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Learn German In 6 Days!


By: Zane Madison
This book will greatly help your understanding of the German
language. Instruction and practice is the only way you will learn. If
you live in or travel in a German speaking country and want to
improve your skills, this is for you. If you have an interest in
German or want an A+ in your schoolwork, this is also for you.
Best of luck and Auf Wiedersehen for now!

The German Alphabet
The German alphabet is the most important feature to learn. The
same goes for any language, if you do not know what letters make
up basic words, how can you put a word together? More
importantly, how is it spelled?
The German alphabet is a crucial part in understanding the
language. Please take a look over this chart to make sure you have
grasped the concept. Many words in English that are broken down
into letter form are pronounced with longer sayings in German.
Once you feel you know this chart, head on over to the next lesson.
If you may have noticed right from the start, this alphabet has 30
characters. Yes, that is four more than our English counterpart. I
urge you to memorize this list. You will be much better off, good
luck! Hint: Can you notice the similarity to English?



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Aa

Bb
Cc
Dd
Ee
Ff
Gg
Hh
Ii
Jj
Kk
Ll
Mm
Nn
Oo

Pp
Qq
Rr
Ss

Tt
Uu

Vv
Ww
Xx
Yy
Zz


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German Vowels
The letters which represent the German vowels are the same as
English. There is one exception though, and that is the addition of
three extra vowels. Let us take a look shall we? There are eight
vowels in German and they are, "a", "e", "i", "o", "u", "", "", "".
Not too complicated is it now? Let us move on.
German vowels have a distinct difference as compared to the
English language. The vowels are separated into two main
categories. Do you happen to know what those categories might
be? The categories are long and short. Now what is a long and
short vowel you ask?
Short vowels or otherwise known as "lax", have a quick distinct
sound to them. Once you understand how the classification works,
it is easy to pick out a long and short vowel. Normally it is easiest
to know if the vowel is short by using one simple trick. Would you
like to know this simple tip?
If there are a bunch of consonants following the vowel, it is most
likely a short vowel. What does "a bunch" mean exactly? I mean at
least two or more consonants following the vowel. Please note for
a side reference that there is also a "super short" sounding vowel
sound but that is not really necessary at this point.
Now on the other side of this coin is the long vowel. Sometimes
this is also called a "tense" vowel as well. What are the important
things to know about this category? Well there are a few actually.
Remember how short vowels could be pointed out because they
had two or more consonants following them? Well a long vowel
can be pointed out by having only a single consonant following it.
Another common factor which is a dead giveaway is the doubling
of vowels. Also known as pairing, this is when you see the vowel
repeated twice. Examples are "aa", "ee", "oo", and so on. Also just
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to point out as a side note, it is not unusual for a long or tense
sounding vowel to have the letter "h" following the vowel.
As you can see, learning the German vowels is pretty basic. In fact
it's very easy. If you did not fully understand this just by reading,
please go back and read it a couple of times. In no time at all you
will have the grasp of the vowels and how they play an important
part into the structure of this language. Are you ready to continue?

German Alphabet Pronunciation
German alphabet pronunciation is in all honesty, not that hard to
learn. As with anything, things take practice. This alphabet actually
sounds a little similar to English in a few ways. Take your time
trying to learn and proceed when ready.
Each letter has its own special sound, just like English and any
other language does. The German language however, does have
special characters called "Umlaut". What distinguishes an
"Umlaut" from a regular letter?
Take a look below at the German alphabet pronunciation table and
see if you can point out which letters are a little bit different. Have
you found them? Ok, good, let us continue then. The "Umlaut"
letters are letters with the dots above them. What do the dots mean
exactly?
These dots are used to create a sharper sound. This sound is done
using the front part of your mouth. This may be a little harder for
some of us, since the English language does not use this kind of
sound technique. How do you know when to use these dots
though?
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You do not have to know. The dots on these letters are sort of "just
there". They are a rule and are used in conjunction with certain
words. Is this confusing you a little bit? Think for example, how do
we end a sentence? We end a sentence with a period mark of
course. So too, do certain words automatically use the "Umlaut"
letters.
Aa - Ah

