It’s called Found in Translation and it is a very interesting graphic project realized by Anjana Iyer, presented in occasion of the initiative 100 days Project (The repeating of a creative task for 100 consecutive days and recording of each days efforts).
At the heart of the illustrations of this graphic designer from New Zealand are words that have a unique and original meaning which exists only in one language. There is no direct translation, more words are required and at times, as she did, also a nice drawing. It is through these that she tries to explain the meaning of these untranslatable words in other languages.
Rightly so amongst this list there are also some German words. Do you know of a word that is capable of conveying the German Fernweh, or so the longing of a place one has never been to? And of the German Schadenfreude, the «pleasure derived by someone from another person’s misfortune»? And what about that face that you would like to slap that in Germany is simply address through as Backpfeifengesicht? We too have forests, but perhaps since we never had the Grimm brothers we never felt the need to describe the feeling of being alone in amongst the trees as Germans did with Waldeinsamkeit.
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Do you wish to learn German or perfect your knowledge? Then take a look at the German courses that Berlino Schule organizes in Berlin here!
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It’s not enough that it is a language with thousands of inflexible grammatical rules, with words that have a difficult meaning to perceive and sounds at times almost impossible to pronounce. German, despite its reputation of being a rational language, at times presents cases when these rules are not rationally justified and lead to absurd paradoxes. And for us wretched born under another mother tongue, but have to learn how to live with German, there is nothing left to do than to fight against these absurdities every day.
1. The gender of certain nouns
Skirt is male, girl is neutral. For English speakers this is a very confusing situation and the only way to survive out of it is to forget the universal the and simply accept the ambiguous gender assignment for German nouns. Although there are certain exceptions, for instance words that end in -ung are always feminine and those that end in -er are masculine, most of the nouns articles have to be learned by heart because there are no rules to rely upon. And in this condition of anarchy yes, you will have to learn by heart every single common noun of things, animals and so on. Wouldn’t it be nice if the gender was at least deductible from the meaning of the word? Yes, but no: because a skirt is male, and a girl is neutral.
Not to talk about the chaos caused when universal nouns that belong to the collective imagery not only have a gender in the German world, but also a quite confusing one. So then we have the moon (der Mond- M), the sun (die Sonne- F) and death (der Tod-M), as we learned from that famous scene of a chess match against death in the swedish movie The seventh seal. Yet again, this is a different story…
2. Two-digit numbers
Counting in German is easy, but only until 20. Because from 21 onwards a tremendous rule kicks in by which numbers are read at “reverse”. It’s not twenty one, but one-and-twenty (einundzwanzig), it’s not twenty two but two-and-twenty, it’s not sixty seven but seven-and-sixty. Reading the number from the tenth before the unit forces a different way of thinking. In certain workplaces in Germany, those characterized by a majority of non-Germans, reading numbers in this way is forbidden. So to pronounce numbers in a way that is clear and understandable to everyone has led to the forming of a sort of baby talk by which you have to pronounce every digit once: 83 is eight-three, 98 is nine-eight… The problem arises when a German client calls you in and you get a 17 digit Amazon order pronounced overturned and at the speed of light. At that point there is nothing left to do other than rolling up your sleeves and getting to work…
3. Dates
The problems with German numbers aren’t over. For unexplainable reasons, these people invented an entirely original way of reading the years of a date. First thing, the first two digits are separated from the last two. So far so good, as we have the same system in English. In German however amongst the two groups of digits they place a hundert (hundred). Neunzehnhundertzweiundneunzig. The again, why hundred? Possibly because it implies the calculation 19×100=1900 (obvious much?), or possibly because it is a way to distinguish dates from normal numbers. The choice is however debatable. For our luck the dawn of the new century saved us all: from 2000 onwards they gave up to read zweitausend, zweitausendeins, zweitausendzwei… Twothousand, twothousand and one, twothousand and two…
4. Separable verbs
Verbs in English have a preposition. In German instead the prepositions are stuck directly to the verb, thus creating a myriad of countless words that have the same root but different meanings, filling up the already well-supplied dictionary. In this way the same verb can mean everything and the opposite of everything: nehmen (to take), according to the prefix it has at the front may mean to accept (annehmen), to remove (entnehmen), to lose weight (abnehmen), to gain weight (zunehmen), to behave (benehmen)… Combined with the fact that almost all of these prefixes are separable from the verb, and that often the separate prefix may be moved at the end of the sentence, make it so that you can never know what a person is trying to say until he utters the last word. An example?
