommen) - take
beginnen (i, a, o) - begin
lsen - solve
unterwerfen (i, a, o) - subjugate
errichten - erect
grnden - found
gewinnen (i, a, o) - win
vielleicht - perhaps
noch ein - another, an additional
erst - 1) first, 2) not until, only
lange - for a long time
endlich - at last
6.
Einfhrung in die deutsche Geschichte
Die Germanen sind die Ahnen oder Vorfahren der germanischen Vlker von heute. Zu den
germanischen Vlkern von heute rechnen wir:
i.
(erstens) Die Deutschen, darunter auch die Deutschsprachigen in sterreich und der Schweiz
usw.; die Friesen, die in Friesland, d.h. in Teilen der nrdlichen Niederlande und
Norddeutschlands wie auch auf Inseln vor der Nordseekste leben; die Niederlnder oder
Hollnder und die Englnder. Diese drei Gruppen nennt man die Nordseegermanen.
ii.
(zweitens) Die Skandinavier, d. h. die Islnder, die Schweden, die Norweger, die Dnen und die
Farer auf den Farer-Inseln nrdlich von Schottland zwischen Island und Schweden.
Nicht aber die Finnen, die sind sprachlich Nichtgermanen.
Die Skandinavier nennt man oft die Nordgermanen.
iii.
(drittens) Frher gab es eine dritte grosse Gruppe von germanischen Vlkern, die Ostgermanen.
Zu ihnen rechnen wir die Goten - die Ostgoten oder Westgoten -, die Wandalen und die
Burgunder u. a. Alle diese ostgermanischen Vlker haben vor mehr als einem Jahrtausend
aufgehrt, als identifizierbare Vlker in der Weltgeschichte zu existieren.
NB es gibt - there is / there are
Wir rechnen die Sprachen aller drei Gruppen zu der germanischen Sprachfamilie. Diese
Sprachfamilie zerfllt also in drei Hauptgruppen: Westgermanisch, Nordgermanisch und das
ausgestorbene Ostgermanisch.
NB I, II, III = rmisch eins, zwei, drei (grogeschrieben)

i, ii, iii = rmisch eins, zwei, drei (kleingeschrieben)
1, 2 3 = arabisch eins, zwei, drei
Try understanding the above passage without the help of a vocabulary list. (BUT note aufhren to cease.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Note the following fusions of prepositions with the article:
am = an dem
ans = an das
im = in dem
ins = in das
vom = von dem

vorm = vor dem
vors = vor das
zum = zu dem
35
36

zur = zu der
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Verbs whose Past Participles have no GEFrom what has been said already in this unit about the form of the past participle it could be
inferred that the past participle of any verb, weak or strong, is immediately recognisable by the geprefix it must have. There are, however, quite a lot of verbs that for rhythmic reasons do not add a geprefixed to their past participles. These are all verbs that do not have the stress on the first syllable and
they fall into three groups.
1.
Verbs whose infinitive form ends in -ieren.
E.g. Den Terminus "demokratische Diktatur" hat der Verfasser ungengend definiert.
The author has defined the term "democratic dictatorship" inadequately.
Most verbs ending in -ieren are of foreign origin.
2.
Verbs whose infinitive form begins with an inseparable prefix.

There are a number of prefixes that can occur on a verb that change the meaning of the simple verb
to a greater or lesser extent. These prefixes are inseparable from the verb and are always
unstressed. (There are analogues of them in English, e.g. What fell on him? vs. What befell him?
/ I can't get it. vs. I can forget it.) The most common of theses inseparable prefixes are:
BE- e.g. bekommen (o, a, o) - to receive, get.
Der Fhrer hat einen Brief bekommen.
The leader received a letter.
ENT- e.g. entwickeln - to develop
Seinen Stil als Maler hat er erst spt entwickelt.
He only belatedly developed his style as a painter.
EMP- e.g. empfangen (, i, a) - to receive
Der Knig hat die Gesandten nicht empfangen.
The king did not receive the envoys.
GE-
e.g. gebrauchen - use

Das Wort "Glaube" hat er in seinen Schriften oft gebraucht.
He has often used the word "faith" in his writings.
The fact that ge- functions both as a prefix in its own right and as the past participle prefix means that
there will be times when a past participle will be ambiguous as to its deriving from the simple verb or
from the ge- verb, and this is in fact the case in the example above, where gebraucht could potentially
derive from brauchen to need, so that the sentence could be interpreted as:
He has often needed the word "faith" in his writings.
The general sense makes it likely, however, that used is the better reading. Thus we often have to rely
on context for our interpretation. Sometimes grammatical considerations will disambiguate the sentence
for us.
37
E.g. hren (+ acc.) - to hear

Das Kind hat ihn nicht gehrt.
The child did not hear him.
gehren (+ dat.) - to belong to
Das Kind hat ihm nicht gehrt.
The child did not belong to him.
ER- e.g. erffnen - to open
Man hat krzlich ein neues Institut fr orientalische OR morgenlndische Sprachen
erffnet.
A new institute of oriental languages has recently been opened.
VER- e.g. verfolgen - to pursue, persecute.
Die Nazis haben ihre Politik der Ausrottung der Juden aufs grausamste verfolgt.
The Nazis pursued their policy of the extermination of the Jews in the cruellest way
possible. (OR most cruelly).
Die Nazis haben auer den Juden auch die Zigeuner verfolgt.
The Nazis persecuted besides the Jews also the Gypsies.
ZER- e.g. zerstren - to destroy
Die Germanen haben das westrmische Reich im fnften Jahrhundert n.Chr. (= nach
Christus) zerstrt.
The Teutons destroyed the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century A.D.
MI- e.g. mibrauchen - to misuse, abuse
In seinem Buch hat er die Folgerungen anderer Forscher mibraucht.
In his book he has misused other researcher' deductions.
Note some of the ways these prefixes can alter the meaning of a basic verb:
kennen - to know
bekennen - to confess
erkennen - to recognise verkennen - to fail to recognise
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Pluperfect Tense
The pluperfect tense (i.e. the "more than perfect" tense) is another compound past tense made
up on the basic pattern of the perfect. It corresponds almost exactly in meaning to its English
counterpart and can be recognised from its being based on the formula:
past tense
of
+
haben
(hatte etc.)
past participle
(at end of clause)
Eg. 1. Ich riet ihm, den Aufsatz zu lesen, aber er hatte ihn schon
I advised him to read the essay, but he had already read it.
2.
Das hatten die Griechen schon vor den Rmern erkannt.

The Greeks had already recognised/realised that before the
gelesen.
Romans.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Unit 13 - Verbs taking sein in the compound past tenses

There is an old English - technically Middle English (i.e. Chaucer's language) - folksong that opens with
the line: Sumer is icumen in.
38
Most speakers of modern English would assume that this line is to be read as: "Summer is acoming in",
but it does not mean that, it means literally: Summer is come in or, as we would say nowadays:
Summer has come in.
In Middle English most verbs formed their perfect tense forms with the auxiliary verb have, as is normal
to-day, but others used the verb be as their auxiliary. This latter practice is still quite normal in
Elizabethan English and accounts for sentences in the 1611 Authorised (King James) Version of the
Bible like "When Jesus was come into Samaria . . . ", "He is risen." etc., where we would say "had
come", "has risen" and so on. This use of be as a perfect and pluperfect tense auxiliary survived in
English into the late 18th or even early 19th century but is now completely obsolete. In German,
however, intransitive verbs signifying a change of place or a change of state have sein as their auxiliary
in the compound past tenses.
Examples:
Perfect tense erscheinen (ei, ie, ie) - to appear
Sein neuestes Werk ist dieses Jahr erschienen.
His newest work appeared this year. (NOT: is appearing!!!!)
fliegen (ie, o, o) - to fly
Die amerikanischen Truppen sind schon in den Mittelosten geflogen.
The American troops have already flown to the Middle East (NOT: are flying!!!).
Pluperfect tense sterben (i, a, o) - to die
Wir sind so schnell wie mglich marschiert, aber die Geiseln waren alle schon gestorben.
We marched as quickly as possible, but the hostages had all died already.
The important thing for readers to remember here is that forms like ist ... erschienen, sind ... geflogen,
sind ... marschiert MUST NOT be read as "is appearing", "are flying", "are marching" etc. - meanings
that can only be conveyed by the present tense form in German - and a form like waren ... gestorben
cannot mean "were dying", for which German would normally use the simple past tense (though in
spoken German the perfect might be used, but definitely not this pluperfect tense form).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Separable Prefixes
We have already seen that German simple verbs can undergo a change of meaning if they have one of
the inseparable prefixes attached to them; they thereby in fact become different verbs and have to be
looked up in the dictionary according to their prefixed form, i.e. under bekommen, not kommen, under
empfangen, not fangen, etc. There are other prefixes, too, that change the meaning of the simple verb to
some degree or other, the so called separable prefixes.
The separable prefixes are really kinds of adverb that are by convention written together with the simple
verb as one word:
1. in the infinitive (i.e. dictionary) form,
2. in the past participle (also the present participle ending in -end
[= Eng. -ing],
often used as an adjective as in the sentence under
ENTGEGEN below), and
3. whenever the finite verb occurs at the end of its clause or sentence. (This last
phenomenon will be dealt with in more detail in a later unit.)
Where, however, the verb is in second position in its clause, the separable prefix occurs alone at the end
of the clause.
Examples:

1.
2.
infinitive (or dictionary) form: ansehen - to look at, regard

past participle: angesehen - looked at, regarded (as adj. = respected)
Sentence examples:
1.
Die Leute wollten dieses Kunstwerk ansehen.

The people wanted to look at this work of art.
2.(a)
Sie haben dieses Kunstwerk gern angesehen.

They liked looking at this work of art.
(literally: They looked gladly at this work of art.)
(b)
Die Mona Lisa ist ein sehr angesehenes Kunstwerk.

The Mona Lisa is a very well regarded work of art.
3.
Die Leute waren erstaunt, als sie das Kunstwerk ansahen.

The people were astonished when they looked at the work of art.
4.
Das neue Kunstwerk ansehend, waren die Leute ganz erstaunt.

Looking at the new artwork the people were quite astonished.
BUT 5.
Die Leute sahen sein Werk mit Erstaunuen an.

The people looked at his work in astonishment.
The people regarded his work with astonishment.
6.
Wir sehen seine Werke immer mit Vergngen an.

We always look at his works with pleasure.
The implications of this are:

a.
You cannot be certain what the full verb in a clause or sentence is until you have reached
the end and seen whether or not there is a separable prefix there;
b.
if the verb has a separable prefix, you must look the verb up in a dictionary alphabetically
under the prefix, not under the simple verb, e.g. in Er blickte sie erstaunt an (= er sah sie
erstaunt an) look the meaning up under anblicken, not just blicken.
The commonest separable prefixes are:

AB- e.g.
ablehnen - to refuse
Man lehnte sein Angebot ab.
His offer was refused. (literaly: One refused his offer.)
AN- e.g.
anbieten (ie, o, o) - to offer.

Er bot dem Institut seine Hilfe an.
He offered the institute his help.
AUF- e.g.
aufhren - to cease
Die Kritik an ihm hrte bald auf.
The criticism of him soon ceased.
AUS- e.g.
aussetzen - 1) (intransitive) to cease

Die Musik setzte pltzlich aus.
The music suddenly ceased.
2) (transitive) to expose
Napoleon setzte seine Armee der Hrte des russischen Winters aus.
Napoleon exposed his army to the rigour of the Russian winter.
BEI- e.g.
beiwohnen (+ dat.) - to attend (can also mean: to cohabit with someone).

