At the end of a syllable, except after u, it has the sound of ch, only much softened and with this difference, that the g generally leaves the preceding vowel long whilst the shortens it. After it at the end of a word it is pronounced like soft k. Lag, tâhch. Đang, hânk. Hecht, hecht; H, h, is always aspirated at the beginning of a syllable. Ruhe, roo'-(h)ai; The aspiration becomes however almost imperceptible before an e in the end syllables. Reihe, ri'-(h)ai; sehen, zey'-(h)en. After a vowel or a t, the h is not pronounced; but, only indicates that the syllable is long. Hahn, hâhn; Reh, rey; Mehl, mail; Rath, râht; Uhr, oor. J, i, only stands at the beginning of a syllable, and is pronounced like the English y in the word yet. The long is placed at the beginning and in the middle, & only at the end of syllables. If in a non-compound word there are two f one after another, they are written . Wasser, vâss/-ser; wissen, viss'-sen; müssen, müss/-sen. is only placed at the end or in the middle of syllables; it is always preceded by a long vowel, and has the sound of the English sharp s or ss. Bahl, tsâhl; Zeit, tsite; Børn, tsorrn; replaces the double and is pronounced very hard. Blig, blits; Nußen, noot'-tsen; feßen, zet'-tsen. III. SYLLABIC ACCENT. The Accent is on the root of the word. In verbs beginning with a separable particle, and in words derived from such verbs, this particle has the primary accent. Words terminating in ei or ey have the accent on the last syllable. In compound words, the root of the qualifying word has the primary accent. IV. DIVISION OF SYLLABLES. The general rule for division is: "Divide, as you speak.” 1) A simple consonant between two vowels is joined to the latter. Except the letter r; as, Her-en. 2). Of two consonants, meeting between two vowels, one is joined to the preceding and the other to the following syllable. —ch, sch, ph, th, st, sp, d, g, § are treated as simple consonants. 3) When three or four consonants, which are not proper to begin a syllable, meet between two vowels, such of them as can begin a syllable, belong to the latter, the rest to the former syllable; as, Men-schen, die Deut-schen. 4) A compound word is divided according to its elements. EXPLANATION OF THE SIGNS USED IN THE PRONUNCIATION. â, represents the German a; like all the vowels, it is long at the end of a syllable, short before one or more consonants. To represent the long sound before a consonant â is changed into âh. ai, ey, the former, when accented, represents the German long and open e, as ai in the word air, the latter the long and close e, as ey in obey. When unaccented the former represents the sound of ey in the noun survey. oo, ŏŏ, the former is long, as oo in boot, the latter short, as oo in foot or u in put. ou, always like ou in pound. 'An apostrophe after the vowel makes it long before a consonant, where in English it would be short, or might be either short or long. A breve over the vowel, makes it short, where it would be long, or might be either long or short. indicates the accented syllable. // Compound words have frequently two accented syllables, the primary accent is indicated by ", the secondary by '. ö, ü and c, these have no corresponding sounds or characters in English, and are therefore indicated in the same manner as in German. In every other respect each syllable must be pronounced as in English. PART I. In the following exercises the English idiom has been frequently sacrificed to facilitate the labors of the student; thus, for the compound tenses of intransitive verbs, the auxiliary "to be" has been substituted for "to have," &c. I am little. Thou art young. We are tired. They are rich. Art thou sick? You are poor. Is she old? Are you sick? Are they good? He is tall (groß). Am I poor? 3. Nicht, nicht, not. Starf, stârk, strong; treu, troi, faithful; faul, foul, idle, lazy; fleißig, fli'-sich, diligent; böse, bö'-zai, wicked, naughty'; traurig, trou/-rich, sad; glücklich, glück’-lich, happy; höflich, hö'f'-lich, polite. Bist du böse? Ich bin nicht böse. Er ist traurig. Wir sind nicht stark. Sind sie treu? Bist du nicht glücklich? Ihr seid nicht fleißig. Sie ist nicht faul. Ist er nicht måde? Wir sind nicht arm. Sind sie nicht höflich? Du bist nicht krank. 