It is very important to learn das Alphabet in German, just as it is important to learn the alphabet in English. There is good news. Many or the letters are pronounced in exactly the same way as the English letters. L, M, N and O are four examples. If you get that far in the alphabet then you can relax a little.
A, B and C should be learned because they are the first three letters. It is as easy as the phonetic ah, bay, tsay. C rhymes with D phonetically in English and in German, but in German it sounds like 'tsay and day'. You have to learn the vowels because they are so common. Keep that rhyme going for E as it is pronounced 'ay'. You now have the first five letters of the alphabet.
I am not going to bore you with the whole alphabet because you will find a phonetic alphabet in any standard reference book, but you must learn your name. You should feel lucky if you have a name with a few vowels. You are also lucky if you have a G or a J (gay and yot) because these can be difficult to learn.
Bis bald
Monday, 23 February 2009
Sunday, 22 February 2009
Lola rennt
I am sat watching The Bourne Identity starring Matt Damon and Franka Potente and I am reminded that Franka starred in the German film 'Run Lola Run'. I won't spoil the plot by telling you how it ends but don't be surprised if you see Franka (Lola) running a lot in Berlin.
It is always a good idea to listen to native speakers if you want to learn a language and try learning the tagline 'jeden Tag, jede Sekunde triffst du eine Entscheidung, die Dein Leben verändern kann'. It may be possible in every second to make a decision that can change your life, although I keep life changing decisions to a minimum. You may not be able to use this phrase so a better idea may be to listen out for some shorter and simpler phrases. You should be able to hear 'ihre Karte' and 'liebst du mich'. Try to hear 'vergiß es, vergiß es!' and 'ich brauche Shampoo'.
I don't know if you like thrillers but you may enjoy this film and at the very least you will know the words Lola rennt.
Bis bald
It is always a good idea to listen to native speakers if you want to learn a language and try learning the tagline 'jeden Tag, jede Sekunde triffst du eine Entscheidung, die Dein Leben verändern kann'. It may be possible in every second to make a decision that can change your life, although I keep life changing decisions to a minimum. You may not be able to use this phrase so a better idea may be to listen out for some shorter and simpler phrases. You should be able to hear 'ihre Karte' and 'liebst du mich'. Try to hear 'vergiß es, vergiß es!' and 'ich brauche Shampoo'.
I don't know if you like thrillers but you may enjoy this film and at the very least you will know the words Lola rennt.
Bis bald
Saturday, 21 February 2009
The present tense
Many German verbs follow a regular pattern which is not too difficult to learn. take the verb trinken which means to drink. Take off the en and you are left with the stem trink-. All you have to do is add e, st, t, en, t, and en and you have all the forms of the verb that you need for the present tense.
The pronouns I Ich, you (informal) du, he er, she sie, it es, we wir, you (plural informal) ihr, You (formal) Sie, and they sie, are all you need for all regular and irregular verbs.
ich trinke wir trinken
du trinkst ihr trinkt
er trinkt Sie trinken
sie trinkt sie trinken
es trinkt
Verbs are not difficult but you need to learn them. Learn the nine pronouns and then because of repetition, you only have to learn five different forms of the verb, e.g. he she and it are all the same.
Friday, 20 February 2009
Das Kaninchen
If you are taking an exam in German or any subject for that matter, it pays to read the instructions. Do you answer in German or in English? Which is easier? You would think it is easier if you write in English but if you are doing a listening test you may hear a word in German and then translate it. You may not be sure of the translation, but when you listen in German what you hear is what you get.
You may not have heard of the word before but you may still be able to guess how to write it. You may hear that the listening test is about pets. You may know what 'mein lieblingstier ist...' but you may not know the word Kaninchen. Sometimes it is better to write in German! Usually you hear a question in German, translate it into English and translate your answer back into German. With a lot of practice you may be able to think in German but before you get to that stage there may be occasions when it is better to answer in German.
The more you practice the easier it gets. It is very difficult to guess the translation for das Kaninchen but it is very useful if your favourite pet is a rabbit and it is also useful if you want an example of an animal that is neuter. You could also have das Schwein. Can you find any others?
Bis bald
You may not have heard of the word before but you may still be able to guess how to write it. You may hear that the listening test is about pets. You may know what 'mein lieblingstier ist...' but you may not know the word Kaninchen. Sometimes it is better to write in German! Usually you hear a question in German, translate it into English and translate your answer back into German. With a lot of practice you may be able to think in German but before you get to that stage there may be occasions when it is better to answer in German.
