German

Chapter 1: Guten Tag!

1.1 Saying hello

Vocabulary 1: Saying Hello Formally "Guten Morgen!"

("Good Morning!")

"Guten Tag!"

("Hello!" (literally "Good day!"))

"Guten Abend!"

("Good evening!")

1. German speakers say "Hello!" in a number of ways.

This partly depends on the time of day:

• "Guten Morgen!" is said until about 10 a.m.

• "Guten Tag!" is said from about 10 a.m. to 5 or 6 p.m.

(There is no equivalent phrase for "Good afternoon!" in German.) • "Guten Abend!" is said after 5 p.m.

All of these greetings are used in formal situations when we might say "How do you do" in English, or when meeting people we don't know particularly well. When you expect or are hoping for service, it could be interpreted as impolite not to say "Guten Tag!" as an opener.

2. In informal situations however - amongst family, friends or young people -, the above greetings are often shortened or other greetings are used:

Vocabulary 2: Saying Hello Informally "Hallo!"

("Hello!")

"Hallihallo!"

("Hello!")

"Hi!"

("Hi!") "Morgen!"("Morning!")

"Tag!"

("Hello!") " 'n Abend!"("Evening!")

3. Your greeting will also depend on your geographical location. In South Germany and Austria, you'll often hear "Grüß Gott!" or "Servus!" in daylight hours, whilst in Switzerland you'll hear "Grüezi":

Vocabulary 3: Saying Hello Regionally "Grüß Gott!"

("Hello!" ("May God greet you!"))

"Grüß dich!"

"Servus!"

("Hello!")

"Grüezi!"

("Greetings!")

Remember to shake hands!

When Germans meet, their greetings can appear quite formal. Even if they see each other every day at work they will usually shake hands. If you enter a room full of people, a general greeting to all of them is usually sufficient, although you will

probably shake hands with some of them at least. Strictly speaking, the older person should hold out their hand first.

Close acquaintances and friends however frequently greet each other in Southern European style not with a handshake but with a kiss on the left cheek and a kiss on the right.

1.2 Saying goodbye

Vocabulary 4: Saying Goodbye Formally "Auf Wiedersehen!"

("Goodbye!")

"Auf Wiederschauen!"

(= South Germany and Austria)

"Auf Wiederhören!"

("Goodbye!" (telephone))

"Gute Nacht!"

("Good night!")

1. When saying goodbye, it is also necessary to distinguish between formal and

informal registers:

• The standard form for saying goodbye in German is "auf Wiedersehen!". It means "Until we see each other again", as does the South German and Austrian variant "auf Wiederschauen".

• As you obviously can't "see" people on telephones however, you use the phrase "auf Wiederhören" - "until we hear from each other again" - when you put down the receiver.

• When you are saying goodbye at night, you would say "gute Nacht!". Vocabulary 5: Saying Goodbye Informally

"Tschüs!"

("Bye!")

"Bis später!"

("See you later!")

"Ciao!"

2. When you are saying farewell to friends and young people the above expressions can also be used. Be aware that:

• The word "tschüs" (sometimes spelled "tschüss") is the most common farewell phrase amongst friends, having the sense of "See you!" or "Bye!". It originally comes, like the Spanish "adiós" and the French "adieu", from the Latin "ad deum", and means literally "God be with you".

• You might occasionally find "ciao" Germanized as "tschau".

• One should really only use "bis später" to meaning "See you later the same day". • The word "servus" can either mean "hello" or "goodbye" according to context. You will

hear it primarily in Southern Germany and Austria. German nouns

As you will have noticed, all German nouns - such as "Morgen", "Tag", "Abend" and "Nacht" - are always written with a capital letter. This has the advantage for the learner of making them much easier to spot!

On the other hand, adjectives - such as "guten" in "guten Abend" - are not capitalized unless they occur at the beginning of a sentence.

1.3 "Sie" or "du?"

1. The German language has different ways of translating the English pronoun "you":

Grammar 1: "du" and "Sie"

du

The familiar or informal form "du" is used when talking to relatives, close friends and children.

It does not start with a capital letter. The plural of "du" is "ihr".

Sie

The formal form "Sie" is used when you need to be more polite.

It is the usual form of address when talking to an adult whom you don't know well or at all. A child would always say "Sie" to an adult

outside his or her own family.

"Sie" always starts with a capital letter. The plural form of "Sie" is also "Sie".

2. Whether to use "Sie" or "du" can be a terrible dilemma for native and non-native speakers alike. It is quite possible for two neighbours to live next door to each other for decades and still call each other "Herr X" or "Frau Y" and refer to each other using "Sie"!

It is equally possible for two colleagues to work in the same office all their life and still call each other "Sie" and not be on first name terms. As the "Sie" form carries with it great respect, it thus remains the norm amongst employees, although there is a growing trend towards work colleagues being on first name terms with each other and as a consequence using the "du" form.

When meeting someone in a work environment, you should always use "Sie". The inappropriate use of "du" to someone in a position of authority in a German-speaking country can appear disrespectful and cause a great deal of offence. When getting to know new friends and colleagues, it is advisable to wait for the German speaker to ask you to address them with "du", which should then be interpreted as an offer of friendship.

3. In other areas of social interaction however, you will be expected to use "du", and may be seen as being cold and aloof if you do not.

University students invariably call each other "du" even when they're meeting for the first time, as do members of certain other groups which place a high value on

solidarity (e.g. blue-collar workers, soldiers, sportsmen).

How are you?

The choice between "du" and "Sie" is not just one of social niceties. It also affects the grammar of a sentence - and verb endings in particular. Even an apparently simple construction like "How are you" needs to be remembered in three ways:

Grammar 2: Wie geht es...?

Pronoun How are you?

Sie

(formal) "Wie geht es Ihnen?"

du

(informal)

"Wie geht es dir?"

ihr

(informal plural) "Wie geht es euch?"

1. You will discover in subsequent chapters that "Ihnen", "dir" and "euch" are the

dative forms of "Sie", "du" and "ihr". "Wie geht es Ihnen / dir?" literally means: "How goes it for you?"

2. In all three of the above contexts, you might also use "Wie geht's?" ("How are

things?"). This phrase neatly sidesteps the issue of whether you should refer to the

person to whom you are talking as "du" or "Sie", although it is a quite informal greeting.

1.4 Conversations: Greetings!

Here are two conversations which practise the difference between formal and

in the different contexts.

In our first conversation, Frau Müller meets her boss Doctor Schmidt as he comes in for work in the morning. Even though they have worked together for some time, they still use the formal "Sie" to address each other.

Conversation 1: Im Büro

Herr Dr.

