Archive for 'Language'
Germany doesn’t have bad weather. It has un-weather. Posted by Constanze on Oct 5, 2014
Guten Tag, meine Lieben! Since die Jahreszeiten are changing and Herbst und Winter are upon us here in the UK, I thought this was the right time to learn some Wetter vocabulary – and yes, the Germans even have an untranslatable word or two when it comes to describing the weather. The first untranslatable word…
German grammar in use: The conjugation of the verb “hören” Posted by Sandra Rösner on Oct 1, 2014
The German verb “hören” has got three major meanings: The ability to hear The conscious activity to listen (to) To do what an authority commands you: to obey Additionally, there are several compound verbs with the stem “-hören”, which specify HOW you hear or listen. zuhören – to listen to The verb “zuhören” is a…
German-Dutch in the mix Posted by Sten on Sep 27, 2014
The Netherlands and Germany are two countries that could not oppose each other in certain ways: soccer, language, some cultural traits, morals, fashion styles… But they also find harmony. There are many activities that connect both countries. Not only economically. I grew up in a small German town on the Dutch border and went to…
German grammar in use: The conjugation of the verb “erklären” Posted by Sandra Rösner on Sep 25, 2014
The common English translation for the German verb “erklären” is to explain. Further, it can mean to declare, to state, or to define — depending on context. Below you can find some example sentences with the German verb “erklären” and its conjugations. Präsens – Present tense Singular Plural 1st person ich erkläre wir erklären 2nd…
The etiquette of Sie and du at the workplace Posted by Constanze on Sep 25, 2014
As many German language learners know, in German there are two different ways of saying the word ‘You’. There is ‘du’, which is informal, and ‘Sie’, which is formal. This is entirely different to the English language, which only uses one word (You) for both. I wanted to touch on this subject to discuss the…
Untranslatable German Words: Der Geisterfahrer Posted by Constanze on Sep 17, 2014
Guten Tag! Here’s another little German language lesson in the form of an untranslatable German word – and today there are a few other words thrown in for good measure. Today’s word is Der Geisterfahrer. Before I tell you what this word means, here are some similar-looking words, along with their meanings. You will see…
German grammar in use: The conjugation of the verb “sehen” Posted by Sandra Rösner on Sep 15, 2014
The German verb sehen (to see; to look; to face) is a strong verb, which means that it has another root vowel in the preterit. In the overview below you can find the conjugations of the verb sehen in the German tenses: Präsens, Imperativ, Präteritum, Futur I, Perfekt and Futur II. The additional examples are…