Websites that clearly explain German grammar

studying german and have today been dropped a class.

the reason is a lack of understanding of modalverbs and other stuff like that the already i feel i'm beginning to sink. not worried about shifting down as i'm here to learn.

if anyone knows of sites that can cleary explain the nicht/trennbar, why the hell dativ does what it does to propostions, reflexive verb and other stuff is just obscure to me ca you please say so...

cheers

J

>my head hurts

I use Canoo. It's the best I've found for explaining rules, plus you can search for just about any word and it will tell you the inflection/conjugation. I'm still looking for a website that clearly displays which cases to use with which verb/preposition combinations.

Cases and prepositions are here: http://genevieve-cory.150m.com/music/wechsel.html with songs to help you remember which prepositions take which case. Doesn't help with the verbs and the Wechselpräpositionen though.

I think a German textbook is likely to help in a more comprehensive way than a website. I'd recommend Sprechen wir Deutsch, that's what we used to teach with -- explained everything in English.

Honestly, I'm sorry to say this, but your English isn't so hot, either. Maybe you need to find a way to turn on your language center.

I actually got a lot of mileage (and will probably continue to for some time) from this book:
Hueber grammar by Reimann in English, which was the most thorough and well-organized guide I found, without being overwhelming.

thank you zusammen. any little helps, right?

fribble...smell my finger.

still thanks
all the same.

Fribble I just ordered the book you recommended. It has been brought to my attention that my grammar is sub par in English as well as in German, so I have been looking for something along those lines for some time. I might also be hanging around with small town boy too much which may cause an inflated sense of grammatical inadequacy. In any case thanks for recommending the book, I hope I get as much milage out of it as you have.

I don't know about websites, but for grammar books German: An Essential Grammar is easily the best intermediate level grammar book I've found. It's concise, and not a exercise book, but it's very clear in explaining various hurdles and practicalities of German grammar. It has good examples sprinkled throughout, such as noting the flexibility of word order in sentences through case usage (e.g. compare "Der Vater hat seiner Tochter eine Email geschickt" vs. "Seiner Tochter hat der Vater eine Email geschickt" and try to do the same thing in English).

Amazon lists it for €81, but I found it at Hugendubel some good time ago for €26. Best to look around if you're interested in it.

I use the German section of about.com, it's a good source of lots of easy to understand German grammar explanations - it also has exercises, games and other stuff to help you learn as well.

http://german.about.com/

You can also sign up to a weekly email which focuses on a particular grammar topic and also has a couple of other articles on life in Germany, German culture and so on which are usually interesting.

@ jay-me, glad to help. Perhaps ask a friend to help you translate the English bits into talentless cretin.

you do bruise easily, don't you...
sticks and stones an' all dat.

thanks guys.

off to look for that book now.

J

Question 1) Without wanting to smell your finger any, do you know what this stuff is in english? Not wanting to be funny, but actually knowing what dative and reflexive is and does in english goes a long way to helping you learn another language.

Question 2) Be honest - How much time are you sepnding talking and listening to German outside your lessons? Get out there and live German, its the only way.

andy ;

I like Beolingus.

@poq: No, J likely doesn't know what dative and reflexive is and does in English. Most of us under about 55 don't, unless we've studied English grammar in University. In Canada they stopped teaching all but the most basic of English grammar just before my mother hit school (result: I don't even know how to properly use half the punctuation marks, much less knowing what the cases are and how this affects that. I can tell you that something is wrong, but I can't tell you why it's wrong, or what makes it wrong. Unfortunately, trying to learn these things without someone who understands it teaching you is very very frustrating, and although it helps to know the English grammar, it's just as frustrating trying to decipher it alone as it is trying to figure out the German grammar.) I'm fairly certain they stopped teaching it at roughly the same time in most of the rest of the world.

congrats, P! you've just hit on the subject most likely to send me into a rant!

Me too.

Another one is http://www.nthuleen.com/teach/grammar.html <= German grammar spots explained in simple English. [in case your English is not good enough to use Canoo]

A useful book is "English Grammar for Students of German" ISBN-10: 0934034311

It explains english grammar and gives counter examples of how the same aspect is treated in german

luitaia, your right. never got taught it at school. although i could tell you what was wrong i couldn't tell you why. AND i was in the top classes for english at my school (might have been the area).

and for pog's second point... i do go out a live but when in groups (of germans) much of what i hear just dissolves into one mass of noise. one to one isn't so bad. it especially helps if that person is patient and isn't being a cock talking schwabish/osterriechisch/bayrisch and getting a kick out of it.

went out withsome groups from school on the weekend. friday was a french fest, me and a yank the only none french speakers. and saturday was exactly the same only with a group of swiss italiens... not much help!

cheers

J

Or maybe your fellow amoebae have not yet learned to write?

ameobae... c l a s s m a t e s... jesus...!

but, yes. could have been where i was dragged up. not the most promising of lands was it but make do with it what we can...

Forgive my having to say this, J, but the more you write, the more it seems to me that you'd benefit from some English grammar lessons before you try to learn German. It will come much more easily, for one, and for two, you'll be taken far more seriously when you post things on here. I do realise that my saying that comes out as being very condescending, and I apologise, but having one set of Grammar straight in your head should make things easier.

i best keep quiet then...

this isn't most endearing of places at times, is it...? scratch, meow, scratch.

haven't got the time to sit and relearn english. i'm here for another two months in the school. have a wedding i have to attend then i'm back here to live. guess that over time things will improve and should do so quicker when out in the real world, not a classroom.

got my head around relativsatz over the weekend/today. little by little...

J

Not a website, but I recommend the book Schwarz-Rot-Gold by Paul Webster. It really helped me to get my head round German grammar when I first started to learn the language.