Learn German BLOG

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This Learn German BLOG** takes regular little snippets, tips and quips, of useful and interesting German learning bits and pieces. I post stuff on the site whenever and wherever things pop up.... Things that will be of interest to learners of German language and culture. If you have any tidbits to contribute do contact us via the Learn German Blog contact us form below.

"Was ist das deutsche Wort für ....?"

You will probably be asking this question quite a bit as you build up your German vocabulary ....

= "What's the German word for ...?" or
"What's the word in German for ....?"

Alternatively, you could rephrase this and ask:

"Wie sagt man .... auf deutsch?"

= "How does one say .... in German?"

For example:

"Was ist das deutsche Wort für 'hedgehog'?"

= "What is the German word for 'hedgehog'?" or
"What's the word in German for 'hedgehog'?"

Answer: der Igel (m)

Das deutsche Wort für 'hedgehog' ist 'der Igel'.

= The German word for hedgehog is 'der Igel'. or
The word in German for hedgehog is 'der Igel'.

14 June, 2007

gern

Here's a useful little adverb with a variety of connotations, such as:

happily / with pleasure / gladly / readily / willingly

Gern! = Of course!

Aber gern! = But of course!

Ja, gern! = Yes, please! (gladly!)

Gern geschehen! = You're welcome! / Don't mention it! / It's my pleasure!

etwas gern haben = to like something

(etwas) gern essen = to like eating (something)

(etwas) gern trinken = to like drinking (something)

Ich studiere gern. = I like studying.

Ich gehe sehr gern ins Kino. = I love going to the movies.

gern mögen = to fancy

Ich mag ihn so gern! = I really fancy him!

etwas gern tun = to like doing something or to tend to do something

etwas gern machen = to like making/doing something

etwas gern sehen = to like to see something happen

gern wissen wollen = to wonder/ would like to know

Ich möchte gern wissen wie alt sie ist. = I wonder how old she is. (I'd like to know how old she is)

Wir entschudigen uns für die lange Gesprächspause!

30 April, 2007

When are the STAT FINDINGS taking place?

German colloquialism for brand spanking new!

Der Nagel is the German word for nail.

We and they BITE BISON!

For example I bite, I do bite, and I am biting are all:

ich beiße - I bite

i.e bite and biting are one and the same...

du beißt - you bite (informal, singular)
er, sie, es, Sie beißt - he, she, it bites; you bite (formal, singular)
wir beißen - we bite
ihr beißt - you bite (plural, informal)
sie beißen, Sie beißen - they bite; you bite (formal, plural)

...and note that...

wir beißen - we bite and...
sie beißen, Sie beißen - they bite; you bite (formal, plural)
sound like BISON.

Imagine that we and they bite BISON!

In German we bite the BISON is:
Wir beißen der Bison.

They bite the BISON is:
Sie beißen der Bison.

What is a smoking rabbit doing by the Railway Track

Check out the Memory Trigger for 'railway track' in German, and about learning your genders. Also about animals and smoking...

Genders are so important in German, not solely for getting the masculine, feminine and neuter articles in the right place, and not calling a he a 'she', or a she an 'it'.

The German cases are all based on gender too. Cases are the way the articles (e.g the word the) change depending on what happens during an action. I shall write more on that soon.

But the moral of the story is - you must learn your genders to enable you to learn your cases. If you don't, then you will be forever in a tangle.

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German for Journey

Here we have Condoleeza RICE to help you remember the word, and remember the gender of it. And we add a bunch of other words that are related to die REISE.

Check out the Memory Trigger for 'journey' in German.

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