Unit 2 in München Basic Sentences II III Notes on Pronunciation A. Long and short vowels. Practice Is ihn - in Beet - Bett Staat - Stadt bog - Bock bieten - bitten beten - Betten wate - Watte wohne - Wonne Lied - litt den - denn_ Wahn - wann lohte - Lotte mieten - mitten Sehne - Senne bahne - banne Ofen - offen Mus - muss König - können Hüte - Hütte Pute - Putte Höhle - Hölle fühle - fülle bucht - Bucht böge - Böcke müder - Mütter Muhme - Mumme Goethe - Götter Lüge - Lücke B. Diphthongs. Ask your instructor to say German Wein, then say English "wine". Notice that the duration of the German vowel combination is considerably shorter than the English. C. Post-vocalic r. Post-vocalic r. in German has a vowel-like sound. It does not sound like the English r.. Listen carefully to the following pairs of words and imitate them to the satisfaction of your instructor. Practice 2: mein Haus neu Wein Maus neun nein auch deutsch leider glaube Leute Practice 3s Miete - Mieter älter - Eltern Gästen - gestern diese - dieser eine - einer Alte - Alter Vetter - Vettern locken - lockern Liebe - lieber bitte - bitter Kinder - Kindern fetten - Vettern Ode - oder welche - welcher Note that the syllable with post-vocalic r is in every case slightly longer than the syllable without it. If you watch your instructor's lips carefully you may also see that they are slightly farther apart, his mouth slightly more open on this syllable. Now practice the following groups, first the long vowels and then the pairs of long and short vowels with post-vocalic r_, and finally the vowels followed by r and a consonant. Practice 4: hier sehr Uhr Ohr her - Herr Bier mehr fuhr Tor wir - wirr wir her nur Mohr Star - starr Mark dort Herrn Furt Wirt Park Dorf gern Durst First darf Wort herb Wurm Schirm hart Kork Kerl Kurve Birne D. Pre-vocalic r (voiceless). The pre-vocalic r differs from the post-vocalic r. Most speakers of German make the pre-vocalic £ with slight friction between the back of the tongue and the soft palate, the region back of the mouth near the uvula. This sound is very similar to the final sound in noch and nach. Practice the following groups Practice 5: noch lachen Dachau doch pochen Bochum nach tauchen Bucholz auch Now try making the same sound right after the initial consonants in the following groupss Practice 6: Frau Trost Prost Krone fragen traute prall Kragen froh treffen Preis krumm You may find it necessary at first to whisper an extra syllable at the beginning of these words and pronounce Fochau, Tochost, pochall, Kochone, etc. Don't hesitate to try this if necessary. Notes on Grammar (For Home Study) A. PRONOUNS - FORMS AND FUNCTIONS. I. Forms. 1. In the following English sentences the pronouns are underlined. Note their forms. _I know him and he knows me. Do you know her? She knows you. Most English pronouns have two different forms: I-me. he-him. she-her, etc. Some, like the pronouns you and it, have only one form however. 2. Note the forms of the German pronouns in the following sentences. Verstehen Sie mich? Do you understand me? Ja, ich verstehe Sie gut. Yes, I. understand you well. Wie geht es Ihnen? How goes it with-reqard-to-vou? (How are you?) Er spricht englisch mit He speaks English with me. mir. Some German pronouns have two different forms, like Sie and Ihnen above. Many German pronouns however have three different forms like ich, mich and mir above. 3. The following table gives the forms of the most common German pronouns: ' I' 1 we' 1 he' ' it' ' she' 'they' 'you' 'who?1 'what?' a. NOMINATIVE forms: ich wir er es sie sie Sie wer was b. ACCUSATIVE forms: mich uns ihn es sie sie Sie wen was c. DATIVE forms : mir uns ihm ihm ihr ihnen Ihnen wem --- ' me1 'us' 'him' ' it1 •her' 'them' ' you' ('whom? •)'what?' The English forms at the top of the table correspond to the set of German forms above the line. Those at the bottom of the table corre¬ spond to the two sets of German forms below the line. The pronouns wer and was are used only in questions. The pronouns for familiar address, du and ihr, will be taken up later. II. Functions. 