On September 26, 2021, the Germans will go to the polls to decide who will run the country for the next four years. There are plenty of informed articles on the dynamics of the 2021 election (e.g., “What You Need…
On September 24, 2017, the Germans will go to the polls to decide who will run the country for the next four years. There are plenty of informed articles on the dynamics of the 2017 election (e.g., “Germans on the…
German has two distinctly different sounds that are represented by the letter combination ch. The so-called back ch is pronounced in the back of the mouth. It is usually preceded by a, o, u, or au. Although this sound does not exist…
Unlike in English, the letter combinations ei and ie represent consistent sounds in German. The combination ei is a diphthong (also spelled ey, ay, and ai). It is pronounced like the ei in Eisenhower. The letters ie represent the long “ee”-sound as in Marie. This is the same sound…
Modal verbs express an attitude about an action expressed in the sentence. German has six modal verbs. Modal verbs with principal parts Meanings (“modes”) dürfen, (darf), durfte, gedurft to be allowed to, may (permission) können, (kann), konnte, gekonnt to be able…
German has only one present tense. It is the equivalent of three possible forms in English. ich sage I say I am saying I do say In addition, the German present tense is often used, frequently with specific adverbials of time,…
What are verbs? Verbs are words that express actions, processes, or states of being. The verb form that you will find in your vocabulary list and in dictionaries is called the infinitive. While in English the infinitive of a verb…
The conjunctional adverb zwar has no single equivalent in English. In one context it seems to mean one thing, in another it seems to mean something else entirely. Sometimes it seems to add nothing meaningful to a sentence at all. If we look…
You may have heard that German is a difficult language to learn. Or you may have read Mark Twain’s lamentations about endlessly long words that can’t be found in a dictionary. You may have even experienced some frustrations of your…
Waren Sie schon einmal im nördlichsten Bundesland Deutschlands? In diesem Video von Deutsche Welle lernt man Schleswig-Holstein ein bisschen kennen. Es gibt 3 Übungen zum Schleswig-Holstein Video. Video-Übung 1 ist am leichtesten. Hier konzentrieren Sie sich hauptsächlich auf das Sehen. Bei…
