German Online
German III
Review Unit
Material you will need for the Review Unit:
- the booklet “Hände weg von meinem Kopf!”
- a German/English dictionary
Whenever you see this symbol, please go to your course to do an online assignment.
Introduction
This unit is about
- reviewing vocabulary from German I and II. We are using the story from German II to go over some basic German words which you should know.
- reviewing some basic grammar. Most of the grammar we talk about in German III will be review – these are things you have already learned in German I and II. We will be doing some more grammar review throughout this course, so we mainly concentrated on topics that will not show up again later.
- reading a longer text. We would like for you to read one chapter for each lesson.
- Using a dictionary. You can find most vocabulary words for the story at the back of the booklet. However, there may be some words from German I that we have not listed. If you run across words that you are not familiar with and that are not in the booklet, please use your dictionary.
Your grade for this unit will be based on four quizzes, a test at the end of the unit and these pages, which you will send to us after you have filled in the blanks.
Please note: If the question is in German, we would like a German answer!
Viel Spaß!
Kapitel 1 – Liebe auf Distanz
Read Kapitel 1, S. 1-2, in the booklet “Hände weg von meinem Kopf!”
Mark words you do not know in the booklet. Look at the word list in the booklet, pp. 18-19. If there are words in the chapter that you do not know which are not listed there, write those words below and find their English meanings, either in a dictionary, or online, or by asking us.
Draw a picture for these words:
die Liebe die Stunde die Leute
das Fenster die Tasse das Flugzeug
Study the vocabulary on pp. 18 and 19 of the booklet. Then go to our website and do
Computer Exercise Review 1
Lies Kapitel 1 noch einmal und beantworte diese Fragen:
1. Warum kann Thomas im Flugzeug nicht schlafen?
2. Im letzten Jahr war Thomas als Austauschschüler in Deutschland. Was ist ein ‘Austauschschüler’ auf Englisch?
3. Was hatte Anita zu Thomas gesagt?
4. Warum hatte Thomas im Flugzeug kein Abendbrot gegessen?
5. Zum Frühstück gibt es Brötchen mit Käse und Wurst und Orangensaft. Was isst du zum Frühstück?
6. Thomas hat ein Problem mit Anita. Was ist das Problem?
7. Was hat Anita über Frank geschrieben?
8. Warum hat Thomas keinen Appetit mehr?
Review: Weather
View the Flash Clip “Wetter” on the Review Outline and write the sentences below:
1. Wie ist das Wetter?
2. Wie ist das Wetter?
3. Wie ist das Wetter?
4. Wie ist das Wetter?
5. Wie ist das Wetter?
6. Und wie ist das Wetter heute wo du bist?
Review: Pronunciation
View the Flash Clip “Pronunciation-Vowels” on the Review Outline
In the Flash clip we used the drawings below as memory helps. Write the correct vowel for each drawing:
View the Flash Clip “Umlaute, Paare” on the Review Outline and fill in the blanks below:
German letter pairs that make a sound of their own:
1. au as in , (excellent)
2. ei as in , ,
3. eu sounds like English or . Examples: ,
(Germany)
4. ch after the vowels and sounds like the “h” in the English
Examples: ,
5. ch “rattles” after the vowels , , and : , gute Nacht
There are four letters in the German alphabet that do not exist in English:
6. Umlaute: a à , o à , u à
7. ä sounds almost like an English . Example:
ö is similar to the sound in “murder”. Example: (angry, evil)
ü sounds like the “eeewh” that people make when they see something yucky.
Examples: , ,
8. ß is called “s-zet” and makes a sharp - sound: ,
Review: Polite “Sie”
View the Flash Clip “Polite ‘Sie’” on the Review Outline and fill in the blanks below:
1. There are two forms in German to address people:
- used for children, , friends
Example: Hallo Thomas, ?
2. The formal or polite form is
- teachers, neighbors, you don’t know (well), people you call by their last names
Example: Möchten etwas ?
