Although many people like to spend their free time with music, TV, films, and video games, there's nothing like settling down with a good book. This week, let's talk about all there is to read!
In German, a work of non-fiction is called das Sachbuch, whereas fiction is die Belletristik. The noun "literature" is very similar in German: die Literatur. When it comes to novels, there are the names for the different genres to learn, such as der Liebesroman (the romance novel) or der historische Roman (historical fiction).
OK, interessierst du dich für Literatur?
OK, are you interested in literature?
Caption 9, Nicos Weg: Das macht mir Spaß!
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Und das wurde eben in diesem Science-Fiction-Roman beschrieben.
And just that was described in that science fiction novel.
Caption 73, Das 1. Newtonsche Gesetz: erklärt am Beispiel des Dodomobils
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Liest du gerne oder hast du viele Bücher, zum Beispiel Romane oder Krimis?
Do you like to read or do you have a lot of books, for example novels or crime stories?
Captions 11-12, Nicos Weg: Das macht mir Spaß!
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In German, a short story is die Kurzgeschichte.
Dieses wunderbare Buch mit Geschichten über die Berge und...
This wonderful book with stories about the mountains and...
Caption 41, Heidi: Der Schultest
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In addition to fiction and non-fiction books, some people enjoy reading biographies or magazine articles:
Hinter all der großen musikalischen Revolution menschelt es in seiner Biografie - zum Glück!
Behind all the great musical revolution, there is humanity in his biography—fortunately!
Captions 30-31, Ludwig van Beethoven: 250. Geburtstag
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In einem von der Zeitschrift Bravo veranstalteten Konzert spielen sie in der Stadt, die sie entdeckte.
In a concert organized by the magazine "Bravo," they play in the city that discovered them.
Captions 21-22, Die Beatles: In Deutschland
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Hallo, Leon! Ich habe hier noch was für dich: einen Artikel über den Nemmers-Preis.
Hello, Leon! I have one more thing here for you: an article about the Nemmers Prize.
Caption 8, Die Pfefferkörner: Gerüchteküche
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The last category that should be mentioned is poetry, of course!
Der eine Bruder saß unter einem Baum und verfasste Gedichte.
The one brother sat under a tree and wrote poems.
Caption 12, Märchen: Sagenhaft Die drei Brüder
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Further Learning
Think about the last thing you read—how would you describe it? On Yabla German, you can watch the entirety of Nicos Weg: Das macht mir Spaß! to hear the vocabulary in context.
That is actually the title of a classic detective novel by Raymond Chandler, but the long and short of it is that there are a number of ways to say goodbye in German – some of them longer than others! Let's start with what you probably already know:
Ja, damit sind wir fertig. Auf Wiedersehen!
Yes, with that we are finished. Goodbye!
Caption 77, Das 1. Newtonsche Gesetz - erklärt am Beispiel des Dodomobils
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Ich sehe Sie dann morgen. Auf Wiederhören.
I'll see you tomorrow then. Goodbye.
Caption 52, Berufsleben - das Vorstellungsgespräch
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Because of the -sehen in Wiedersehen ("see you again") and -hören in Wiederhören ("hear from you again"), auf Wiederhören is the proper form to use on the telephone.
Wiedersehen, vielen Dank! -Tschüss. -Tschüss.
Goodbye, many thanks! -Bye. -Bye.
Caption 25, Großstadtrevier - Von Monstern und Mördern
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Tschüss is an informal waym of saying goodbye that originally stems from the Spanish word for goodbye, adios.
Bis morgen. Ciao.
See you tomorrow. Ciao.
Caption 40, Bäppi im Fernsehstudio - Bäppis best model by Hilde Klump
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"Ciao" is actually from the Italian and can, depending upon the context, be used for hello or goodbye. It is not even translated as "bye" here as it has been adopted into English by most American and British dictionaries. It's usage in German is very informal.
Sie wissen schon, was wir meinen. Adieu.
You do know what we mean. Adieu.
Captions 64-65, Die Pfefferkörner - Endspurt
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The French word for goodbye, adieu, has also been adopted by English and is thus generally not translated.
