Tag Archives: nouns
The German Prefix ‘Un’ Posted by Constanze on Apr 22, 2020
Guten Tag! Today we’re going to talk about German nouns that start with ‘Un’. Like in English, there are many adjectives in German that begin with ‘un’ to signify lack or negation. Some examples include the words unbequem (uncomfortable) and unverständlich (unintelligible). In both English and German, removing the prefix ‘un’ from these examples would…
100 Years Of Women’s Suffrage In Germany Posted by Constanze on Jan 30, 2019
Guten Tag! There has been uproar in German politics recently because a German mayor was not invited to a charity event – simply because she is a woman. This comes shortly after Germany celebrated 100 years of women having the vote. Karoline Linnert is the finance senator and substitute mayor for the city of Bremen…
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 German Word ‘Los’ Posted by Constanze on Dec 14, 2016
Guten Tag! There are many ‘little’ German words that often interest language learners, and have them asking questions. Why? Because some of these ‘little words’ have different meanings, or can be used either on their own or as part of other words. For this reason they are often confusing at first, which is why, when…
The German wimp: A broad definition Posted by Constanze on Jul 13, 2014
Guten Tag, and wilkommen to another post on untranslatable German words. This week I want to talk about a word that I didn’t know until last week, when a customer at work told me about “this German word that means you park in the shade”. He thought it was hilarious, but he couldn’t remember exactly…
Untranslatable German Words: Gemütlichkeit Posted by Constanze on Jun 26, 2014
Guten Tag, and wilkommen to week 3 of my series of posts on ‘untranslatable’ German words! In this series of posts I talk about one or more German words that there is no direct translation for in English. In my first post on this topic, I suggested that the reason for this was to do…
Untranslatable German Words: Teil 2 Posted by Constanze on Jun 20, 2014
Guten Tag, and wilkommen to week 2 of my series of posts on ‘untranslatable’ German words! In this series of posts I talk about one or more German words that there is no direct translation for in English. In my first post on this topic, I suggested that the reason for this was to do…