ÀҾ˹éÒ˹ѧÊ×Í
PDF
ePub

Gefängniss entflohen, he has escaped from prison; Was spricht man, "What speak they?" Was is the pron. interrog. neuter," what?" Was sagen sie? What do you say? Was essen sie da? What are you eating? Spricht is the third person sing. of the indic. 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.

66

fing er an, "began he," imperf. of the separable compound verb, anfangen, to begin," derived from the irreg. fangen, "to catch." In the simple tenses of separ, comp. 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; "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."

[ocr errors]

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; "I begin to dance." Schreien is irregular: it also means to raise one's voice.

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 laüft 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.

von unsern Melodeien.-The prep. 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 Humboldt ("Monsieur de Humboldt."). Unsern, dat. pl. of the pron. poss. unser, our. Melodeien, dat. pl. of die Melodey. All nouns in ey or ei, are feminine, except der Brey, papmeat—and das Ey, the egg: the latter makes Eyer in the plural. Haben sie frische Eyer 2 Have new laid eggs ?

you

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 ganzc Kuchen, the whole cake; die ganze Gesellschaft, the whole company; das ganze Land, the whole country.

Lobt, and in solemn speaking or writing, lobet, is the third person sing. of the ind. pres. 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.

ihre Lieder, her songs, her lays.-All pronouns possessive in German follow the same rule as in English: they agree with the possessor, and in their inflections 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 das 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 the brother; Ich habe ihren Bruder gesehn, I have seen her brother.

[ocr errors]

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.

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

wieder, again-adverb; which must be carefully distin guished 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.

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.

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 feminine, 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.

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 irreg. fahren, to drive, to move, to ride in a coach. Er fährt mit seinem Werke fort; he he goes on with his work. Sie fuhr in ihrer Unterredung fort; she went on with her conversation. Fahren sie nur noch eine Stunde fort; go on but one hour longer. Auch diese lobt man. Auch is "also, too." The pron. dem. fem. diese, refers to die Amsel, and being placed first, it throws the nominative man behind the verb. If you begin with man, you must say, man lobt auch diese; this too is praised. Whenever the acc. or gov. is first, the nom. 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.

Ich musz, "I must," exactly as in English, with the verb that follows in the infinitive, without the preposition, zu, "to." Ich musz fragen; I must ask.

dich doch noch etwas fragen; "I must, however, still ask

[ocr errors]

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; I 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.

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 acc. mich.-Verstehen sie mich? Do you understand me?-Geben sie mir ein Glas Wein. Give (to me) a glass of wine.

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 conjunction that is spelled dasz. Here you have again the nom. ich after the verb, because the gov. "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 maison.) Nicht is the negative "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. denn keine Seele redt von dir. "for not a soul speaks of thee." denn here is the conj. "for," (car.) The adj. kein, not a, none, is formed like the English "none." Ein is "one," put a k before it, like the n in English, and you have

Haben sie keine Zeit?

kein, none, only we make no difference in the word whether it be joined to a substantive or not. 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. dich the acc. thee, like mir and mich.

Dir is the dat, to thee,

So will ich, "then will I." "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.

mich an den Undank rächen. An is a prep. which means to and 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. und ewig, and for ever. The adj. ewig, eternal, everlasting, is also, like most German adjectives, an adverb, eternally.

[ocr errors]

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

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.

« ¡è͹˹éÒ´Óà¹Ô¹¡ÒõèÍ
 »