ÀҾ˹éÒ˹ѧÊ×Í
PDF
ePub

2

Ich musz dich doch noch etwas fragen,

Was, rief er, spricht man denn von mir?

Das, sprach der Staar, das weisz ich nicht zu sagen,
Denn keine Seele redt von dir.-

So will ich, fuhr er fort, mich an den Undank rächen,
Und ewig von mir selber sprechen.

THE CUCKOO.

A Cuckoo spoke to a Starling which had fled from the town. What do they say, he began to scream, what do they say in the town of our melodies? What say they of the Nightingale?-The whole town praise her songs. And of the Lark? he cried again.-Half the town praise the sound of her voice. And of the Blackbird? he went on.Him too they praise here and there. I must, however, still ask you something. What, he called out, what do they then say of me?-That, said the Starling, I cannot tell; for not a soul speaks of you. Then will I, he went on, revenge myself of this ingratitude, and for ever speak of myself.

2. DER KUCKUCK.-Der is the article definite, singular, masculine; birds whose names do not end in e being of the masculine gender, except die Nachtigall and die Amsel, mentioned in this fable, and die Drossel, the Thrush, die Wachtel, the Quail, and die Elster, the Magpie.

3. Ein Kuckuck sprach zu einem Staar. Ein is the article indefinite a, for both the masculine and neuter, and also the numeral one. It is therefore safer to remember German words with the article definite. THE, der, masc.; die, fem.; and das, neuter. Sprach, spoke, is the third person singular of the imperfect of the indicative of the irregular verb sprechen, to speak, to say; which has gesprochen in the participle past. When it signifies to converse, it is construed with mit, and the dative. Er sprach mit meinem Bruder; he spoke with my brother. Ich spreche mit Ihnen; I speak with you. Zu einem Staar, to a Starling-the dative masculine, with the indefinite article.

4. Der aus der Stadt.-Der here means "which." The German articles definite are also pronouns demonstrative and relative, in some cases. Aus der Stadt, out of, from the town it is the dative singular, feminine, on account of the preposition aus; die Stadt has, in the plural, die Städte.

5. Entflohen war, "which out of the town fled was,"

́“which had fled from the town." All pronouns relative, and several conjunctions, throw the verb to the end, and in compound tenses the auxiliary stands last. In a simple sentence, we should say, Er war entflohen, he had fled. Entfliehen is an inseparable compound verb, derived from the irregular verb fliehen, to flee, which makes ich floh in the imperfect, and geflohen in the participle past; but being joined to the inseparable particle, ent, the ge is dropped in the derivative. Like many neuter verbs, it makes its compound tenses with seyn, to be. Ich bin entflohen, I have fled; Er ist aus dem Gefängnisz entflohen, he has escaped from prison; Was spricht man ? What speak they? Was is the pronoun interrogative neuter, "what?" Was sagen sie? What do you say?—Was essen sie da? What are you eating?-Spricht is the third person singular of the indicative present of sprechen. In common conversation we say, Was sagt man? Man is the indefinite general pronoun, people, they, one, It is spelt with a single n, whilst der Mann, the man, has two n's. Like the French “on," it is always construed with the verb in the singular. Man sagt, it is said; man glaubt, it is thought; man erwartet den König, people, or they, expect the king, or the king is expected.

6. fing er an, "began he," imperf. of the separable compound verb, anfangen, "to begin," derived from the irregular fangen, "to catch." In the simple tenses of separable compound verbs, the government of the verb and every concomitant circumstance, are placed between the verb and the particle. Ich fange alle meine Briefe dreimal an; 66 I begin all my letters three times." Sie fing ihre Arbeit gestern nachmittag an; "she began her work yesterday in the afternoon." Fangen sie doch an; "do but begin."

7. zu schreien, "to scream:" but infinitives in German are stated without this zu, as tanzen, "to dance;" reiten, "to ride on horseback :" zu is used only in connexion with a preceding verb. Ich fange an zu tanzen; "1 begin to dance." Schreien is irregular: it also means to raise one's voice.

8. in der Stadt; in, with the dative, because there is no locomotion: but when it is the English "into," and denotes a change of place, it governs the accusative. Ich

bin in der Stadt; I am in the town. Ich gehe in die Stadt; I go into the town. Sie ist in dem Garten; she is in the garden. Sie lauft in den Garten; she runs into the garden. Er schlief in dem Hause; he slept in the house. Er brach in das Haus ein; he broke into the house.

9. von unsern Melodeien.-The preposition von, of, or from, governs the dative. Ich komme von der Stadt, von dem Garten, von dem Hause: in the masculine and neuter it may be contracted vom Garten, vom Hause: the m instead of n shows the dative. Von is prefixed to the names of noblemen: it is the French de. Herr von Hum boldt (Monsieur de Humboldt.) Unsern, dative plural of the pron. poss. unser, our. Melodeien, dat. pl. of die Melodey. All nouns in ey or ei are fem. except der Brey, papmeat-and das Ey, the egg: the latter makes Eyer in the plural. Haben sie frische Eyer? Have you new-laid eggs?

10. Die ganze Stadt, the whole town. Any adjective construed with an article definite, takes an e in the nominative singular of the three genders. Ganz, whole, makes der ganze Kuchen, the whole cake; die ganze Gesellschaft, the whole company; das ganze Land, the whole country.

