Learn to read German
A short, active path into reading German: decode nine real words from a ten-rule sound table, learn where the verb goes and why der becomes den, then read a fable whose pronunciation and English begin hidden.
The verbs that split in half
- Some doing words are two pieces, like English “look up”; in a sentence the second piece waits at the very end.
- sah … anzah … an is “looked at”, not “saw”.
- A stray auf, an, mit, weg, zuowf, an, mit, vek, tsoo at the end is almost always the other half of the verb.
- So read to the end before you decide what the doing word meant.
This is the German reading trap — not the cases, not the endings. Some doing words are made of two pieces, like English “look up”. The dictionary writes them as one word; a sentence splits them, leaving the front piece in its slot and parking the other piece at the very end.
One word in the dictionary, two pieces in the sentence
The fox looked at the bird.
Der Fuchs sah den Vogel an.
dair fooks zah dayn FOH-gul an
Stop at sahzah and you read “saw” and miss the last word. The anan makes it “looked at” — deliberate, not accidental.
Read the last word first
- Die Sonne geht auf.
The last word is half of the doing word.
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Die Sonne geht auf.dee ZON-uh gayt owf“The sun rises.” - Der Wolf sieht den Hasen an.
Not “sees”. Check the last word.
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Der Wolf sieht den Hasen an.dair volf zeet dayn HAH-zen an“The wolf looks at the rabbit.” HaseHAH-zuh is one of a few nouns that grow an -n when done to. Same animal.