In this lesson for beginners, we'll look at what are often also called "question words." Actually, they are mostly either interrogative pronouns/interrogative adverbs or relative pronouns/relative adverbs, depending on the usage.
Let's begin with the word was and look at how it can be used in both interrogative and declarative sentences. In addition to meaning "what," was can also be translated in certain sentences as "something," "anything," or "that which."
Was machst du denn noch in deiner Freizeit? Joggst du gerne?
What else do you do in your spare time then? Do you like to go jogging?
Caption 8, Nicos Weg: Was macht dir Spaß?
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Und was man dabei auch bemerkt hat, ist, dass da kaum Eis ist...
And what you've also noticed is that there's hardly any ice...
Caption 29, WWF Deutschland Klimawandel hautnah:Was sind die Auswirkungen?
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The word wer may look like the English word "where," but it means "who" in German. Here is an example used in a question and also in a very common structure in which it means "anyone who" or "whoever."
Wer friert uns diesen Moment ein?
Who will freeze this moment in time for us?
Caption 2, Andreas Bourani: Auf uns
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Wer unnötige Begegnungen vermeidet, hilft allen, die sich in den Krankenhäusern um täglich mehr Fälle kümmern müssen.
Those who avoid unnecessary social interaction will help all of those in the hospitals who are having to take care of more cases every day.
Captions 49-50, Coronavirus: Fernsehansprache von Angela Merkel
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The word wer serves as a pronoun and is therefore different in the accusative and dative cases. Whereas many people rarely use "whom" in English, the words wen and wem are not optional in German!
Weißt du, wen ich gestern getroffen habe?
Do you know who I ran into yesterday?
Caption 9, Deutsch mit Eylin: Menschen beschreiben
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Mit wem willst du denn Valentinstag feiern?
Who do you want to celebrate Valentine's Day with?
Caption 32, Nicos Weg: Feste und Feiertage
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The German word for "where" is wo. You may have already learned the variations woher and wohin in order to ask people where they are from and where they are going.
Sag mir doch zuerst einmal, wo das Bundesland liegt.
First of all, tell me where the state is located.
Caption 14, Bundesländer und ihre Rezepte: Nordrhein-Westfalen
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Wohin muss man in Deutschland zuerst gehen, wenn man heiraten möchte?
Where do you first have to go in Germany if you want to get married?
Caption 3, Bundesrepublik Deutschland: Einbürgerungstest
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Not to be confused with wenn, which can also mean "if," wann is the interrogative adverb for "when." It refers solely to time and not to probability. You can find a lesson on the difference here.
Wann kommt der nächste Bus?
When is the next bus coming?
Caption 23, Deutsch mit Eylin: Fragewörter
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The word wie has several meanings, because in addition to "how" it also can be translated as "such as" or "like."
Hier Daniel Müller am Apparat. Wie kann ich Ihnen helfen?
Daniel Müller speaking. How can I help you?
Caption 54, Berufsleben: das Vorstellungsgespräch
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Ich liebe meine Freunde und wie wir miteinander sind.
I love my friends and how we are together.
Caption 12, AnnenMayKantereit: Ozean
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And finally we come to warum. Note that even though the word darum exists, it is only rarely translated as "because!" That would be too easy.
Warum ist denn hier nicht abgeschlossen?
Why isn't this locked here?
Caption 1, Die Pfefferkörner: Endspurt
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Further Learning
Next week we will look at how to say "whatever," "however," "whoever," and "whenever" in German. For now, notice how these question words are integrated into various sentences on Yabla German and watch Eylin's video Deutsch mit Eylin: Fragewörter.
Several years ago, Yabla published a two-part lesson about the climate crisis (die Klimakrise). The situation since then has gotten even worse, so let's revisit the topic today.
The term "climate change" (der Klimawandel) is generally used to describe how mankind's activities are affecting our climate today in ways that have a serious impact on our environment, our economy, and our lives.
Und da sieht man ganz klar: Der Klimawandel ist „real“.
And you can see very clearly that climate change is real.
Caption 13, WWF Deutschland Klimawandel hautnah: Was sind die Auswirkungen?
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Beim Strom haben wir den Vorteil zu anderen erneuerbaren Energieträgern.
With electricity we have the advantage over other renewable energy carriers.
Caption 27, Agrarmesse: Grüne Woche in Berlin
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Other sources of electricity, such as dams and wind turbines, may have a negative effect on the landscape, but they are relatively green compared to energy sources such as fossil fuels (fossile Energieträger). Wikipedia describes a fossil fuel as a substance "such as coal, oil, and natural gas, formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals, that is extracted and burned as a fuel."
