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- <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>Notes on grammar</title><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL-NS Stylesheets V1.76.1"/><link rel="home" href="index.xhtml" title="GERMAN Basic Course"/><link rel="up" href="ch01.xhtml" title="Chapter 1. Unit 1"/><link rel="prev" href="ch01s02.xhtml" title="Notes on pronunciation"/><link rel="next" href="ch01s04.xhtml" title="Substitution drill."/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">Notes on grammar</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="ch01s02.xhtml">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">Chapter 1. Unit 1</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="ch01s04.xhtml">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><div class="section" title="Notes on grammar"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="d5e1083"/>Notes on grammar</h2></div><div><h3 class="subtitle">(For home study)</h3></div></div></div><div class="orderedlist"><ol class="orderedlist" type="A"><li class="listitem"><p> The German Noun-Classification ('Gender') System.</p><div class="orderedlist"><ol class="orderedlist" type="I"><li class="listitem"><p>The three classes of nouns.</p><p>
- <span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><span class="bold"><strong>Der</strong></span> Wein ist nicht gut.</em></span>
- <span class="bold"><strong>The</strong></span> wine isn't good.</p><p>
- <span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><span class="bold"><strong>Das</strong></span> Bier ist gut.</em></span>
- <span class="bold"><strong>The</strong></span> beer is good.</p><p><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">
- <span class="bold"><strong>Die</strong></span> Milch ist auch
- gut.</em></span>
- <span class="bold"><strong>The</strong></span> milk is good too.</p><div class="orderedlist"><ol class="orderedlist" type="1"><li class="listitem"><p> German has three words for 'the': <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">der</em></span></strong></span>, <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">das</em></span></strong></span> and <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">die</em></span></strong></span>; and German nouns
- can be divided into three classes according to which of
- the three words for 'the* they go with. <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">Wein</em></span></strong></span> goes only with
- <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">der</em></span></strong></span>,
- never with <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">das</em></span></strong></span>,
- never with <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">die</em></span></strong></span>.
- Bier goes only with <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">das</em></span></strong></span>,
- and so on.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p> We will refer to these three classes of nouns, for
- obvious reasons, as <span class="bold"><strong>der-</strong></span>nouns, <span class="bold"><strong>das</strong></span>-nouns and <span class="bold"><strong>die-</strong></span>nouns. (1 <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">Wein</em></span></strong></span> is <span class="bold"><strong>der-</strong></span>noun-' '<span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">Hotel</em></span></strong></span> is a <span class="bold"><strong>das-</strong></span>noun.1)</p></li><li class="listitem"><p> The traditional statement about this phenomenon is:
- 'German nouns have three genders—masculine, feminine,
- and neuter.' we will not use this terminology because it
- tends to mislead English-speaking students by suggesting
- that the German noun classification has something to do
- with sex differentiation. It doesn't. See paragraph
- III.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p> Insofar as the <span class="bold"><strong>basic
- stock</strong></span> of German nouns is concerned (nouns
- like house, grass, sky, wine, beer, milk), there is
- absolutely no sense or rationale to the classification
- system; there is no way at all of anticipating which
- class any given noun belongs to. You must simply learn
- the word for 'the' as a part of the noun: the German
- word for 'wine1 is <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">der
- Wein</em></span></strong></span>. And you must
- practice saying <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">der
- Wein</em></span></strong></span> often enough so that
- <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">das
- Wein</em></span></strong></span> or <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">die
- Wein</em></span></strong></span> sounds as wrong to
- you as 'The father of his country — Henry
- Washington.'</p></li><li class="listitem"><p> Now, Henry Washington is a perfectly good name; but
- it's wrong, and every^ American knows it's wrong. By the
- same token, <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">das
- Wein</em></span></strong></span> is a perfectly good
- form; but it's wrong, and every German knows it's
- wrong.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p> With <span class="bold"><strong>derivative</strong></span>
- nouns (that is, nouns made from other words, like our
- happyness, brother-hood) your problem is easier. The
- classification of German derivative nouns is fairly
- orderly and consistent. Nouns ending in -ung, for
- example, are always <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">die</em></span></strong></span>-nouns: <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">die
