Essential German Grammar Prelims.qxd 6/22/09 4:53 PM Page i Essential German Grammar MARTIN DURRELL Professor of German, University of Manchester KATRIN KOHL Fellow in German, Jesus College, University of Oxford GUDRUN LOFTUS German Language Instructor, University of Oxford Prelims.qxd 6/22/09 4:53 PM Page iii Prelims.qxd 6/22/09 4:53 PM Page iv First edition published in Great Britain in 2002 by Hodder Education Published 2013 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY, 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © 2002, Martin Durrell, Katrin Kohl, Gudrun Loftus. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. The advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of going to press, but neither the authors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library ISBN 13: 978-0-340-74189-4 (pbk) Typeset in 10.5/13 pt Garamond by Macmillan Publishing Solutions, India Contents Preface ix Acknowledgements x Why grammar? xii Abbreviations and spelling xv Glossary xvi 1. Words and sentences 1 1.1 Words and their relationships: complements, case, valency 1 1.2 The subject and the finite verb 4 1.3 Accusative objects 5 1.4 Dative objects 6 1.5 Prepositional objects 7 1.6 sein (and similar verbs) and their complements 7 1.7 Sentences and clauses 8 1.8 Main clauses 9 1.9 Questions and commands 11 1.10 Subordinate clauses 12 Words and sentences in context 14 2. Nouns 16 2.1 Gender 16 2.2 Masculine nouns 17 2.3 Feminine nouns 18 2.4 Neuter nouns 18 2.5 Other clues to gender 19 2.6 Noun plurals 19 2.7 The plural of masculine nouns 20 2.8 The plural of feminine nouns 22 2.9 The plural of neuter nouns 22 2.10 Plurals in -s (and other foreign plurals) 23 2.11 Case 24 2.12 Case marking on the noun 25 Nouns in context 28 3. The noun phrase: determiners and pronouns 30 3.1 The definite article 31 3.2 The indefinite article 31 3.3 Uses of the articles 32 3.4 Demonstratives 33 3.5 Possessives 35 3.6 Other determiners 36 3.7 Personal pronouns 38 3.8 Reflexive pronouns 40 3.9 Demonstrative, possessive and indefinite pronouns 41 The noun phrase in context 44 4. Adjectives, adverbs and adverbials 46 4.1 Adjective declension 46 4.2 Adjective declension: some special cases 47 4.3 Adjectives used as nouns 48 4.4 Adjectives with the dative 49 4.5 Adjectives with prepositions 50 4.6 Comparison of adjectives 51 4.7 Some uses of the comparative and superlative 52 4.8 Adverbs and adverbials 53 4.9 Time adverbials 54 4.10 Adverbs of place 55 4.11 Adverbs of direction 56 4.12 Adverbs of attitude 57 4.13 Adverbs of manner 57 4.14 Adverbs of degree 57 Prelims.qxd 6/22/09 4:53 PM Page v 4.15 Interrogative adverbials 58 4.16 Adverb comparison 58 4.17 Cardinal numbers 59 4.18 Ordinal numbers 60 4.19 Fractions 60 4.20 Clock times, days of the week and months 61 4.21 Modal particles 62 Adjectives, adverbs and adverbials in context 64 5. Prepositions 66 5.1 Prepositions with the accusative 67 5.2 Prepositions with the dative 69 5.3 Prepositions with the accusative or the dative 72 5.4 Prepositions with the genitive 76 5.5 Prepositional adverbs 77 Prepositions in context 78 6. Verbs: forms 80 6.1 Principal parts: weak, strong and irregular verbs 80 6.2 Tenses: general 82 6.3 Conjugation of weak and strong verbs in simple tenses 82 6.4 Separable and inseparable verbs 84 6.5 Conjugation of irregular verbs 85 6.6 Compound tenses 86 6.7 haben or sein in the perfect? 87 6.8 Forms of the passive 88 6.9 Forms of the subjunctive 89 6.10 Vowel changes with strong verbs 91 6.11 List of strong and irregular verbs 92 Verb forms in context 98 7. Verbs: uses 100 7.1 The tenses and their use 100 7.2 Present and future 101 7.3 Past and perfect 102 7.4 The passive with werden 103 7.5 The ‘subjectless’ passive 104 7.6 The passive with dative objects 104 7.7 von or durch with the passive 105 7.8 The passive with sein 105 7.9 Alternatives to passive constructions 107 7.10 The subjunctive: general 108 7.11 Subjunctive II: conditional sentences 109 7.12 Subjunctive I: reported speech 110 7.13 The modal auxiliary verbs 111 7.14 dürfen 112 7.15 können 113 7.16 mögen 113 7.17 müssen 114 7.18 sollen 114 7.19 wollen 115 Verb uses in context 116 8. Valency and cases 118 8.1 Sentence patterns 119 8.2 Reflexive verbs 122 8.3 Dative objects 124 8.4 Other uses of the dative case 126 8.5 Genitive objects 127 8.6 Other uses of the genitive case 127 8.7 Prepositional objects 128 8.8 Place complements 133 8.9 Direction complements 134 