ÀҾ˹éÒ˹ѧÊ×Í
PDF
ePub

<none." Ein is "one,"-put a k before it, like the n in English, and you have kein, none; only we make no difference in the word whether it be joined to a substantive_or not. Haben sie keine Zeit? Have you no time?—Ich habe keine; I have none. Here it agrees with die Seele, the soul. Redt, from the reg. reden, to speak, to discourse, to converse. Dir is the dat. to thee, dich the acc. thee, like mir and mich.

24. So will ich, "then will I." So is here a conj.; it is also an adv. answering to the English "so." Sie ist so schön; she is so handsome. Ich will never is the mark

of the future, but always the French "je veux;" from wollen, to be willing ("vouloir.") Wollen sie mit mir gehen? Will you go with me ?-Nein, ich will zu Hause bleiben; No, I will stay at home.

25. mich an den Undank rüchen. An is a prep. which means “to,” “at." The Germans say, sich an etwas rächen, to revenge one's self at something, instead of" of something." Der Undank, ingratitude, unthankfulness, from der Dank, thanks. But this word is never used in the plural: : we say, Ich statte ihnen meinen Dank ab; I return you my thanks. All German words in ank are masc. except die Bank, the bench, the bank. Die Bank von England; the Bank of England.-Sind sie in der Bank gewesen? Have you been at the Bank?-Er ging in die Bank; he went into the Bank.

26. und ewig, and for ever. The adjective ewig, eternal, everlasting, is also, like most German adjectives, an adverb, eternally.

27. von mir selber sprechen, speak of myself.-Ich selber, I myself. But we also say, Ich selbst. Wir selbst; we ourselves.

28. These remarks will enable you thoroughly to understand your fable. When you know the value of every word, its grammatical form, and the reason of its being placed where it stands, you will easily commit this fable to memory. There are many repetitions, which are of service to beginners, and most of the verbs are such as are in constant use. If you have acquired the German handwriting, which is of the utmost importance to gentlemen in the commercial and military professions, copy the fable with care, and learn it from your hand-writing, to familiarize you with the written

characters. But copy it at all events; the act of copying imprints the words more correctly on the memory. Repeat it aloud when you are alone; and as soon as you have mastered it, begin to arrange the words which you remember in different little sentences. Learn to handle the

instrument which you wish to use.

29. We have now to notice the sound of the two vowels

o and u. The former is nearly the same in French, English, and German. Die Oper, l'Opéra, the Opera. But the French u has a particular sound, coming nearer to the English u in bury, "Bury St. Edmund." You must shape your lips as if you were going to whistle. When this u is joined to an n, as in un, one," it becomes nasal, and cannot be described. It must be learnt from a Frenchman.

66

30. The German u, when not marked in the printed text, is always the English double o in "pool," but when the u has a small e, or two dots over it, in the printed text, it is pronounced like the French u. In the German handwriting, the former u (oo) is marked with a crescent, thus, ŭ, and the latter u (French u) with two dots, thus, ü, because the same sign represents the letter n. Whenever a and o have these two dots, they represent the diphthongs a and œ. The former is pronounced like the English ai in "maid," the latter like the French cu in "peuple, heureux." Sch, in German, is the same as the English sh.

31. We pass to an easy German Fable, again one of Gellert's. We select it merely because it presents few difficulties, and contains many expressions of common use.

DER SCHATZ.

Ein kranker Vater rief den Sohn;
Sohn, sprach er, um dich zu versorgen,

Hab' ich vor langer Zeit einst einen Schatz verborgen,
Er liegt hier starb der Vater schon.

Wer war bestürzter als der Sohn?

Ein Schatz! so waren seine Worte,

Ein Schatz! allein an welchem Orte?

Wo find ich ihn ? Er schickt nach Leuten aus

Die Schätze sollen graben können.

Durchbricht der Scheuren harte Tennen
Durchgräbt den Garten und das Haus,
Und gräbt doch keinen Schatz heraus.

Nach viel vergeblichem Bemühn

Heiszt er die Fremden wieder ziehn.

Sucht selber in dem Hause nach,
Durchsucht des Vaters Schlafgemach,

Un findt mit leichter Müh, (wie grosz war sein Vergnügen!)
Ihn unter einer Diele liegen.

THE TREASURE.

A sick father called his son: Son, said he, in order to provide for thee, I have a long time ago hid a treasure. It lies here, (on saying these words) the father died. What was his son's consternation! A treasure! such were his words. A treasure! but in what place? Where shall I find it? He sends for people who are reported to be able to dig for treasures; breaks through the hard floor of the barn, digs all over the garden and the house, and yet he discovers no treasure. After many fruitless exertions, he dismisses the strangers, sets himself about searching the house and his father's bed-room, and at last (how great was his joy!) he finds the treasure hid under a deal board.

32. Der Schatz, masc. the treasure, des Schatzes, dem Schatze. The plural is Schätze. It also means a stock of goods, a collection: as ein Kornschatz, a stock of corn; ein Brautschatz, a marriage-portion; ein Kunstschatz, a collection of curiosities of art. In very familiar language, Schatz is a term of endearment; mein Schatz, my love⚫ hence the verb schätzen, to value, and the adjective schätzbar, valuable.

