ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch
Jan. 23rd, 2018 06:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kindkitToday I finished the Duolingo German tree!!!
Obviously this doesn't mean I have mastered the German language, nor anything near it. I still have a lot of trouble with cases, for one thing. Especially adjective cases, because German adjectives are evil.*
But I have learned a lot, which is nice, because in the early days I despaired of ever remembering anything.
The next steps: first, get all my German skills golden on Duolingo. Then, do some more in-depth grammatical work with my copy of German for Dummies. Then, find some easy things to read. (I tried looking at a German newspaper article a few weeks ago and it was a sobering reminder of my actual, as opposed to Duolingo, level of competence.)
But for tonight, I will just pat myself on the back.
*How German adjectives are evil:
So, German nouns have three grammatical genders and four possible cases. Adjectives that come before the noun agree with the noun in gender, number, and case. (Adjectives that come after the noun are not declined.)
So, already we have 16 possibilities for adjective forms (3 genders + 1 plural form multiplied by 4 cases). That seems like plenty to me. But not satisfied with this, the German language has decided that its adjectives should be declined differently depending on whether they follow the definite article, the indefinite article and some of its variants, or no article. That makes 48, 48!!! possible adjective forms. And, while the adjective does agree grammatically with the noun and with any article, this does not mean that its case ending actually takes the same form as that of the article or the noun (if the noun has case endings--most don't, most of the time).
An old dog = Ein alter Hund
The old dog = Der alte Hund
I saw an old dog (accusative) = Ich habe einen alten Hund gesehen
I am walking with the old dog (dative) = Ich laufe mit dem alten Hund
And so on, and so forth. Naturally, a lot of the case endings are reused, so that "alter" can be masculine singular nominative after an indefinite article, or feminine singular dative or genitive after no article. If each instance had its own distinct ending it would probably be easier.
Supposedly there are tricks to help remember the forms, but my minimal research suggests that the tricks are more complicated than just memorizing the bastards.
Obviously this doesn't mean I have mastered the German language, nor anything near it. I still have a lot of trouble with cases, for one thing. Especially adjective cases, because German adjectives are evil.*
But I have learned a lot, which is nice, because in the early days I despaired of ever remembering anything.
The next steps: first, get all my German skills golden on Duolingo. Then, do some more in-depth grammatical work with my copy of German for Dummies. Then, find some easy things to read. (I tried looking at a German newspaper article a few weeks ago and it was a sobering reminder of my actual, as opposed to Duolingo, level of competence.)
But for tonight, I will just pat myself on the back.
*How German adjectives are evil:
So, German nouns have three grammatical genders and four possible cases. Adjectives that come before the noun agree with the noun in gender, number, and case. (Adjectives that come after the noun are not declined.)
So, already we have 16 possibilities for adjective forms (3 genders + 1 plural form multiplied by 4 cases). That seems like plenty to me. But not satisfied with this, the German language has decided that its adjectives should be declined differently depending on whether they follow the definite article, the indefinite article and some of its variants, or no article. That makes 48, 48!!! possible adjective forms. And, while the adjective does agree grammatically with the noun and with any article, this does not mean that its case ending actually takes the same form as that of the article or the noun (if the noun has case endings--most don't, most of the time).
An old dog = Ein alter Hund
The old dog = Der alte Hund
I saw an old dog (accusative) = Ich habe einen alten Hund gesehen
I am walking with the old dog (dative) = Ich laufe mit dem alten Hund
And so on, and so forth. Naturally, a lot of the case endings are reused, so that "alter" can be masculine singular nominative after an indefinite article, or feminine singular dative or genitive after no article. If each instance had its own distinct ending it would probably be easier.
Supposedly there are tricks to help remember the forms, but my minimal research suggests that the tricks are more complicated than just memorizing the bastards.
no subject
Date: 2018-01-24 02:24 am (UTC)Good luck on finding good practice sources. I think the Goetheinstitut has a news for German learners, don't they? And I heard an ad today on NPR for slow German news -- no idea how proficient one has to be though.
no subject
Date: 2018-01-24 10:58 am (UTC)Cathexys is right - the Goethe Institut is a great resource. They even have free online tutorials and forums where you can practice online.
https://www.goethe.de/en/index.html
no subject
Date: 2018-01-24 09:58 pm (UTC)The endings do start to come naturally with practice.
no subject
Date: 2018-01-28 11:31 am (UTC)