Archive for 'Language'
German language in use: “I live in…” and “I go to…” – Using the appropriate articles and prepositions with German country names Posted by Sandra Rösner on Feb 15, 2012
In my previous post I told you that, beside continents, names of countries and cities are usually neuter in German. But there are also some exceptions. On the basis of these exceptions I’d like show you how the gender of nouns and their respective articles can affect your sentences. I told you that neuter country…
Recognizing neuter nouns in German part 1 Posted by Sandra Rösner on Feb 14, 2012
I have already written about how you can recognize masculine and feminine nouns in German. But German nouns can have a further gender: the neuter. In comparison to masculine and feminine nouns, neuter ones can be recognized much easier. a) Nouns that denote young living beings: humans as well as animals Young living beings…
Das Meer – the sea Posted by jan on Feb 9, 2012
Here´s an audiovisual comprehension about the sea. Watch the video and answer the questions afterwards. Attentions: This one might be for advanced learners! Here are the questions: 1. How many percent of the oxygen is produced by plants living in the sea? 2. What is the alternative word for „Ebbe und Flut“? 3. The sea…
Deutsch lernen mit Liedern – Learn German with songs Posted by anja on Feb 8, 2012
Songs are a great way to learn a language. By listening to native speakers, you get a feel for the sound of the language. By listening to the same text repeatedly, you get a feel for the structure of the language, for its word order; and you’ll be remembering phrases, words, and articles. Just listen…
Weibliche Substantive im Deutschen erkennen: Teil 4 – Detecting German feminine nouns: part 4 Posted by Sandra Rösner on Jan 20, 2012
After we have hashed and rehashed feminine nouns in the last three posts, we finally come to an end of this topic. Remember that all nouns are feminine that refer to: – female human beings (Mutter-mother; Frau-woman, wife; Tochter-daughter; the only exception is “Mädchen”-girl, which is neuter because of the syllable –chen) – female occupations…
Weibliche Substantive im Deutschen erkennen: Teil 3 – Detecting German feminine nouns: part 3 Posted by Sandra Rösner on Jan 18, 2012
Why are some nouns in German masculine, others feminine, and still others neuter? I am probably not the only one who is asking this question. And to make things worse: there isn’t any logical explanation for that. I pondered over that question quite a long time to give you, at least, a more or less…
Weibliche Substantive im Deutschen erkennen: Teil 2 – Detecting German feminine nouns: part 2 Posted by Sandra Rösner on Jan 16, 2012
Last time is was said that all those nouns are feminine, which refer to female humans (die Mutter-mother; die Tante-aunt), female animals (die Stute-mare; die Sau-sow), and female occupations (die Ärztin-phyisician; die Friseurin-haidresser). Let’s have a look now, which nouns are also commonly feminine in German. a) Some names of animal species die Auster…