Er hat der Erstauffhrung seines neuen Stckes nicht beigewohnt.
39
40

He did not attend the premiere (literally: first performance) of his new play.
EIN- e.g.
einsetzen - 1) (intrans.) to begin

Die Musik setzte ebenso pltzlich wieder ein.
The music began again just as suddenly.
2) (trans.) to insert
Welches Wort soll man hier einsetzen?
Which word is one to insert here?
ENTGEGEN- e.g. entgegenkommen - to come towards, come to meet.

Ein kleines Mdchen kam dem Fhrer mit einem Blumenstrau entgegen.
A little girl came towards the Fhrer with a bunch of flowers.
Er war schon immer ein sehr entgegenkommender Mann.
He has always been a very accommodating man.
(Here entgegenkommend is a present participle.)
FORT-
e.g. fortfahren - 1) to drive away (where fort = weg)

Er verlie das Haus und fuhr fort.
He left the house and drove away.
2) to continue
Nach einer kurzen Pause fuhr sie mit ihrer Lektre fort.
After a short pause she continued with her reading.
HER-
e.g. herstellen - to produce

Das Pergament stellte man aus Kalbshuten her.
They made parchment out of claf skins.
(especially common when combined with other prefixes)
e.g. herauskommen - to come out(side), be published
Wann kommt Ihr nchstes Buch heraus?
When is your next book coming out?
HIN-
e.g. hinstellen - to put down (in front of you)

Stellen Sie bitte Ihre Bcher hier hin.
Please put your books down here.
(also especially common when combined with other prefixes)
e.g. hinausschicken - to send out(side)
Er schickte alle seine Kinder in die weite Welt hinaus.
He sent all his children out into the wide world.
LOS- e.g. loswerden - to get rid of

Endlich sind wir die vielen Probleme losgeworden.
At last we have got rid of the many problems.
MIT- e.g. mitteilen - to communicate, pass on
Seine Folgerungen hat er in einem Zeitungsartikel mitgeteilt.
He communicated his deductions in a newspaper article.
NACH- e.g. nachschlagen (, u, a) - to check (in reference book)
Die Tatsachen kann man in jeder Enzyklopdie nachschlagen.
The facts can be checked in any encyclopaedia.
VOR- e.g. vorkommen - 1) to happen, occur,
So etwas war noch nie vorgekommen.
Such a thing had never yet happened.
2) to seem
Seine neuesten Schlsse kommen mir verdchtig vor.
His latest conclusions seem suspicious to me.
WEG- e.g. wegrumen - to clear away
Das Erscheinen seiner neuesten Studie rumt mit Bestimmtheit die
Miverstndnisse frherer Forscher-generationen weg.

The appearance of his latest study will certainly clear away the
misunderstandings of earlier generations of researchers.
WEITER- e.g. weiterlesen - to read on, continue reading
Wenn wir weiterlesen, begegnen wir weiteren Mngeln.
When we read on we encounter further shortcomings.
ZU- e.g. zumachen - to close, shut
Den Eingang des Grabes machten die Priester mit einer riesigen Steinplatte zu.
The priests closed the entrance of the grave with a gigantic stone slab.
ZURCK- e.g. zurckgehen - to go back, return
Die heutigen Dialektgrenzen der deutschsprachigen Lnder gehen teilweise auf
die alten Stammesgrenzen zurck.
The present-day dialect boundaries of the German-speaking countries go back
partly to the old tribal boundaries.
ZUSAMMEN- e.g. zusammenstellen - to put together
Wir wollen zuerst ein Verzeichnis der wichtigsten Daten zusammenstellen.
We firstly want to put together a catalogue of the most important data.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------N.B. Whereas past participles of inseparable prefix verbs were not readily identifiable because they
lacked the geprefix, those of separable prefix verbs are more readily identifiable because of their
having the ge- "infixed" between the separable prefix and the past participle stem, e.g. beigewohnt,
losgeworden in the sentences above.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The zu Infinitive
In English a few verbs are always found followed by another verb in its simple infinitive, i.e. its
dictionary form, e.g. He will come tomorrow, but most will have a following infinitive preceded by the
meaningless little word to, e.g. He wants to come tomorrow. (It is no more possible to say *He wants
come tomorrow than it is to say *He will to come tomorrow. (The asterisk here is a technical way of
showing that the sentence is ungrammatical.) Similarly, in German a few verbs are normally followed
merely by the dictionary or simple infinitive form of another verb, e.g. the modals, where, as we have
seen, this simple infinitive is typically found at the end of the clause. Thus:
Er will den Versuch selbst machen.
He wants to make the attempt himself.
Most verbs are, however, followed by an infinitive preceded by the little word zu, the so-called zu
infinitive, e.g.
Er wnscht den Versuch selbst zu machen.
He wishes to make the attempt himself.
N.B. In the case of separable prefix verbs the zu is found "infixed" between the prefix and the infinitive
form of the simple verb (cf. the infixing of the ge- of the past participle). Inseparable prefix verbs are
like any non-prefixed verb in respect of the zu infinitive form. E.g.
Er wnscht das ganze Experiment selbst zu verrichten.
"
"
"
"
"
" auszufhren.
He wishes to carry out the whole experiment himself.
Except in the case of a very few verbs (wnschen - to wish, brauchen - to need, scheinen - to seem) the
main verb and the elements belonging to it are separated off from the zu infinitive and the elements
belonging with it by a comma, though the spelling reform of 1996 has made this comma optional unless
ambiguity threatens (and it is not always found in 19th century German texts either).
41
42
E.g.

1.
Er versuchte, jeden Tag an seiner Dissertation zu arbeiten, aber ab und zu mute er einen
freien Tag haben.
He tried to work on his thesis every day, but now and then he had to have a free day.
2.
Er versuchte jeden Tag, an seiner Dissertation zu arbeiten, aber er konnte nie eine einzige
Seite schreiben.
He tried every day to work on his thesis, but he was never able to write a single page.
Not only verbs, but also adjectives and nouns can be followed by a zu infinitive, though English will
often express the equivalent meaning by an of . . . ing construction, rather than by an infinitive
construction. E.g.
Er ist bereit, uns jederzeit zu helfen.
He is ready/willing to help us anytime.
Er ist es mde, uns immer wieder helfen zu mssen.
He is tired of having to help us again and again.
Er sprach seine Bereitwilligkeit aus, uns zu helfen.
He expressed his willingness/readiness to help us.
Die Kunst, anderen zu helfen, ist leicht zu erlernen.
The art of helping others is easy to learn.
There are also three prepositions that are used with a zu infinitive:
1.
um . . . zu (+ infin.) - in order to
E.g. Ich bin gekommen, um Ihnen zu helfen.
I have come (in order) to help you.
2.
ohne . . . zu - without . . . ing

Er verschwand, ohne uns zu helfen.
He disappeared without helping us.
3.
statt OR anstatt . . . zu - instead of . . . ing

Er half den anderen, statt OR anstatt uns zu helfen.
He helped the others instead of helping us.
Exercise 13
1.
Alles hngt von den Verhandlungen mit den feindlichen

abhngen (, i, a) von - depend on feindlich - hostile
e Verhandlung (-en) - negotiation
e Streitkraft (e) - (military) force
2.
Wie kann man die Sache anders auffassen?

e Sache (-n) - thing, matter
anders - otherwise, differently
Streitkrften ab.
auffassen - conceive of
3.
Die ganze Lage sieht immer gefhrlicher aus.

e Lage (-n) - situation
gefhrlich - dangerous
aussehen (ie, a, e) - seem, appear
4.
Trotz seines groen Interesses fr die Arbeit hat er nur sehr wenig zu ihrer Ausfhrung
beigetragen.
s Interesse (-n) - interest
beitragen (, u, a) - contribute
e Ausfhrung (-en) - carrying out, execution
5.
Er ist meinen Wnschen nur halbwegs entgegengekommen.

r Wunsch (e) - wish
halbwegs - halfway

6.
43
Die Wissenschaftler des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts setzten diese Methode fort; erst die Forscher
unseres Jahrhunderts haben eine neue Methode angewandt/angewendet.
r Wissenschaftler (-) - scientist, scholar
s Jahrhundert (-e) - century erst - not before, only
fortsetzen - continue
anwenden - apply, use
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------UNIT 14 - DER, DIE, DAS in adjectival clauses

Early on in this course we have encountered the forms der, die, das etc. in three different senses:
1. as the definite article, i.e. in the sense of the;
2.
when stressed before a noun or noun phrase, as a demonstrative adjective, i.e. in the sense
of that (= dieser); and
3.
when stressed and not part of a noun phrase, as equivalent to the stressed form of er, sie, es
etc., i.e. in the sense of he, she, it etc.
But these forms have a fourth function in German, namely as a relative pronoun.
Sometimes a whole clause may be used to describe a noun in much the same way as an adjective is.
Whereas such a clause can be recognised in English by its being introduced by who(m)/whose, which or
that, in German such a clause - called an adjectival clause or a relative clause, relating as it does to the
noun - is recognised by two features:
E.g.
(a)
it is introduced by der, die, das etc. following a comma (sometimes by welcher with its
various endings instead), and
(b)
by the fact that the finite verb is located not in first or second position, but at the end of
the clause.
1.(a)
(b)
2.(a)
(b)
Ein sehr starker Mann half uns bei der Arbeit.

A very strong man helped us with the work.
Ein Mann, der sehr stark war, half uns bei der Arbeit.
A man who was very strong helped us with the work.
Meine verwitwete Schwester wohnt jetzt bei uns.
My widowed sister now lives with us.
Meine Schwester, die ihren Mann durch den Tod verloren hat und also Witwe ist, wohnt
jetzt bei uns.
My sister, who lost her husband through death and (who) is therefore a widow, now
lives with us.
When used either as a relative pronoun in an adjectival clause or as a stressed pronoun (3rd use above),
the genitive singular or plural form and the dative plural form will differ slightly from the equivalent
form in uses 1 and 2 above by having an extra -(s)en. These forms are thus even more easily recognised
than the rest. The full relative pronoun/stressed pronoun paradigm is as follows:
M
F
N
Pl.
Nom.
der
die
das
die
Acc.
den
die
das
die
Gen.
DESSEN
DEREN
DESSEN
DEREN
Dat.
dem
der
dem
DENEN
(NB The pronoun deren may occasionally be found in the form derer)
E.g.
3.
Meine Schwester, deren Mann gestorben ist, wohnt jetzt bei uns.
My sister, whose husband has died, now lives with us.
44

4.
Mein Bruder, dessen Frau gestorben ist, wohnt jetzt bei uns.
5.
Die Studenten, denen ich je eine Kopie des Gedichts gegeben habe, haben sie nicht
mehr gebraucht.
The students to whom I gave a copy each of the poem no longer needed it.
As a rule of thumb (German: eine Faustregel, literally fist rule) dessen or deren following a comma
can be read as whose if the verb is at the end of the clause (though sometimes it may turn out to be the
stressed pronoun, so dessen would be his or its, deren her, its, or their if the verb is not at the
end of the clause).
In written English we distinguish by means of commas between two types of adjectival or relative
clause: the defining, or restrictive, relative clause and the non-defining, or non-restrictive, relative
clause.
The defining or restrictive relative clause gives defining information about the noun it refers back to
and is not surrounded (or bracketed) by commas. E.g.
1. There were two men in the room and the man who was standing by the door suddenly
laughed out loudly.
Here the relative clause defines one of the two men and is restricted to him; if this clause were left out
the sentence would not make sense, thus: *There were two men in the room and the man suddenly
laughed out loudly.
The non-defining or non-restrictive relative clause only gives non-essential, additional information
and is surrounded, or bracketed, by commas. E.g.
2. There were a man and a woman in the room and the man, who was standing by the door,
suddenly laughed out loudly.
Here the relative clause does not define the man, but just gives incidental information about him and
could be omitted without the sentence losing its essential meaning, thus: There were a man and a
woman in the room and the man suddenly laughed out loudly.
In German, on the other hand, there is a fixed rule that all clauses are separated off from each other by
commas, so there are always commas around both defining and non-defining relative clauses. As a
result, they are not always readily differentiable except maybe through context.
The above two sentences would go in German respectively:
Es waren im Zimmer zwei Mnner. Der Mann, der an der Tr stand, lachte pltzlich laut auf.
and
Es waren im Zimmer ein Mann und eine Frau. Der Mann, der an der Tr stand, lachte
pltzlich laut auf.
However, sometimes the non-defining type can be expressed and so recognised by the verb being not at
the end of the clause, but in second position within it such that it actually has main clause structure,
thus:
Es waren im Zimmer ein Mann und eine Frau. Der Mann, der stand an der Tr, lachte
pltzlich laut auf.
(Cf. also sentences 3 andd 4 in Exercise 14A below.)
Incidentally, the rule about commas marking clauses off from one another is very useful to people
learning to read German, since the verb in true relative clauses will almost always be found at the next
comma or other punctuation mark (full stop, semicolon, colon or else und, which can function like a
comma when joining two clauses).
Exercise 14A
1.
Adolf heit der Fhrer, der die Knigin liebt, aber der ist auch der Mann, den der Knig tten
will.
(N.B. how important the case form is for getting the correct meaning of these adjectival clauses
in German, whereas in English it is verb position that decides the issue.)
2.
Adolf ist der Mensch, der den Knig tten will.
3.
Er war ein Diktator, dessen Volk sehr unglcklich war, denn es hatte gar keine Freiheit mehr.