Schmidt Guten Morgen, Frau Müller.

Frau Müller Guten Morgen, Herr Doktor Schmidt. Wie geht es Ihnen?

Herr Dr. Schmidt

Sehr gut, danke. Und Ihnen?

Frau Müller Leider nicht sehr gut.

Herr Dr.

Schmidt Oh, das tut mir Leid.

Frau Müller Auf Wiedersehen, Herr Doktor Schmidt.

Herr Dr.

Schmidt Auf Wiedersehen.

Glossary

das Büro The office

im Büro In the office

Herr Mister

Frau "Frau" is the title used for both maried and single women and approximates to the English Ms., Mrs. or Miss.

Wie geht es

Ihnen? "How are you?" As this is an office environment, the formal version is used. Sehr gut,

danke. "Very well, thank you". This is short for es sehr gut, danke" ("I'm very well, thank you"), "Mir geht which you could also say at this point.

Und Ihnen? "And you?" This is short for: "Und wie geht es Ihnen?", which you could also say in full if you wished.

Leider nicht

sehr gut. "Not so good." The word "unfortunately". "leider" on its own means Oh, das tut

mir Leid. "Oh, I'm sorry." As in English, this can mean that you are sorry to hear something or sorry because of something that you have done.

1. In German, people greet each other by name more often than we do in

English-speaking countries. If someone is a doctor of any kind, this title immediately follows

"Herr" or "Frau" - e.g. "Herr Doktor Schmidt", or "Frau Professor Meyer". As a general rule, you should avoid using first names in formal circumstances, unless you

are speaking to a child.

2. The formal use of Fräulein to translate "Miss" is outdated and should be avoided, not least because the literal translation of Fräulein is "little woman"! You should instead use Frau.

3. Asking how someone is is normally a mere conversational formality, and the

correct response is some form of "Fine thanks!" (see above). Compared to Anglo-Saxon countries however, asking about somebody's health is a comparatively private question in Germany, and on a bad day the person asked may give you a detailed run-down on his or her precise state of health!

At the station

In our second conversation, schoolfriends Michael and Franz bump into each at the station and briefly exchange greetings. They naturally use the informal "du" to address each other.

Conversation 2: Am Bahnhof

Michael Tag, Franz.

Franz Hallo, Michael. Wie geht es dir?

Michael Gut, danke. Und dir?

Franz Prima, danke.

Michael Tschüs.

Franz Tschüs. Bis später.

Glossary der

Bahnhof The station

am

Bahnhof At the station

Wie geht

es dir? "How are you?" As these are two young friends who are meeting, they use the informal "du" form.

Gut, danke Well, thank you

Prima,

danke "Great, thank you". The word only be used in informal contexts. Again, you could "prima" should really also say "Mir geht es prima, danke" at this point.

1.5 Introducing yourself and others

1. When you are introducing yourself to other people, you would use your first name

in informal circumstances i.e. when you would use "du". Otherwise, you should refer to yourself as "Herr X" or "Frau Y":

Vocabulary 6: Introducing yourself

I am Mister Schmidt "Ich bin Herr Schmidt" I am Ms. Braun "Ich bin Frau Braun" I am Thomas "Ich bin Thomas" I am Ute "Ich bin Ute"

2. When you are introducing other people, you can indicate your relationship to them

either before their name or after it. In both cases you would start with the words

"Und das ist...":

Vocabulary 7: Introducing other people

...my husband

Johann "...Johann, mein Mann" ...my wife Sandra "...meine Frau Sandra" ...my son, Markus "...mein Sohn Markus" ...my daughter Britta "...Britta, meine

Tochter"

You will notice that the German possessive "my" is spelled "mein" when it refers to a male person, but "meine" when it refers to a female. This will be explained in subsequent chapters.

What's your name?

There are two main ways of asking someone their name and telling them your own. Each of these constructions has two different forms, depending on whether you are in a formal or informal context:

Vocabulary 8: What's your name? What's your name? My name is...

Wie heißen Sie?

Wie heißt du? ich heiße...

(Literally: "How are you called?")

Wie ist Ihr Name?

Wie ist dein Name? mein Name ist...

(Literally: "How is your name?")

There are thus two versions of the German possessive adjective "your", just as there are two words for the pronoun "you":

• "Sie" has the pronoun "Ihr". Note the capital letters! • "du" has the pronoun "dein".

As the word for name (der Name) is masculine, the possessive "dein" has the same ending as "mein" when it referred to a male person earlier in this section. We will discuss pronouns and possessive adjectives in more detail in the next section.

1.6 Pronouns, possessive adjectives and verbs

1. We have already met some of the German pronouns and possessive adjectives in

this chapter. The table below lists them in full:

Grammar 3: Singular pronouns and possessives

1st Person ich "I" mein "my"

2nd Person du

Sie "you" dein Ihr "your" 3rd Person er sie es "he" "she" "it" sein ihr sein "his" "her" "its" Grammar 4: Plural pronouns and possessives

1st Person wir "we" unser "our"

2nd Person ihr

Sie "you" euer Ihr "your" 3rd Person sie "they" ihr "their"

The following points should be noted:

• The German pronoun "ich" does not start with a capital letter, unlike its English equivalent "I".

• Note that the pronoun "sie" can either mean "she" or "they" depending on context. And when it begins with a capital letter "Sie" is the formal form of "you"! Be very careful how you use this pronoun.

• The word "ihr" can also pose difficulties. When used as a pronoun, it is the informal plural pronoun of "you". When used as a possessive adjective, it either means "her" or "their". And when it begins with a capital letter "Ihr" is the formal form of "your"! • The third person pronouns "er", "sie" and "es" can refer to persons. However they also

substitute for all masculine, feminine and neuter nouns respectively, regardless of whether they are persons or things. The gender of German nouns will be explained fully in the next chapter.

Present tense of German verbs

The present tense of the vast majority of German verbs is formed from the infinitive of the verb - the part of speech which equates to the English "to do", "to speak" etc. In German, the infinitive almost always ends in "-en". To construct the individual forms, remove the "-en" from the infinitive and add personal endings to the remaining stem as follows:

Grammar 5: The verb "heißen" (= to be called)

Singular

ich heiße I am called

du heißt

Sie heißen You are called (informal/formal)

er/sie/es heißt He/she/it is called

Plural

wir heißen We are called

ihr heißt

Sie heißen You are called (informal/formal)

sie heißen They are called

The verb "heißen" is an example of a "weak" or "regular" verb in that it takes the regular personal endings for a verb in the present tense.

The only distinction is that the verb endings for the "du" person is usually "-st" and not "-t" as here. The reason why it is "du heißt" and not "du heißst" is a logical one - if that were the case, you would have three "s"'s in a row!

