What’s Your Star Sign In German? Posted by Constanze on Sep 14, 2018
Guten Tag! Whether die Astrologie (astrology) interests them or not, most people are aware of what their Sternzeichen (star sign) is. In today’s post, we’ll be looking at the star signs in German! In German, the term das Sternzeichen literally translates to ‘star sign’, but another word for it is das Tierkreiszeichen, which translates to…
Sayings + Expressions 18: Life Posted by Sten on Sep 6, 2018
In the long-standing series Sayings + Expressions, we look at Ausdrücke (expressions) and Sprichwörter (sayings) in German. There are some really crazy ones, so have a look at the other posts at this link. Today, we are looking at das Leben. What other Thema (theme) inspires so many weise (wise) things to say than life itself? As always, let’s dive right in with the Sprichwort first! Das…
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…
The Edelweiss And Its Meaning Posted by Constanze on Aug 22, 2018
Guten Tag! Today’s post is all about Edelweiss. I have countless pieces of jewellery from Germany with the Edelweiss on it, but it was only recently that I stopped to wonder: Why, exactly, is the Edelweiss so symbolic of Germany? What does it mean? Why is it everywhere? First of all, it came to my…
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…