Die globale Klimaerwärmung hinterlässt Spuren.
Global warming is leaving its mark.
Caption 24, Die letzten Paradiese: Schätze der Natur: Südtirol
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The air pollution caused by fossil fuels causes global warming (die globale Erwärmung). Global warming is the largely human-caused increase of our planet's temperatures over the last decades.
Seit 1850 hat sich die Gletscherfläche bereits halbiert.
Since 1850, the glacial area has already been halved.
Caption 32, Alpenseen: Kühle Schönheiten
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As the glaciers (der Gletscher, plural die Gletscher) and the icebergs (der Eisberg, plural die Eisberge) melt due to fossil fuels causing global warming, rivers are overfilled with water, and the sea rises.
Das Eis am Nord- und Südpol schmilzt, der Meeresspiegel steigt, es kommt zu schlimmen Überschwemmungen und woanders zu schlimmen Dürren.
The ice at the North and South Pole is melting, the sea level is rising, terrible floods are occurring and elsewhere terrible droughts.
Captions 31-32, OroVerde - Regenwald schützen: CO2, Regenwald und Klimaschutz
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A drought (die Dürre) is the opposite of a flood (die Überschwemmung): instead of too much water, there isn't enough. Without enough water, farmers are unable to grow the kinds of food that they used to in the past. Property, crops, and even human lives are lost as a direct result of storms, floods, and droughts caused by global warming.
Hilf also mit, die Wälder zu schützen, rette den Regenwald!
So help protect the forests, save the rainforest!
Caption 46, OroVerde - Regenwald schützen: CO2, Regenwald und Klimaschutz
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By protecting the rainforest (der Regenwald), global warming is reduced, because trees absorb the heat from sunlight and turn carbon dioxide into oxygen—which we also need to breathe! King Charles of Great Britain has a rainforests project, and has stated that stopping the destruction of rainforests would help slow climate change. However, it's only going to change if wealthy people like King Charles and large profit-driven corporations are made to take financial and moral responsibility for the destruction they are causing.
Die Gewinne sind ja auch dementsprechend hoch.
The profits are accordingly high.
Caption 8, Ball des Weines: Tombola
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As long as the burning of fossil fuels continues to create windfall profits for the ultra wealthy and corporations, there is little chance of slowing global warming and climate change. A carbon tax (die CO2-Steuer or die Kohlenstoffsteuer), which would tax products that damage the environment according to the costs of repairing the damages they cause, could help solve the problem by forcing manufacturers to seek greener energy sources. But in many western democratic countries, this is seen as a danger to profits, and stands very little chance with politicians, whose campaigns are often heavily financed by some of the world's worst polluters.
As individuals, the best that most of us can manage (including voting!) is to continue to do our small part in reducing our consumption of products that directly lead to global warming!
Further Learning
Go to Yabla German and watch some of the videos above that deal with this topic. You can also search for some of the highlighted words to find more German videos related to climate change.
On Yabla German, you can find many videos featuring German-speaking scientists, environmentalists, and citizens who are very concerned about the Earth's future:
Das Eis am Nord- und Südpol schmilzt, der Meeresspiegel steigt.
The ice at the North and South Pole is melting, the sea level is rising.
Caption 31, OroVerde - Regenwald schützen: CO2, Regenwald und Klimaschutz
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Willi, machst du dir auch manchmal Gedanken darüber, ob unsere wertvolle Natur irgendwann Opfer einer immer intensiveren Landwirtschaft, ausgerichtet auf Gewinnmaximierung wird?
Willi, do you ever worry about whether our precious nature will eventually become the victim of increasingly intensive agriculture geared towards maximizing profit?
Captions 60-63, Umwelt und Natur: Wo sind all die Bienen hin?
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To engage with a German perspective on the situation, you will need specific vocabulary related to problems like those mentioned above, but also related to steps we can take individually and collectively. First of all, there are the acts of recycling and paying attention to what we as individuals eat and consume:
In Heidelberg wird der Müll in verschiedene Gruppen getrennt, damit das, was recycelt werden kann, wiederverwertet werden kann, auch wieder wirklich wiederverwertet wird.
In Heidelberg, the garbage is separated into different groups, so that that which can be recycled, can be re-used, also really gets re-used.
Captions 14-16, Mülltrennung in Heidelberg
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Bio statt Agrarindustrie. Umweltschonend angebaut ohne Chemie mit niedrigem Energieverbrauch und gentechfrei.