Bb - Beh
Cc - Tseh
Dd - Deh
Ee - Eh
Ff - Eff
Gg - Geh
Hh - Hah
Ii - Ih
Jj - Yott
Kk - Kah
Ll - El
Mm - Emm
Nn - Enn
Oo - Oh

Pp - - Peh
Qq - Kuh
Rr - Err
Ss - Ess

Tt - Teh
Uu - Uh

Vv - Fau
Ww - Veh
Xx - Iks
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Yy - Ypsilon
Zz - Tzett


Success Story: Gavin Pendergast
"Hi Guys,

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and have been practicing my German extensively while I have
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-Gavin Prendergast
WASHINGTON, USA



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German Diphthongs
German diphthongs are basically two vowels which are put
together. It is rather simple really. Instead of pronouncing each
vowel separately, you blend them together. The German language
is a lot more into phonetics than our English counterpart. What
does this mean?
It means German really isn't that confusing. You pronounce the
word as you see it. Instead of silent letters, most words are a "say
what you see" deal. There are no real exceptions like English has
and this is what makes learning this language fun and interesting.
You are not going to be tricked. Exceptions normally come from
words that have a foreign (English, French) background. Once you
know how to pronounce the letters, you will be able to say words
even if you have never seen them before. So learn the letters and
diphthongs or rather know what they are, and how to go about
saying them.
In German some sounds are created by using diphthongs. We have
something similar in English. Take the word fish, where the
combination sh makes you pronounce it in a different way than
each letter is pronounced. In German, sch is the same sound as
sh in English, and, to keep the example, Fisch has the same
pronunciation. Hey, you just learned another word! Im sure you
can remember this one! Although, strictly speaking, sch is not a
diphthong, as this term only applies to the combination of vowels.
But its the same principle. Once again, the diphthongs are a
combination of two vowels. They are:
"au" (pronounced like the ow in Howard)
"eu" and u ( both like the oy in oyster)
"ei" and ai ( both like eye)
ie (like eeh)
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Learning the diphthongs, alphabet, and consonants will give you a
strong solid base. It will allow you to progressively and actively
speak the German language without wondering what or when to
use a certain letter. I am confident these lessons will make you
better understand the German language. I encourage you to act
now as well and take hold of this software if you really are serious
about learning German.

German City Names
German city names are based on many factors. Some of these
factors include the origin of the German language, wars, and
politics. An example of this was the name change of the East
German city of Karl-Marx-Stadt. After the time when the Berlin
Wall was torn down, it got its old name Chemnitz back. Common
endings for towns and cities include -stadt, -furt, -berg, -
burg, -hausen, -ingen and -ow.
When you travel around Germany, you will notice many cities and
towns having a mixed background. This is true because of
migration and the influence of other cultures. Some towns will
have a Polish sounding name, or a French one. Perhaps some will
even sound a little bit Ukrainian.
Below I have compiled a list of all the major cities in Germany.
They are sorted by alphabetical order. If you are planning to travel
to Germany this would be great to know. Please take a look over
this chart. I am sure you will find the city you are looking for. Also
remember, that this software is a great program for people who
want to travel to Germany.


