Wendy Foster loves languages. She spent 30 years in Munich, immersing herself in the German language and culture, inter­mittently bouncing to Paris to complete her MA in French. Later, she lived in Spain, where she studied Spanish. She's now a polyglot living in New England. She's the author of German For Dummies, German Workbook For Dummies, and more.

INTRODUCTION 1

About This Book 1
Conventions Used in This Book 2
Foolish Assumptions 3
How This Book Is Organized 4
Book 1: Getting Started with German 4
Book 2: Speaking German on the Go 4
Book 3: Assembling the Grammatical Foundations for Communication 5
Book 4: Building Detail and Precision in Your Communication 5
Book 5: The Appendixes 5
Icons Used in This Book 6
Where to Go from Here 6

BOOK 1: GETTING STARTED WITH GERMAN 7

CHAPTER 1: Warming Up to German Basics 9
CHAPTER 2: Handling Numbers, Times, Dates, and Measurements 31
CHAPTER 3: Meeting and Greeting: Guten Tag! 51
CHAPTER 4: Talking about Home and Family 73
CHAPTER 5: Taking Care of Business and Telecommunications 83
CHAPTER 6: Shopping Made Easy 101
CHAPTER 7: Guten Appetit! Dining Out and Going to the Market 115

BOOK 2: SPEAKING GERMAN ON THE GO 139

CHAPTER 1: Asking for Directions 141
CHAPTER 2: Going Out on the Town 157
CHAPTER 3: Planning a Trip: Gute Reise! 171
CHAPTER 4: Finding a Place to Stay: Gute Nacht! 191
CHAPTER 5: Getting Around: Planes, Trains, Taxis, and Buses 205
CHAPTER 6: Handling Emergencies 221

BOOK 3: ASSEMBLING THE GRAMMATICAL FOUNDATIONS FOR COMMUNICATION 237

CHAPTER 1: Laying Out the Basics to Build Sentences 239
CHAPTER 2: Sorting Out Word Gender and Case 259
CHAPTER 3: Dealing with the Here and Now: The Present Tense 279
CHAPTER 4: Asking and Answering Questions 297
CHAPTER 5: Describing and Comparing with Adjectives and Adverbs 315
CHAPTER 6: Modifying Verbs with Helpers: The Modal Auxiliaries 339
CHAPTER 7: Instructing and Commanding: The Imperative 357
CHAPTER 8: Sorting Out Separable- and Inseparable-Prefix Verbs 369

BOOK 4: BUILDING DETAIL AND PRECISION IN YOUR COMMUNICATION 381

CHAPTER 1: Tying Ideas Together with Conjunctions and Relative Pronouns 383
CHAPTER 2: Specifying Relationships with Prepositions 395
CHAPTER 3: Using Reflexives and Other Verb Combinations 407
CHAPTER 4: Conversing about the Past: The Present Perfect and Past Perfect 419
CHAPTER 5: Narrating the (Simple) Past: Fact and Fiction 437
CHAPTER 6: Looking to the Future (And Avoiding It) 449
CHAPTER 7: Describing Your Mood: Summing Up the Subjunctive 461

BOOK 5: THE APPENDIXES 475

APPENDIX A: Verb Tables and Case Charts 477
APPENDIX B: German-English Mini-Dictionary 499
APPENDIX C: English-German Mini-Dictionary 511
APPENDIX D: Fun & Games 523

INDEX 565