A Foundation Course in Reading German, 2017a
A Foundation Course in Reading German, 2017a
A Foundation Course in Reading German, 2017a
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Offl<strong>in</strong>e Textbook | A <strong>Foundation</strong> <strong>Course</strong> <strong>in</strong> Read<strong>in</strong>g <strong>German</strong><br />
https://courses.dcs.wisc.edu/wp/read<strong>in</strong>ggerman/pr<strong>in</strong>t-entire-textbook/<br />
Page 42 of 151<br />
12/8/2017<br />
"the rich" = die Reichen, "the poor" = die Armen. Such adjectival nouns are far<br />
more common <strong>in</strong> <strong>German</strong> than <strong>in</strong> English. Here are several more examples:<br />
der Alte (nom<strong>in</strong>ative case, s<strong>in</strong>gular) “the old man” or some other mascul<strong>in</strong>e<br />
be<strong>in</strong>g, depend<strong>in</strong>g on context<br />
die Alte (nom<strong>in</strong>ative or accusative case, s<strong>in</strong>gular) “the old woman” or some<br />
other female be<strong>in</strong>g, depend<strong>in</strong>g on context<br />
e<strong>in</strong>en Grünen (accusative case, s<strong>in</strong>gular) could refer to “a person associated<br />
with the Green party” or <strong>in</strong> a more general context, simply “a green one”<br />
das Alte (nom<strong>in</strong>ative or accusative case, s<strong>in</strong>gular) “the old one” (given the<br />
neuter gender, it presumably refers to an object) or more abstractly, “that<br />
which is old”<br />
das Gebaute (nom<strong>in</strong>ative or accusative case, s<strong>in</strong>gular) “that which was built” or<br />
"what was built" or perhaps "the build<strong>in</strong>gs" – as always, adjust to the context<br />
das Beste an der Sache (nom<strong>in</strong>ative or accusative case, s<strong>in</strong>gular) "the best<br />
part of the affair/story" or "what was best about this" (where Sache would be<br />
referr<strong>in</strong>g back to someth<strong>in</strong>g previously expla<strong>in</strong>ed)<br />
As you can see, you must have mastered the mean<strong>in</strong>gs of the adjectival end<strong>in</strong>gs<br />
you learned <strong>in</strong> section 3 above, and you will need to pay attention to the form of<br />
any def<strong>in</strong>ite or <strong>in</strong>def<strong>in</strong>ite articles which belong to this noun, <strong>in</strong> order to figure out<br />
this noun’s role and number with<strong>in</strong> the sentence.<br />
Also keep <strong>in</strong> m<strong>in</strong>d that such nouns would be modified by adverbs rather than by<br />
other adjectives, <strong>in</strong> agreement with what you learned <strong>in</strong> the preced<strong>in</strong>g section, and<br />
like the adjectival nouns you learned about <strong>in</strong> Unit 2. The third example below<br />
<strong>in</strong>cludes this situation.<br />
Examples:<br />
Ich tue immer me<strong>in</strong> Bestes.<br />
I always do my best.<br />
Vermeers Gemälde zeigen oft das Schöne <strong>in</strong> dem Häuslichen.<br />
Vermeer’s pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>gs often reveal the beautiful <strong>in</strong> the household sphere.