66

33. Ein kranker Vater, a sick father. Ther would be dropped if it were "the sick father," because the article der would show the gender. My father is sick," would be, mein Vater ist krank; der Vater, des Vaters, and in the plural die Väter. All words in er are mas. except of course die Mutter, die Tochter, and die Schwester, mother, daughter, and sister; and die Butter, butter; die Feder, the pen; die Kammer, the chamber; das Wasser, the water; das Feuer, the fire; das Laster, vice; das Wunder, the wonder; das Zimmer, the room; das Frauenzimmer, the female, the fair sex.

See sec. 14. den

34. rief den Sohn, called the son. Sohn, acc. sing. masc. der Sonn, the son; des Sohnes, dem Sohne. The h renders the o longer than in English. In the plural it has the diphthong die Söhne, the sons. All the words in ohn are mas.; as der Lohn, the reward, wages; der Hohn, scorn.

35. Sohn, sprach er, son, spoke he, said he. See sec. 3.

36. um dich zu versorgen, to provide for thee; um zu, a conjunction, like the English for to," instead of "in order to." The um strengthens the zu, and marks the object or purpose of an action more intensely. Ich esse um zu leben, I eat in order to live; but the government of the verb is always placed between the um and zu: er thut es um seinen Zweck zu erreichen, he does it for to obtain his end. Versorgen, reg. v. a, insep. comp. to provide for, derived from sorgen, to care. Versorgen may have anciently been fürsorgen, to care for. The ver has not its destructive power here, as in verbrauchen, to consume by using; verbrennen, to consume by burning, &c. Ver being insep., like ent, sec. 5. it has no ge in the part. past, and makes simply versorgt. Ich habe meinen Sohn versorgt, I have provided for my son.

37. Hab' ich, for habe ich, have I, because um dich zu versorgen stands first. See sec. 18.

38. vor langer Zeit, before a long time, a long time ago. Vor is a prep. 66 before," which governs the dat. and acc. according as there is a locomotion or not. Here it has the dative, which, as the adj. is used without an article, is marked in the adj. itself. Langer, f. because Zeit, time, is f.; in the pl. die Zeiten. All words in eit are fem. except der Streit, the dispute, the contention. The adjective in German is indeclinable, like the English, when it is a predicate or attribute, and refers to a substantive, generally by means of the verb is. Mein Vater ist sehr gütig. Meine Mutter ist sehr gütig. Meine Schwestern sind sehr gütig. My father, my mother is, and my sisters are, very kind. But when the adjective is coupled with the substantive as an epithet, we have already noticed its construction with the definite article sec. 10, and with the article indefinite sec, 16. There remains only the case when it is employed as in English, "good wine, fine apples," without any articles; in that case it takes the termination of the articles themselves. In the masculine, guter Wein, gutes Weines, gutem Weine, gutem Wein, good wine. Hence you may say in the accusative, "Have you good wine?" Haben Sie guten Wein? In the feminine, grosse Freude, grosser Freude, grosser Freude, grosse Freude, great joy; Es ist ein Zeichen grosser Freude. It is a sign of great joy. In the neuter, schlechtes Korn, schlechtes Kornes, schleclem

Korne, schlechtes Korn, bad corn. In the plural for all three genders, kleine Kinder, kleiner Kinder, kleinen Kindern, kleine Kinder, little children.

39. einst, an adv. of time, " once," but it also refers to the future; Ich hoffe Sie einst wiederzusehen, I hope to see you again at some future time. Here it is rather an expletive.

40. einen Schatz, acc. m. with the indef. art. a treasure. 41. verborgen, hid, part. past or the insep. comp. verb, verbergen, to hide, derived from bergen, which originally signified to save, to preserve; nun bin ich geborgen, now 1 am safe, secure; gestrandete Güter bergen, to save stranded goods. Verbergen, to preserve away, so that it be unknown to others, is to hide; it follows the irregular of bergen, viz. verbarg in the imperf. and verborgen in the part. past.

42. er liegt, he lies, because it refers to der Schatz, m. liegt, from liegen, to lie; irregular, ich liege, ich lag, ich habe gelegen. It is neuter; the active is legen, to lay, reg. We have several neuter verbs in German, which become active by changing the vowel; as sinken, to sink, neuter, makes senken, to sink, active.

43. Hier starb der Vater schon, here died the Father already. Starb, imperf. of the irr. n. v. sterben, which in German is not to starve, but to die any kind of death. It has gestorben in the part. past, and is conjugated with the verb seyn, to be. Er est gestorben, he has died. He is dead, would be, Er es todt. Schon, adv. of time, “already" sind sie schon hier? are you here already?

44. Wer, who, pron. inter. masc. fem. wer ist da? who is there? A German soldier, on duty, does not say, who goes there? but simply wer da? who is there? omitting the verb by way of an ellipsis.

45.

66

war, was," imperf. of the aux. verb seyn, to be, which must be learnt by heart in the Grammar.

46. bestürtzter, more alarmed, is the compar. of the adj. and part. past. bestürtzt, alarmed, in consternation. The degrees of comparison are the same in German as in English. er, added to the adjective, gives the comparative of whatever length the positive may be; nachlässig, negligent, makes nachlässiger, more negligent; aufmerksam, attentive; aufmerksamer, more attentive.

« ¡è͹˹éÒ´Óà¹Ô¹¡ÒõèÍ
 »