Archive for 'Language'
The Nominative Case Posted by Transparent Language on Jul 20, 2009
Today’s post is on the dreaded cases. For the German newbies, a case is a term used to describe the role a noun plays in a sentence. There are four cases: 1) der Nominativ (the nominative) : is where the noun is the subject of the sentence. Let’s look at the nominative forms for the…
German Horoscopes Part 2 Posted by Transparent Language on Jun 30, 2009
Krebs (22. Juni -22. Juli) Krebse werden oft mißverstanden. Andere Menschen empfinden sie als zu diktatorisch und zu sarkastisch. Löwe (23. Juli – 22. August) Sie sind sachlich, realistisch und zugleich vorsichtig. Manchmal sind sie auch etwas zu materialistisch und geizig. Jungfrau (23. August – 22. September) Sie sind sehr ordentlich und organisiert. Sie sind…
German Horoscopes Posted by Transparent Language on Jun 26, 2009
Hopefully you’ll all have fun with this exercise. Today’s post will be about a German (Deutsche) Horoscope (Horoskope). Try and see if you can understand everything. Obviously this is just made up, so don’t take it too seriously if your sign is less than what you desired. Steinbock (22. Dezember – 19. Januar) : Der Steinbock ist…
Plural Endings Continued Posted by Transparent Language on Jun 17, 2009
For some neuter nouns the plural endings… end in -e : das Jahr (s) = die Jahre (p). Meaning = year/years end in -er : das Kind (s) = die Kinder (p). Meaning = child/children end in an umlaut + er : das Glas (s) = die Gläser (p). Meaning = glass/glasses end in -en …
Plural Forms in German Posted by Transparent Language on Jun 14, 2009
The plural endings for masculine nouns can take on various endings in the plural form. (s) = singular. (p) = plural. (d) = definition. Some nouns end in -e : der Arm (s) = die Arme (p). (d) = arm/arms Some end in -en : der Junge (s) = die Jungen (p). (d) = boy/boys…
When to use Articles in German Posted by Transparent Language on Jun 11, 2009
German and English use the articles in similar ways, however there are some exceptions. Just because you see a noun doesn’t mean you should always attach an article in front of it. In German, it’s common to see articles used after a preposition (die Präposition) : in der Nacht (at night) With parts of the body : die…
Neuter Nouns in German Posted by Transparent Language on May 18, 2009
Finally, we get to the neuter nouns. Look out for these endings, they just might be neuter: -chen : das Märchen (fairy tale) -um : das Zentrum (center) -lein : das Fräulein (Miss) -o : das Auto (car) -ment : das Instrument (instrument) -nis : das Versäumnis (neglect) -il : das Ventil (valve) -ma…