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.

This week's lesson is dedicated to something simple and essential: vocabulary related to shoes. 

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First of all, some essential verbs: 

Ich ziehe mir die Schuhe an.

I'm putting my shoes on.

Caption 64, Deutsch mit Eylin: Reflexive Verben und Pronomen

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Peppa, willst du die Schuhe nicht doch lieber ausziehen?

Peppa, wouldn't you rather take off your shoes?

Caption 39, Peppa Wutz: Einkaufen und mehr

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Anfangs wurde der Schuh von sämtlichen Prinzessinnen des Landes anprobiert.

First, the slipper was tried on by all the princesses in the land.

Caption 28, Märchenstunde: Das Aschenputtel

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Here are a number of different types of shoes, and some distinguishing characteristics: 

Straßenschuhe, Tanzschuhe, Reitstiefel oder Pantoletten für einen Besuch bei der Königin ...

Street shoes, dance shoes, riding boots or slippers for a visit with the queen...

Caption 46, Märchen: Sagenhaft Die Wichtelmänner

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Und fast immer hatte sie Stiefel mit hohen Absätzen an.

And almost always, she wore boots with high heels.

Caption 19, Deutsch mit Eylin: Menschen beschreiben

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Note: a low boot or ankle boot might be referred to as die Stiefelette. 

... mit ihrem eleganten Stolzierschritt, als ob sie Stöckelschuhe anhätte.

...with her elegant strut, as if she were wearing stiletto heels.

Caption 9, Die letzten Paradiese: Die Schönheit der Alpen 2

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Ich geh noch schnell nach Haus und hol meine Turnschuhe.

I'll go home real quick and get my sneakers.

Caption 27, Janoschs Traumstunde: Der Wettlauf zwischen Hase und Igel

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Du hast Schuhgröße sechsunddreißig, aber bei Sandalen eher siebenunddreißig.

You wear shoe size thirty-six, but with sandals, more like thirty-seven.

Captions 27-28, extra 3: Dr. Likeys Social-Media-Land

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Further Learning
Here are a few more words to learn: die Schnürsenkel (the shoelaces), die Halbschuhe (the low shoe), die Badelatschen (the flip flops), die Wanderschuhe (the hiking shoes), die Lederschuhe (the leather shoes), and die Laufschuhe (the running shoes). You can see the words above used in context on Yabla German.

Today, we'll look at the distinction between treffen and sich treffen. 

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You may know that the verb treffen means "to meet," but not in the sense of "to make the acquaintance of," which is (sich) kennenlernen. The reflexive verb sich treffen is used when the meet-up is planned, expected, or predictable.

Beim Engadin Snow treffen sich die Weltbesten. 

The world's best meet at the Engadin Snow. 

Caption 13, Wintersport: Engadin Snow 2009

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Anne hat sich mit ihrer Freundin im Café getroffen.

Anne met with her friend at the café.

Caption 15, Deutsch mit Eylin: Das Perfekt

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Sie darf sich nicht mit mir treffen!

She's not allowed to meet up with me!

Caption 26, Nicos Weg: Meiner Meinung nach

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The non-reflexive verb treffen is used when the meeting was not planned or expected. It can even be translated as "to run into," or "to see."

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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Ich hab dir grade erzählt, dass ich Tarik getroffen habe

I just told you that I saw Tarik.

Caption 60, Die Pfefferkörner: Endspurt

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Wir haben jetzt hier auch die Frau von dem Herrn Treiber getroffen.

We've met the wife of Mr. Treiber here now too.

Caption 22, Malerei Benno und Ira Treiber

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Further Learning
There are many more examples to be found on Yabla German, but why not see if you can form some sentences of your own? Think of the last 5 people you have seen and write a sentence that describes meeting them using either treffen or sich treffen.

In last week's lesson, we discussed N declensions in German that use nouns having to do with people, animals, and nationalities. To review, the term "N declension" means that there are certain mostly masculine nouns that have an "-n" or "-en" added to the end in all grammatical cases—except the nominative singular case. This week, we will take a look at some other categories of nouns that use N declensions.

There's yet another general category of people whose masculine nouns take the N declension:

Also die Haare, die Kleidung ... alles Mögliche, was an einem Menschen auffallen kann.

That is, the hair, the clothing... all sorts of things that can be noticeable about a human being.

Captions 4-5, Deutsch mit Eylin: Menschen beschreiben

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Here the masculine noun der Mensch takes the N declension in the dative case. Other nouns in this general category of people that take the N declension include der Bauer ("the farmer"), der Held ("the hero"), der Nachbar ("the neighbor"), and der Held ("the hero"). Note that Bauer and Nachbar just take an -n ending rather than the more usual -en. Some noble titles used in names such as Prinz ("Prince"), Graf ("Count"), and Zar ("Tsar") also take the N declension. Unique among the religions, even der Christ ("the Christian") uses the N declension.