“Ich gebe die Aufgabe… ab.” I hand in the task.
“Ich gebe die Aufgabe… auf.” I give up the task.
5. The rigid position of the components of a sentence
I often thought that writing a phrase in German is like playing a tetris. Yes because in this language every component of the sentence has its own rigid position that must be respected, which also varies according to the type of sentence: when asking a question the conjugated verb has always the first position, in a positive sentence it has the second position, in a subordinate sentence it occupies the last position (and here we go back to the aforementioned problem by which until the person in front of you has pronounced the last word one can’t know what he means). But not only. The subject will always occupy the first position in a positive sentence unless, usually, you want to start with an adverb for instance, which in that case requires to make an inversion. And so on. The strange thing is that this is a feature of languages that don’t have cases, whereby the role of the components of the sentence is defined by their position. German decided instead to keep both: cases and positions. The best part will be when you’ll move to the most advanced grammar rules and find out that there is also a predetermined order to position the various complements. It is called TeKaMoLo and no, it is not a new generation medication, but it’s the key to remember the order of the complements: Temporal (when), Kausal (why), Modal (how) and Local (where).
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Do you wish to learn German or perfect your knowledge of the language? Then take a look at the German courses that Berlino Schule organizes in Berlin here!
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It’s true, actresses, actors and singers have a talent when it comes to the recognition and reproduction of sound.
German however remains a language that few people, at least in the past generations, decided to learn unless it was for work reasons. What follows is a list (partly inspired from the one made by Smosh) of American, but not only, celebrities that can modestly speak German, as the videos demonstrate.
Bud Spencer
The actor from Naples was a real star in Germany, as so was his colleague Terrence Hill. His autobiography reached the vectors of sale a few years ago. All his movies were distributed in cinemas and in the ’70s it was common to find him on German TV to promote his movies. He studied German in school in Italy and never failed to demonstrate it, as this video shows.
Sandra Bullock
The Oscar winning actress with The Blind Side, and for a few years the most paid actress in the world, is the daughter of a German singing teacher, herself the daughter of a missile scientist that lived in Nuremberg. It was in Baveria that her father, the American John Bullock, at the time serving the American army, met her mother and began a love story lived through the States and Germany. Although she was born in Arlington, Sandra Bullock lived in Nuremberg until the age of 12.
Chris Pratt
The Guardians of the Galaxy start learned (well) German in school. The father, American, has German origins, but not only: as he himself admits in the past he nurtured a true passion for Goethe’s language.
Leonardo Di Caprio
On the one hand, as his surname discloses, he has Italian origins. On the other hand, from his mother’s side, German grandparents. It was his grandmother, from a small town close to Düsseldorf, that taught the Oscar winning actor that he uses at times to make his German audience smile.
Mark Strong
One of the greatest «supporting actors» of this century, the excellent Mark Strong has an Austrian mother, but not only. He studied law in Munich’s university for one year prior to dedicating himself completely to acting, his passion since youth.
Kirsten Dunst
The American actress holds to this day her German citizenship. The father was in fact a doctor from Hamburg that moved to the States and her mother (that has Swedish origins) worked for Lufthansa. German is thus a family affair for the Dunst family
Paul McCartney
McCartney learned German in school as a child. It became useful when the band, unknown at the time, made Hamburg its continental base, performing there any time they had the chance. The first time was in 1960 when, as reported here «Allan Williams, owner of a music cafè in Liverpool had to organize a tour in Germany for «Derry and the Seniors», a Liverpool-based rock band. But things went wrong and Williams was forced to find a substitute band in a short amount of time. He asked The Beatles, whom no one at the time heard of, that immediately accepted». Bild also talks about it here
Terrence Hill
Unlike Bud Spencer, Terrence Hill (aka Mario Girotti) speaks German both because he studied it and because his mother came from Dresden. It was there that, along with a chemist father working for the Schering, he moved when he was 4 in 1943, in the midst of the second world war. He lived there until 1945 with his grandparents in the close Lommatzsch, prior to returning to Venice, his father’s city.
