Product Description

From Šchzen (to groan) to ziehen (to pull), 501 of the most commonly used German verbs are presented alphabetically with translations. The arrangement is one verb per page in easy to comprehend table form. Each verb is listed with its principal parts and followed by complete conjugation in all tenses. Additional material includes tables of strong verbs arranged according to pattern of change, and a section on prefix verbs and model auxiliaries. An added feature in this edition is a set of 27 verb tests with answers explained. Language students will also find weather expressions as they are used with impersonal verbs, a selection of German idioms and proverbs, and a concise review of rules for verb tenses and moods. This book, with its emphasis on grammatical form, makes a fine classroom supplement for beginner, intermediate, and advanced courses in German.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #277570 in Books
• Published on: 1998-01-01
• Original language: English, German
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 585 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780764102844
• BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Language Notes
Text: English, German

Customer Reviews

A wonderful,invaluable reference.
I have read reviews that say this book is limited in its scope.Well, it is limited,and for good reason.This book is meant for one reason only, to give you full conjugation of 501 of the most common verbs in all tenses.If this book had included a broader scope of info it would not be so easy to use.This book is a must have for all serious language students.The one other book I strongly recommend is "750 verbs |GERMAN| and their uses". That book covers the many many meanings a verb can have and how it can change meaning with various prepositions and also gives numerous example sentences per verb/meaning.

Good, but omits many of the more common verbs/meanings.
I don't have many complaints about this book. The conjugation of each verb in all tenses is great, and for gaining some 'feeling' as to how one might conjugate an unknown verb, it's very helpful. It's a great companion to, say, the Langenscheidt's basic German vocabulary books. I do have two criticisms. First, the choice of the verbs is slightly odd, in some cases. Many of the common verbs are omitted. Additionally, some of the verbs have numerous meanings, and some of these meanings are omitted. For learning formal German, its fine, but the omissions of common verbs/meanings makes it somewhat less useful as a learning tool for common, spoken German.

Achtung!
Henry Strutz was an associate professor of languages at State University of New York in Alfred, New York, when he put this book together. The volume I have has a publication date of 1972 - this is, however, the kind of book that doesn't really go out of date. Language does change, but the basics of languages remain steady over several generations in general, and German is no exception. The basic core of the language remains constant, so this book holds up over time. Subsequent printings of this book may add a verb here and drop a verb there (given the title, it will always try to stay at 501 verbs), but the vast majority will remain the same.

I studied German at university almost 25 years ago, and first purchased this book to go along with my studies. While German is fairly standard in the patterns of conjugations for most verbs, German like most languages has exceptions to many rules, including exceptions to some of the most frequently used verbs, such as the verb constructions for to be (English is the same, with this being one of the most difficult verb constructions for non-English speakers to learn). The verb sein (bin, bist, ist, sind, seid, sind) is one of the most important verbs; haben is another important verb, given its `helping verb' status (true also in English), as it occurs in constructions with other verbs.

There are 501 verbs here, one each to a page, arranged in alphabetical order. From achten (to pay attention to) to zwingen (to force, compel), most of the verbs found in eighty percent or more of regular conversation and general writing are to be found here. Each page is laid out in a logical order, with indicative forms (the most common and simple forms) on the left, and subjunctive forms (primary and secondary, as appropriate) on the right. It steps through the various verb tenses: present, past (imperfect, perfect, and pluperfect), future and future perfect. Rare is the verb that doesn't follow these patterns - some verbs, such as geschehen (to happen, to take place, to come to pass) have simplified patterns given the use in parts of speech (rare is the sentence in English or in German where someone would say, `I have come to pass...').

Strutz has an introduction of 45 pages (not numbered along with the verbs, but rather using Roman numerals, so that the 501 verbs can correspond to 501 text pages). This introduces a very basic grammar, a discussion of the verb tenses and their uses, different kinds of conjugations, and sets out a pattern page in English to aid users in following the German pages of verbs.

In discussing word order, Strutz quotes Mark Twain, who once said of the German language, `The German goes to bed with his subject and wakes up with his verb.' According to Strutz, Twain is once supposed to have refused to leave a play, despite its being dreadful, because he was waiting for the verb. Strutz injects humour into the serious aspect of language study such as he can (how much can one do with a simple listing of verbs?), particularly in the early pages with grammar discussion. He also addresses pronunciation issues, and looks at particular forms that are regionally different. Knowing his audience is largely academic/student readers, he draws examples from literature, philosophy (Nietzsche), and music.

Despite this good introduction, this book should not be confused with being a German grammar or language study. This introductory material is but the briefest of introductions, intended primarily as a refresher for those who have studied German before, or are studying German concurrently with using this text.

Strutz has several indexes. There is an English-to-German index of words represented in the text; there is a German-to-English index in the same pattern. Many `prefix verbs' are conjugated on the primary pages - words like ankommen (to arrive) and bekommen (to receive); however, there are others for which only the basic verb is conjugated - prefix formations are included in the index in parenthetical form. Finally, there is a brief index of verbs identified by infinitive form, given that some verbs change sufficiently in various conjugate forms to not be intuitively obvious for the beginner to understand which word it is.

I'm trying to recapture my reading German this summer, so that I can do some theological research using various German texts in the coming academic year. I find this book invaluable - it is perhaps of more value when one is trying to write than when one is trying to read, but it is still very useful, so much so that the binding on my copy has cracked from use.