Good ol'-fashioned RSS Feed

das Blog

7 German Words for Spring Cleaning

7 German Words for Spring Cleaning NEW

Der Frühlingsputz ist ein Muss.

Spring cleaning is a 'must.'

It's not always a lot of fun, however it could be more interesting if you learn the German words for what you do.

Here are 7 words and phrases (including 6 verbs!) to help you learn German as you do your Frühlingsputz.

You can download the vocabulary card and print it out.

You could even use it as a checklist for your Spring cleaning.

Warum nicht?

If you like to do parts of your Spring cleaning over a couple of weekends, you cou…

Read more…

German Spring Cleaning Products (Nicole's 3 Favorites)

German Cleaning Products Spring Cleaning NEW

Germanize your Spring Cleaning!

Es ist an die Zeit für den Frühlingsputz!

It's time for Spring cleaning!

A thorough Spring clean is much nicer when your cleaning products are high quality, biodegradable, and even smell nice!

This week you'll find out what my three favorite German cleaning products are.

Next week you'll be able to download a new, 4x6 card with Spring Cleaning vocabulary on it.

Because what better way is there to make your Spring Clean more enjoyable than to do it auf Deutsc…

Read more…

11 German Words for Holy Week and Easter (Karwoche und Ostern)

11 German Words for Easter Holy Week Cover NEW

Christian Holidays are often public holidays in Germany, so these are good words to know whether you're non-religious, atheist, agnostic, or religious.

The schedule carries over into school and school breaks, too. One of my clients is currently on Osterferien, Easter Holidays, and doesn't have school this week or next.

This week is Karwoche, or Holy Week, and in a non-pandemic year there would be much singing of the Bach Passions: the Matthäus-Passion (St. Matthew Passion), the Johannes-Passio…

Read more…

What is the Plusquamperfekt?

What is Plusquamperfekt Cover NEW

The Plusquamperfekt is a form of the past tense in German.

It's generally reserved for high intermediate and advanced learners at levels B2 and C1.

If you're not there yet, I recommend you save this blog post for later.

The remainder of this blog post is in German, as is the explanation video.

logopink42

Das Plusquamperfekt ist sehr hilfreich, wenn Sie über zwei verschiedene Ereignisse reden wollen, und beide bereits passiert sind.

Es kann viel Spaß machen, wenn Sie das Plusquamperfekt bilden und au…

Read more…

Regular and Irregular German Verbs: What's the Difference?

Regular and Irregular German Verbs Whats the Difference Cover NEW


Almost all of the people who sign up for private German lessons have already run into German verbs and their conjugations.


When we get to the Perfekt (the present perfect or spoken past tense), it's always interesting to hear what they think of it so far.


Here are a few of the top questions people have asked me about learning the Perfekt:

  1. Are these regular or irregular verbs?

  2. What's the difference between them?

  3. What's the pattern for these verbs? And for these verbs? And f…

Read more…

What are the Two Most Important Past Tense Verbs in German?

Two Most Important Past Tense Verbs German Cover NEW

When you first learn German - or first start learning German - you say everything in the present tense. You learn only a little bit of the past tense, mainly the two verbs here, and then later you learn the Perfekt, or the spoken past tense (Ich bin gefahren. Wir haben ein Buch gelesen.).

This is the order you would ideally learn everything in:

Present tense --> these two verbs --> a bunch of the Perfekt

If you learn the past tense in any other order than that, it is out of order.

No excepti…

Read more…

Separable Verbs in German: an Exercise

German Separable Verbs Relaxing Exercise Cover NEW

Here is a short exercise for you to practice two separable verbs in German: einatmen and ausatmen.

You may have noticed these two verbs in a blog post earlier this month, and to help you learn them even better, you'll use them in this exercise.

This may be the most relaxing German separable verbs exercise you'll find on the interwebs.

Here are the instructions in German. Scroll down to the flower to read the instructions in English.


Hier ist ein kurzes Audio für Sie.

Zuerst hören Sie «Ich…

Read more…

Lernen Sie trennbare Verben ~ Learn German Separable Verbs

trennbare Verben lernen learn separable verbs cover NEW

Today you get to learn separable verbs (trennbare Verben) just like one of my German clients!

This is a technique I've used with dozens of German learners and it makes separable verbs a kinaesthetic exercise--and that in two different ways.

You'll need print out or write out some cards, and to have one supply to have ready when you start the video.

Los geht's!

Step 1: Print out or make these cards of trennbare Verben

Download this PDF of 4x6 cards and print them.

If you can't print them, …

Read more…

How to Use Separable Verbs in German

How to use separable verbs in German cover NEW

Separable verbs are not hard to understand, however learning to use them takes practice and time.


For the purposes of this first section, we'll use two separable verbs in the present tense – so we'll use them to talk about now.


Right now.


A separable verb (in German: ein trennbares Verb, plural: trennbare Verben) is a verb that requires you to do three things :

  1. remove the prefix from the verb

  2. conjugate what's left

  3. tack the prefix on to the end of the sentence.

That's…

Read more…

Save 5% on the Best German Pretzels in the US

Save 5 Best German Pretzels in US cover NEW

MKE Pretzel Company Logo.png

Meet the Milwaukee Pretzel Company!

They make pretzels--German pretzels!

They make them here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

You can have them shipped to you!

These are the best pretzels I've eaten outside of Germany.

When you visit one of their stands here in Milwaukee you'll likely have a chance to eat their Obatzda, which is a delicious, Bavarian cheese specialty made with camembert, butter, a splash of beer, onion, and paprika. And yes, their Obatzda is also the best Obatzda I've had outside…

Read more…