Gene Simmons (Kiss)
The singer of the band Kiss was born in Israel (his real name is Chaim Witz). His mother, a Hungarian jew, lived through the time of concentration camps. He spoke German and taught it, and his son today speaks Hebrew, Hungarian, German and English
Vladimir Putin
From the man of KGB to Dresda, eastern Germany, both before and after the fall of the Wall, Putin could have not not known German….
Michael Fassbender
He was born in Germany, in Heidelberg to be precise, even though he always kept his Irish citizenship. In Bastards without Glory that language learned due to the origins of the father (a known German chef) allowed him to convince Tarantino to give him the role that served him as a trampoline for his career.
Kim Cattrall
The Sex and the City star, although having a well-established career in English speaking countries, in the 80s as she was married to Andre J.Lyson (they then divorced in 1989) lived in Frankfurt.
Karl Urban
The Lord of the Rings star (do you remember Éomer?) and of Star Trek, was born and raised in New Zeland, but his father is German and always spoke to him in his language.
Sarah Chalke
Anyone who watched Scrubs knows this very well: Sarah Chalke speaks very good German. It is the series that mostly insisted on her quality, building up different funny scenarios. Her grandparents from her mother’s side live in Peez, close to Rostock.
Donna Summer
The american singer that passed away in 2012 lived for long in Germany throughout the 70s as she became the protagonist of the theatre version of Hair. There she met Austrian Helmut Sommer with whom she had a child with. This is where here surname comes from (she was born Donna Gaines).
Do you wish to make it one day on this list? Then take a look at the German courses that Berlino Schule organizes in Belrin here!
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Linguists call it Kurzdeutsch (abbreviated German) or Kiezdeutsch (German from the neighborhood, a less common denomination) when referring to the variations of the spoken language as opposed to the standardized version found on books and practiced in language classes. Anyone approaching the study of German might have a hard time with the declination of articles, the adjectives and prepositions, to mention a few. German is known for its morphological and syntactic rigor, an element that when learning a language can be a double-cut sword: what at first may seem an insurmountable obstacle, namely the assimilation of the innumerable rules to be respected, may well be an advantage. In fact German is a language with few exceptions, in particular if compared to many others (Slavic languages, for example). But this standard German with infinite rules and few exceptions is very different from the everyday spoken language on the streets of any German city. Dialects, accents and different registers have led to the building of multiple language variations of the language. Amongst these, Kurzdeutsch, which makes simplification its defining characteristic.
The salient features of Kurzdeutsch are the omission of articles and the removal of crasis (for instance in the fusion of prepositions and articles as in the case of ins, zum, beim or zur). Kurzdeutsch is the linguistic variation typical of bilingual or second-generation or third-generation migrants: other distinctive traits are the influence from Arabic or Turkish language (eg Yalla or Lan) and the transformation of German sound ch (non-existent in Turkish) in sch.
As reported from the Die Welt, linguist Diana Marossek published a book from the title of “Kommst du Bahnhof oder hast du Auto? Warum wir reden, wie wir neuerdings reden” (literally translated into “Are you coming to the station or do you have a car? Why we talk the way we talk recently). Through the listening of the language spoken in the subway, in classrooms, in public offices and supermarkets Marossek’s book proposes an empirical study of Kurzdeutsch which, as she concluded, has become quite literally a “trend”. As she observes even the most proficient of linguists have begun to adopt certain Kurzdeutsch expressions. There are two ways to view the spreading of Kurzdeutsch: whereas on the one hand it might simplify access to the language, on the other it actually it be seen as a weakening of standard German, which although very rigorous, is important to know in every field, from the academic environment to a business setting.
Do you wish to learn German or perfect your knowledge? Then take a look at the German courses that Berlino Schule organizes in Berlin here!
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If it is true that in order to understand the culture of a place you have to know the language, it is essential to understand the dialect spoken in our beloved city: the Berlinerisch.