4. We are not happy. They are not rich. are not happy. He she not rich? He is not I am not tall. They are idle. She is not ill. He is not short (flein). Are you not tired? Is he not diligent? Thou art not strong. is not polite. Are they not faithful? Is wicked. They 5. Masculine nouns: der Vater, dair fa/-ter, the father. Feminine das Kind, dâss kint, the child. Schön, sho'n, beautiful, fine; lang, lâng, long; hoch, ho'ch, high; neu, noi, new; und, oont, and; sehr, zeyr, very. Der Vater ist gut. Die Mutter ist traurig. Das Kind ist faul. Der Garten ist nicht sehr lang. Die Stadt ist groß und reich. Das Haus ist nicht hoch. Ist der Garten schön? Ist der Vater krank? Ist das Kind nicht fleißig? Ist das Haus neu? Der Vater und die Mutter sind glücklich. Observation 1. All German nouns begin with a capital letter. Obs. 2. When two or more nouns follow each other, the article must be repeated before each, unless they are all of the same gender. 6. The house is not new. The mother and (the) child are ill. The town is very beautiful. The child is not naughty. The father is very old. The house and (the) garden are very large. Is the mother not happy? The house is not very old. Is the garden not very fine? The house is very small. 7. Masc. dieser Baum, dee/-zer boum, this tree. Der Mann, dair mân, the man; der Berg, dair berrch, the mountain; die Blume, dee bloo-mai, the flower; das Fenster, dâss fen/-ster, the window; offen, of'-fen, open; zufrieden, tsoo-free/-den, satisfied, contented, pleased; øder, oʻ-der, or. Dieser Mann ist sehr arm. Dieses Fenster ist sehr hoch. Diese Blume ist schön. Dieses Pferd ist jung und stark. Ist diese Frau glücklich? Dieser Vater und diese Mutter sind nicht zufrieden. Dieser Baum ist sehr groß. Diese Frau ist arm und krank. Dieses Kind ist sehr böse. Dieser Mann ist nicht höflich. Bist du traurig oder krank? 1 8. This woman is tired. This mountain is not high. Is this child good or naughty? This man is not satisfied. This child is not very diligent. Is this garden small or large? Art thou not contented? This window is not open. Is this house old or new? This tree is very fine. Is this man rich or poor? This town is very dull (traurig). Der Bruder, dair broo'-der, the brother; die Schwester, dee shwess/-ter, the sister; bie Feder, dee fai'-der, the pen; das Buch, dâss booch, the book; der Freund, dair froint, the friend; Karl, Kârl, Charles; Luife, Loo-ee/-zai, Louisa; mo, vo, where; hier, here, here; noch, noch, still, yet; aber, â'-ber, but; Berlin, berr-leen', Berlin. Mein Bruder ist traurig. Meine Schwester ist krank. Mein Buch ist schön. Ist dein Garten groß? Ist deine Feder gut? Ist dein Pferd klein? Karl ist noch ein Kind. Berlin ist eine Stadt. Luise ist meine Schwester. Dein Bruder ist mein Freund. Dein Vater ist nicht hier. Wo ist mein Buch? Ist mein Buch nicht hier? Ist deine Mutter noch krank? Ich bin noch nicht måde, aber dein Bruder und deine Schwester sind sehr müde. 10. Charles is my brother. This child is my sister. Thou art my friend. Thy garden is very large. Where is thy mother? A friend is faithful. Is this child thy brother? This horse is still young. Where is my pen? Thy pen is here. Louisa is still a child. Thy brother is idle. My friend is very diligent. Der Sohn, dair zone, the son; die Tochter, dee toc-ter, the daughter; immer, im'-mer, always. Obs. In addressing any one, the third person plural is from politeness used instead of the second: Sie find, instead of ihr seid. For the same reason Ihr is used instead of euer. In this case the pronoun is always written with a capital letter. Unser Garten ist groß. Unsere Mutter ist krank. Unser Pferd ist schön. Dieser Mann ist unser Vater. Diese Frau ist unsere Mutter. Karl ist euer Bruder. Luise ist eure Schwester. Ist Ihr Sohn fleißig? Ist Ihre Tochter zufrieden? Wo ist Ihr Buch? Unser Haus ist alt. Unsere Thür ist immer offen. Dieser Vater und diese Mutter sind sehr traurig; ihr Sohn ist immer krank. 12. Our father is good. Our mother is little. Our child is ill. Is this man your brother? Is this woman your mother? Your son is not always diligent. Is your horse beautiful? This child is our brother. Is Charles not your friend? Louisa is not your sister. Klein, kline, little, small; alt, âlt, old; groß, gro'ss, great; jung, yoonk, young; fleißig, fli-sich, diligent; 13. fleiner, kli-ner, smaller; größer, grö-ser, greater; fleißiger, fli/-sig-er, more diligent. |