11. Lobt, and in solemn speaking or writing, lobet, is the third person singular of the indicative present of the regular active verb loben, to praise. The German language has only one regular conjugation, which, like the English, has only two simple tenses.

[ocr errors]

12. ihre Lieder, her songs, her lays. All pronouns possessive in German follow the same rule as in French: they agree with the possessor, and in their inflexions with the object possessed. Ihre Lieder, her songs, because they are the songs of die Nachtigall, which is feminine, and then plural, to agree with Lieder, which is the plural of dus Lied, the song-neuter. Therefore, in the singular, you would say, Ich habe sein Lied gehört, I have heard his song; Ich habe ihr Lied gehört, I have heard her song;Ich habe seinen Bruder gesehn, I have seen his brother; Ich habe ihren Bruder gesehn, I have seen her brother.

13. und von der Lerche.-und is the conjunction copulative, "and" der Lerche, dat. fem. of die Lerche, "the lark," being an exception to the rule that birds are masculine, on account of its ending in e, like die Schwalbe the swallow; die Taube, the dove, &c.

14. rief er, " cried he," is the imperfect of the irregular verb rufen, to call, to call out, to cry.

15. wieder, again-adverb; which must be carefully distinguished from the preposition wider, "against," which governs the accusative. Er ist wieder wider mich; he is again against me. The pronunciation is exactly the same. 16. Die halbe Stadt, "the half town, half of the town." -The adjective halb, like ganz, and all other adjectives, takes the e in the nominative singular of the three genders, with the article definite; but all adjectives must mark the gender in the nominative, with the article indefinite. Ein halber Thaler, half a dollar; eine halbe Stunde, half an hour; ein halbes Jahr, half a year.

17. lobt ihrer Stimme Schall, "her voice's sound, the sound of her voice." Again the pronoun possessive ihr, because it refers to die Lerche, and ihrer, because it is the genitive feminine, agreeing with die Stimme, the voice. All substantives ending in e are fem. except der Affe, the monkey; das Auge, the eye; der Friede, peace; der Glaube, faith, belief; der Name, the name; der Wille, the will; and several collective nouns, as das Gebirge, the chain of mountains. Der Schall, the sound. Hence the regular verb schallen, to resound.

18. fuhr er fort, "went he on, he continued;" imperfect of the indicative of the sep. comp. fortfahren, to continue, to move on, to go on, derived from the irregular fahren, to drive, to move, to ride in a coach. Er fährt mit seinem Werke fort; he goes on with his work. Sie fuhr in ihrer Unterredung fort; she went on with her con versation. Fahren sie nur noch eine Stunde fort; go on but one hour longer. Auch diese lobt man. Auch is "also," "too." The pronoun demonstrative fem. diese, refers to die Amsel, and being placed first, it throws the nominative man behind the verb. If you begin with man, you may say, Man lobt auch diese; this too is praised. Whenever the accusative or government is first, the nominative of the verb comes after the verb. A few simple and familiar sentences will soon remind you of the rule. Ich liebe meine Mutter, or meine Mutter liebe ich; I love my mother. Sie tadeln seine Schwester, or seine Schwester tadeln sie; you blame his sister.

19. Ich musz, "I must," exactly as in English, with

B2

1

the verb that follows in the infinitive, without the preposition, zu, "to." Ich musz fragen, I must ask.

20. dich doch noch etwas fragen; "I must however still ask thee something." Dich is the accusative singular of the pronoun du, thou, because fragen governs the accusative, and this accusative, as government of the verb, is placed with its concomitant circumstances between the auxiliary musz and the principal verb fragen, as is the rule in all compound tenses. Ich werde ihn heute fragen; I shall ask him to-day. Sie hat mich gestern gefragt; she has asked me yesterday. Doch noch etwas; however, still something. Ich habe Ihnen noch etwas zu sagen; İ have still something to tell you. To learn this line correctly, you must divide it as it were, and make a slight pause after doch; thus, Ich musz dich doch. ... noch etwas fragen. This pause will render the pronouncing of the three guttural sounds more easy.

21. was, rief er, spricht man denn von mir?—denn is the conj. then: "what then do they say of me?" mir the dat. sing. of the pron. pers. of the first person, which must be carefully distinguished from the accusative mich.-Verstehen sie mich? Do you understand me?—Geben sie mir ein Glas Wein. Give (to me) a glass of wine.

22. Das weisz ich nicht zu sagen, "that know I not to tell; that I cannot tell." Das, art. neuter, is also pron. dem. neuter" that." The conj. "that" is spelled dasz. Here you have again the nominative ich after the verb, because the government "that" comes first. Ich weisz das, or das weisz ich, I know that. Weisz, from the irr. verb wissen, to know. The Germans, like the French, have two verbs for "to know." One is wissen (savoir) to know by the mind; the other kennen (connoître) to know by the senses. Ich kenne ihren Bruder, ich weisz dasz er zu Hause ist. I know your brother, I know that he is at home. (Je connois votre frère, je sais qu'il est à la mai

son.) Nicht is the neg. "not." Nichts is nothing.

Wissen sie nicht? Do not you know?—Wissen sie nichts? Do not you know any thing?-Sagen, to say, is a reg. verb. Sagen sie mir doch; pray, tell me.

23. denn keine Seele redt von dir, “for not a soul speaks of thee." denn here is the conj. "for," (car.) The adjective kein, not a, none, is formed like the English

« ¡è͹˹éÒ´Óà¹Ô¹¡ÒõèÍ
 »