This folkloristic dialect, known for its sarcastic and often rude tones, is loved by many in Germany. Adored by the Berliners, it is a blend of old spoken dialects in urban centers, which in the past formed the city of Berlin. It also comes from the Berliner Schnauze, the typical berlin doc character.
The Berliner language
Some polls reveal that the Berliner language is very much in vogue among the new generations and is even turning out to be one of the most talked about in the city. So if you want to keep up with the times and understand what your interlocutor is talking about, here are some examples of Berlinerisch:
ich: ick / ikke (me)
aber: aba (or)
auch: ooch (also)
auf: uff (above)
etwas / was: wat (something)
ein: een (indefinite article, masculine, singular)
gehen: jehen (go)
gucken: kiek’n (watch)
klein: kleen (small)
laufen: loofen (walking)
nein: woman / nee (no)
nichts: nüscht / nichs / nix (nothing)
Schnauze: Schnute (1. mouth, 2. face / animal face)
das: dit / det (1. determinate article, neutral, singular 2. this)
The most common linguistic tendencies are to transform the «s» into «t» (was> wat, das> det, alles> allet) and the «g» in «j» (gut> jut, gehen> jehen, genau> jenau)
As for the ways of saying:
Allet comes! (Alles gut!) = Everything is alright
Moin! (Guten Morgen!) = Good morning
Du Alta! (Du Alter) = Hey you!
Eyh, jeh ma nich uff’n Keks! (Lass mich in Ruhe!) = Don’t annoy me, leave me alone! (literally «do not stay on biscuits»)
Is aba warm heute, huh? (… nicht wahr?)= It’s hot today, right? (At the end of the sentence, it means «true»)
One of the main features of this slang is the linguistic register, such as eating letters in the middle of words or dropping the final part
ist> is (is),
komm mal> komm ma (come)!
Some of Berlin’s typical particularities are the acronyms:
j.w.d. > janz weit draussen = a far away place. Could be translated «in the midst of nothing / the wolves»
Vokuhila > vorne-kurz-hinten-lang = short in the front and long in the back. One of the most popular hair cuts in Germany between 1982 and 1987, also in the most punk «Volahiku» version (long in the front and short in the back).
Are you living in Berlin and wish to perfect your knowledge of German? Take a look at the courses that Berlino Schule organizes!
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Is it possible to combine studying and careful attention to the proper use of the language whilst having fun?
But above all: is it possible to do so with the German language, generally considered one of the most difficult to learn due to its lexicon and rigid grammar that recalls the Latin one? The innovative German grammar booklet «Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv Sein Tod» (translated «The Dative is the death of the Genitive»), made up of 6 volumes published by Kiepenheuer & Witsch between 2004 to 2014, seems to have been able to do that perfectly, given that for the first time ever a language manual has managed to become an international bestseller with over 3 million copies sold.
Sebastian Sick, The dative is the death of the genitive
The author of this achievement is Bastian Sick, curator of the linguistic column Zwiebelfisch on Spiegel Online: the German term Zwiebelfish indicates those letter of a text that by mistake are reported in a different character compared to the others; Sick chose the term Zwiebelfisch as a title for his column as a metaphor of the German phenomenon of using words and expressions that would formally be incorrect. Journalist, entertainer, but especially a humanist specialized in history and romance philosophy, Sick began his career as a translator and interpreter: his passion for German language and grammar has allowed him to achieve a fine awareness of the language that is hard to find amongst professionals of the academic world and schooling staff. The title of Sick’s work “The dative is the death of the genitive” alludes to the grammatically incorrect replacing of the genitive with the dative in a lot of current German expressions. The same expression “Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod” is grammatically incorrect, yet spread widely following the publication of the work. The 6 volume collection is a compilation of the articles published in Sick’s coloumn Zwiebelfisch.
