German

THE HAVES AND HAVE NOTS

Sat, 23 Jul 2016 13:55:02 -0400

If “to be” is the most important word that ever was, what verb follows right after that? That is right. What you have and have not is almost as important as who you are or are not. In fact, society tends to think that whatever you have or have defines who you are or aren’t. That is not true, of course, but one cannot deny that it matters. I have…. a wife, children, a cold, a lawyer, a fancy car, wit, dinner, attitude, no money…..Add any noun and you will be able to communicate what you possess in this life whether it is of a material nature or a vital characteristic. Here is the conjugation of this irregular verb:

Singular:

1st person I have Ich habe

2nd person You have Du hast

3rd person He,she it has Er, sie es hat

Plural:

1st person We have Wir haben

2nd person you (guys) have Ihr habt

3d person they have Sie haben

Polite You have Sie haben

Ich habe eine Frau, Kinder,eine Erkältung, einen Anwalt, ein schickes Auto, Witz, Abendessen,eine Einstellung...

And how do you negate this in German? Add the correct form of the word kein depending on the gender or number of the chosen noun.

Ich habe keinen Mann. (m) Ich habe keine Schwester. (f) Ich habe kein Geld. (n) Ich habe keine Hunde. (pl)

Pop quiz: How do you translate "We do not have money"?

The haves and have nots!

TO BE OR NOT TO BE

Mon, 27 Jun 2016 10:20:52 -0400

TO BE OR NOT TO BE.....

is more than just a question.

This simple, most basic of all words is literally the most
important verb you will ever learn. No kidding!

It can literally improve your speaking ability by several
magnitudes. Imagine how great it would be if you were able to communicate your
basic state of mind or being in German!

I AM---- add any adjective or noun

Tired, rich, hungry, socially disadvantaged, American, a
lawyer, a snob, a nerd--- the possibilities are endless.

With the verb “to be”, “sein” in German, you can express who
and what you are and who and what you are not.

Even in English, this verb is irregular. And in German?

Singular: Singular:

1st person: I am 1st person: Ich bin

2nd person: you are 2nd person: Du bist

3rd person: he, she or it is 3rd person: Er, sie, es ist

Plural: Plural:

1st person: we are 1st person: Wir sind

2nd person: you (you guys) are 2nd person: Ihr seid

3rd person: they are 3rd person: Sie sind

Polite: Sie sind

Pop quiz:

“Ms. Müller is tired” translates to what in German?

Sein oder nicht sein, das ist eben die Frage!

E tutilage question

Thu, 31 Dec 2015 19:32:48 -0500

What do you need to do an e tutoring thing? A headset?

super hard german word

Sat, 21 Nov 2015 16:57:11 -0500

can you pronoun the German word "tschechischesstreichholzschaechtelchen"
kannst du das Wort auf Deutsch konjugieren?
does anyone know the meaning
und die Bedeutung?

Viel Glueck!:)

German Quiz

Fri, 29 Aug 2014 10:43:13 -0400

Hallo Deutschschüler und Deutschliebhaber,

nutzen wir dieses wunderbare Forum, um ein wenig Spaß am Deutschlernen zu haben und zwar mit Quiz-Fragen.

Let's have fun while learning German with some quiz questions!

Here comes the first one:

How many words do you find in this one "Bundeswirtschaftsministeriumssitzung"?

Is E-tutoring worth it?

Fri, 22 Aug 2014 10:18:37 -0400

I have gone through the whole program to advanced though am unsure if I should take advantage of the 100 dollar deal. The spanish e-tutoring was great, though it was unlimited. There seems to be a change in policy where only one repeat is allowed of whatever session. Are there any sessions in advanced right now? Are they sparse and inbetween? Also how many sessions are there in total?

Thanks ahead of time.

Quite forum and some question

Sat, 16 Aug 2014 22:22:53 -0400

It does appear it has gone quite but I am guilty of not being involved too much. That may change.

Question 1. Lesson 7 "Going to Dinner"
Danke aber ich möchte genre Fleich Essen
Is that not saying I like like? Also, why does subject come first with introductory Danke aber

Question 2 Lesson 10
In the vocabulary "Das gefält Mir. Vs. Es gefält Mir

Question 3 lesson 10 negation from the App
Why is weiß in the expression "Ich weiß noch nicht.

Luke

Lesson 8 - Adjective Question

Wed, 06 Aug 2014 19:03:49 -0400

Hi all,

I am reading through Lesson 8F in the "Essentials" book, and found something odd. The following sentence contains a list of items for sale... hence, nouns and adjectives in the accusative, if I'm not mistaken:

Wir verkaufen einen großen Tisch,
zwei schwarze Stühle,
einen blauen Stuhl,
eine rote Lampe,
ein kleines Radio,
eine grüne Couch,
einen neuen Fernseher,
und einen alten Schrank.