The verb "sein" (= to be)

Unfortunately, by no means all verbs are regular. The other verb which we have encountered so far - and also the most commonly used German verb! - is irregular:

Grammar 6: The verb "sein" (= to be)

Singular

ich bin I am

du bist

Sie sind You are (informal/formal)

er/sie/es ist He/she/it is

Plural

wir sind We are

ihr seid Sie sind

You are

(informal/formal)

sie sind They are

1.7 Conversations: Introductions (1)

Anna Müller, whom we saw earlier in the office, meets her new neighbour Margarete Schäfer for the first time. Listen out for the different ways in which Anna talks first to Frau Schäfer and then to her two children.

Anna Müller Guten Tag. Ich heiße Frau Müller. Und wie heißen Sie?

Margarete

Schäfer Guten Tag, Frau Müller. Freut mich. Mein Name ist Frau Schäfer und das ist Natascha, meine Tochter.

Anna Müller Hallo Natascha!

Natascha

Schäfer Hallo!

Anna Müller (looking at Frau Schäfer's pram) Und wie

heißt du?

Margarete

Schäfer Das ist mein Sohn Winfried. Darf ich mich verabschieden, Frau Müller? Auf Wiedersehen! Schönen Tag noch.

Anna Müller Danke. Ihnen auch. Tschüs, Natascha!

Natascha

Schäfer Tschüs!

Glossary

Freut mich Pleased to meet you!

Darf ich mich

verabschieden? "May I say goodbye?" Used in formal contexts only.

Schönen Tag noch Have a nice day!

Ihnen auch "The same to you!" This is of course the

formal version of the pronoun

The student Sophie Gerland introduces herself to Professor Robert Jaspert on her first day at the Freie Universität Berlin (Free University of Berlin).

Conversation 4: An der Universität

Sophie

Gerland Guten Tag, Professor Jaspert. Darf ich mich vorstellen? Mein Name ist Gerland. (Gibt

ihm die Hand.)

Professor

Jaspert Guten Tag, Frau Gerland. Bitte nehmen Sie Platz.

Glossary die

Universität The university

an der

Universität At the university

Darf ich mich

vorstellen? "May I introduce myself?" Used as a polite phrase in a formal conversation. (Gibt ihm die "She shakes hands with him." Literally: "She

Hand) gives him the hand". Not shaking hands in this highly formal context would appear rude. Bitte nehmen

Sie Platz "Please sit down." Note that Professor Jaspert uses the polite "Sie" form when speaking to Sophie, even though she is only 18 years old. He also calls her "Frau Gerland", and not "Fräulein" or "Sophie".

1.8 Conversations: Introductions (2)

Now Sophie Gerland introduces her boyfriend Marko Tredup to her friend Barbara Zacharias. All three are 18-year-old students.

Conversation 5: Marko und Barbara

Sophie

Gerland Hallo Barbara! Darf ich vorstellen? Das ist mein Freund Marko.

Barbara

Zacharias (Gibt ihm die Hand.) Hallo Marko! Marko Tredup Hallo Barbara!

Barbara

Zacharias Nett, dich kennen zu lernen. Marko Tredup Danke, gleichfalls.

Glossary Darf ich

vorstellen?

"May I introduce?" When introducing someone else, you omit the pronoun "mich" which you use when introducing yourself. (Gibt ihm die

Hand) Although the fellow students naturally use "du" to each other, they still shake hands on being introduced to each other.

mein Freund Here: "my boyfriend". It is also the word which is used for a "any male friend". Nett, dich

kennen zu lernen.

"Nice to meet you". An informal response to being introduced. Note that "dich" is the accusative form of the pronoun "du". Danke,

gleichfalls "Thank you, likewise". Or: "The same to you".

Marko Tredup introduces Sophie Gerland to his mother.

Conversation 6: Angenehm, Frau Tredup

Marko Mutter, darf ich dir meine Freundin Sophie vorstellen?

Frau

Sophie Angenehm, Frau Tredup. (Sie geben sich die

Hand.)

Glossary

die Mutter Mother

Darf ich dir ...

vorstellen? "May I introduce ... to you?" Marko uses (the dative form of "du") because he is talking "dir" to his mother. Were he to be speaking in more formal circumstances he would say "Darf ich Ihnen ... vorstellen?"

meine

Freundin Here: "my girlfriend". It is also the word which is used for a "any female friend". Freut mich, Sie

kennen zu lernen.

"Pleased to meet you." This is a more formal version of "Freut mich" which we met in the first conversation. Note that Frau Tredup calls Sophie "Sie", even though the latter is the same age as her son Marko.

Angenehm "Pleased to meet you". It literally just means "pleasant". It is interchangable with "Freut mich" as a polite response when being introduced to someone.

(Sie geben sich

die Hand) They shake hands. Once more, shaking hands is an essential part of social etiquette in this context.

1.9 German first names

We have met a number of German first names in this chapter. But which are the ones that we are most likely to meet in everyday life? In 1997, sixteen researchers at the "Kulturbox" in Berlin collated the frequency of first names in the Berlin

telephone directory. Click here to see the full list. The top twenty male and female names from their survey are listed below:

Most common names in the 1997 Berlin phone book

Male Female Male Female

1. Hans Ursula 11. Gerhard Gerda

2. Peter Hildegard 12. Joachim Sabine

3. Wolfgang Gertrud 13. Werner Ingrid

4. Heinz Helga 14. Manfred Erika

5. Klaus Renata 15. Andreas Karin

6. Horst Margarete 16. Thomas Ingeborg

7. Jürgen Monika 17. Bernd Petra

8. Dieter Brigitte 18. Karl Gabriele

10. Michael Gisela 20. Kurt Elisabeth

These are probably names which the outsider would recognise as "typically German". Yet recent years have seen parents choosing quite different names for their children. According to the German Language Society (GfdS), the ten names most commonly given to babies in 2002 and 2003 were as follows:

The most popular names given to German babies

2003 Boys Girls 2002 Boys Girls

1. Maximilian Marie 1. Alexander Marie

2. Alexander Sophie 2. Maximilian Sophie

3. Leon Maria 3. Paul Maria

4. Paul Anna/e 4. Leon Anna/e

5. Lukas Lea(h) 5. Lukas Laura

6. Felix Laura 6. Jonas Lea

7. Luca Lena 7. Tim Katharina

8. David Leonie 8. David Sarah

9. Tim Julia 9. Niklas Julia

10. Jonas Sara(h) 10. Luca Lena

Trends

It is true to say that fewer traditional or religious names are chosen now than at the start of the century. In an ongoing survey carried out by the German magazine

Familie Online for example, 42% of parents stated that they chose the name of the offspring "because they liked it", and 21% "because it was an unusual name". Names are indeed becoming more individual. The nineties witnessed the birth of children named Fritzi-Bo, Sammy-Joy, and Dana-Fee.

