Jump to content

Archive:Introduction to German

From IdeaWazaWiki

Please see Template_talk:Unit_boilerplate for more information.

Unit Summary

Content summary

Intended outcome

Unit materials

Learning materials and learning projects can be used by multiple departments. Cooperate with other departments that use the same learning resource.

  • ...

Learning materials and learning projects are located in the main Wikiversity namespace. Simply make a link to the name of the lesson (lessons are independent pages in the main namespace) and start writing!

Texts

Lessons

  • The Pronouns <--Needs to be numbered in a good place when other lessons are written (probably first).

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

On a Mac, the commands are as follows:
ß - ⌥ + s
ä - ⌥ + u, u
ö - ⌥ + u, o
ü - ⌥ + u, u

Note: the umlaut can be assigned to any vowel by first holding '⌥' and pressing the 'u' key. It will then wait for a vowel key to be pressed.

Vocabulary

Expressions of Time

Specific Time
German English
die Zeit time
die Stunde hour
die Minute minute
die Sekunde second
Generic Times
German English
der Tag day
der Morgen morning
der Mittag midday/noon
der Nachmittag afternoon
der Abend evening
die Nacht night
die Mitternacht midnight
Past/Future/Present
German English
gestern yesterday
heute today
morgen tomorrow

Common Greetings

German English
guten Tag Hello/Good Day
Tag! (shorter version of above)
grüß dich! Hello (informal/regional)
Ich heiße... My name is...
wie geht's? How are you?

Numbers

German English
eins one
zwei two
drei three
vier four
fünf five
sechs six
sieben seven
acht eight
neun nine
zehn ten


11, 12, and Teens 13-19

German English
elf eleven
zwölf twelve


  • Numbers 13 through 19 are created as follows:
First digit number + 'zehn'

Note: The stress is on the first syllable.


German English
dreizehn thirteen
zwölf twelve

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
Note: The "-s" in "Sechs" and the "-en" in "Sieben" are dropped in the combination.
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


Other Verbs

  • gehen to go
  • machen to do
  • brauchen- to need
  • essen- to eat
  • heissen- to be called (as in, "her name is"; "sie heisst Claudia...")
  • wissen- to know (knowledge, information)
  • kennen- to know (acquaintance)

Assignments

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


Active participants

Retrieved from "https://ideawaza.com/index.php?title=Archive:Introduction_to_German&oldid=17962"