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German Fiction
German Fiction

Chapter II

Chapter 2 of German Fiction is here in full — 907 sentences across 182 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.

Cover illustration for German Fiction
Context Illustration Reading 1/181 · 5 lines
English subtitles · tap any word to listen 1 / 5
May 4.
How happy I am that I am gone!
My dear friend, what a thing is the heart of man!
To leave you, from whom I have been inseparable, whom I love so dearly, and yet to feel happy!
I know you will forgive me.
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AI-generated narration by OpenAI · Slow US English
LEARNER DICTIONARY
Archivist
/ˈɑːrkɪvɪst/
Editorial verification pending

A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.

German Fiction

Chapter II

Chapter 2 of German Fiction is here in full — 907 sentences across 182 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.

Reading 1/181 · 5 reading units · Lines 1–5

Line 1
May 4.
Line 2
How happy I am that I am gone!
Line 3
My dear friend, what a thing is the heart of man!
/maɪ dɪr frend wʌt ə θɪŋ ɪz ðə hɑːrt ʌv mæn/
Line 4
To leave you, from whom I have been inseparable, whom I love so dearly, and yet to feel happy!
/tuː liːv juː frʌm huːm aɪ hæv bɪn ˌɪnˈsepərəbəl huːm aɪ lʌv soʊ ˈdɪrli ənd jet tuː fiːl ˈhæpi/
Line 5
I know you will forgive me.
/aɪ noʊ juː wɪl fərˈɡɪv miː/

Learner Dictionary

These definitions explain words found in the current reading and keep every example grounded in its original sentence.

Oxford-style entry order: headword, part of speech, US IPA, concise definition, contextual example, and audio.

dearly adverb US /ˈdɪrli/

in a sincere and heartfelt manner

From this reading “To leave you, from whom I have been inseparable, whom I love so dearly, and yet to feel happy!”

feel verb US /fiːl/

undergo an emotional sensation or be in a particular state of mind

From this reading “To leave you, from whom I have been inseparable, whom I love so dearly, and yet to feel happy!”

forgive verb US /fərˈɡɪv/

stop blaming or grant forgiveness

From this reading “I know you will forgive me.”

friend noun US /frend/

a person you know well and regard with affection and trust

From this reading “My dear friend, what a thing is the heart of man!”

gone adjective US /ɡɔːn/

destroyed or killed

From this reading “How happy I am that I am gone!”

happy adjective US /ˈhæpi/

enjoying or showing or marked by joy or pleasure

From this reading “How happy I am that I am gone!”

inseparable adjective US /ˌɪnˈsepərəbəl/

not capable of being separated

From this reading “To leave you, from whom I have been inseparable, whom I love so dearly, and yet to feel happy!”

leave verb US /liːv/

go away from a place

From this reading “To leave you, from whom I have been inseparable, whom I love so dearly, and yet to feel happy!”

Word partnerships in these lines

English keeps certain words together, and knowing the pair is worth more than knowing each word alone. Every partnership below was counted across our whole published library, and earns its place by appearing far more often than two unrelated words of the same frequency would.

Shown as this reading writes them, with the form the library counts, what kind of pairing it is, and how often it occurs.

dear friend adjective + noun

In this reading “My dear friend, what a thing is the heart of man!”

feel happy verb + adjective

In this reading “To leave you, from whom I have been inseparable, whom I love so dearly, and yet to feel happy!”

All words in this reading · 37

Every word in these five lines is listed here, and every one of them can be played on its own.

Dictionary details are shown only when verified; these are not licensed Oxford entries.

4

Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.

From this reading May 4.

adeterminerUS /ə/

used before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one

From this reading My dear friend, what a thing is the heart of man!

amauxiliary verbUS /æm/

the form of “be” used with “I”

From this reading How happy I am that I am gone!

andconjunctionUS /ənd/

used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together

From this reading To leave you, from whom I have been inseparable, whom I love so dearly, and yet to feel happy!

beenauxiliary verbUS /bɪn/

the past participle of “be”

From this reading To leave you, from whom I have been inseparable, whom I love so dearly, and yet to feel happy!

dearadjectiveUS /dɪr/

dearly loved

From this reading My dear friend, what a thing is the heart of man!

dearlyadverbUS /ˈdɪrli/

in a sincere and heartfelt manner

From this reading To leave you, from whom I have been inseparable, whom I love so dearly, and yet to feel happy!

feelverbUS /fiːl/

undergo an emotional sensation or be in a particular state of mind

From this reading To leave you, from whom I have been inseparable, whom I love so dearly, and yet to feel happy!

forgiveverbUS /fərˈɡɪv/

stop blaming or grant forgiveness

From this reading I know you will forgive me.

friendnounUS /frend/

a person you know well and regard with affection and trust

From this reading My dear friend, what a thing is the heart of man!

fromprepositionUS /frʌm/

showing where something starts, or who sent it

From this reading To leave you, from whom I have been inseparable, whom I love so dearly, and yet to feel happy!

goneadjectiveUS /ɡɔːn/

destroyed or killed

From this reading How happy I am that I am gone!

happyadjectiveUS /ˈhæpi/

enjoying or showing or marked by joy or pleasure

From this reading How happy I am that I am gone!

haveauxiliary verbUS /hæv/

used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses

From this reading To leave you, from whom I have been inseparable, whom I love so dearly, and yet to feel happy!

heartnounUS /hɑːrt/

the locus of feelings and intuitions

From this reading My dear friend, what a thing is the heart of man!

How

Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.

From this reading How happy I am that I am gone!

