Archive for December, 2012
German Christmas tale: Der Weihnachtsstern, pt. 2 Posted by Sandra Rösner on Dec 29, 2012
Als Ottar sich darüber klar war, dass es der Stern der Weisen sein musste, den er sah, wurde er so aufgeregt, dass er das Holz einfach fallen ließ, durch die Hoftür hinauslief und die Richtung einschlug, die der Stern wies. Er versuchte, den Kopf so weit wie möglich in den Nacken zu legen und…
German Christmas tale: Der Weihnachtsstern (pt. 1) Posted by Sandra Rösner on Dec 21, 2012
It’s only four days to Christmas and maybe some of you are full of Christmas stress. I’d like to invite you to calm down a little bit by listening to a Christmas tale, of course, in German. The tale is about the star of Bethlehem and the idea what Christmas should really be: a time…
Leise rieselt der Schnee – The snow is fluttering softly? Posted by Sandra Rösner on Dec 20, 2012
It was only last week that I had severe difficulties to get my car from the parking space in front of my house – that high was the snow. After I had tried it a couple of times, I decided to leave the car behind and walk instead. But walking wasn’t easy either. Have you…
German possessive pronouns in the genitive case Posted by Sandra Rösner on Dec 12, 2012
Sometimes, German can be a tough language. This is also true when it comes to possessive pronouns. Possessive pronouns are the parts of speech, which indicate that something or someone belongs to something or someone else. For example, you can say: “This is my brother.” – “Das ist mein Bruder.” “This is your book.” –…
Mein, dein, sein, ihr, etc.: German possessive pronouns in the nominative case Posted by Sandra Rösner on Dec 6, 2012
The ability to change perspectives when we talk with one another is one of the most awesome characteristics of humans. That is, when a speaker uses the word “I” in his or her statements we automatically know that this person is talking of him- or herself and not of one of us. Memorizing German personal…
Das Unwort des Jahres – faux-pas word of the year Posted by jan on Dec 5, 2012
Today I want to let you know about a strange linguistic thing that happens in Germany every year since 1991. A jury of linguists and journalists regularly nominates the “Unwort des Jahres” (faux-pas word of the year). Understandably you might ask: why? Well, the goal of the action is to achieve a more sensitive way…