

Unit 10






 
   Notes on Grammar (For Home Study)

A. WORD ORDER IN LARGER SENTENCES

  I.	Sentence Connectors
   
  1.	It was noted in Unit 3 that the finite verb is the second element of statements. In Unit 8 we noted that an introductory phrase such as ich glaube may be considered to be a separate item and not the first element of a statement. We have also encountered three little words which in a similar way may precede a sentence but are not counted as its first element.
             Und ich nehme Forelle blau mit zerlassener Butter.
             Und dazu trinken wir Tee.
             Aber es ist auch kühler hier oben.
             Aber im Winter fahren wir öfters in die Berge zum Skilaufen.
             Oder wir fahren in den Schwarzwald.
         Und, aber and oder actually connect these sentences to preceding utterances. We will call them SENTENCE CONNECTORS. In traditional terminology they are referred to as COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS.
   
  2.	Simple sentences may thus be joined together by Sentence Connectors into larger, compound sentences:
             Ich wohne in München, aber ich fahre sehr oft nach Frankfurt.
             Beckers haben ein neues Auto, und im Sommer fahren wir öfters
             mit ihnen in die Berge.
             Essen Sie immer um diese Zeit, oder essen Sie manchmal auch später?
         Notice that the word order of both parts of these compound sentences is similar: the verb is the second element of statements, or the first element of yes-no questions, regardless of whether or not a sentence connector precedes. Grammatically speaking, sentence connectors occur between sentences, not _in them.

  II.	Clauses and Clause Introducers
  
 1. Two or more sentences joined together by sentence connectors are not the only type of larger sentences we have encountered, however.
         Sometimes one sentence is built into another as a subordinate part of it. Note the following examples:
   Können Sie mir sagen, wo ich ein Visum beantragen kann?
             Wie ich sehe, haben Sie eine schone Bibliothek, Herr Wilson.
   Ich wusste garnicht, dass Ihre Frau hier Verwandte hat.
             Ich weiss nicht, ob es heute im Park oder im Kurhaus stattfindet.
        The underlined parts of the above sentences are Clauses. They are sentences which are incorporated into the larger sentences as subordinate parts of them. Notice that they introduced in every case by special little words (wo, wie, dass, ob) which we will call CLAUSE INTRODUCERS. In traditional terminology they are referred to as SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS.
 
  2. Notice the order of words following the clause introducers above. The clause may be very short, consisting only of the clause introducer, subject pronoun and verb, or it may be quite long. The finite verb may be by itself (sehe, hat), or it may be part of a verb phrase with an infinitive (beantragen kann) or accented adverb (stattfindetl. In every case however THE FINITE VERB IS LAST WITHIN THE CLAUSE.
 
  3- Now compare NORMAL WORD ORDER with CLAUSE WORD ORDER. Note especially the position of the FINITE VERB:
          Wo kann ich ein Visum	... wo ich ein Visum beantragen kann? beantragen?
          Ihre Frau hat Verwandte	... dass Ihre Frau hier Verwandte hat, hier.
          Findet es heute im Park	... ob es heute im Park oder im oder im Kurhaus statt? Kurhaus stattfindet.
      Notice now too that a verb phrase with an accented adverb is written as one word when it occurs at the end of a clause.
      The list of Clause Introducers includes a number of words you are already familiar with (all the question words, for instance) plus several others. We give here only the ones which have been encountered up to this point.
   da	"since"
   dass	"that"
   ob	"whether"
   wann	"when"
   warum	"why"
   was	"what"
          welcher	(welches, welche, "what, which” etc.)
     wenn	"if, when, whenever"
       wer (wen, etc.)	"who, whom"
   wie	"as; how"
          wieviel	(wieviele, etc.) "how much, how many"
   wo	"where"
      Notice that some of these words sound just like other words which are not clause introducers. Remember that CLAUSE INTRODUCERS AND CLAUSE WORD ORDER GO TOGETHER.
          Da wollen wir unseren	There we're planning to visit our
          Freund Meyer besuchen.	friend Meyer.
          Da wir unseren Freund	Since we're planning to visit our
          Meyer besuchen wollen,	friend Meyer, we're also going to
         fahren wir auch nach	go to Frankfurt.
            Frankfurt.
          Das müssen wir morgen	We have to do that tomorrow, machen.
  Ich weiss, dass wir das	I know that we have to do that
         morgen machen müssen.	tomorrow.
          Wie können Sie das ver-	How can you understand that? stehen?
          Wie ich sehr gut verste-	As I can very well understand, he
           hen kann, will er einfach	simply doesn't want to work there
          nicht mehr dort arbeiten.	any more.

