
  
  Unit 5
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   HERR ALLEN KLINGELT BEI HERRN WILSON

   Basic Sentences


 

Notes to the Basic Sentences


1	im ersten Stock means literally 'on the first floor'; in der zweiten Etage means literally 'on the second floor'. In Germany as in many European countries the floors are numbered after the ground floor. The first floor is thus the first floor above the ground and is equivalent to our second floor. The second floor in Germany is equivalent to our third floor, and so on.

2	hereinkommen is the normal written form. Most speakers in rapid speech elide the first syllable and actually say 'reinkommen, or er kommt 'rein. You will hear the word pronounced both ways.
Notes on Pronunciation

A.	German sch
   If you pronounce English 'shown' and ask your instructor to pronounce German schon, you will notice that the first sound of the German word is not quite the same as the English sound. To produce the German sound you will have to round and protrude your lips more than you do for the English sound.
Practice 1
    schon	schnitt	Böschung	lutschen	Mensch	lösch
    Scheck	Schlot	Wäsche	wünschen	falsch	Tisch
    Schiff	schrieb	Mischung	fälschen	Klatsch	Fleisch
   The same sound occurs in the following words, although here the German writing system uses the symbol js:
Practice 2
     Stadt	Spass	streng	springen
     steht	Spiel	Strasse	Spross

B.	German s_
   The symbol s. is used in the German writing system to represent two more sounds: a voiceless sound as in English 'bus', 'buss' or 'must', and a voiced sound as in English 'housing' or'busy'. Practice first the voiceless sounds. Notice too, by the way, that German writing may have either s_ or ss_ representing this sound.
Practice 3 (voiceless)
   des Busse	wusste	wies	Müsse	wüst
   Schmiss Wasser	Liste	Mus	schösse weist
   Hotels schupse	Mast	Autos	hiessen grast
   Klops essen	schupst	Boots	Rätsel	lotst
Practice 4 (voiced)
     Sohn	besondere	singen	Muse
sende	Thesen	Sieg	Losung

C.	German z
  We have noted above that the cluster ts occurs in German in such words as Boots and Rätsel. The symbol z is used in the German writing system to represent the same cluster. Practice the following words with your instructor:
    lotsen	Bozen	Rätsel	Brezel	miedst	siezt
  This combination of sounds can also occur at the end and at the beginning of a word. Sometimes after a vowel tz is written. Now practice the sounds with your instructor in the following words:
Practice 5
Klotz   Litze   Arzt  zehn zwei  zusammen 
Sitz    Münze   heizt Zug  Zwerg Zickzack 
März  He i zung putzt Ziel Zwang  Zimmers 
ganz   Bolzen   tanzt Zorn zwölf  Zeche   

                                Notes on Grammar (For Home Study)


A. NOUNS and SPECIFIERS I. Plural Forms
 
    1.	It is very simple to form the plural of most English nouns; we simply "add an s.". There are a few exceptional forms, like feet, and mice and sheep, but generally we have the s.-plural.

     2.	German, unfortunately for the student, has half a dozen different noun plural forms. Here are seme examples from the basic sentences you have memorized:
   Die Zigarren kosten zwei	The cigars cost two marks.
              Mark.
            Ich habe nur diese zwei	I have only these two suitcases.
              Koffer.
           Herr Allen stellt die	Mr. Allen introduces the gentlemen.
             Herren vor.
Meine Bücher sind leider	My books are still on the way,
         noch unterwegs.	unfortunately.
Ich muss einige Briefe	I have to write some letters,
             schreiben.
       If we now compare the singular forms of the above nouns, we can show what is changed or added to distinguish the plural:
     Singular	Plural
  Zigarre	Zigarren	-n has been added to the singular.
  Koffer	Koffer	Nothing has been added or changed.
Herr	Herren	-en has been added to the (nominative)
                                         singular. (We recall that-there is also a non-nominative singular form Herrn with the distinctive ending -n.l
     Buch	Bücher	-er has been added to the singular, and
                                           there is a change in the stem vowel.
HUNDERTSIEBZEHN
     325-274 0-80-9
Brief	Briefe	-e. has been added to the singular.
       An additional common plural form which has not occurred in the basic sentences is given below:
Auto	Autos	-s has been added to the singular.
   