Whilst only 9% of parents surveyed chose the name of their baby because of biblical connotations, it is clear from the above list that biblical names are by no means dying out - in the mid-1990's they even experienced a renaissance, as evidenced by Boris Becker calling his son Noah. German parents are also increasingly drawing on a broader range of cultures and backgrounds when naming their children. Italian names are becoming ever more popular, especially girls' names such as Chiara and

Gina.

Regional variations within Germany

In South Germany it is more common to find children with two or three first names (such as Franz Josef). In the former East Germany (GDR), parents still tend to give their sons shorter names such as Tim or Tom than those in the West. For girls, the name Michelle is much more common in the East than in the West. Here is the list of the most popular names given to children born in 1996 in Eastern and Western Germany:

1996: Names given to babies in West and East Germany

West Boys Girls East Boys Girls

1. Alexander Maria 1. Maximilian Maria

2. Lukas Julia 2. Lukas Lisa

3. Maximilian Katharina 3. Philipp Laura

4. Daniel Anna/e 4. Florian Anna/e

5. Michael Laura 5. Kevin Sophia

6. Christian Marie 6. Max Julia

7. Philipp Sophie 7. Felix Sara(h)

8. Marcel Lisa 8. Paul Michelle

9. Jan Sara(h) 9. Tom Vanessa

10. Tobias Lena 10. Erik Jessica

Austria and Switzerland

In Austria and particularly in Switzerland - where German is but one of four

languages spoken -, the variations in name are even more pronounced. The top 10 names given to babies in the year 2000 are listed below for both countries. Note that the Swiss statistics refer to German-speaking Switzerland only!

(Sources: Landesverwaltung Steiermark (Austria), Bundesamt für Statistik (Switzerland)):

2000: Names given to babies in Austria and Switzerland

Boys Girls Boys Girls

1. Lukas Julia 1. Luca Laura

2. Florian Anna 2. Jan Michelle

3. Michael Sarah 3. Simon Sarah

4. Daniel Lisa 4. Joel Lea

5. Alexander Katharina 5. Lukas Julia

6. Philipp Laura 6. David Jasmin

7. Fabian Vanessa 7. Fabian Vanessa

8. Dominik Viktoria 8. Marco Celine

9. Stefan Lena 9. Noah Nina

10. Matthias Michelle 10. Jonas Sara

In Switzerland, the difference between the various language groupings is quite pronounced. In German-speaking Switzerland (die Deutschschweiz), Laura has been the most popular name given to female babies since 1995, whereas Luca has been the most popular boys' name since 1997.

In French-speaking areas however, Léa took over from Laura as top girls' name in 1998, whereas David has been the most important boys' name since 1994. In the

Ticino, the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland, Sara and Luca became the most

popular names given to babies in the year 2000, whereas Laura and Fabio lead the way in the Rumantsch-speaking regions.

1.10 Spelling your name

German uses the twenty-six letters of the English alphabet. The name of almost every letter in German contains the sound ordinarily represented by that letter.

Anna Müller is uncertain how Natascha Schäfer spells her Christian name, and decides to ask her.

Conversation 7: N-a-t-a-s-c-h-a

Anna Müller Wie heißt du?

Natascha Schäfer Natascha.

Anna Müller Wie schreibt man das?

Natascha Schäfer Großes n, a, t, a, s, c, h, a.

Wie schreibt

man das? How do you write that?

Großes s "Capital s." Or literally "big s". If you wanted to say "small s", you would say "kleines s".

Maria Strauß goes to the bank to withdraw some money. She gives her details to Herr Klein behind the counter.

Conversation 8: Die Bank

Maria

Strauß Guten Morgen. Mein Name ist Maria Strauß. Herr Klein Wie buchstabiert man das?

Maria Strauß

Das buchstabiert man: großes s, t, r, a, u, scharfes s.

Herr Klein Bitte wiederholen Sie das, langsam.

Maria

Strauß Großes s, t, r, a, u, scharfes s.

Glossary

die Bank the bank

Wie buchstabiert

man das? How do you spell that?

Das buchstabiert

man... It's spelt...

scharfes s "scharfes s" (literally "sharp s") is the name for the "ß" symbol. It sounds exactly like the "ss" sound.

Bitte wiederholen

Sie das, langsam Could you repeat that, slowly?

The pronoun "man" equates to "on" in French, in that it is used when talking about what people in general do - i.e. "one", "you", "they" etc. It takes the third person singular ("er/sie/es") verb endings.

I didn't quite catch that!

There are a number of other useful phrases which you can use if you haven't quite understood and would like somebody to repeat something:

Could you repeat that? Wie bitte?

("What did you say?")

Noch mal langsam bitte!

Bitte wiederholen Sie das, langsam.

("Could you repeat that slowly?")

Chapter 2: Talking about yourself

2.1 Where are you from?

Having asked how somebody is and what their name is, you will then want to find out

where they come from. There are two main phrases that you can employ for this.

Vocabulary 1: Woher..? Where are you from? I'm from...

Woher kommen Sie?

Woher kommst du? ich komme aus...

(Literally: "Where do you come from?")

Woher sind Sie?

Woher bist du? ich bin aus...

(Literally: "Where are you from?")

You might wish to ask somebody where they live. There is one main phrase for this, but

remember to distinguish between the "Sie" and

"du"

forms depending on the person to

whom you are talking!

Vocabulary 2: Where do you live? Where do you live? I live in...

Wo wohnen Sie?

Wo wohnst du? ich wohne in...

(Literally: "Where do you live?")

Questions

1. You may have noticed that there are different words for "where" in German.

"Woher" means "from where", whereas "wo" is the word which is used when no movement is involved. In subsequent chapters we shall also encounter "wohin" which means "to where":

2. Note the word order in German when a question is being asked. The question word comes first, followed by the verb and then the subject of the sentence. We

have now met several examples of this:

• "Wie geht es Ihnen?" (= "How are you?") • "Wie heißt du?" (= "What is your name?")

• "Wie ist Ihr Name?" ("What is your name?")

• "Woher kommst du?" ("Where do you come from?") • "Wo wohnen Sie?" ("Where do you live?")

• "Wie schreibt man das?" (= "How do you write that?") • "Wie buchstabiert man das?" (= "How do you spell that?")

