German Grammar in Context SeCond edition ‘German Grammar in Context is popular with our students and highly suitable for use both in classroom teaching and for self-study. The range of authentic source material offers something for all interests, and the user-friendly organisation of the book allows learners of different levels to progress at a comfortable pace, thereby facilitating a sense of achievement and confidence.’ Annemarie Kunzl-Snodgrass and Silke Mentchen, University of Cambridge, UK. German Grammar in Context presents an accessible and engaging approach to learning grammar. Each chapter opens with a real-life extract from a German newspaper, magazine, poem, book or internet source and uses this text as the starting point for explaining a particular key area of German grammar. A range of exercises follow at the end of the chapter, helping students to reinforce and test their understanding, and an answer key is also provided at the back of the book. This second edition features: • Updated texts with current newspaper and magazine articles and new extracts from digital media such as chatrooms and blogs • Inclusion of a wide-ranging selection of sources and topics to further students’ engagement with issues relevant to contemporary Germany and Austria • Clear and user-friendly coverage of grammar, aided by a list of grammatical terms • A wide variety of inventive exercises designed to thoroughly build up grammatical understanding, vocabulary acquisition and effective comprehension and communication skills • Helpful ‘keyword boxes’ translating difficult vocabulary in the texts • A recommended reading section offering advice on additional grammar resources and website links. German Grammar in Context is an essential resource for intermediate to advanced students of German. It is suitable for both classroom use and independent study. Carol Fehringer is Senior Lecturer at Newcastle University, UK. LAnGUAGeS in ConteXt The Languages in Context series presents students with an engaging way of learning grammar while also acquiring cultural and topical knowledge. Each book in the series uses authentic texts, drawn from a generous variety of sources, as the starting point for the explanation of key areas of grammar. Grammar points are then consolidated with a wide range of exercises to test students’ understanding.   Aimed at intermediate to advanced students, The Languages in Context series is suitable for both class use and independent study. The following books are available in this series: French Grammar in Context Spanish Grammar in Context German Grammar in Context German Grammar in Context Analysis and Practice SeCond edition CAROL FEHRINGER Second edition published in 2014 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2002, 2014 Carol Fehringer The right of Carol Fehringer to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. 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. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. First published in 2002 by Arnold, a member of the Hodder Headline Group, 338 Euston Road, London, NW1 3BH British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Fehringer, Carol. German grammar in context : analysis and practice / Carol Fehringer, Senior Lecturer in German Studies, Newcastle University. – Second Edition. pages cm. – (Languages in context) Text in English and German. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. German language–Grammar. 2. German language–Textbooks for foreign speakers– English. 3. German language–Grammar–Problems, exercises, etc. I. Title. PF3112.F39 2013 438.2'421–dc23 2013005375 ISBN: 978-0-415-86991-1 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-4441-6726-9 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-203-78485-3 (ebk) Typeset in Minion Pro by Saxon Graphics Ltd, Derby Contents Foreword vii Acknowledgements ix List of grammatical terms x 1 Gender 1 2 noun plurals 6 3 Case 11 4 Use of articles 21 5 Adjectives 28 6 Comparatives and superlatives 37 7 Personal pronouns and possessives 43 8 demonstratives 51 9 Relative pronouns 57 10 Present tense 63 11 imperative 70 12 Past tense 74 13 Perfect tense 81 14 Pluperfect tense 88 15 Future tense 91 16 Conditional 96 17 Subjunctive in reported speech 103 18 Passive 113 19 Separable verbs 121 20 Reflexive verbs 125 vi Contents 21 infinitives and modal verbs 131 22 negation 140 23 Questions 147 24 Prepositions 151 25 Conjunctions 163 26 Word order 170 27 Word formation 180 28 Punctuation and spelling 190 Appendix 1: Common strong and irregular verbs 196 Appendix 2: Article and adjective endings 200 Appendix 3: Revision texts 202 Appendix 4: Key to exercises 217 Appendix 5: Key to revision texts: analysis questions 236 Recommended reading 241 index 242 Foreword The purpose of this book is to provide an accessible text-based reference grammar of the German language for English-speaking students of German and to help consolidate their knowledge through practical exercises on a whole range of grammatical topics. It is aimed at first- and second-year undergraduate students, although more advanced students wishing to revise particular grammatical points may also benefit from this book. As one of the main aims of the book is accessibility, grammatical terminology is kept to a minimum and only traditional terms are