German Introduction

German and English are very close to each other. Here are some major similarities:

• Both languages use the Latin alphabet.
• Normally, sentences follow Subject-Verb order.
• Questions have Verb-Subject order or Adverb-Verb-Subject order.
• Both languages have prepositions, conjunctions, adverbs, nouns, verbs, interjections, pronouns, and adjectives.
• Both languages have genders; every noun is either masculine, feminine, or neuter. In German, the gender is often not immediately obivous, eg. das Mädchen (neuter), the girl.
• The indirect object usually comes before the direct object.
• There are contractions in both German and English.
• Many words share the same roots, such as word and Wort, or house and Haus.
• Many words, such as Baseball and Sandwich are the same in English and German.

As you can see, German is very much like English. There are, however, differences:

• German has three different words for “you”, while English has only one.
• German has more verb forms than English.
• German has more letters than and different pronunciations from English (see Lesson 1).
• German is the only known written language where every noun is capitalized, whether or not it is a proper noun.
• Sometimes in German the verb will be the last word of a sentence.
• Adjectives will have different endings based on the noun they are modifying in German.
• German is more ‘guttural’. In German, you talk in the back of your mouth.
• “I” (ich) is only capitalized if it is the first word of the sentence.
• In German, there are four cases; in English, there are three.

However, German is one of the easiest languages for English speakers to learn. The differences will be tackled over the course of the lessons.

Content is available under GNU Free Documentation License Source: Wikibooks