Unlocking German With Paul Noble

by Paul Noble

  I have given the money to the taxi driver / I gave the money to the taxi driver / I did give the money to the taxi driver. (female)

  Ich habe das Geld der Taxifahrerin gegeben. (ikh hah-ber das gelt dair taxi-far-er-in ge-gaib-urn)

  to the baby

  dem Baby (daim bay-bee)

  I have given the milk to the baby / I gave the milk to the baby / I did give the milk to the baby.

  Ich habe die Milch dem Baby gegeben. (ikh hah-ber dee milkh daim bay-bee ge-gaib-urn)

  I have given the key to the girl / I gave the key to the girl / I did give the key to the girl.

  Ich habe den Schlüssel dem Mädchen gegeben. (ikh hah-ber dain shloos-all dem maid-shen ge-gaib-urn)

  They have sent the bill to the taxi driver / They sent the bill to the taxi driver / They did send the bill to the taxi driver. (male)

  Sie haben die Rechnung dem Taxifahrer geschickt. (zee harb-urn dee rekh-nung daim taxi-far-er ge-shikt)

  We have sent the money to the taxi driver / We sent the money to the taxi driver / We did send the money to the taxi driver. (female)

  Wir haben das Geld der Taxifahrerin geschickt. (veer harb-urn das gelt dair taxi-far-er-in ge-shikt)

  Well, that’s it, you’re done with Chapter 4! Remember, don’t try to hold onto or remember anything you’ve learnt here. Everything you learnt in earlier chapters will be brought back up and reinforced in later chapters.You don’t need to do anything or make any effort to memorise anything.

  Between Chapters Tip!

  Use your “hidden moments”

  A famous American linguist, Barry Farber, learnt a great part of the languages he spoke during the “hidden moments” he found in everyday life. Such hidden moments might include the time he spent waiting for a train to arrive or for the kids to come out of school, or for the traffic to get moving in the morning. These hidden moments would otherwise have been useless and unimportant in his daily life but, for someone learning a language, they can be some of the most useful minutes of the day.

  Breaking up your studies into lots of little bits like this can also be useful as a way to help stop them from feeling like a great effort or from becoming impractical when your life gets especially hectic.

  So, keep this book in your pocket whenever you go out and then make use of such “hidden moments” whenever they come along!

  CHAPTER 5 (1)

  My father’s car is old and shabby.

  My father’s car is old and shabby.

  What is it about some dads and their cars? Either they’re obsessives who spend their entire weekends polishing them to oblivion or slobs who use them as waste receptacles.

  Well, the sentence at the start of this chapter will not only allow you to pass comment on such behaviour but it’s also going to introduce a crucial aspect of German to you. So let’s get building it!

  “It is” in German is:

  es ist

  (es ist)

  So how would you say “it is good”?

  Es ist gut.

  (es ist goot)

  How about “it is romantic”?

  Es ist romantisch.

  (es ist roe-marn-tish)

  “Old” in German is:

  alt

  (alt)

  So how would you say “it is old”?

  Es ist alt.

  (es ist alt)

  “My car” in German is:

  mein Auto

  (mine ow-toe)

  So how would you say “my car is old”?

  Mein Auto ist alt.

  (mine ow-toe ist alt)

  And “my car is good”?

  Mein Auto ist gut.

  (mine ow-toe ist goot)

  Time to swap some letters!

  Letter Swap Number 3

  Alright, let’s try a third letter swap.

  This time, we’re going to take describing words that end in “y” in English and swap this “y” for an “ig” in German.

  So, for instance, if we swap the “y” at the end of the English word “hasty” for “ig” we will get “hastig” which means “hasty” in German. If we do this swap again with the “y” at the end of the English word “hungry” we will get the word that means “hungry” in German – “hungrig”.We can also do the same with “sandy”, which becomes “sandig”, “frosty”, which becomes “frostig”, and “windy”, which becomes “windig”.

  So, we find that in German what would be a “y” at the end of a describing word in English will be an “ig” in German. Simple!

  Let’s see how we can use this to begin expanding our range of expression in German!

  “Shabby” in German is:

  schäbig

  (shay-big)

  So how would you say “My car is shabby”?

  Mein Auto ist schäbig.

  (mine ow-toe ist shay-big)

  And again, how would you say “My car is old”?

  Mein Auto ist alt.

  (mine ow-toe ist alt)

  “And” in German is:

  und

  (oont)

  So how would you say “My car is old and shabby”?

  Mein Auto ist alt and schäbig.

  (mine ow-toe ist alt oont shay-big)

  “Dad”, or more literally “father”, in German is:

  Vater

  (far-ter)

  So how would you say “my father”?

  mein Vater

  (mine far-ter)

  And how would you say “my father is old”?

  Mein Vater ist alt.

  (mine far-ter ist alt)

  Remembering to swap the “y“ for an “ig”, how would you say “hungry” in German?

  hungrig

  (hoong-grig)

  And so how would you say “my father is hungry”?

