Learning German

Though we often highlight the diplomats who work at the German Embassy, the unsung heroes of the Embassy world are its local staff members. All Embassies, regardless of nationality, tend to hire locals who speak the language of both countries. These staff aren’t translators, although that comes hand in hand with the job, but rather work in all departments from politics to press. They’re diplomats of sorts–providing insight, in our case, into the American perspective and cultural norms.

Many of these local staff members are German born and have either naturalized or married Americans. Some, however, are Americans who learned German the good ol’ fashioned way—from scratch. They now work day to day in German, but their German wasn’t always that good! Since they can best be able to speak to the language learning curve, we asked them for language tips for learning German. Here’s what they said!

Great tips, right? The common threads are consistency and familiarity. If you already like to cook, try getting a German cookbook. If you like to sing, listen to and learn the lyrics of German songs. You know yourself best so think of what you like or are good at and see how you can incorporate the German language into it.

Many of you know that müde means tired in German. You can also use it as a suffix on certain words to either exaggerate the extent of your tiredness, or specify what you’re tired about (akin to ‘tired of X’ in English). Here are the ten of the most common -müde compounds:

1. amtsmüde - weary of office

Ex: Sind Sie nach 30 Jahren in der Politik nicht langsam amtsmüde? Tr: Aren’t you getting weary of office after spending 30 years in politicS?

2. hundemüde - tired as hell (ugs.)

Ex: Sie ist hundemüde und möchte nach einem langen, erfüllten Tag gerne ins Bett und schlafen. Tr: She’s tired as hell and would very much like to go to bed after a long, fulfilling day.

3. kampfmüde - battle-weary

Ex: Die Regierungstruppen waren nach vier Kriegsjahren kampfmüde. Tr: The government’s troops were battle-weary after years of war.

4. kriegsmüde - war-weary

Ex: Das Volk ist kriegsmüde und will Frieden auf dem politischen Weg. Tr: The people are tired of war and want peace on the political path.

5. lebensmüde - weary of life

Ex: Eine lebensmüde Frau hat in Serbien den Sprung in einen 30 Meter tiefen Brunnen unverletzt überlebt. Tr: A Serbian woman, fed up of life, survived the jump into a 30-metre deep well unharmed.

6. pflastermüde - tired of walking

Ex: Erholsam für pflastermüde Füße. Tr: Relaxing for feet tired from walking.

7. saumüde - tired as hell (ugs.)

Ex: Es schneit wieder, es ist saukalt und ich bin saumüde. Tr: It’s snowing again, it’s freezing cold and I’m tired as hell.

8. sterbensmüde - tired to death

Ex: Sterbensmüde Zentnerschwer sind meine Lider. Tr: My eyelids are dead tired and heavy.

9. todmüde - tired to death

Ex: Doch meist fallen sie todmüde ins Bett. Tr: But most of the time they fall into bed, tired to death.

10. übermüde - overtired

Ex: Aber die Kinder waren übermüde und nach dem langen Tag ziemlich aufgedreht. Tr: But the children were overtired and pretty worked up after the long day.

Fun bonus: europamüde - “tired of Europe” i.e disillusioned with European politics.

You could, theoretically, create any compound with müde to mean ‘tired of/-weary’. The ones I’ve posted here are all the ones I found in “Feste Wortverbindungen des Deutschen”, Duden, and dict.leo.org. You can find ~10 more documented ones at https://www.dwds.de/?q=*m%C3%BCde, with canoo.net also offering ‘fernsehmüde’ on top of this.

A broken water mains forming a geyser has become an unusual attraction in the city center of Mainz on late Sunday evening. As a result of the damage, a fountain had formed rising up to the fourth floor of the surrounding buildings, said the police of the Rhineland-Palatinate capital on Monday morning. Numerous curious onlookers were attracted by the incident.

you can take questioning your life choices even further with the 6 different words for why

forget a word? just make a new one!!!

so that you can then learn german dialects which will constantly make you cry / lose the will to live / ruin your life

for the quality tunes such as atemlos durch die nacht👌👌👌👌👌

to spend your nights trying to pronounce ch and r and losing all of your dignity in the process

prepositions that make no sense

you can make your own bullshit ‘in german there is a word for this very specific thing’ post

don’t feel like people tell you that german is a violent language often enough? start learning it!!!

