Easy German sentences?

[sporedandroid]

Where can I find some easy German sentences that say things like “The dog bit the squirrel.” or “I placed the apple on the table.” Just sentences where I can get a clear visual. My goal with this is to feel more familiar and comfortable with German when I want to be more dedicated to studying German or Yiddish. My goal isn’t to communicate in German. I find a lot of beginner German resources are too focused on communication and don’t give me enough examples. After a long time I finally found this type of resource for Hebrew, but my level in Hebrew is a bit too high to benefit from these sentences. I would have loved them when I was first starting out. I don’t care so much for duolingo because I find it frustrating as an absolute beginner. I want this to be passive and easy, so no testing.

[Speakeasy]

Frankly, I am not convinced that you can just read a lot of simple German sentences (without wanting to learn something about the language’s structure) just to facilitate your learning of Yiddish. Nevertheless, here are a few recommendations (all freely-available via the Yojik.eu website):

DLI German Basic Course
The notes on grammar in the course manuals of this classroom course are the best that I have ever encountered in a language course. The sentence-pattern drills, with a view to isolating specific points of grammar (sentence structure) employ the absolute minimum vocabulary conceivable. Although these drills will drive you to the edge of insanity, they just might be up your alley. I dare you, no, I double-dog dare you to try the drills!

DLI German Gateway Course
This self-instruction course was designed as a sequel to the DLI German Headstart Course (or as a sequel to any other A0 German course). The notes on “Structure” and the exercises (example sentences) in the “Workbook” are quite clear and helpful. However, it assumes that the user has an A0 level knowledge of the L2.

DLI German Headstart Course
This self-instruction “familiarization” course was designed to assist U.S. Army personnel and their families develop a very basic knowledge of the German language. The focus is more on using the language in predictable situations than it is on understanding the structure of the language.

FSI German Basic Course
This is “the” audio-lingual course for the study of German. It is lengthy and tough; however, the sentence-patterns, which form the core of the course are well-composed. Probably not what you are looking for.

FSI German Programmed Introduction Course
This self-instruction course was designed as a prelude to the FSI German Basic course. It represents an awful lot of work for very little benefit. Still, it does cover some of the (very) basic elements of German language. On second thought, fuggetaboudit.

זאָל זייַנ מיט מאַזל

[Speakeasy]

On second thought …

Given your limited goals, perhaps reading through “English Grammar for Students of German” might be of more use. The books in this series compare English grammar to that of a selection of popularly-studied foreign languages, one of which is German. There are not very many examples provided; however, they are simple and they do illustrate the differences and similarities between the languages. Low-priced, concise, easy-to-understand:

English Grammar for Students of German
https://www.amazon.com/English-Grammar-Students-German-Learning/dp/0934034435/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2NQRL092DD1OW&keywords=english+grammar+for+students+of+german&qid=1570408667&sprefix=English+Grammar+for+%2Caps%2C151&sr=8-1

[Deinonysus]

There are some very good short German children's books that are widely available. I suppose you could technically call them collections of easy German sentences.

Der Regenbogenfisch by Marcus Pfister has a very cute story about sharing, with colorful illustrations. It is one of the most famous children's books of the last few decades and has been translated into many languages, including English where it is called The Rainbow Fish.

Oh, wie schön ist Panama is not nearly as well known outside of the German speaking world, but it is also a very cute story with cute illustrations. It is a bit longer than Der Regenbogenfisch, but the vocabulary and sentence structure are a bit simpler.

And finally, there are a couple of good ones from the mid 19th century that are also very short and entertaining (with illustrations):

• Der Struwwelpeter is about the horrific fates that befall misbehaving children.
• Max und Moritz is basically a 19th century Beavis and Butthead. It's about a pair of miscreants and their antics.

Of these four, I would say Oh, wie schön ist Panama has the simplest and most straightforward language.

[AnthonyLauder]

Where can I find some easy German sentences that say things like “The dog bit the squirrel.” or “I placed the apple on the table.”

As much as people dislike Rosetta Stone, and it is indeed awful software, there is one great resource they offer: downloadable PDF transcripts, free of charge. That is, all the sentences, with progressive levels of difficulty, for all languages offered. This includes German and also English. So, you can see translations for all the sentences.

https://support.rosettastone.com/en/lan ... e-Contents

[jeff_lindqvist]

I'm thinking of Tatoeba sentences. There are downloadable files for Anki here:
https://www.manythings.org/anki/

(The German - English language pair has 195847 entries.)