4
Er war ein Diktator, dessen Volk war sehr unglcklich, denn es hatte gar keine Freiheit mehr.
5.
Die Leute, denen die Politiker am besten dienen, sind jene Leute, die ihnen Treue schenken.
6.
Die Forscherin, deren Artikel in dem letzten Heft der Zeitschrift steht, ist die Tochter eines
berhmten Archologen.
s Heft (-e) - exercise book, issue (of journal)
berhmt - famous, renowned
7.
Die Forscher, deren Artikel in diesem Heft der Zeitschrift gedruckt sind, sollen entweder
Archologen oder Historiker sein.
drucken - to print
entweder . . . oder - either . . . or
r Historiker (= r Geschichtler) - historian.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Reflexive Pronoun and Reflexive Verbs

When the undergoer of an action is also the doer of that action English adds -self to the object
pronoun, which is called the reflexive pronoun, because it reflects or bends back to the subject.
E.g.
vs
1.(a)
(b)
I1 see myself1 in the mirror.

She1 sees me2 in the mirror.
vs
2.(a)
(b)
She1 sees herself1 in the mirror.

She1 sees her2 in the mirror.
German does not make any distinction between ordinary object pronouns and reflexive pronouns except
in the 3rd person forms, where, to avoid ambiguity, sich is used for all three genders in both the singular
and the plural of the accusative and dative.
Thus:
1.(a)
(b)
Ich1 sehe mich1 im Spiegel.

Sie1 sieht mich2 im Spiegel.
2.(a)
Sie1 sieht sich1 im Spiegel. / Sie1 sehen sich1 im Spiegel.

Er1 sieht sich1 im Spiegel.
Es1 sieht sich1 im Spiegel.
versus. (b)
3.(a)
Sie1 sieht sie2 im Spiegel. / Sie1 sehen sie2 im Spiegel.

Er1 sieht ihn2 im Spiegel.
Es1 sieht es2 im Spiegel. (Das Kind1 sieht das Buch2 im Spiegel.
Sie1 kauft sich1 etwas. / Sie1 kaufen sich1 etwas.
Er1 kauft sich1 etwas.
Es1 kauft sich1 etwas.
versus. (b)
Sie1 kauft ihr2 etwas. / Sie1 kaufen ihnen2 etwas.

Er1 kauft ihm2 etwas.
Es1 kauft ihm2 etwas. (Das Mdchen1 kauft dem Kind2 etwas.)
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All the above examples of the reflexive pronoun in German involve what we might call literal
uses, i.e. English will also use a reflexive pronoun in the corresponding translations, e.g. She sees
herself in the mirror, They buy themselves something, and so on. But of probably greater
importance in reading expository German are reflexive verbs whose English equivalents do not involve
the use of reflexive pronouns. Some useful reflexive verbs of this type are (with strong verb vowel
changes):
versus
sich befinden (i, a) - to be situated

s. entscheiden (ei, ie) - to decide (between alternatives)
s. entschlieen (ie, o) - to decide (firmly), resolve
s. ndern - to change, alter (= anders werden)
s. anstrengen - to make an effort, endeavour
s. ereignen - to occur, take place
s. erinnern an (+ acc.) - to remember (erinnern an - to remind of)
s. freuen auf (+ acc.) - to look forward to
s. freuen ber (+ acc.) - be glad about, rejoice at
s. freuen an (+ dat.) - take pleasure in, delight in
(freuen - to please, delight)
s. erholen - to recover (from illness etc.)
s. (dat.) vorstellen - to imagine (voluntarily)
s. (acc.) vorstellen - to introduce oneself
s. (dat.) einbilden - to imagine (involuntarily or irrationally)
s. weigern - to refuse
Exercise 14B
1. Durch seine vielen Ausbrche des Zorns machte sich der Knig bald krank.
r Ausbruch (e) - outburst
r Zorn - anger
krank - sick, ill
2.
"Du machst dich durch deine Zornausbrche bald krank," warnte ihn die Knigin. "Und du
wirst dir sicher auch andere Schwierigkeiten verursachen."
sicher - certain(ly), sure(ly)
e Schwierigkeit = s Problem (schwierig - difficult)
verursachen - to cause (e Ursache (-n) - cause)
3.
Nach drei Tagen befand sich die Armee in einer schwierigen Lage.
4.
Der Fhrer bildete sich ein, da das ganze Volk ihn liebte, aber es liebte ihn sicher nicht.
5.
Ich kann mir nicht vorstellen, wie die Knigin ihn lieben konnte.
6.
Die schlimme Lage ndert sich gewi nicht bald.

schlimm - bad, serious; gewi = sicher
7.
Die Mnner erinnerten ihren Fhrer an den Zorn des Knigs und weigerten sich, einen Schritt
weiterzugehen, aber jener erinnerte sich nur an seine geliebte Freundin, die Knigin und freute
sich auf den baldigen Kampf mit den Anhngern ihres Ehemannes, der sie in seiner Festung
gefangen hielt.
r Schritt (-e) - step, pace
baldig - (Have a guess!)
r Anhnger (-) - adherent e Festung - fortress
fangen (, i, a) - to catch, capture;
r Ehemann (er) - husband (e Ehe (-n) - marriage)
8.
Dieses Volk kann sich weder fr Krieg noch fr Frieden entscheiden: es freut sich an keinem
von beiden. Es strengt sich an, unter anderen Vlkern Uneinigkeit zu stiften, ohne sich selbst an
den Auseinandersetzungen zu beteiligen, die sich aus seiner Einmischung ergeben.
weder . . . noch . . . - neither . . . nor . . .
r Friede(n) - peace
e Uneinigkeit - dissension
stiften = verursachen
e Auseinandersetzung - dispute
s. beteiligen an (+ dat.) - take part in, participate in
e Einmischung - meddling, involvement

(s. einmischen - to meddle (mischen - to mix))
s. ergeben - to result (s Ergebnis (-se) - result)
9.
In diesem Land ereignet sich nichts; ich habe mich also entschlossen, nach Australien
auszuwandern. Ich bin darberhinaus seit dem Winter ziemlich krank und kann mich dort gut
erholen.
auswandern = emigrieren ziemlich - fairly, rather
darberhinaus - over and above that, moreover
NB With the preposition seit since German uses the present tense, as the action/condition is still
going on, whereas English would use the perfect tense.
10. Nach meiner Erholung freue ich mich ber die Gelegenheit, mich wieder bettigen zu knnen,
aber ich darf mich nicht beranstrengen, sagt mein Arzt.
e Erholung - (Have a guess!)
e Gelegenheit - opportunity
s. bettigen - get active (ttig - active (e Tat (-en) - deed))
s. beranstrengen - (Have another guess!)
r Arzt (e) - doctor
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Pronouns SELBST and SELBER
1.
These two pronouns have the following meaning:

emphatic pronoun: myself, himself, etc.
e.g. Er schreibt alles selbst OR selber.
He writes everything himself.
Ich selbst OR selber glaube alles, was sie sagen.
I myself believe everything that they say.
reflexive + emphatic:
e.g. Ich helfe mir selbst.
I help myslf.
Er hilft sich immer selbst OR selber.
He always helps himslf.
(Sentence 8 in the above exercise furnishes a further example.)
2.
NOTE how the position of selbst affects its meaning:

(a)
following a noun or another pronoun = emphatic pronoun: -self

Der Mann selbst macht die Hausarbeit.
The man himself does the housework.
Er selbst . . . - He himself . . .
(b)
before a noun or another pronoun = even (= Ger. sogar)

Selbst der Mann macht die Hausarbeit.
Even the husband does the housework.
Selbst er . . . - Even he . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------UNIT 15 - Other Non-Principal Clauses

In the previous unit we saw that adjectival or relative clauses provide additional information about
something or someone involved in the main statement contained in the main or principal clause of the
sentence. Clauses whose function is subordinate to that of the main or principal clause are called nonprincipal clauses or, in German grammar more frequently, subordinate clauses, as they are
grammatically subordinate to the main or principal clause. The adjectival clause is only one of three
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48
main types of subordinate clause in German. The other two are as follows.
3.
In Unit 6 we saw that the verb followed immediately after one of the interrogative or w- words
that are used to introduce a question requiring some piece of information as the answer (who?
what? where? why? etc.) rather than just yes or no. But this is only the case where a question is
being directly asked, i.e. in the case of a direct question (e.g. What did the Romans think of the
Greeks? - Was dachten die Rmer von den Griechen?). If, on the other hand, the question is
being referred to only indirectly, i.e. it is an indirect question introduced by some phrase like I
wonder/We dont know, then in the German clause introduced by the w-word you will
find the finite verb at the end at the end of the(subordinate) clause, e.g.
Ich mchte gern wissen, was die Rmer von den Griechen dachten.
(literally: I would like to know.)
I wonder what the Romans thought of the Greeks.
Man wei nicht, was die Rmer von den Griechen dachten.
(literally: One does not know)
We do not know OR It is not known what the Romans thought of the Greeks.
Further examples are:

Wo befand sich damals die Hauptstadt des Landes?
(lit.: Where found itself)
Where was the capital of the country (situated) at that time?
Man fragt sich, wo sich damals die Hauptstadt des Landes befand.
(lit,: One asks onself)
One wonders where the capital of the country was (situated) at that time.
Man wei nicht, wo sich damals die Hauptstadt des Landes befand.
The same will apply, then, to the other w-words: was, wer, wann, warum, weshalb, weswegen, wieso,
wie, wieviel(e), wo, wohin, woher and welcher.
At this point we may note that where we would perhaps expect German to use a preposition before was
in asking some kinds of questions,
e.g. With what did they threaten him? - Mit was haben sie ihm gedroht?
and we do find this in German texts; however, expository German tends to do what older English did
and to say the equivalent of where- + preposition,
i.e. Wherewith did they threaten him? - Womit haben sie ihm gedroht?
So, in German this will be wo- + preposition or, if the preposition begins with a vowel, wor- +
preposition (worin, woraus etc.), to make the pronunciation a little easier.
E.g. Womit drohten die Rmer damals ihren Feinden?
What did the Romans threaten their enemies with at that time. (lit. wherewith)
Man wei nicht, womit die Rmer damals ihren Feinden drohten.
Worauf bezieht sich das Wort "damals" in seinem Text?
To what does the word damals refer in his text?
NB sich beziehen auf (+ acc.) - to refer to
Man kann nicht sagen, worauf sich das Wort damals in seinem Text bezieht.
In Unit 6 we saw that yes/no questions had their verb in first position. Again, that only applies when
they are direct questions. In indirect questions the yes/no question is recognised by its being introduced
by the German word ob (= whether, if) with the finite verb occurring in final position.
E.g.
Bedrohten die Rmer ihre Feinde tatschlich?
Did the Romans actually threaten their enemies?
Man wei nicht, ob die Rmer ihre Feinde tatschlich bedrohten.
It is not known whether (OR if) the Romans actually threatened their enemies.

