German Help

You can tell a person's character by the jokes they take offense to.

a messy and incomplete list

nachvollziehen (v.) -- to understand, but less empathetic. i.e. i see the steps that brought you to that conclusion, but i don't understand you.

doch (interj.) -- you're wrong and really it's the opposite of what you said. often said with a healthy dose of sass. i.e. "this isn't a good movie." "doch. (it is)"

frech (adj.) -- somewhere between naughty and sassy and silly. when you're being a bit of a brat, you're being frech.

dreist (adj.) -- audacious, but far more colloquial. when you have the goddamn audacity, you are dreist. i.e. to park that far over the line is dreist as hell

heimat (n.) -- home, but stronger. a home is wherever you have built a life, but heimat is where your roots are. heimat is where you feel pangs of nostalgia when you go to visit your family for christmas and see the shop at the corner.

weltschmerz (n.) -- literally 'world-pain'. the world sucks and sometimes you just sit and feel the pain of it all. that's weltschmerz.

existenzberechtigung (n.) -- the right to exist, often in a comedic context. i.e. pineapple on pizza has absolutely no existenzberechtigung.

fernweh (n.) -- literally 'far-ache'. the opposite of homesickness, the desire to go far away. i guess wanderlust is similar, but that is also a german word, and this is more painful and visceral

schweigen (v./n.) -- the act of not speaking. silence, but more deliberate. the palpable feeling that people are withholding their voice.

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Hi!

Most of what i read in German is e-books on Spotify when in bed. They're not usually what I'm into but what is available for free on Spotify here in Germany. You could check out "Percy Jackson - alle Hörbücher", "Die Tribute von Panem" (German title of the Hunger games). For crime, I'd suggest TKKG/die drei ???/Fünf Freunde if you're looking for children's stories where each character is voiced by sb else or, if you're into more adult/morbid crime: the "David Hunter" series by Simon Beckett, the german translation of which is on spotify

In terms of Podcasts, they're not easy for beginners but if you're going for vibes, check out "Hotel Matze" (interviews with great questions) or "Eine Stunde History" (hourlong podcast about one history topic - from niche to major)

the german numbers 1-12 are as follows:

1 - eins

2 - zwei

3 - drei

4 - vier

5 - fünf

6 - sechs

7 - sieben

8 - acht

9 - neun

10 - zehn

11 - elf

12 - zwölf

to count the teens, add the number in the "ones" place to "zhen":

13 - dreizhen

14 - vierzhen

15 - fünfzhen

16 - sechzhen

17 - siebzhen

18 - achtzhen

19 - neunzhen

and to make 20-90, you do add "zig" to the number in the "tens" place (100 is just "hundert"):

20 - zwanzig

30 - dreißig

40 - vierzig

50 - fünfzig

60 - sechzig

70 - siebzig

80 - achtzig

90 - neunzig

100 - hundert

200 - zweihundert

505 - fünfhundertfünf

fuchsen ("to fox") = to annoy

hechten ("to pike") = to dive

reihern ("to heron") = to puke

dackeln ("to dachshund") = to walk slowly

aalen ("to eel") = to bask

vögeln ("to bird") = to have sex

einigeln ("to hedgehog in") = to curl up

hamstern ("to hamster") = to hoard

schlängeln ("to snake") = to wriggle

stieren ("to bull") = to goggle

unken ("to toad") = to gripe, augur doom

Serious question: how do you think, before you talk?

I've been watching German tv series and reading German fics, so my reading and listening comprehension is improving.

But.

German syntax is puzzling. Extremely so.

I know the grammar rules, I do! But my mind automatically goes subject + verb + object + conjunction + subject + verb + object when I want to speak.

When I write, I have time to reflect about the correct order of each word (and pieces of a word!), but trying to speak and remember where every part of the speech goes, and the right declensions… Impossible.

as another German native, yeah no it just flows out, no syntax-thinking there

But as somebody super interested in language acquisition (and specifically German) i have some thoughts

1) Two weeks ago I read some papers about chunks in language acquisition (chunks = multiple items (usually words) that appear together and are saved in your brain as 1 unit instead of x singular words; like "I don't know", "my name is", "we regret to inform you")

One major thing I took away, was that a large portion of everyday language is scripted, in the sense that the same chunks and types of syntax are reused over and over again.

-> Thought 1a: Even though German Syntax allows for incredibly complex sentences (and we DO make use of that often enough, esp. in academic writing and administrative writing), it's totally sufficient to focus on simpler syntactical structures!

Subject + finite Verb (+Adverb) + Object (+infinite Verb).

Adverb + finite Verb + Subject + Object (+infinite Verb).

finite Verb + Subject + Object + infinite Verb?

-> Thought 1b: Maybe it helps you to pay close attention to the stuff you're consuming and taking note of the chunks and structures that are used over and over again.

2) I notice that I use certain chunks a lot as sentence starters when speaking foreign languages. Especially chunks that already use up the subject and verb positions are helpful, because they do a lot of work for you. Some examples:

- Ich denke, dass...

- Vielleicht können/wollen/sollten wir

- Ich muss heute/morgen/nächste Woche....

