Die Wahlverwandtschaften: reading level, length and free edition
Die Wahlverwandtschaften by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is a novel in German. Our team rates it C1. It runs to 79,204 words with 10,899 different word forms, about 6.5–13 h of reading at 200 to 100 words per minute, and it is free from Project Gutenberg.
- Author
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Language
- German
- Level
- C1
- Form
- novel
- Words
- 79,204
- Different word forms
- 10,899
- Forms for 95% / 98%
- 6,939 / 9,315
- Reading time
- 6.5–13 h
- Free edition
- Project Gutenberg
Ehe, Leidenschaft und chemische Metaphorik im Landhausmilieu.
Is Die Wahlverwandtschaften right for your level?
To recognise 95% of the running words in Die Wahlverwandtschaften, you need its 6,939 most frequent word forms; for 98%, the share at which most readers manage a novel without a dictionary, 9,315. The median German C1 book in our table needs 6,972 forms for 95%, so by this measure the book is typical for its level: number 3 of 6, easiest first.
A word form is any spelling that appears in the text, so “walk” and “walked” count twice, and names count too. These numbers are a guide to how much vocabulary the book asks for, not a test. The level itself was set by hand by our team. Before you commit, read one page of the free edition and count the words you do not know: the one-page test takes two minutes.
Which words should you know before you start?
These are the words that Die Wahlverwandtschaften uses most often but that are not among the 2,000 most common word forms across all 40 German books in our library; the number is how many times each appears. Names of people and places are left out. Learning a handful of them first makes the opening chapters easier.
- mancherlei 26
- geliebten 20
- gegenwärtig 20
- nunmehr 20
- teils 19
- genießen 18
- eilte 18
- einigermaßen 18
- entfernte 17
- sodann 17
- lebhaft 17
- entfernen 17
- sichs 17
- deswegen 16
- überrascht 16
How does it begin?
Eduard—so nennen wir einen reichen Baron im besten Mannesalter—Eduard hatte in seiner Baumschule die schönste Stunde eines Aprilnachmittags zugebracht, um frisch erhaltene Pfropfreiser auf junge Stämme zu bringen. Sein Geschäft war eben vollendet; er legte die Gerätschaften in das Futteral zusammen und betrachtete seine Arbeit mit Vergnügen, als der Gärtner hinzutrat und sich an dem teilnehmenden Fleiße des Herrn ergetzte.
From the Project Gutenberg edition, which is in the public domain. If this paragraph already feels slow, try a book one level lower.
How long does it take to read?
| Words | 100 wpm | 150 wpm | 200 wpm | 250 wpm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 79,204 | 13 h | 9 h | 6.5 h | 5.5 h |
Learners reading a book at their level often manage 100 to 150 words per minute, and readers in their first language 200 to 250. Where these speeds come from, and a calculator for your own: How long does it take to read a book?
Where can you read it for free?
The free edition is Project Gutenberg eBook #2403. Project Gutenberg publishes books that are in the public domain in the United States, as EPUB, Kindle and plain text, free and without an account. Copyright terms differ by country: if you live outside the United States, check that the book is out of copyright where you are before you download it.
To read it with a translation over every word you tap, open it in Readlang Mobile on iPhone or iPad.
What to read next at C1
German books at the same level that ask for a similar amount of vocabulary:
- Der Untertan, Heinrich Mann: 130,662 words, 9,019 forms for 95%
- Buddenbrooks, Thomas Mann: 228,586 words, 13,558 forms for 95%
- Jenseits von Gut und Böse, Friedrich Nietzsche: 57,811 words, 7,006 forms for 95%
- Also sprach Zarathustra, Friedrich Nietzsche: 84,321 words, 5,233 forms for 95%
- Faust: Der Tragödie erster Teil, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: 30,693 words, 4,774 forms for 95%
See also all German books by level and books at C1 in all five languages.