Ich hab was vergessen. -Aha. -Wir sehen uns.
I forgot something. -Aha. -See you.
Caption 66, Die Pfefferkörner - Eigentor
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It is also common to say Wir sehen uns morgen ("We'll see each other tomorrow" or "See you tomorrow"), or Wir sehen uns wieder ("We'll see each other again"), and so forth. It sounds a bit impersonal to the ears of an English speaker, but you can also say man sieht sich, which translates as "We'll see each other" or simply "See you."
Mir hat's super gefallen. Bis dann!
I really enjoyed it. Until then!
Caption 93, Frisbee - Karlsruher Weihnachtsturnier
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Hast du die Mathehausaufgaben denn schon fertig? -Ja, bis später.
Have you finished the math homework already? -Yes, see you later.
Caption 2, Knallerfrauen - Mathehausaufgaben
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Mach's gut, Herbert. Bis bald.
Take care, Herbert. See you soon.
Caption 4, Nicos Weg - A1 Folge 3: Tschüss!
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Bis zum nächsten Mal.
Until next time.
Caption 21, Berlin - Domäne Dahlem
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Many of the ways to say goodbye using bis and some point in the future may be translated, depending upon the context, as either "till," "until," or "see you..." So if somebody says bis morgen, you could translate it as "till tomorrow," "until tomorrow," or "see you tomorrow."
Note that macht's gut, which could be literally translated as "fare well" or "farewell," is used as an informal way to say goodbye in some German regional dialects. Another good equivalent translation could be "have a good one."
But how do you say "to say goodbye" as in "to take leave" of somebody? The most common ways are Abschied nehmen and the reflexive verb sich verabschieden:
Aber als Flüchtling muss man eben oft Abschied nehmen.
But as a refugee, you often have to say goodbye.
Caption 35, Filmtrailer - Als Hitler das rosa Kaninchen stahl
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Und hier verabschieden wir uns auch von euch.
And we will say goodbye to you here.
Caption 39, 48 h in Innsbruck - Sehenswürdigkeiten & Tipps
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Further Learning
I hope that learning about goodbye didn't take too long—this is a lesson and not a novel, after all! Look for some of the ways of saying goodbye on Yabla German, and take special note of how some are used in formal contexts and others in more casual situations. So until next time, mach's gut and stay healthy!
This week we're going to go through the cases used with German prepositions. If you are an advanced German speaker, this will be nothing new for you, but will hopefully be helpful for beginners as a learning tool and for intermediate German speakers as a refresher. Nouns, pronouns, and adjectives that come after prepositions take either the accusative, dative, or genitive case, but to make things slightly confusing, some prepositions require either the accusative or dative case, depending upon the context. Let's take a look in Part I today at the prepositions that require only the accusative case for the nouns, pronouns, and adjectives.
For a basic start, let's look at the accusative case for nouns as follows for the definite article "the," with the nominative case followed by the accusative case:
der => den
die => die
das => das
And for the indefinite article:
ein (masculine) => einen
eine => eine
ein (neuter) => ein
And for the personal pronouns "you," "him," "her," and "they":
du => dich
Sie (formal "you") => Sie
er => ihn
sie => sie
uns => uns
Remember too, that if there is no definite or indefinite article, the adjective must still take the case appropriate for its gender with the preposition.
The common German prepositions that require the accusative case of nouns and pronouns are für, um, durch, gegen, entlang, bis, ohne, and wider. The BBC website Bitesize cleverly suggests a good way of remembering them: in that order, the first letter of each word combined makes the phrase "fudge bow." If you can remember that phrase, with very few overlaps into dative and genitive prepositions, you'll be able to know if the preposition you are about to use requires the accusative case!
Here are some examples from Yabla German:
Ich wollte dir gerne ein paar Sachen für den Umzug mitbringen.
I wanted to bring you a few things for the move.
Caption 5, Nicos Weg - Freizeitstress
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Wenn es um mich geht, ist es reflexiv.
If it's about me, it is reflexive.
Caption 54, Deutschkurs in Tübingen - Akkusativ - Action
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Der schwebt also durch den Raum.
So it floats through the space.
