Introduction

You may have had German Workbook For Dummies delivered to your doorstep, or you were opening birthday presents, and . surprise! No matter how you came across this book, acquiring more German helps you in a myriad of ways. You cannot help noticing that globalization is taking place at an ever-increasing pace. German is spoken by more members of the European Union than any other language, and Germany plays a leading economic role in the European Union. You may be a businessperson, adventurer, or avid language learner; it doesn't matter. At some point in your life, you're bound to come in contact with German. So get a head start and be ready to communicate, travel, and - most of all - have some fun auf Deutsch (in German).

Using this book builds your confidence in no time. Well, okay, you do need some free hours here and there, but the time you do spend using this book will pay off down the road. Consider what you can gain from German Workbook For Dummies as the equivalent of having invested a huge chunk of money, time, and effort at the local health club to become super-fit for a trek across the Alps. The obvious difference is that you have to plunk out only a small chunk of change, plus some time and effort, to reap personal and professional gain.

About This Book

German Workbook For Dummies is your key to success in becoming confident using German. In this book, you get basic skills, straight talk, the nitty-gritty, and enough detail to see you successfully through any major and minor roadblocks to communicating in German.

You'll find this book very user-friendly because you can go through it in any order you choose, zeroing in on your priorities. You can skim or, better, skip the grammar you don't need. Use the book to find answers to specific questions you may have on a topic that comes up while you're acquiring useful language. All the chapters have ample practice exercises following the grammar explanations so you can check whether you've grasped the material. Flip to the end of the chapter, and you'll find the answer key for the exercises, with explanations pertinent to problematic usage. Without even realizing it, you'll find your German vocabulary expanding as you cruise through the book. The example sentences and exercises use practical, everyday German that let you flex your vocabulary muscles as you complete the tasks. Most important, as you go through this book, Viel Spaß! (Have a lot of fun!)

Conventions Used in This Book

To make your progress go as smoothly as possible, I use some conventions in this book that can help you spot essential elements in the text and exercises:

• I boldface the essential elements in verb tables, which may be information such as verb endings or irregular conjugations. Elsewhere, I boldface German words and example sentences.
• I italicize English translations that accompany German words and sentences. I also italicize English terms that I immediately follow with a definition.
• The answer key at the end of each chapter has not only the solutions to the practice exercises (in bold), but also italicized English translations. Answers have explanations when I feel it's important to clarify why the answer given is the correct one.
• Before each group of practice exercises, I provide an example exercise in Q&A format to show you how to complete the task. The example (Q.) is followed by the answer (A.) and an explanation for that answer, as needed.

Foolish Assumptions

In writing German Workbook For Dummies, I made the following assumptions about you, dear reader:

• Your goal is to build your knowledge of German so that you feel comfortable with communicating in the language. (Alternatively, you want to dream in German.)
• You're willing to jump into German at the deep end and start swimming, even if you need some water wings at first. Or perhaps you're already acquainted with some basics of German grammar and want to get going full steam ahead.
• You don't want to be burdened by long-winded explanations of unnecessary grammatical terms; neither do you care to hold a scholarly discussion in German about Goethe's Faust. You just want to you express yourself in clear and reasonably accurate German.
• You're enthusiastic about having some fun while honing your German skills because the last thing you want from this book is to be reminded of boring school days, when success meant figuring out how to (a) sleep and learn at the same time, (b) skip class and not be missed, and/or (c) wrap the teacher around your little finger so that no matter what you did, you still got good grades.

If any of these statements describes you, you're ready to get started using this book. Willkommen! (Welcome!)

How This Book Is Organized

This book is divided into six parts. The first four parts are divided into several chapters each, containing explanations, tables, and exercises. In the last two parts, you find practical learning tips and the appendix with charts, tables, and a mini dictionary. Here's the preview.

Part 1: The Basic Building Blocks of German

In this part, you find out how to introduce yourself and start a simple conversation. You acquaint yourself with the world of nouns and verbs, numbers and dates, word order and more fundamentals. See the mysteries of gender and case unveiled. Part 1 also contains a practical guide to increasing your word power exponentially. You become familiar with techniques that help you retrieve newly acquired vocabulary and expressions.

Part 2: Focusing on the Present

Here you get the tools needed to construct sentences in the present tense. I give you ample practice combining nouns and pronouns with verbs. I include info on asking and answering questions, as well as agreeing and disagreeing. This part also shows you the seven modal verbs that help you be polite, ask for help, and talk about what you can do, want to do, would like to do, should do, or must do.

Part 3: Adding Flair to Your Conversations

You want to sound like a native, right? This part helps you find out how to express yourself using two-part verbs and reflexive verbs. It also delves into the finer points of expressing yourself using adjectives of description. The chapters here show you how to put adjectives and adverbs to work for you by making comparisons, show how to connect shorter ideas with conjunctions, and touch on using prepositions.

Part 4: Talking about the Past and the Future

In this part, you practice expressing yourself using past and future verbs. You become familiar with the difference between the conversational past and the simple (narrative) past, and you see how to choose the correct verb form to express yourself in the future.

Part 5: The Part of Tens

Here you find my top ten easy and useful tips for optimizing your German (in other words, how to make your German the best it can be). I close things out with a list of pitfalls to avoid.

Part 6: Appendixes

The three appendixes provide an assortment of references to help you communicate successfully in German. The first appendix includes verb tables for conjugating verbs. The second and third appendixes are the mini-dictionaries, which allow you to find the meaning of a German word you don't understand or the German equivalent of an English word.

Icons Used in This Book

Consider these icons to be key points as you take the journey through this book. You find them in the margins throughout. The icons include the following:

Helpful hints like these would've made it a whole lot easier for me to feel more comfortable using German when I was first living in Bavaria, stumbling along in my shaky German.

The Warning icon points out hidden dangers you may encounter as you journey through the deep forest of tangled words, slippery sentence structure, and the like.

This icon alerts you to key information that's worth revisiting. You want to stash this info in your mind because you'll end up using it again and again.

Pay attention to these key points. By noticing similarities and differences between German and English, you see patterns that show you how to assemble German into meaningful statements.

This icon marks the core learning tool in this book: a set of exercises designed for you to check your progress. Grab a pencil and get started.

Beyond the Book

In addition to what you're reading right now, this book comes with a free, access-anywhere Cheat Sheet containing some must-have basic vocabulary and an overview of German grammar. To get this Cheat Sheet, simply go to www.dummies.com and type German Workbook For Dummies Cheat Sheet in the search box.

Where to Go from Here

Part 1 helps you assess what you already know or don't know. The other parts build up the confidence you need to expand your German horizons. Work at your own pace, proceeding in any order you choose. Skip sections you're not ready to do yet. If you don't get the hang of a section, reread the explanation, check out the example sentences, or look at the first couple of solutions in...