Archive for 'Language'
German Exclamations And Interjections Posted by Constanze on Sep 5, 2018
There is a phrase that kept coming up in my work some time ago. The phrase was ‘Klein, aber oho!’. It took me a while to figure out how to translate this phrase. It starts ‘Small, but…’ and then the mysterious word ‘oho’. On first glance, this looks like an abbreviation for something. But it…
How to describe your bike in German Posted by Larissa on Sep 4, 2018
Servus, one of the things I love most about living in Munich is that there are cycle paths everywhere. I find cycling so much quicker than taking the bus or the U bahn, and it gives you some fresh air and exercise too! One thing that might get annoying is when your bicycle breaks (I…
Is The German Language Sexist? Posted by Constanze on Aug 29, 2018
German has three genders for its nouns: der (masculine), die (feminine) and das (neuter). A common point of confusion amongst German language learners is why each noun has its assigned gender – especially when there is no pattern to it and/or its gender doesn’t appear to make sense. For example, a table in German is…
Tricky German Pronunciation Part 2 (With Audio) Posted by Constanze on Aug 15, 2018
Guten Tag! This is part 2 of a requested post (please find part 1 here). Following my posts ‘German Words You Don’t Want To Mix Up’ parts 1 and 2, a lot of people were interested in a post with audio clips of words and sounds that look similar, but are very different. Sometimes in…
Let’s Count Insects! – Insektensommer 2018 Posted by Sten on Aug 9, 2018
It is a hot Sommer (summer), an besonderer (exceptional) one. But there is also something not that besonders about this Sommer: In general, more and more Germans say: Es gibt immer weniger Insekten (There are fewer and fewer insects). Some claim that they had to start the Scheibenwischer (windshield wiper) to remove all the Insekten from their Frontscheibe a few years ago. Now, they may have just a single Fleck (spot). Aber…
Tricky German Pronunciation Part 1 (With Audio) Posted by Constanze on Aug 8, 2018
Guten Tag! This is part 1 of a requested post. Following my posts ‘German Words You Don’t Want To Mix Up’ parts 1 and 2, a lot of people were interested in a post with audio clips of words and sounds that look similar, but are very different. Sometimes in German, when we mispronounce a…
7 Ways To Say Sorry In German Posted by Constanze on Aug 1, 2018
Entschuldiging, Verzeihung, Es tut mir Leid, Mein Beileid….. Have you ever noticed how many different ways there are to say ‘sorry’ in German? It might leave you wondering whether there’s any difference between them, and if it’s better to say one over the other. In this post I’m going to explain the different German words…