Present tense of German verbs (2)

You will have noted that the verbs

"wohnen"

(= "to live") and

"kommen"

(= "to come")

used above have the same endings as

"heißen"

in the previous chapter.

Grammar 1: The verb "wohnen" (= to live)

Singular

ich wohne I live

du wohnst

Sie wohnen You live (informal/formal)

er/sie/es wohnt He/she/it lives

Plural

wir wohnen We live

ihr wohnt

Sie wohnen You live (informal/formal)

sie wohnen They live

1. Note that the present tense of a German verb has two possible English

translations, e.g. "er wohnt" could either mean "he lives"or "he is living" depending on context. Unlike English, German has no separate form to indicate continuing action.

2. You may also have noted that the endings for the "wir", "sie" (plural) and "Sie" forms are the same for all verbs. Helpfully, in regular verbs their verb form will be exactly the same as the infinitive.

Grammar 2: The verb "kommen" (= to come)

Singular

ich komme I come

du kommst Sie kommen

You come

(informal/formal)

er/sie/es kommt He/she/it comes

Plural

wir kommen We come

ihr kommt

Sie kommen You come (informal/formal)

Note however that the verb "kommen" is only a regular verb in the present tense. In the vast majority of other German tenses it is irregular and its various forms need to be learned off by heart!

2.2 Cities and countries

Most German, Austrian and Swiss cities are written as in English. The major exceptions are listed below, along with some other European cities where the German spelling is quite different. "Berlin" is spelled the same way as in English but is pronounced quite differently.

Vocabulary 3: Die Stadt - The City

Die Stadt City Die Stadt City

Basel Basle Luzern Lucerne

Bern Berne Moskau Moscow

Braunschweig Brunswick München Munich

Brüssel Brussels Prag Prague

Genf Geneva Rom Rome

Hannover Hanover Warschau Warsaw

Köln Cologne Wien Vienna

Lissabon Lisbon Zürich Zurich

Countries

The vast majority of countries have their names written differently in German from how we would spell them in English. Here is a selection of the most important ones:

Vocabulary 4: Das Land - The Country

Das Land Country

Andorra Andorra Australien Australia Belgien Belgium Brasilien Brazil Bulgarien Bulgarien China China Dänemark Denmark Deutschland Germany England England Estland Estonia

Finnland Finland

Frankreich France

Griechenland Greece

Großbritannien Great Britain

Indien India Irland Ireland Island Iceland Israel Israel Italien Italy Japan Japan Kanada Canada Kolumbien Colombia Kroatien Croatian Lettland Latvia Liechtenstein Liechtenstein Litauen Lithuania Luxemburg Luxembourg Mazedonien Macedonia Mexiko Mexico Moldawien Moldova Monaco Monaco

Neuseeland New Zealand

Norwegen Norway Österreich Austria Polen Poland Portugal Portugal Rumänien Romania Russland Russia Schottland Scotland Schweden Sweden Slowenien Slovenian Spanien Spain

Südafrika South Africa

Südkorea South Korea

Ungarn Hungary

Wales Wales

Zypern Cyprus

Putting everything together

To say which city and country you come from or live in, you use the appropriate preposition. Prepositions - words like "in", "on" and "over" - stand in front of a noun or pronoun and relate it to the rest of the sentence. The two prepositions which we need for this section are "in" (= in) and "aus" (= from, out of):

Grammar 3: Prepositions Where are you from? I'm from...

Woher kommen Sie? ich komme aus - England - Exeter (Literally: "I come from England/Exeter")

Woher ist Lukas? er ist aus - Hamburg - Deutschland (Literally: "He is from Hamburg/Germany")

Where do you live? I live in...

Wo wohnst du? ich wohne in

- Wien - Österreich (Literally: "I live in Vienna/Austria")

Wo wohnt Maria? sie wohnt in - Polen - Warschau (Literally: "She lives in Poland/Warsaw")

Simple enough? Unfortunately not. For all German nouns have a gender and so far we have merely established the rules for neuter nouns...

2.3 The gender of German nouns

We can put it off no longer. One of the major difficulties experienced by English speakers when learning German is that all German nouns, whether they represent persons, things or ideas have a grammatical gender. Whereas in English gender virtually always corresponds logically to the sex of the noun, this is not the case in German. Most nouns denoting male persons and animals are in fact masculine, and most of those denoting females are feminine (examples of natural gender); but names of inanimate objects can be masculine, feminine or neuter.

Considering the nouns with which we have come into contact so far for example, a name is masculine in German (der Name), a city is feminine (die Stadt), whereas the word for a country is neuter (das Land). Overall, about 45% of German nouns are

masculine, 35% are feminine and 20% are neuter.

Although there is no apparent rationale for this classification, guidelines for predicting genders do exist. Yet these rules are far from watertight - indeed there are exceptions to most of them. Against all natural logic, the word for a girl is neuter in German (das Mädchen)! The author Mark Twain famously complained about German nouns: "In German, a young lady has no sex, while a turnip has. Think what

overwrought reverence that shows for the turnip, and what callous disrespect for the girl." The unpalatable truth is that whenever you learn a German noun, you have to

learn its gender, just as Germans do.

The definite article

The best way to remember German genders is to learn each noun not as a single, isolated word, but together with the word for "the" that goes with it. We call "the" and its German equivalents the definite article, and unlike English nouns, the definite article in German is used to make the gender of German nouns obvious. Here are the genders of some of the nouns that we have met so far together with the appropriate form of the definite article:

Grammar 4: Gender and the definite article

Masculine Feminine Neuter

der Mann

(= the man) die Frau(= the woman) das Kind(= the child) der Sohn

(= the son) die Tochter(= the daughter) das Mädchen(= the girl) der Freund

(= the male friend) die Freundin(= the female friend) das Büro(= the office) der Tag

(= the day) die Nacht(= the night) das Land(= the country) Compound nouns

Many German nouns are a combination of two or more shorter words - we call them

compound nouns. The gender is always that of the last element in the compound noun:

Grammar 5: Compound nouns

Noun Compound noun

der Name

(= the name)

der Vorname

(= the Christian name) die Frau

(= the woman) die(= the housewife) Hausfrau das Land

(= the country)

das Ausland

2.4 Countries (2)

So far all the countries which we have encountered have been neuter, and are never used with the definite article. A small number of names for countries however are

feminine and are always preceded by the definite article "die".

Vocabulary 5: Feminine Countries

Das Land Country Das Land Country die

Schweiz Switzerland die Slowakei Slovakia

die Türkei Turkey die Ukraine Ukraine

die Tschechische

Republik Czech Republic

When you explain that you come from any of these countries, you also have to include the definite article with the preposition - but this article changes from "die" to "der". We shall see in a subsequent section that this is because it is now in the dative

case.

