This best-selling German text is based on and inspired by the Natural Approach, pioneered by Tracy D. Terrell. With it, students learn German through communicative contexts with an emphasis on the four skills as well as cultural competence, with grammar functioning as an aid to language learning, rather than as an end in itself. The abundance of interesting activities and readings in Kontakte ensure that students are exposed to rich language input, critical to language acquisition.

Einfhrung A

Themen

Aufforderungen

Namen

Kleidung

Farben

Begren und Verabschieden

Zahlen

Strukturen

A.1 Giving instructions: polite commands

A.2 What is your name? The verb heien

A.3 The German case system

A.4 Grammatical gender: nouns and pronouns

A.5 Addressing people: Sie versus du or ihr

Einfhrung B

Themen

Das Klassenzimmer

Beschreibungen

Der Krper

Die Familie

Wetter und Jahreszeiten

Herkunft und Nationalitt

Strukturen

B.1 Definite and indefinite articles

B.2 Who are you? The verb sein

B.3 What do you have? The verb haben

B.4 Plural forms of nouns

B.5 Personal pronouns

B.6 Origins: Woher kommen Sie?

B.7 Possessive adjectives: mein and dein/Ihr

Kapitel 1: Wer ich bin und was ich tue

Themen

Freizeit

Schule und Universitt

Tagesablauf

Persnliche Daten

Strukturen

1.1 The present tense

1.2 Expressing likes and dislikes: gern / nicht gern

1.3 Telling time

1.4 Word order in statements

1.5 Separable-prefix verbs

1.6 Word order in questions

Kapitel 2: Besitz und Vergngen

Themen

Besitz

Geschenke

Kleidung und Aussehen

Vergngen

Strukturen

2.1 The accusative case

2.2 The negative article kein, keine

2.3 What would you like? Ich mchte ...

2.4 Possessive adjectives

2.5 The present tense of stem-vowel changing verbs 2.6 Asking people to do things: The du-imperative

Kapitel 3: Talente, Plne, Pflichten

Themen

Talente und Plne

Pflichten

Ach, wie nett!

Krperliche und geistige Verfassung

Strukturen

3.1 The modal verbs knnen, wollen, mgen

3.2 The modal verbs mssen, sollen, drfen

3.3 Accusative case: personal pronouns

3.4 Word order: dependent clauses

3.5 Dependent clauses and separable-prefix verbs

Kapitel 4: Ereignisse und Erinnerungen

Themen

Der Alltag

Urlaub und Freizeit

Geburtstage und Jahrestage

Ereignisse

Strukturen

4.1 Talking about the past: the perfect tense

4.2 Strong and weak past participles

4.3 Dates and ordinal numbers

4.4 Prepositions of time: um, am, im

4.5 Past participles with and without ge-

Kapitel 5: Geld und Arbeit

Themen

Geschenke und Geflligkeiten

Berufe

Arbeitspltze

In der Kche

Strukturen

5.1 Dative case: articles and possessive adjectives

5.2 Question pronouns: wer, wen, wem

5.3 Expressing change: the verb werden

5.4 Location: in, an, auf + dative case

5.5 Dative case: personal pronouns

Kapitel 6: Wohnen

Themen

Haus und Wohnung

Das Stadtviertel

Auf Wohnungssuche

Hausarbeit

Strukturen

6.1 Dative verbs

6.2 Location vs. destination: two-way prepositions with the dative or accusative case

6.3 Word order: time before place

6.4 Direction: in/auf vs. zu/nach

6.5 Separable-prefix verbs: the present and perfect tenses

6.6 The prepositions mit and bei + dative

Kapitel 7: Unterwegs

Themen

Geographie

Transportmittel

Das Auto

Reiseerlebnisse

Strukturen

7.1 Relative clauses

7.2 Making comparisons: The comparative and superlative of adjectives and adverbs

7.3 Referring to and asking about things and ideas: da-compounds and wo-compounds

7.4 The perfect tense (review)

7.5 The simple past tense of haben and sein

Kapitel 8: Essen und Einkaufen

Themen

Essen und Trinken

Haushaltsgerte

Einkaufen und Kochen

Im Restaurant

Strukturen

8.1 Adjectives: an overview

8.2 Attributive adjectives in the nominative and accusative cases

8.3 Destination vs. location: stellen/stehen, legen/liegen, setzen/sitzen, hngen/hngen

8.4 Adjectives in the dative case

8.5 Talking about the future: The present and future tenses

Kapitel 9: Kindheit und Jugend

Themen

Kindheit

Jugend

Geschichten

Mrchen

Strukturen

9.1 The conjunction als with dependent-clause word order

9.2 The simple past tense of werden, the modal verbs, and wissen

9.3 Time: als, wenn, wann

9.4 The simple past tense of strong and weak verbs (receptive)

9.5 Sequence of events in past narration: the past perfect tense and the conjunction nachdem (receptive)

Kapitel 10: Auf Reisen

Themen

Reiseplne

Nach dem Weg fragen

Urlaub am Strand

Tiere

Strukturen

10.1 Prepositions to talk about places: aus, bei, nach, von, zu

10.2 Requests and instructions: the imperative (summary review)

10.3 Prepositions for giving directions: an ... vorbei, bis zu, entlang, gegenber von, ber

10.4 Being polite: the subjunctive form of modal verbs

10.5 Focusing on the action: the passive voice

Kapitel 11: Gesundheit und Krankheit

Themen

Krankheit

Krperteile und Krperpflege

Arzt, Apotheke, Krankenhaus

Unflle

Strukturen

11.1 Accusative reflexive pronouns

11.2 Dative reflexive pronouns

11.3 Word order of accusative and dative objects

11.4 Indirect questions: Wissen Sie, wo?

11.5 Word order in dependent and independent clauses (summary review)

Kapitel 12: Die moderne Gesellschaft

Themen

Familie, Ehe, Partnerschaft

Multikulturelle Gesellschaft

Das liebe Geld

Kunst und Literatur

Strukturen

12.1 The genitive case

12.2 Expressing possibility: wrde, htte, and wre

12.3 Causality and purpose: weil, damit, um ... zu

12.4 Principles of case (summary review)