IpronounUS /aɪ/

the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb

From this reading How happy I am that I am gone!

inseparableadjectiveUS /ˌɪnˈsepərəbəl/

not capable of being separated

From this reading To leave you, from whom I have been inseparable, whom I love so dearly, and yet to feel happy!

isauxiliary verbUS /ɪz/

the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun

From this reading My dear friend, what a thing is the heart of man!

knowverbUS /noʊ/

be cognizant or aware of a fact or a specific piece of information; possess knowledge or information about

From this reading I know you will forgive me.

leaveverbUS /liːv/

go away from a place

From this reading To leave you, from whom I have been inseparable, whom I love so dearly, and yet to feel happy!

lovenounUS /lʌv/

a strong positive emotion of regard and affection

From this reading To leave you, from whom I have been inseparable, whom I love so dearly, and yet to feel happy!

mannounUS /mæn/

an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)

From this reading My dear friend, what a thing is the heart of man!

Maymodal verbUS /meɪ/

used to say something is possible, or to give permission

From this reading May 4.

mepronounUS /miː/

the person speaking, as the object of a verb or preposition

From this reading I know you will forgive me.

MydeterminerUS /maɪ/

belonging to the person speaking

From this reading My dear friend, what a thing is the heart of man!

ofprepositionUS /ʌv/

belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something

From this reading My dear friend, what a thing is the heart of man!

soconjunctionUS /soʊ/

for that reason; with the result that

From this reading To leave you, from whom I have been inseparable, whom I love so dearly, and yet to feel happy!

thatconjunctionUS /ðæt/

used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt

From this reading How happy I am that I am gone!

thedeterminerUS /ðə/

used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind

From this reading My dear friend, what a thing is the heart of man!

thingnounUS /θɪŋ/

a special situation

From this reading My dear friend, what a thing is the heart of man!

ToparticleUS /tuː/

used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive

From this reading To leave you, from whom I have been inseparable, whom I love so dearly, and yet to feel happy!

whatpronounUS /wʌt/

used to ask for information about something

From this reading My dear friend, what a thing is the heart of man!

whompronounUS /huːm/

the form of “who” used as the object of a verb or preposition

From this reading To leave you, from whom I have been inseparable, whom I love so dearly, and yet to feel happy!

willmodal verbUS /wɪl/

used to talk about the future, or about willingness

From this reading I know you will forgive me.

yetconjunctionUS /jet/

but in spite of that

From this reading To leave you, from whom I have been inseparable, whom I love so dearly, and yet to feel happy!

youpronounUS /juː/

the person or people being spoken to

From this reading To leave you, from whom I have been inseparable, whom I love so dearly, and yet to feel happy!

Chapter 2 of German Fiction by William Allan [Editor] Neilson holds 907 sentences, grouped into 182 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the source edition, unabridged, and the chapter records which sentences cover which part of the work so that nothing is dropped. Every word can be tapped for its pronunciation and dictionary entry.

What does chapter 2 of German Fiction contain?

Chapter 2 holds 907 sentences of German Fiction, unabridged, divided into 182 reading sections.

This page carries chapter 2 of German Fiction by William Allan [Editor] Neilson exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 907 sentences, grouped into 182 sections of at most 5 sentences so that a reader can take the chapter in steady, finishable pieces. The chapter also stores a coverage record mapping every one of its sentences to a part of the work, which is how the edition demonstrates that no line was dropped.

How do I study chapter 2 of German Fiction?

Work through the 182 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.

Each of the 182 sections in this chapter is short enough to read once, hear once, and then re-read with the vocabulary in view. Tapping a word plays it alone and opens its dictionary entry with IPA, part of speech and meaning, so the reader is never forced to guess a pronunciation from spelling. Working section by section keeps a long chapter from becoming an undifferentiated wall of text, which is the usual reason a reader abandons a work of this period.

Can chapter 2 be read aloud to me?

Yes — every sentence and every individual word in chapter 2 can be played aloud in United States English.

Audio covers the whole chapter: any sentence can be played, and any single word within it can be played on its own. The voice uses United States English. For a work of this period that matters, because spelling is an unreliable guide to pronunciation for vocabulary that has fallen out of daily use, and a learner who guesses wrong tends to keep the error. Hearing the word in its own sentence, and then alone, settles it.

Questions about reading German Fiction

Common questions about reading German Fiction by William Allan [Editor] Neilson on this page, its source edition and its audio.

Is this the complete text of German Fiction?

Yes. All 9080 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #34506 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.

Which edition of German Fiction is used?

Project Gutenberg eBook #34506, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.

How long does German Fiction take to read?

About 600 minutes of reading across 1816 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.

How to read German Fiction section by section

How to work through German Fiction section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.

  1. Open a chapter

    Choose one of the 29 chapters of German Fiction to begin.

  2. Read one section

    Each section holds 5 sentences; read it once through.

  3. Listen and tap

    Play the section aloud, then tap any unfamiliar word for its entry.

Vocabulary met early in German Fiction

Words and structures a reader meets early in German Fiction, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.

Harvard
A word that appears in the opening chapter of German Fiction; the reader can tap it to hear it and see its dictionary entry.
Classics
A word that appears in the opening chapter of German Fiction; the reader can tap it to hear it and see its dictionary entry.
Shelf
A word that appears in the opening chapter of German Fiction; the reader can tap it to hear it and see its dictionary entry.
Fiction
A word that appears in the opening chapter of German Fiction; the reader can tap it to hear it and see its dictionary entry.