as the originator of the System. There was however an essential point omitted even in these books, namely that

the grammatical form should precede the Exercises, so that the learner should at once be made acquainted with the grammatical structure of the foreign language, without which, he could never attain a thorough knowledge of it; this was first done in a masterly manner by Meissner in his German Grammar

and is the principle which has been followed in FRANZ THIMM's Series of European Grammars and which gives it a distinct feature of progress over the former systems pursued.

On these valuable principles the following grammars have been published:

for the German Language by MEISSNER.

The prevalent idea in these grammars is that of teaching

a language easily and pleasantly, of adapting it to every capacity, of removing all unnecessary difficulties and at the same time of imparting the necessary grammatical knowledge.

In this respect therefore

Franz Thimm's Series of Grammars

is not only original, but extending the new Method to all the Languages of Europe it is unique.

The excellent Grammars by Bösche, Müller and Leisten have been made use of for this work.

Declension of the indefinite Article

Contractions of the Article with the Prepositions

On the Gender

Masculine

Feminine Substantive

Formation of the Plural

13

17

18

18

19

22

There are six vowels: a, e, i, o, u and y, the rest are consonants.

3. The Vowels.

A 1. is pronounced like the a in the English word path, when it has the acute accent':

2. it is pronounced short and clear like the a in father: capitão, the captain (first a),

or if found before the double consonants: cc, ll, mm,

nn, pp, ss, tt, as:
acclamar, to call out
alludir, to allude

annullar, to annul

appellar, to appeal.

3. it has a soft and aspirated sound at the end of words if not accentuated: vergonha, the shame. If the hyphen til stands over the a it takes a nasal sound:

irmãa (pr. irmãng), the sister— lã (pr. lang), the world. irmão (pr. irmãon), the brother; ang and on, must be pronounced like the french, as: l'ange, patron.

E has three sounds:

1. open but short like ai in the English word bail, or the german a, when with the acute accent as:

or in:

pé, foot

fé, belief

quero (pr. kayro), I will,

and in the verbs ending in er:

sé, cathedral, the see

receber (pr. ressaybayr), conceder (pr. conssaydayr),

crescer (pr. cress-sayr).

A

2. long, when with the circumflex over it, like the german e, as:

le, he reads

3. It is almost mute at the end of words without the accent, as:

liberdade, liberty amizade, friendship.

I is pronounced like e in the English word me, and it is only the accent that determines the pronunciation, as:

long in the first, short in the second word.

0 has three sounds:

1. clear and strong in: molho, do (as in pond, bōnd).