German for beginners
Guten Tag,  would you like to learn or revise German? Join us on this page. zebras54 has the necessary tutoring qualifications. If you want to validate your course, please speak to your local adult education centre.

course-book template to fill in chapters 1-6, available as free PDF)

vocabulary sheets for free download

Vocabulary sheet Beginner 2

Vocabulary Beginner 1(homework)

Edit German Booklet 2011

we have completed our 12-week course on zebras54 and this is a summary of what you can find on our web-pages. We invite learners and our students to revise this course from time to time.

public Category: How-To Guides/Manuals Reads: 62 Published: 02 / 20 / 2011 Share
Guten Tag, would you like to revise/improve your language skills or revise German  as a foreign language?

Dienstag den 15. Februar 2011 - Kapitel 12 - letztes Kapitel



one chapter every week - 3 hours per chapter.

language-beginners

245 Photos labelled in English, French, German, Irish,
Spanish and Czech



Today German is spoken by more than 100 million people and the national language of Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein as well as one of the national languages of Switzerland.  German is related to Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, Dutch, as well as to English. The German language, directly behind English is the second most popular Germanic language spoken today. Along with its extensive use as a second language, There is an extensive heritage of German-language art.

introduction:  Resources
you need pens, pencils, colouring pencils, paper and a folder, German definitions dictionary,  German-English dictionary

print this page - one chapter is a three-hour lesson.

We are using these sites for our course, please bookmark them:
pronounciation and translation If you need help to read the words or to find a word,
you can use this website for free:
www.imtranslator
DO NOT TRANSLATE SENTENCES WITH THIS SOFTWARE during the course. 

Information about the German language:

The Four German Cases

Werfall | Wenfall | Wemfall | Wesfall
Nominativ | Akkusativ | Dativ | Genitiv

nominative | accusative | dative | genitive

English also has cases, but they are only apparent with pronouns, not with nouns, as in German. When "he" changes to "him" in English, that's exactly the same thing that happens when der changes to den in German (and er changes to ihn). This allows German to have more flexibility in word order.
The default case is the nominative. Every noun in the dictionary is given in the nominative form.(if not then we label it as  Expressions and proverbs

 We shall explain how to form and use the other cases as the course progresses.

The German Alphabet

  0:48 

Das deutsche Alphabet queroaprenderalemao.blogspot.com

by vaitomarnocu82 | 2 years ago | 366,560 views

German special characters: ä, ü, ö, ß

pronunciation: 

in German, pronunciation follows the same rules for each word.

vowels:

/a/ - a ,

/è/ -ä

/*/ (neutral) , not really

/ö/, ö

/é/: e

/i/, i (short) , y (as a vowel), ie (long)

/o/ o,

/ü/ ü

/oy/ eu äu

/ay/ ei

/ou/ u

/ow/ au,

consonants

/b/ b

/d/ d

/f/ f, ph, v

/g/ g+a, o, u, e, i, y

/k/ k, or c+a,o, u and qu+e, i, y

/kv/ qu + a, o

/s/ ss between two vowels,ß s after a vowel AND before consonant), s at the beginning of a word, c+e, i, y, s at end of word, the letter z is pronounced "ts",

/z/ s between two vowels

/š/ sch,  the s of st, and sp at the beginning of word

/t/ t, th

/y/ j

/pause/ - h as a consonant on its own (not preceded by c or p - h makes a vowel sound longer.

/ch/ - after a, o, u pronounced in a guttural way, like Loch Ness, after e, i, pronounced in a softer way š

/v/ w

you can practise the pronunciation with:

TTS Voice reading software and translation dictionary provided by IM Translator)  speed settings " - -"  for English, French [TTS Voice] TTS Voice presented by animated
speaking characters will read the text
in the most realistic, human-sounding way
in a variety of languages:
English U.S., Chinese, French, German, Italian,
Japanese, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese,
Russian and European Spanish.
It also has a German  keyboard. 

exercise 1 - library: one contemporary novel (dual language, German and your mother language), one work of non fiction, one weekend magazine and a catalogue, one tourist guide. before each chapter, we would like our students to copy about 10 lines from the books in their library and then do the colour-coding exercise. This helps you familiarize yourself with the look and the structure of the German language.

exercise 2 - write down and colour code the vocabulary from each chapter and familiarize yourself with
the spelling and the pronunciation.  You can either use our cards in the photoalbum  or  IM Translator but you also need a dictionary. exercise2 improves your vocabulary and trains pronunciation

exercise 3: practise basic syntax and basic expressions. 
(article + noun) + TO BE + adjective - This is a conversation exercise because this construction will allow you to express feelings and how things look like.  THIS IS + ARTICLE + NOUN / or THIS IS + ADJECTIVE allows you to express what you see, or express an opinion.this makes you use vocabulary, expressions and syntaxes that you learnt.

pronoun/noun + TO BE + adjective
 
  Ich bin / + adjective (I am + .....)
also practise:
Das ist/+ article + noun  (this is+....)