NB both drohen (+ dat.) and bedrohen (+ acc.) mean to threaten.
2. There is a set of other words that typically introduce subordinate clauses; these words are usually
called subordinating conjunctions, because they join or conjoin the subordinate clause with the
principal clause. Just as the adjectival clause functions like an adjective, so these subordinating
conjunctions introduce clauses which function either like an adverb, i.e. as an adverbial clause giving
information about when, why etc. the main action occurred, or as a noun clause. As in the case of the
other subordinate clauses, the finite verb is located at the end.
E.g.
1. Adverbs vs. adverbial clause
(a) Adverbial phrase of time (answering the potential question: When?):
Am Ende des Krieges im Osten zogen die Soldaten in die Heimat zurck.
At the end of the war in the east the soldiers moved back to their homeland.
Adverbial clause of time (answering the potential question: When?):
Als der Krieg im Osten endete, zogen die Soldaten in die Heimat zurck.
(b) Adverbial phrase of reason (wegen) + one of time (nach)
Wegen seiner tiefen Depression versuchte er nach seiner Rckkehr von Europa, Selbstmord
zu begehen.
Because of his deep depression he tried after his return from Europe to commit suicide (lit.:
self murder).
Adverbial clause of reason (weil) + one of time (nachdem)
Weil er tief deprimiert war, versuchte er, nachdem er von Europa zurckgekehrt war,
Selbstmord zu begehen.
2.
Noun vs. noun clause

Just as nouns can be the subject or object of a verb, so can a noun clause. Most noun clauses are
introduced by the conjunction da / dass, but they can also be introduced by w-words such as
was, wer.
Die Sprache der Lutherbibel bildet die Grundlage der heutigen deutschen Schriftsprache. Diese
Tatsache ist allgemein anerkannt. (the noun phrase here is the subject of ist) OR Man kann diese
Tatsache nicht leugnen. (the noun phrase here is the object leugnen to deny)
The language of the Luther Bible constitutes the basis of the German written language of today.
This fact is generally acknowledged. OR One cannot deny this fact.
Da die Sprache der Lutherbibel die Grundlage der heutigen deutschen Schriftsprache bildet, ist
allgemein anerkannt. (the whole noun clause Dabildet is the subject of ist) OR Man kann
nicht leugnen, da . . . . bildet.(the whole noun clause dabildet is the object of leugnen)
When the word wer begins a noun clause with the verb at the end it means whoever. Contrast:
Wer leugnet diese Tatsache? - Who denies this fact? (direct question)
And
Wer diese Tatsachen leugnet, ist kein echter Wissenschaftler.
Whoever denies these facts is no genuine scholar / scientist.
(Here, of course, the noun clause Werleugnet is the subject of ist.)
The following is a fairly exhaustive list of these subordinating conjunctions:

als - when, as (time)
obgleich )
als ob / als wenn - as if
obwohl ) - although
bevor )
before
obschon )
ehe ) (cf. older English ere = before)
bis - until, by the time that
seit OR seitdem - since (time)
da - as, since (reason)
so da - with the result that, so that
damit - in order that, so that
whrend - while (time), whereas
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da - that
weil - because
falls - in the case that, if
sobald - as soon as
nachdem - after
wenn - when(ever), if
ob - whether, if
wenngleich - although
je nachdem, ob - according to whether, depending on whether

wie - as (time OR manner)
zumal - especially as
Note that da can combine with prepositions and other words to produce further subordinating
conjunctions.
E.g. (a)
Die Kelten schlichen sich ins Lager, ohne da die Rmer sie hrten.
The Celts slipped into the camp without the Romans' hearing them.
(lit.: without that the Romans heard them.)
(b)
Anstatt dass OR statt da England und Frankreich sich mit der Sowjetunion verbndeten,
schlo erstaunlicherweise der Nationalsozialist Hitler ein Verbndnis mit dem
Erzkommunisten Stalin.
Instead of England and France allying themselves with the Soviet Union it was astonishingly
the National Socialist Hitler that formed an alliance with the arch-communist Stalin.
(lit.: instead that England and France allied themselves)
(c)
Es sind zu viele Fehler in dieser Arbeit, als da wir sie alle in der vorliegenden Rezension
besprechen knnen.
There are too many errors in this piece of work for us to be able discuss them all in the
present review.
(lit. than that we can discuss them all)
The technique of bracketing to unravel complex sentences

As said already in the previous unit in the case of adjectival / relative clauses, all subordinate clauses i.e. adjectival/relative clauses, adverbial clauses and noun clauses - must in German be separated from
the rest of their sentence by commas at both ends of the clause (though instead of the second comma
there may be a full stop, semicolon, colon or und). These commas are, for people learning to read
German, important signposts in the unravelling of complex sentences. (Unlike in English, commas are
not normally put around verbless phrases in German, except phrases in apposition, e.g. Die Chefin der
Bundesregierung, die Kanzlerin Angela Merkel, gab war gestern in Washington. - The head of the
Federal Government, the Chancellor A. G., was in W. yesterday.) The technique of bracketing to
work out the way very complex sentences can be broken down for comprehension can be useful. The
brackets used will always be located at points where there are commas etc. It is best to always use the
same type of brackets for the same type of clause, for example:
1. round brackets (runde Klammern) for principal clauses ( );
2. square brackets [eckige Klammern] for adjectival / relative clauses [ ];
3. curly brackets {Schweifen} for adverbial clauses { };
4. vertical lines |senkrechte /vertikale Linien| for noun clauses | |.
The following sentences could be analysed or unravelled in this way.
1. In this first sentence the clauses are neatly separated off from one another in succession. (NOTE also
in the reference following the quoted passage how German bibliographical references do not usually
italicise book titles and only give the place of publication, not the publisher.)
|Da Konstantin aber die ganze illyrische Halbinsel mitsamt Konstantinopel dem Neffen gab,| (geschah
vielleicht nur deshalb,) {weil diese Perle des Reiches in den Hnden eines der drei Shne sofort der
Gegenstand der grimmigsten Eifersucht werden mute,} {wie denn spter auch geschah.}
(Aus: Jakob Burkhardt, Die Zeit Konstantins des Groen. Leipzig, 1924, S. 366)
Literal translation:

|That Constantine however gave the whole Illyrian peninsula together with Constantinople to the
nephew| (happened perhaps only for the reason) {because this pearl of the empire had to become in the
hands of one of the three sons immediately the object of the most furious jealousy}, {as later also
happened}.
2. In this next sentence, as in most complex German sentences, one clause may begin and end before the
prior one has finished, so that the former is embedded inside the latter.
(Die stndig wachsende Gemeinschaft derer, [die das Kommen Jesu erwarten,] wei sich als das wahre
Gottesvolk,) [fr das jetzt die Verheiungen in Erfllung gehen.]
(Nach: Rudolf Bultmann, Das Urchristentum im Rahmen der antiken Religionen. Mnchen, 1962, S.
163)
Literal translation: (NB Jesu = Latin genitive of Jesus; derer = deren; s Urchristentum - primitive
Christianity; r Rahmen (-) - frame, framework)
(The constantly growing community of those [who expect the coming of Jesus] knows itself as the true
people of God) [for whom now the promises go into fulfilment] (= are fulfilled)
3. In this third sentence the writer uses not only a der, die, das type form as a relative pronoun, but also
the welcher, welche, welches relative pronoun. In the final da clause the author has not put the finite
verb voraussah at the end as we might expect - and as he could have - but has allowed one element of
the clause to come after it, as sometimes happens, e.g to emphasise that element.
(Das starke politische Engagement Mommsens, [das man ihm zu seinen Lebzeiten so oft verdachte,]
findet greres Verstndnis in einer Zeit,) [welche feststellen kann,] {da Mommsen manche
Fehlentwicklungen der deutschen Politik richtiger voraussah als seine einstigen optimistischen
Widersacher.}
(Nach: Karl Christ, Theodor Mommsen (1817-1903). In: Von Gibbon zu Rostovtzeff. Leben und Werk
fhrender Althistoriker der Neuzeit. Darmstadt, 1971,S. 84) NB In English, titles have a colon between
the main title and the subtitle, but in German a full stop is used.
(The strong political engagement of Mommsen, [which people in his lifetime so often held against him,]
finds greater understanding in a time) [which can ascertain] {that Mommsen foresaw many wrong
developments of German politics more correctly than his onetime optimistic opponents.}
jemandem etwas verdenken - to hold something against someone (verdenken basically means to
think badly of)
4. This fourth sentence demonstrates how a conjunction may be followed by more than one clause
attached to it. When bracketing such a succession of clauses, the second of the two brackets is used after
each verb that depends on or follows on from that conjunction.
[Da die Entdeckerreisen seither nie mehr aufhrten,] Hollnder, Franzosen und Briten die Meere
befuhren,] unbekanntes Land betraten,] nach nrdlichen Passagen fahndeten,] (vernderte sich das
Bild der Welt ununterbrochen.)
(Aus: Albert Renner, Arhur Mojonnier, Die Conquista - Mexico und Peru. In: Das Zeitalter SpanienHabsburgs. Mnchen, 1964, S. 208)
[As the discoverer voyages since (then) never more ceased,] Dutchmen, Frenchmen and Britons
travelled the seas,] stepped upon unknown land,] searched after northern passages,] (the image of the
world changed uninterruptedly.)
entdecken - to discover befahren (, u, a)- to travel over betreten
(-tritt, a, e) - to walk on(to) fahnden - to search verndern - to alter, change unterbrechen (i, a,
o)(insep.) - to interrupt
Exercise 15A
First attempt to use the bracketing method to analyse the following sentences in terms of their clause
structure, then try translating them.
1.
sterreich richtete, nachdem es die volle Beistimmung Deutschlands gefunden hatte, am 3. Juli ein
Ultimatum an Serbien, das so abgefat war, da die serbische Regierung es nicht annehmen
konnte.
(Aus: Der erste Weltkrieg (1914-1918), in: Gaston Casella, Arthur Mojonnier, Eduard von Tunk,
Das 20. Jahrhundert, Mnchen, 1964, S. 7.
richten - to direct, send e Beistimmung - agreement (beistimmen (+ dat.) - to agree to) abfassen -
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to compose e Regierung - government (regieren - to rule) annehemen - 1) to accept 2) to

assume.
2. Das Wort Tropen ist aus dem Griechischen abgeleitet und bedeutet Wendung oder Umkehr. Es
ist auf die Sonne bezogen, so da die Tropen eigentlich die Linien sind, auf denen die Sonne
umkehrt, nachdem sie ihren nrdlichsten bzw. sdlichsten Stand erreicht hat, und zwar dort, wo
sie senkrecht ber der Erde im Zenit steht.
(Aus: Ernst Weigt, Tropen und Subtropen. Begrenzung und Merkmale. In: Passat. Illustrierte
Monatszeitschrift ber die tropische Welt 2:2 (1950), S. 7.)
ableiten - to derive umkehren - to turn around beziehen (ie, -zog, -zogen) auf - to refer to, apply
to r Stand - position erreichen - to reach und zwar - and in fact senkrecht = vertikal
begrenzen - to limit s Merkmal (-e) - characteristic e Zeitschrift (-en) - journal
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Modal Verbs in Compound Past Tenses
Modal verbs can be very confusing when encountered in the perfect or pluperfect tense; this is because
they do not occur there in their past participle form if there is another infinitive present in the same
clause, i.e. an infinitive depending on the modal verb itself. Thus a double infinitive (in meaning =
infinitive + past participle) construction is encountered in these tenses in which the second, i.e. the
modal infinitive has to be read as a past participle.
E.g. (a)
Die Deutschen haben es aber nicht gekonnt. (no other infin.)