 3.	Note that in some cases a change in the stem vowel has taken place. This is similar to the change in the stem vowel of some verbs noted in Unit 2: ich fahre. but er fährt. Germans call this kind of sound change UMLAUT, and you will frequently hear it referred to by the German term.
   
 4.	Note also that there is no differentiation in the plural between der-nouns, das-nouns and die-nouns. The plural SPECIFIER forms are the same regardless of whether they occur with a der-noun, das-noun or die-noun (see Units 3 and 4).
    
5.	We can now re-arrange and expand the list to include all the noun plural types of frequent occurrence. We shall add the specifiers and also show how the plural is usually indicated in vocabulary listings.
                   Singular	Plural	Listed
       a)	No change from
        the singular:	der Koffer	die Koffer	der Koffer, —
           (often with umlaut
of stem vowel)	der Flughafen die Flughäfen der Flughafen, --
        b)	Add -e^ to the
       singular:	der Brief	die Briefe	der Brief, -e
           (often with umlaut
        of stem vowel)	der Pass	die Pässe	der Pass, -e
       c)	Add -er to the
       singular:	das Geld	die Gelder	das Geld, -er
           (often with umlaut
        of stem vowel)	das Buch	die Bücher	das Buch, -er
       d)	Add -en to the
        (nominative) sing: die Frau	die Frauen	die Frau, -en
           (Some nouns also add -n or -en to form the
non-nominative sing )der Herr	die Herren	der Herr, -n, -en
       e)	Add -n to the
(nominative) sing: die Zigarre die Zigarren die Zigarre,-n
        f)	Add -s. to the
       singular:	das Auto	die Autos	das Auto, -s

    6.	An -n is added to the dative plural form of all nouns in groups a), b) and c)• Nouns in groups d) and e) already have a final -n and nouns in group f) do not add an -n.
 
   7.	Umlaut of the stem vowel occurs rather haphazardly, so that you are going to have to learn the plural for each noun as you encounter it. However, in group c) we can say that umlaut will occur with every noun whose stem vowel is -a-, -o- or -u-.
 
   8.	Nouns with the final syllable -in double the -n- before the plural ending -en in group d)•
 
   9- A very few foreign words have irregular plural endings. Das Museum drops the final -urn and replaces it by the -en ending of group d): die Museen. Das Visum has the plural die Visen or die Visa. Der Neubau inserts a -t- before the -en ending of group d).
 
  10. Here is a list of nouns which have occurred in the first five units grouped according to the way their plurals are formed:

a) plural —	plural --	b) plural -e	plural -e
  der Amerikaner	der Flughafen	der Tag	der Pass
 der Koffer	der Bruder	der Brief	der Bahnhof
 der Füller	der Vater	der Monat	der Platz
der Wagen	der Bleistift	der Stadtplan
 der Ober	der Besuch	der Sohn
der Morgen	der Omnibus (Omnibusse) der Spaziergang
 der Wachtmeister	der Wein	der Zoll
der Ratskeller	der Augenblick	der Parkplatz
  der Fraigebogen	der Autobus (Autobusse) der Antrag
der Bremer	der Dom	der Papierkorb
 der Raucher	der Abend	der Markt
  der Schriftsteller	der Sonntag
                                          der Geschäftsbrief der Roman der Pfennig der Umweg der Ausweis
 das Essen	die Mutter	das Geschäft	die Stadt
 das Theater	die Tochter	das Jahr	die Hand
                                          das Konsulat
                                          das Brot
                                           das Bier
                                          das Formular
                                          das Papiergeschäft
                                          das Generalkonsulat