The colour coding exercise: 

Article

an article is a small word that tells you how many units of noun there are, and what gender the noun is. Numbers and portions can be used as articles.
  German: der (masculine gender), die (feminine gender) das (neutral gender)  = article "the" in English

ein (masculine and neutral), eine (feminine) = article "a" (in English)

in the beginner course, we do not deal with the plural (cf intermediate course), but we would like you to memorize portions:

A noun

A noun is a word to name a person, a place or thing.

A good general rule for learning German vocabulary is to treat the article of a noun as an integral part of the word.

(when looking for a word in the dictionary, always write down the gender m = masculine  f or w= feminine  n=neutral) .

Words that start with Ge- (such as das Geschenk) are neutral.

Common nouns are the names for things we can see and touch. Abstract nouns are the names for things we cannot see and touch.

Proper nouns are the special names, used for a person, a place or a thing. A proper noun starts with a capital letter.

Pronoun

a pronoun is a word that can take the place of a noun.

"Thing" and "person" and "location" are not exactly pronouns because they need an article you can use them to replace a noun if you can't remember its name but do not forget

Adjectives

an adjective is a word that describes a noun or a pronoun. It can also describe who the noun or the pronoun belongs to or how many there are.  (do not forget to adjust the adjective to the gender)

Nominative Case (Subject Case)
Masculine der	Feminine die	Neuter das	Plural die
der neue Wagen the new car	die schöne Stadt the beautiful city	das alte Auto the old car	die neuen Bücher the new books
Masculine ein	Feminine eine	Neuter ein	Plural keine
ein neuer Wagen a new car	eine schöne Stadt a beautiful city	ein altes Auto an old car	keine neuen Bücher no new books

Verb

verb

A verb is a word that is used to describe a person or a thing , or it is used to  tell what a person or thing does. Verbs change according to who is involved - this is called conjugation. Verbs change according to when they take place.

please learn the following verbs: 

Present Tense sein (to be)
ich bin	wir sind
du bist	ihr seid
er/sie/es ist	sie sind

Present  of GEHEN (to go)
ich gehe	wir gehen
du gehst	ihr geht
er, sie, es geht	sie gehen

verlassen + place (accusative form) - to leave a place

movement verbs (for example verlassen) are followed by the accusative

ich verlasse du verlässt er/sie/es verlässt wir verlassen ihr verlasst sie verlassen Present Tense machen (to do/to make) ich mache wir machen du machst ihr macht er/sie/es macht sie machen

Adverb

An adverb is a word that describes a verb. Usually it describes how, where, when or how often it happens. An adverb does NEVER change. 

Preposition

A preposition is a word that links one noun or a pronoun to another one. Prepositions often describe where someone or something is, or where it is moving towards, or where it is moving towards.

Or

a particle that you can find after a verb that changes its meaning.

we learnt that:
1)  aus, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu are always followed by the dative.

2) when you have "in" - there are two possibilities
If there is no movement (with sein)  - in is followed by the dative.
if there is a movement (with gehen)  - in is followed by accusative.
3) ausserhalb (outside something) demands the genitive.

Conjunction

A conjunction is a word to join two parts of sentences or two words together. Conjunctions are used when you want to make lists, or comparisons, or explain things with two sentences (they are: aber, oder, und, somit, weder... noch, weil, .

Expressions and proverbs

An expression is a group of words that never changes. A proverb is a sentence that never changes. A quote is a group of words that someone has used before and you need put them into "...." . An interjection is a single word expression and it doesn't need a full sentence.

Volkskunst Schweiz: Schere, Messer, Pergament und Scherenschnitt

Schlitten (Joseph Beuys  aus dem Jahre 1969)

• 
  

Chapter 1 -
homework: read, translate and copy the vocabulary from the image, copy ten lines of a text from a bilingual book and colour-analyze the words. Find out more about the German language.