The method
The case studies selected by Sebastian Sick aren’t tailored expressions, literary texts or lists of rules to learn by heart, but sentences that derive directly from conversations amongst native speakers, road signs, advertisements or newspapers. Sick deals with great humor certain grammatical, spelling and pronunciation cases that are common in modern day spoken and written German. Everyday life becomes the occasion through which even those whose first language is German have a chance to reflect and talk about it with friends and acquaintances without having to resort to dusty toms stored in the library. At the same time Sick’s approach is also good for those who are new to the German language, but wish to know the nuances they often miss during frontal lessons. Sick’s work is one that aims to convey not only the rules for a good use of the language, but also the pragmatic, whose traditional study is often difficult to understand even within an academic environment. At a time where we are all coming to the terms with having the best results in the shortest amount of time, mistakes are demonized to the point of making us forget the universal truth that lies within the saying “one learns through mistakes”. Highlighting mistakes and analyzing them with the right lightness and irony, without falling into strict academic rigorousness, silencing the shame and fear of making another mistake, allowing you to better accommodate the corrections and learn the language effectively.
The opinion of the readers
Precisely due to its innovative features, “Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod” hasn’t been welcomed warmly by everyone. Some appreciated Sick’s style and humor to the point of having integrated his manuals within the bibliography to prepare for German exams, others have instead condemned him for his method of analysis. Others have even spoken against it becoming an school text, as deemed not to be fit for students. As for any language manual there will never be a universally positive judgment, however one must recognize certain unique aspects of Sick’s work. In the first place he has a real talent in getting the reader’s attention on the topic, considering that it is not of the most approachable. In the second place is his focus on the modern day use of the language, which is ever more important to foreigners arriving to Germany right now. There will always be the fans of the “purist” language, that spend their time correcting the common use of new grammatically incorrect expressions, however given that every spoken language has a life of its own maybe it is time one accepts Sick’s lightness and irony: debating about mistakes, neologisms, of the most uncommon expressions can contribute in helping speakers to become more aware and conscious of the language’s mobility and variations.
In the meantime, if you wish to test your knowledge of the language, you can try to answer the following quiz available on Sebastian Sick’s private page!
Are you new to the language or have studied a bit of it and wish to perfect it? Take a look at the German courses that Berlino Schule organizes in Berlin!
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German can seem tough at first listening (sometimes at the second too…), but with study, practice and commitment you can get great results and become fluent speakers. At this point, there is still one step to go through that will make the difference: learning common expressions of the spoken language, those that almost never appear in grammar books, but that are very useful when interacting with native speakers. As follows is a list of German expressions to learn by heart selected by Matador Network.
1. Das ist bescheuert – It’s ridiculous!
The literal translation of bescheuert is “insane” or “crazy”, but in everyday language this term is used negatively, to indicate something that you don’t like. For example: if you organized a barbeque in the park and it starts to rain, “das ist bescheuert” is the correct exclamation.
2. Na? – So…?
Amongst people you know very well you could use it to substitute the classic “how are you?”. A second use of the expression is to ask (indirectly) how something went, for example the result of an exam: “so? (how did the exam go?)”. “Na” must not be confused with “na und?” which could be translated into “so what?”, which has a more provocative and intolerant tone.
3. Das is mir Wurst – Doesn’t interest me / What do I care
Literally it means “for me it’s sausage”, but the meaning is “it doesn’t interest me”, “what do I care”, “it’s the same for me” up to the stronger “I could not care less”
4. Ich besorge das Bier – I’ll get the beer
Besorgen means “to take care of” or “to get something”, more informally, and this is what it is meant in this expression. “Ich besorge das Bier” is definitely very useful in a nation where Beer is the most popular drink (as we talked about in this article).
5. Kein Schwein war da – Nobody was there
Schwein means “pig”, but this noun is used in different German expression and assumes a completely different meaning: in some cases it is employed derogatorily whereas other times it is used in a colorful and emphatic way. Some examples:
Kein Schwein hat mir geholfen: “nobody helped me”
Armes Schwein: “poor thing!” (in a compassionate way)
Schwein haben: “to be lucky”
The term appears also in some neologisms:
Eine Schweinearbeit: “a hard work”
Das kostet ein Schweinegeld: “that is excessively expensive”
ATTENTION: if you scream “Schwein!” at someone, you are still calling them a “pig”.
