Sonne, Mond und Sterne,
alles liegt in weiter Ferne,
doch das Gute das ist ganz nah –
ein glückliches und schönes neues Jahr!

Happy new year! This is one of many New Year’s greetings in German, which translated into English goes something like this (please note that this is my own translation – not an ‘official’ one or anything!):

Sun, moon and stars,
Everything is very far,
But the Good is extremely near –
A happy and beautiful New Year!

On that note, I hope you are having a good start to 2015! Das Neujahr (New Year) is often accompanied by die Neujahrsvorsätzen – New Year’s Resolutions (Der Neujahrsvortsatz if you’re talking about a single resolution). Have you made any Neujahrsvorsätzen for 2015? If you have, they could be one of the following:

Typische Neujahrsvorsätzen – Typical New Year’s Resolutions:

I want to lose weight – Ich will abnehmen

I want to pass my driving test – Ich will meine Fahrprüfung bestehen

I want to join a gym – Ich will einem Fitnessstudio beitreten

I want to spend more time with friends – Ich will mehr Zeit mit meinen Freunden verbringen

I want to call my parents more often – Ich will meine Eltern öfter anrufen

I want to find my dream job – Ich will mein Traumjob finden

I want to travel more – Ich will mehr reisen

I want to quit smoking – Ich will mit dem Rauchen aufhören

I want to drink less alcohol – Ich will weniger Alkohol trinken

I want to live a healthier lifestyle – Ich will gesunder leben

I want to learn German– Ich will Deutsch lernen 🙂

Do leave a comment and tell me what your Neujahrsvorsätzen are – and if they aren’t on this list, tell me them in English and I’ll give you the German for them! Furthermore, if you have any more suggestions I will add them to the list!

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But not everybody bothers with New Year’s resolutions. If you don’t make them, you can say:

Ich mache keine Neujahrsvorsätzen :: I don’t make New Year’s resolutions

Or maybe you usually make them, but you just didn’t make any this year. In that case, you can say:

Ich habe mir in diesem Jahr keine Vorsätze für das kommende Jahr gemacht :: This year, I didn’t make any resolutions for the year ahead

And what about when you break a New Year’s resolution? Then you can (sadly) say:

Ich habe meine Neujahrsvorsätzen (schon) gebrochen :: I have (already) broken my New Year’s resolutions

Which one applies to you?

Bis später!

Grüße,

Constanze x