 
In the homework of this chapter, we learnt that German is a case-based language. The cases are: Nominative, Accusative, Dative, Genitive.




months of the year (noun) , Januar Februar Marz April Mai Juni Juli August September Oktober November Dezember
The days of the week (noun)  Montag, Dienstag, Mittwoch Donnerstag, Freitag Samstag Sonntag
the date in English, Donnerstag, den 23. September 2010.
the number of the day is an ordinal number in the accusative form
The seasons (nouns) Fruhling, Sommer Herbst Winter
Special occasions (expressions)  Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Frohes Neues Jahr, Neujahr, Ostern,  Weihnachten Frohe Weihnachten, Sylvester, Feiertag
-Schau mal: http://www.kalender-selbst-erstellen.de/tag/kalender-2011-drucken/


Chapter 2


the world (nouns)  Nordamerika Sudamerika, die Pazifik,die Atlantik, Europa Afrika Asien, das Indische Ozean Australien the die Antarktik
Nord Sud Ost West . Ich lebe  in ...., es ist in.... ansässig,



shapes (nouns) circle, cylinder, cube, square, triangle, cone, polygon, cross, line, crescent, rectangle, half-circle, star
colours (adjectives)  orange, yellow, blue, red, green, dark-blue, purple, pink, grey, brown, black, white, dull/bright pale/dark  

start the lesson writing today's date.
exercise 1: write the months and the days on a callendar. write down when the seasons start and end. choose some special occasions and write them down in the callendar.
exercise 2: fill in a world map with the names of the continents and oceans.
draw the shapes and fill them in with different colours. Write down the name of the shape and its colour. For example. The red circle, the blue square. the circle is red, the square is blue
When doing the homework, we saw where to position the adjective and what endings they take.

Nominative Case (Subject Case)
Masculine der	Feminine die	Neuter das	Plural die
der neue Wagen the new car	die schöne Stadt the beautiful city	das alte Auto the old car	die neuen Bücher the new books
Masculine ein	Feminine eine	Neuter ein	Plural keine
ein neuer Wagen a new car	eine schöne Stadt a beautiful city	ein altes Auto an old car	keine neuen Bücher no new books

chapter 3 - Tiere
images

die Tiere (das Tier) die Tiere (das Tier) der Bär, der Löwe, das Känguru, die Schildkröte, der Elefant, der Igel, die Schlange, das Nilpferd, das Reh , die Giraffe, die Gazelle, das Schaf, die Ziege, das Zieglein, die Gans, das Lamm, das Pferd, die Kuh der Vogel, das Kalb, das Schwein, das Ferkel, die Ente das Entlein, die Maus, der Hund die Katze, der Esel, das Zebra der Huhn die Henne das Ei adjective: menschlich, tierisch, schnell/langsam, gross/klein, grob/glatt
lockig/glatt, breit/eng, dick/dunn, zahm/wild alt/jung, mannlich/weiblich, kurz/lang

exercise: visualise what the words mean or represent.

in this chapter, we would like our students to learn the opposites. Then you should pick up a few animals and describe them. What colour are they, are they fast, are they slow, rough or smooth etc. For example: The panda is black and white. It is wild. It lives in Asia. It is large and slow with smooth fur. Check your dictionary under "gender"

After checking German grammar resources, we learnt this:

A good general rule for learning German vocabulary is to treat the article of a noun as an integral part of the word.

(when looking for a word in the dictionary, always write down the gender m = masculine  f or w= feminine  n=neutral) . We learnt that there are different cases called NOMINATIVE, ACCUSATIVE, DATIVE, GENITIVE and how the articles in the three genders change - in the next chapters we are going to discover how and when to use the accusative and the dative.

das Haus, das Auto, das Fenster, das Fahrrad, der Garten, der Zaun, das Tor, der Schornstein die Tür, das Dach, die Mauer, das Zimmer der Schlüssel
image

die Familie, die Freundin,  der Freund, der Nachbar, die  Nachbarin, der Verwandte, der Erwachsene, das Kind, der Mann, die Frau, die Person, die Menschen (plural)
1) visualise what the words mean or represent,
image 
2) learn the verbs "to Be" (sein)  and "to GO" (gehen) in the present, and use these verbs with the prepositions in/out/outside/inside/into/out of 4) copy ten lines of text and do the colour coding exercise
we learnt that when we describe a movement, the preposition "in" (for location)  is followed by a noun in the accusative form. If there is no movement, "in" (location)  is followed by a noun in the dative form.

