For quick reference, here are all *ACHTUNG* sections again:
All activities in this e-textbook require ä, ö, ü, and ß where necessary and you should learn how to spell words the way we present them. You also need to use ä, ö, ü, and ß when you write tasks and quizzes. If you do not know how to make an umlaut or Eszett (ß), please refer to this short article. Also please note that we try to always provide the special characters for you so that you can copy and paste them from the instructions. In the German-speaking countries, people usually only use the ae, oe, ue as mentioned in the video when they do a crossword puzzle. Otherwise, they use the umlaut.
1.6
You will often use colours as adjectives to describe things:
Der Frosch ist grün.
Der Apfel ist rot.
However, there may be times when you use a colour as a noun. Remember all nouns are always capitalized.
Was ist deine Lieblingsfarbe? Meine Lieblingsfarbe ist Blau.
Das ist/Das sind (“this is/these are”) have nothing to do with the article das.
2.2
In German, when stating someone’s nationality, place of residence or occupation no indefinite article is used.
Fatih Akin ist Deutscher. Fatih Akin is a German.
Maren ist Studentin. Maren is a student.
Ich bin Berliner. I am a Berliner.
[Remember when J.F. Kennedy visited Berlin in 1963, he said: “Ich bin ein Berliner.” Had he learned German with us, he would have known not to use the indefinite article. Literally, he said “I’m a jelly donut”. However, the historical significance of his statement, though not entirely correct, was not lost on the people of Berlin.]
As you have seen in this presentation as well as earlier in this unit, German verbs are sometimes a combination of a noun + verb or verb + verb:
Fußball spielen – Luca spielt gern Fußball.
Musik hören – Karolina hört gern Musik.
Fotos machen – Houssem macht gern Fotos.
ins Konzert gehen – Houssem geht heute Abend ins Konzert.
Sport machen – Sasha macht gern Sport.
essen gehen – Houssem geht mit Freunden essen.Please note that you conjugate the verb in the second position and put the other verb or noun at the end of your sentence. It is the complement that gives you more information about the verb.
In Einheit 3.5 you heard these sentences in the listening: Ja, ich suche eine neue Hose.
Diese Jeans kostet nur 39 Euro.
Please note that “die Hose”, “die Jeans” and “die Brille” are singular. There are plural forms as well.Die Hosen sind teuer.
Die Jeans kosten mehr als die Jogginghosen.
3.12
Throughout the e-textbook you will encounter this expression:
es gibt … = “there is” and “there are”
Bei MediaMarkt gibt es einen sehr billigen Computer. (singular)
Es gibt viele Personen in meiner Familie. (plural)
Throughout the first few chapters of this book, we have seen interesting usages of the words: ja, aber, doch, denn, etc. These little words are called modal particles. These words add “flavour” or change the tone of a sentence, question, etc. Sometimes they can soften the harshness of a comment or even add a persuasive or suggestive element to a request.Here are some examples from the book so far:Mach doch eine kleine Pause. Wer bist du denn? Im Internet sehen Sie aber ein bisschen älter aus.
Wir haben ja vor einigen Tagen telefoniert.
