Just as a German word ending with -weise can automatically be identified as an adverb, there are a number of German adjectives ending with -bar. These adjectives contain the root of a verb, not unlike adjectives constructed with "-able" or "-ible" in English. Let's look at some of the more common ones.
Die meisten der Pilze waren leider nicht essbar.
Most of the mushrooms were unfortunately not edible.
Caption 13, Pilze sammeln: mit Eva
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Wusstest du, dass die Hände eines Menschen genauso unverwechselbar sind wie sein Gesicht?
Did you know that the hands of a human being are just as unmistakable as their face?
Captions 2-3, Deutsch mit Eylin: Mehr Geheimnisse über Hände
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The verb essen means "to eat," and essbar translates to "edible." The verb verwechseln means "to mix up," so unverwechselbar refers to something that can't be mixed up.
Haptisch begreifbar sind die Angaben.
The details are understandable on a haptic level.
Caption 14, Holocaust-Gedenktag: Gedenkstätte am Michelsberg
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The verb begreifen means "to grasp" or "to comprehend."
Das ist auch hundert Prozent ökologisch abbaubar.
That's also one hundred percent biodegradable.
Caption 26, Lerchenberg: Du bist, was du isst
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The verb abbauen has many translations along the lines of "to disintegrate" or "to dismantle." The adjective abbaubar is related to this, and whether it's preceded by biologisch or not, it generally means "biodegradable."
Als Erster in eine Welt hineinzugehen, die eigentlich nicht berechenbar ist, die nicht in jedem Detail voraussehbar ist, das ist etwas ganz Spezielles.“
"To be the first to enter a world that is actually not predictable, that is not foreseeable in every detail... That is something very special."
Captions 40-43, extra 3 Öffentlicher Personennahverkehr (ÖPNV)
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Another similar good word to know is vorhersehbar, which also means "predictable."
Als wir mit der Planung des Minihauses angefangen haben, ging es uns eben darum, diese Geschichte des Ortes und des alten Gebäudes, äh, in dem neuen Gebäude lesbar zu lassen und erlebbar zu machen.
When we began planning the Minihaus, it was important to us to make the history of the place and the old building, um, remain visible in the new building and make it tangible for people.
Captions 31-33, Umweltbewusstes Wohnen: Architekturpreis Green Building
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Of course, lesbar can also quite literally mean "legible."
Sie wurde erst nach dem Fall der Mauer wieder begehbar.
It was first accessible again after the fall of the Wall.
Caption 14, Eva zeigt uns: die Berliner Mauer
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Here we see that the adjective begehbar doesn't relate quite as directly to begehen, which means "to commit" or "to perpetrate."
... dass wir unser Handeln möglichst gut begründen und kommunizieren, damit es nachvollziehbar wird.
... that we justify and communicate our actions as well as possible so that they are comprehensible.
Captions 19-20, Coronavirus: Fernsehansprache von Angela Merkel
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And this hopefully also describes this lesson!
Further Learning
You can find many more adjectives like these on Yabla German, such as bezahlbar, dankbar, denkbar, and machbar. Before you look these up, can you guess what they mean?
Since we devoted one lesson to expressions of frustration, let's look at how enthusiasm is expressed in German as well and take a look at some positive adjectives.
„Ich muss sagen: überwältigend!“ -„Ausgezeichnet! Ausgezeichnet, finde ich!“
"I must say, overwhelming!" -"Brilliant! Brilliant, I think!"
Caption 54, Märchen - Sagenhaft - Des Kaisers neue Kleider
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Ausgezeichnet is also the participle of the verb auszeichnen, which means to award or distinguish.
Mit dem Architekturpreis Green Building wurden in Frankfurt kürzlich acht Gebäude ausgezeichnet.
Eight buildings in Frankfurt were recently awarded the Green Building architecture prize.
Caption 1, Umweltbewusstes Wohnen - Architekturpreis Green Building
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Many of these adjectives don't have a fixed translation ("outstanding," "awesome"), but are instead best translated with the positive adjective that fits in the context.
Es ist wirklich großartig, von Ihnen zu hören.
It is really great to hear from you.
Caption 20, Berufsleben - das Vorstellungsgespräch
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Das ist natürlich auch toll, wenn man 'ne gemeinsame Sache hat.
Of course, it's also great when you have something in common.
Caption 8, 2raumwohnung - Liebe mit Musik am Laufen halten
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Das klingt hervorragend.
That sounds amazing.
Caption 42, Berufsleben - Probleme mit Mitarbeitern
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Of course, the adjectives super, fantastisch, and exzellent will sound quite familiar to anyone who speaks English. Also easy to recognize is the adjective wunderbar:
Und da ist dann der Balkon. -Ah, mit Balkon, wunderbar.
And there then is the balcony. -Ah, with a balcony, wonderful.
Caption 43, Fine - sucht eine Wohnung
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Another adjective you may come across, especially with younger Germans, is geil. Yes, this does indeed also have a meaning that is not appropriate in most conversations! But it is a common, albeit slang, term for "awesome" or "fantastic" as well.
Und wie war's? -Geil, wie immer. -Was speziell?
And how was it? -Awesome, as always. -What especially?
Caption 10, Abenteuer und Sport - Fallschirmspringen
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Further Learning
All of these adjectives and more can be found on Yabla German. Pay attention to adjective declension any time they precede a noun.
Last week, we discussed the conjunctions denn, weil, and da, the most common ways of saying "because" in German. There is, however, yet a third far less common German word that can be translated as "because" in slang usage: darum. But first, let's take a look at the way darum is more commonly used.
The adverb darum, depending upon its context in a sentence, most commonly has a topical meaning as "about," almost always in conjunction with the verb gehen:
Es ging eigentlich darum, Wohnraum zu schaffen in der Stadt.