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Aachen
Augsburg
Bergisch
Gladbach
Berlin
Bielefeld
Bochum
Bonn
Bottrop
Braunschweig
Bremen
Bremerhaven
Chemnitz
Cottbus
Darmstadt
Dessau
Dortmund
Dresden
Duisburg
Dren
Dsseldorf
Erfurt
Erlangen
Essen
Esslingen
Flensburg
Frankfurt
Freiburg
Frth
Gelsenkirchen
Gera
Gttingen
Gtersloh
Hagen
Halle
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Hamburg
Hamm
Hanau
Hannover
Heidelberg
Heilbronn
Herne
Hildesheim
Ingolstadt
Iserlohn
Jena
Kaiserslautern
Karlsruhe
Kassel
Kiel
Koblenz
Kln
Krefeld
Leipzig
Leverkusen
Lbeck
Ludwigsburg
Ludwigshafen
Lnen
Magdeburg
Mainz
Mannheim
Marl
Minden
Moers
Mnchengladbach
Mlheim
Mnchen
Mnster
Neuss
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Nrnberg
Oberhausen
Offenbach
Oldenburg
Osnabrck
Paderborn
Pforzheim
Potsdam
Ratingen
Recklinghausen
Regensburg
Remscheid
Reutlingen
Rostock
Saarbrcken
Salzgitter
Schwerin
Siegen
Solingen
Stuttgart
Trier
Ulm
Velbert
Villingen-
Schwenningen
Wiesbaden
Wilhelmshaven
Witten
Wolfsburg
Wuppertal
Wrzburg
Zwickau

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German Consonants
Many German consonants are pronounced similarly to our
English language. There are a few differences however. At the end
of a word, some consonants are pronounced sharper than usual. In
those cases the letter "b" is pronounced like a "p", g is
pronounced like k and "d" is pronounced like a "t". There are
also a few others.
Pronunciation of some grouped consonants in a little bit different
as well. A couple of the "ich" and/or "ach" sounds in German may
be troublesome for you. They are tricky to pronounce at first but
once you understand them, it becomes second nature to you. Just
remember a few simple rules. The "ch" can be pronounced in two
different ways. If it follows a, o, u and au it is pronounced like in
the Scottish word loch, otherwise it is pronounced in the front of
the mouth. There is no sound like that in English. This software
course is a great help to master German pronunciation. See for
yourself today how it can help you!
The h can be silent or pronounced. But the rule for that is easy: if
the h follows a vowel, its silent (like in leihen (borrow),
pronounced LY-EN). If it precedes a vowel, its pronounced (like
in Hut (hat), pronounced HOOT)
Do not try to pronounce everything as you would in English. This
is the German language, not the English language. Try not to
pronounce certain consonants heavily, such as the letter "r". If you
keep these things in mind and follow the course, you will be
speaking the language in no time at all.
This may seem like a lot to take in, but it really isn't. Just try
sounding off the words with the pronunciation techniques you
learned in the German alphabet.

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German Vowel Pronunciation
German vowel pronunciation is easier to learn than most people
believe it to be. With only a couple extra vowels, it only takes a
couple minutes longer to learn. We can consider the extra vowels
special sounding vowels for now. This will make things easier.
The vowels are, "a", "e", "i", "o", "u", "", "", and "". German
has long vowels and short ones. Short vowels are pronounced with
a short crisp clear sound. There is no blending or rubbing or the
vowels. Every German vowel has its own clear pronunciation.
The hardest of the vowels to learn is the "umlaut". This is because
the English language does not use it. It is a sound that is not
needed for us to communicate. Think of it as riding a bike, if you
never have ridden a bike, it will be a little tricky to learn at first.
Once you know how though, you never forget.
The "umlaut" is spoken from the front of the mouth. It uses the
tongue in a curling action to produce the sound needed. Try
practicing this technique a little bit before diving into words. The
skill will come with time so do not get disheartened.

