Archive for 'Grammar'
German Punctuation Posted by Constanze on Mar 2, 2022
Guten Tag! Today we’re going to look at punctuation in German. This will include the names of different punctuation marks, as well as a few punctuation rules in German and how these differ to the English rules (or not). German Punctuation Firstly, we need to know what we’re dealing with; the word punctuation in German…
The Difference Between Werden, Wurden and Würden Posted by Larissa on Feb 22, 2022
These words are spelled similar, sound similar, and yet can change a sentence dramatically. Today we will talk about what the differences are between these three verbs. There are also other ways to use these verbs that I have not mentioned in this post, in order to keep it simple, clear, and to focus on…
The Difference Between Machen And Tun In German Posted by Constanze on Oct 27, 2021
Guten Tag! Last week on the blog, I wrote about the phrase Ich habe zu tun (I’m busy) and briefly covered the verb tun – to do. A lot of you asked for a post on the difference between tun (to do) and the more widely known machen (to do/to make), so here it is!…
German has sentence tags, hasn’t it? – Tags in German Posted by Sten on Oct 15, 2021
English is a bit (in)famous for its use of sentence tags, those little endings of sentences to indicate that you are looking for agreement or confirmation. It’s nice, isn’t it? German, like many other languages, doesn’t have such tags. But we do ask for confirmation like this, too, of course! So, how does German do…
Spell it Well: German Words Starting with s/sch Posted by Sten on May 6, 2021
English spelling is a mess. I don’t think that anybody would argue with that. German spelling, on the other hand, is pretty straightforward! Simply pronounce every single letter, and you’re already halfway there. However, German is not free from some confusing spelling itself. Let’s take a look at some of that. For example, the s/sch. Why…
The German Genitive Case Ending Explained Posted by Sten on Apr 8, 2021
For all the German learners out there, I probably don’t need to say this. Grammar in German is a pain. In the jungle of articles, conjugations and cases, it can be daunting to get it all right. We’ve written about the Genitiv (Genitive) jungle before. And today, I want to focus on a small patch in that…
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…