used. There is also a list of grammatical terms and their definitions at the beginning of the book. The book is based on the premise that grammatical issues are more easily explained and understood within the wider context in which they appear, i.e. within whole texts, rather than in terms of isolated rules and fabricated examples. Thus, in each chapter an authentic German text is chosen which illustrates a particular grammatical feature, e.g. the past tense, the subjunctive or personal pronouns, and the necessary rules are set out in relation to the occurrence of the grammatical forms within the text. Later in the chapter supplementary rules are given which are not illustrated in the text, for the sake of completeness. Each grammatical point is explained as concisely as possible and is illustrated, if not by directly referring to the text, by the use of everyday German examples of the kind likely to be encountered and used by the student. Some of the larger chapters contain charts and tables to help the student focus on the main points in question. These usually follow the principle of ‘grammar in context’ in that they rarely consist of lists of isolated words but usually of words co-occurring with other forms in the language, e.g. prepositions listed with a following definite article and noun to show the case that they take. Unpredictable exceptions to rules and more complicated issues, which may be of interest to more advanced learners, are usually dealt with in footnotes. The chosen German texts are extremely varied both in style and in subject matter, yet they have in common that they are all authentic and are examples of modern standard German. The styles range from journalistic writings to literary excerpts, from prose to poetry, from scientific writings to song lyrics, from transcripts of dialogue from TV shows to excerpts from blogs and internet forums. The subject matter ranges from discussions on study abroad and career choice to humorous texts on dating and relationships, from technical developments in web-based media to recipes for sausage and sauerkraut. In particular, many of the texts chosen reflect German or Austrian life and culture. Each chapter ends with a set of exercises designed to practise the particular grammatical topic under discussion. Some of these exercises are organised according to complexity: e.g. 1a) deals with regular forms while 1b) deals with irregularities and more complicated issues. The exercises are varied in style: from reformulation and gap-filling exercises, many of which are based on authentic texts themselves, to translation exercises and crosswords. In addition, the exercises in each chapter are based on a particular vocabulary topic in order to build up students’ vocabulary viii Foreword at the same time as practising their grammar. These are useful everyday topics which students should be familiar with: e.g. food, transport, holidays, school and university subjects, careers, garden and household, hobbies and entertainment etc. There is a key to the exercises towards the back of the book. At the end of the main part of the book are four revision texts, each of which deals with a number of key grammatical issues together so that students can revise the grammatical topics which they have learned earlier in the book. Each of the revision texts is followed by two sets of exercises, the first of which deals with recognising particular forms and explaining why they are used, while the second requires the students to practise using the forms themselves. These are also followed by a key. At the end of the book there is a comprehensive index covering both the main issues and the more specific grammatical problems and particular forms dealt with in the book. In the appendices are also included an alphabetical list of common irregular verbs and a set of article- adjective-noun paradigms for students to learn. A selection of recommended reading is also given, which covers both print and web-based material. Acknowledgements I would like to thank my German colleagues (and former colleagues) in the School of Modern Languages at Newcastle University for their help with both this and the earlier edition of the book, in particular Ms Franziska Schulz, Dr Simone Schroth, Mr Sascha Stollhans, Ms Aletta Rochau, Dr Beate Müller, Professor Henrike Lähnemann, Ms Andrea Wilczynski, Dr Helen Ferstenberg, Ms Anke Neibig and Professor Jens Hentschke. Thanks also go to colleagues in linguistics: Dr Richard Waltereit, Ms Nicole Böheim, Dr Tina Fry and Dr Jonathan West; and to German linguists further afield, who have given useful feedback on specific points of grammar: Professor Martin Durrell, Dr Nils Langer, Dr Nicola McLelland, Dr Alan Scott, Professor Andreas Musolff and Dr Sheila Watts. I am grateful to my husband Gerhard for his Austrian perspective, and I am also very grateful to the German teaching team at Cambridge University for their detailed feedback on the first edition, which I found extremely helpful: Ms Silke Mentchen, Mrs Annemarie Künzl-Snodgrass, Mrs Britta Förster and Dr David Wachter. My thanks also go to the anonymous reviewers of the second edition manuscript for their very valuable comments and, finally, I would also like to thank the authors and publishing agents of my chosen texts for giving me permission to use their work.