8.10 Predicate complements 135 Valency and cases in context 136 9. Word order 138 9.1 The ‘bracket’ construction 139 9.2 Verbs at the end of the clause 140 9.3 First position in main clauses 141 9.4 The order of words and phrases in the central section 142 9.5 The position of pronouns 143 9.6 The position of the noun subject and objects 143 9.7 The position of adverbials 144 9.8 The position of complements 145 9.9 The position of nicht 145 9.10 Placing elements after the verbal bracket 146 Word order in context 148 vi Contents Prelims.qxd 6/22/09 4:53 PM Page vi 10. Complex sentences 150 10.1 Coordination and subordination 150 10.2 Coordination 151 10.3 Subordination: noun clauses 152 10.4 Subordination: other conjunctions 154 10.5 Subordination: relative clauses 158 10.6 Infinitive clauses 160 10.7 Infinitive clauses after prepositions 162 10.8 The infinitive without zu 163 Complex sentences in context 166 11. Word formation 168 11.1 The basics of word formation 168 11.2 The formation of nouns 170 11.3 Compound nouns 172 11.4 The formation of adjectives 173 11.5 Inseparable verb prefixes 175 11.6 Separable verb prefixes 177 11.7 Variable verb prefixes 178 11.8 Other ways of forming verbs 180 Word formation in context 182 12. Spoken and written German 184 12.1 The relationship between pronunciation and spelling 184 12.2 German spelling 186 12.3 The use of capital letters 187 12.4 One word or two? 188 12.5 -ss- and -ß- 189 12.6 Punctuation: the comma 189 12.7 Other punctuation marks 191 12.8 Register 192 12.9 Colloquial and formal pronunciation 193 12.10 Register differences in grammar 194 12.11 Register differences in vocabulary 194 Register in context 196 Exercises 198 Chapter 1: Words and sentences 198 Chapter 2: Nouns 202 Chapter 3: The noun phrase: determiners and pronouns 204 Chapter 4: Adjectives, adverbs and adverbials 209 Chapter 5: Prepositions 216 Chapter 6: Verbs: forms 222 Chapter 7: Verbs: uses 228 Chapter 8: Valency and cases 235 Chapter 9: Word order 240 Chapter 10: Complex sentences 245 Chapter 11: Word formation 251 Chapter 12: Spoken and written German 256 Answers to exercises 260 Grammar in context: translations 281 Index 288 vii Contents Prelims.qxd 6/22/09 4:53 PM Page vii Preface This book is designed to introduce the basic grammatical structures of German and give a wide range of examples to illustrate how they are used in practice. As the title Essential German Grammar indicates, this is not a comprehensive reference work. The focus is on presenting the most useful rules clearly. Much of the material is given in tables, which use two colours in order to make it easier to focus on key points and memorize rules. Explanations are intended both to clarify individual points, and to develop an appre- ciation of how German grammar operates as a system. Each chapter finishes with an authentic text that illustrates how the grammar points work in context. A separate section with exercises and answers enables learners to test themselves on what they have learnt. The book is intended to be suitable for use as a stand-alone grammar in post-GCSE courses and at undergraduate level, and it is simultaneously designed as a foundation grammar for Hammer’s German Grammar and Usage, by Martin Durrell. Hammer gives the advanced learner a deeper understanding of German grammar, and explains complex areas of the language not covered in the more elementary book. But the learner will still find it useful to keep referring back to the tables and summaries in Essential German Grammar. The authors would like to thank the students at Manchester University and the University of Oxford, whose questions have helped to shape this book. We should also like to thank Dr Sonia Brough and Erica Parsons for their constructive criticisms and helpful suggestions. Our thanks go finally to Lesley Riddle, Elena Seymenliyska, Eva Martinez and Anke Ueberberg at Arnold for bringing this project to fruition. Prelims.qxd 6/22/09 4:53 PM Page ix Acknowledgements The authors and publisher would like to thank the following for permission to use copyright material in this book. Texts Texts are abbreviated and/or adapted. Chapter 1: Martin Luther, Biblia. Das ist die gantze Heilige Schrift. Deudsch auffs new zugericht, Wittenberg 1545, reprint ed. H. Volz (Munich: DTV, 1974), p. 25. Franz Kafka, Die Verwandlung, in: Sämtliche Erzählungen, ed. Paul Raabe (Frankfurt/M., Hamburg: Fischer 1970), p. 56. Der Spiegel, No. 21, 