German Language Blog

This is an audiovisual comprehension about the garden. I´ll give you a little help with the following vocabulary:

der Garten – garden
deer Gemüsegarten – vegetable garden/kitchen garden
das Kräuterbeet – herb bed
der Rosmarin – rosemary
der Thymian – thyme
der Schnittlauch – chives
die Erdbeere – strawberry
der Rettich – radish
die Karotte – carrot
der Kohlrabi – cabbage turnip
die Gurke – cucumber
das Blumenbeet – flower bed
die Tulpe – tulip
der Löwenzahn – dandelion
die Wiese – meadow
die Terasse – terrace

As soon as you are engaged in interpersonal communicative situation, e.g. in face-to-face situations or any form of written exchange, you will recognize that it is more or less necessary to define your position at some time. In other words, sooner or later your interlocutor would ask you about your opinion on a particular topic, for example, you should tell how the food tastes, whether you liked a movie, what you think of the government in your country, etc. In order to not remain speechless when it is your time to take the floor there are various expressions in German that might help you to master those communicative situations.

Exercise: What’s Your Opinion?

Imagine you’re spending the weekend with a friend. S/He suggests ways for the two of you to spend the afternoon. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate German suggestions and the English meanings – given in the table above.

1)

Your friend: Heute scheint ein schöner Tag zu sein. Denkst du dass es regnen wird?

(Today looks like a beautiful day. Do you think it will rain?)

You: ______________. Ich habe den Wetterbericht nicht gelesen.

(_________________. I haven’t read the weather report today.)

2.

Your friend: Hast du Lust heute Nachmittag schwimmen zu gehen?

(Do you feel like going swimming this afternoon?)

You: __________________________. Ich schwimme gern!

(___________________. I love swimming!)

3)

Your friend: Vielleicht sollten wir zunächst den Wetterbericht lesen. Das Wetter könnte sich ändern.

(Maybe we should read the weather forecast first. The weather may change.)

You: _________________________. Das ist mir schon oft passiert.

(__________________. It’s happened to me before.)

4)

Your friend: Welche Zeitung sollen wir kaufen?

(Which newspaper should we buy?)

You: ______________________. Ich glaube in jeder Zeitung finden wir einen Wetterbericht.

(________________________. I think that we can find a weather report in any newspaper.)

5)

Your friend: Gehen wir ins Kino?

(Should we go to a movie?)

You: _______________________. Ich will den neusten Arnold Schwarzenegger Film

sehen!

(________________________. I want to watch the latest Arnold Schwarzenegger movie.)

In my last post I already began to talk about idioms – fixed phrases whose meaning cannot be inferred from the meanings of the individual words. This time I would like to focus on idioms that have to do with the ear because there are many useful German idioms, containing the ‘ear’, that will help you to become a more competent language user in almost no time at all.

It would be wise to learn as many German idioms as possible because idioms are a very important component of language. Indeed, most of interpersonal communication is idiomatic.