German Adjectives
German adjectives, normally go in front of the noun which they
are modifying. German adjectives have an ending before a noun.
This ending, which is mostly -e in the singular and -en in the
plural, depends on several factors like the gender of the following
noun and the case. There are four cases in the German language:
nominative, genitive, dative and accusative. The different cases are
used depending on the function of the sentence. Youll get some
examples for that in a minute.
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The nominative adjective refers to the subject of a sentence. This
makes it easy for us to pick out, since nouns start with a capital
letter. Now don't you wish English had that? What a struggle it was
to learn all of this is grammar school.
You can ask yourselves who or what to find the subject of a
sentence that you are looking for. The questions of are normally
used in conjunction with nominative adjectives. Why is this so?
Nominative cases use articles most of the time. Examples of these
are der, "ein", "die", "eine", and so on. Take the term der kleine
Junge (the little boy). Here the ending is -e. In the plural it is
die kleinen Jungen (the little boys). See, not too difficult. To see
this in action with interactivity and audio please visit this site here.
As you can see, it just takes practice and a bit of learning to master
the basics of German. Keep reading for the rest of our adjective
lesson. Let us move on to the accusative adjectives now.
The accusative case is the direct object of a sentence. Did you
forget what a direct object is? It is an animal, thing, person, or
something which the action of the sentence is happening about or
to. Think of it as the popular thing in the sentence. What all the
buzz is about. Does that make a little more sense?
Accusative endings are the same as those in the nominative case
most of the time. The exception to this rule is with the masculine
gender. It is the loner, the only one which has a different
appearance, upon changing from -e in the nominative to -en in
the accusative. Accusative adjectives and articles are directly
related to one another, whether it is masculine, feminine, or
neutral. The accusative ending must also reflect the case of the
preceding noun.
Let us have a look at the dative case. Do you remember what the
accusative format dealt with? Its the object of the sentence. Dative
deals with the indirect object of the sentence. This time it is not
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about who or what the action is being performed by but rather who
or what the action is being performed to. Question words are to
whom or what the sentence is about. The ending of adjectives in
the dative case is easy: its -en for all (male, female, neutral,
singular or plural).
Let's take a look at this closer. A couple of examples include, "To
whom did he throw the ball?" "To whom are you speaking?" To
see full lots of examples of what I am explaining in action pick
yourself up a copy of this software today. Learn German the easy
way, the fun way.
Finally, we come to the genitive case. In German, the genitive
shows the possession of something. In English you use the
apostrophe-s s or of to express this. Like in my parents
house. The endings adjectives are identical to the dative case.

German Prepositions
German prepositions can only be learned in one way: you have to
memorize them. Sometimes in life there is no shortcut to the high
road. This happens to be one of those times. Memorize the
prepositions, learn them, and you will be much better off!
Prepositions come in many different shapes and forms. They deal
with travel, people, and gender to name a few.
Learning a second language can be problematic because we
already know how to speak one language. We have this idea in our
heads of how a language should be conducted. We must step back
away for a moment and take a look at what this is all about.
Learning German prepositions is absolutely critical if you want to
speak the language.
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A good example is if you are sick. What do we do when we are
sick? We take something for our sickness correct? Well in
German, you would take something against your sickness. See the
difference here? It is little subtle things like this which make up the
whole picture.
English has the object of the preposition; all prepositions are in the
same case. German has more and you have to know when to use
each preposition. Just like in adjectives, we have the accusative
and dative cases with prepositions. Certain German prepositions
are ruled by the accusative case. I would suggest you become
familiar with these as they are used a lot in German.
We will go over the basics of the accusative prepositions now.
First of all, there are two different kinds. There are ones that will
always be accusative. Then there are ones that can either be dative
or accusative. A couple of the main German accusative
prepositions include fr, gegen, and durch. In English these mean
for, against, and through. A couple of the "two way" prepositions
include an, auf, and zwischen. These mean at, on, to, upon, and
between.
As I mentioned earlier in this free course, be wary of translations
between the languages though. A two way preposition can have
more than one English meaning or translation. It is best if you
learn the vocabulary, learn the basics of German grammar as I am
teaching you, and then practice everything you have learned
utilizing the ultimate this software package.
Now we shall go on towards the dative case. Not too much
different here either. Just like in the accusative case. Dative can
either be "always dative" or "sometimes dative". The common
dative prepositions include aus, auer, bei, mit, von, and zu. The
meaning of these in the same order is, from, besides, near, by (or
with), from, and to.
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I hope this gives you some sort of basic foundation in learning
what prepositions are all about. Utilizing the tools given here will
make you a better speaker. It will allow you to speak basic
conversation, order from restaurants, tell the time, and ask people
simple questions. The power of learning German is in your hands.
Viel Glck!

