Vokabelntipp Throughout the course we will be giving you tips on how to "guess" the meanings of words you might not have seen. Each Lesestück may contain several words we don't gloss (define) for you. There are four reasons for this:
By looking at the word you can probably guess what it means (cognates). These are words like Hand, Finger, Freund, Haus. (Occasionally there are "false" cognates that do not mean what they look like [sensibel = "sensitive," not "sensible"], but they are rare.)
**You have already learned a Vokabelntipp that should help you guess its meaning.**
The context (rest of the sentence or text) should make the meaning clear, especially if the word is repeated.
It really isn't crucial whether you get the exact meaning anyway, especially if it's not used again in the text.
Of course, it's important to know which of these four explanations is the real reason a word is not glossed. The actual cognates (reason #1) should be obvious. Reasons #3 and 4 ask you to use the same skills you'd use in English, so we won't focus on them.
Reason #2 is extremely important! Whenever you see a new Vokablentipp, write it in a special place in your notebook, and review them all at least once per unit. Using these hints, you can guess hundreds of words you've never seen. You can even create words you've never seen. Your "creations" may or may not actually "exist," but a German speaker would know what you meant (which is certainly better than saying nothing!) - and you might even start a trend!
So, our Vokabelntipp for this unit is also a review. Do you remember all of these hints about compound nouns?
They're very common in German and a great way to "play" with the language..
Their gender and plural is always the same as the last element in the compound. der Arm, (-e) + das Band, (-er) + die Uhr, (-en) = die Armbanduhr, (-en)
The final segment ("Uhr" in the above example) tells you the basic item you're talking about (a clock of some kind), and the other parts explain what kind it is (one that goes on a band around your arm).
Üben wir
What can you tell about the following compounds? You may already know the word and/or you don't know all the information about the parts, but think about it. Then click on the word to see information that could be helpful in guessing what the word means.
Vokabelntipp
Üben wir
Üben wir die Partizipien mit diesem Kreuzworträtsel.