6. Der spinnt – He’s crazy
In German the verb spinnen means “to spin”, but in the course of evolution of the language this verb has also become a synonym of “being crazy”. It is thought that this meaning to spinnen might derive from the fact that years ago spinning yarn was a hobby conceded to patients of mental health institutes.
7. Langsam langsam – Little by little
The translation of langsam is “slowly”, and when it is employed as langsam langsam it conveys the proceeding little by little, one step at a time.
8. Das kannst du deiner Oma erzählen – Tell your grandmother
Literally. And you can use it to reply to your friend when they’ll promise you that this weekend they won’t touch a drink!
9. Null acht fünfzehn (0-8-15) – In the average
0-8-15 was the standard rifle used during the First World War. This concept has remained in the spoken language as a synonym of mediocrity, used in the valuation of something that remains below average. For instance, “wie war der Film?” “ach, null acht fünfzehn”
10. Ich habe die Nase voll davon – I’m sick of it
The literal translation is “my nose is full”, to indicate when you are fully fed up of it (like Anastasia sang). For example: “ich habe die Nase voll von seinen Lügen” (I am sick of his lies)
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Are you new to German and you’re starting to get intrigued? Or have you already studied a bit and you wish to perfect your knowledge? Then take a look at the German courses that Berlino Schule organizes in the heart of Berlin!
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Speaking properly in German gives a lot of satisfaction, but it is undoubtedly a hard language to learn for foreigners. This time we propose a list of ten of the hardest German words to pronounce without making mistakes. There aren’t many phonetic rules in German, but the fact that:
the words can be very, very long (adjectives, nouns and conjugations at times are put together in the same word)
there are several consonants at times following one another without even integrating vocals on which one can ‘rest’ upon
making the pronunciation of certain words almost impossible.
The following list of 10 words includes everyday expressions and also old-fashioned terms, which are however present in dictionaries. The meaning of some of these contributes to the understanding of the attention that Germans pose on the accuracy of the meaning of the words.
Anyways, the game is another: are you capable of pronouncing out loud all ten words without making mistakes?
10. Freundschaftsbeziehungen
Friendly relations
9. Kraftfahrzeughaftpflichtversicherung
Motor vehicle liability insurance
8. Bezirksschornsteinfegermeister
Regional chief of the chimney sweepers
7. Betäubungsmittelverschreibungsverordnung
Regulation for the prescription of an anesthetic
6. Rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaften
Insurance companies that offer legal protection
5. Streichholzschächtelchen
Small box of matches
4. Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftkapitän
Chief of the vapour expedition company on the Danube
Wish to perfect you German in a vibrant environment? Or is German starting to intrigue you? Then take a look at the German courses that Berlino Schule organizes in the heart of Berlin!
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German is complicated, this is no secret. The grammatical structure and its rules along with the extensive lexicon variety make it a tough language to fully possess. To the extent that even native speakers at time make some quite evident mistakes.
If it can happen to them is reason for someone trying to learn the language not to feel too discouraged. Allowing to be inhibited from saying something wrong is the best way to make no progress. This is the message of Trixi, Svenja Patricia Quecke, German Youtuber that through her channel DontTrustTheRabbit publishes a series of funny videos explaining the difficulties, secrets and tricks of the German language. In the two videos that we propose, Trixi makes a list of common mistakes that even native speakers do in German. Often they are related to dialect variations which (consciously or unknowingly) have been imported into the Hochdeutsch. In other cases it is due to common expressions that have become official expressions that have been even integrated in the Duden Dictionary (we talked about a few of them here). As follows is a list of the most common / interesting / funny mistakes, which you can also find in the videos.
Das macht Sinn
“This makes sense”. Doesn’t it? It might seem so, but in German the correct way should be Das hatt Sinn or Das ergibt Sinn. In any case, even Duden appears to have come to terms with this version.
Zumindestens
German has two different words to say “at least”: zumindest and mindestens. Some love these words so much that they have fused them together in a word that doesn’t even exist: zumindestens.