Die Deutschen haben es aber nicht machen knnen. (double infin., so read knnen here as
gekonnt)
The Germans have not been able to do it however.
OR: The Germans were not able to do it however.
(b)
Die Reservisten hatten nicht in die Schlacht gewollt.

Die Reservisten hatten nicht in die Schlacht gehen wollen.
The reserves had not wanted to go into (the) battle.
The same complication will often be met with in the case of most other verbs that are normally followed
by a simple infinitive, viz. lassen, sehen, hren, heien (= to bid, order) in particular.
E.g. Spengler hatte seither eine weitere gewaltige Studie ber den Verfall des Abendlandes im Druck
erscheinen lassen.
Spengler had since published (lit.: had let OR caused to appear in print) a further mighty study
on the decline of the West.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Word Order in Subordinate Clauses Containing Double Infinitives
Although it was said above that in a subordinate clause the finite verb is to be looked for at the end of
the clause, this is not the case where there is a double infinitive in the subordinate clause, for then the
finite verb is to be looked for in front of the double infinitive, sometimes even in front of a phrase,
particularly a prepositional phrase, preceding the double infinitive. This is, however, virtually the only
exception to the finite-verb-at-the-end rule you need to worry about in reading expository German.
E.g. (a)
Es ist klar, da die Deutschen es nicht haben machen knnen.

It is clear that the Germans have not been able to do it.
(b)
Die Offiziere verstanden, warum die Reservisten nicht in die Schlacht hatten gehen wollen
OR warum die Reservisten nicht hatten in die Schlacht gehen wollen.
The officers understood why the reservists had not wanted to go into battle.
(c)
Man kann nicht sagen, wann er eine so gewaltige Studie wird wieder im Druck erscheinen
lassen.
One cannot say when he will again publish such a mighty study.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Exercise 15B
1.
Warum die Aufklrung gerade im achtzehnten Jahrhundert aufkam, ist jedermann klar.
e Aufklrung - Enlightenment/ aufkommen - arise
jedermann - anyone, everyone/ gerade - (adj.) straight
(adv.) just, precisely
2.
In Nordafrika hatten die Menschen das fruchtbare Land jahrtausendelang viel zu intensiv
kultiviert, so da es schlielich zur Wste geworden ist.
fruchtbar - fruitful, fertile/ (jahre)lang - for (years)
schlielich - finally
e Wste - desert
3.
Galilei soll in den Scho der Kirche zurckgekehrt sein, weil er es nicht wagte, sich ihr
kompromilos entgegenzusetzen.
zurckkehren - to return r Scho - lap, bosom (fig.)
wagen - to dare
kompromilos - uncompromising
s. entgegensetzen - to oppose
NB in this sentence es does not need to be translated
4.
Bis Johannes der Apostel oder ein anderer Johannes das vierte Evangelium verfate, war zwar
die griechische Herrschaft in der antiken Welt lngst untergegangen, doch waren griechische
Denkformen noch immer lebendig und sogar uerst einflureich.
s Evangelium (-ien) - Gospel/ verfassen - to compose, write
zwar . . . doch . . . - admittedly . . . yet . . .
e Herrschaft (-en) - dominion
antike - ancient
lngst - long (since)
untergehen - founder, be lost,
lebendig - alive, lively
become extinct
einflureich - influential (r Einflu (sse) - influence)
5.
Die Germanen hatten gegen die Rmer nichts mit Erfolg unternehmen knnen, ehe der Arminius
zu ihrem Anfhrer wurde.
r Germane (-n) - (ancient) German, Teuton
r Erfolg - success
unternehmen - undertake
r Anfhrer = r Fhrer
Arminius ist ein Personenname
NB in this sentence zu does not need to be translated
6.
Obgleich die Deutschen trotz der Versuche vieler ehrgeiziger Herrscher sich seit dem Mittelalter
nicht mehr zu einem Reich hatten zusammenschlieen knnen, gelang es dem schlauen
preuischen Politiker Frst Otto von Bismarck, durch Bestechung, Bedrohung und andere
Schikanen alle deutschsprachigen Staaten auer sterreich unter die Herrschaft seines Herrn,
des Knigs von Preuen, zu bringen; sterreich hat sich diesem Reich berhaupt nicht
anschlieen drfen.
ehrgeizig - ambitious
(r Ehrgeiz - ambition: e Ehre - honour + r Geiz -= greed)
r Herrscher (-) - ruler
s Mittelalter - middle ages
zusammenschlieen (ie, o, o) - to join (together)
schlau - cunning
r Politiker (-) - politician
r Frst (-en) - prince
bestechen (i, a, o) - bribe
gelingen (i, a, u) (+ dat.) - be possible for
(es gelingt ihm - he succeeds; das ist ihnen gelungen - they
succeeded in that )
e Schikane (-n) - chicanery, underhand dealing
deutschsprachig = ..., die Deutsch sprechen
Preuen - Prussia
berhaupt nicht = gar nicht
s. anschlieen - to join, attach oneself
7.
Ich erinnere mich nicht mehr daran, ob ich ihn je OR jemals habe Klavier spielen hren (Some
Germans would say: spielen gehrt)
je = jemals - ever
s Klavier - piano
NB in this sentence daran does not need to be translated
53
54
(The function of not-to-be-translated es and daran in sentences 3 and 7 respectively will be dealt
with in a later unit on cataphora.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------UNIT 16 - The Passive Voice
It is a characteristic of the German language to use its grammatical words in a very economical way,
viz. by "recycling" them so that they can be used in a number of different functions. We have already
observed this in the case of der, die, das etc. in Unit 14. We will now find that this is also the case with
the verb werden.
As we saw earlier, werden can be a verb in its own right meaning to become, as in the sentences:
1. Er wurde berhmt. - He became famous.
2. Er wird Schriftsteller. - He is becoming OR will become a
writer.
3. Er ist zum berhmtesten Schriftsteller seines Landes geworden.
He became OR has become the most famous writer in his
country.
If, however, it is found linked with the infinitive form of some other verb (or even the infinitive of
itself, of course), it is recognised as functioning as an auxiliary verb that helps to form the explicit
future tense of the other verb.
E.g.
1.
Er wird bestimmt berhmte Bcher schreiben.

He will definitely write famous books.
And note its double use in:
2. Sie werden alle bestimmt berhmte Schriftsteller werden.
They will certainly all become famous writers.
It can, however, be very frequently found in expository German linked with another verbid, i.e. nonfinite verb form, that we have already met in dealing with the perfect and pluperfect tenses, namely the
past participle; when this is the case, we recognise that we are encountering the passive voice of the
verb when werden is linked to the past participle form. Right through this course so far we have
encountered only verbs in the active voice, i.e. that voice or function of the verb in which the subject,
the noun or pronoun in the nominative case, is the actor or doer of the action. In the passive voice, on
the other hand, the subject - again the noun in the nominative case - is, as the term passive (Latin:
passio - suffering, undergoing) indicates, the sufferer or undergoer of the action. Where necessary,
the actor or doer in a passive sentence is indicated by the preposition von (sometimes durch if not a
person).
E.g.
1.
Active:
Man schreibt viele Bcher ber das Thema.

People write many books about the topic.
Passive:
Viele Bcher werden ber das Thema geschrieben.
Many books are OR are being written on the topic.
(Literally:
Many books become OR are becoming written . . .)
(NOTE that very often active sentences introuduced by man are better expressed in English by a passive
sentence, so that the English translation of the second, passive sentence above might be regarded as
more normal than the active tranlstion using people or one.)
2. Active:
Diesen Band ber die Traumdeutung verfate Sigmund Freud.

Sigmund Freud wrote this volume on the interpretation of dreams.
Passive:
Dieser Band ber die Traumdeutung wurde von S.F. verfat.
This volume on the interpretation of dreams was written by S.F.
The passive voice of the verb can be encountered in any tense that the active voice can. The formulae
for recognising the various tenses of the passive voice are as follows:
1.
Present Tense Passive:

Present tense
of
werden
(wird etc.)
past participle
of main verb
(at end of clause)
55
Example: Viele Bcher werden ber das Thema geschrieben

Many books are OR are being written on the topic.
Simple Past Tense Passive:
Simple past tense
of
+
past participle
werden
of main verb
(wurde etc.)
Example: Dieser Band ber die Traumdeutung wurde von Sigmund Freud verfat.
This volume on the interpretation of dreams was written by S.F.
3.
Future Tense Passive:
Present tense
past participle
of
+ of main verb
+
werden
(2nd from end)
Example:
Der Band ber die Traumdeutung wird von S.F. geschrieben werden.
The volume on the interpretation of dreams will be written by S.F.
2.
4.
Perfect Tense Passive:

Present tense
of
sein
(ist etc.)
past participle
of main verb
(2nd from end)
werden
(at end)
worden
(at end)
Example:
Der Band ber die Traumdeutung ist von S.F. geschrieben worden.
The volume on the interpretation of dreams has been written OR was written by S.F.
5.
Pluperfect Tense Passive:

Simple past tense
of
sein
past participle
+ of main verb
worden
Example:
Der Band ber die Traumdeutung war von S.F. geschrieben worden, bevor er nach England
auswanderte.
The volume volume on the interpretation of dreams had been written by S.F. before he
emigrated to England.
NOTE: Whereas the past participle of werden as a full verb (= become) is geworden, an old past
participle form worden is used in the passive, so that compound past tenses of the passive are
readily recognised as such, in fact WORDEN = BEEN is a useful equation.
Compare:
Das Buch ist schlecht geworden.

The book has turned out (lit.: become) bad.
Das Buch ist schlecht geschrieben worden.
The book has been written (OR was written) badly.
Exercise 16A
1.
Die Bibel wurde sechzehnhundertelf von einer Art Kollektiv ins Englische bersetzt, aber die
magebende bersetzung ins Deutsche war schon 1523 von dem ehemaligen Mnch Martin
Luther gemacht worden.
e Art (-en) - 1) kind, 2) way, manner

bersetzen - to translate
magebend OR mageblich - standard
ehemalig - former
r Mnch (-e) - monk
(ehemals - formerly)
NB Words indicating weights and measures and those like Art kind, Typ - type, Sorte - sort etc. do
not normally have any word for of after them.
Also, year numbers do not have a word for in before them.
56
2.