Grammar 6: Prepositions and feminine countries Where are you from?

Woher kommen Sie?

ich komme aus der Schweiz (Trans.: "I come from Switzerland")

Woher ist Andrea?

sie ist aus der Ukraine

(Trans.: "She is from the Ukraine")

Where do you live?

Wo wohnt Mehmet?

er wohnt in der Türkei (Trans.: "He lives in Turkey") Plural Countries

A small number of countries are written in the plural in German. In this case the definite article changes from "die" to "den":

Vocabulary 6: Plural Countries

Das Land Country

die USA

die Vereinigten Staaten USA United States

die Niederlande Netherlands

Phrases

ich komme aus den USA (Trans.: "I come from the USA")

sie ist aus den Vereinigten Staaten (Trans.: "She is from the United States")

er wohnt in den Niederlanden

(Trans.: "He lives in the Netherlands")

Notes

1. Note that "die Niederlande" adds an "-n" when we write "in den Niederlanden" or "aus den Niederlanden". This again is a result of the noun now being in the dative case.

2. "Amerika" is often used to translate "the United States", particularly in conversation. It should really only be used to translate the continent of America however. It is a neuter noun and is thus used without a definite article.

3. A few countries are masculine in German, particularly in the Middle East - "der Libanon" (= Lebanon), "der Irak" (= Iraq) "der Iran" (= Iran), "der Jemen" (=

Yemen). They too are almost always used with the definite article, which changes

from "der" to "dem" when you are describing where you are from.

2.5 Nationalities

The German construction for saying which nationality you are is different from in English. Whereas English uses an adjective - i.e. "I am English" -, German uses a noun without a different article - "Ich bin Engländer" (literally: "I am Englishman"). And just as there are different words for "friend" depending on the gender of the person concerned, you would need to employ the feminine version of the noun if the

person being described is a woman - "Ich bin Engländerin" (literally: "I am

Englishwoman"):

Grammar 7: Describing your nationality Where are you from? I'm from...

Woher kommen Sie? ich bin Brite

Woher ist Anne? sie ist Britin

Woher kommt Urs? er ist Schweizer

Woher bist du? ich bin Schweizerin

Nationality table

Listed below are the nouns of nationality for the countries which we have encountered so far. Note that:

• The vast majority of feminine nouns end in "-in". The major exception is an important one however - "die Deutsche" ("the German woman").

• With a few exceptions (der Ungar, der Israeli, der Zypriot), the names of male inhabitants listed below either end in "-e" or "-er". This is a little misleading however. For as we shall see in Chapter 11, the masculine nouns that end in "-e" can in fact take a number of endings depending on the case that they are in and whether they are preceded by an article. For the moment we have given you the endings that you will need to translate "He is a ..."

• The word for a German man - "der Deutsche" - is an adjectival noun. This type of noun will also be discussed in Chapter 11.

Vocabulary 7: Ich bin Engländer(in)

Country Male

Inhabitant Female Inhabitant

Andorra Andorraner Andorranerin

Australien Australier Australierin

Belgien Belgier Belgierin

Brasilien Brasilianer Brasilianerin

Bulgarien Bulgare Bulgarin

China Chinese Chinesin

Dänemark Däne Dänin

England Engländer Engländerin

Estland Este Estin

Finnland Finne Finnin

Frankreich Franzose Französin Griechenland Grieche Griechin Großbritannien Brite Britin

Indien Inder Inderin

Irland Ire Irin

Island Isländer Isländerin

Israel Israeli Israeli

Italien Italiener Italienerin

Japan Japaner Japanerin

Kanada Kanadier Kanadierin

Kolumbien Kolumbianer Kolumbianerin

Kroatien Kroate Kroatin

Lettland Lette Lettin

Liechtenstein Liechtensteiner Liechtensteinerin

Litauen Litauer Litauerin

Luxemburg Luxemburger Luxemburgerin Mazedonien Mazedonier Mazedonierin

Mexiko Mexikaner Mexikanerin

Moldawien Moldawier Moldawierin

Monaco Monegasse Monegassin

Neuseeland Neuseeländer Neuseeländerin die Niederlande Holländer Holländerin

Norwegen Norweger Norwegerin

Österreich Österreicher Österreicherin

Polen Pole Polin

Portugal Portugiese Portugiesin

Rumänien Rumäne Rumänin

Russland Russe Russin

Schottland Schotte Schottin

Schweden Schwede Schwedin

die Schweiz Schweizer Schweizerin die Slowakei Slowake Slowakin

Slowenien Slowene Slowenin

Spanien Spanier Spanierin

Südafrika Südafrikaner Südafrikanerin Südkorea Südkoreaner Südkoreanerin die Tschechische

Republik der Tscheche die Tschechin

Tunesien Tunesier Tunesierin

die Türkei der Türke die Türkin die Ukraine der Ukrainer die Ukrainerin

Ungarn Ungar Ungarin

die USA

(US-)Amerikaner (US-)Amerikanerin

Wales Waliser Waliserin

Zypern Zypriot Zypriotin

2.6 Conversation: Im Café

An English tourist Peter Withe strikes up a conversation with a German local Klaus Wagner whilst sitting outside a café in Bavaria in summer.

Conversation 1: Im Café

Peter

Withe Guten Tag. Klaus

Wagner Guten Tag. Sind Sie vielleicht Ausländer? Peter

Withe Ja, ich bin Engländer. Klaus

Wagner Woher kommen Sie? Peter

Withe

Ich komme aus Birmingham.

Klaus

Wagner Sie sind also kein Amerikaner? Peter

Klaus

Wagner Ich bin Deutscher. Ich komme aus Norddeutschland. Aber ich wohne hier in Bayern. Mein Name ist Wagner, Klaus Wagner. Und wie heißen Sie?

Peter

Withe Ich heiße Withe, Peter Withe.

Glossary

das Café The café

im Café In the café

der Ausländer A male "foreigner". A female foreigner would be "die Ausländerin".

Sind Sie vielleicht

Ausländer? "Are you a foreigner by any chance?" Peter's German accent is not as authentic as he thinks! Note that "Ausländer" is used in exactly the same way as all other

nationalities - without a definite article. The literal translation is "Are you perhaps foreigner?"

vielleicht In almost all other contexts, "vielleicht" would be translated as "perhaps".

also Be very careful of this word in German! It

doesn't mean English "also" but "therefore" or "so".

Sie sind also kein

Amerikaner? "So you're not American?" The word literally means "not an". "kein" Norddeutschland "North Germany". This is one word only in

German - a compound noun.

