Die Feiertags

There is a theme to these latest blogs although you may not have recognised it. Weihnachten, der Heiligedreikönigstag Karfreitag Ostersonntag und Ostermontag sind Feiertags. I should have waited until the appropriate days but the second best option is to write about public holidays as a theme.

I will mention a couple of other holidays before I move on. Der Tag der Arbeit is a common holiday throughout the world and is usually held on the 1st May. Gemany is not an exception to this date and they also celebrate on the evening before this day. It is called der Tanz in den Mai. Now if you know that in takes the accusative when it means movement is occuring, and in takes the dative when you are describing position, then you know that der Tanz in den Mai is the dance into May. It starts on the evening of the 31st April and lasts into the following month.

One public holiday that we don't have in this country is der Tag der Deutschen Einheit, the day of German unity. Unity occurred in 1990 on October 3rd. If you remember the Berlin Wall coming down then you are remembering the wrong date. The Wall came down eleven months earlier on the 9th November 1989, but this isn't a public holiday - well it only affected Berlin.

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Fröhliche Weihnachten

Two blogs ago I wrote about Easter and I mentioned that I was a week early. In the last blog I wrote about the Epiphany and I am either very early or very late. There are no links between this blog and April 6th. In fact I am very early again, let’s say efficient and I will write about Weihnachten. Well there is a theme of public holidays. If you have gone through one winter of learning German they will know that Weihnachten is Christmas. Have you noticed the consistent approach to pronunciation in German? If you read ei it is always pronounced eye. If you read ie it is always pronounced ee. Ironically these sounds are like the second letter in the sequence if you think in English. Maybe this will help you remember the pronunciation.

Weihnachten is celebrated on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in Germany, but you get your presents on Christmas Eve. There are slight variations in how Christmas is celebrated in many European countries, but in Germany children also get presents on the 6th December, St Nicholas’s day, but at Christmas the presents may be brought by der Weihnachtsmann. I know it is the wrong time of year but there’s nothing like being prepared to say happy Christmas. Frohe oder fröhliche Weihnachten are the words that you need.

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Der Heiligedreikönigstag

Do you know the date of the Epipany? If you know that it is the 6th of January then give yourself a point. You get another point if you know that it celebrates the visit of the Magi or three wise men to the infant Jesus and it follows the twelve days of Christmas. Start counting on Christmas Day, and the twelfth day is January 5th. Twelfth Night is the night between the 5th and the 6th.

The Epiphany in German is the Epiphanias, but it is also known as der Heiligedreikönigstag. What looks like a very daunting word is actually quite simple if you break up this compound word. Holy is heilige. You knowq the word for three. If you didn’t know before I bet you could guess that der König is a king, and you should know the German for day. Now you know what the germans call the Magi. They are kings.

On the 3rd of March I wrote about der Dom in Köln and there is a shrine to the three kings in the cathedral. You will the sarcophagus that is traditionally believed to hold the remains of the three kings. I wonder how they found their way to Germany.

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Ostern

I am too late for April fool but Germans do have a day for practical jokers on the first of April. the tricks are called Aprilscherze and when you have fooled someone you shout April April rather than April fool. Don't forget the German pronunciation when you say April.

I am not too late to talk about Easter. In fact I am surprisingly a week early. to mention Karfreitag, Ostersonntag and Ostermontag. These words should be obvious to you. All you need to know are the days of the week and the context, so don't think of translating Good Friday with the word gut.

Context is such a good help when learning a language. It is how we learn a native language. Just listen to educational toys and they will repeat words in context. As for learning a foreign language just look at the sign for der Fisch when you buy your fish.

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Talking About You

When you learn about verbs in German you start with the infinitive. This is the part of the verb that you find in the dictionary and it means to do something, to play, to sing, to speak etc. In English we conjugate or change verbs depending on who is doing the action. So I speak but he speaks. It is the same in German and the verb does change. This means that you either learn by coming across the different personal pronouns, I, you, he, she, it, we or they, with the verb and you learn by practice. The more common way to learn is to find the patterns of language but there are regular and irregular verbs, and you simply have to learn the conjugations.

There is one big difference in German and that is there are four words for you, du, ihr, Sie and man. The word man is used when we would say 'one' but think it is too posh so we use 'you'. this means that it conjugates in the same manner as he or she or it. Man hat mir gesagt means one has told me, but we would normally say I was told. I will leave ihr for this blog because it is used when you are talking to a group. the big difference between German and English is when you are talking to someone, when do you use du and when do you use Sie? Well Sie is used for formal situations and du is used for people that you know. If people are saying du to you then use it back, but generally start with Sie for German speakers over 16. If you are in doubt and you would like to say du then you can always say wir können uns duzen? It is a good ice breaker, tells people that you can speak some German so they don’t just speak English, and it adds to your vocabulary, so learn this sentence.

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Post-It Notes

My daughter is taking her German GCSE this year and last week she came back from school asking for post-it notes. This week I am looking around the living room and everything is labelled. From where I am sitting I can see das Feuer and it is still stuck on the fire (it's a good job it is summer). Der Kaminsims is just above the fire. Der Couchtisch is right next to me as I am working on my laptop and sat on a Sessel. I can also see the sticker labelled das Fenster and if I walk out of the room I pass die Tür.

Labels are not a bad idea to help you learn vocabulary. You may know all the words that I have mentioned. One or two may be new to you. Well you are in charge of the labels and they do fall off after a few days so you will not have time to get too fed up with them.

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Should I use fahren?

If you want to say I am going to, then it is fairly easy in English. In German the word for 'go' changes depending on whether you are going by car or by foot. If you are not going too far then you can zu Fuß gehen, but once you use an engine then to go becomes fahren. I am going to Manchester may become ich gehe nach Manchester, but if you get in the habit of saying ich gehe zu Fuß nach Manchester then you should get it right. Unless you live near the centre of Manchester the sentence should be ich fahre nach Manchester. If it helps you remember then say ich fahre mit dem Auto nach Manchester. You could also fahre mit dem Fahrrad, mit dem Bus, mit dem Zug oder mit dem Flugzeug.

I have mentioned compound words recently. If you know fahren then you may be able to guess that abfahren is to depart. Ausfahren has a few meanings but do look out for die Ausfahrt otherwise you may miss your exit. Similarly you may want die Einfahrt if you want the entrance or the slip road.

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