die Landschaftder Fisch, der Teich, das Boot, die Brücke, das Feld, der Fluss, die Krähe, das Kaninchen, der Weg, das Zelt, die Angelrute, der Apfel, der Baum, das Blatt, der Ast, die Blume, das Gras, die Biene, die Schnecke, die Raupe, der Schmetterling, das Insekt, der Fuchs, die Wolke die Spinne das Dorf die Schule der Berg der Hügel der Stall die Scheune der Stein das Meer der Strand die Kuste der Wald das Tal Sand (m) das Hof

images

die Kleidung
image

der menschliche Körper die Hand, der Finger, der Arm, der Fuß, das Bein der Kopf, der Rumpf, das Gesicht, das Auge, der Mund, der Zahn, die Nase, das Ohr, die Haare (Npl), der Knochen, der Schädel, der Körper, das Skelett, die Wunde, die Narbe, das Blut das Gehirn das Herz die Lunge die Roentgenaufnahme Adjektive: glücklich, traurig, verletzt, krank, behindert, wütend, müde, gut (I am OK =  ich fühle mich gut
)

chapter 7 - Werkzeuge

Werkeuge und Machinendas Obdach, der Korb, der Schubkarren , der Eimer, die Schaufel, der Traktor, der Lieferwagen, der LKW, das Gerüst, der Helm, der Schraubenzieher, die Schraube, der Hammer, der Nagel, der Besen, der Schwamm, die Maschine, die Barriere, das Telefon der Kugelschreiber, Papier (N), der Fotoapparat, die Schere, die Nadel, das Band, der Taschenrechner, die Rolle, der Hefter, die Kiste, der Ordner, der Papierkorb, das Heft, der Bleistift, der Stecker das Kabel die Steckdose der Wasserhahn, die Glühbirne, das Lineal, das Bild, das Handbuch die Tafel, der Pinsel, Farbe (F) das Seil der Beutel der Karren der Anhänger, der Container, die Tasche, der Knopf die Tastatur, der Monitor die Internet-Seite der Computer der Drucker der Sprachkurs die Lektion das Etikett

chapter 8 der Ausflug

der Transportder Zug, die Lok(omotive), der Gleis das Gepäck der Waggon, die Fahrkarte das Signal, die Uhr die Eisenbahn, der Bahnhof, der Fahrplan die Landkarte, der Bus, die Autobahn das Taxi, die Straße, die Strasse der Gehweg das Flugzeug, der Flughafen. die Pferdekarre, die Ladung, Strom, (M) Energie (F), die Tankstelle der Mast die Rohrleitung, das Kraftwerk, die Kanalisation der Motor, das Rad, der Parkplatz, die Bushaltestelle der Verkehr, der Verkehrsschild, der Zebrastreifen, die Ampel, der Dampfschiff, der Kanal, der Containerschiff, das Segelboot, die Fähre, der Kai, das Wartezimmer, die öffentliche Toiletten pl das Handy, der Brief, die Briefmarke, die e-Mail die Post, das Internet der Bankomat die Postkarte, Geld (n) die Geldüberweisung, der Gutschein der Zoll, die Grenze, das Land, der Ausweis die Quittung e="Book Antiqua, serif">die Quittung

chapter 9 - in the city

In der Stadt

die Stadtdie Straße, die Gasse der Platz, das Büro, das Rathaus, das Geschäft, das Café, die Bäckerei, das Museum, die Bibliothek, das Zentrum, das Krankenhaus, das Labor, die Universität, der Spielplatz, das Stadion, der Tempel, die Kirche, die Statue, der Springbrunnen, das Hotel das Einkaufszentrum, das Polizeiwache, die Baustelle, die Kneipe (Beisl) das Restaurant, das Grundstück, der botanische Garten, die Bank, die Fabrik das Blumenbeet, das Verkehrsamt, die Apotheke die Konzerthalle der Markt, der Hafen, das Theater, das Kino, die Vorstadt, die Wohnung der Kiosk/die Traffik, der Camping-Platz die Werbung die Ausstellung die Konferenz die Ortschaft die Treppe / die Stiege der Fahrstuhl