- Verzeihung</em></span></strong></span> 'the
- forgiveness, the pardon. And nouns ending with the
- diminutive suffixes -lein and -chen are always <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">das-</em></span></strong></span>nouns: <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">das
- Fräulein</em></span></strong></span> 'the miss,
- waitress,'</p><p>
- <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">das Mädchen</em></span></strong></span> 'the
- little girl.' We will deal with the formation of the
- various kinds of derivative nouns as we go along through
- the units.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p> But if the classification of derivative nouns is
- orderly and consistent, the classification of the basic
- stock of German nouns remains virtually chaotic. There
- really is no system at all for guessing Which class a
- noun belongs to; it's not something you can reason out
- or get the knack of. It is not the same as our <span class="bold"><strong>he-she-it</strong></span> system, as we'll
- see in. a minute. There is absolutely nothing in English
- like it. Your only solution is to use the nouns until
- you know them as well as you know 'George
- Washington.'</p></li></ol></div></li><li class="listitem"><p>Pronouns Corresponding to the Three Classes of
- Nouns.</p><div class="informaltable"><table border="1"><colgroup><col class="c1"/><col class="c2"/><col class="c3"/><col class="c4"/></colgroup><tbody><tr><td>Wo ist der Bahnof?</td><td>Er ist dort.</td><td>Where is the station?</td><td>It's there.</td></tr><tr><td>Wo ist das Hotel?</td><td>Es ist dort.</td><td>Where is the hotel?</td><td>It's there.</td></tr><tr><td>Wo ist die Botshaft?</td><td>Sie ist dort.</td><td>Where is the ambassy?</td><td>It's there.</td></tr></tbody></table></div><p> As these examples show, there is a special <span class="bold"><strong>pronoun</strong></span> for each of the three classes
- of nouns. Notice the correspondence in the final sounds of the
- pairs <span class="bold"><strong>der</strong></span>-er, <span class="bold"><strong>das-es</strong></span>, and <span class="bold"><strong>die-sie</strong></span>. This is no coincidence.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>Contrast between German and English Pronoun Usage.</p><div class="informaltable"><table border="1"><colgroup><col class="c1"/><col class="c2"/><col class="c3"/><col class="c4"/></colgroup><tbody><tr><td>Wo ist <span class="bold"><strong>der</strong></span>
- Bahnhof?</td><td><span class="bold"><strong>Er</strong></span> ist
- dort.</td><td>Where is <span class="bold"><strong>the</strong></span>
- station?</td><td>
- <span class="bold"><strong>It's</strong></span>
- there.</td></tr><tr><td>Wo ist <span class="bold"><strong>der</strong></span>
- Mann?</td><td><span class="bold"><strong>Er</strong></span> ist
- dort.</td><td>Where's <span class="bold"><strong>the</strong></span>
- man?</td><td><span class="bold"><strong>He's</strong></span>
- here.</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4"> </td></tr><tr><td>Wo ist <span class="bold"><strong>das</strong></span>
- Hotel?</td><td><span class="bold"><strong>Es</strong></span> ist
- dort.</td><td>Where is <span class="bold"><strong>the</strong></span>
- hotel?</td><td>
- <span class="bold"><strong>It's</strong></span>
- there.</td></tr><tr><td>Wo ist <span class="bold"><strong>das</strong></span>
- Kind?</td><td><span class="bold"><strong>Es</strong></span> ist
- dort.</td><td>Where is <span class="bold"><strong>the</strong></span>
- child?</td><td>
- <p><span class="bold"><strong>He's</strong></span>
- here.</p>
- <p><span class="bold"><strong>She's</strong></span>
- here</p>
- </td></tr><tr><td colspan="4"> </td></tr><tr><td>Wo ist <span class="bold"><strong>die</strong></span>
- Botschaft?</td><td>
- <span class="bold"><strong>Sie</strong></span> ist
- dort.</td><td> Where is <span class="bold"><strong>the</strong></span> embassy?</td><td>
- <span class="bold"><strong>It's</strong></span>
- there.</td></tr><tr><td>Wo ist <span class="bold"><strong>die</strong></span>
- Frau?</td><td><span class="bold"><strong>Sie</strong></span> ist
- dort.</td><td>Where's <span class="bold"><strong>the</strong></span>
- woman?</td><td><span class="bold"><strong>She's</strong></span>
- here.</td></tr></tbody></table></div><p> These examples show that the German pronouns er, <span class="bold"><strong>sie</strong></span>, and es do not match up with the
- English pronouns 'he', 'she', and 'it'. The English <span class="bold"><strong>he-she-it</strong></span> system has an entirely
- different foundation from the German noun-classification
- ('gender') system. In the English system, the choice of pronoun
- depends upon the sex (male, female, or sexless) of some
- non-linguistic entity—a man ('he'), a woman ('she'), or a table
- ('it'). In the German system, on the other hand, the choice of
- pronoun depends upon the linguistic classification of the noun
- you are replacing, except in reference to human beings.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>Pronouns Referring to People.</p><div class="informaltable"><table border="1"><colgroup><col class="c1"/><col class="c2"/><col/><col/></colgroup><tbody><tr><td>Wo ist das Fraülein?</td><td>Where is the waitress?</td><td class="auto-generated"> </td><td class="auto-generated"> </td></tr><tr><td>Sie ist dort.</td><td>She's there.</td><td class="auto-generated"> </td><td class="auto-generated"> </td></tr></tbody></table></div><p> Since all German nouns referring to men are
