Wohin fahren Sie?

Do you know the verb to go in German? Probably the first word you think of is gehen as the words have the same derivative, but unless you are going on foot then the word you probably want is fahren. In English the derivate is farewell - travel or go well. Think that the person to whom you are saying farewell cannot get there on foot and you will have the correct word for go.

If you are asking where something is then the German word is wo but if the question implies movement then wohin may be the word you are looking for. Wohin gehen Sie? Gehen obviously implies movement so you want to ask where are you going to. Wohin gehen Sie in Urlaub normalerweise?

Did you spot the mistake? I hope so as the answer is in the previous paragraph. Wohin fahren Sie in Urlaub normalerweise?

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I see you tomorrow

In English we have a very easy way of describing the future. We are going to do something. It is the same in German. There is an auxiliary verb werden which means to become and this always goes with an infinitive at the end of the clause or the end of the sentence. Ich werde ins Kino gehen tells you it is going to happen in the future.

In German you can also use the present tense for the future as long as you make it clear that it is the future. Tomorrow I will wash the car becomes tomorrow I am washing the car. It doesn't sound quite right in English but in German it is fine to say morgen wasche ich das Auto. Sometimes we use the present tense in English e.g. I am working over Christmas, or Ich arbeite über Weihnachten but in German the present tense is often used. That's why if you meet a German speaker, who will inevitably have a great command of the English language, you will sometimes hear 'I see you tomorrow'.

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Darf ich...

I was looking at one of those cheap phrase books and it started with some grammar. I opened the page on auxiliary verbs. It didn't explain the meaning of auxiliary but it means that it provides help or support. If I give this type of verb their full title they are modal auxiliary verbs and the mode bit means they provide mood. In English they are verbs like would, could, can or may.

The page that I opened showed how to decline the verb dürfen which means to be allowed to (or more usually we say 'may') and it reminded me of the way I was taught German in the 1970s. Ich darf, du darfst, er darf - you get the idea. As a teenager I felt my language training meant I could decline nouns and conjugate verbs but it is the rest of the phrase book which is not only much more interesting but also much more useful if communication is important to you.

The beauty of modal auxiliary verbs is that the verb with which they combine stays in the infinitive. You don't have to think about the second verb so that must be helpful. So some examples that are easy to use are darf ich mich vorstellen? If you want to introduce another person you just say darf ich xxx vorstellen? Just as in English you could say darf ich and then make a gesture but then you don't get to use an infinitive.

The only example my book gives for dürfen is 'darf ich rauchen?' It's not a common verb to use nowadays, especially if you don't smoke but at least you get to add on a simple infinitive.

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Improved communication through film

Over the last few months I have managed to watch some films in which you can hear spoken German. One of these films was by Quentin Tarentino and is called Inglourious Basterds which, if you like correct spelling, should be Inglorious Bastards. It is a violent film and it is far from historically correct but you can appreciate it from a non-fiction perspective. At least there are authentic German accents because German speaking actors are involved.

If you don't like inglorious actions from people who are not sure about the name of their father then this may not be the film for you. However you do get to hear some French as well as some German language, and as per yesterday's blog, it is only by using the language that you get better at communicating in that language.

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Is it a German word?

I returned home yesterday after a couple of days in Cambridge and by driving down I was able to hear 8 CDs by Michel Thomas. When I went to school in the 70s I knew how to conjugate verbs and decline nouns. I wasn't sure how to speak with people but the Michel Thomas course has certainly given me confidence to speak.

However I haven't had many opportunities to speak German recently but I do work with two German speakers. I said to one "man kann jetzt Deutch sprechen?" and she replied "Oh super duper". I didn't know that super or duper were German words but they were said with a very good accent. I went home to look in my dictionary and super-duper translates as superklasse, but there may be (very) small areas in Germany where they say super-duper.

I know what to ask when I see her again. Is it a German word?

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When Jan Comes Marching Home

In the last blog I said I need to hear things three times before I can learn them. That's why I like songs. You sing songs more than once. You sing them gently and you sing them loudly. You sing them quickly and you sing them slowly. You also sing them in your head. Here is my version of 'When Johnny Comes Marching Home'. It is one more way of learning about helping around the home.