c) plural -er	plural -er	d) plural -en
 das Geld	das Buch	der Diplomat	die Frau
            das Haus	der Herr	die Botschaft
              das Glas	der Polizist	die Wohnung
das Rathaus	der Staat	die Strassenbahn
              das Schloss	der Neubau	die Bank
                  das Streichholz	(die Neubauten)	die Zeitung
                das Etagenhaus das Museum	die Abteilung
                                   (die Museen)	die Tür
                          das Visum	die Bibliothek
der Mann	(die Visen)*	die Amerikanerin
                                                                   die Universität die Verabredung die Gemahlin die Sekretärin

e) plural -n	f) plural -s
 der Konsul	die Minute	der Park
 der Vizekonsul	die Stunde	der Portier
 der Beamte	die Pfeife	das Auto
 der Bekannte	die Deutsche	das Cafe
 der Deutsche	die Zigarre	das Kino
 der Kollege	die Zigarette	das Restaurant
 der Angehörige	die Kontrolle	das Hotel
                       die Taxe
 die Dame	,.	.
  die Strasse	die Seite
      jflr!!!!	die Haltestelle
  die Adresse	,,
 SS ES«- Bl
  dle SsS“;	dl* S=h«ster
   die Reise
 die Woche	* or die Visa
 

    II. Genitive Forms.

        1.	In addition to the plural in this unit we have encountered some other new forms of nouns and specifiers:

          a)	Wilsons haben eine	The Wilsons have an apartment on the Wohnung im ersten Stock second floor of an apartment house in eines Etagenhauses in Frankfurt.
                Frankfurt.

          b)	Die Angehörigen meiner	My wife's family lives here.
                Frau leben hier.

           c)	Möchten Sie sich mal eins Would you like to borrow one of my me iner Bücher leihen?	books?

          d)	Hier ist ein Roman des	Here is a novel of the French author französischen Schrift- Cocteau.
                stellers Cocteau.

          e)	Ist das nicht die neue	Isn't she our colleague Smith's new Sekretärin unseres secretary?
                Kollegen Smith?
           The underlined forms of the noun and specifier in the above sentences are called GENITIVE forms. They indicate possessive relationships — the kind of relationships that are designated in English by the (or -s.' ) ending, and by the preposition of_. The GENITIVE is the fourth form, along with Nominative, Accusative and Dative forms, which German nouns and specifiers can have. There are no other distinctive forms of nouns and specifiers.

        2.	Let us compare the Genitive forms in the above sentences with the corresponding Nominative forms and see what features distinguish them:
             Genitive	Nominative
 
          a)	eines Etagenhauses ein Etagenhaus The specifier and the noun both
                                                    have the ending -es added to the Nominative form.

         b)	meiner Frau	meine^ Frau	The specifier has the ending -er
                                                       instead of -e_; the noun has the same form as the Nominative.
/

          c)	meiner Bücher	meine^ Bücher	The specifier has the ending -er
                                                       instead of -e.; the noun has the same form as the Nominative.
 
          d)	dejs Schriftstellers^ der_ Schrift-	The specifier ends in -s. instead
steiler of -r_; -s^ is added to the noun.

          e)	unseres Kollegen dej: Kollege	The specifier has the ending -es
added to the Nominative form;
-n is added to the noun.
 
       3.	Note that in three cases -

a), d) and e) above - the NOUN has a distinct Genitive form which differs from the Nominative form. In two cases -
           
b) and c) above - the NOUN has the same form.

        4.	Note that in a), d) and e) the SPECIFIER has the ending -.s (or esj . In b) and c) the SPECIFIER has the ending -er.
 
       5- Let us now summarize what we have observed about Genitive forms:

   a)	SPECIFIERS with der-nouns and das-nouns in the Genitive have the ending (or es). Both the der-type and the ein-type Specifiers have the same endings: des, dieses, eines. unseres.

   b)	der-NOUNS and das-NOUNS in the Genitive have the ending -s or -est Hauses. Sehriftstellers. A few der-nouns have the ending -n or -en: Kollegen, Herrn, Diplomaten, Polizisten, Beamten,
       Bekannten.
 
  c)	The SPECIFIERS of die-nouns and plural nouns have the ending -er

       in place of the Nominative ending -e. (or -ie): der, dieser, meiner, ihrer.
   d)	die-NOUNS and plural NOUNS in the Genitive have the same form as in the Nominative: Frau, Bank, Banken, Bucher, Bleistifte.