24.5.1999, p. 234. Chapter 2: Circus Krone, Programme December 2000/January 2001, p. 39. Chapter 3: ‘Besser als vor 25 Jahren?’, Bravo Sport, No. 8, 9.4.1999, pp. 8f. Chapter 4: ‘Suchtfalle Internet’, Cosmopolitan, No. 5, May 1999, p. 160 . Chapter 5: Column ‘Bizznezz : Geld–Job–Zukunft’, Popcorn No. 5, May 1999, p. 82. Chapter 6: Katja Franke, ‘Meine Eltern lieben mich kaputt’, Brigitte Young Miss, No. 5, May 1999, pp. 60–64. Chapter 7: Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, ‘Hänsel und Gretel’, in: Brüder Grimm, Kinder- und Hausmärchen. Ausgabe letzter Hand mit den Originalanmerkungen der Brüder Grimm, ed. H. Rölleke, 3 vols (Stuttgart: Reclam 1984), vol. I, pp. 106f. Chapter 8: Claus Jacobi, ‘Des Teufels Alternative’, Der Spiegel special, No. 10, 1998, pp. 26–32. Chapter 9: Christian Spaeth, Säugetiere der Vorzeit, Was ist Was 38 (Nürnberg: Tessloff 1995), p. 5. Chapter 10: Franz Kafka, Der Heizer, in: Sämtliche Erzählungen, ed. Paul Raabe (Frankfurt/M., Hamburg: Fischer 1970), p. 32. Chapter 11: Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in 10 Bänden, 3rd edition (Mannheim, Leipzig, Wien, Zürich: Dudenverlag, 1999), vol. I (dustcover), vol. II (dustcover). Chapter 12: Popcorn No. 5, May 1999, p. 86. Exercises: Fernsehwoche: No. 34, 26.8–1.9.2000, p. 5 (Chapter 1); No. 27, 8.–14.7.2000, p. 5 (Chapter 4); No. 21, 27.5.–2.6.2000, p. 12 (Chapter 5); No. 23, 10.–16.6.2000, p. 6 (Chapter 6); No. 36, 9.–15.9.2000, pp. 10f. (Chapter 7); No. 23, 10.–16.6.2000, p. 7 (Chapter 7). Illustrations Chapter 1: Martin Luther, Biblia. Das ist die gantze Heilige Schrift. Deudsch auffs new zugericht, Wittenberg 1545, reprint ed. H. Volz (Munich: DTV, 1974), p. 24. Franz Kafka, sketch, in: Sämtliche Erzählungen, ed. Paul Raabe (Frankfurt/M., Hamburg: Fischer 1970), p. 411. Ashley Walker, ‘Promised Land’. Chapter 2: Circus Krone, Programme December 1999/January 2000, title page and pp. 20f. Chapter 3: FC Bayern, team photograph 1999. Chapter 4: Photograph: Terry Griffiths. Chapter 5: Photograph: Terry Griffiths. Chapter 6: Brigitte Young Miss, No. 5, May 1999, p. 62. Chapter 7: Acht der schönsten Grimms Märchen, illustrated by anon (no publisher, no date), p. 13. Chapter 8: Der Spiegel special, No. 10, 1998, pp. 29, 30. Chapter 9: NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and US/Japan ASTER Prelims.qxd 6/22/09 4:53 PM Page x Science Team, © California Institute of Technologie. Chapter 10: Cartoon, Bravo Sport, Nr. 8, 9. April 1999, p. 32. ‘Statue of Liberty’, photograph © Martin Kerans. Chapter 11: Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Deutsches Wörterbuch, vol. I (Leipzig: Hirzel 1854), facsimile reprint (Munich: dtv 1984), frontispiece and column 18. Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in 10 Bänden, 3rd edition (Mannheim, Leipzig, Wien, Zürich: Dudenverlag 1999), vol. I, p. 67. Chapter 12: Popcorn No. 5, May 1999, p. 86. Chapters 1–9 and 11–12: Cartoons by Erik Liebermann, in: Unverhofft kommt oft, ed. Gesamtverband der Deutschen Versicherungswirtschaft e.V. (GDV), Cologne 1986. Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders of material reproduced in this book; any rights not acknowledged here will be acknowledged in subsequent printings if notice is given to the publisher. xi Acknowledgements Prelims.qxd 6/22/09 4:53 PM Page xi Why grammar? Some frequently asked questions Can language learning be made easy? The simple answer is no – whatever certain methods promise you. You can quickly learn a few useful phrases, but you can’t learn to communicate properly without a lot of effort. As with a musical instrument, you also need to practise regularly what you learn in order not to forget it. But you can enhance your efficiency: � Develop an awareness of what types of learning work best for you. � Vary the ways you learn. � Use your teacher and any (other) native speakers to help you. Are there any shortcuts to learning a language? Yes – learning its grammar! For each rule you learn to apply correctly, you can get a vast number of indi- vidual utterances right. Does German have ‘more grammar’ than English, French or Spanish? No. The grammar of a language is its basic framework which allows you to combine a finite number of words in an infinite number of ways – and still be understood immediately. But in different languages, different parts of the framework are developed in more or less complex ways. This means that difficul- ties can lie