Tag Archives: German language
Funny German Animal Names Posted by Constanze on Mar 14, 2018
Guten Tag! We have talked before on the blog about how ‘literal’ German words can be. Check out this blog post, and this one, for some examples. Today I’d like to continue on that theme with a post about animals. You are probably familiar with a few German animals, such as die Katze (cat), der…
Making Mistakes In German Posted by Constanze on Mar 7, 2018
Guten Tag! Today’s post is about mistakes. Sometimes we are aware that we might be saying something incorrectly in German, like muddling up words that sound similar but have different meanings. What we are not so aware of is what we are actually saying when we do this – which can lead to us feeling…
Should I Roll My Rs In German? Posted by Constanze on Feb 21, 2018
Guten Tag! Today’s post is all about a question many German language learners encounter at one point or another, and that is: Should I roll my Rs when I speak German? And if I am supposed to, how do I physically do it? The rolled R is a stand-out feature of the German language for…
A Unique German Way To Say It’s Snowing Posted by Constanze on Feb 7, 2018
Guten Tag! Is it snowing where you live? For me, there’s nothing better than that moment of seeing snow outside and exclaiming Es schneit! to whoever will listen. Today I’d like to give you a very different way of saying ‘It’s snowing’ in German. Frau Holle schüttelt ihre Betten aus A unique way of saying…
2 Words You Didn’t Know Were German Posted by Constanze on Jan 31, 2018
Guten Tag! When you think of English words that are German in origin, a few will spring to mind immediately: Angst, Poltergeist, and Doppelgänger, amongst others. Yet there are some English words that you need to look a little closer at to discover that they are, in fact, German! Today I’ve got two English words…
German Onomatopoeia Posted by Constanze on Jan 24, 2018
Today we’re going to look at onomatopoeia in the German language! The dictionary defines onomatopoeia as ‘the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named (e.g. cuckoo, sizzle ).’ You might already be familiar with some of these words in English: Splash, boom, and many animal noises including miaow. Just like…
Reflexive German Verbs Posted by Constanze on Jan 17, 2018
Guten Tag! Today we’re going to look at reflexive German verbs. If you’ve ever heard a German native say something like “I will shower me” in English instead of “I will take a shower”, for example, this post on reflexive verbs will hopefully explain why that is! What is a reflexive verb? A reflexive verb…