A Conversation for The h2g2 Language Thing - GERMAN Department
Language Thing-German BEGINNERS thread
puzzlella (playing word games, solving puzzles) Posted Mar 25, 2005
My confusion was due to the verb being at the end of the sentence. In English we don't say "you would have them the day before to cook!"
Language Thing-German BEGINNERS thread
manson_rocks - When all of your wishes are granted, many of your dreams will be destroyed. Posted Mar 25, 2005
I'm so lost. *pulls out a map to help her find herself*
Language Thing-German BEGINNERS thread
puzzlella (playing word games, solving puzzles) Posted Mar 27, 2005
Hallo alle. Frohe Ostern!
Hello Everyone. Happy Easter!
Language Thing-German BEGINNERS thread
katkodl Posted Mar 27, 2005
Hello Danielle!
Don’t worry, just ask if you have questions.
I’ll post the lecture about “comparison” later this week. It’s kind of finished, but I’m not too happy with it.
Wünsche allen frohe Ostern!
Happy Easter to everyone!
katkodl
Language Thing-German BEGINNERS thread
katkodl Posted Apr 30, 2005
I'm sorry for the delay!
My following post will be a lesson about comparison. It's not complete - I have no grammar books, and I don't trust in WWW sources, and yeah, I'm pretty busy at the moment.
If you have questions just ask. If you find there's something wrong or missing in my lecture please let me know and I'll fix it.
Language Thing-German BEGINNERS thread
katkodl Posted Apr 30, 2005
COMPARISON
Let’s go for an example to get started:
oft – öfter – öftest / am öftesten
often – more often – most often
Note: “öftest” is very formal and obsolete. That’s why I’ll leave it out throughout my explanations. I’ll only teach you its equivalent, “am öftesten”.
schön – schöner – am schönsten
pretty – prettier - prettiest
alt – älter – am ältesten
old – older - oldest
groß – größer – am größten
big – bigger – biggest
klein – kleiner – am kleinsten
small – smaller – smallest
großartig – großartiger – am großartigsten
great – greater - greatest
leise – leiser – am leisesten
silent – more silent – most silent
Please note: we NEVER use “mehr“ (more) to express comparison.
You have to add “er” for the first "Steigerungsform" (öfter, schöner, älter, größer…)
When a word ends with an “e” you only need to add an “r” for the first “Steigerungsform”, as in “leiser”.
Add “(e)sten” for the second “Steigerungsform”. Don’t forget about the “am” that is preceding it.
Why “esten” instead of “sten” in some cases?
That’s due to the German pronunciation. While “nst” (as in “am schönsten”) is a common combination of letters in German, “tst” is not – therefore you have to say “am öftesten”, and not “am öftsten”.
When the word you want to compare ends with “ß” you needn’t add another s, just add “ten” as in “am größten”).
I’m afraid there is no pattern in “o” changing into “ö”, “a” into “ä” or even “u” into “ü”.
Usage:
than = als
Ich bin kleiner als du.
I am smaller than you (are).
Ich bin am kleinsten (von allen).
I am the smallest (of all).
Sie ist schöner als ich.
She is more beautiful than I am.
Sie ist am schönsten (von allen).
She is [the] most beautiful [one] (of all).
Ich mag am liebsten Katzen.
(Ich mag Katzen am liebsten.)
(If you want to emphasize „cats“: Katzen mag ich am liebsten.)
I like cats best.
Ich mag am wenigsten Spinnen.
(Ich mag Spinnen am wenigsten.)
(If you want to emphasize „spiders“: Spinnen mag ich am wenigsten.)
I like spiders least.
Ich mag Katzen lieber als Spinnen.
I like cats better than spiders.
Ich mag Spinnen weniger als Katzen.
I like spiders less than cats.
I’m sure I’ve forgotten about the one or other rule… If something doesn’t add up to you please ask. If it occurs to you that I’ve forgotten about something (important) please let me know and I’ll include the missing information.
If you want to form sentences I will correct them for you.
Language Thing-German BEGINNERS thread
Clampy Posted May 4, 2005
Am I enterd into the german beginners thread now. Ok I have done as you said.
Es heist Ratkodl.
Its name is ratkodl.
Tim Clamp
Language Thing-German BEGINNERS thread
katkodl Posted May 4, 2005
Hello Tim Clamp!