1. The NOMINATIVE form: In German, as in English, the basic sentence structure is an ACTOR-ACTION pattern: somebody doing something. The ACTOR is called the SUBJECT of the sentence, and in German a pronoun designating the ACTOR always has the NOMINATIVE form. Ich verstehe sehr gut. _I understand very well. Er wohnt ganz in meiner He lives quite near me. Nähe. Wir wollen gerade essen We're just planning to go and eat gehen. 2. The ACCUSATIVE form: In many sentences in both English and German there is another element, the GOAL or OBJECT of the action, the person or thing toward which the action is aimed. In German a pronoun designating the OBJECT of an action is usually in the ACCUSATIVE form. Können Sie mir seine Can you give me his address? Adresse geben? Sie müssen ihm Ihren Pass You have to show your passport to zeigen. him. Wie geht es Ihnen? How are you? (How goes it with-re- gard-to-you?) Gefällt es Ihnen in Do you like it in Munich? (is it München? pleasing to you in Munich?) Der Koffer gehört mir The suitcase doesn't belong to me. nicht. Ich kenne ihn sehr qrut. I know him very well. Verstehen Sie mich? Do you understand me? Wir treffen sie dort. We're meeting them (or her) there. 3- The DATIVE form: The third form of the German pronoun is used to designate the INTERESTED BYSTANDER, the person to whom or for whom or with regard to whom the action of the sentence is being performed. In some cases this is referred to as the INDIRECT OBJECT. 4. Another use of the DATIVE form is illustrated by the following sentences you have learned: Sprechen Sie englisch Do you speak English with her? mit ihr? Ich fahre oft mit ihm I often ride home with him, nach Hause. The DATIVE forms ihr and ihm are used here because they follow the word mit, and that's all there is to it. Any pronoun that follows mit has the DATIVE form, always and without fail. This has nothing to do with the INTERESTED BYSTANDER usage; it's something entirely different. B. The Principle of Substitution. 1. Languages, like automobiles, are made up of replaceable parts; but the part you substitute must fit the frame into which it is put. For example, in the frame Er kennt mich 'He knows me', the Accusative form mich may be replaced only by other Accusative forms — that is, forms from the same horizontal line in the table of pronoun forms as mich, the line labeled 'ACCUSATIVE forms'. Er kennt mich. He knows me. uns US ihn him es it sie her sie them Sie you wen? who (m)? 2. Similarly, Dative forms must be replaced by other Dative forms, and Nominative forms by other Nominative forms. I, you, we, they sing do (no ending) he, it, she sings does (ending -s) C. VERB FORMS AND FUNCTIONS - THE PRESENT I. Forms. 1. In German, and in English, when you substitute one Nominative form for another, that is, change the SUBJECT in a sentence, you sometimes have to change the form of the verb as well. The subject and the verb have to fit together. Note the following English forms: 2. All but a very few German verbs have the following forms: ich komme gebe (ending -e) er, es, sie kommt gibt (ending -t) wir, sie ('they'), Sie kommen geben (ending -en) Ich gehe oft ins Kino I often go to the movies mit ihr. with her. ihm him ihnen them Kennen Sie Herrn Becker? Do you know Mr. Becker ? wir we sie they Note that German verbs have a special form with the pronoun ich. Otherwise the pronouns and verbs are grouped as they are in English: er, es. sie occur with one verb form just as 'he, it and she' and wir, sie, Sie with another verb form just as 'we, they, you.' Notice that the vowel in the STEM of geben appears as i. in the er-form: er gibt. This is something like the English says or does /sez, duz/ versus say or do, except that in German the vowel-change is shown even more clearly in the writing system. There are several verbs in German that have this kind of irregular er-form, but unfortunately there is no simple way of determining which verbs they