III. Difficulties with Larger Sentences

      Most of the difficulties students have with larger sentences result from a) failure to remember the cardinal observations that Germans place the verb second in statements last in clauses, and b) failure to recognize what constitutes an element, i.e., what the first element of the sentence is.
      Let us examine some more of the sentences we have encountered, plus a few additional examples, and observe the arrangement of their elements.
           a.	Im Sommer fahren wir an die Ostsee, aber im Winter bleiben wir hier in München.
          b.	Herr Müller weiss schon, dass wir jetzt in der Ludwigstrasse wohnen.
          c.	Meistens essen wir schon um ein Uhr, da ich mittags gewöhnlich nach Hause gehe.
           d.	Wir werden in einer halben Stunde, wenn meine Frau zurückkommt, die Kisten auspacken.
          e.	Später, wenn es nicht mehr regnet, könnten wir vielleicht noch einen Spaziergang machen.
           f.	Wenn Sie selbst mittags Ihre Hauptmahlzeit essen, essen Sie dann abends nochmal warm?
 
     1.	In each of the above sentences the finite verb is the second element. Everything that precedes the finite verb then is the first element.
  
    2.	The first element may thus be: a subject pronoun (d), a noun phrase (b) a preposition and its object (a), an adverb (c), an adverb plus a clause (e), or a clause by itself (f).
 
     3.	A clause may come at the beginning (e,f), middle (d), or end (b,c) or a larger sentence. It may be an element by itself (f) or part of another element (e).

     4.	Within the clause itself the verb is last.
  
    5.	When a clause comes at the beginning of a sentence, two finite verbs will occur next to each other (e,f).

 B. ORDINAL NUMERALS
 
I.	We have already noted that German numbers, except for eins, normally have no endings. They are not adjectives, although they may occur within the specifier-adjective-noun sequence. There are however number-like adjectives in German which do have endings. We have had one such example in this unit:
 
        Am vierten Juli., mittags	The fourth of July, at noon during
         während eines Gewitters.	a thunder shower.
      These number-like adjectives, the words for "first, fourth, twentieth, etc.” are called ORDINAL NUMERALS. Note how the numeral above is formed:
        am vier-t-en Juli	(on) the fourth of July.
      The number is followed by a stem-lengthener -t- and then the regular adjective ending.
 
II.	Look at some more examples of NUMBERS and ORDINAL NUMERALS:
 
        Wir fahren in zehn Tagen	Wir werden am zehnten Tag unserer
      nach Amerika.	Reise ankommen.
Hier sind täglich zwei	Das zweite Konzert fängt um acht
    Konzerte.	Uhr an.
          Ein Sommer im Gebirge ist	Das ist mein erster Sommer im Gebirge, sehr schön.
         Ich lese jeden Tag drei	Die dritte Zeitung lese ich abends. Zeitungen.
Im Sommer finden hier	Das zwanzigste Konzert war am
         zwanzig Konzerte statt.	schönsten.
          Kennen Sie seine fünf söhne? Kennen Sie seinen fünften Sohn?
          Wir fahren in acht Wochen	In der achten Woche unserer Reise
       nach Berlin.	fahren wir nach Berlin.
          Das sind ihre sieben Kinder. Das ist ihr siebtes (siebentes) Kind.
 
