Archive for 'Language'
The conjugation of the German verb “stehen” Posted by Sandra Rösner on Aug 18, 2014
The German verb “stehen” is commonly translated into English “to be”, “to stand” or “to suit”. Below you can find its conjugations for the following tenses: – Präsens – present – Präteritum – preterit (equals simple past) – Futur I – future I – Perfekt – perfect – Plusaquamperfekt – pluperfect (equals past perfect) – …
Don’t take things so literally! … Unless you’re speaking German. Posted by Constanze on Aug 13, 2014
You can learn a lot about Germany from its language. There are many nouns in the German language that have very literal meanings to them. Their pattern is that they are made up of two or more separate words put together to form a new word. These are called compound nouns. Some examples are: Das…
The conjugation of the German verb “geben” Posted by Sandra Rösner on Aug 11, 2014
The German verb geben means “to give”, “to hand” or “to pass” in English. But depending on its particular use it also can mean “to issue” or “to provide”. In the following I will give you an overview of the conjugation forms of the verb geben, which you need for forming indicative (statements) and imperative…
Words and signs you might encounter in deepest Bavaria Posted by Constanze on Aug 10, 2014
If you visit Bavaria (especially if it’s a little place out in the depths of the Bayerischer Wald), you are likely to encounter the Bavarian language in one form or another. Spoken Bavarian probably sounds incomprehensible as a non-native German speaker, even if your Hochdeutsch is of a good standard. But when it comes to…
Essen vs sein Posted by Sten on Aug 9, 2014
The verbs essen and sein do not seem to conflict, but sometimes they do phonetically. This happens in the pronouns er/sie/es. you eat …
Sayings + Expressions 5 – The Beauty and the Ball Posted by Sten on Aug 8, 2014
Hi there! This week we have another two: a saying, and an expression. The saying concerns beauty, and the expression discipline and endurance – which you need to achieve beauty, right? Let’s go, first the saying! Wer schön sein will, muss leiden Who wants to be beautiful, has to suffer (beauty knows no pain) The origin…
The conjugation of the German verb “sagen” Posted by Sandra Rösner on Aug 4, 2014
The word “sagen” is one of the most frequent verbs in German. Usually, it either means “to say” or “to tell” in English. In order to form statements (declarative sentences) or commands (imperative sentences) it is necessary to conjugate verbs correctly. So, let’s have a closer look at the verb “sagen” and its conjugations of…