Stichwörter (Keywords):
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- Category: Speaking German
Erfolg hat drei Buchstaben: t u n ![1]
~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Success has two letters: do!
To be successful at speaking German, you need to speak, and trying to speak without any form or specific goal makes it more difficult. It’s important to give yourself a specific task or framework for speaking.
Most people simply try to talk about everything all the time. That won't help you. Why? Because you know a TON of English/whatever your native language is, however in a foreign language you might have only a few skills, as in a few tools in your toolbox.
So here are five ways to repeat what you have in front of you if you don't have enough speaking practice.
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- Category: German vocabulary
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?
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- Category: German vocabulary
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-Passion (St. John Passion), and more.
Did you know the Matthäus-Passion is affectionately known amongst German musicians as "Ma-Pa"?
And can you guess what the affectionate nickname for the Johannes-Passion is?
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- Category: German grammar
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:
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Are these regular or irregular verbs?
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What's the difference between them?
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What's the pattern for these verbs? And for these verbs? And for these? Why are these verbs all different?!
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Do you have a list of ALL of the verbs? I want to learn them all this weekend.
There are various names for verb categories, too: regular, irregular, strong, weak, mixed verbs.
If you'd like an easier, better way of understanding regular and irregular verbs, you're in the right place.
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- Details
- Category: German grammar
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 exceptions.
If you've jumped from the present to the Perfekt, or you don't have a handle on these two verbs, then press pause on the Perfekt and get a good handle on these two first.
Why?
Because they are the easiest, most widely used and easy to understand past tense verbs in German.
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