Die Ergebnisse dieser wichtigen Untersuchung werden erst nchstes Jahr verffentlicht.
s Ergebnis (-se) - result
verffentlichen = publizieren
e Untersuchung - investigation
3.
Diese Tpfe wurden zum meisten Teil im vorigen Jahrhundert von Heinrich Schliemann in Troja
ausgegraben.
r Topf (e) - pot
zum meisten Teil - for the most part
ausgraben - to excavate
4.
vorig - previous
(graben (, u, a) - to dig)
Alle diese Gedichte wurden schon vor dem Krieg im Druck herausgegeben. Kurz nachher
wurden die Originale durch Brand zerstrt.
s Gedicht (-e) - poem
r Druck (-e) - print, printing
nachher - afterwards
r Brand (e) - fire, conflagration
zerstren - to destroy
5.
wichtig - important
(ffentlich - public)
(untersuchen - to examine)
herausgeben - issue, edit

(drucken - to print)
(vorher - before)
(seither - since)
(stren - to disturb)
Genau welche Manahmen getroffen worden sind, um den Aufstand zu unterdrcken, wei man
bislang nicht, aber es kann von allen angenommen werden, da seine Unterdrckung unsagbare
Grausamkeiten herbeifhren wird. Die Lage der aufstndischen Bauern wird bestimmt immer
unertrglicher.
e Manahme (-n) - measure
unterdrcken - to suppress
treffen (i, traf, o) - to meet, (here =) take
r Aufstand (e) - uprising, rebellion
aufstndisch - rebellious
r Bauer (-n) - peasant
bislang (= bisher) - so far
alle - everyone
annehmen (nimmt, a, genommen) - to accept, assume
unsagbar - unspeakable
e Grausamkeit - cruelty
herbeifhren - to bring about
(grausam - cruel)
unertrglich - unbearable
(ertragen (, u, a) - suffer)
6.
Das Kapital, das Werk, das vom deutschen Juden Karl Marx nur durch jahrelange Lektre im
Britischen Museum verfat werden konnte und seither neben der Bibel zum einflureichsten Buch
der Weltgeschichte geworden ist, wird von den meisten Menschen nur mit Mhe verstanden und
ist deshalb von verhltnismig wenigen je gelesen worden, wenigstens im Vergleich mit der
Bibel.
r Jude (-n) - Jew
einflureich - influential
e Mhe - trouble, bother
verhltnismig - relatively
(s Verhltnis (-se) - proportion, relationship)
r Vergleich (-e) - comparison
(vergleichen (ei, i, i) - to compare)
7.
e Lektre - reading
(r Einflu (e) - influence)
deshalb = also
je - ever
Am besten lt sich das Verhltnis Albrecht Drers zu seiner Mutter an dem berhmten Bildnis
von ihr, das mit Kohle gezeichnet wurde und heute in Berlin aufbewahrt wird, erkennen.
es lt sich erkennen = es kann erkannt werden

erkennen - to recognise, realise
s Bildnis (-se) - representation, portrait
e Kohle (-n) - coal, charcoal
zeichnen - to draw
aufbewahren - to keep, store, preserve
57
an (here) - by
Another way that the English passive voice can be expressed in German, using the verb lassen (, ie, a)
in the formula:
lassen + sich +
(active) infinitive (at the end)
Literally:
let
+ itself/themselves etc.+ passive infinitive (be ed)
can be ed
The combination of lassen and sich is another way of expressing in German what English would
express by the passive but including the sense can and the passive infinitive in English It is very
common in expository German.
Examples (including sentence 7 above):
1.
Das lt sich leicht beweisen.
(lit.: that lets itself easily prove = that lets itself easily be proved)
That can easily be proved.
2.
Ihre Aufstze lassen sich nicht so scharf kritisieren.

Their essays/articles cannot be so sharply criticised.
Exercise 16B
(Remember that lassen is, like the modals, a verb that is part f a double infinitive construction in the
compound past tenses.)
1.
2. -
Ciceros Aussagen ber Csar lassen sich nicht ohne weiteres glauben.
e Aussage (-n) - statement, assertion
ohne weiteres - readily, without further ado
Die Funde in Jerusalem lieen sich durch weitere Funde auerhalb der Stadt ergnzen.
ergnzen - to supplement, complement (based on ganz = whole)
3.
Die Ordnung, da der hohe Truppenfhrer hier ohne Provinziallegat verwaltet hat, lt sich aus
zwei Parallelstellen wahrscheinlich machen.
(Aus: Hans-Georg Pflaum, Zur Reform des Kaisers Gallienus. In: Historia, Band XXV/1,
Wiesbaden 1976, S. 110)
verwalten - to govern, rule e Stelle (-n) 1) place 2) passage
wahrscheinlich - probable, probably
4.
Trotz aller Bemhungen damaliger und derzeitiger Forscher hat das Haus direkt am
Eingangstor sich nicht als zu den ltesten gehrend nachweisen lassen.
e Bemhung - effort (s. bemhen - to make an effort) damals - at that time, then derzeit - at the
present time r Eingang (e) - entrance gehren (+ dat.) - to belong nachweisen (ei, ie, ie) - to
demonstrate, show
Exercise 16C (Fortsetzung und Schlu)

Er erkannte die Stimmen als die seiner Frau und ihres Liebhabers, und als er ber den Balkon schaute,
da sah er sie unten vor der Treppe mit den zehn Verrtern seiner Ehrengarde reden. Er hob die Bombe
hoch und rannte eben die Treppe hinunter, um sie auf die zwlf Verrter zu werfen, als er pltzlich
stolperte. Da fielen er und die Bombe mitten unter die Verrter: die Bombe explodierte sofort, und alle
dreizehn - Knig, Knigin, Fhrer und Soldaten sprangen in die Luft und waren tot. Ach, wie
schrecklich die ganze Szene aussah . . . , aber es ist besser, ich beschreibe sie nicht und beende diese
schaurige, traurige Geschichte von Hochverrat, Mord und Metzelei lieber gleich hier.
r Liebhaber (-) - lover,
r Balkon - Have a guess!
r Verrter (-) - traitor
werfen (i, a, o) - to throw
stolpern - stumble
schauen (= sehen) - to look

e Treppe - steps, staircase
(verraten (, ie, a) - to betray)
pltzlich - suddenly
mitten (+ prep.) - in the midst
58

in die Luft springen - blow up, be blown up (e Luft - air)
schrecklich - terrible
beschreiben - to describe
schaurig - horrible (schauern OR schaudern - to shudder)
traurig - sad
(trauern - to mourn)
r Hochverrat - high treason
r Mord - murder
(NB r Mrder (-) - murderer)
e Metzelei - mayhem
(metzen - chop up, massacre)
lieber - preferable
(lieb - dear)
gleich - (adj.) equal, same
e Stimme (-n) - voice
(adv.) 1. equally, the same way
2. immediately, in a moment, directly
beenden - to finish (trans.)
(enden - to finish (intr.))
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UNIT 17 - The Subjunctive Mood: The General Subjunctive
The verb forms we have encountered so far always refer to an action that has happened or that is
expected to happen, i.e. they indicate - or are indicative of - a "real" action or state and are said to be in
the indicative mood.
E.g.
1.
Wenn er davon sprach, so wurden seine Zuhrer bse.

If OR Whenever he spoke of it, his audience (listeners) became angry.
In this sentence the verb forms indicate that both the speaking and the getting angry have actually
occurred a number of times in the past.
2.
Wenn er davon spricht, werden seine Zuhrer bse.

If OR When he speaks of it, his audience becomes angry.
In this sentence the verb forms indicate that the speaking or getting angry actually occur at the present
time (when) or are quite likely to occur (if).
In both the above sentences the verbs are in the indicative mood. But very often in texts we encounter
verb forms that, while they look basically like the past tense forms of the indicative mood we have long
been meeting (e.g. hatte, war, sprach, wurde), differ from them most obviously by having an Umlaut
(e.g. htte, wre, sprche, wrde). When we meet these umlauted forms, they tell us that the action is
irreal or somehow hypothetical, that it has not happened or is unlikely to happen. Compare the
following two sentences with the above.
3. Wenn er davon gesprochen htte, wren seine Zuhrer bse
geworden.
If he had spoken of it, his audience would have become angry (implication: but he did not
speak of it and they therefore did not become angry).
Here some action that might potentially have occurred in the past, did not in fact happen.
4.
Wenn er davon sprche, wrden seine Zuhrer bse.

If he spoke OR were to speak of it, his audience would become angry (implication: but he
is not speaking/does not speak/ will not speak of it and his audience therefore is not getting/
does not get/ will not get angry).
Here some action that could potentially occur in the present or future is not regarded as actually
occurring or likely to occur.
The verbs in sentences 3 and 4 are in a special form which tells us that the actions are potential,
hypothetical or irreal (or contrary-to-fact). Such verb forms are said to be in the subjunctive mood,
in contrast to the indicative mood forms of sentences 1 and 2.
Like the indicative mood, the subjunctive mood has simple verb forms and compound verb forms, but
only two tenses: the present subjunctive and the past subjunctive. Sentence 4 above illustrates the
present subjunctive. You will notice:
(a)
all the present subjunctive forms are simple (one-word) verb forms;
(b)
these simple subjunctive verb forms always refer to present (or future) time, never to
past time, even though they are etymologically or historically derived from past tense
indicative forms.
Sentence 3 above illustrates the past subjunctive. You will notice:

(a)
all the past subjunctive forms are compound (more-than-one-word) forms, made up of
the present subjunctive form of haben (htte) or sein (wre) and the past participle of
the main verb.
59
60

(b)
these past subjunctive forms in German almost always correspond to English verb
forms made up of either had or would have + past participle.
All the verbs used in sentences 1 and 2 were irregular, strong verbs. The following are examples of the
full present tense subjunctive paradigm of strong verbs:
sein
ich wre
du wr(e)st
er wre
wir wren
ihr wr(e)t
sie wren
sprechen
ich sprche
du sprch(e)st
er sprche
wir sprchen
ihr sprch(e)t
sie sprchen
schreiben
ich schriebe
du schriebest
er schriebe
wir schrieben
ihr schriebet
sie schrieben
You will notice:

(a)
that where the Umlaut can occur it is always a clear signal that the verb form is
subjunctive;
(b)
that the subjunctive stem of the verb is always followed by an -e, which although
optional in the 2nd person - du and ihr - forms in colloquial German, is usually
present in literary and expository German;
(c)
that this -e on the ich and er forms is a useful secondary signal of the subjunctive
where the stem is umlauted, but is the vital primary signal of the subjunctive in verbs
like schreiben whose stem cannot take an Umlaut;
(d)
in non-umlauting verbs like schreiben, the wir and sie (= they) forms of the present
subjunctive are indistinguishable from the past indicative forms.
The regular weak verbs pose a problem for the reader when they occur in the present subjunctive, for all
present subjunctive forms of all regular weak verbs are exactly the same as the corresponding forms of
the past indicative. In the case of regular weak verbs and the ambiguous wir/ sie forms of nonumlauting strong verbs like schreiben, their apparently past indicative forms will be recognised as in
fact being present subjunctive through the presence of other unambiguously present subjunctive forms
and/or by the clearly present time reference of the context.
E.g.
5.
Wenn man heute davon schriebe, wrden die Leser bse.

If one wrote OR were to write about it to-day, the readers would be
(Primary signal: the -e of schriebe.)
6.
Wenn wir heute davon schrieben, wrden die Leser bse.