The goal of the exercise is to fill in the adjectives, with the ending appropriate to the noun. My question is, why is it "kleines Radio" in this case? I was expecting "klein" based on the neutral Radio in the accusative case.

If I'm totally wrong, please let me know :-)

Thanks

Does German change where you travel?

Wed, 06 Aug 2014 13:06:05 -0400

I just finished the essential book and was curious as to if the German taught would be the same no matter where I travel in Germany? Planning to start the next book soon.

I've been YouTubeing German videos, giving me more of a chance to listen to German native speakers. Some I understand, and others I don't.

Question about increasing German vocabulary

Tue, 05 Aug 2014 03:19:42 -0400

Can anyone provide useful tips as to how to use the German media to increase my vocabulary in German? Thanks

German Sesame Street (Sesamstrasse)

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 17:09:49 -0400

Hi fellow learners! I thought you might be interested in German Sesame Street.

http://www.sesamstrasse.de/home/index.html

Click on the tab at the top that is pink and looks like a play button. Once you're in there, click different places to get a list of videos to watch.

I know it is normally for children, but I think it is helpful when learning a language as it's not too complex. For example, I watched a video about the library. Some words I'd learned already from the Living Language book, others I wrote down to look up and add to my vocabulary. Plus, you get practice listening to native speakers.

German articles

Fri, 27 Jun 2014 22:27:29 -0400

Hallo, i was wondering about the German articles, if there is a simple pattern/rule to follow when choosing an article for a noun. I have been told that with German you just have to know, and was wondering if that is true?

Danke.

-hunter

who is studying german ?

Mon, 16 Jun 2014 04:59:30 -0400

hello i'd like to chat with friend in german

Games not working

Thu, 15 May 2014 15:41:56 -0400

Most of the games in Lessons 1 & 2 are not working for me today. Only matching and word search are. I have previously played all the games but have been trying today since 1:00.

Preposition "nach"

Thu, 24 Apr 2014 12:20:29 -0400

For now the lessons haven't explained the preposition nach and I have stumbled to 2 ways to use it.

nach Hause =(to) home.

Ich suhe nach einem Buch über Musik. I'm looking for a book about music.

But looking in the internet the explanation have been that nach mean (to, after). So can someone explain the preposition.

Difference between das Arbeitszimmer and das Büro.

Mon, 21 Apr 2014 12:38:42 -0400

I'm currently on Lesson 5 in German and I have just stumbled upon another word for office das Büro, but in lesson 4 I learned that office is das Arbeitzimmer. So, what is the difference?

German

Tue, 04 Feb 2014 18:04:19 -0500

Is the German from livinglanguage formal?? Do you know where the people who do the audio are from??
Thanks,
Hunter

Typing German letters with an American keyboard

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 11:46:47 -0400

Guten Morgen! After many tries, I finally figured out how to type German letters not found in English with my American keyboard.

Ä (hold down the Alt key and type 0196)
ä (Alt 0228)
Ö (Alt 0214)
ö (Alt 0246)
Ü (Alt 0220)
ü (Alt 0252)
ß (Alt 0223)

Ich hoffe, das mein Liste Ihnen hilft :-)

Willkommen!

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 13:04:46 -0400

Welcome to the Living Language German Community Forum. Feel free to post questions, share tips, or ask for advice on how to learn or use your new language. Share a link to a great recipe for your favorite German dish. Suggest a German film that you've seen. Tell us about how you used German on a recent trip.Our goal is to make this a forum for people who love not only the German language, but also German culture.

The German R

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 09:14:45 -0400

How do I pronounce the German R? I can't "vibrate" like Heike does in the online course. Helfen Sie mir, bitte!

Question for everyone

Sun, 24 Nov 2013 20:50:43 -0500

I think i have decided that for my third language, as much as i want to learn Portuguese and Italian, and many more haha, that it will be German, because we have a German foreign exchange student coming next semester and i found that i didnt start becoming fluent in Spanish (Im not quite there), until i started speaking it daily with my friends from Mexico and family in Spain. My question for all the German learners out there is, is German a hard language to learn, compared to any other language you might have tried to learn?

"reden" und "sprachen"

Fri, 30 Aug 2013 08:02:19 -0400

Was ist der Unterschied zwischen "reden" und "sprachen"?

Im new

Tue, 03 Dec 2013 15:59:33 -0500

Hello, I am not sure where to post this as i have just joined the site. Please excuse me if it is the wrong place to post this but i would dearly love to get my head around the German language. My grandfather was German. I was born in England but i have always felt German and have a great desire to speak the language. I am in my fifties, my children have all grown up now and had children of their own and i have tried many ways to learn the language but don't seem to be getting anywhere with it and it is sooooo frustrating. Have i come to the right place?

sogovia

German Adjectives

Wed, 11 Sep 2013 18:11:13 -0400

Hi there, could you help me with this question?

