Guten Tag! Today we’re going to look Germany’s best-loved fruit, how it’s celebrated, and some German/Austrian food and drinks that use it. Let’s take a closer look at der Apfel – the apple! Photo by James Yarema on Unsplash „Ein Apfel am Tag hält den Doktor fern“ “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” We all know that apples are good for us, what with them being a rich source of fibre (der Ballaststoff), vitamins (die Vitamine) and minerals (die Mineralien)- and of course, they are exceptionally delicious (lecker), too! And it seems the Germans love their apples; according to a 2017 survey ..read more

Different scenarios are always a useful way to learn new German vocabulary. Here is a post to help you with simple vocabulary that you can use in the workplace. The Basics die Arbeit                     the work das Büro                       the office der Beruf                      the profession der Lebenslauf           the curriculum vitae (have a look at this post here if you want t ..read more

There are a few things German is infamous for. Its Umlaut with ä, ö, ü, its many cases, and its long, looong words. What about Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz? You might see a very long word with natural pause points where the different words are separated. Or you simply see a whole bunch of letters that are seemingly arranged at random. But there’s another, much shorter word, that might similarly break your tongue: das Eichhörnchen (squirrel). Here’s how you can deal with pronouncing German that’s just not that simple. Pronouncing German: Ta ..read more

Guten Tag! As requested by a blog reader, today’s post is going to look at the difference between two verbs that are very similar, but different: wissen (to know) and kennen (to know)! Why are there two verbs for ‘to know’ in German, instead of one? Can they be used interchangeably, or are there distinct rules for each? Let’s clear up the confusion surrounding the verbs wissen and kennen! Wissen and kennen: present tense conjugations I always like to include the present tense conjugations when dealing with specific verbs, so you can get a feel for how they look, first and foremost: Wissen: To ..read more

Guten Tag! Today we’re going to talk about a German word that emerged as a result of the pandemic- or did it? The word in question is der Hamsterkauf. Photo by Björn Antonissen on Unsplash Recently I wrote a post on words that’ve emerged to describe life during the Covid-19 pandemic (die Pandemie: pandemic). You can read this here, if you’re interested. One of the words that’s been used since the very start of it is der Hamsterkauf, which means ‘panic buy’ or ‘panic shopping’, as people cleared the supermarket shelves at the start of the pandemic out of fear of what was going to happen, and ..read more

When you see the German word All, you might easily see the English word all – however, this appears to be a false friend! So, what does All mean? And how do you say all? And what’s with sämtlich? There are multiple answers to these questions, so let’s have a look at the German word All and all. Click here to read more posts in the series Don’t Let It Confuse You! Universe Photo by Guillermo Ferla on Unsplash The German word das All means “universe” or simply “space”. So you can say: das All ist riesig (the universe is enormous), but also die ..read more

Guten Tag! Have you heard of Wordle? It’s a new, online game that seems to have taken the world by storm. It looks a little like a crossword (das Kreuzworträtsel), but the way it works is quite different! The great thing about Wordle is that, although it started as an English language game, it is possible to play it in other languages- including German! I’ve been playing it in both English and German every day, and it’s certainly a great way to test my language skills and keep my mind sharp. Photo by Julian Hochgesang on Unsplash Spielanleitung – How the game works The instructions for Wordl ..read more

Billig means cheap. Günstig is cheap. But why do Germans need two words that mean the exact same thing? Well, it’s not that simple. They have subtle differences. So let’s find out what those are, and how they are similar. Click here for other posts that discuss the difference between similar terms, like the difference between werden, wurden and würden! The definitions of günstig and billig Is this günstig or is this billig? (Photo by Sigmund on Unsplash) To start, let’s go with the definitions given to us by the Duden for both words. Günstig durch sei ..read more

Guten Tag! Today we’re going to look at punctuation in German. This will include the names of different punctuation marks, as well as a few punctuation rules in German and how these differ to the English rules (or not). German Punctuation Firstly, we need to know what we’re dealing with; the word punctuation in German is die Interpunktion, or die Zeichensetzung. Punctuation marks are collectively known as die Satzzeichen (literally ‘sentence signs’). So what are the names of some common Satzzeichen in German? Photo by Bekky Bekks on Unsplash Die Satzzeichen – punctuation marks Full stop . De ..read more

We have a confusing situation on German menus: Sometimes, you encounter die Hühnerbrust (chicken breast), other times it’s der Hähnchenbraten (chicken roast). But what is the difference between Hünchen and Hänchen? Are they used interchangeably, or should you be careful which one to use? Here’s all you need to know about these curious German words. Click here for more posts in our series on Curious German Words. The definitions Photo by Artem Beliaikin from Pexels But first things first. What do Hühnchen and Hänchen mean? With their -chen&nbs ..read more