(Signal: the presence of the pres. subj. form wrden.)
7.
Wenn wir davon heute schrieben, glaubten uns die Leser nicht.
(Signal: the present time implied in heute.)
angry.
The last sentence is, as regards the verb forms, ambiguous as between:
(a)
If OR Whenever we wrote about that to-day, the readers did not believe us.
(b)
If we wrote about that to-day, the readers would not believe us.
and
The time reference in heute pretty well excludes possibility (a), especially if we think of wenn meaning
if here. Were it not for the presence of an element like heute in the sentence, we would have to look
for signals, e.g. unambiguously present subjunctive verbs, in the immediately surrounding context.
There are a small number of irregular weak verbs that thanks to umlauting or vowel change equivalent
to Umlaut have unambiguous present subjunctive forms. They are:
61
infinitive
past indicative
present subjunctive
haben
drfen
knnen
mgen
mssen
wissen
brennen
kennen
nennen
rennen
denken
bringen
hatte
durfte
konnte
mochte
mute
wute
brannte
kannte
nannte
rannte
dachte
brachte
htte
drfte
knnte
mchte
mte
wte
brennte
kennte
nennte
rennte
dchte
brchte
Note that the two remaining modal verbs sollen and wollen are ambiguous because they do not umlaut:
sollen
wollen
sollte
wollte
sollte
wollte
The auxiliary verb werden is, like the strong verbs, unambiguous because its present subjunctive stem
can take an Umlaut, viz. wrde. As a full verb this form means, of course, "would become", as in
sentence 4 above. However, the present subjunctive form wrde can also function as an auxiliary verb,
which, when followed by the infinitive of the main verb, forms what some people call the 'future
subjunctive' and others the 'conditional tense'. This wrde + infin. construction, can mostly be
translated as would + infin. into English, thus having one of the meanings we have already encountered
for the present subjunctive itself. Using this compound form with wrde, sentence 5 above could have,
without any change of meaning, the structure:
8.
Wenn man heute davon schriebe, wrden die Leser bse werden.
If one wrote about that today, the readers would become angry.
and sentence 7 the structure:

9.
Wenn wir davon heute schrieben, wrden uns die Leser nicht glauben.
If we wrote (OR were to write) about that today, the readers would not believe us.
A few strong verbs, for historical reasons, have eccentric present subjunctive forms. The main ones are:
Infinitive
beginnen
helfen
stehen
sterben
past indicative
begann
half
stand
starb
present subjunctive
begnne
hlfe
stnde*
strbe
*The form stnde is also used. If the expected form hlfe (I) would help were used it would sound like
present indicative helfe (I) help and strbe (I) would die would sound like sterbe (I) die, so
ambiguity originally made the forms with necessary, but that is not the case with stnde (nor with the
expected begnne for (I) would begin). (These eccentric umlauted forms are all based on the fact that
in older German some strong verbs had different vowels in the past tense singular from the past tense
plural. The only surviving one being old-fashoned ich/er ward etc. versus wir/sie wurden etc., as
touched on in Unit 9.)
Uses of the General Subjunctive
A.
Hypothesis
When we encounter a form of the general subjunctive - the subjunctive whose forms are discussed
above - in a text, we recognise immediately that the author is telling us that what we have before us is
not so much a statement of actual fact as something hypothetical. This "hypotheticalness" implied in
the subjunctive forms may be of two types: 1. conditionality, 2. "irreality".
62
1. Conditionality is illustrated in the conditional sentences 3 to 9 above. Here the author is

saying that something would be or would have been the case, if some prior condition were or had been
fulfilled. The typical form of the conditional sentence has the condition expressed as "wenn . . . + (at
end) verb in subj.", followed by the conclusion with the verb in the subjunctive as its first word. Or the
order may be reversed. (Very frequently the conclusion will have the "wrde . . . + infinitive"
construction instead of the present subjunctive.)
Examples:
10. Wenn wir das heute schrieben, wrden die Leser bse.
(condition)
(conclusion)
OR 11. Wenn wir das heute schrieben, wrden die Leser bse werden.
(condition)
(conclusion)
If we wrote that to-day, the readers would get angry (hypothesis only, for we don't in fact write it and
they don't get angry.)
Contrast this hypothetical conditional sentence with the factual sentences containing an open condition:
12. Wenn wir das schreiben, werden die Leser bse.
If OR When(ever) we write that, the readers get angry.
(open or factual condition)
(factual conclusion)
13. Wenn wir das schrieben, wurden die Leser bse.
If OR Whenever we wrote that, the readers became angry.
The condition was often fulfilled, so the conclusion often resulted.)
14. Wenn die Griechen die besten Kmpfer der ganzen Antike gewesen wren,dann htten die
Rmer ihr Reich nie gegrndet.
If the Greeks had been the best fighters in all antiquity, the Romans would never have
founded their empire. (implication: but the Greeks weren't the best fighters, so it isn't the
case that the Romans never founded their empire, so this is an irreal conditional sentence)
Contrast 15 with 14:
15. Wenn die Griechen die besten Kmpfer der frhen Antike gewesen waren, so konnten sie
nicht verhindern, da die Rmer in der mittleren Antike ihr Reich grndeten.
If the Greeks had been the best fighters in early antiquity (implication: as they had in fact
been), they could not prevent the Romans founding their empire in middle antiquity
(implication: also an actual fact, so this is an open condition sentence.)
Sentence type 15 is not usual in English, but is very common in expository German. Note that it is
normal for the conclusion of any conditional sentence to start with so or dann, as happens in 14 and 15.
When reading an open condition sentence like that in 15, it may seem more sensible to an Englishspeaking reader to think of it as an although-sentence, thus
Although the Greeks had been the best fighters in ealry antquity, they could not prevent the
Romans founding their empire in middle antiquity.
2. Irreality is, of course, an aspect of hypothesis, but is a reason for the subjunctive's
occurring in sentences that are not obviously conditional sentences.
E.g.
16. Ich wnschte, er htte das Buch nie geschrieben.
I wish he had never written the book (impl.: but he did).
17. Er wnschte, er wre der grte Dramatiker der Welt.
He wished he were the greatest dramatist in the world (impl.: but he wasn't).

Contrast:
18. Er wute, er war der grte Dramatiker der Welt.
He knew he was the greatest dramatist in the world. (impl.: and he was)
Note how the English version of 17 contains the combination he were - one of the last vestiges of the
use of the subjunctive verb form in English - to indicate irreality, where in 18 - a sentence conveying
factuality - only he was is possible.
The Adverbs fast and beinahe with the Subjunctive
There is one other type of irreal sentence where the subjunctive is used in German, but would not be in
English, and that is in some sentences containing the words fast and beinahe, both meaning almost,
nearly, since if something almost happened it did not in fact actually or really happen.
Example:
19. Rom wre fast OR beinahe von den Kelten erobert worden, nur hat das Geschnatter der
Gnse die Bewohner der Stadt rechtzeitig gewarnt.
Rom was almost conquered by the Celts, only, the clacking of the geese warned the
inhabitants of the city in time.
B.
Indirect Quotation
The other meaning that the use of the general subjunctive in a text may convey is that the author is
ascribing a statement he is making to someone else. This may be made explicit by such introductory
phrases as X sagt, da . . . . However, the subjunctive itself can then be used sentence after sentence to
show that the author is still quoting his source and to save the use of phrases of the kind "he goes on",
"he continues" that English has to keep inserting. This fits in with the meanings covered in A. above to
the extent that the author quoting is not vouching for the factuality of what the author being quoted
says. Once the text returns to the indicative verb forms, however, we know the author means us to
again take what we read as statement of fact asserted by himself.
Examples:
19. Aristoteles sagte, da der Mensch nur ein Tier wre. Er wre aber anders als die anderen
Tiere darin, da er Intelligenz und Vernunft bese, die die nichtmenschlichen Tiere nicht
htten. Aber es gibt Tiere, die, wenn nicht Vernunft, so doch eine gewisse Intelligenz haben.
Aristotle said that man is OR was only an animal. He is OR was, however, [he went on]
different from the other animals in that he possesses OR possessed intelligence and reason,
which the non-human animals don't OR didn't have. But there are [clearly the author's own
comment, because indicative] animals which have, if not reason, then a certain amount of
intelligence.
20. Mancher Historiker meint, die Sddeutschen htten vor 1866 den Bayerischen Knig hher
als den Knig von Preuen geachtet, nachdem sie Bismarcks wahre Absichten durchschaut
htten. Aber Bismarcks Absichten haben sie nie wirklich durchschaut.
Many a historian is of the opinion that the South Germans respected the Bavarian king more
highly than the King of Prussia, after they had seen through Bismarck's true intentions. But
[author's own comment] they never really did see through his intentions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Exercise 17
1.
Er htte nicht gesprochen, wenn er es nicht gemut htte.
2.
Wenn er schreiben durfte, blieb er in der Bibliothek.
3.
Er bliebe in der Bibliothek, wenn er schreiben drfte.
63
64
4.
Wenn die Trkei stark genug wre, eroberte sie Griechenland.
5.
Wenn die Trkei stark genug war, eroberte sie Griechenland.
6.
Griechenland htte sich von der Trkei nicht erobern lassen, wenn es stark genug gewesen wre.
7.
Das Kind dachte, es htte das Geld verloren, aber es hatte es nicht verloren.
s Geld (-er) - money verlieren (ie, o, o) - to lose
8.
Wenn Friedrich kein strenger Herrscher gewesen wre, htte Preuen seinen endgltigen
Vorrang unter den deutschen Staaten nie erlangen knnen.
streng - severe, strict
r Herrscher (-) - ruler
endgltig - ultimate, final r Vorrang - pre-eminence
erlangen - to attain
(r Rang (e) - rank)
9.
Man wrde den Bericht gern annehmen, aber nur wenn die Schlsse, die darin gezogen werden,
der Regierung keine Schwierigkeiten bereiteten, aber sie haben sie schon in groe Verlegenheit
gebracht.
annehmen - to accept, assume
r Schlu (sse) - end, conclusion
ziehen (ie, zog, hat gezogen) - to pull, draw
bereiten - to prepare (here = to cause)
e Schwierigkeit - difficulty, problem
(schwierig - difficult)
e Verlegenheit - embarrassment
(verlegen - embarrassed)
10. Ich wollte, da er uns allen helfen sollte, aber er half keinem einzigen von uns.
11.
Ich wollte, er hlfe uns allen, aber er hilft uns bestimmt nicht.
(= Ich wnschte, er . . . )
12.
Der Minister dachte, da er ein lebenslanges Recht auf sein Amt htte, aber er hatte sich
getuscht.
s Recht (-e) auf - right to s Amt (er) - office
s. tuschen - to be mistaken, deceive o.s.
13.
Der Herrscher htte seinem Volk gerne geholfen, aber er konnte es nicht, denn er wre dann den
Verrtern in die Hnde gefallen (= . . . in die Hnde der Verrter . . . ).
14.
Sie strben, wenn sie nicht arbeiteten.
15.
Sie wren alle gestorben, wenn sie dageblieben wren.
16.
Es hie in der Zeitung, sie wren alle gestorben, weil sie dageblieben und nicht weggerannt
wren.
(= Es wurde in der Zeitung gesagt, . . . )
17.
Zu diesem Thema wrde sie nichts mehr schreiben, wenn sie das Leben der Armen der
Entwicklungslnder wirklich kennte, aber sie behauptet, sie und ihr Mann kennten Sdasien wie
die Tasche. Ich dchte eher, schon der Anblick eines einzigen indischen Dorfes brchte einen
sensiblen Beobachter zum Weinen wegen des berschssigen Wohlstandes Europas.
e Armen (pl.) - the poor
r Anblick(-e) - sight
s Entwicklungsland(er) - developing country
(e Entwicklung - development;
s. entwickeln - develop)
e Tasche(-n) - bag, pocket (here = "back of . . . hand")
eher - rather
s Dorf(er) - village

schon = (here) even
sensibel - sensitive
weinen - to weep
r Beobachter - observer (beobachten - to observe)
berschssig - excessive (berschen - shoot over, exceed)
r Wohlstand - prosperity
18.
Die Zeitung berichtet, die amerikanischen Truppen wren ins Dorf gekommen, htten wild um
sich geschossen und jeden Mann, dem sie begegnet wren, erschossen. Die Frauen und Kinder
htten sie mitgenommen und jene sen jetzt alle in einem Gefangenenlager. Doch war an dem
Tag kein einziger weier Soldat in der Gegend, denn die Amerikaner waren noch nicht
angekommen.
schieen (ie, o, o) - to shoot
erschieen - shoot and kill
begegnen (+ dat.; takes sein as aux.)) - meet, encounter
r Gefangene - prisoner (fangen (, i, a) - catch, capture)
s Lager (-) - camp
e Gegend(-en) - district
wei - white
ankommen - to arrive
19.
Es steht eine Frau an der Tr, die sagt, sie kennte dich.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
65
66
UNIT 18 - The Subjunctive Mood: The Special Subjunctive