  Mein Vater ist hungrig.

  (mine far-ter ist hoong-grig)

  The English word “dreary” used to have the meaning of “sad” or “sorrowful”. Although this meaning has been somewhat lost in English, it remains in German.

  So, let’s try using a couple of the letter swapping techniques we’ve learnt so far to convert the English word “dreary” into the German word for “sad”.

  First of all, we’ll begin by swapping the “y” at the end of “dreary” for an “ig”. Do that now – what do you get?

  drearig

  Now, we also learnt at the beginning of Chapter 2 that we can swap a “d” in English for a “t” in German. So do that with “drearig” now – what do you get?

  trearig

  These two letter swaps combined have got us very close to the modern German word for “sad”, which is:

  traurig

  (trow-rig)

  You will come across words such as this in German every so often; they are related to English words but have shifted quite a bit over time and it can be interesting to try to rediscover them through letter swaps.

  So, anyway, in German, sad = dreary = traurig.

  Now that you know this, how would you say “my father is sad”?

  Mein Vater ist traurig.

  (mine far-ter ist trow-rig)

  And again, how would you say “my father is old”?

  Mein Vater ist alt.

  (mine far-ter ist alt)

  We learnt in the previous chapter that the words for “the” in German can change when you want to say “to the”.

  So, for instance, what is “the taxi driver” (male)?

  der Taxifahrer

  (dair taxi-far-er)

  And what is “to the taxi driver” (male)?

  dem Taxifahrer

  (daim taxi-far-er)

  And what is “the taxi driver” (female)?

  die Taxifahrerin

  (dee taxi-far-er-in)

  And what would be “to the taxi driver” (female)?

  der Taxifahrerin

  (dair taxi-far-er-in)

  And what is “the baby”?

  das Baby

  (das bay-bee)

 
And what is “to the baby”?

  dem Baby

  (daim bay-bee)

  What is “the mother” in German?

  die Mutter

  (dee moo-ter)

  So, what would be “to the mother”?

  der Mutter

  (dair moo-ter)

  What is “the father”?

  der Vater

  (dair far-ter)

  So how would you say “to the father”?

  dem Vater

  (daim far-ter)

  So, you are familiar now with these changes caused to “the” when you want to say “to the” in German.

  However, these changes to the words for “the” are not only caused when you are saying “to the” in German. These exact same changes can also be caused by certain “trigger words”. For instance, the German word for “of ” can cause these exact same changes.

  “Of ” in German is:

  von

  (fon)

  And “von” will cause the exact same changes to the word “the” as occur when you want to say “to the”.

  Now, what is “the mother”?

  die Mutter

  (dee moo-ter)

  And what is “to the mother”?

  der Mutter

  (dair moo-ter)

  So, how do you think you would say “of the mother”?

  von der Mutter

  (fon dair moo-ter)

  So, the “von” has triggered the same changes that occur when you want to say “to the”.

  What is “the baby”?

  das Baby

  (das bay-bee)

  And what is “to the baby”?

  dem Baby

  (daim bay-bee)

  So how would you say “of the baby”?

  von dem Baby

  (fon daim bay-bee)

  Finally, what is “the father”?

  der Vater

  (dair far-ter)

  And what is “to the father”?

  dem Vater

  (daim far-ter)

  And so how would you say “of the father”?

  von dem Vater

  (fon daim far-ter)

  Now, you may well be wondering, why on earth would I want to say “of the mother”, “of the baby”, “of the father” etc?

  Good question.

  The answer is that, if you want to say something like “the baby’s milk” or “the mother’s car” or “the father’s beer” in German, then what you will actually say is “the milk of the baby”, “the car of the mother” or “the beer of the father”.

  Let’s try doing that now.

  Again, what was “the car” in German?

  das Auto

  (das ow-toe)

  And so how would you say “the father’s car” (literally “the car of the father”)?

  das Auto von dem Vater

  (das ow-toe fon daim far-ter)

  And, pretending it can drive for a moment, “the baby’s car”?

  das Auto von dem Baby

  (das ow-toe fon daim bay-bee)

  And what about “the mother’s car”?

  das Auto von der Mutter

  (das ow-toe fon dair moo-ter)

  What is “the beer”?

  das Bier

  (das bee-er)

  So how would you say “the mother’s beer”?

  das Bier von der Mutter

  (das bee-er fon dair moo-ter)

  What is “the milk”?

  die Milch

  (dee milkh)

  And so how would you say “the baby’s milk”?

  die Milch von dem Baby

  (dee milkh fon daim bay-bee)

  And again, how would you say “the father’s car”?

  das Auto von dem Vater

  (das ow-toe fon daim far-ter)

  Do you remember how to say “my father” in German?

  mein Vater

  (mine far-ter)

  If you want to say “of my father” in German, the word for “my” will change in the same kind of way that “the” changes.

