German All-in-One For Dummies, with CD

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Is the noun part of a prepositional phrase? If so, is the preposition accusative, dative, or genitive? If not, examine the function of the noun. Which noun is the subject, object, direct object, and indirect object? Learning to speak German fluently is an exercise in patience and practice. It takes time and effort, and you won’t get there without making a few mistakes along the way. All of the above options have one thing in common: they cost money. For those learners who want to be more conscious of their budgets or are okay to spend more time finding and working with more cost-effective content, there are still plenty of options! Learning German With Tandem Partners

You may be looking for particular information while reading this book. To make certain types of information easier for you to find, the following icons have been placed in the left-hand margins throughout the book: The dative case is slightly more complicated than the accusative. Take a look at the dative article forms to see if you can spot the differences: This book is divided by topic: first into parts and then into chapters. The following sections tell you what types of information you can find in each part. Part I: Getting Started As does every language, German contains some false friends — those words that look very similar to English but have a completely different meaning. As you read the following list, you can see why you should treat any new German word with kid gloves, especially if it looks like an English word, until, that is, you find out for sure what it means in English.This part gives you the tools you need to take your German on the road, whether you’re looking to change money, find a place to stay, plan a trip, or take public or private transportation. There’s even a chapter on handling emergencies. Part IV: The Part of Tens

But you might have a lot of questions about how to learn German or what it takes to get started — or why it’s even worthwhile at all. The good news is you can rest assured that learning the German language is an effort worth undertaking. With the right technology to guide you in your journey, you’ll see your efforts pay off in so many ways. One of the best parts of learning with Babbel is being able to fit lessons in seamlessly when you want them and where you want them. Our bite-size lessons take roughly between 10 and 20 minutes to complete and can be squeezed into your already busy schedule, whether you’re on your commute or waiting for a pot of water to boil as you cook dinner. GrammaticallySpeaking.eps Languages are full of quirks that may trip you up if you’re not prepared for them. This icon points to discussions of important grammar points. Another similarity with English is that the German indefinite article ein/eine doesn’t have a plural form. Depending on how you’re describing something plural, you may or may not need to use the plural definite article. Consider the following generalized statement, which requires no article: In Zermatt sind Autos verboten. ( Cars are forbidden in Zermatt [Switzerland].) Die Frau liebt den Mann . (The woman loves the man). Den Mann is the direct object in this sentence and takes the accusative case. Die Frau is the subject and takes the nominative case.German modal verbs are ones like müssen (“must”), können (“can,” “to be able to”) and sollen (“should,” “to ought to”) that come before other verbs like singen and schwimmen. As mentioned above, when these irregular verbs appear in German sentences, they are conjugated and change verb endings whereas the other verbs stay in the infinitive form and move to the end of the sentence. So, to say, “I can sing the song,” you’d say Ich kann das Lied singen, where kann is the form of können used with the pronoun ich (“I”) and singen remains unchanged. German Nouns I wanted a bit of a birds-eye view - a framework of the language - and this book delivered that perfectly. The light tone was consistent not only with the humor in the comics, but simply by keeping with what would be more important for people to learn. The "For Dummies" books always provide their assumptions at the beginning, clearly laying out who their target audience is (I wish more self-help books would do this) and so I knew going in that this book was geared toward someone who would be more interested in speaking German than reading it, and intended to travel to Germany. In actuality, I'd rather learn to read it than speak it (no need to speak it) and have no plans to visit anytime soon - however, I love learning about other areas. This actually served as a mini travel guide giving tips about what to expect in restaurants compared to the U.S., stores, how to send postal mail, how to use an ATM, etc. I don't know why, but I find those things interesting. What good is committing to learning a new language if you’ll forget it before you even have a chance to use it? That’s why your personalized Babbel Review feature is optimized to help you retain the information you’re learning. Whether it helps you master other languages faster and more easily or it gives you a new understanding of the English you already speak, there’s no doubt that if you learn German, you’ll have a learning advantage right from the start! How To Speak German Fluently