Ich sauge Staub
Ich mache mein Bett
mein Bett, mein Bett

Ich decke den Tisch
Ich füttere den Hund
den Hund, den Hund

Ich wasche ab, ich trochne ab
Ich gehe einkaufen
Ich wasche das Auto
Ich koche das Abendessen
Ich koche das Abendessen

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Listen for the clues

When I was observing a German class a couple of days ago, I could see clues in sentences that some of the class could not see (they were year 7). I think they soon understand ich mache das Bett and the clue was in the title of the lesson 'what I do to help at home' and Bett is bed. It doesn't take much to work out that the sentence means I make the bed. Ich wasche ab has a clue with waschen very close to wash. You still have to know it is washing the pots and not clothes.

If you can see the clue that Auto is car then you will know that ich wasche das Auto is I wash the car. Garten is close to garden but if you don't know the verb then you have to learn the sentence 'I work in the garden' - Ich arbeite im Garten. One method of getting the class to learn the vocabulary was through mime. Later in the hour there was a game, and some of the class would mime the answers to their team members. It was great to see because I think that I can concentrate quite well but I still need to hear new things three times. The mime gave them one more chance to learn the vocabulary. There are lots of clues in German. It's just a case of hearing (or seeing) them.

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Separable Verbs and household chores

You can tell if a verb is separable by looking at the prefix. Then look in a grammar book and see if the prefix is in a long list of separable prefixes. Have you fallen asleep yet? There is a much easier answer. If you hear the verb and the emphasis is on the prefix then it is separable. So if you hear abwaschen and notice the emphasis on the ab then you know it is separable. This means that you say Ich wasche ab not ich abwasche. Of course it is much better to hear the sentence a few times and recognise that it means I wash up.

Why do we use the adverb 'up' when we are washing pots. Ab is normally translated into English as 'from' or 'off' but now you know in this sense it also means up. Similarly if you want to say 'I dry up' you would say ich trochne ab. I dry the dishes is ich trochne das Geschirr ab. If you want to tidy your room then we can say tidy the room or we can tidy the room up. In German the adverb is auf and the sentence is ich räume mein Zimmer auf.

Learning German makes you think about the use of English adverbs. Often they are nonsense but because we are used to them they are accepted. If a word looks strange in a foreign language then don't worry about it - there are plenty of strange words in English.

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When does one dine?

I was observing a year 7 German class today as an introduction to me doing some voluntary work. The Lernziel was 'to be able to say what I do to help at home'. The pupils were keen and enthusiastic. However they do need repetition (as does everyone) to remember the vocabulary and the simple grammar.

The vocabulary included sentences like Ich gehe einkaufen, ich mache das Bett and ich koche das Abendessen. You may already know the words for 'I am going shopping'. You can almost guess the words for making the bed and I am cooking dinner. Hoever it matters whether you dine in the evening or dine at midday because in German you would have to say das Mittagessen for the midday meal and das Abendessen for the evening meal.

The good thing about learning a foreign language, apart from the obvious benefit of knowing that language, is that it helps you learn about your native language. I come from Manchester and dinner time is midday, but I also know that 'one dines in the evening'. The important thing in any language is to communicate, so as long as the person you are talking to knows what you mean then you have succeeded in communicating. Mittagessen and Abendessen are obvious in German. In English you need to make sure that you are understood when you say 'dinner'.

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In the preceding 100 blogs I have been looking at ways to motivate you to learn German. The best motivation is to communicate with German speakers and even better by living in Germany. Failing this you may be motivated by watching German films, by reading German books or by listening to German music.

Probably the least motivating factor in learning German is to have to learn it for an exam, but it is a way that many of us learn. We get motivated to pass an exam to have a piece of paper that says we can do something in German. When I got my Geman O' level piece of paper in 1977 it had precious little to do with communication but I could really conjugate verbs and decline nouns. So what? Things have changed, thankfully and pupils can now speak German.

I hope that some of the previous blogs have been helpful to you. I may add more blogs in the future but it won't be daily. If you have come across this blog for the first time then at least you have 100 to look at, but for today the only German in the blog is...

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Blog Number 100

This is blog number one hundred and which words of wisdom am I going to choose for it. Well it isn't a special issue. I will continue with common exam phrases for GCSE.