in different aspects of the language and confront the learner at different stages. German seems to have ‘more grammar’ at the beginning because it’s an ‘inflecting’ language: the structure of certain words changes (typically, different endings are used) depending on their function in the sentence. But other areas of German grammar are comparatively simple, and developing your vocabulary in German is helped by the big ‘word families’ you can build up with the rules of word formation. Isn’t it best to concentrate on communicating and forget about those silly little endings? Even without the details, it’s possible to reach the stage where you succeed in ordering the right drink in a restaurant, manage to tell people where you went on holiday, and get the gist of simple conversations or films. But you’ll never get your command of German to a point where you can take part in more com- plex conversations (or business negotiations) or understand sophisticated texts or documentaries. You’re also not taken as seriously if you make mistakes – just look at people’s reaction to foreigners who speak ungrammatical or inaccurate English. If you’re aiming for a good command of German in the long term, you need to get into the habit of caring about the detail from the start. But it’s a good idea to vary your aims: set aside times for switching into ‘basic communication’ mode. Prelims.qxd 6/22/09 4:53 PM Page xii xiii Is it best to learn grammar in context, by listening to German and reading it? It’s very important to see how grammar works in context. But it’s essential to learn the rules systemati- cally, by rote, if you want to make fast progress. After all, you wouldn’t expect to learn to play football or tennis just by watching matches on television. Is it best to avoid translating when learning grammar? You can’t assume that an English phrase or construction can be transposed directly into German, though in fact the two languages are in many ways similar. But it’s very useful to learn grammar by comparison. After all, you’ve spent thousands of hours mastering the grammar of your native language (even if much of it is subconscious), so make use of that knowledge when learning German. Some people think trans- lation is an ‘unnatural’ way to learn – but even small children will use it if they’re learning a second lan- guage. Practising translating from German into English and vice versa is a good way of comparing German and English grammar ‘in action’. Do I need to go abroad to learn the language? For most people, spending some time using the language in a country where it is spoken is the most inter- esting and motivating way to learn it – and that means potentially the fastest. But your progress will be best if you underpin any time abroad with systematic learning. It’s not unknown for students to spend a whole year in Germany without significantly improving their command of German! Can’t we do without all that jargon used in grammar books? Without the ‘metalanguage’ (the terms we use to talk about language) explanations become very long- winded. It’s worth spending some time familiarizing yourself with the concepts explained in the Glossary and in the introductory chapter (Words and sentences). You’ll probably forget them again, so keep com- ing back to them when you meet them in the later chapters. You should also get a good, comprehensive bilingual dictionary and familiarize yourself with the terms and abbreviations it uses. How can I make learning German grammar less boring? Vary the way in which you learn and use the media you find most interesting. Make the rules stick in as many ways as possible: � See if you can identify examples of a rule by analysing e.g. German advertisements, a German website, a magazine article on a topic that interests you, a short Grimm’s fairy-tale, or even a poem. � Have regular learning competitions with a friend, with prizes. � Find a pen-pal or email-pal and work on getting your written German right. � See if you can get hold of a ‘parallel text’ or a translation of a German story (e.g. by Franz Kafka), and compare the beginning with the original. You could even try translating a passage from the original and compare your translation with the published translation. � Read examples out loud so that they sink in via your ear as well as via your eye. � Write important rules out on cards, using colour to highlight irregularities. � Use cards to test yourself by writing