Category: German Language

How would you translate the following sentences into German? Bei diesem heißen Wetter, würde ich nie Socken tragen. Sie arbeitete bei Tag und bei Nacht. Most German students learn early on that it is often a different German preposition that replaces the main English equivalent in a sentence. What we […]

There are many expressions of good wishes in German that you just can’t translate word for word, no matter how short they are. For instance, translating ‘Happy birthday’ into German would result in Frohen Geburtstag, which is less commonly said in Germany. In this article, you’ll find the right expression […]

One of the most common translation errors made by inexperienced students of German has to do with the English word “people.” Because most beginners tend to grab the first definition they see in their English-German dictionary, they often come up with unintentionally hilarious or incomprehensible German sentences — and “people” […]

  Have any of you come across people who once they know you speak German, try their best to mimic every word they’ve heard in old war-related American films? Besides the spit, they conjure up and the obvious distasteful war words they ejaculate, they never ever fail to say “Halt!” […]

In the following chart you’ll find those German verbs that take a “direct” object in the dative case rather than the normal accusative case. (More details about this distinction below.) The “dative verbs” category is a rather loose classification because almost any transitive verb can have a dative indirect object. […]

German personal pronouns (ich, sie, er, es, du, wir, and more) work in much the same way as their English equivalents (I, she, he, it, you, we, etc.). When you study verbs, you should already understand pronouns well. They are a key element of most sentences that you should memorize […]

If you’ve got an opinion, the German language has a ton of ways to express it. Not all are as straight forward as Ich stimme zu (I agree). Some are phrases and idioms you need to memorize to carry on a natural-sounding conversation. Here are some common ways to your […]

If you’re going to speak the language, it’s important to learn how to wish someone a happy birthday in German. Before giving birthday greetings, though, you need to know about an important cultural point especially among older Germans: Wishing a German a happy birthday before his special day is considered […]

Here we examine the dative reflexive, and particularly how it’s used with the vocabulary in this lesson. Since reflexive verb forms are used frequently in German and have very practical, everyday applications, you need to learn them. Note that only two pronouns (ich and du) show any difference from the […]

Comparisons in German generally work in a way that is similar to English. An Austrian brewery advertises its Gösser beer brand with the slogan:  “gut, besser, Gösser” (“good, better, Gösser”).  The German edition of Reader’s Digest is known as Das Beste (…aus Reader’s Digest). Comparison Adjectives and Adverbs in German […]