    1.	Most Ordinal Numerals through "nineteenth" have the NUMBER plus STEM-LENGTHENER -t- plus ADJECTIVE ENDINGS:
        am zehn-t-en Tag	on the tenth day
          das zwei-t-e Konzert	the second concert
          seinen fünf-t-en Sohn	his fifth son
 
    2.	Three Ordinal Numerals are irregular and one has an alternate, irregular form:
         mein erst-er Sommer	my first summer
         die dritt-e Zeitung	the third newspaper
         der acht-en Woche	the eighth week
         ihr siebt-es Kind	her seventh child (ihr sieben-t-es Kind)
 
    3- The Ordinal Numerals from "twentieth" on up have the NUMBER plus STEM-LENGTHENER -st- plus ADJECTIVE ENDINGS:
           das zwanzig-st-e Konzert	the twentieth concert

III. Ordinal Numerals are used for dates in both German and English. There are some differences in the way they aj?e used, however:
                                           On the fourth of July Am vierten Juli besuchen	On July the fourth we're going
        wir meine Tante.	to visit my aunt.
                                           On July fourth
                                                     the sixth of May.
           Heute ist der sechste Mai.	Today is May the sixth.
                                                      May sixth.
       In English we have three choices; in German there is only one. Note that the date is always a der-sequence, although the noun (der Tag) is not expressed, and that the ordinal always immediately precedes the name of the month when it occurs. Here are some more examples:
           Am 16. September komme ich	On September l6th I'm coming back
       wieder zurück.	again.
          Der 21. Juni ist der	The 21st of June is the longest day
          längste Tag des Jahres-	of the year.
          Ich freue mich auf den	I'm looking forward to the thirty-
         einunddreissigsten'.	first'.
           Wir fahren am Nachmittag	We're leaving on the afternoon of
      des l8. ab.	the l8th.
When they occur in sentences, dates have whatever form (Nominative, Accusative, Dative, Genitive) the structure of the sentence may require. Notice that in the German writing system the ordinal may also be identified by a period placed after the Arabic numeral. When a date stands alone, as for example at the head of a letter, it has the Accusative form.
            Bremen, den 31- Mai 1951

C. PREPOSITIONS WITH THE GENITIVE

     Numerous examples of prepositions with dative and/or accusative objects have occurred and have been discussed. In this unit we encounter the first example of a preposition followed by a genitive form:
Dazu haben wir nachher während des Konzerts die beste Gelegenheit.
     The preposition während is one of a very small group of prepositons which are customarily followed by a genitive object. We will note the others as they occur.

D. TELLING TIME
 
 I.	We have had several references to time by the clock. Let us examine a few of them.

          Wie spät ist es denn jetzt ?	What time is it now ?
         Wieviel Uhr ist es eigent-	What time is it anyway ?
            lieh ?
Es ist genau viertel nach	It's exactly quarter past one.
            eins.
Wir essen meistens um ein	We usually eat at one o'clock.
            Uhr.
         Das Kurkonzert fängt um	The concert begins at four o'clock,
           vier Uhr an.
     There are two ways of asking the time in German; both are equally common.
     In German as in English time expressions the word for "o'clock" may or may not occur. Notice, however, that the word for "one" is ein when followed by Uhr but is eins when the word Uhr does not occur.

  II.	There are different ways of telling time in German. Here are some more examples:

         Ich werde um zehn Uhr	I'11 be at your office at ten-thirty, dreissig bei Ihnen sein.
         Um halb sechs müssen wir	We have to leave at half past five
        spätestens abfahren.	at the latest.
         Es ist viertel vor drei.	It's a quarter to three.
         Es ist dreiviertel drei.	It’s a quarter to three.
        Viertel nach eins.	Quarter past one.
      Viertel zwei.	Quarter past one.
     Time between the hours may be designated with reference to the number of minutes involved (zehn Uhr dreissig. zwanzig Minuten nach fünf^. This presents no problem. The use of fractions is a little more complicated, however.
     1.	The word viertel may be used with the prepositions nach and vor (viertel nach eins, viertel vor drei). This is just like the English use of "quarter past" or "quarter to".
     2.	The words viertel, halb and dreiviertel also occur WITHOUT PREPOSITIONS. They then mean "a quarter", "a half" or "three-quarters" of the way through the hour, and the reference point is the hour which has not yet struck. You may, for instance, think of the hour from one o'clock to two o’clock as the second hour and the hour from two o'clock to three o'clock as the third hour. At 1:15 you are one-fourth of the way through hour number two (viertel zwei): at 1:30 you are halfway through the hour (halb zwei); at 1:45 you are three-quarters of the way through the hour (dreiviertel zwei).