6.	Here for reference and comparison are some typical Genitive forms:
                   Singular	Plural

  a)	Genitive of der-nouns	des Platzes	der Plätze
                             des Omnibusses	der Omnibusse
                             dieses Polizisten	dieser Polizisten
                          meines Briefes	meiner Briefe

  b)	Genitive of das-nouns	des Jahres	der Jahre
                            des Konsulats	der Konsulate
                         dieses Hauses	dieser Häuser
                        ihres Buches	ihrer Bücher

  c)	Genitive of die-nouns	der Dame	der Damen
                       dieser Bank	dieser Banken
                             unserer Schwester	unserer Schwestern

7.	Note that der- and das-nouns ending in the sounds [ s ] , [ ts ], [ z ] and [ s ] have the ending -es. as for example des Passes, des Platzes. des Hauses and des Tisches. Note also that the writing system requires the sound [ s ] to be written -ss- when non-final: Omnibusses.
    Omnibusse.

8.	Otherwise, der- and das-nouns of more than one syllable have -s, as for example: des Konsulats, while monosyllabic der- and das-nouns have either -.s or -es. whichever the speaker prefers; you will hear both des Domes and des Doms, des Staats and des Staates.

9.	Proper names have an -s_ (or -es) ending: Peters Haus. Marias Tochter. Herrn Meyers Wagen.

10. You will note that the Genitive form of the specifier and noun generally follow the noun or pronoun with which a possessive relationship is indicated, as in the examples of paragraph 1:
        im ersten Stock eines Etagenhauses on the second floor of an
                                              apartment house die Angehörigen meiner Frau	my wife’s family
       ein Roman des französischen	a novel of the French author
         Schriftstellers
     Proper names in the Genitive, however, usually precede the noun designating the thing posessed;
        Kennen Sie Peters Frau?	Do you know Peter's wife?
         Ist das Herrn Beckers Wagen?	Is that Mr. Becker's car?
Nein, das ist Marias Wagen.	No, that's Mary's car.
  11. There is one personal pronoun which has a Genitive form: wer? "who" has the Genitive form wessen? "whose"
   Wessen Auto ist das?	Whose car is that?
Wessen Sohn kennen Sie?	Whose son do you know?

  III. Summary of Specifier Forms

1. We have now encountered all the Specifier forms, both the ein-type and the der-type. The following gives a complete summary of the forms:
                     Singular	Plural
 
a)	With Nom der Sohn	die Sohne der-type Acc den Sohn	die Söhne specifiers Dat dem Sohn	den söhnen
Gen des Sohnes	der Söhne
Nom welches Theater	welche Theater
                  Acc welches Theater	welche Theater
                   Dat welchem Theater	welchen Theatern
                    Gen welches Theaters	welcher Theater
                 Nom diese Wohnung	diese Wohnungen
                 Acc diese Wohnung	diese Wohnungen
                  Dat dieser Wohnung	diesen Wohnungen
                  Gen dieser Wohnung	dieser Wohnungen
 
b)	With Nom sein Brief	seine Briefe ein-type Acc seinen Brief	seine Briefe specifiers Dat seinem Brief	seinen Briefen
Gen seines Briefes	seiner Briefe
Nom seiner	seine (Referring to
          Acc seinen	seine der Brief)
           Dat seinem	seinen
           Gen seines	seiner
Nom ihr Auto	ihre Autos
Acc ihr Auto	ihre Autos
Dat ihrem Auto	ihren Autos
Gen ihres Autos	ihrer Autos
Nom ihrs	ihre (Referring to
         Acc ihrs	ihre das Auto)
          Dat ihrem	ihren
          Gen ihres	ihrer
                    Singular	Plural
                  Nom	unsere	Botschaft	unsere Botschaften
                  Acc	unsere	Botschaft	unsere Botschaften
                   Dat	unserer	Botschaft	unseren Botschaften
                   Gen	unserer	Botschaft	unserer Botschaften
           Nom	unsere	unsere	(Referring to
Acc	unsere	unsere	die Botschaft)
            Dat	unserer	unseren
            Gen	unserer	unserer

     2. The ein-type specifiers are listed both with and without a following noun. The SPECIAL ein-type specifier forms which occur only when no noun follows the specifier are underlined.

B. REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS
  
I.	In many sentences the object of the verb, the thing or person acted upon, is the same as the subject or actor. We Say, for example, in English:
Mr. Wilson introduced himself, or She thinks a good deal of herself.
                                              doesn't she?
     The identity of subject and object in English is indicated by adding the suffix -self to the pronoun designating the object. Pronouns of this kind are called REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS.
  
II.	The German Reflexive Pronoun
     
1.	In German, as in English, the subject and object of a verb may be the same. Note the following examples from your basic sentences:
            a)	Meine Frau kann sich nicht	My wife can't get ('herself') an das Klima gewöhnen.	used to the climate.
           b)	Darf ich mir mal Ihre	May I borrow ('lend myself') leihen?	yours?
            c)	Mochten Sie sich mal eins	Would you like to borrow one of meiner Bücher leihen?	my books?
        In sentence a) the ob1ect of the verb refers to the same person as the subject and has the form sich. In sentence b) the interested bystander or indirect obiect of the verb is the same person as the subject and has the form mir. In sentence c) the indirect object of the' verb is the same person as the subject and has the form sich.
     
2.	German has only one REFLEXIVE PRONOUN, the form sich, meaning 'himself' herself, itself, yourself, yourselves, themselves'. It occurs wherever the subject of the verb is er., sie. Sie. or es or is a noun which can be replaced by er, sie. Sie. or es.
            Herr Allen kann sich nicht an Mr. Allen can't get ('himself')
          das Klima gewöhnen.	used to the climate.
           Herr Allen und seine Frau	Mr. Allen and his wife can't get
           können sich nicht an das	('themselves') used to the climate. Klima gewöhnen.
           Können Sie sich nicht an	Can't you get ('yourself') used
         das Klima gewöhnen?	to the climate?
     
3.	The REFLEXIVE PRONOUN sich may function either as the object or as the interested bystander in a sentence. We might say it can have either an Accusative or Dative function. Compare the sentences in 2 above with the following:
           Mochten Sie sich ein Buch	Would you like to borrow ('lend
      leihen?	yourself') a book?
           Er möchte sich ein Buch	He would like to borrow ('lend
      leihen.	himself') a book.
     
4.	Wherever the subject of the sentence is ich or wir or is a noun which can be replaced by ich or wir German uses the regular pronoun forms mich, mir and uns.
           Ich kann mich nicht an	I can't get ('myself') used to the
        das Klima gewöhnen.	climate.
           Meine Frau und ich können	My wife and I can't get ('our-
          uns nicht an das Klima	selves') used to the climate, gewöhnen.
           Darf ich mir Ihre Zeitung	May I borrow ('lend myself') your
     leihen?	newspaper?
           Wir möchten uns gern einige	We'd like to borrow (‘lend our-
        BÜcher leihen.	selves') some books.
    
 5.	The object of a preposition can also refer to the same person as the subject in a sentence.
Er spricht immer nur	He always talks only about
     von sich.	himself.
Ich spreche nicht gern	I don't like to talk about
     von mir.	myself.
     
6.	Whenever the subject of the sentence is er, sie. Sie or es or is a noun which can be replaced by er, sie. Sie or es the REFLEXIVE PRONOUN form sich occurs as a prepositional object referring to the same person as the subject.
     
7.	Wherever the subject of the sentence is ich or wir or is a noun which can be replaced by ich or wir German uses the regular pronoun forms mich, mir and uns after prepositions in order to refer to the same person as the subject.


 




 
 
 
    