Basically, on google translate and other translation sites, when I type in

(My sister has curly hair) and it comes out with:- Meine Schwester hat lockiges Haar.

but when i type

(My sister has long hair) it comes out with:- Meine Schwester hat lange Haare.

I don't understand why one adjective comes out with -e whilst the other -es. In both cases, the hair is in the accusative and in both cases, should be plural. But why does google and other sites come out with the neuter lockiges Haare rather than lockige Haare which is plural. Am I right in saying it should be lockige Haare? What word do Germans to say Hair as in the plural rather than a strand of hair? Thanks!

A1 exam

Fri, 13 Sep 2013 07:38:08 -0400

how can prepare for A1 deutsch exam?

Difference between Possessive Pronouns and Genitive Personal Pronoun.

Sat, 07 Sep 2013 13:58:46 -0400

Guten Tag,

Could someone please help quell my misunderstanding?

Basically, I'm not sure what the difference between the possessive pronoun and genitive personal pronoun. In the book provided by Living Language, there is only one case for Possessive Pronouns, i.e. the nominative. So basically I'm wondering, is this true? Is there only one case for the possessive pronoun? And what is it used for? Also, what's the difference between Possessive Pronouns and Genitive Personal Pronouns?

I'm also confused between the possessive pronoun table and the mein table ( same as kein table) and when to use which.

Lastly, how do I write "You do your homework"? The you is the subject so is the Nominative but what is the 'your homework' is it a combination on genitive 'you' because you own the homework whilst homework is the accusative or is 'your homework' one case, the accusative. Thanks a lot!

E-Tutoring trouble?

Sun, 21 Oct 2012 10:44:01 -0400

Guten Tag. I have an e-Tutoring session today. But all I get is a window that says "successfully connected" and "waiting for organizer". Did anyone else have this issue? My session is supposed to start at 10:30 EDT on 10/21/2012. My meeting ID is 563-528-974.

Newbie question

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 20:25:02 -0400

Hello all, I just started the German living language. I've gotten through the first 5 or 6 lessons, and had a question about a few words. In Lesson 6 they interchange the verbs kommen, fahren and gehen throughout the lesson. It seems to my limited study so far that a few these seem out of context.

For example, on page 101, the sentence reads

Wann fährt die Straßenbahn?

When does the street car go?

Wouldn't this mean "when does the street car ride?", would a better verb be "geht"?

Maybe a more clear example is on pg 104, "Kommen Sie mit mir zur Bushaltestelle"?

Would it make more sense to say, "Gehen Sie mit mir zur Bushaltestelle"?

The same thing goes for switching these 3 verbs in 6,7,8,9,10 on pg 104

These may be simple or irrelevant questions, however right now they are tripping me up.

Thanks for any help.

Plurals in German

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 16:55:48 -0400

Nach einer Unterhaltung mit einem Studenten wollte ich folgende Anmerkungen machen, was den Plural einiger deutscher Substantive angeht. Es gibt Substantive, die mehrere Bedeutungen haben, so kann eine „Bank“ zum Beispiel im Park stehen oder eine „Bank“ kann ebenso der Ort sein, wo man Geld bekommen kann. Die „Bank,“ auf der man sitzen kann hat den Plural „die Bänke,“ mehrere Geldinstitute nennt man „die Banken.“ „Ein Rat“ kann ein guter Hinweis, „ein Rat“ kann ebenso eine Amstperson sein . Wenn es sich um mehrere Beamte handelt, dann ist der Plural „Räte,“ mehere gute Tipps werden zu „Ratschlägen.“ Eine Frau mit einem oder mehreren Kindern nennt man „Mutter,“ der Plural ist „Mütter.“ Das Wort „ Mutter“ wird ebenso technisch benutzt, der Plural dieses Schraubenteils nennt man „Muttern.“

Following a conversation with a student I wanted to make some comments in regards to a few German plural nouns. There are nouns that have multiple meanings, e.g. a "Bank" can be in a park, a "Bank" may well be the place where you can get money. The "Bank," you can sit on has the plural "die Bänke," several financial institutions are called "Banken." "Ein Rat" may be good advice, "ein Rat" can also be a government official. If you refer to several officials, the plural is "die Räte," lots of good advice turns into "Ratschläge." A woman with one or several children is called "Mutter," the plural is "Mütter." The word "Mutter" is also used technically (nut), the plural of that screw part is called "Muttern."

Lesson 3 Question(s)

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:35:02 -0400

Are telefonieren and anrufen interchangeable? They both seem to mean "to call someone on the phone".