German Adverbs & Directions
German adverbs are used in many different ways. They have
different reasons for using them and I am here to help you. Let us
refresh our heads really quick and try to recall what an adverb is?
Can you find that memory somewhere in your brain? When did we
learn that anyways, third grade?
An adverb helps the verb in the sentence. That is a really general
summary of what it does. In English, adverbs normally end with -
ly, which makes them easy to identify. Not so in German. Let us
take a look at the German meanings then shall we?
There are three categories of adverbs: those for time, for the
manner and for the place. They tell you when, how long, how
and wo, wohin, respectively. Here are some examples from each
category:

TIME: heute (today), immer (always), gestern (yesterday),
manchmal (sometimes), bald (soon), frh (early)

MANNER: schwierig (difficult), leise (quietly), sehr (very),
ziemlich (rather), leider (unfortunately), vielleicht (maybe)

PLACE: hier (here), dort (there), berall (everywhere), zu Hause
(at home), in Deutschland (in Germany)
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This lesson will focus on the uses of adverbs in asking directions.
Why would I choose directions? Most people, who want to learn
German, use it for traveling. What do you do when you travel?
You ask for directions that's what! So with no further delay, let us
dive in.
When you ask how to get to a certain place, keep in mind that
German has many meanings. What do I mean by this? I mean that
the use of the word can be something totally different in another
context. If you ask "Where is my hat?", it would be completely
different if you were to ask "Where is she going?". Do you see
what I am getting at? The first one is asking for a location, the
second one for a motion or direction. If you are going to ask
something with the word "where" in the question, use these rules.
The word "wohin" is used when talking about motion or direction.
The word "wo" is about asking location. So if you were to ask,
"Where is my hat?", you would use "wo". If you were to ask,
"Where is she going?", you would use "wohin".
Now that you have that under your belt, it is time to consider the
consequences. That's right, how often do you think before you act?
I really hope you do. You may be the world's greatest person at
asking for directions in German. Yet, do you have any darn clue on
what the answer will be and how to comprehend it? Perhaps, but I
think if you asked the average person, you would have no idea
what they said back.
So to make things easy, make your question easy. It is a simple
concept, easy questions equal easy answers. You should ask
questions using basic German words, such as left, right, back, turn,
and so on. If this does not help in any way do not start crying and
freaking out. Control yourself and use the ever so known way of
communication. Draw a picture! Below is a list of common
adverbs, asking-directions related words and their meanings.
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Straight ahead - Geradeaus
North - Norden
East - Osten
South - Sden
West - Westen
Back - Zurck
Forward - Vorwrts
Left - Links
Right - Rechts
Going - Gehen
Leaving - Verlassen
Arriving - Ankommen
Where is - Wo ist
How do I get to - Wie komme ich nach
How far is it to - Wie weit ist es nach
Please speak slowly - Bitte sprechen Sie langsam
German Verb Conjugation
German verb conjugation is a great aspect of the German
language. It is not too difficult at all, and it is extremely important
if you don't want to sound like a retard when speaking German!
With no further delays, let us begin this lesson.
Conjugating a verb is sort of like cutting a rose. Weird analogy you
might think? Well let me show you why. The stem of a rose, as we
all know, does not change. The rose branches may be cut, broken
off, bloom with flower petals, but the stem is strong and firm. It is
always constant.
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So is the stem of a verb. Conjugation in German is not hard. It
requires identifying the stem of the verb and knowing what to do
with it, once you find it. Let us look at an example.
What are some verbs in English that we can look at first? Think of
some off the top of your head. How about running, walked, looked,
jumping, and tripped. What is the stem of these verbs? The stem of
these verbs is run, walk, look, jump, and trip.
The same principles and ideas apply to the stems of verbs in
German. Locate the stem, keep it constant, and apply the change as
necessary. Does that sound easy to you? It does to me. Now let us
have a look at a German example.
The infinitive form of regular German verbs ends with "en". And
the stem is this basic form without the ending. So if we take the
verb gehen, to go, what do you think the stem is? Right, its
geh, which alone is not a word, just the stem. Now you may be
wondering just how many verb endings the German language has.
Well, it does have more verb endings than English. Do not get
disheartened though. Some verb endings are normally repeated and
there is some sort of pattern to things. Let me explain. Which
endings do you have to add to the stem? That depends on the
context of the verb. For regular verbs in the present tense the
endings are:

-e ich gehe (I go)

-st du gehst (you go)

-t er/sie/es geht (he/she/it goes)

-en wir gehen (we go)

-t ihr geht (you go)
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-en sie gehen (they go)
Unfortunately there are irregular verbs as well, and like in English
the endings change with the tense you use (like we add -ed in the
past tense). But you can learn and practice all that and more in
detail using this course.

German Verbs
I decided to place German verbs after German verb conjugation
because I thought it would flow better. For some reason people
tend to have a better understanding of all the verb types after they
have seen the conjugation and separation of verbs.
We took a look at the conjugation of verbs and how to do that in
the last lesson. For this lesson, I will be reviewing verb endings
with you. There are singular and plural endings, just to keep things
simple, as well as irregular verbs. But we will tackle that in a
minute. First, let us review the singular verb endings.
Singular verbs deal with the status of one, obviously. In English,
singular could mean him or her. The plural of that would be them.
The same goes for German. Here are a few of the endings for
verbs.
For the singular verbs, the endings include, "e", "st", and "t". For
the plural verbs, the endings include, "en", and "t" respectively.
What about irregular verbs? Do they not have a place in this
language too? They most certainly do, and let me show you just
what they are all about.
If we can quickly go back and recap what a verb stem is, we would
know that it does not change. This is true for all regular verbs in
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German. The stem stays constant. The only addition is the verb
ending, which is placed on the ending of course! This is not true
for irregular verbs.
Irregular German verbs sometimes need to have the stem changed.
In fact, many of the verbs in the German are known as "stem
changing", so be prepared for the unexpected. Let's have a look at
a couple examples of irregular verbs. Remember, as with anything,
you will get the grasp of this with practice and only with practice
will you master the basics. You will learn German, and have fun
doing so!
You may be interested to know that there are 170 irregular verbs in
the German language. That may seem a little daunting, but, what
about English? There are 283 irregular verbs in English. Which
languages have the least amount of irregular verbs? Well Chinese
takes the cake with this one, as it only has 1 irregular verb. But
their alphabet is crazy so we won't go there.

German Nouns
Well after learning about verbs, German nouns are not that
difficult. What is a noun again? Are they not things, places, ideas,
or people? Yes they most certainly are. Examples of nouns include
computer, desk, sun, sky, cloud, water, shoes, camera, cat, boat,
and so on.
German nouns can be plural, singular, masculine, feminine, or
neither. This depends on the use of course and what you are using
the noun for. Let us take a closer look at how to distinguish
between noun type and gender.
Nouns which are feminine in nature do not mean the noun is
feminine. There is a fine line here and it is important to understand.
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If the noun is masculine, it simply is referring to something of
masculine nature. An example would be a male waiter. This is a
masculine noun. A feminine noun would read a female waitress.
Now obviously these are silly examples but you get the point.
Choices of the noun can seem a little random and that is alright.
Each culture has its own history and way of shaping their
language. So sometimes you just have to roll with the facts folks.
However, there are almost always exceptions to rules governing
nouns.
Depending on the noun's suffix, it may or may not give away the
gender that it is. Nouns ending in "ik" normally are feminine.
Knowing the gender will come with practice and speaking the
German language. If you want a lot of practice with German, give
this course a try today. It has detailed games and audio with easy
words to learn and follow along with.
The suffix "in" is also a giveaway most of the time for a feminine
noun. Again though, there are a few words ending in "in" which
are not feminine. Also please note that the use of this can
sometimes be used for turning something that is masculine in
nature into a feminine word. The "er" ending means masculine
most of the time. Remember from previous lessons how certain
words may be feminine or masculine? Well if a noun is associated
with that word it is probably of the same gender. Keep this in mind
as you go through your learning.

