People are often a little afraid of getting into awkward situations where they have no clue how to express what they want to say. So, by learning how to express things such as your language level or how to ask for clarification and help with understanding or explaining, you can keep the conversation flowing and you open yourself up to a whole new … [Read more...]
German Adjectives in Pictures – Part 3
An easy, fun way to learn German adjectives! A series of pictures by Delia Tello is so self-explanatory, no translations are needed. … [Read more...]
German Adjectives in Pictures – Part 2
An easy, fun way to learn German adjectives! A series of pictures by Delia Tello is so self-explanatory, no translations are needed. … [Read more...]
German Adjectives in Pictures – Part 1
An easy, fun way to learn German adjectives! A series of pictures by Delia Tello is so self-explanatory, no translations are needed. … [Read more...]
The Unique Illnesses You can Only Come Down With in German
Known for its precision and clarity of expression, German seems perfect for describing some of the conditions other nations may also be experiencing but couldn't quite put a finger on it enough to give it a specific name. 1. Fernweh "Wanderlust". Fernweh is the opposite of homesickness. It is the longing for travel or the cabin fever, the desire to … [Read more...]
Common German Acronyms in Texting
Everyone is certainly familiar with short informal words that sprang up relatively recently across the English-speaking web, like LOL ("laugh out loud"), brb ("be right back"), idk ("I don't know"), etc. German-speaking segment has lots of similar acronyms too: 8tung Achtung – watch out ads alles deine Schuld – all your fault akla? alles … [Read more...]
Essential German Phrases
If there are only a few phrases you are willing to learn before your trip to Germany, it should be these. They could help you out if tight situations. If in a German speaking country the natives will also be more friendly and helpful even when only trying to speak in German. Talk to a person in his own language and you talk to his heart! … [Read more...]
Der, die, das – German Articles
"Every noun has a gender, and there is no sense or system in the distribution; so the gender of each must be learned separately and by heart. There is no other way. To do this one has to have a memory like a memorandum-book." - Mark Twain, The Awful German Language Indeed, in German, there are two indefinite articles (ein, eine) and three … [Read more...]
Satzzeichen – German Punctuation Marks
An essential part of learning to write in German is learning how to properly use German punctuation - a system of marks or signs that are placed in a text to clarify meaning and separate structural units. Luckily, German punctuation is similar to English punctuation in many respects. However, four of these German punctuation marks - … [Read more...]
Meet German Prepositions!
Prepositions are words that link a noun to the rest of the sentence. They usually tell you about time, place and direction. Examples of English prepositions include on, out, under, from, with, about and until, but there are many more. They are those little words that you don’t even notice you’re using, but which completely change the meaning of the … [Read more...]