word order that will either be really easy for you to understand or the cause of all your nightmares from now on

to be able to read the absolute joy that is kafka

words that do what they say on the tin

anything can be an adjective if you try hard enough

sentences that are half a page long

NOUNS der Bagel (Bagels) - bagel der Becher - mug das Brötchen - bread roll die Brioche (Brioche) - brioche das Brot - bread die Butter - butter das Café (Cafés) - cafe das Croissant (Croissants) - croissant das Eis - ice cream das Essen - food das Frühstück (Frühstücke) - breakfast der Frischkäse - cream cheese die Gabel (Gabeln) - fork das Getränk (Getränke) - drink das Glas (Gläser) - glass/jar der grüne Tee - green tea die Hafermilch - oat milk die Halbfettmilch - semi-skimmed milk die heiße Schokolade - hot chocolate das Heißgetränk (Heißgetränke) - hot drink der Käse - cheese der Kaffee - coffee der Kaffeebecher - coffee cup das Kaffeehaus (Kaffeehäuser) - coffeehouse/cafe die Kaffeetasse (Kafeetassen) - coffee cup der Kaffeetisch (Kaffeetische) - coffee table der Kamillentee - camomile tea der Keks (Kekse) - biscuit/cookie [north] der Kellner - waiter die Kellnerin (Kellnerinnen) - waitress das Kleingebäck - small baked goods der Kräutertee - herbal tea der Krapfen - German doughnut der Kuchen - cake der Löffel - spoon der Laden (Läden) - shop/store das Leitungswasser - tap water die Magermilch - skimmed milk die Marmelade (Marmeladen) - jam das Messer - knife die Milch - milk der Milchkaffee - latte der Milkshake (Milkshakes) - milkshake der Muffin (Muffins) - muffin der Pappbecher - paper cup das Plätzchen - biscuit/cookie [south] der Saft (Säfte) - juice der/das Sandwich (Sandwiches) - sandwich die Schlagsahne - whipped cream der schwarze Kaffee - black coffee die Serviette (Servietten) - serviette/napkin die Sojamilch - soy milk das Sprudelwasser - sparkling water das Stück (Stücke) - piece/slice der Stuhl (Stühle) - chair die Suppe (Suppen) - soup die Tasse (Tassen) - cup der Tee - tea die Teekanne (Teekannen) - teapot der Teller - small plate der Tisch (Tische) - table der Toast - toast die Torte (Torten) - cake der Würfelzucker - sugar cubes der Zucker - sugar

1. dasselbe vs das gleiche: I can’t tell you how many Germans get this wrong. English speakers are at a disadvantage here because both translate to ‘the same’ but there is, in fact, a difference. (Note: some Germans spell it ‘das selbe’. This is incorrect.)

Wir fahren das gleiche Auto und schlafen mit derselben Frau. We drive the same car and sleep with (one and) the same woman.

As you can see, there is no difference in English and you’d have to get the meaning from context. German is more detailed. Of course the men in this do not own one car that they both drive. They both have their own cars but they are exactly the same in terms of brand/looks/mechanics/etc. But they are sleeping with one and the same woman.

Simple rule: if you could replace ‘the same’ with ‘one and the same’, it’s dasselbe. It not, it’s das gleiche. This works in German as well: if you can replace it with ‘ein und dasselbe’, it’s dasselbe. 

Of course this applies to derselbe/der gleiche and dieselbe/die gleiche just the same.

2. das vs dass:  This one is difficult for Germans because you pronounce them exactly the same and for English speakers learning German because you say ‘that’ for both of them in English. Some Germans also seem to believe that every das that comes after a comma has a double s. This is simply not true. Here’s an example.

Er liest das Buch, das seine Mutter ihm gab. Sie wollte, dass er es in den Ferien liest.

The first das here is an article. Those always only have one s. The second das is a relative clause. In that case, it is always written with one s. The dass is a conjunction and marks the beginning of an accessory sentence (that is not a relative clause). This is the only case in which you use dass.

For the more advanced or the native speakers: if you could replace das with dieses or jenes or welches, then it’s das. 

For students of German: before our spelling reform, you used to write dass as daß. You might stumble across it in some books or texts and some newspapers still use the old way of spelling today. Don’t let that confuse you. There is no difference to dass, we simply write it differently now. This applies to a lot of ss vs ß.

3. einzige vs einzigste: A lot of Germans use einzigste as an increase of einzige to exaggerate or stress it. This is incorrect. The adjective einzig cannot be put in comparison. (Though apparently it is acceptable in poetry, Idk.)

Ich war die einzige, die zu dem Treffen kam! Ich war die einzigste, die zu dem Treffen kam!  I was the only one who came to the meeting!

Both “wissen” and “kennen” mean “to know”,  so what is the different usage of these two words?

“wissen” is used when you are talking about some kind of information, for example:

“Ich weiß, dass Berlin die Hauptstadt von Deutschland ist” - I know that Berlin is the capital of Germany

“Ich weiß, dass er angerufen hat” - I know that he called

“Ich weiß nicht, wo mein Hund ist” - I don’t know where my dog is

“Weißt du was sie gesagt hat?” - Do you know what she said?

“kennen” is used when you are talking about nouns (unfamiliar/familiar people or objects),for example:

“Ich kenne diese Frau” - I know this woman

“Ich kenne dieses Lied nicht” - I don’t know this song