‘The following are examples of entries in the German-English section: Mannschaft,die [MAHNshahft] n. * team Unsere Korbballmannschaft hat wolf Spieler. Our basketball team has twelve players. singen [ZINGon] v. * tosing Singer, der (-in,f.)_n. © singer singe singen singst singt singt singen Die Klasse sang ein Lied, um die Show 2u beenden. The class sang a song to end the show. The English-German section follows the same format, except that verbs are not conjugated in the entries. Here is an example of an English-German entry: swim, to [SWIM] v. ¢ schwimmen swimming pool n. * Schwimmbecken, das; ‘Swimmingpool, der swimsuit 7n. * Badeanzug, der Tearned to swim at summer camp. Ich habe im Sommerlager schwimmen gelernt. PRONUNCIATION Each main entry is followed by a pronunciation. The pronunciation provided for each German word in the German-English section is geared toward a student who isa native speaker of English, and uses sounds familiar to English speakers. Similarly, the pronunciation provided for each English word in the English-German section is geared toward a student who speaks German, and uses sounds familiar to German speakers. PRONUNCIATION GUIDE: GERMAN-ENGLISH Following is a description of the symbols used to represent German sounds in the pronunciation guides, along with examples and explanation, as needed.In actual pronunciations, a syllable receiving primary stress is indicated by capital letters. In some eases, hyphens were inserted at syllable breaks for clarity. NOTE: Symbols in italic type represent sounds that are not found in native English words. Vowels Symbol: _ Word: As in English: 2 bekommen boKAWMan or Ritter RiTar ah/AH Hand HAHNT aiJAL—jemals, | YAImahls, ahnlich —_AINlish auJAU_ Auto AUtoh awAW Frosch = FRAWSH. cE decken — DEKan ec/EE — dienen = DEEnan feel cE GEIST kite er/ER SHERN No English equivalent. Shape ‘your lips as if to make the sound of o0 as in boot, but say ai as in bait. ia Original awrigiNAHL it oh(OH Problem —_prohBLAIM phone VOL nun NOIN boy 00/00 gut Goor tool wt dumm DUM put, look uelJE grin GRUEN No English equivalent. Shape ‘your lips as if to make the sound of 00 as in boot, but say ee as in feel.Consonants Pronunciation Symbol: Word: __ Example: As in English: bB Bibliothek bibleeohTATK baby aD denken DENGkon —_—_ delighted oF FluBpferd FLUSpfert fifteen eG gegen Galgon go WAL Hund = HUNT. happy kK Gebdick — geBAIK come kR/KH — Mittwoch MIT vawkh No English equivalent. This sound is made by softly “clearing your throat.” ‘L Lebnstuhl LAINshtool little mM Moment = mawMENT — mama nN nein NEIN noon ngNG lang LAHNG sing pe Papier © pahPEER puppy 7R Ritter —-RITor ‘The r-sound in German may also be rolled or uvular. aS HEIS sauce shiSH SHIF shoe shiSH RISHtar Similar to the sh in shoe, but with the teeth less close together. wT ‘Tomate tohMAHta test WV Welt Velt very y¥ jung YUNG year 2. sagen ZAHgon zero zh/ZH = Orange awRAWNzho measure PRONUNCIATION GUIDE: ENGLISH-GERMAN Following is a description of the symbols used to represent English sounds in the pronunciations, along with ‘examples and explanation, as needed.NOTE: Symbols in italic type represent sounds or letter combinations that are not found in native German words. For them, no German word is given. Vowels Symbol: 7 ai ariaR iA ah/AH eEL au/AU awiAW ee ei/BT ewEU it ie ob/OH 00/00 wU Consonants Symbol: Example: bB aD ahiDH Word: book dear the dzh(DZH judge oF gG bit id WK vw mM WN ity got hand yes king little meal nine Pronunciation Example: oBoV BoRD Pronunciation BUK DIER DHO DZHODZH FIFtie GET HAND JES KING Lim) MIEL NEIN As in German: bekommen Ritter Vater Hand Geist Auto Morgen decken lesen Heuer Original Fabrik Boden gut dumm As in German: besser dort {no equivalent) joggen fast gegen halten Jahr Karte Lied ‘Milch nachngNG bring BRING ——_langsam pP pepper PEPar Papier rR road, butter ROHD, Ring (without rollortrill) — BOdar 3S sense SENS dreiBig shiSH shadow SHADoh Fisch c tent ‘TENT ier thiTH thin THIN {no equivalent) tsh/TSH church TSHORTSH (no equivalent) tyTS oats OHTS Station, tanzen uV village ViLidzh = warm’ wiW water WAWTar (no equivalent) 2h zebra(pronounced —ZIEBra_——_sehen as the German word-initial s followed by a vowel) 2hiZH measure MEzhar Orange STRESSED SYLLABLES In German, as in English, the syllable receiving stress varies from word to word. The stressed syllable in each of the entry words of this dictionary is noted in the pro- nunciation by capital letters CAPITALIZATION One of the first things English speakers notice about written German is that German nouns are always capitalized. The formal address pronoun Sie, its possessive adjective forms, and declined forms are capitalized as well. The personal pronoun I (ich) is not capitalized in German, nor are the adjectives denoting nationality. Starting with eine Million (one million), the cardinal numbers are treated as nouns and are, therefore, capitalized. xiiiNUMBERS Students of German will also notice that words repre- senting numbers greater than twenty are written as one word and may sometimes appear extraordinarily long, For example, eight thousand nine hundred fifty-seven is written in German: achttausendneunhundertsiebenundfiinfzig Basics OF GERMAN GRAMMAR Gender All German nouns (words for people, places, things, or ideas) have gender. That is, each German noun is considered either masculine, feminine, or neuter. Most of the time, the gender of a German noun must be memorized. This can be easily accomplished if the student simply learns the definite article that goes with each noun at the time the noun is learned. For example, one should know that man is not just Mann in German, but rather der Mann. The article will indicate the gender of the noun—der indicates a masculine noun, just as die, as in die Frau (woman, wife), indicates a feminine noun, and das, as in das Kind (child), indicates a neuter noun. Each noun entry in this dictionary is accompanied by its definite article. In addition to gender, the article also indicates the number (singular or