Ich gehe bei Aldi
The matter of motion towards the place and being in the place is a complicated one in German. There are thousand of nuances and variations which at times not even German get right. Trixi takes the example of supermarkets, such as Aldi or Penny. It is not uncommon to hear a German say: ich gehe bei Aldi or ich gehe nach Aldi. The first form is definitely incorrect, as bei expresses the being in a place. The second one is debatable, as nach is generally used to convey the motion towards a state, city, continent. The correct expression would be: ich gehe zu Aldi.
The subjunctive, a foreigner.
Most Germans don’t consciously use the Konjunktiv II and the Konjunktiv I, used in indirect speeches especially in writing. Building the correct form of the Konjunktiv and above all deciding when to use one or another is a complicated matter. So a lot of people give up the hassle and almost always use the formulation würde + infinite form, even when it shouldn’t be so. Trixi makes an example of the correct form of speaking indirectly Er sagte, er sei ein Goldfisch (he said he was a Goldfish, where “sei” is the third person singular of the Konjunktiv I or sein, the verb to be). Some native speakers don’t bother, and write instead. “Er sagte, er würde and Goldfisch sein, which is two times incorrect. a) Because indirect speech requires Konjunktiv I and not Konjunktiv II. b) Because “sein” (but also “haben” and modal verbs) have their own specific form in the Konjunktiv II and can’t be replaced with a periphery (so at the most we could have accepted wäre, the Konjunktiv II of sein).
Ich bin größer wie du
Some native speakers struggle even with the comparative forms. Often, following a majority comparative they use “wie” (as) as opposed to “als”, the correct form that introduces the second comparative term. “Wie” would be correct after an equal comparative. The sentence reported here is a nosense as literally means “I am taller as you”. The correct version would obviously be ich bin größer als du.
Das Perfekteste
Strictly speaking, you can not make the comparative or superlative of adjectives that already involve the idea of perfection or that are already superlative (you feel more and more often «the closest» but technically close is already superb). So, say das Perfekteste, «the most perfect thing» does not make much sense.
Scared of the genitiv?
The genitiv in German is a case that is gradually disappearing, replaced where possible by the dativ. So many, to say “my sister’s dog” would never dare to use the gentiv form, “Der Hund meiner Schwester”. They would find refuge in the expression – correct, but a bit sloppy – von+ dativ: “Der Hund vor meiner Schwester”. Or, according to Trixi (we fortunately still never hear of it), they come up on unlikely hypothesis like “meine Schwester ihr Hund” (??)
Das gleiche/dasselbe
In German, which unlike English when we try to indicate the same form of identity we always use “the same”, there are two adjectives to express the concept of identity. So, to say “wir tragen den gleichen Pullover” would mean we are wearing the same Pullover. But if we wrote “wir tragen denselben Pullover” we would maybe be trying to say that it is really cold and in that moment we are trying to share the same type of Pullover.
Das/dass: ist mir egal?
The neutral determinative article (but also the determinative and relative pronouns) “das” and the declarative conjunction “dass” are written almost identically. But they have very different uses. A fact that, according to Trixi, many native speakers fail to acknowledge and in turn may lead to misunderstandings and frivolous sentences. Perhaps the unlikely mistake taken as an example by the youtuber can help bring some clarity: “ich denke, dass das das Dasseler Museum ist” (I think that this is the Dassler Museum), where the “dass” is clearly the subordinate conjunction. The first “das” is demonstrative, “this”, and the second “das” is the article related to the Museum.
The courtesy form
When they refer to a friend or a member of the family, Germans use “du”. But when they talk to someone they just met they wish to be more formal and use the courtesy form “Sie” (with the capital S). To which always follows the third person plural (and the corresponding possessive adjectives). As follows “kannst du mir helfen” equates to our “can you help me?” whereas “können Sie mir helfen” would be “could you help me?”. However at times Germans exaggerate with the courtesy capitals, using them even when they are out of context. Trixi reports a sentence read on a magazine, “Taylor Swift hat all Ihre Shuhe gespendet” would mean “Taylor Swift donated all her shoes”. But with the possessive article “Ihre” written with the capital distorts the meaning of the sentence, addressing the reader that the american star has donated, without permission, all the shoes of the unfortunate reader.
