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German Emergency Services: P1 Posted by Constanze on Jan 20, 2017
What do you do if you find yourself in an emergency situation in a German-speaking country? Which number do you call, and what is it you ask for? This post will tell you exactly that! The numbers to call: In Germany: 110 – police 112 – ambulance/fire brigade In Austria: Call 112 for general emergency…
Untranslatable German Words: Morgenmuffel Posted by Constanze on Jan 13, 2017
Hello and welcome to another post on untranslatable German words, where I bring you the quirkiest, funniest and most intelligent words that the German language has to offer – and ones that are difficult to find a direct translation for! Today’s word is der Morgenmuffel. What does der Morgenmuffel mean? In German, a Morgenmuffel is…
The German Expression ‘Bock Haben’ Posted by Constanze on Jan 4, 2017
Hallo! Gutes neues Jahr! 🙂 Today I’d like to bring you a curious German expression known as ‘Bock haben’, and show you how to use it. This phrase is quite commonly used in Germany nowadays, so you’re likely to come across it at some point! Bock (auf etwas) haben This phrase is a more…
German Christmas Quiz 2016 Posted by Constanze on Dec 21, 2016
Guten Tag! As it’s my last post before Christmas I thought it’d be fun (educational fun… haha) to get into the Christmas spirit with a German Christmas quiz! Throughout the years the team here on the German blog have written some great articles about Christmas time in Germany. So, first of all, make yourself a…
The German Word ‘Los’ Posted by Constanze on Dec 14, 2016
Guten Tag! There are many ‘little’ German words that often interest language learners, and have them asking questions. Why? Because some of these ‘little words’ have different meanings, or can be used either on their own or as part of other words. For this reason they are often confusing at first, which is why, when…
The German Boogieman Posted by Constanze on Dec 7, 2016
Guten Tag! Today, inspired by a kids’ song I was reminded of recently, the theme is German mythological monsters! The kids’ song is called Es Tanzt Ein Bi-Ba Butzemann. I know this song from my childhood, as many German children probably will. The song is about a Butzemann dancing around in somebody’s house. The first…
Germany’s Youth Word of 2016 Posted by Constanze on Nov 30, 2016
Guten Tag! You may remember last year I wrote about the Wort des Jahres (Word of the Year) and the Unwort des Jahres (Un-word of the Year – an offensive/negative word of the year) for 2014. These are published towards the end of each year by the Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache (GfdS) – the Association…