Adjectives: städtisch, städtisch, städtisch, kommerziell, in Ruinen,

Menschen: Buchhändler/in, Ladenbesitzer/in, Geistlicher, Optiker/in, Polizist/in,   Feuerwehrmann,  Briefträger/in,  Schlosser/in,  Verkäufer/in, des Techniker/in,  Athlet/in, Blumenhändler/in, Rechtsanwalts, des Rettungsschwimmer/in. Architekt/in, Zimmermann, Fensterputzer/in, Taxichauffeur, Verkäufer/in, Gepäckträger/in, Kellner/in,
Klempner/in, Maurer/in, Elektriker/in, Dacharbeiter/in, Gärtner/in, Obdachloser, Musiker/in, Fußgänger/in, Schweißer/in, Stahlarbeiter/in, Vorarbeiter/in, Portier, Kameramann, Bibliothekar/in, Friseur, Kassierer/in, Bankangestellter, Apotheker/in, Krankenschwester, Arzt, Zahnarzt, Patient/in, Koch,  Flugbegleiter, Büroangestellter, Fotograf/in, Redakteur/in, Typist/in, Fischer/in, die Küstenwache. Hafenarbeiter/in, der Kapitän, der Soldat, Landvermesser/in,
Richter/in, Pilot/in, die Crew, die Mannschaft, Heimarbeiter/in, Handwerker/in, Entwerfer/in, Webmaster/in, die Menschenmenge

chapter 10 -

Speisen und Getränke> Suppe (F) die Tomate, die Gurke, Linsen (Fpl) die Zwiebel, die Karotte, Salat, (M) die Kartoffel, Obst (M) der Keks der Kohl, der Kuchen Zimt (M) Reis (M) Erbsen (Fpl) Käse (M) die Süßspeise das Soja-Produkt Mehl (N) Getreiden (Npl) Jogurt (M) Fleisch (N) Brot (N) Schokolade (F) die Apfelsine das Getränk, Saft (M) Milch (F) Kaffee (M) Tee (M) Alkohol (M) Wasser (N) die Nudelspeise das belegte Brot die vegetarische Speise die Küche die Utensilien der Herd der Ofen der Löffel das Messer die Gabel der Teller die Tasse der Kochtopf das Glas die Kanne

chapter 11 - living room

FreizeitKunst und Freizeit die Zeitung, das Radio, das Fernsehen das Buch die Schallplatte das Videospiel die DVD die Stereoanlage, das Programm das Gemälde der Artikel das Gedicht das Lied das Foto-Album der Atlas das Magazin das Spiel das Steckenpferd die Fernsteuerung Möbeln (Npl) der Boden die Decke der Teppich das Sofa der Blumenstrauß der Vorhang der Tisch der Stuhl das Regal die Kerze die Lampe die Vase die Heizung

chapter 12 - bedroom das Zimmer das Bett die Bettdecke der Waschbecken das Kissen /der Kopfpolster die Haarbürste der Spiegel die Hausschuhe der Schrank der Kleiderhacken die Toilette der Kamm die Seife die Puppe der Teddybär der Kasten die Zahnbürste das Spiel die Steppdecke das Spielzeug das Musikinstrument der Schreibtisch der Nachttisch die Kommode

Kisseo Grußkarten - kostenlose Grußkarten, E-Cards ...

Grußkarten Geburtstag, Liebe, Freundschaft, Glückwünsche, Feiertage, aktuelle Anlässe oder einfach nur so: Es gibt immer einen Grund, eine Kisseokarte zu ...

 

some useful adjectives:

schwarz, rot, blau, gruen, gelb, weiss, rosarot, braun,  neutral, gierig, didaktisch, verrückt erfreut, weinend, geschwätzig, traurig, erschrocken verwirrt, böse, schüchtern, verlegen, erfinderisch aufgeregt, einverstanden, dagegen, lustig, krank, frech, fleißig , verliebt, überrascht, neugierig, angewidert, verachtungsvoll schlecht, verletzt, erdrückt, robotisch, doof, ruhig, im Schlaf



Date: September 11, 2009 01:11AM
Optional exercise - If you like photography or collages and are nifty on the computer, you can take pictures of some of the words in the beginners list that inspire you and label them in different languages. Then learning a language also becomes a visual journey of exploration about your surroundings. And you get a great arts project as well as an archive of words and a great personal photo-album.
We hope to see you in the intermediate class, and remember to enjoy the experience.

The Art Of Germany(BBC4)

Andrew Graham-Dixon takes an in-depth look at the cultural centres of a 500-year-old legacy that rivalled Italy for artistic brilliance during the Renaissance.