doc: log: de: chapter 1

doc/log/de/ch1.rst

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+Chapter 1: introduction
+=======================
+
+Cognates
+--------
+
+A cognate is a word that is derived from the same original form such as kühl and
+cool. We'll explore some consonant relationships that exist between German and
+English to make guessing more accurate and faster but of course, always consider
+checking the dictionary for the definitive answer.
+
+.. list-table:: Cognates
+	:header-rows: 1
+
+	* * German
+	  * English
+	  * Examples
+	* * f, ff (medial or final)
+	  * p
+	  * hoffen - to hope, scharf - sharp
+	* * pf
+	  * p, pp
+	  * Apfel - apple, Pfeife - pipe
+	* * b (medial or final)
+	  * v or f
+	  * geben - to give, halb - half
+	* * d
+	  * th
+	  * Ding - thing
+	* * ch
+	  * k
+	  * Buch - book, machen - to make, suchen - to seek
+	* * cht
+	  * ght
+	  * Macht - might, Sicht - sight, Recht - right, Nacht - night
+	* * g
+	  * y or i
+	  * sagen - to say, legen - to lay, Nagel - nail, fliegen - to fly
+	* * k
+	  * c
+	  * kommen - to come, kritisch - critical
+	* * s, ss, ß (medial or final)
+	  * t
+	  * hassen - to hate, grüßen - to greet, besser - better, Fuß - foot
+	* * tz, z
+	  * t
+	  * Katze - cat
+	* * t
+	  * d
+	  * trinken - to drink, kalt - cold, Tochter - daughter
+
+Note that sometimes it may require some flexibility with vowels to get the
+correct word e.g., hören - to hear. Try to figure out the following words: Haus,
+lassen, Sonne, Wort.
+
+Good? What about Pfefferminze and tanzen (try your luck with stripping -n/-en if
+you think it's a verb in its infinitive form)
+
+Okay let's learn proverbs. Well, first there's this thing with German where it
+is possible to "glue" multiple words to produce another word referred to as
+compounds for example Sprichwörter means proverbs! look both of them up. Now for
+the actual proverbs.
+
+* Blut ist dicker als Wasser. Blood is dicker(thicker) als(as)
+  Wasser(ss->t).
+* Reiche Leute(people) haben fette Katzen.
+
+
+Book titles! Buchtitel, apparently used for both singular and plural.
+
+* Yasmina Khadra, was der Tag der Nacht schuldet (haven't read it yet by the
+  way).
+
+Genders
+-------
+
+.. note::
+	Find a way to ease the process of memorizing these? being able to
+	quickly remember and map the endings would be very helpful.
+
+Complex stuff, unsure how to deal with it other than just practicing it often.
+But with what?
+
+It's very important to know what your subject's gender is to understand the
+context of the passage in hand. The corresponding German definite articles are
+as follows
+
+.. list-table:: Genders articles
+	:header-rows: 1
+
+	* * Gender
+	  * Article
+	* * Masculine
+	  * der
+	* * Feminine
+	  * die
+	* * Neuter
+	  * das
+	* * Plural
+	  * die
+
+Masculine
+^^^^^^^^^
+
+1. Nouns denoting male beings.
+2. Most nouns ending with -er that are agents of a specific activity e.g., der
+   Computer.
+3. The days, months and seasons. Look them up!
+4. Nouns ending in -ig, -ich, -ing, -ast, -mus e.g., König (king), der
+   Socialismus (Socialism).
+5. Points of compass. Norden, Süden, Oster und Westen.
+
+Feminine
+^^^^^^^^
+1. Nouns denoting female beings.
+2. Nouns of most trees, fruits and flowers. Look your favorites up!
+3. Nouns ending with -er, -ie, -ik, -in, -ion, -hiet, kiet, -schaft, -tät,
+   -ung, -ur e.g., die Gesundheit (health), die Gesellschaft (society) und die
+   Hoffung.
+
+Neuter
+^^^^^^
+
+.. note::
+	Diminutive nouns usually have an umlaut if the stem vowel is a, o, u or
+	au so a becomes ä...
+
+1. Nouns with diminutive endings -chen, -lein e.g., das Buch -> das Büchlein,
+   das Männlein.
+2. Most nouns of foreign origin that end in -o e.g., das Auto.
+3. Infinitives used as a noun e.g., das Kommen.
+4. Nouns ending with -ium, -um  e.g., das Vism.
+
+Compounds
+---------
+
+New words in German sometimes can be formed by combining simpler words. Some of
+these words can be particularly graphic. For example.
+
+* Abend (evening) + Land (country) = (occident).
+* Morgen + Land = (orient).
+* Morgen + Röte = (dawn).
+* Eier (eggs) + Auflauf(crowd) = Eierauflauf (soufflé).
+
+The gender of the noun is determined by *its final component*. Thus, even in a
+word as long as Unfallversicherungsgesellschaft (accident-insurance-society),
+the article will be *die* because the suffix *-schaft* is feminine. This seems
+difficult...
+
+* Standard German is known as Hochdeutsch, try figuring that out. Northen dialects
+  are referred to as Platt which you *should* be able to guess.
+* Sie haben eine nette Dreizimmerwohung etwa 10 kilometer von der Stadtmitte.
+* Deutschland ist eine Bundesrepublic in diverse Länder oder Bundesländer
+  unterteilt. Die Länder habt lokal Kontrolle uber Bildung und jeder hat sein
+  Landesregierung.
+
+Plural
+------