examples of a rule on one side of the card and the rule on the other. Why grammar? Prelims.qxd 6/22/09 4:53 PM Page xiii xiv � Use cards to learn vocabulary, with one word per card and the translation on the back. Write the words out with colour-coding, e.g. with noun genders blue for masculine, red for feminine, green for neuter, or with types of verb blue for weak, green for strong and red for irregular. Put aside the cards once you have learnt the words, and then check through them at regular intervals. � It helps to learn words in context, in little phrases or sentences – especially verbs. � Set aside regular slots for learning grammar and stick to them. It helps to have a routine, and to be systematic. That way you’ll be able to see progress. Keep going back and forth between the rules and actual usage in spoken and written language. Spot the differences without allowing them to frustrate you! Did you know…? � By the time a child is 5 years old, it will on average have spent 9,100 hours learning its native language. � An adult can learn a foreign language far more efficiently than a child learns its native language. � German is spoken as a first language by nearly 100 million people in 15 European countries. � Because many British companies assume that ‘everyone speaks English’ and lack staff with a knowl- edge of German, Britain has an enormous export deficit with Germany. Germans will sell their goods in English – but when they’re the customers, they prefer to operate in the language they know best. � In 1999, graduates in German had the best employment record for any university subject in the UK, with the exception of medical subjects. � Aside from Dutch, German is the language that is most closely related to English. Why grammar? Prelims.qxd 6/22/09 4:53 PM Page xiv Abbreviations and spelling Spelling The reformed German spelling is used throughout, e.g. dass, musste, not daß, mußte (see 12.2 and 12.5). acc. accusative case jdn. jemanden (accusative) adj. adjective masc. masculine aux. auxiliary verb nom. nominative case dat. dative case neut. neuter esp. especially pl. plural etw. etwas (something) prep. preposition fem. feminine sb. somebody gen. genitive case sg., sing. singular jd. jemand (nominative) sth. something jdm. jemandem (dative) Abbreviations Prelims.qxd 6/22/09 4:53 PM Page xv Glossary In order to learn a foreign language, you need to gain an understanding of the way in which languages are structured. It helps to analyse your own native language since you have a native-speaker command of it – even if you aren’t aware of the ‘metalanguage’ linguists use to talk about what you are doing in practice. In The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, David Crystal gives the following example of a word you probably know how to use correctly in five different grammatical contexts: � It’s your round. I’ll have a whiskey. Noun � Mary bought a round table. Adjective � We walked round to the shop. Adverb � The car went round the corner. Preposition � The yacht will round the buoy soon. Verb This glossary explains these ‘word classes’ as well as other grammatical concepts you’ll come across in the following chapters, with examples. It’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with these concepts thor- oughly – they’re your tools! But you will need to do so gradually, as you move through the chapters. The explanations include references to sections of chapters where you will find more detailed explana- tions. Further references are given in the index. accusative typically, the CASE which shows the DIRECT OBJECT of TRANSITIVE VERBS: Akkusativ Ich sehe den Hund; Ich sehe ihn (see 1.3, 8.1). It is also used after some PREPOSITIONS: Ich gehe durch den Wald, in die Stadt (see 5.1, 5.3), and in some ADVERBIAL constructions: Sie kommt jeden Tag (see 4.9). adjective a word which qualifies, or describes a NOUN: die schöne Stadt; die Stadt Adjektiv ist schön (see 4.1–4.2). adverb a word which qualifies a VERB, an ADJECTIVE or a whole CLAUSE, often Adverb giving extra information on how, when, where or why: Sie singt gut; Sie war sehr freundlich; Sie ging trotzdem nicht (see 4.8–4.14). adverbial any part of a SENTENCE which has the function of an ADVERB. It can be Adverbialbestimmung a single word (an ADVERB), or a PHRASE, or a whole CLAUSE: Sie sang gut; Sie sang mit einer hellen Stimme; Sie sang, als sie ins Zimmer kam (see 4.8–4.14). Prelims.qxd 6/22/09 4:53 PM Page xvi