  III.	Here is a	tabular presentation of the different ways of telling time in German:	'
 
  1:00 ein Uhr	eins
        1:15 ein Uhr fünfzehn	viertel nach eins viertel zwei
     1:30 ein Uhr dreissig	halb zwei
         1:45 ein Uhr fünfundvierzig viertel vor zwei dreiviertel zwei
 
 IV.	We have had three words referring to the general time of day: abends. mittags, nachmittags. These are adverbs and often occur together with a reference to clock time. There is one more which is of frequent occurrence: the word morgens. Here are further examples of their use:
 
      Ich gehe mittags gewöhnlich	I usually go home at noon,
         nach Hause.
Essen Sie abends nochmal warm? Do you eat a warm meal again in the
                                           evening?
        Wir kommen um acht Uhr morgens. We'll come at eight o'clock in the
                                             morning.
Nachmittags bin ich immer im	In the afternoons I'm always in the
  Buro.	office.
       Abends um sieben hören wir	We always hear the weather report at
       immer den Wetterbericht.	seven in the evening.
       Was haben Sie mittags um	What do you have planned for twelve
    zwölf Uhr vor?	noon?
    Note that these expressions for the time of day may be used BOTH to refer to something which takes place regularly or habitually AND to refer to a specific point of time on a particular day.

E. THE SUPERLATIVE STEM MEIST-

    Melst- was noted as an irregular superlative stem in Unit 9• We have encountered some of the forms in which it occurs and will now add a few more examples in order to present a summary of its forms and their uses.
 
   1.	As attributive adjectives, forms of the stem meist- occur in the specifier-adjective-noun sequence:
           Essen nicht die meisten	Don't most people eat their main meal
           Leute mittags ihre Haupt-	at noon?
             mahlzeit?
            Die meiste Zelt arbeitet	Most of the time he doesn't work at
         er überhaupt nicht.	all.
            Das meiste Geschirr will	Most of the china I intend to buy in
            ich in Deutschland kaufen.	Germany.
            Von uns allen hat er das	Of all of us he has the most money. meiste Geld.
           Die meisten sagen gar	Most /"~people_7 don't say anything
     nichts.	at all.

Notice that in English we say "most", "the most", or "most of the ...".
        The forms of meist- in an attributive phrase in German are always preceded by a specifier. The noun can be omitted however.

    2.	The special predicate phrase am meisten:

           Herr Köhler raucht am	Mr. Köhler smokes the most. meisten.
            Abends lese ich am meisten. I read most in the evenings.
           Von allen Verwandten	Of all £_ our J relatives my aunt
           besucht uns meine Tante	visits us the most. am meisten.
 
   3.	The adverb meistens:

Wir essen meistens um ein	We usually eat at one o'clock.
              Uhr.
          Er schreibt meistens	He writes mostly novels.
             Romane.
           Im Sommer fahren wir	In the summer we usually go to the
          meistens ins Gebirge.	mountains.
        Compare the sentences above and note the different meanings given by the forms of meist-. Note especially, however, the difference in the
       way the two forms meisten and meistens are used: Meisten ALWAYS OCCURS IN A PHRASE. Meistens NEVER IS PART OF A PHRASE.
           Die meisten sagen nichts.	Most say nothing.
           Meistens sagen sie nichts. Mostly they say nothing.
            Am meisten lese ich abends. I read most in the evenings.
Meistens lese ich abends.	Usually I read in the evenings.
 

 
  
 
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