German Participles
After all this, we come to German participles. What is a
participle? A participle is a word which can take on a different
form. This depends on the context of the sentence or what the
situation is all about. Let us take a closer look.
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German is a fun language to learn. It has a great ring to it along
with crisp clear words. However, there are a few obstacles which
we will all inevitably run into along the way. What are these
obstacles? They are the obstacles of participles.
German participles are words which can be used in more than one
way. They can cause problems if you do not know when to use
them. A headache in the least! Words such as halt, nur, aber, and
schon are included in the troublemakers. Why so much error
though? There is so much error because these words must be used
in different situations.
Translation is a difficult aspect of some participles. I mentioned
earlier in these lessons that not all words translate correctly. That is
true of some participles. The word just does not translate correctly.
These words are just misfits, plain and simple.
Please note that there are no present participles which are used like
the "ing" endings in English. There is no present progressive tense
in German and this is the reason why. So do not use participles in
this tense. Not even the German dictionary helps with dealing with
participles. A little ironic wouldn't you think?
Did you know that a past participle can also be used as an
adjective? The real difference between the usage of participles in
English and German is that German requires certain endings on the
participle if it precedes a noun. Make sure you know what form of
participle to use though. Past participles can also be used as an
adverb.
A common form of endings for the present participles in German is
the "end" ending. This is somewhat similar to the "ing" ending in
English. These types of participles can be used as an adverb or
perhaps an adjective. Again it depends on the context of the
sentence. Try to remember that endings must match the grammar
of the sentence. Everything is sort of "grouped" together. Present
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participles are used more in writing than in speaking. Why is this
so? Perhaps tradition, or just the way the language originated.

German Pronouns
Well you are almost completed with your journey of this free
course. I strongly recommend that you continue your learning with
this course. I believe it is hands down the best German learning
package available today. For many reasons I believe this is true.
Just to name a few real quick here, customer support, the price
(lowest out there), tools available, audio downloads, interactive
games, and more. But first, back to German pronouns.
English pronouns include words such as we, they, I, and so on. The
German pronouns are a little similar, but with a small twist. You
know how there are two ways of saying "you" in English? Well it
is double that in German!
The pronoun "ich" does not begin with a capital letter. This is
different from say, the letter "I" in English, which is always a
capital if on its own. The pronoun "ihr" can mean the plural of
"you". It can also mean "her". This is crazy is it not? No it is not,
be patient, you will learn in time.
Other things, such as pronouns in the third person, can take on
different meanings. They may be placed in for a masculine or
feminine noun. We already covered nouns though, so you should
have a basic understanding of how that works.
First person German pronouns are referring to the speaker. Second
person pronouns talk about the person who is being spoken too.
Lastly, the third person pronouns are used to substitute for nominal
phrases. Although with the substitution, it must have the same
gender, and case.
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The older tradition of language has sort of fallen by the wayside.
The polite forms of the word you, are really no longer relevant in
most of today's society. The "sie" you form is used in a general
way, when addressing pretty much anybody except yourself.
However, if you find yourself becoming lost, just use the formal
way of "Sie". Most relationships are formal anyways when you
first meet, later turning to a more casual way of saying hello. This
would be accomplished by using "du".