It was actually about creating living spaces in the city.
Caption 20, Umweltbewusstes Wohnen - Architekturpreis Green Building
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Or as "therefore, which can also be alternately translated as "that's why" or "for this reason":
Darum nenn mich nie mehr dummes Huhn
Therefore never call me "dumb chick" anymore.
Caption 20, Cosma Shiva Hagen - So trägt man Pelz
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You sometimes see darum as part of the separable verb darumstehen, which can translate as "to stand around" or "to stand around there," as opposed to the more common herumstehen ("to stand around" or "to stand around here"). Darumstehen can also mean to stand around something, as in um etwas herumstehen:
Wir sehen das Fahrrad und die Kinder, die darumstehen.
We see the bicycle and the children standing around it.
A slang usage of the adverb darum, however, is typically seen as a childish answer to a question, or an answer that is really no answer at all!
Warum hast du das gemacht? -Darum!
Why did you do that? -Because!
Further Learning
Go to Yabla German and search for darum to see the word used in a real-world context. For a more advanced article on the various uses of darum, read this DWDS article.
A couple of months ago, we took a look at the temporal adverbs damals and früher and how they are used when talking about the distant past. You can follow this link to read or review that lesson. This week, we will focus on talking about events that have occurred in the recent past or "just now."
First, there are many ways to say "recently" in German, including vor kurzem, kürzlich, letztens, in letzter Zeit, and neulich.
Vor kurzem haben wir das Atelier des Juweliers Jonathan Johnson besucht.
Recently, we visited the atelier of jeweler Jonathan Johnson.
Caption 1, Jonathan Johnson - Atelier-Tour
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Mit dem Architekturpreis Green Building wurden in Frankfurt kürzlich acht Gebäude ausgezeichnet.
Eight buildings in Frankfurt were recently awarded the Green Building architecture prize.
Caption 1, Umweltbewusstes Wohnen - Architekturpreis Green Building
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Ich habe letztens noch im Regen gegrillt.
I recently grilled in the rain.
Caption 4, Tim Bendzko - Grillen auch im Regen
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War Ihr Mann in letzter Zeit anders als sonst? Bedrückt, müde?
Was your husband recently different than usual? Depressed, tired?
Caption 4, Großstadtrevier - Von Monstern und Mördern
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Ja, haben wir. -Ach, deswegen diese Fragen neulich.
Yes, we did. -Oh, that's the reason for these questions recently.
Caption 10, Die Pfefferkörner - Gerüchteküche
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When we talk about something that "just happened," we tend to use other adverbs. Most common is likely gerade eben, but sometimes gerade is used with the past tense to also refer to the recent past rather than what is currently happening. Vorhin can mean "earlier," but also "a short while ago."
Was gerade eben noch unvermeidbar schien...
What had just seemed unavoidable...
Caption 21, Jan Wittmer - Bereit mich zu verlieren
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Die Besitzerin hat mir gerade gesagt, dass sogar alle Seifen aus Stutenmilch sind.
The owner just said to me that all of the soaps are actually made out of mare's milk.
Caption 22, Diane - auf dem Weihnachtsmarkt
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Vorhin haben wir gelernt, dass es drei Artikel gibt in der Einzahl:
Earlier we learned that there are three singular articles:
"der", "die" und "das".
"the" [der] , "the" [die] and "the" [das].
Caption 2, Grammatik - Der Artikel in der Mehrzahl
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Further Learning
When you look at these sentences and other examples from Yabla German, you may notice that the position of the verb remains unchanged despite the adverb. You can read more about this here and take a look at the different kinds of adverbs as well.
Every language has certain words that are used often in everyday life, to the extent that they may seem to shape the language and the culture. One such word in German, with a myriad of implementations, would have to be the verb schaffen.
The verb schaffen can mean "to do," "to manage," "to achieve," "to cope with," or "to successfully complete something," to "make it" or "make it work."
Oh, aber das schaffst du doch auch alleine!
Oh, but you'll manage it alone after all!
Caption 64, Großstadtrevier - Von Monstern und Mördern
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However, it can also mean "to create," "to make," or "to bring something into being."
Es ging eigentlich darum, Wohnraum zu schaffen in der Stadt.
It was actually about, creating living spaces in the city.
Caption 20, Umweltbewusstes Wohnen - Architekturpreis Green Building
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There is one thing to watch out for with the verb schaffen, and this is that the two meanings are reflected with two different participles when it is used in the past tense. Here we see the past participle for the first definition:
Juhu, dann haben wir's geschafft!
Yahoo, then we've done it!
Caption 41, Deutschkurs in Tübingen - Weil oder obwohl?
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Damit hat man also den ersten Schritt im Bewerbungsverfahren geschafft.
With that, you have succeeded with the first step in the application process.
Caption 42, Eva erklärt - Bewerbungen
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Whereas geschafft would refer to something being successfully done or achieved, geschaffen refers to creation:
Hier, mitten im Zentrum von Berlin,
Here, in the center of Berlin,
[gefahren auf einem speziellen Kurs]
[driving on a special course]
haben sich BMX-Fahrer und Mountainbiker ihr Eldorado geschaffen.
BMX riders and mountain bikers have created their El Dorado.
Captions 4-5, Pumptrack - Rad fahren, ohne zu treten
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Mit Höckern und Bänken
With stools and benches,
sollen Verschnaufmöglichkeiten für Senioren geschaffen werden.
possibilities [places] for seniors to rest and catch their breath will be created.
Captions 44-45, Bespielbare Stadt - Griesheim
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Further Learning
Here is a list of the conjugations of schaffen, including the preterite schaffte and schuf. See which of these conjugations you can find in use on Yabla German!
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