German Essentials For Dummies

Presenting the core concepts you need to write and speak German correctly If you have some knowledge of German and want to polish your skills, German Essentials For Dummies focuses on just the core concepts you need to communicate effectively. From conjugating verbs to understanding tenses, this easy–to–follow guide lets you skip the suffering and score high at exam time. German 101 — get the lowdown on the basics, from expressing dates and times to identifying parts of speech If you build it — know how to put words in the right order to construct sentences properly The nitty–gritty — grasp word gender, crack "the four cases," and get personal with pronouns Express yourself — find out how to grant permission with dürfen, express ability with können, describe likes with mögen, talk about preferences with möchten, and more What lies ahead — discover how to use the present to express the future and talk about things yet to come with werden Open the book and find: A review of numbers, dates, and times The parts of speech Important verb distinctions Tips for asking and answering yes/no questions How to express the past, present, and future Ways to spice up your descriptions Helpful verb charts Learn: The basics of German grammar and sentence construction How to conjugate verbs To express ideas about past, present, and future

Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Laying the Foundations of German 5 Chapter 2: Grasping Gender and Case 23 Chapter 3: Handling the Present 37 Chapter 4: Modifying with Modal Auxiliary Verbs 55 Chapter 5: Describing and Connecting Your Thoughts 69 Chapter 6: Asking and Answering Questions 93 Chapter 7: Stepping Back in the Past 109 Chapter 8: Focusing on the Future 125 Chapter 9: Understanding Verb Moods 135 Chapter 10: Ten Important Verb Distinctions 149 Appendix: Verb Charts 155 Index 169

Wendy Foster has been a teacher, writer, editor, and translator. She is the author of Intermediate German For Dummies. Paulina Christensen, PhD, and Anne Fox are veteran language instructors.