A Foundation Course in Reading German, 2017a

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12/8/2017
In other positions, selbst is completely equivalent to selber, that is, a demonstrative
pronoun translated as a “-self” word. In this meaning, you again need to pay close
attention to position in the German sentence. When it immediately follows an
object, then it’s emphasizing that object, just like in English when you place a
"-self" word immediately after an object:
Die Lehrerin selber hat das Buch geschrieben.
The teacher herself wrote the book. (This emphasizes that the teacher wrote
it).
Die Lehrerin hat das Buch selber geschrieben.
The teacher wrote the book herself. (This emphasizes that the teacher wrote it
herself.)
Den Kuchen habe ich selbst gebacken.
I baked the cake myself.
Unit: 9: Passive voice
5. Compound Nouns with Shared Parts
You will sometimes encounter a peculiar efficiency when a German sentence
contains two or more compound nouns which share a word part. The clue to watch
for is a hanging hyphen at the beginning or end of a word. Examples:
Dabei werden Ursachen von Kinderarmut in Ost- und Westdeutschland
verglichen.
In the process, causes of child poverty in East and West Germany are
compared.
The above example saves the writer or speaker from the tedious phrase
Ostdeutschland und Westdeutschland.
Vorgang zum Richten insbesondere der Bandanfänge und -enden von
gewalzten Metallbändern.
Procedure for straightening especially the ribbon beginnings and ends of rolled
metal ribbons.
This example uses a shorter way of writing Bandanfänge und Bandenden. (You were
introduced to this practice previously at the end of Unit 3, section 5.) Just make
sure your English translation clearly communicates the intended compound