Archive for September, 2012
Groß- und Kleinschreibung – Upper and lower case Posted by jan on Sep 28, 2012
Dear German learners, recently I came across some sentences that made me smile and let me think of German language…and as well I had to think about you people who are learning the language as foreigners. I guess sometimes upper and lower case might drive you crazy while learning. I can totally understand… But look…
German Comedy Show: Switch Reloaded (Listen, watch, read, and understand) Posted by Sandra Rösner on Sep 26, 2012
Switch Reloaded is one of my favorite Comedy Shows on German Television. I find the show so funny because they exclusively caricature television programs and celebrities, primarily German TV programs and celebs but also American ones. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a version with subtitles, therefore, I you can find the German dialogs and their English…
German word order: Imperatives and Questions Posted by Sandra Rösner on Sep 25, 2012
Imperatives Imperatives are sentences in the command form. Setz dich! – Sit down! (2nd person singular; informal) Setzt euch! – Sit down! (2nd person plural; informal) Setzten Sie sich! – Sit down (2nd person; singular and plural; formal) Hör auf! – Stop that! (2nd person singular; informal) Hört auf! – Stop that! (2nd person plural…
German word order: Subordinate Clauses, part 2 Posted by Sandra Rösner on Sep 24, 2012
In my last post I explained how to form subordinate clauses with only one verb. Now, let’s go one step further and have a look at subordinate clauses that contain two verbs. When a sentence contains two verbs, one of them is always a full verb and the other is either an auxiliary verb or…
German word order: Subordinate Clauses, part 1 Posted by Sandra Rösner on Sep 23, 2012
German word order can be a pain in the neck. This time, I am dealing with subordinate clauses and I hope that I can bring some light into the darkness. A subordinate clause cannot stand on its own but has to be linked to a main clause: “Sabine trinkt ein Glas Wasser, weil sie Durst…
German word order: Main clauses, part 2 Posted by Sandra Rösner on Sep 22, 2012
In my last post, I explained how to form main clauses with only one verb and with the correct word order in mind. Today, I would to continue with this topic and address myself to sentences that contain two or three verbs. When a sentence contains only one verb, then this verb is usually a…
German word order: Main clauses, part 1 Posted by Sandra Rösner on Sep 20, 2012
Unlike English, German word order is not that consistent. The position of the verb depends on the sentence type. In main clauses, the verb comes after the subject. In subordinate clause, the verb comes at the end of the sentence, and in questions and imperatives, the verb comes in the first position. Here are some…