are. They are not very numerous however, and we'll point them out to you as we encounter them. 3. Two German verbs you have encountered show a very slight modification in the er-form. They are arbeiten and kosten. er, es, sie arbeitet (connecting vowel -e- and ending -t) After a -t- (or a -d-) a connecting vowel -e- occurs before the ending -t so that the ending is heard distinctly. We have four verbs so far that exhibit the following pattern: There are three more verbs with the same pattern, making a total of seven in all. Notice that the English equivalents of the verbs listed above have no -s_ ending in the he form: He can, he may, he must, and he will (in the sense of he insists.) 5- The following forms of haben "to have", sein "to be" and möchte(n) "would like to" complete the inventory: ich habe bin möchte er, es, sie hat ist möchte wir, sie, Sie haben sind möchten The patterns of the first two of these verbs are unique and are found in no other German verbs. The forms möchte and möchten are special forms which we will deal with somewhat later. 6. Here is a table of verb forms: A B (7) (1) (1) special form ich komme treffe kann habe bin möchte er, es, sie kommt trifft hat ist wir, sie, Sie kommen treffen können haben sind ; möchten 1 ' can' 'may' 'must' 'want to' 'be able to' 'be allowed to' have to' ich kann darf muss will (no ending) er es sie wir können dürfen müssen wollen (ending -en) sie Sie All verbs in German follow pattern A or pattern B except the nine indicated in the table and one more that is still to come. II. Functions. 1. English uses a verb form with the ending -ing very freely: he's singing. we're waiting, it's raining. German has no corresponding form and uses the simple form of the verb for such expresssions. he gives er gibt he's giving he does give is he giving? gibt er? does he give? 2. For COMMANDS, German uses the verb form with the ending -en. followed by the pronoun Sie. The German form is like Biblical English: ‘Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel...' Bitte sprechen Sie langsam. Please speak slowly. Zeiten Sie mir bitte Ihr Show me your luggage Diease. Gepäck. 3. Two verb forms can be used together in German or in English as a VERB PHRASE. Although German doesn't have verb phrases like is going or does believe, it has others, as follows: Ich möchte gern Wasser I'd like to have water. haben. Können Sie mich gut Can you understand me well? verstehen? Darf ich Ihren Pass sehen? May I see your passport? Sie müssen zum Zoll gehen. You have to go to the customs office. The second part of the German verb phrase comes at the end of the sentence, and is called the INFINITIVE. It is the form with the ending -en, but it never has a subject and is unaffected by any change of subject: Ich kann gehen. Wir können gehen. There is only one irregular infinitive in German: sein 'to be'; the infinitive of every other verb is the same as the wir-form. III. List of verbs in units 1 and 2: 1. Pattern A arbeite besuche bleibe gehe arbeitet besucht bleibt geht arbeiten besuchen bleiben gehen gehöre glaube heisse kenne gehört glaubt heisst kennt gehören glauben heissen kennen komme (koste) sage verstehe wohne zeige kommt kostet sagt versteht wohnt zeigt kommen kosten sagen verstehen wohnen zeigen esse gebe sehe spreche treffe fahre gefalle isst gibt sieht spricht trifft fährt gefällt essen geben sehen sprechen treffen fahren gefallen Wo wohnen Sie? Where do you live? Wo kommen Sie her? Where do you come from? Wo gehen Sie hin? Where are you going (to)? 1. Vto by itself means 'where?' in the sense of 'in what place?'. To give it the meaning 'where from?' the little word her is added; to give it the meaning 'where to?' the little word hin is added. 2. The position of hin and her is usually at the end of the sentence or question. They may occur alternately however at the beginning after wo. The writing system joins hin and her to the preceding question word or adverb. Woher? 'Where from?'; Wohin? 'Where to?'; dahin, dorthin 'to there'