German für Dummies

"German für Dummies" bietet einen leichten Einstieg in die deutsche Sprache. Das Buch ist in Englisch geschrieben. Hier lernen Sie alles Wissenswerte zur Grammatik und zur Konjugation der Verben. Mit kleinen Übungen können Sie das Erlernte festigen. Im Mini-Wörterbuch finden Sie die wichtigsten Vokabeln. Und die beiliegende CD mit Dialogbeispielen aus dem richtigen Leben hilft Ihnen, die Aussprache zu erlernen.

Autorentext
Dr. Paulina Christensen und Anne Fox sind erfahrene Deutschlehrer. Auch Wendy Foster unterrichtet Deutsch. Sie ist Autorin von "Intermediate German for Dummies".

Klappentext

"German für Dummies" bietet einen leichten Einstieg in die deutsche Sprache. Das Buch ist in Englisch geschrieben. Hier lernen Sie alles Wissenswerte zur Grammatik und zur Konjugation der Verben. Mit kleinen Übungen können Sie das Erlernte festigen. Im Mini-Wörterbuch finden Sie die wichtigsten Vokabeln. Und die beiliegende CD mit Dialogbeispielen aus dem richtigen Leben hilft Ihnen, die Aussprache zu erlernen.

Inhalt

About the Authors 7

Introduction 19

About This Book 19

Conventions Used in This Book 19

Foolish Assumptions 21

How This Book is Organized 21

Part I: Getting Started 22

Part II: German in Action 22

Part III: German on the Go 22

Part IV: The Part of Tens 22

Part V: Appendixes 22

Icons Used in This Book 22

Where to Go from Here 23

Part I Getting Started 25

Chapter 1 You Already Know a Little German 27

The German You Know 27

Friendly allies (perfect cognates) 27

Kissing cousins (near cognates) 29

False friends 30

Lenders and borrowers 32

Using Popular Expressions 35

Chapter 2 The Nitty-Gritty: Basic German Grammar 37

Getting a Handle on Parts of Speech 38

Nouns 38

Articles 39

Pronouns 40

Adjectives 40

Verbs 41

Adverbs 42

Constructing Simple Sentences 42

Arranging words in the right order 43

Putting the verb in second place 43

Pushing the verb to the end 44

Forming questions 44

The Tenses: Past, Present, and Future 45

Looking at the present 45

Talking about the past: The perfect tense 46

Writing about the past: Using the simple past tense of verbs 48

Talking about the future 48

Putting the Language in the Proper Case 49

A quick trip through the different cases 49

Why all these cases matter 50

Chapter 3 Hallo! Pronunciation and Basic Expressions 55

Mouthing Off: Basic Pronunciation 55

Dealing with stress in German 55

Building the alphabet blocks 56

Pronouncing vowels 56

Pronouncing ä, ö, and ü 58

Pronouncing diphthongs 59

Pronouncing consonants 59

Pronouncing combinations of consonants 60

Getting Formal or Informal 62

Saying Hello, Goodbye, and How are You? 63

Asking How are you? 64

Replying to How are you? 65

Introducing Yourself and Your Friends 67

Introducing your friends 67

Introductions for special occasions 67

Chapter 4 Getting Numbers, Time, and Measurements Straight 73

Juggling Numbers 73

Telling Time 75

Asking for the time 75

Telling time with the 12-hour clock 76

Using the 24-hour system 77

Times of the day 77

Days of the week 77

Naming the Months 79

Measurements, Quantities, and Weights 80

Chapter 5 Talking about Home and Family 85

Living in an Apartment or House 85

Describing life within four walls 85

Asking the right questions 86

Talking about Your Family 87

Part II German in Action 93

Chapter 6 Getting to Know You: Making Small Talk 95

Talking about Yourself 95

Describing your work 95

Providing your name and number(s) 97

Looking at possessive pronouns 99

Conversing about Cities, Countries, and Nationalities 100

Revealing where you come from 100

Using the all-important verb sein 101

Asking people where they come from 102

Discovering nationalities 103

Chatting about languages you speak 104

Making Small Talk about the Weather 106

Noting what it's like out there 106

Discussing the temperature 107

Describing the day's weather 107

Chapter 7 Asking for Directions 111

Wo? Asking Where Something is 111 Wie weit?...