-> Subject + Verb + Adverb work nicely IMO

3) based on the "subject + verb + object" line in OP's post, i wonder if you learned about the Verbklammer/the verb governing the sentence with its positions? It seems to me that it's only recently being taught more and more. Maybe that can help by offering a new (and more nuanced) perspective! (keywords: V2-Stellung, V-letzt Stellung, Satzklammer, topologisches Feldermodell)

4) You said you're watching and reading German content already, so comprehension is covered. It might help to make a point of producing more (speaking or writing) to pay deliberate attention to syntax rules. There you can work your way up too. possible stages/structures to try out:

base: subject-verb sentences

+ adverb (after finite verb, or as the only thing before finite verb)then sentences with an adverb,

+ verbs that require an object (transitive verbs)

+ more complex phrases (adjective+noun, adverb+verb)

+ prepositional phrases (these are objects too ofc)

+ reflexive verbs

+ dependent clauses (pay attention to changed word order! finite verb at the back)

OK so one could do a doctorate on this I guess but I simply want to make a little introduction because German learners may not be familiar with this concept and may get confused when seeing seemingly random little characters in the middle of a word. So here we go.

In German, there are a few ways to use gender-neutral language. I'm going to list some of them with pro and cons.

Participles

This is probably the most 'stealthy' way to use gender-neutral language in German. Example:

❌ Die Studenten essen in der Mensa. ✅ Die Studierenden essen in der Mensa. ❌ Die Mitarbeiter sind in einer Besprechung. ✅ Die Mitarbeitenden sind in einer Besprechung.

Pro: Stealth Level 100 Con: Not always applicable; works better with plural forms because articles are not split by gender there

2. Asterisk

❌ Die Schüler haben heute frei. ✅ Die Schüler*innen haben heute frei. ❌ Köche haben einen anstrengenden Job. ✅ Köch*innen haben einen anstrengenden Job.

What happens here is that you use the feminine form, and insert an asterisk in front of the feminine suffix (between root and suffix). In some cases this makes for a 'perfect' separation of the masculine and the feminine form (Schüler/Schülerinnen -> Schüler*innen); sometimes, as is the case with Köch*innen (Köche/Köchinnen), the masculine plural ending is cut off. Another example is Ärzte/Ärztinnen -> Ärzt*innen. With singular forms, the use of articles will look like this: der*die Ärzt*in ein*e Köch*in

The asterisk is sometimes pronounced as a glottal stop, sometimes it's 'ignored' in spoken language.

Pro: Inclusive; the asterisk marks all other genders outside of the (grammatical) binary. Con: Can be tricky to use; no general consensus over handling e.g. Dative: einem*einer Ärzt*in vs einem*r Ärzt*in

3. Underscore

❌ Chefs sollten generell mehr Lohn zahlen. ✅ Chef_innen sollten generell mehr Lohn zahlen.

Same procedure as above, but with an underscore instead of an asterisk. The underscore is sometimes pronounced as a glottal stop, sometimes it's 'ignored' in spoken language.

Pro: Relatively inclusive; some people feel like the underscore represents a 'gap' instead of non-binary genders and therefore reject the underscore. (Personally I don't prefer it either.) Con: Not accepted by all people outside the binary; can be tricky to use; no general consensus over handling certain concepts

4. Colon

❌ Die Rechte von Bauarbeitern sind wichtig. ✅ Die Rechte von Bauarbeiter:innen sind wichtig.

Same procedure as above, but with a colon instead of an asterisk or underscore. The colon is sometimes pronounced as a glottal stop, sometimes it's 'ignored' in spoken language.

Pro: Inclusive Con: Can be tricky to use; no general consensus over handling certain concepts Personally I prefer the colon over the asterisk and the underscore. It's mostly gut feeling but also the colon is like. at the same 'level' visually speaking as your regular minuscules so it makes me feel more included. As I said, gut feeling.

5. Replacing 'Mann'

So I guess this depends a bit but basically you replace the 'mann' in compounds with 'mensch', 'person', or, in plural, 'leute' or 'personen'. If that sounds weird, the word might get changed altogether:

❌ man ✅ mensch ❌ jemand ✅ jemensch ❌ Partner (not gender neutral in German!) ✅ Partnerperson, Beziehungsperson; Partner:in (Partner*in, Partner_in) ❌ Kaufmann ✅ Person im kaufmännischen Bereich ❌Müllmann ✅ Müllentsorger:in (Müllentsorger*in, Müllentsorger_in)

Again, this is easier in plural:

❌ Kaufmänner ✅ Kaufleute ❌ Müllmänner ✅ Müllabfuhr

Pro: Inclusive Con: if you are a German learner, this might be the option that is hardest to use (if you plan on using gender-neutral German), because it is not immediately evident how these generically masculine words get replaced or transformed.

6. "Binnen-I" ⚠

The so-called "Binnen-I" refers to the capitalised letter "I" in the middle of gendered nouns, and it works like the colon version (but without the colon):

SchülerIn, SchülerInnen LehrerIn, LehrerInnen

often accompanied by articles with a slash: der/die SchülerIn

Pro: relatively easy to use Con: does not include non-binary genders! This is not truly gender-neutral! It only includes the feminine and the masculine form!

7. Brackets ⚠

Probably my least favourite thing. Boo. It puts the feminine ending in a little cage:

Schüler(innen) Mitarbeiter(innen)

Pro: visually very obvious that we are talking about women and men (not only women) Con: does not include non-binary genders! This is not truly gender-neutral! It only includes the feminine and the masculine form! It has also been criticised for suggesting that the feminine ending is 'optional'/'omittable' by putting it in brackets. Honestly, just don't.