keep it simple to start off with tarjei, set it to aperture priority and work it out from there. You need to ignore fully auto mode as you wont learn a thing like that but start of with AP so you set the aperture for the kind of Depth of field you want (the lower the f number, the shallower the depth of field), the shallower the depth of field, the quicker you will be able to take the photo (shutter speed)
Most of the rest of the manua;l can wait until you want to use a specific function, I think most of my manuals are still half unread now