Archive:Introduction to German

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Unit Summary

• Course code: ALAU101:
• Suggested Prerequisites:
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• Time investment:
• Assessment suggestions:
• Faculty: Humanities
• School: School:Language and Literature
• Department: Topic:Language Aquisition
• Stream German Stream
• Level: Beginner

Unit materials

• Study guide:
• Wikipedia article: w: __Article Name__

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Texts

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Lessons

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Typing German characters into a computer

For a PC, you have quick access by typing the following:
ß- alt+0223
ä- alt+0228
ö- alt+0246
ü- alt+0252


These are the only atypical German characters.

Vocabulary

Tag (day) Nacht (Night)

Common Greetings

Guten Tag (Hello; Good Day)
Gruß dich! (Informal hello)
Tag! (Hello)
Hallo (Hello)
Guten Tag, ich heisse --- (Hello, my name is --)
Wie geht's? (How are you?; How goes it?; How's it going?)

Numbers

Root Numbers 1-10
1-One - Eins
2-Two - Zwei
3-Three - Drei
4-Four - Vier
5-Five - Fünf
6-Six - Sechs
7-Seven - Sieben
8-Eight - Acht
9-Nine - Neun
10-Ten - Zehn

11, 12, and Teens 13-19

11-Eleven - Elf
12-Twelve - Zwölf

• Thirteen through Nineteen are created by combining the first digit number with the number Zehn(ten) as a suffix, pronounced with stress on the first syllable. Note that the "-s" in "Sechs" and the "-en" in "Sieben" are dropped in the combination
  

13-Thirteen - Dreizehn (Drei Zehn, "Three Ten")
14-Fourteen - Vierzehn
15-Fifteen - Fünfzehn
16-Sixteen - Sechzehn
17-Seventeen - Siebzehn
18-Eighteen - Achtzehn
19-Nineteen - Neunzehn

20-90

• In German, two digit numbers are created simply by adding the suffix "-zig" (similar to English "-ty"). There are exceptions however (not unlike English). Note the spelling differences in Zwanzig (20), Dreißig (30), Sechzig (60), and Siebzig (70)
  

20-Twenty - Zwanzig
30-Thirty - Dreißig
40-Forty - Vierzig
50-Fifty - Fünfzig
60-Sixty - Sechzig
70-Seventy - Siebzig
80-Eighty - Achtzig
90-Ninety - Neunzig

• In German, two digit numbers that do not end with zero (0) are spoken first digit first, joined with the word "und" (and), and followed with the second digit number; as though adding them together to make the new number.
  

Example: Twenty-Three (23) would be constructed first digit-and-second digit: "Dreiundzwanzig" (directly translated "three-and-twenty)

21 - Einundzwanzig
37 - Siebenunddreißig
46 - Sechsundvierzig
64 - Vierundsechzig
99 - Neunundneunzig

100, 1.000, 1.000.000, 1.000.000.000, 1.000.000.000.000*

100 - Hundert
1.000 - Tausend
1.000.000 - Million
1.000.000.000 - Milliarde
1.000.000.000.000 - Trillion

• note: Periods (.) are used to divide large numbers into groups of three (ex/ 1.000 = one thousand), and commas (,) are used as decimal points for numbers less than 1 but greater than 0 (1,001 = one point zero zero one, one and one thousandth).
  

In German, the roles of the period and the comma are reversed from American English

Sports

(der)Fußball (Football)
(der)Amerikanische Fußball (American Football)

Important verbs

Verb tables below

• Sein
• Haben
• Modal verbs
• Regular verbs

Assignments

To help you get acquainted with the written language, use this subpage to get in contact with German speaking Wikiversity participants.

Active participants

• Exorcist_bob
• MjVP13
• Daniel M. Roberts
• HappyCamper
• --Smithgrrl 02:38, 5 November 2006 (UTC) Ich spreche deutsch nicht besonders gut aber moechte gerne helfen, wenn ich kann!