German had two-fold, four-fold and many-fold before it had this way of saying one-fold. 'einfach' was built on their pattern, around six hundred years ago.
This is an illustrated, black-and-white word history in 25 picture cards, with a pronunciation card, a word-history page and a sources page. It prints two ways: a deck to laminate, punch and put on a ring, or a single sheet to print and use as it is.
'einfach' means 'single, not double', and also 'easy', 'obvious' and 'plain'. It is one of the commonest adjectives in German, and its first sense is the one most learners never meet: 'eine einfache Fahrt' is a one-way journey. 'Einfachheit' is simplicity, 'vereinfachen' is to make simpler, and 'Vereinfachung' is a simplification, or a complaint that something has been made too simple.
The three words made from 'einfach' on the same card: 'Einfachheit', 'vereinfachen' with its present and past tenses, and 'Vereinfachung', each with its own panels.
The etymology comic: illustrated black-and-white stage panels, one idea to a panel, each with a short caption a learner can read on their own. The panels take the word from its first records in the 8th century to modern German.
A panel on when the word was made, and on the three older counting words it was built to match.
The word-history breakdown, stage by stage, with a date wherever the record allows one.
The senses panel - single, easy, evident, plain - and a separate panel on 'einfach' as a particle, where the same spelling does a different job in the sentence.
A grammar panel on comparison, including the point that the counting sense has none.
The English section: which English words are genuine relatives, which only look like it, and why 'simple' tells such a similar story without being related at all.
The word-family panel: how 'Einfachheit', 'vereinfachen' and 'Vereinfachung' are built from the same pieces.
The sources page, and a short how-to-use guide for the adult.
For personal use in home education and tutoring only.
The PDF prints two ways. The large pages, one idea each, print single-sided, laminate, trim and punch in the top-left corner, and go on a single binder ring: a deck a child can hold, turn over and lay out in order on a table. The cards are numbered so a shuffled deck goes back together. You assemble the deck yourself - there's no ready-made one, and you'll need a printer, a laminator and a ring.
The single sheet at the end holds the whole word on one page. No laminating, no cutting: print it and it's ready, for the fridge door or for the middle of a session.
Anyone learning German who wants the word to make sense rather than stay a line on a list. Secondary-age learners, home-educated children, dyslexic learners who find a picture and a story easier to hold than a vocabulary column, adults working through German alongside a child, and anyone who likes finding out where words came from.
'einfach' is one of the first adjectives a German learner meets and one of the last they stop misreading, because it's doing four jobs at once and a vocabulary list shows only one of them. Once a learner can see the counting sense underneath, 'zweifach' and 'mehrfach' arrive already half-learned, and the particle stops looking like a mistake.
I first made these for a ten-year-old with an interest in German words.
The Compendium post on word origins and modern languages sets out why this way of teaching vocabulary suits dyslexic learners.
If you are working through the first year or two of German, the other everyday words in Die Wortwerkbank are 'lieb' (dear, kind), 'mögen' (to like), 'nehmen' (to take), 'spielen' (to play) and the question word 'wo' (where). They are the same kind of word as 'einfach': met early, met often, and usually handed over as a line on a list.
Available now as a PDF download.
German had two-fold, four-fold and many-fold before it had this way of saying one-fold. 'einfach' was built on their pattern, around six hundred years ago.
This is an illustrated, black-and-white word history in 25 picture cards, with a pronunciation card, a word-history page and a sources page. It prints two ways: a deck to laminate, punch and put on a ring, or a single sheet to print and use as it is.
'einfach' means 'single, not double', and also 'easy', 'obvious' and 'plain'. It is one of the commonest adjectives in German, and its first sense is the one most learners never meet: 'eine einfache Fahrt' is a one-way journey. 'Einfachheit' is simplicity, 'vereinfachen' is to make simpler, and 'Vereinfachung' is a simplification, or a complaint that something has been made too simple.
The three words made from 'einfach' on the same card: 'Einfachheit', 'vereinfachen' with its present and past tenses, and 'Vereinfachung', each with its own panels.
The etymology comic: illustrated black-and-white stage panels, one idea to a panel, each with a short caption a learner can read on their own. The panels take the word from its first records in the 8th century to modern German.
A panel on when the word was made, and on the three older counting words it was built to match.
The word-history breakdown, stage by stage, with a date wherever the record allows one.
The senses panel - single, easy, evident, plain - and a separate panel on 'einfach' as a particle, where the same spelling does a different job in the sentence.
A grammar panel on comparison, including the point that the counting sense has none.
The English section: which English words are genuine relatives, which only look like it, and why 'simple' tells such a similar story without being related at all.
The word-family panel: how 'Einfachheit', 'vereinfachen' and 'Vereinfachung' are built from the same pieces.
The sources page, and a short how-to-use guide for the adult.
For personal use in home education and tutoring only.
The PDF prints two ways. The large pages, one idea each, print single-sided, laminate, trim and punch in the top-left corner, and go on a single binder ring: a deck a child can hold, turn over and lay out in order on a table. The cards are numbered so a shuffled deck goes back together. You assemble the deck yourself - there's no ready-made one, and you'll need a printer, a laminator and a ring.
The single sheet at the end holds the whole word on one page. No laminating, no cutting: print it and it's ready, for the fridge door or for the middle of a session.
Anyone learning German who wants the word to make sense rather than stay a line on a list. Secondary-age learners, home-educated children, dyslexic learners who find a picture and a story easier to hold than a vocabulary column, adults working through German alongside a child, and anyone who likes finding out where words came from.
'einfach' is one of the first adjectives a German learner meets and one of the last they stop misreading, because it's doing four jobs at once and a vocabulary list shows only one of them. Once a learner can see the counting sense underneath, 'zweifach' and 'mehrfach' arrive already half-learned, and the particle stops looking like a mistake.
I first made these for a ten-year-old with an interest in German words.
The Compendium post on word origins and modern languages sets out why this way of teaching vocabulary suits dyslexic learners.
If you are working through the first year or two of German, the other everyday words in Die Wortwerkbank are 'lieb' (dear, kind), 'mögen' (to like), 'nehmen' (to take), 'spielen' (to play) and the question word 'wo' (where). They are the same kind of word as 'einfach': met early, met often, and usually handed over as a line on a list.
Available now as a PDF download.
