The Student Room Group
Reply 2


Agreed - this book is a God-send, though I sometimes find it a bit vague and ambiguous at times:confused:
Reply 3
gooner1592
Agreed - this book is a God-send, though I sometimes find it a bit vague and ambiguous at times:confused:


Vague? I'll have a good look at that one though, any better book out there?
Reply 4
lorrybeep
Vague? I'll have a good look at that one though, any better book out there?


I say vague but thats only because I'm a perfectionist - I was reading about the past tense the other day, and it said something about looking in the previous chapter about the past tense, and then I realised, the previous part of the chapter was actually the Simple Past tense - otherwise you cannot get a better German Grammar book (In my opinion):rolleyes:
Reply 5
cool. Thanks. I hope it works well for beginner-intermediate level.
Reply 6
lorrybeep
cool. Thanks. I hope it works well for beginner-intermediate level.


Well, if you want a grammar book for beginner/ intermediate level, I'd not advise Schaums (unless you want to be a master at the end):rolleyes: Otherwise, I'd advise something like "Collins Easy Learning German Grammar". It's full of the little things that you need to know, whereas Schaums tend to cover every little point.
Reply 7
lorrybeep
Hi!

For anyone who's studied/taught german, what's a good german grammar book to be had? Need some good recommendations. I've studied German before at elemetary level but will have a lot of catch up to do as i've forgotten most of it.

:smile:


Let's not run before we can walk, ja?
Reply 8
gooner1592
I say vague but thats only because I'm a perfectionist - I was reading about the past tense the other day, and it said something about looking in the previous chapter about the past tense, and then I realised, the previous part of the chapter was actually the Simple Past tense - otherwise you cannot get a better German Grammar book (In my opinion):rolleyes:

Hmm, correct me if I'm wrong, but I always thought the phrase 'past tense' did refer to the simple past?:confused:
Reply 9
hobnob
Hmm, correct me if I'm wrong, but I always thought the phrase 'past tense' did refer to the simple past?:confused:


Well, I was under the impression that the simple past tense was the equivalent to the imperfect tense, and that the past tense is the equivalent to the present past tense, often used in conversation:confused: Perhaps I'm wrong, but that's the way I've been taught:s-smilie:
Reply 10
gooner1592
Well, I was under the impression that the simple past tense was the equivalent to the imperfect tense, and that the past tense is the equivalent to the present past tense, often used in conversation:confused: Perhaps I'm wrong, but that's the way I've been taught:s-smilie:

Hmm, I think you may be confusing tense and aspect here... As far as I'm aware, 'past tense' always refers to the "simple past", which is equivalent to German Präteritum/Imperfekt. What you're calling "present past tense" (i.e. present perfect/Perfekt) isn't really a past tense as such, though. Strictly speaking, it's present tense (perfective aspect) - hence the name.
Reply 11
hobnob
Hmm, I think you may be confusing tense and aspect here... As far as I'm aware, 'past tense' always refers to the "simple past", which is equivalent to German Präteritum/Imperfekt. What you're calling "present past tense" (i.e. present perfect/Perfekt) isn't really a past tense as such, though. Strictly speaking, it's present tense (perfective aspect) - hence the name.


Hmm, right:confused: See, I thought that things like "Ich habe...gegessen" would have been the 'past tense', since it's more like I ate:confused: Oh well, never mind then:p:

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