3. Germans value etiquette and form very highly. You would appear rude or impolite if you address an adult as .
To switch from “Sie” to “du” usually takes a formal agreement:
Darf ich sagen?
4. Polite Form - Plural
You use the same form whether you are talking to one or several persons:
Herr Becker, eine Tasse Kaffee?
Herr und Frau Becker, heute?
5. In German schools, students always say to their teachers and teachers say to their students - through 9th grade. In 10th grade, when most students turn 16, teachers have to switch to and have to call students by their last names.
Example: Herr Jones, mir Ihre Hausaufgaben!
In our story what does the Stewardess say to Thomas on the plane when she asks him if he would like something to drink?
Du oder Sie? Was würdest du sagen?
Herr Müller sieht Frau Meier auf der Straße und sagt: “Guten Tag, Frau Meier. (Do you have time today?)
Friedrich spielt mit seinem Freund Karl. Er fragt: (Do you have a computer game?)
Frau Schneider geht mit ihrer Tochter einkaufen. Sie fragt: (Would you like an icecream?)
Karla ist im Garten. Sie sieht ihre Nachbarin und sagt: Guten Tag, Frau Schmidt. (How do you like the weather?)
Review: Gender of Nouns
In German, nouns are either masculine, feminine or neuter, in other words: they have gender. This is fairly logical where persons are concerned: male persons are “der”, female persons are “die”:
Vater Schwester Freund Lehrerin
Frau Mann Tochter
An important exception: Mädchen
The plural article is always . Note that some nouns are always in the plural:
Eltern Leute
Unfortunately, all other nouns also can be der, die, or das, and there is no rhyme or reason to most of those. Look at the words below and find the article. Most of these words are from chapter 1 in “Hände weg ...” Some words you may have to look up in a dictionary:
Liebe Stunde Tasse Forschung
Richtung Kugelschreiber Fernseher Mädchen Brötchen Blitz Flug Essen
Based on the words above, can you come up with some rules for the gender of German nouns?
German nouns ending in –e are usually .
Nouns ending in –ung are always .
Nouns ending in –er which are derived from a verb are always .
Nouns ending in –chen are always .
Nouns which are derived from a verb and have no ending are usually .
Nouns which are derived from a verb and still have the verb ending are always .
Unfortunately, that leaves a whole lot of nouns where you have to learn the article as part of the noun. Maybe you could make some kind of memory help for yourself to remember the der/die/das for individual nouns. One suggestion is an “Artikelhaus” (see next page):
Picture the nouns you want to learn in the room with the same article (all die-nouns go in the kitchen, all das-nouns in the bathroom and all der- nouns in the cellar). Then come up with some reason why this particular item is in this room, the whackier – the better.
Der, die oder das?
Liebe; Frau; Adresse; Idee; Seite; Brieftasche; Telefonkarte Richtung Fernseher; Wohnung; Mädchen; Bericht; Belohnung.
Kapitel 2 – Wo ist Anita?
Read Kapitel 2, S. 2-4, in the booklet “Hände weg von meinem Kopf!”
Mark words you do not know. Look at the word list in the booklet, pp. 19-20. If there are words in the chapter that you do not know which are not listed there, write those words below and find their English meanings, either in a dictionary, or online, or by asking us.
There are several useful phrases included with the vocabulary on pp. 19 and 20. Write one of those phrases that would fit in these situations:
1. Oh nein, mein Auto ist weg!
2. Rita hat einen neuen Freund?
3. Da stehen so viele Leute -
4. Alex hat eine Million Dollar gefunden?
5. Du musst einen Aufsatz schreiben und weisst kein gutes Thema? - ich helfe dir!
6. Peter ist heute so freundlich und hilfsbereit -
Find a word from the vocabulary list that means the opposite:
richtig -
die Kinder -
geduldig -
niemand -
immer -
der Eingang -
der Mann -
Study the vocabulary on pp. 19 and 20 of the booklet. Then go to our website and do
Computer Exercise Review 2
Lies Kapitel 2 noch einmal und beantworte diese Fragen:
1. Was ist das Problem mit Thomas’ Koffer?
2. Wie viel Geld braucht Thomas?
3. Anita ist nicht da, aber wer ist da am Flughafen?
4. Wie fühlt Thomas sich?
5. Wie kommen Thomas und Philipp zu Philipps Haus? Nehmen sie ein Taxi?
6. Was sagt Philipp, was ist los mit Anita?
7. Was sagen Anitas Eltern, was macht Anita?
8. Warum denkt Thomas nicht, dass Anita eine Cousine in Berlin besucht?
Review: Food
There are some food items mentioned in Kapitel 1. List them here (including article, please!) with their English equivalents:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Do you remember any others? List 4 more here:
-
-
-
-
Write a short skit (10 lines, 5 for each of the two persons): you and your friend are going to the grocery store. You have a shopping list from your mother, but both of you are having problems reading your mom’s handwriting.
Review: Present Perfect Tense
View the Flash Clip “Present Perfect Tense” on the Review Outline and fill in the blanks below:
Regular Verbs
1. Present Perfect is a tense that Germans use when they about the past.
It is also called the past, because in spoken German the present perfect is used rather than the simple past tense.
The present perfect tense is formed with a helping verb, ,and the participle.
The participles of regular German verbs have a in the front and a at the end:
Was du am Samstag ?
Ich eine CD und Musik .
Irregular Verbs
2. The participles of irregular verbs have the ending instead of –t and they often have some change in the stem of the verb:
Hast du den Jungen ? Er hat mir seine Adresse . Oh ja? Er hat gestern drei Stunden mit Anna im Café .
Mixed Verbs
3. There are 4 important verbs that have the regular ge- and –t, but they also have a stem change:
bringen (to bring) - , denken (to think) - , kennen (to know personally) - , wissen (to know abstract facts) -
Rudi hat Rita nach Hause - hast du das ?
Separable-Prefix Verbs
4. With separable-prefix verbs like anrufen (to call on the phone), einkaufen (to shop) or fernsehen (to watch TV) the ge- goes between the prefix and the rest of the verb.
Warum hast du nicht ? Oh ich habe , Monty Python auf Deutsch!
Verbs with -ieren
5. There are some verbs that do not have a ge- prefix for the participle: verbs that end in –ieren, like studieren or passieren (to happen) just get a –t ending:
Kurt hat in Deutschland .
Inseparable-Prefix Verbs
6. And participles of verbs with inseparable prefixes like be-, er-, ver- or zer- (remember our beer verbs?) also do not have a ge-:
Ich habe meine Tante . Sie hat von meinem Großvater .
Ich habe nicht alles .
Verbs with sein
7. One last thing: There is a group of verbs that do not use haben as a helping verb in the Present Perfect Tense, but instead they have a form of sein (to be). These are verbs that describe moving from one place to another, like gehen or kommen, or a change of state like aufwachen (to wake up) or sterben (to die). And the verbs bleiben (to stay), werden (to become), and sein (to be) also use sein as a helping verb:
du am Samstag zu Hause geblieben? Nein, ich um 2 Uhr aufgewacht und wir ins Kino gegangen.
Read the story below, underline the parts of the present perfect tense (e.g. ‘bist’ and ‘gekommen’ in the first sentence) and write in which category (from the ones above) the verbs would fall:
Peter: Hallo, Susie, warum bist du gestern nicht zu meiner Party gekommen?
Susie: Oh, das tut mir Leid. Ich habe deinen Geburtstag nicht vergessen.
Aber gestern war wirklich ein verrückter Tag. Ich bin um 8 Uhr aufgestanden
und habe gefrühstückt.
Dann habe ich gesehen, dass mein Hund dein Geschenk aufgefressen hat. ,
Peter: Oh nein! Ist dein Hund o.k.?
Susie: Naja, er hat im Wohnzimmer auf das Sofa gekotzt, aber ...
Peter: Igitt!
Susie: Ach, das war nicht so schlimm, das hat er schon oft gemacht.