A.
Indirect Quotation
There is another set of subjunctive forms in German that can be used to express
indirect speech, but they cannot be used to express irreal conditions. for that reason
we will refer to them as special subjunctive forms. They tend not to be used in
spoken German, mainly in written German. The present tense forms of this special
subjunctive are based on the present indicative forms of the verb, but only a few of
subjunctive forms are actually different from the indicative forms. In fact for the vast
majority of verbs only the 3rd person singular (er/sie/es) forms will be encountered,
since they are made up according to the formula: infinitive stem + -e. Thus
Indicative:
er hat
kennt
kommt luft fhrt isst
wird
Subjunctive: er habe kenne komme laufe fahre esse
werde
Thus sentences 7 and 19 above could be expressed as:
20.
Das Kind dachte, es habe das Geld verloren. (the past special subjunctive)
21.
Es steht eine Frau an der Tr, die sagt, sie kenne dich.
The modal verbs can also show the special subjunctive in the ich form, since the
formula is the same as for the 3rd person singular: stem + -e.
23.
Sie versprachen, ich knne / drfe/ solle mitgehen.
They promised I could / was allowed to / was to go with them.
The special subjunctive forms solle and mge are often used in indirect commands
with mge (which can literally mean may/might as well as like) being less
peremptory than solle - or often indicative soll instead -, thus
24.
Sagen Sie bitte dem Jungen, er solle OR soll hereinkommen.
(lit.: Say you to the boy, he is to come in)
Tell the boy to come in, please.
25.
Sagen Sie bitte Herrn Schmidt, er mge jetzt hereinkommen.
(lit.: Say you please to Mr Smith, he might now come in)
Tell Mr Schmidt to come in now, please.
The only verb that shows clear special subjunctive forms throughout is the verb sein.
The forms are (with the indicative forms in brackets for the sake of comparison):
Singular
ich sei (ich bin)
du seist (du bist)
er sei (er ist)
Plural
wir seien (wir sind)
ihr seiet (ihr seid)
sie seien (sie sind)
Examples 19 and 20 restated using the special subjunctive where appropriate:

26.
Aristoteles sagte, da der Mensch nur ein Tier sei. Er sei aber anders als die anderen Tiere
darin, da er Intelligenz und Vernunft besitze, die die nichtmenschlichen Tiere nicht htten.
Aber es gibt Tiere, die, wenn nicht Vernunft, so doch eine gewisse Intelligenz haben.
Aristotle said that man is OR was only an animal. He is OR was, however, [he went on]
different from the other animals in that he possesses OR possessed intelligence and reason,
which the non-human animals don't OR didn't have. But there are [clearly the author's own
comment, because indicative] animals which have, if not reason, then a certain amount of
intelligence.
27.
Mancher Historiker meint, Sddeutschland habe vor 1866 den Bayerischen Knig hher als
den Knig von Preuen geachtet, nachdem es Bismarcks wahre Absichten durchschaut habe.
Aber Bismarcks Absichten hat es nie wirklich durchschaut.
Many a historian is of the opinion that the South Germans respected the Bavarian king more
highly than the King of Prussia, after they had seen through Bismarck's true intentions. But
[author's own comment] they never really did see through his intentions.
B.
Suggestion
The following uses the Special subjunctive are not shared by the General subjunctive.
In certain types of German the special subjunctive is used to express a kind of wish or exhortation.
Examples
5. Es lebe der Knig!
Long live the king (lit.: May the king live!)
6.
Es werde Licht!
Let there be light! (lit.: may there become light!)
7.
Dem sei, wie es sein mag.

Be that as it may (lit.: To that let it be, as it may be.)
8.
Es koste, was es wolle.

Cost what it may. (lit.: Let it cost what it may want.)
In certain types of written German, quite especially academic German, it may be used to express a
kind of recommendation.
Examples
9. ABC sei ein gleichwinkliges Dreieck.
Let ABC be an equilateral triangle. (lit.: Let ABC be an equiangular triangle.)
10. Man nehme drei Eier und ein Pfund Mehl.
(In older recipes take three eggs and a pound of flour (lit.: Let one take.)
11. Der Leser sei darauf aufmerksam gemacht, da Julius Csar darauf bedacht war, den eigenen
Ruhm mglichst zu verbreiten.
The readers attention is drawn to the fact that J.C. was concerned to spread his fame as much
as possible. (lit.: Let the reader be made attentive to it (viz. The fact), that J.C. was concerned
about that, to spread the own fame most possibly.)
12. Man vergesse nicht, da er fr den eigenen Tod verantwortlich war.
Let it not be forgotten that he was responsible for his own death. (lit.: May OR Let one not
forget that)
13. Hierfr seien zunchst die Reste zweier besonders sttlicher Huser herangezogen.
(Nach: T. Wiegand u. H. Schrader, Priene. Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen und
Untersuchungen in den Jahren 1895-1898. Berlin, 1904, S. 287.
For this we will adduce the remains of two especially fine houses
(lit.: for this let the remainsbe adduced)
67
68
Exercise 17
Underline the special subjunctive forms in the following sentences and explain why they were used,
then try to express the meanings of the sentences (by translation or summary, as you wish):
1.
Ghler, Boren und Chr. Meier seien nur als einige besonders namhafte Vertreter dieser
Auffassung genannt, die auf Theodor Mommsen zurckgeht.
(Nach: Klaus Meister, die Bundesgenossengesetzgebung des Gaius Gracchus) r Bundesgenosse
(-n, -n) - confederate, ally e Gesetzgebung - legislation (lit.: law giving) G.G. ist ein
Personenname.
namhaft - renowned r Vertreter (-) - representative e Affassung - idea, concept (auffassen to conceive of) zurckgehen auf - to go back to, derive from
2.
Die Vermutung von Schulz, es handele sich bei dem Panzer um einen Zusatz, beruht auf der
unsachgemssen Hinzunahme des (Lang-)Schwertes von V. 39 und beachtet nicht die
Tatsache, dass in V. 39 nicht mehr Saul das handelnde Subjekt ist, sondern David selbst, der
sich das Schwert Sauls anlegt.
(Aus: L. Krinetzki, Ein Beitrag zur Stilanalyse der Goliathperikope. In Biblica 54 (1973), S.
217, Anm. 3) r Beitrag () - contribution
e Vermutung - presumption, supposition (vermuten - to presume, suppose) es handelt sich um it is a matter of / a case of, it is about bei (here) - in the case of r Panzer (-) - 1) armour 2)
(army) tank r Zusatz (e) - addition beruhen auf - to rest, be based on (ruhen - to rest)
sachgem - proper, appropriate (e Sache - thing matter + gem - (postposition or suffix)
according to e Hinzunahme(-n) = r Zusatz (all verbs with the prefix hinzu- mean to add in
some way, hence hinzunehmen) s Schwert (-er) - sword V. = Vers beachten - to take notice
of e Tatsache (-n) = s Faktum / r Fakt handeln - to act anlegen - to put on (clothing etc.).
NB this author does not use but always ss. (which is characteristic of Swiss standard German).
2.
Zu Beginn werden hnlich wie in unseren Briefen fast nur Eingangs- und Schluformeln
exzerpiert. Als Beispiel diene das 2. Buch des sptantiken Briefmeisters.
(Aus: Peter von Moos, Epistolae duorum amantium, S. 9)
zu (here) = at hnlich - similar r Eingang (see Units 13 and 16) r Schlu (e) - 1) close,
closure 2) conclusion e Formel (-n) - formula exzerpieren - Have a guess! (z = c) r Meister
(-) - master
NOTES
1.
Textbooks and grammar books of German use a lot of different terminology in talking about the
subjunctive. In German it is called der Konjunktiv, and the general subjunctive is called
Konjunktiv II (Konjunktiv zwei) and the special subjunctive is called Konjunktiv I (Konjunktiv
eins).
Very confusing is that many older textbooks written in English call (a) the present special
subjunctive (sei, habe, knne etc.) the present subjunctive, because it is historically formed
from the present tense, (b) the general present subjunctive (wre, htte, wrde, kme, knnte
etc.) they call the imperfect subjunctive, because it is historically formed from the simple past
tense (war, hatte, wurde etc.), which they misleadingly call the imperfect tense (as mentioned
in our lecture on the simple past tense), (c) the past special subjunctive (er sei..gekommen, er
habe...gesehen) the perfect subjunctive, because it is formed historically along the lines of the
perfect indicative tense, and (d) the general past subjunctive (wre...gekommen, htte...gesehen)
they call the pluperfect subjunctive, because it is historically modelled along the lines of the
pluperfect indicative tense.
We have chosen here to use functional labels, i.e. labels that give you some idea of the function
of the various subjunctive forms, rather than to use the opaque German labels (though you
should recognise these if you go on studying German) or the often functionally quite misleading
historical labels of so many English textbooks.
2.
The word mood in the term subjunctive mood has nothing to do with the usual English
meaning of this word (state of mind or emotion), but is derived from the Latin word modus
meaning way, manner, mode. In German the word has been taken over in its Latin form, der
Modus.
3.
Because it is not always actual speech that is being reported but rather thoughts or fears, i.e.
rather indirect thought than indirect speech, some textbooks refer to the phenomenon more
generally as indirect discourse.
69

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German for the Humanities Grammar Course - Revised 2010

UNIT 1 - NOUNS - Singular

der Freund - friend

Class 2 (feminine) nouns

die Mutter - mother

Class 3 (neuter) nouns

das Mdchen - girl

German for the Humanities Grammar Course - Revised 2010

Der Mann .....

German for the Humanities Grammar Course - Revised 2010

Die Frau .....

- the woman does or suffers something

Who or what is doing the action in the following?

Das Mdchen sucht das Kind.

German for the Humanities Grammar Course - Revised 2010

UNIT 2 - NOUNS - Plural

der Mann - die Mnner (dictionary entry: Mann, n[oun]. m. ("er))

Das Volk liebt den Knig.

German for the Humanities Grammar Course - Revised 2010

Jenes Kind liebt Tiere, dieses Kind aber nicht.

VERBS - "Doing words"

Plural: die Mnner / sie lieben

German for the Humanities Grammar Course - Revised 2010

die Frau / sie liebt

die Frauen / sie lieben

These verb endings can help disambiguate subject pronouns. Compare:

German for the Humanities Grammar Course - Revised 2010

the man must be the beneficiary of some action

the woman must be the beneficiary

the girl must be beneficiary

the men must be beneficiaries

German for the Humanities Grammar Course - Revised 2010

the girls must be beneficiaries

Den Frauen geben die Mnner den Hund.

the women must be beneficiaries

TABLE: THE FORMS OF THE ARTICLE

THE FORMS OF THE PRONOUN: stressed/ unstressed

German for the Humanities Grammar Course - Revised 2010

15. Write a letter to your uncle!

German for the Humanities Grammar Course - Revised 2010

German for the Humanities Grammar Course - Revised 2010

- I have, am having, do have

Ihr habt es sehr leicht!

UNIT 6 - the indefinite article eine/eine/ein

The other ein-words are:

German for the Humanities Grammar Course - Revised 2010

ein - a, an, one calld technically the indefinite article)

Answer: Ja, or Nein.

What is the king doing?

wer? - who? (doer)

wohin? - where to? whither?

German for the Humanities Grammar Course - Revised 2010

wieso? - why? how come?

r Fremdling (-e) = fremde Person

fremd - strange, foreign

r Grtel (-) - belt

German for the Humanities Grammar Course - Revised 2010

r Knstler (-) - artist

erzhlen - tell, recount, narrate