Organic instead of the agriculture industry. Environmentally friendly without chemicals, with low energy use and free of genetic engineering.
Captions 33-34, Nachhaltige Ernährung: Animation
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Then there are the investments that need to be made in green energy by cities and countries:
Um etwas gegen die Klimaerwärmung zu tun, müssen wir in Deutschland aus der Braunkohle aussteigen.
In order to do something against global warming, we have to phase out brown coal in Germany.
Caption 36, WWF Deutschland Klimawandel hautnah: Was sind die Auswirkungen?
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Wir müssen jetzt in erneuerbare Energien, in... in Energieeffizienz investieren.
We must now invest in renewable energies, in... in energy efficiency.
Caption 19, Die Insel Fehmarn - Schlauchboote gegen den Atom-Irrsinn
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Also, hundert Prozent Ökostrom, können wir das hinkriegen? Das geht.
So, one hundred percent green electricity, can we do that? It's possible.
Caption 11, Terra X - Ohne Kohle und Atom - Geht uns der Strom aus?
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In all of this, the concept of "sustainability" remains the guiding principle. While the word is sometimes misused or even exploited, it is still the central focus of many concerted efforts.
Heute wird Nachhaltigkeit als ein Gesamtkonzept angesehen.
Today, sustainability is seen as a global concept.
Caption 17, Erklärvideos - Nachhaltigkeit einfach erklärt
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Further Learning
If you didn't catch our previous newsletter on vocabulary related to the climate crisis, have a look on our lessons page. Watch any of the videos above in their entirety on Yabla German, or select the category "Environment" to learn even more!
If you ever watch or listen to news reports in German, whether it be on Yabla or a complementary resource such as Deutsche Welle's Langsam gesprochene Nachrichten, you will encounter a whole set of vocabulary for talking about the climate crisis. In this lesson, we'll look at some words that describe some of the threats our planet is facing.
Um etwas gegen die Klimaerwärmung zu tun, müssen wir in Deutschland aus der Braunkohle aussteigen.
In order to do something against global warming, we have to phase out brown coal in Germany.
Caption 36, WWF Deutschland Klimawandel hautnah - Was sind die Auswirkungen?
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Wir starten immer mit einem Modul zum Klimawandel.
We always start with a module on climate change.
Caption 21, Schüler lernen Nachhaltigkeit - Bildungsinitiative gestartet
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When we talk about the impact humans have on the environment, the greenhouse effect and greenhouse gases are often mentioned:
Ein Passagierflugzeug, das von New York nach Kalifornien und zurück fliegt,
A passenger plane that flies from New York to California and back
stößt eine Menge Treibhausgase aus,
emits a lot of greenhouse gases:
ungefähr so viel wie ein Auto in einem ganzen Jahr.
about as much as a car in a whole year.
Captions 28-30, Die Welt in der Zukunft - Flugzeuge im Jahr 2050
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Bei dem Song, der „Mutter Erde“ heißt,
With the song, which is called "Mother Earth,"
versuchen wir halt auch, das Thema Umweltschutz irgendwie zu vermitteln...
we also try to somehow impart the theme of environment protection...
wie der Treibhauseffekt zum Beispiel geschieht.
how the greenhouse effect happens, for example.
Captions 57-59, Rapucation - Lernen durch Rapmusik
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Awareness and regulations related to CO2 have been on the rise in an attempt to improve a very dire situation. "Carbon dioxide" is das Kohlendioxid in German, but, like in English, the chemical formula is used quite often:
Die Anreise mit Flugzeug oder Auto sorgt für
Traveling by plane or car creates
eine schlechte CO2-Bilanz.
an unfavorable carbon footprint.
Caption 3, WissensWerte - Tourismus und Nachhaltigkeit
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Punkt für die Bahn
Point for the train
mit grade mal zweiundzwanzig Komma fünf Kilogramm
with just twenty-two point five kilogram
an CO2-Ausstoß pro Person.
of CO2 emissions per person.
Captions 62-63, Galileo - Zug vs. Flugzeug: Von München nach Berlin
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Und ein federführendes Projekt ist die
And a leading project is the
CO2-zwei-neutrale Landesverwaltung,
CO2-neutral state government
die beispielhaft in Deutschland ist.
that is exemplary in Germany.
Captions 42-43, Rheinmain im Blick - Nachhaltigkeit
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Further Learning
We will be back with more words related to climate change and how individuals can do their part. In the meantime, you can go to Yabla German and select the category "Environment" or "News" to hear a German perspective on current issues and learn more about people and organizations dedicated to protecting the environment and fighting climate change.
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