Bayern This means "Bavaria". Many German

regions with which we are familiar turn out to have very different names in German.

2.7 Conversation: Im Sitzungssaal

Im Sitzungsaal

In a conference room (der Sitzungssaal) at a trade fair in Hanover, Herr Loss introduces Ken McNaught, who has just arrived from Glasgow, to Frau Melzig and Herr Slomka.

Conversation 2: Im Sitzungssaal

Herr Loss Darf ich vorstellen, Herr McNaught aus Glasgow. Frau Melzig aus Hannover.

Frau Melzig Guten Tag, Herr McNaught. Willkommen in Hannover. Sind Sie Schotte?

Herr Loss Ja, er ist Schotte. Er ist in der Nähe von Glasgow geboren.

Herr

McNaught Sind Sie Deutsche?

Frau Melzig Nein. Mein Mann ist Deutscher, aber ich komme aus der Schweiz.

Herr

McNaught Und wie ist Ihr Name, bitte? Herr Loss Das ist Herr Slomka.

Herr McNaught

Woher sind Sie, Herr Slomka?

Herr

Slomka Ich bin aus Moskau. Herr

McNaught

Aha! Sie sind Russe! Sind Sie hier auf Geschäftsreise?

Herr Loss Nein. Er wohnt hier.

Glossary

der Sitzungssaal The conference room

im Sitzungssaal In the conference room

Willkommen in

Hannover "Welcome to Hanover". Note that German uses a different preposition to English in this context.

Sind Sie Schotte? Are you Scottish?

ja / nein "yes / no". But you knew that already,

didn't you? in der Nähe von

Glasgow This somewhat lengthy construction simply means "near Glasgow". Er ist ... geboren "He was born..." Note that the word

"geboren" is always placed right at the end of the clause, after the place in which the person was born.

aber but

hier here

Sind Sie hier auf

Geschäftsreise? Are you here on business?

2.8 Professions

The German construction for explaining what your job is involves the German word for profession - "der Beruf". You have a choice of word order with this construction, and can also choose whether to say "ich bin Manager von Beruf" or simply "ich bin Manager".

Grammar 8: What do you do for a living? What's your job? I'm a... (male)

Was sind Sie von Beruf?

Was bist du von Beruf? von Beruf ich bin Arzt (von Beruf)bin ich Arzt

What's her job? She's a...

Was ist sie von Beruf? von Beruf ist sie Ärztin sie ist Ärztin (von Beruf)

You will have noticed that we use exactly the same construction for professions as we do for nationalities. Whereas in English we would say "I'm a doctor", in German you would say "Ich bin Arzt" (literally - "I am doctor"). Once more, the verb which you will need throughout is the irregular verb "sein".

And just as there are two words for "a friend" or "a German" depending on the gender of the speaker, there are also two forms of each profession which need to be learned to employ the feminine version of the noun if the person being described is a woman - "Ich bin Ärztin".

Table of professions

Listed below are the names of the most commonly used German professions with their male and female variants.

Vocabulary 8: Professions

Profession Male Variant Female Variant

Actor Schauspieler Schauspielerin

Artist Künstler Künstlerin

Author Schriftsteller Schriftstellerin Bank clerk Bankangestellter Bankangestellte Business(wo)man Geschäftsmann Geschäftsfrau Car mechanic Automechaniker Automechanikerin

Chemist Chemiker Chemikerin

Civil servant Beamter Beamtin

Doctor Arzt Ärztin

Engineer Ingenieur Ingenieurin

Farmer Landwirt Landwirtin

Hairdresser Friseur Friseuse

Journalist Journalist Journalistin

Lawyer Rechtsanwalt Rechtsanwältin

Nurse Krankenpfleger Krankenschwester

Pensioner Rentner Rentnerin

Photographer Fotograf Fotografin Politician Politiker Politikerin Postman Briefträger Briefträgerin

Professor Professor Professorin

Salesperson Verkäufer Verkäuferin

Secretary Sekretär Sekretärin

Student Student Studentin

Taxi driver Taxifahrer Taxifahrerin

Teacher Lehrer Lehrerin

Waiter Kellner Kellnerin

Grammar

1) As you will have noted from the above list, the suffix "-in" is often added in the feminine form - i.e. Kellner + "-in" = Kellnerin.

2) Sometimes the female equivalent modifies slightly with the addition of an

"Umlaut" - i.e. Arzt + "-in" = Ärztin.

3) Occasionally the male form ends in "-in", and the female equivalent in "-e" - i.e. Bankangestellter - "-r" = Bankangestellte.

4) There are sometimes different words altogether for male and female jobs - i.e. Krankenpfleger (male) and Krankenschwester.

2.9 Conversation: Der Beruf

Whilst waiting at the bus-stop, Müslüm Can and Mareike Herda discuss the jobs to which they are travelling.

Conversation 1: Die Lehrerin und der Gemüsehändler

Müslüm Can Was sind Sie eigentlich von Beruf, Frau Herda?

Mareike Herda Von Beruf bin ich Lehrerin.

Müslüm Can Ach nein! Mein Bruder ist auch Lehrer.

Mareike Herda Das gibt's doch gar nicht! Wo arbeitet er? Hier in Berlin?

Müslüm Can Nein, nein. Er ist Deutschlehrer in der Türkei. Wir sind beide in der Türkei geboren.

Mareike Herda Und was sind Sie von Beruf?

Müslüm Can Ich bin Gemüsehändler.

Mareike Herda Arbeiten Sie hier in der Stadt?

Müslüm Can Ja. Ich arbeite in einem kleinen Gemüseladen in der Nähe von hier.

Glossary

eigentlich actually; in fact

von Beruf bin

ich... Switching the word order around such that "von Beruf" comes first places slightly more emphasis on the profession.

Ach nein! Literally "Oh no!", but the sense is one of

surprise: "Really?!"

mein Bruder my brother

auch "too; also". Not to be confused with the

German word "also" meaning "therefore" (see below).

also Be very careful of this word in German! It

doesn't mean English "also" but "therefore" or "so".

Das gibt's doch

gar nicht! "Well I never! You don't say!". A polite expression of great surprise. Wo arbeitet er? "Where does he work?". There is no

German equivalent of the English word "does". "Er arbeitet" is the sole German translation for "he works", "he is working" and "he does work".

Deutschlehrer "German teacher". Note that this is written as one word in German.

