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Barbarazweig: A German December Tradition Posted by Constanze on Dec 16, 2020
Guten Tag! Today’s post is about a lesser-known German December tradition known as der Barbarazweig. Have you ever seen a cherry blossom branch in a vase in a German home in December? If so, this post will tell you what that’s all about! Der Barbarazweig This word literally means ‘the Barbara branch’. We will come…
German Word of the Year 2020 Posted by Constanze on Dec 9, 2020
Guten Tag! Today we will look at the Wort des Jahres in Germany. Each year, the Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache (GfdS) – The German Language Association – picks a word as their Wort des Jahres – ‘Word of the Year’. This is often a word related to a prominent topic in the country during the year, and is usually interesting from…
What Will Christmas Look Like In Germany This Year? Posted by Constanze on Nov 25, 2020
Guten Tag! In exactly one month, it will be Weihnachten (Christmas)! And, for obvious reasons, Weihnachten is going to look quite different this year. In Germany, this is no exception. Due to the ongoing Coronavirus restrictions, new rules have been put together for the Christmas period in celebrating countries. The aim is to allow people…
Sprechen, Reden, Sagen – What’s The Difference? Posted by Constanze on Nov 18, 2020
Guten Tag! Recently I wrote a post recapping the verb sprechen – to speak, talk, or say. Like in English, there are several words in German with similar meanings to the word sprechen. I thought it might be useful as a follow-up post to go through some of these words and give some example sentences…
The German Word Fisimatenten Posted by Constanze on Nov 11, 2020
Guten Tag! Today we’re looking at a peculiar German word: Fisimatenten. If you’re thinking, Well, that doesn’t look like a German word, you’d be right! There are a few different theories as to this word’s origins. But before we get into that, what on earth does Fisimatenten actually mean? Die Fisimatenten Fisimatenten is difficult to…
The German Verb ‘Sprechen’ (To Speak) Posted by Constanze on Nov 10, 2020
Guten Tag! In this ‘back to basics’ post, we’re going to look at the conjugation of the German verb sprechen – to speak. A very appropriate verb for your language learning! 🙂 Sprechen is an irregular German verb, meaning that both its endings and its stem will sometimes change. Here are a few conjugations of…
German History: The White Rose Movement Posted by Constanze on Oct 28, 2020
Guten Tag! It’s been a while since I’ve done a travel/history post, so that’s what today’s post will be about! Today we’re going to München, Germany to learn about Sophie Scholl and Weiße Rose (White Rose), a political movement from 1942. Weiße Rose was started by a group of students at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (Ludwig Maximilian University…