plural) of the noun. The definite article preceding a nominative plural noun is always die. Care should be taken not to confuse the nominative plural with the singular feminine article. Generally, the definite article can be translated by the word “the” in English. Case ‘All German nouns have a grammatical case determined by how they are used in a sentence or statement. German is an inflected language, which means that some words (including nouns, adjectives, and pronouns) are spelled differently (usually with different endings) depending on usage in a sentence. There are four cases in German: xiv1. Nominative Case ‘The subject of a sentence, the predicate nominative, a direct address, and nouns in apposition to another nominative use the nominative case. 2. Dative Case ‘The dative case is used for the indirect object, the object of some prepositions, the object of certain verbs, and for the dative of interest. 3. Accusative Case ‘The accusative is the case of the direct object, the object of some prepositions, definite time expressions without, preposition, expressions of specific measurement or extent, and appositives of words in the accusative. 4, Genitive Case ‘The genitive case indicates possession or relationship and is also used with certain prepositions. As mentioned above in the description of gender, the definite article is used to reflect gender and number. In sentences and statements, the definite article also denotes the case of the noun it precedes. The following chart sum- marizeo the various noun attributes ao refleeted in the definite article: Singular Plural ‘Mase. Fem. Neut. All Genders Nominative der die das die Dative dem der dem den Accusative den die das die Genitive des der des der ‘The indefinite article (a or an in English) functions in the same way as the definite article, and also reflects gender and case of the noun it precedes. There is, of course, no plural form of the indefinite article. The following chart shows the use of the indefinite article in German: Mase. Fem. —Neut. Nominative ein eine ein Dative einen einer_—_ einem ‘Accusative einen eine_—ein Genitive eines einer_—_ einesOther words that are declined similarly to the above are possessive adjectives, demonstrative adjectives, and the German negative kein (no or none). Verbs Discussion of German verbs is limited here to only the most essential elements. In this dietionary, all verbs are listed by their infinitives, the most basic form of the verb. As in English, there are both regular and irregular verbs in German. Typically, regular verbs are those which, when conjugated, follow a strict pattern of inflected endings, according to the person governing the action of the verb. For example, here is the present tense conjugation of the German regular verb hdren (to hear): ich hore Thear wirhéren we hear du horst youlsing] ihr hort you [pl] hear hear er,sie,es he,she,it sie, Sie hdren they, you [formal] hart hears hear ‘The endings -e, -st,-t, and -en are added to the stem of the verb hér- and this pattern is followed with all regular German verbs. Irregular verbs are those whose spelling changes in the stem when conjugated. These verbs must, therefore, be learned individually. ‘Common regular and irregular German verbs are conjugated in the present tense in their entries in this dictionary. Because the pronouns (ich, du, er, sie, es, wir, ihr, sie, Sie) do not change, they have been omitted from the conjugations within the dictionary. Prepositions Words that follow prepositions may be in the dative, accusative, or genitive case. The dative case follows these prepositions: aus outof; from nach to; after aufer besides; except seit since; for bei at; with; near von from mit with, zu to; atFor example: Willi kommt aus dem Haus. ‘Willi comes from (out of) the house. Er geht mit seinem Freund. He goes with his friend. Der Brief ist von meiner Mutter. ‘The letter is from my mother. ‘The accusative case follows these prepositions: durch through ohne _—_ without fir for um at; around gegen against. wider against For example: Ich habe heute keine Zeit fir dich. Thave no time for you today. Er sieht durch das Fenster. He looks through the window. Sie kam ohne ihren Mantel. ‘She came without her coat. The genitive case follows these prepositions: anstatt instead (of) statt instead of auferhalb outside (of) trotz in spite of diesseits onthisside (of) um....willen for sake of innerhalb inside (of); unterhalb under; within underneath, Jenseits onthat side (of) wdihrend during ‘oberhalb above wegen because of For example: ‘Mein Haus liegt jenseits der Strape. “My house is on that side of the street. Wahrend des Sommers bliihen die Rosen. During the summer the roses bloom. Innerhalb der Stadt gibt es viel 2u tun. In (within) the city there isa lot to do.Note that there are some prepositions that can be followed by either the dative or the accusative case: an on; at; to ‘aber above; over auf on unter under; below inter behind vor before; in front of in in; into zwischen between neben _next to; beside If the context of the sentence indicates motion or direc- tion toward a goal, the accusative case is used. Ifa fixed location or motion with a confined space is indicated, the dative case is used. For example: Der Hund lduft hinter das Haus. ‘The dog runs behind the house. Der Hund steht hinter dem Haus. ‘The dog stands behind the house, Adjectives Adjectives in German can be found preceding nouns or following predicate verbs, but still describing the noun. Adjectives must agree with the number and gender of the nouns they modify. Adjectives following definite articles have the following endings: Mase. Fem. Newt. Plural Nominative -e © “e -en -en e -e sen. -en -en -en -en cen -en -en -en Adjectives following indefinite articles (ein, kein) and all possessive adjectives have the following endings: Mase. Fem. Newt. Plural Nominative er -e “es -en Accusative -en © es -en Dative -en -en -en -en Genitive -en sen -en -en Note that predicate adjectives and adverbs are uninflected. xviii