Wish to perfect your German or are you just starting to get intrigued by the language? Take a look at the German courses that Berlino Schule organizes in the heart of Berlin.
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Compound words? They are a classic of the German language. These however have a very unpredictable meaning
When learning German, one of the most common obstacles encountered by students lies in the difficulty of memorizing a very large lexicon of which one often struggles to remember the meaning, especially due to the difficulty in recognizing the root of the word. One advantage of German is, however, the tendency to make extensive use of compound nouns and verbs. Learning the meaning of suffixes and prefixes is therefore very useful to construct the meaning of a compound verb of which we know the primary meaning. During this meticulous process of destruction and composition of the language (evidenced by the German correspondent Wortzusammensetzung), which is becoming more and more pleasing to those who wish to know German and master it better, it is also possible that German will make us smile, giving us words that have an unusual meaning longing to a remote past.
Here are just a few German words that have an unexpected meaning.
Klobrille
When you first arrive in Germany and hear speaking of “toilette glasses” it might be quite disorientating. After asking to repeat the question we discover that, yet, klobrille is actually a word, and it is simply the toilet seat!
Brustwarze
This word is composed by two terms, wart and breast, that blended together might create a not so pleasant image. In reality it does not refer to strange anatomical blemishes, but to a part of the body that Germans, perhaps for the analogy of the form, call warts: nipples! When you will find yourself talking about nipples in German, be sure that this part of the body will have lost all of its charm.
There is no need to change zone then to find out that the most intriguing female garment, the bra, in German has a name similar to that of a posture corrector tutor, Büstenhalter, «breast-sustainer».
Eselsbrücke
If you think that this term, which literally means «donkey bridge» is a German invention to further confuse non-native speakers, you are mistaken. Nowadays the term is used in German to indicate a method, a word or phrase that allows you to remember something better. The question is: what do donkeys have to do with this?
The answer is sought in the past and in the latin location of pons asinorum, used in philosophy to indicate figures that allow less experienced subjects to understand a more complex concept, and in mathematics it is used in reference to the difficulty of understanding the fifth Euclide theorem on the isosceles triangle. It has thus an ambivalent meaning, on the one hand, of a device that facilitates understanding for the less learned, on the other, it indicates a «dormant» donkey backbone difficult to overcome.
Durchfall
Even if this term might seem hard to grasp, the English correspondent diarrhoea presents a morfology deriving from the Greek δια+ρρέω (dia+rrheo) “to scroll through”. If you unpack the German word, the Greek influence becomes apparent.
Donnerstag
Thursday in German is the day of thunder. Translated in English, the German correspondent Donners-tag would be Thunder-day, an analogy that shows the link amid these two languages. After all also in Italian (Giovedì), French (Jeudi) and Spanish (Jueves), the reference to Jupiter becomes clear. The fourth day of the week is thus dedicated to more than one nation to the god of thunder!
Mutterkuchen
When they talk about “mom’s cake” Germans don’t refer to a dessert to have for breakfast but to something very different. Mutterkuchen means placenta, but also this compound word doesn’t come out of nothing. The term placenta derives from Greek πλακοῦς (plakous), an adjective that indicates something with “crushed form”. The adjective then passed through latin with the meaning of flatbread. Why call flatbread this vascular organ? Because the placenta has a crushed form and through it the fetus can be fed, just like a flatbread.
Fernseher
To understand why in German television is referred to with a term that literally means «distant observer», it is enough to trace the etymology of the word. The prefix comes from Greek and means «far away», so it indicates a vision from afar, just like that of images projected from the screen of a TV. In German, the correspondent of ‘tele’ is fern.
Flusspferd
Even for this last example, before we put our hands between the hair of despair and blaming Germans for being incomprehensible, we should think of the origin of the corresponding term in English. Flusspferd, literally «river horse», in English means hippopotamus. This term from a somewhat funny sound comes from Greek where hippos means horse and potamos river, so the German language copied the same structure of the word, using the terms of its own idiom.
In conclusion, to have some explanation about some creative composite words, we should ask the direct people concerned, that is, our ancestors who created them!
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Is German stating to intrigue you? Then take a look at the German courses that Berlino Schule organizes!
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