The more you practice the easier it gets. It is very difficult to guess the translation for das Kaninchen but it is very useful if your favourite pet is a rabbit and it is also useful if you want an example of an animal that is neuter. You could also have das Schwein. Can you find any others?
Bis bald
Thursday, 19 February 2009
Here and there
There really are a lot of perfect cognates in German and English. Say a word in English and there is a good chance that it comes from the German. I have already given quite a few examples, but of course it is a little more difficult than that if you want to speak fluent German.
Take the words for here and there. You can say here and with a slight difference in accent you could be saying the German word hier. It is a little more difficult to say 'there' as you have to learn the word dort or da. Now if you want to say come here you can guess the verb to come - kommen. So the command is kommen Sie but you can't say hier. In this case the German word has to have a sense of movement and you say hierher. So you could say 'kommen Sie hierher' or 'Bringen Sie es hierher'.
If you want to say something is not far from here then you are back to hier. Es ist nicht weit von hier. Das museum ist nicht weit von dort.
Bis bald
Take the words for here and there. You can say here and with a slight difference in accent you could be saying the German word hier. It is a little more difficult to say 'there' as you have to learn the word dort or da. Now if you want to say come here you can guess the verb to come - kommen. So the command is kommen Sie but you can't say hier. In this case the German word has to have a sense of movement and you say hierher. So you could say 'kommen Sie hierher' or 'Bringen Sie es hierher'.
If you want to say something is not far from here then you are back to hier. Es ist nicht weit von hier. Das museum ist nicht weit von dort.
Bis bald
Wednesday, 18 February 2009
Wie spät ist es?
If you want to tell the time then it is a good start to know your numbers from eins to zwölf, and even better if you know them up to vierundzwanzig. The next step is to know the word for 'o'clock' which just happens to be the same word for 'clock' - die Uhr. Wie viel Uhr ist es? Es ist ein Uhr.
The 24-hour clock is more popular in Germany than it is here but you can use the 12-hour clock. Just be prepared to know those numbers up to 24. You will probably need them anyway and numbers are not difficult. Just get them learnt.
If you want to say 'a quarter to' then say es ist ein Viertel vor, and 'a quarter past' is ein Viertel nach. Half past takes some getting used to because the Germans talk about half to rather than half past. Es ist halb fünf does not mean half past five but half past four.
Bis bald
The 24-hour clock is more popular in Germany than it is here but you can use the 12-hour clock. Just be prepared to know those numbers up to 24. You will probably need them anyway and numbers are not difficult. Just get them learnt.
If you want to say 'a quarter to' then say es ist ein Viertel vor, and 'a quarter past' is ein Viertel nach. Half past takes some getting used to because the Germans talk about half to rather than half past. Es ist halb fünf does not mean half past five but half past four.
Bis bald
Tuesday, 17 February 2009
Nach und zu
Prepositions can be tricky and it is worth finding examples that you can use so that you remember how to use them.
Nach is a very specific preposition that you use if you are going to a city of a country. Wie komme ich nach Blackpool? The good news is that you don’t have to remember that nach takes the dative because you don’t say to the Blackpool. There are always exceptions and if a country is feminine like die Schweiz then you go in die Schweiz. Nach can also mean after and I will mention it when I look at telling the time when we would say ‘past’.
Zu is generally used if you want to go somewhere that isn’t a country or a city and this time you do need a dative article. You can go zum Bahnhof, zur Kirche or you can go to people zB zu Mutti.
Learn the expressions zu Hause and nach Hause. Nach still means to but this time zu means at. If you want to say to my house you don’t even need the word for house, Just say ‘zu mir’
Bis bald
Nach is a very specific preposition that you use if you are going to a city of a country. Wie komme ich nach Blackpool? The good news is that you don’t have to remember that nach takes the dative because you don’t say to the Blackpool. There are always exceptions and if a country is feminine like die Schweiz then you go in die Schweiz. Nach can also mean after and I will mention it when I look at telling the time when we would say ‘past’.
Zu is generally used if you want to go somewhere that isn’t a country or a city and this time you do need a dative article. You can go zum Bahnhof, zur Kirche or you can go to people zB zu Mutti.
Learn the expressions zu Hause and nach Hause. Nach still means to but this time zu means at. If you want to say to my house you don’t even need the word for house, Just say ‘zu mir’
Bis bald
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