Wir sind ...

geboren We were born ....

wir beide both of us

der

Gemüsehändler greengrocer

in der Stadt in the city

in einem kleinen

Gemüseladen in a little greengrocer's shop

in der Nähe von

hier near here

Present tense of the verb "arbeiten"

We have met a new verb in this section - "arbeiten" (= "to work"). Although it is a regular verb, some of the endings are slightly different as the stem of the verb ends in "t". To prevent a build-up of unpronouncable and teeth-damaging consonants, an extra "-e" is added before the "du", "er/sie" and "ihr" endings.

Grammar 1: The verb "arbeiten"

Singular

ich arbeite I work

du arbeitest

Sie arbeiten You work (informal/formal)

er/sie/es arbeitet He/she/it works

Plural

wir arbeiten We work

ihr arbeitet

Sie arbeiten You work (informal/formal)

sie arbeiten They work

Location

The Federal Republic of Germany is the largest of the German-speaking countries. It is located in Central Europe, and has nine neighbours - Denmark to the North, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg and France to the West, Switzerland and Austria to the South, and the Czech Republic and Poland to the East. This central location has been more pronounced since 3rd October 1990, when Germany was reunited. Due to its central position Germany functions within the EU and NATO as a bridge to the Central and Eastern European states and is an important location for European and global relations.

Reunified Germany now is now the sixth largest country in Europe with an area of 137,826 square miles (356,970 sq. km.). Western Germany comprises just over two-thirds of this - 96,095 square miles compared with 41,731 square miles in the former Eastern Germany. Germany extends 876 kilometres from its northern border with Denmark to the Alps in the south, and (at its widest) 650 kilometres from the Belgian border in the west to the Polish frontier in the east. The total length of the country's borders is 3,758 kilometres.

Population

Germany has a population of approximately 82.163 million, the largest in Europe after the Russian Federation, followed by the United Kingdom (58.9 million), France (58.5 million) and Italy (57.5 million). About one fifth of this population live in the former GDR.

The Federal Republic of Germany is a densely populated country, with a population density of 230 persons per square kilometre. More than half the German people live

in towns with a population of between 2,000 and 100,000. There are 86 larger towns and cities with more than 100 000 inhabitants spread throughout the country. The five largest cities are Berlin, the official capital with a population of 3,458,800, Hamburg (1,708,500), Munich (1,232,800), Cologne (964,400), and Frankfurt (646,400).

There are 7,363,600 foreigners currently living in Germany, which is equal to 8.9% of the population. Just over two million of these come from Turkey, with other sizable immigrant communities coming from the former Yugoslavia, Italy, Greece, Africa and Eastern Europe.

Climate

The Federal Republic's climate is determined by its location in a zone of temperate climatic conditions with frequent weather changes. There is precipitation all the year round. In the winter the average temperature is between 1.5°C in the lowland areas and -6°C in the mountains. In the warmest month of the year, July, temperatures are between 18°C in low-lying regions and 20°C in the sheltered valleys of the south. Progressing from the northwest to the east and southeast, the maritime climate gradually changes into a more continental climate.

Geography

The whole of northern Germany, through which run the Weser, the Elbe, and smaller rivers, is set in the North European Plain. The Rhine Basin encompasses some of the most beautiful landscape and best wine-growing regions in Europe. Towards the east, this consists of morainic hills containing fertile loess soil. More than a quarter of the whole of Germany is covered with forest. Among the major ranges of the mid-German highlands are the Teutoburger Wald, the Harz Mountains, the Sauerland, Westerwald, and Taunusgebirge. In the west are the Ruhr coalfields, while in the east there are large lignite deposits. Southward the ground gradually rises to the Black Forest (der Schwarzwald), and the Swabian Jura, with dense pine forests and moorland, and potash, salt, and other minerals. In Bavaria, further south, the land becomes rugged. Here are patches of mountain pasture and lakes; to the east is the deep Danube valley.

Economy

Germany is one of the most highly-industrialised and economically powerful

countries in the world. The economic system is classed as a social market economy within which competition has become very pronounced. Unemployment is a problem, not only in the new Federal States. The major sectors of the economy are

manufacturing industry, service industries and trade, and transport. Great political importance is attached to environmental protection which is a major concern of the people.

2.11 German History

Germany was originally occupied by Teutonic tribes who were driven back across the Rhine by Julius Caesar in 58 BC. When the Roman empire collapsed eight Germanic kingdoms were created, but in the 8th century Charlemagne consolidated these kingdoms under the Franks. The region became part of the Holy Roman Empire in 962, and almost 200 years later was invaded by the Mongols. A period of unrest followed until 1438 when the long rule of the Habsburgs began.

The kingdom, now made up of hundreds of states, was torn apart during the Thirty Years War; when this ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, the Elector of Brandenburg-Prussia emerged as a force ready to challenge Austrian supremacy. By the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the alliance of 400 separate German states that had existed within the Holy Roman Empire (962-1806) had been reduced to thirty-eight. At the Congress of Vienna these were formed into a loose grouping, the German Confederation, under Austrian leadership.

The Confederation was dissolved as a result of the Austro-Prussian War (1866), and in 1867 all northern Germany formed a new North German Confederation under Prussian leadership. This was in turn dissolved in 1871, and the new German Second empire proclaimed.

After Germany's defeat in World War I, the Weimar Republic was instituted, to be replaced in 1933 by the Third Reich under Adolf Hitler.

History: 1945 to 1990

In 1945 the victorious Allies divided defeated Germany into four zones of occupation: American, British, French and Soviet. The original intention was to denazify and unite Germany. But with the advent of the Cold War, ideological differences between the Allied powers became apparent, and two German states were formed in 1949: the western Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the eastern German Democratic Republic (GDR). The FRG embedded itself in key Western economic and security organizations, the EC and NATO, while the communist GDR was on the front line of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact.

In 1953 East German workers revolted against the communist government,

demanding higher salaries, more work and democratic elections. Faced by a steady flow of workers moving from East to West, the GDR government constructed the "antifascist protective wall" which divided Berlin into two. This Wall was 165 kilometres in length and between three and four metres in height.

In the West, Konrad Adenauer, as Chancellor (1949-63), was determined to see eventual reunification of Germany and refused to recognize the legal existence of the German Democratic Republic. A crisis developed over Berlin in 1958, when the Soviet Union demanded the withdrawal of Western troops and, in 1961, when it authorized the erection of the Berlin Wall. The Berlin situation began to ease in 1971, during the chancellorship of the social democrat Willy Brandt (1969-74) with his policy of Ostpolitik. This resulted in treaties with the Soviet Union (1970), Poland (1970), Czechoslovakia (1973), and one of mutual recognition and co-operation with the German Democratic Republic (1972), with membership of the UN following in 1973.

Economic recovery was assisted after the war by the Marshall Plan. The challenge of rebuilding shattered cities and of absorbing many millions of refugees from eastern