Intermediate German

A Grammar and Workbook

Anna Miell, Heiner Schenke

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781000761535
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Languages
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Intermediate German: A Grammar and Workbook is designed for learners who have achieved basic proficiency and now wish to progress to more complex language. Each of the units combines concise grammar explanations with examples and exercises to help build confidence and fluency.

The new edition includes:

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• up-to-date cultural aspects of German-speaking countries

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• extended entries on adverbs and the imperative

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• Did you know? sections with tips on learning strategies, and on contemporary usage

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• more exercises to refine retention

Suitable for students learning with or without a teacher, Intermediate German forms a structured course of the essentials of German grammar and is suitable for students at intermediate level, corresponding to levels A2–B1+ on the CEFR or Intermediate High/Advanced Low with the ACTFL.

UNIT 1

Nouns and gender

What are nouns?

Nouns are words used to name living creatures, objects, abstract qualities or concepts:

Mann man	Pullover jumper
Schönheit beauty	Entwicklung development

German nouns – three genders

In German, nouns are classed as having one of three genders: masculine, feminine or neuter and are written with an initial capital letter. In dictionaries and vocabulary lists, the gender is usually indicated with der or m for masculine nouns, die or f for feminine nouns and das or nt for neuter nouns.

Working out the gender

Often there seems to be no obvious relationship between a noun and its gender in German: Pullover ‘jumper’ for instance is masculine, Jacke ‘jacket’ is feminine and Kleid ‘dress’ is neuter.

However, there are two main ways that can help you to work out the gender:

• • Certain endings indicate the gender.
• • Some groups of nouns, usually linked by meaning, tend to be masculine or feminine or neuter.

Endings indicating the gender

Masculine endings

The following endings usually indicate that the noun is masculine:

-ant	der Konsonant	consonant
-ast	der Palast	palace
-ich	der Teppich	carpet
-ig	der Honig	honey
-ling	der Schmetterling	butterfly
-or	der Motor	motor, engine
-us	der Professionalismus	professionalism

Some exceptions are das Restaurant ‘restaurant’, die Last ‘burden’, and das Labor ‘laboratory’.

Feminine endings

The followin...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• 1 Nouns and gender
• 2 Plural of nouns
• 3 Articles, possessives and other determiners
• 4 Cases
• 5 Pronouns
• 6 Reflexive verbs
• 7 Modal verbs
• 8 Verbs with separable and inseparable prefixes
• 9 Verbs and prepositions
• 10 The imperative
• 11 The present tense
• 12 The present perfect tense
• 13 The simple past tense
• 14 The past perfect tense
• 15 The future tense
• 16 Adjectives
• 17 Adverbs
• 18 Prepositions
• 19 Forming questions
• 20 Conjunctions and clauses
• 21 Word order and sentence structure
• 22 Relative clauses
• 23 Negative constructions
• 24 The passive
• 25 Subjunctive forms
• 26 Indirect speech
• Key to exercises and checklists
• Glossary of grammatical terms
• List of common irregular verbs
• Index