# Good books on German Grammar?



## RamistThomist (Dec 26, 2007)

This is particularly directed at Carolina Calvinist, but others are welcomet to pipe in.

I had a year of German in college not too long ago. I had a brilliant and masterful teacher (one of the most influential men in my life and intellectual formation. He made me a libertarian, btw), but we did not have very good or helpful textbooks.


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## Vytautas (Dec 26, 2007)

A very good German Grammar book is Handbuch zur deutschen Grammatik Wiederholen und anwenden by Rankin and Wellls Fourth Edition from Houghton Mifflin Company.


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## Guido's Brother (Dec 26, 2007)

I know there are those on the PB who have more expertise than I do in this area, but I think it depends on what you're planning on doing with your German -- reading or speaking. I took a (reading) German course in university and we used Hanna and Willy Rogalla's Grammar Handbook for Reading German Texts. This is a helpful book in my opinion, but probably only if you're going to be reading German.


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## RamistThomist (Dec 26, 2007)

Guido's Brother said:


> I know there are those on the PB who have more expertise than I do in this area, but I think it depends on what you're planning on doing with your German -- reading or speaking. I took a (reading) German course in university and we used Hanna and Willy Rogalla's Grammar Handbook for Reading German Texts. This is a helpful book in my opinion, but probably only if you're going to be reading German.



Speaking German, primarily, but I am open to anything good.


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## RamistThomist (Dec 26, 2007)

This looks Interesting

Essential German Grammar

Hammer's German Grammar

I am waiting for Davidus to weigh in.


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## Davidius (Dec 26, 2007)

Guten Abend! 

What you want is  Hammer's German Grammar and Usage. It's quite a tome, and an excellent one at that, as you can tell from the Amazon reviews. Since I was taught in the "immersion" style and did not cover grammar in the same systematic way as Latin and Greek, my spoken German is quite good, but this work has helped me get the same kind of "polishing" that I also need in English as a native speaker. 

And the price is right. You can get the grammar text as well as the workbook for ~$32 new. 

Also, McGraw-Hill publishes a series of stand-alone workbooks called "Practice Makes Perfect" that I have found helpful. You can get:

German Grammar Drills

German Verb Drills

German Vocabulary

German Pronouns and Prepositions

German Verb Tenses


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## RamistThomist (Dec 26, 2007)

Hammer it is.


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## Davidius (Dec 26, 2007)

I'll add that one of the cool features in "Hammer's German Grammar and Usage" is the "Usage" part. Each section is explained in "proper" High German and followed by a discussion of how things are actually done in everyday speech, print, etc.


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## RamistThomist (Dec 26, 2007)

CarolinaCalvinist said:


> I'll add that one of the cool features in "Hammer's German Grammar and Usage" is the "Usage" part. Each section is explained in "proper" High German and followed by a discussion of how things are actually done in everyday speech, print, etc.



what is a good german dictionary?


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## Davidius (Dec 26, 2007)

Spear Dane said:


> CarolinaCalvinist said:
> 
> 
> > I'll add that one of the cool features in \"Hammer's German Grammar and Usage\" is the \"Usage\" part. Each section is explained in \"proper\" High German and followed by a discussion of how things are actually done in everyday speech, print, etc.
> ...



For a good, cheap compact dictionary I recommend the one I brought with me when I lived in Dachau: Langenscheidt.

For a reading dictionary to keep on the desk you can't go wrong with Oxford or Cassell. I would probably go with Cassell because I'm not sure that the Oxford is worth paying twice as much, but it does have a few more pages.


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## RamistThomist (Dec 27, 2007)

I have Lanscheidt. Probably stick with that.


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## jaybird0827 (Dec 27, 2007)

> "Practice Makes Perfect"


 
"Übung macht der Meister." we used to say in German class.


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## Davidius (Dec 27, 2007)

jaybird0827 said:


> > "Practice Makes Perfect"
> 
> 
> 
> "Übung macht der Meister." we used to say in German class.



Are you sure it wasn't "Übung macht DEN Meister"?


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## jaybird0827 (Dec 27, 2007)

CarolinaCalvinist said:


> jaybird0827 said:
> 
> 
> > > "Practice Makes Perfect"
> ...


 
Of course that makes sense. I stand corrected.


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## RamistThomist (Jan 1, 2008)

CarolinaCalvinist said:


> Guten Abend!
> 
> What you want is  Hammer's German Grammar and Usage. It's quite a tome, and an excellent one at that, as you can tell from the Amazon reviews. Since I was taught in the "immersion" style and did not cover grammar in the same systematic way as Latin and Greek, my spoken German is quite good, but this work has helped me get the same kind of "polishing" that I also need in English as a native speaker.
> 
> ...



Hammer's book came in from Amazon today. Thanks David!


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## Davidius (Jan 1, 2008)

Spear Dane said:


> CarolinaCalvinist said:
> 
> 
> > Guten Abend!
> ...



You're welcome! Let me know what you think.


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## RamistThomist (Jan 1, 2008)

CarolinaCalvinist said:


> Spear Dane said:
> 
> 
> > CarolinaCalvinist said:
> ...



So far I am impressed. While I am not qualified to judge German language texts, I am familiar with close to a dozen language texts, some bad, some very good. This appears to be well-organized. Take Schaumm's Outline, for example. While it has good information, the structure of it left me confused. Hammer's appears to be well-outlned.


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## Dieter Schneider (Jan 2, 2008)

jaybird0827 said:


> > "Practice Makes Perfect"
> 
> 
> 
> "Übung macht der Meister." we used to say in German class.




Uebung macht DEN Meister!


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## Davidius (Jan 2, 2008)

Dieter Schneider said:


> jaybird0827 said:
> 
> 
> > > "Practice Makes Perfect"
> ...



Ich habe ihn schon korrigiert. Schau mal nach oben.


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