  Again, how did we say “of the father”?

  von dem Vater

  (fon daim far-ter)

  If you want “of my father” you will say:

  von meinem Vater

  (fon mine-erm far-ter)

  So, the change that has happened to “my” matches the change that happened to “the”. “Der” became “dem” and “mein” has become “meinem”. Both now end with this same “em”.

  Now, if you want to say “my father’s car” you will simply say “the car of my father” – how would you say that?

  das Auto von meinem Vater

  (das ow-toe fon mine-erm far-ter)

  Now again, how would you say “the baby’s car”

  (literally “the car of the baby”)?

  das Auto von dem Baby

  (das ow-toe fon daim bay-bee)

  So how do you think you would say “my baby’s car”?

  das Auto von meinem Baby

  (das ow-toe fon mine-erm bay-bee)

  So once more, the change that has happened to “my” matches the change that happened to “the”. “Das” became “dem” and so “mein” has become “meinem”. Both end with the same “em”.

  What was “the mother’s car” (literally “the car of the mother”)?

  das Auto von der Mutter

  (das ow-toe fon dair moo-ter)

  And so how do you think you would say “my mother’s car”?

  das Auto von meiner Mutter

  (das ow-toe fon mine-air moo-ter)

  And so again, the change that has happened to “my” matches the change that happened to “the”. “Die” became “der” and so “mein” has become “meiner”. Both end with the same “er”.

  What is the German word for “is”?

  ist

  (ist)

  And again, what is “shabby” in German?

  schäbig

  (shay-big)

  And how would you say “old and shabby”?

  alt und schäbig

  (alt oont shay-big)

  So how would you say “my mother’s car is old and shabby”?

  Das Auto von meiner Mutter ist alt und schäbig.

  (das ow-toe fon mine-air moo-ter ist alt oont shay-big)

  And how would you say “my father’s car is old and shabby”?

  Das Auto von meinem Vater ist alt und schäbig.

  (das ow-toe fon mine-erm far-ter ist alt oont shay-big)

  Excellent!We’ve now built the sentence that we started with at beginning of the chapter and in the process have begun to understand one of the most crucial aspects of German.

  CHAPTER 5 (2)

  The car my’s father’s is old and shabby. Erm, what?

  The car my’s father’s is old and shabby. Erm, what?

  Hmm, that’s a weird sentence, isn’t it? It has to make you wonder if the author has forgotten how to write in English, let alone how to teach German.

  Well, let us hope not!

  Actually, the strange way I have written the above sentence will come to make sense in just a few moments and, as it does so, it will allow you to learn what is normally one of the most confusing aspects of German with relative ease.

  Let’s begin…

  What is “the car” in German?

  das Auto

  (das ow-toe)

  And how would you say “my father’s car”?

  das Auto von meinem Vater

  (das ow-toe fon mine-erm far-ter)

  So, as we learnt in Part 1 of this chapter, this literally means “the car of my father”.

  We therefore know that if we want to say who something belongs to we can use this same type of construction. So, “my father’s car” becomes “the car of my father”, “my baby’s milk” becomes “the milk of my baby”, and “my mother’s wine” becomes “the wine of my mother” and so on.

  It is important to be aware of this because otherwise it would be impossible
to understand the changes that occur to words like “the” and “my” in German.

  And in fact, once you do understand the types of changes that occur to “the” and “my” in German, the language really becomes far easier to learn.

  So, just one more time, how would you say “my father’s car”?

  das Auto von meinem Vater

  (das ow-toe fon mine-erm far-ter)

  Now, actually, this isn’t the only way to say this in German. There is an additional way, which is in fact somewhat similar to the way we would say “my father’s car” in English.

  In English, we say “my father’s car” – notice how we add an “ ’s” to the end of “father” to show who the car belongs to: it’s my father’s car.

  Well, that same “ ’s” can be used to show who something belongs to in German. I’ll show you how:

  First, we’ll take the German word for “father” (Vater) and add an “s” onto the end it, turning it into “father’s”. Do that now and tell me, what will “father’s” be in German?

  Vaters

  (far-ters)

  Notice how German doesn’t bother with an apostrophe here – it’s written as Vaters, not Vater’s.

  So, we now know how to say “father’s” but if we want to say “my father’s car” in German, we also need to add an “s” onto the end of “my”, so that we end up effectively saying my’s father’s.

  To do this, remind me, how you would say “my father is hungry”?

  Mein Vater ist hungrig.

  (mein far-ter ist hoong-grig)

  And “my father is old”?

  Mein Vater ist alt.

  (mine far-ter ist alt)

  So, what is the word for “my”?

  mein

  (mine)

  Now, we’re going to add an “s” onto the end of this “mein”. However, “meins” isn’t as easy to pronounce as it could be, so in German you actually add “es” to help make the “s” easier to pronounce. So, add “es” onto the end of “mein” now and tell me, what do you end up with?

  meines

  (mine-es)

  And again, what was “father’s”?