Archive for August, 2014
Sayings + Expressions 7: Old Love or the Casanova? Posted by Sten on Aug 27, 2014
Dear readers! Welcome to yet another Sayings + Expressions. Today it is all about love, or rather, romance. Because what is love, how do we interact with each other on that intimate plane? German has a very nice saying for this, and at the same time a very famous expression… First, as always, the saying. Enjoy!…
German grammar in use: The conjugation of the verb “gehen” Posted by Sandra Rösner on Aug 25, 2014
The German verb gehen has got several English translations. First of all, it means to go, to walk, to leave, and to attend. But gehen is also used in German to say that something works or is feasible. Let’s have a closer look, which meanings gehen can have in the German tenses. Präsens –…
I Liab Di: Bavarian Love Posted by Constanze on Aug 24, 2014
Let’s face it, nobody thinks that German is a romantic language. I’m sure you’ve seen the cartoons and videos showing the phrase “I love you” in different languages, which suggests that everything sounds angry in German. It goes something like this: English: I love you French: Je t’aime Italian: Ti amo Spanish: Te quiero German…
Untranslatable German Words: Waldeinsamkeit Posted by Constanze on Aug 21, 2014
Guten Tag, and wilkommen to another post on untranslatable German words! The word of today is Die Waldeinsamkeit. What is the meaning of Waldeinsamkeit? It refers to a very specific feeling – the feeling of being alone in the woods. What does Waldeinsamkeit literally translate to? Wald means wood/forest. Einsamkeit means loneliness, or solitude. How…
Sayings + Expressions 6: The Ground and the Sun Posted by Sten on Aug 19, 2014
Liebe Leser, Today again a saying and an expression. If you are down, because something struck you, and you do not know how life is supposed to be nice again… Remember the saying and expression below! Auf Regen folgt Sonnenschein Rainfall is followed by sunshine (every cloud has a silver lining) This one is based on…
The conjugation of the German verb “stehen” Posted by Sandra Rösner on Aug 18, 2014
The German verb “stehen” is commonly translated into English “to be”, “to stand” or “to suit”. Below you can find its conjugations for the following tenses: – Präsens – present – Präteritum – preterit (equals simple past) – Futur I – future I – Perfekt – perfect – Plusaquamperfekt – pluperfect (equals past perfect) – …
Don’t take things so literally! … Unless you’re speaking German. Posted by Constanze on Aug 13, 2014
You can learn a lot about Germany from its language. There are many nouns in the German language that have very literal meanings to them. Their pattern is that they are made up of two or more separate words put together to form a new word. These are called compound nouns. Some examples are: Das…