You need to know vocabulary which is based on the school. Der Lehrer und die Lehrerin are two examples. Put them into a translation program and you get 'the teacher and the teacher' but you know this is that one is male and one is female. You need to know adjectives like schnell und langsam. If you know this then you can translate 'er will ein schnelles Auto haben'.

I think it is best to learn the words in an interesting way. This could be reading German newspapers or watching German DVDs or listening to German music. However if it is getting close to your GCSE then it may well be worth just ploughing through past papers, and make sure that you know 'schreib den richtigen Buchstaben ins Kästchen'. I asked you to look this up yesterday but if you don't know it then the exam paper will be a lot harder for you.

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More Common Exam Phrases

There is a common way of asking question in the reading exam for GCSE and that is to ask what someone wants. Wollen is an important verb so you can expect it to be tested. Was will ich schreiben? Was will ich trinken? In the latter case all you need to know is the name of three drinks in German. You often see the request 'schreib den richtigen Buchstaben ins Kästchen'. In fact if you don’t know this sentence then I will let you look up the words in a dictionary as this will make two times that you have seen the words. Look up a German paper on the internet and you should have new words in your vocabulary.

I have recently written about sein und haben but their importance cannot be overstated. Just think how often we use the verbe to be and to have in English. Have you any idea how often you use these verbs? You can make simple sentences with two nouns and one verb. If you know a few words then you have a chance of translating what you want to say or at least something that resembles what you want to say. Das Café ist zu teuer. Das Café ist sehr nett. Das Café ist nicht sehr sauber, and just for good measure I will tell you that to clean is sauber machen.

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Common Exam Phrases

It generally takes me three goes to learn anything new, so if I look at three German exam papers then I should get the hang of them. Abschnitt A, yes I know that is section A. It does help you remember if you disect the vocabulary and you also learn abschneiden. Fragen und Antworten auf Deutsch. Yes that rings a bell.

How about the verb sprechen? You should recognise it because it is a common question. Sprichst du Deutsch or Sprechen Sie Deutsch? If you want to say he or she speaks then you say er spricht oder sie spricht, and if you want to speak with someone it is sprechen mit... Now you should be able to translate Ingo spricht mit seiner Mutter

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Die Motivation

There are lots of revision guides to get you through a German GCSE. The problem is that not everyone gets an A*. Teachers do an excellent job. Resources have improved tremendously since I was at school in the 70s. So why doesn't everyone do very well at GCSE? My answer is motivation. The top pupils will always get good marks and be praised. They have their motivation. For the rest it is about finding the motivation to learn a little bit more each day, e.g. reading a German blog. You will still have to do your homework as well.

I have written about family members. Some words you can guess without ever seeing them before. Meine Schwester oder mein Sohn are two examples. So it shouldn't take long to learn your family. In the GCSE paper that I am going through you need to know der Vater, die Großmutter, die Eltern, die Oma und der Papa. You can’t guarantee the same family members will come up but on this paper you have just gained a couple more points.

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Some more marks

If you know that viel means a lot then you can easily add it to simple sentences. Ich lese viel, ich spreche viel, or indeed ich habe viele Freunde, but because with friends it is an adjective it now has an adjectival ending.

If you know that der Anfang is the beginning then you can probably work out that am Anfang is in or at the beginning. I have mentioned that you need to know your tenses. You can learn them by conjugating them or you can learn them as you go along. Ich muss es tun means I have to do it. Ich musste es tun means I had to do it. Müssen is a modal verb so the verb that follows is the infinite and it in German it comes at the end of the sentence. Am Anfang musste ich eine Sonderklasse besuchen. You should now be able to guess the full sentence, and it may well be that your guess is better than a small dictionary because you know the context.

Ich habe Deutsch in der Schule gelernt is a phrase to learn. It tells people where you learnt your German and it also gives you another mark in the GCSE paper.

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First couple of GCSE marks

If you want to do well in a German GCSE then you have to use the future and a past tense as well as the present tense. One of the most common past tenses to use is 'I was born' as you can use it in conversation as well as exams. Ich war in Manchester geboren or ich war in England oder in Italien geboren. You do have to learn a few countries so that you can recognise them so have a look at a list. It won't take long. You can also show off your knowledge of German numbers if you learn ich war in 1970 geboren.