- <span class="bold"><strong>der-nouns</strong></span> and virtually all
- German nouns referring to women are <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">die</em></span></strong></span>-nouns. <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">er</em></span></strong></span> and <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">sie</em></span></strong></span> correspond to 'he' and 'she'
- — when they refer to <span class="bold"><strong>human
- beings</strong></span>. Consequently, one says <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">sie</em></span></strong></span> when referring to
- <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">das
- Fräulein</em></span></strong></span>. Who is, after all,
- die lunge Dame 'the young lady',<span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"> die
- Tochte</em></span></strong></span>r 'the daughter',
- <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">die
- Schwester</em></span></strong></span> 'the sister', and
- so on, as well as <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">das
- Fräulein</em></span></strong></span>.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>No classification in the Plural.</p><table id="d5e1303"><col width="25%"/><col width="25%"/><col width="25%"/><col width="25%"/><tr valign="top">
- <td align="left"><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"> Wo sind die Bahnhöfe?
- </em></span></td>
- <td align="left"><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"> Sie sind hier.
- </em></span></td>
- <td align="left">Where are the stations? </td>
- <td align="left"> They're here. </td>
- </tr><tr valign="top">
- <td align="left"><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"> Wo sind die Hotels?
- </em></span></td>
- <td align="left"><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"> Sie sind hier.
- </em></span></td>
- <td align="left"> Where are the
- hotels? </td>
- <td align="justify"> They're here. </td>
- </tr><tr valign="top">
- <td align="left"><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"> Wo sind die Frauen?
- </em></span></td>
- <td align="left"><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"> Sie sind hier.
- </em></span></td>
- <td align="left"> Where are the
- women? </td>
- <td align="justify">They're here. </td>
- </tr></table><p>As these examples show, the three-fold classification we've
- been discussing applies only to nouns in the singular. In the
- plural, there is only one word for 'the', and only one
- pronoun.</p></li></ol></div><p>
- </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>The pointing-Word <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">das</em></span></strong></span>.</p><table id="d5e1334"><col width="50%"/><col width="50%"/><tr valign="top">
- <td align="left"><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"> Das ist der Bahnhof, nicht wahr?
- </em></span></td>
- <td align="left"> This is the station, isn't it?
- </td>
- </tr><tr valign="top">
- <td align="left"><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"> Ja, das ist er. </em></span></td>
- <td align="left"> Yes, that's it. </td>
- </tr><tr valign="top">
- <td align="left"><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"> Ist das die Milch? </em></span></td>
- <td align="left"> Is that the milk? </td>
- </tr><tr valign="top">
- <td align="left"><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"> Das ist Wasser. </em></span></td>
- <td align="left"> This is water. </td>
- </tr><tr valign="top">
- <td align="left"><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"> Sind das die Streichhölzer?
- </em></span></td>
- <td align="left"> Are these the matches? </td>
- </tr><tr valign="top">
- <td align="left"><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"> Das sind die Zigarren. </em></span></td>
- <td align="left"> Those are the ciaars. </td>
- </tr></table><div class="orderedlist"><ol class="orderedlist" type="I"><li class="listitem"><p> The pointing-word <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">das</em></span></strong></span> (often
- accompanied by a pointing gesture) is used to call any <span class="bold"><strong>object</strong></span> or <span class="bold"><strong>group of
- objects</strong></span> to the hearer's attention, without any
- reference to noun classification or tö the number of objects.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p> The pointing-word <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">das</em></span></strong></span> is an
- entirely different entity from the <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">das</em></span></strong></span> of <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">das
- Hotel</em></span></strong></span>. The English equivalents of the
- pointing-word <span class="bold"><strong><span xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="de-1901" class="foreignphrase">das</em></span></strong></span> are
- 'this', <span class="bold"><strong>'that', 'these', and
- 'those'.</strong></span></p></li></ol></div></li></ol></div></div><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="ch01s02.xhtml">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="ch01.xhtml">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="ch01s04.xhtml">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">Notes on pronunciation </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.xhtml">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> Substitution drill.</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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