That's a nice sentence!
Please note:
"Es heißt Ratkodl".
I suppose you don't have the letter "ß" on your keyboard, instead of "ß" you can write "ss":
"Es heisst Ratkodl".
Instead of ö, ä and ü you may write "oe", "ae" and "ue" by the way.
Language Thing-German BEGINNERS thread
Clampy Posted May 4, 2005
Thank you for your information. Am I now on the beginners thread. Somebody ( I think her name was kat) told me to register for the beginners thread in german and do the same in latin. Have I done this for german. if I hoave now to do it for latin.
Tim Clamp
Language Thing-German BEGINNERS thread
aka Bel - A87832164 Posted May 4, 2005
Hallo Tim Clamp, willkommen bei den deutsch Anfängern
Hello Tim Clamp, welcome to the 'German beginners'
Language Thing-German BEGINNERS thread
Tavaron da Quirm - Arts Editor Posted May 4, 2005
*stürzt sich aus dem Fenster*
*jumps out of the window*
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!
Language Thing-German BEGINNERS thread
Kat - From H2G2 Posted May 4, 2005
Ach!
Hey Tim you're definitely in the right place. What would be a good thing to do, is to go back to the start of this thread and read through what's happened....mainly the LONG posts which are the lessons. Then you can practice bits as you read them and ratkodl will be happy to correct them for you.
Just ignore all the bits where I tried to teach the lesson
Actually it might do all of us good to go back and write a paragraph say, using what we've learned so far...yes that includes you Dani
Kat
Language Thing-German BEGINNERS thread
manson_rocks - When all of your wishes are granted, many of your dreams will be destroyed. Posted May 5, 2005
Noooo, not me. I've had enough German for one week, as I was behind in my German work and had to do 4 weeks of it to catch up this week. Nya. Last night I even had a dream where people around me kept talking in German and I was trying to get the jist of what they were saying. Too... much.... German.... *dies*
Language Thing-German BEGINNERS thread
Kat - From H2G2 Posted May 5, 2005
You'll never learn it well if you approach it like that. Do you get tired of talking and writing in English?? I suspect not if you had only done as much as you have of German this week
Language Thing-German BEGINNERS thread
manson_rocks - When all of your wishes are granted, many of your dreams will be destroyed. Posted May 5, 2005
True... I don't get tired of English... but I like things I'm good at.
Language Thing-German BEGINNERS thread
manson_rocks - When all of your wishes are granted, many of your dreams will be destroyed. Posted May 5, 2005
But... it's evil with the homeschooling I don't have other students at my level to do the conversations with and stuff... and typing it isn't really the same... you know...? Baaah...
Key: Complain about this post
Language Thing-German BEGINNERS thread
- 401: puzzlella (playing word games, solving puzzles) (Mar 25, 2005)
- 402: manson_rocks - When all of your wishes are granted, many of your dreams will be destroyed. (Mar 25, 2005)
- 403: puzzlella (playing word games, solving puzzles) (Mar 27, 2005)
- 404: katkodl (Mar 27, 2005)
- 405: katkodl (Apr 30, 2005)
- 406: katkodl (Apr 30, 2005)
- 407: Clampy (May 4, 2005)
- 408: katkodl (May 4, 2005)
- 409: Clampy (May 4, 2005)
- 410: katkodl (May 4, 2005)
- 411: aka Bel - A87832164 (May 4, 2005)
- 412: Tavaron da Quirm - Arts Editor (May 4, 2005)
- 413: katkodl (May 4, 2005)
- 414: Tavaron da Quirm - Arts Editor (May 4, 2005)
- 415: Kat - From H2G2 (May 4, 2005)
- 416: manson_rocks - When all of your wishes are granted, many of your dreams will be destroyed. (May 5, 2005)
- 417: Kat - From H2G2 (May 5, 2005)
- 418: manson_rocks - When all of your wishes are granted, many of your dreams will be destroyed. (May 5, 2005)
- 419: Tavaron da Quirm - Arts Editor (May 5, 2005)
- 420: manson_rocks - When all of your wishes are granted, many of your dreams will be destroyed. (May 5, 2005)
More Conversations for The h2g2 Language Thing - GERMAN Department
Write an Entry
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."