and appearance; but in the latter the action falls upon the performer; in the former the action of the verb is performed by different performers who act one upon another. Sein Bruder hat sich verwundet; his brother wounded himself; here the verb is reflected. Sie haben beide zugleich gefeuert, und sich verwundet; they fired both at the same time, and wounded one another; here the verb sich verwunden is reciprocal. The latter of course is always in the plural, and many a pronominal verb conjugated with two pronouns, one in the nominative and the other in the accusative, may be a reflected verb in the sing. as we have just seen, and a reciprocal one in the plural. There are, however, cases, as in French, when it is uncertain whether the verb is reflected or reciprocal. Sie loben sich unaufhörlich, may be said of two individuals who are each in the habit of praising himself; they are constantly praising themselves; or of two individuals who are in the habit of praising one another. To remove the ambiguity in such sentences, we employ the word einander, one another, whenever the verb is reciprocal. Sie loben einander, they praise one another. 959. A few reflected verbs in German have the second pronoun in the dative. Ich habe mir eingebildet, I have fancied to myself; Du hast dir viel angemasset, thou hast assumed a great deal to thyself. The number of reflected verbs, in general, is very considerable in German. We have even some that are employed only in the third person neuter, with es, “ it," and sich," itself." Speaking of the weather, we say: es bewölkt sich, it grows cloudy; es trübt sich, or, es bezicht sich, it gets overcast. We also say: est versteht sich, it is well understood, as a matter of course, exactly like the French, cela s'entend (it understands itself.) 960. We have besides, many reflected verbs made of either active or neuter verbs, with the addition of an adjective; as sich lahm reiten, to ride one's-self lame; sich müde laufen, to run one's-self tired; sich heiser sprechen, to speak one's-self hoarse; sich krank lachen, to laugh one's-self ill. These are, in fact, elliptical expressions, in which the verb machen must be understood to refer to the adjective employed. Sich krank lachen is tantamount to sich durch lachen krank machen, to make one's-self ill by laughing. 961.-22. There are in German a great many impersonal verbs with es, "it," like the English. Es regnet, it rains; es donnert, it thunders; es geschieht, it happens, &c. Some of them have a personal pronoun after them, on which the action falls es hungert mirh, I am hungry; es schläfert mich, I am sleepy. Others take the dative: es ahnet mir, I forebode; es ekelt mir, I nauseate; and the es may be omitted, in which case the pronoun personal stands first; mich hungert, mich schläfert, mir ahnet, mir ekelt. The Germans can also, like the French, render any verb impersonal by means of the indefinite general pronoun man (on). Man sagt, it is said, (on dit). Man glaubt, it is thought, (on croit). Man erwarlet den König, they expect the king; the king is expected, (on attend le roi,) sec. 5. 962.-23. The irregular verbs in German are about 200, and mostly verbs of frequent recurrence. Many have the same irregularities as the corresponding English verbs. We say, ich finde, I find; ich fand, I found; ich habe gefunden, I have found; ich scheine, I shine; ich schien, I shone; ich habe geschienen, I have shone; ich komme, ich kam, ich bin gekommen. 963.-24. Verbs of reminiscence govern the genitive, sec. 550, and diminutive verbs are in eln; as lachen, to laugh, gives, with the diphthong, lächeln, to smile; klingen, to ring, gives klingeln, to tinkle, &c. 964.-25. The inseparable compound verbs keep the word or particle prefixed to the radical verb constantly before that verb, and closely connected with it through all its tenses and moods. They may be formed either with a substantive, as Abendessen, to sup, to eat in the evening; Briefwechseln, to correspond, to exchange letters; lobsprechen, to praise, to speak praises, &c.; or with an adj. as vollbringen, sec. 626; but these are but few; or with a particle, which, though no longer a preposition, still influences the meaning of the verb to which it is attached these particles are ten in number; after, be, emp, ent, er, ge, mis, ur, ver, and zer; or lastly, the inseparable compound verbs are formed with prepositions that are sometimes separated from them, as durch, hinter, über, um, unter, wider, and wieder. These inseparable compound verbs offer no great difficulty. But 965.-26. The separable compound verbs require the particular attention of the learner, because the word or par ticle prefixed to the verb in the infinitive and participle past, is in the two simple tenses of the indicative and conjunctive, and in the imperative invariably placed after the verb, and even after the government of the verb and the circumstances and modifications of the action expressed by that verb, unless the sentence be a dependent one, subservient to an antecedent idea, or influenced by a pronoun relative or a conjunction, which cause the verb to come last, in which cases the word prefixed to the infinitive remains before the verb in the simple tenses enumerated above. This is a construction peculiar to the German language, and we have not disguised its apparent inconvenience, sec. 838. But a frequent perusal of the fourteen pages in the Key to the German Language, from page 107 to 121, will soon enable the student to master the difficulty. The nouns, particles, prepositions, and adverbs, which help to form separable compound verbs are enumerated at length and properly explained in the Nature and Genius of the German Language, from page 246 to page 331, and form altogether, with the chapter on the inseparable compound verbs, a treatise on the nature, power, and effect of particles tacked to German verbs, which has been pronounced extremely valuable by many learned and intelligent critics. We refer the more advanced scholar to those two chapters. The separable compound verbs have been noticed in the practical remarks of the LINGUIST, whenever they occurred; they are, however, too numerous to be recapitulated here. 966.