German Greetings
You may find it ironic that I chose to use German greetings as the
final lesson in this free course. However, I think it is appropriate
for more than one reason, you now have the basic understanding of
the language and how it is used. You also should head on over to
this course and pick yourself up a copy if you want to practice and
become proficient in German. I cannot recommend this program
highly enough.
German greetings are not that hard to master. Most of them are less
than four words. You can memorize the words as you see fit. You
can also use them as you see fit. These are very helpful for you
folks out there that are planning on traveling to Germany, or as the
natives call it, Deutschland.
Listed below I have put up a whole bunch of common greetings.
Some of these you may already know but that is alright. It never
hurts to practice something again. After all, practice makes perfect.
As you memorize these phrases, please keep in your mind what we
just went over. The usage of the word "you" is very different in
German than compared to English. Remember to use the formal
greeting and you should be ok most of the time. The usage of first
names only in greetings is particularly common.
27
As with all generations now, the German culture is becoming more
relaxed about the rules. However, the rules still apply and you
should approach the learning of the language with a strict
coherence to the way it has been spoken for many generations.
Their language in general, is a little more formal overall than
English. This is a good thing, after all, who ever said that being
polite was something to be ashamed about? I wish you the best in
your learning and I will see you in the members area of this
course.
Hello - Hallo
Goodbye - Auf Wiedersehen
Later! - Spter!
Have Fun - Haben Sie Spa
Bye - Tschuess
Merry Christmas - Frohe Weihnachten
Happy Easter - Frhliche Ostern
How Are You? - Wie Geht Es Ihnen?
I Am Fine - Ich Bin Fein
How Is The Weater? - Wie Das Wetter Ist?
What Time Is It? - Welche Zeit Es Ist?
Where Is The Bathroom? - Wo Das Badezimmer Ist?
May I Have The Bill? - Mag Ich Die Rechnung Haben?
I Would Like... - Ich Mchte...
Wonderful! - Wundervoll!
I Am Sorry - Ich Bin Traurig
Good Luck - Viel Glueck
Take Care - Mach's Gut
Cheers - Beifall
Great - Gro
May I? - Mag Ich?
No Thanks - Kein Dank
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Why Learn German?
This is quite a good question actually. Why learn German? Well
for starters, why would you not want to expand your personal
knowledge? The world is full of idiots and the remaining
intellectual few are dwindling. How many people just within your
inner circle, do you know that are able to speak a second language
fluently? Probably not very many I might imagine.
The world is rapidly becoming more populated and with time,
languages may become intermingled to the point where no nation
has any one major language. Look at the United States for
example. Spanish is now almost taking the cake as the most spoken
language in California. Who is to say that German won't one day
become a worldwide language?
The world is in need of translators and writers. The workforce is in
need and demand of people who have bilingual skills. The world is
a big place and someone who knows two languages instead of one
has a major advantage in the competitive edge of the business
world. The choice is yours for the taking.
Learning German does not have to be a painful experience. This
course ensures that the process is an easy fun filled experience.
You are able to play the audio tracks on your own personal audio
player if you wish. How many language products can boast about
that? Not very many can at all. I encourage you to continue the
process of education and joyful learning by picking yourself up a
copy of this course, and seeing exactly what German is all about.
Thanks for taking this course and I wish you the best.


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Success Story: James Brito
"Before I got this course, I only had a basic understanding of
German, and couldn't find the time to attend classes and tutorials.
Now, thanks to your lessons, I can learn the language whenever I
want, without forking over $500 for a ten-week class that I hardly
have the time for! The lessons have been great. I have greatly
increased my understanding of the pronunciation and vocabulary
necessary to carry out conversations in German.
Can't wait to go to Deutschland next year! The conversations are
also really easy to listen to, and the instructions are simple and
clear. I really like the Members Area, it has a colorful layout and is
easy to maneuver. The extra resources I get are great, too.
The MegaGerman game is really cool, and being able to read the e-
book online helps a lot-no worries if I forget to bring the paper
book with me. Oh yeah, and the voices in the online lessons are
very entertaining! Nik and Paul have a fun, entertaining chemistry.
Danke schon, and keep up the great work!"
-James Brito
NEW YORK, USA

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