Als ich dreizehn Jahre alt war... Now you need to remember to reverse the verb and pronoun after this but if you start with bin ich or habe ich and then the past participle at the end of the sentence. Prepare this kind of sentence for a few different ages and you will have a lot to say to German speakers.

Um...zu is a good thing to learn. It means in order to. Ich sehe fern, um Deutsch zu erlernen. Again put one or two personal examples together and you will easily recognise um...zu. You do have to sit down and learn grammar and vocabulary, but there are easy patterns to follow and easy marks to be gained. You just have your first couple of marks.

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German GCSE

If you have followed this blog so far I think you are becoming less of a novice and can start to think of GCSE German. If you are thinking of taking this exam then stick with me and I will look at how the reading test works. Firstly look at the instructions which are in English. You have 50 minutes to complete the paper. There are some answers that just require letters to be written in boxes. In section A it says Fragen und Antworten auf Deutsch. In section B it tells you that the questions and answers are in English.

The first words in German are Abschnitt A. Schneiden means to cut. Abschneiden also means to cut but more in a sense of cutting something off (ab) something else. If you didn't know any of this then you still might be able to work out der Abschnitt A because the instructions tell you that you are starting section A. If you know that lesen means to read then you have a very good chance of knowing that lies die Texte means, without knowing anything about commands.

Going through this GCSE paper might take a few weeks but each blog only takes a few minutes to read so stay with it.

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Sein und Haben

There are many verbs that are regular. Verbs like kaufen to buy, verkaufen to sell, fragen to ask and glauben to believe all follow the same pattern as set out in yesterday's blog. Once you know how to conjugate verbs in the present tense and once you know the translation of the verb you can say hundreds of things in German. Getting to practice speaking is another matter. However there are a lot of verbs that do not follow this pattern. The most common and because of that you must learn them, are the verbe to be and to have, haben und sein.

ich bin I am / ich habe I have
du bist you are (informal) / du hast you have (informal)
er ist he is / er hat he has
sie ist she is / sie hat she has
es ist it is / es hat it has
wir sind we are / wir haben we have
ihr seid you are (plural) ihr habt you have (plural)
sie sind they are sie haben they have
Sie sind you are (formal) Sie haben you have (formal)

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The Present Tense

I started to look at the verb 'to make' last time and then talked about personal pronouns. If you take machen and take away the -en you have a stem and this is what you work with to conjugate the verb. In the present tense it is:-
ich mache I make
du machst you make (informal)
er macht he makes
sie macht she makes
es macht it makes
wir machen we make
ihr macht you make (plural)
sie machen they make
Sie machen you make (formal)

Verbs like this are called regular because they follow this pattern. If you are told, or if you look in a dictionary, or if you have a faint memory and you think that glauben is to believe, then you now know how to say 'I believe'. You follow the pattern and it becomes ich glaube. This pattern is fairly easy to learn and it means that you can now conjugate a lot of verbs in the present tense. However if you really want to learn a language then you have to translate some sentences that mean something to you and then say speak to someone in German.

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The Personal Pronouns

Many people are not keen on grammar. I think it is great and I am not sure whether this is because grammar has a bad press or whether I am just in a minority. Let's take verbs and the usual starting point is the present tense. It means something is happening now. Let's take the verb 'to make' as and example. In English we say I am making, I do make or I make. They all mean the same thing and they are all happening now in the present tense.

It is easier in German because you don't have three choices. You just say ich mache. Once you have learned the personal pronouns then you don't have to learn them again for any other verb. These pronouns are personal because they stand for people animals or things. I, you, he, she, it, we and they make up the personal pronouns except in German you have to learn three ways to say you. There is du for the person you know well, ihr when you are talking to a group, and Sie (notice the capital) when you are talking to someone you don't know too well. It is the polite way to say you.

So the way to learn the regular verbs is to learn the pattern for the personal pronouns. Ich, du er, sie es, wir, ihr, sie und Sie. The reason we learn the sie and Sie together is because they conjugate in the same way. If you are not sure what conjugate means then look what you have done. You look for the different ways of saying the verb in different tenses.

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