-27. The Germans use their two simple tenses like the English; but as they have not the compound imperfect, I was writing, he was reading, they are forced to employ their imperfect for two actions which differ with regard to the time at which they were performed, and to the duration of that time: whilst he was playing, we heard the report of a pistol, (tandis qu'il jouoit, nous entendîmes un coup de pistolet), is in German, während dass er spielte, or wie er spielte, hörten wir einen Pistolenschuss. Spielte and hörten are both the imperfect. The imperfect of the conjunctive is often employed instead of the conditional past or plusquamperfect of the conjunctive, sec. 615; almost every infinitive may be converted into a noun subsantive, sec. 284; and we use the infinitive active in many cases in which the English require the infinitive passive, sec. 682. 967.-28. Adverbs are generally adjectives at the same time, sec. 944. 968.-29. The government of Prepositions must be attended to. They are called in German Vorwörter. The two following couplets contain, the first the principal prepositions which govern the dative, and the second those which govern the accusative : : 1. Daphnis, addressing a fountain, says:— "Nach dir schmacht'ich, zu dir eil'ich du geliebte Quelle du? 2. Philemon says to Philarist : - "Durch dich ist die Welt mir schön, ohne dich würd'ich sie hassen, 969. The prepositions here enumerated will be found in the following sections :-an, 50, 696; auf, 123, 161; aus, 508; durch, 308; gegen, 131; in, 8; längs, 140; mit, 66; nach, 52; ohne, 112; um, 234, 276; unter, 69; über, 230; von, 9; vor, 38; wieder, 15, 131; and the student may be reminded of the great importance of hin and her, which mark the direction in which the action is performed, 433; either from or towards the speaker. But whenever the direction has no reference to the speaker, her marks the "terminus a quo," Wo weht der Wind her? Er wehet von der See her; and hin marks the "terminus ad quem," and either with regard to both space and time. Wo weht der Wind hin? Er wehet nach der See hin. Wie lange ist es noch hin bis Ostern? Wie lange ist es her? This is a beauty in the German language, of which the French, who look upon all other languages with the fanciful notion of the great superiority of their own, have not the smallest idea. 970.-30. Conjunctions and Interjections.-Conjunctions are called in German Bindewörter; they offer no great difficulty, as they never govern the conjunctive or subjunctive, but when there is a contingency or uncertainty. Most of them throw the verb to the end of the sentence, and in compound tenses the auxiliary stands the last. We say, als ich in Frankreich war; and als ich drei Jahre in Frank reich verlebt hatte. The principal conjunctions which require this construction, are: Als, when, as (in point of time, lorsque); auf dass, in order that, (afin que, pour que); da, as, since (in point of cause and time, comme); damit, in order that (afin que, pour que); dass, sec. 22; which may be omitted when it is simply connective, sec. 515; bevor, ehe, before, (avant que), sec. 601; bis, bis dass, 547; falls, im Fall, auf den Fall, in case, (au cas que); indem, 869; massen, whereas, (comme); nachdem, after, when, (après que); ob, 740, 776; obgleich, obschon, 706; seitdem or seit, since (depuis que); sobald, as soon as, (aussitôt que,) 637; but spelt in two words, so bald, it is the adverb soon." Ungeachtet, which by some is spelt ohngeacht, notwithstanding, although, (malgré que); wann, when (quand); wenn, if (si), which may be omitted, 75; wenn auch, wenn gleich, wenn schon, 641; weil, because, (purceque); warum, weshalb, weswegen, on which account, wherefore, (pourquoi); wie, 67, 254; wiewohl, 630; wo, 545; wofern, if, (si.)-31. Of the Interjections, which require no particular study, we have noticed only Bürger's favourite, hui! sec. 577. 971. We subjoin a letter on the pronunciation of the German language: 972. Sehr spät, lieber Freund, ist mir Ihr Schreiben "dass Aussprache kein Grundsatz der Rechtschreibung sey," zu Gesichte gekommen. Sonst hätte ich Ihnen schon längst meine Freude darüber bezeugt, dass endlich ein Sprachkenner, wie Sie, ein Wort zu rechter Zeit redet, und der Wuth, unsere Rechtschreibung zu reformiren, sein Ansehen entgegensetzt. 973. Kann man sich in der That etwas tolleres denken, als die Rechtschreibung nach einem Grundsatz reformiren zu wollen, der gar kein Grundstaz ist, weil es gar keine Aussprache giebt die in zweier Menschen Munde die nehmliche wäre! Wie soll es auch möglich seyn die unendlichen Schattirungen vou Tönen, die die Lippen ausdrücken, durch Zeichen darzustellen? Wo würden wir mit unsern armen fünf Vokalen bleiben, wenn die Aussprache ihrer wenigstens zwanzig zählt? 974. Die Englische und Französische Sprache sind der augenscheinlichste Beweiss dass die Nachbildung der Schreibung, nach der Aussprache ein Unding sey. In alten |