The next category is professions:

Elegant, fast schwungvoll: die Kuppel des britischen Architekten Sir Norman Foster direkt über dem Plenarsaal.

Elegant, almost bold: the dome of the British architect Sir Norman Foster directly above the plenary chamber.

Captions 12-13, Berlin: Hauptstadt des vereinten Deutschland

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The profession der Architekt ("the architekt") becomes des Architekten in the genitive case. Other professions taking the N declension include der Chirurg ("the surgeon"), der Katholik ("the Catholic"), der Philosoph ("the philosopher"), der Pilot ("the pilot"), and der Poet ("the poet").

The next category of N declension nouns are objects:

Aber du wolltest uns doch heute einen Androiden zeigen!

But you wanted to show us an android today!

Caption 56, Es war einmal... der Weltraum: Die Saurier

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The noun der Android becomes den Androiden with the N declension. Other masculine nouns for objects that take the N declension include der Automat ("the automat"), der Asteroid ("the asteroid"), der Diamant ("the diamond"), der Telegraf ("the telegraph"), der Planet ("the planet"), der Komet ("the comet"), and der Satellit ("the satellite").

Stay tuned for Part III of "The N Declension in German" in the coming weeks. We'll be taking a look at some exceptions in the N declension category and show you a master list of N declension words.

Further Learning
Take a look on Yabla German for some of the words above to see them used in a real-world context. Be careful when searching for words used in an accusative, dative, or genitive case—otherwise the words you found will likely just be plural nouns and not N declensions at all!

When talking about time in German, one word that is often found alone or as a root is das Mal. Not to be confused with das Mahl, which means "the meal," das Mal without an "h" means "the time" in the sense of "the instance." You've certainly seen sentences like this on Yabla German:

Bis zum nächsten Mal.

Till next time.

Caption 53, Abendessen: mit Marko

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There are a number of words that employ this word as a root to express a more specific relation to time. For example, einmal means "once," and so einmalig is an adjective that describes something that happens only once, or is exceptionally unique. 

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Diese Ansprache, die gibt es ja normalerweise nur einmal im Jahr.

This address is usually only given once a year.

Caption 3, Coronavirus: Kommentar zu Angela Merkels Rede

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Wir haben heute eine einmalige Aktion vor uns ...

We have a one-time special ahead of us today...

Caption 6, Coronavirus: Drei Musiker geben Ballonkonzert über Cloppenburg

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Ja, also wir bauen einen Baum auf, der ist drei Meter fünfzig hoch, das ist so... so einmalig.

Yes, well, we put up a tree there which is three meters fifty tall, that's so... so unique.

Captions 11-12, Weihnachten geht baden: Tannenbaum unter Wasser

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You may have also seen erstmal, which means "first," temporally speaking. If something is erstmalig, it is happening for the first time (zum ersten Mal).

Und dieser Boden ist hier in Darmstadt in der Centralstation ja erstmalig in Deutschland im Einsatz.

And this floor is here in Darmstadt in the Centralstation  is in use for the first time in Germany.

Captions 1-2, Organic Disco: Tanzen gegen den Klimawandel

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Now let's look at ehemals/ehemalig and damals/damalig, which both refer to the past. You'll see these words translated in different ways on Yabla, but often with "back then," "at the time," and "former," depending on whether an adverb or adjective/adjectival phrase is required. 

Es war damals irgendwie total uncool, ein Auto zu haben.

It was somehow totally uncool to have a car back then.

Caption 33, Deutsch mit Eylin: Menschen beschreiben

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Und die damalige Geschäftsführerin hat den Sender hier rübergebracht ... 

And the former managing director brought the station over here... 

Caption 52, Rhein-Main-TV: Interview mit Edmund Stössel

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In Pforzheim steht nach Angaben des Betreibers das einzige DDR-Museum auf ehemals westdeutschem Boden...

In Pforzheim, according to accounts of the operator, stands the only GDR museum on former West German soil...

Captions 7-8, DDR zum Anfassen Ganz tief im Westen

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Rund viertausend Besucher kommen jährlich nach Pforzheim, um etwas über die ehemalige DDR zu lernen.

Around four thousand visitors come yearly to Pforzheim to learn something about the former GDR.

Captions 39-40, DDR zum Anfassen Ganz tief im Westen

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Further Learning
Build some sentences with einmal, zweimal, dreimal, and viermal that describe how often you have been to certain places or how often you do certain tasks during the week. Then look for examples of damals, ehemals, damalig, and ehemalig translated on Yabla German to get a sense of the nuances.