Caption 36, Das 1. Newtonsche Gesetz - erklärt am Beispiel des Dodomobils
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Ich habe echt nichts gegen dich gesagt.
I've really said nothing against you.
Caption 7, Die Pfefferkörner - Gerüchteküche
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Streute sie die Krümel von ihrem einzigen Stück Brot den Weg entlang.
She scattered the crumbs from her single piece of bread along the way.
Caption 48, Märchen - Sagenhaft - Hänsel und Gretel
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Note that the preposition entlang usually appears after the noun when used in the dative case. There is also a genitive use of entlang, but more on that in a later lesson!
Das war's von Rhein-Main-Szene. Bis nächste Woche. Ciao, ciao.
That's it from Rhein-Main-Szene. Till next week. Ciao, ciao [Italian: Bye, bye].
Caption 64, Frida Gold - Interview - Part 2
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Don't forget that bis ("till" or "until") is more commonly seen as a conjunction than as a preposition.
Wie sollte sie es nur ohne ihn aushalten?
Just how was she supposed to make it without him?
Caption 70, Märchen - Sagenhaft - Die Weiber von Weinsberg
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Wer wider besseres Wissen vortäuscht...
Whoever pretends despite better knowledge...
Caption 41, Großstadtrevier - Schatten der Vergangenheit
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Further Learning
Go to Yabla German to look for more examples of prepositions whose nouns, pronouns, and adjectives take only the accusative case. And don't forget the key phrase "fudge bow" for remembering them, as ridiculous as it sounds! A chocolate violin, anyone? Sounds sweet...
The Swiss have it easy: they completely eliminated the ß (eszett or "sharp s") some years ago, but since we are teaching Standard German at Yabla, we should learn a few general rules about which words use s, ss, and ß.
1. Single s
There are no words in German that begin with ss or ß, so that rule is easy. A single s will usually come after the letters l, m, n and r when a vowel follows the s, with words such as: der Balsam (the balm), die Bremse (the brake), and sparsam (economical):
Das ist sehr sparsam!
This is very economical!
Caption 38, Der Trabi - Das Kultauto aus dem Osten
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A single s will usually come before the letter p, with words such as raspeln (to grate), lispeln (to lisp), and die Knospe (the bud):
Knospen, Blätter oder, Früchte von Platanen zum Beispiel...
Buds, leaves or, fruit from the plane trees, for example...
Caption 26, Freilebende Papageien - Überwintern in Wiesbaden
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In most cases, only a single s will come before the letter t, with words such as die Liste (the list), pusten (slang: to blow), and prusten (to puff):
Dann will ich husten und will prusten
Then I'll huff and I'll puff
und euer Haus zusammenpusten!
and I'll blow your house down!
Caption 50, Märchen - Sagenhaft - Die drei kleinen Schweinchen
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2. Double s
The double s is usually written only after a short vowel, with words such as das Schloss (the castle), ein bisschen (a little bit), and passend (fitting):
Eigentlich hätte es gar keine passendere Rolle für sie geben können.
Actually, there couldn't at all have been a more fitting role for her.
Caption 16, Christina Aguilera und Cher - in Deutschland
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3. Eszett: ß
The ß is usually used after a long vowel or double-vowel combination (dipthong), in words such as die Straße (the street), der Meißel (the chisel), and stoßen (to bump, to repel):
Gut, und die stoßen sich ab.
Good and they repel one another.
Caption 35, Das 1. Newtonsche Gesetz - erklärt am Beispiel des Dodomobils
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4. Verbs that vary between ss and ß
Just to make it more complicated, there are some verbs that are written with ß in the infinitive, but switch to ss when conjugated — and vice versa too! For instance the verb vergessen (to forget) uses the letter ss in the infinitive and present tenses (ich vergesse, I forget), but switches to the ß in the past (preterite) tense:
Belle gewann das Biest so lieb,
Belle became so fond of the Beast
dass sie seine äußere Erscheinung darüber völlig vergaß.
that she fully forgot about his outward appearance.
Captions 61-62, Märchen - Sagenhaft - Die Schöne und das Biest
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Further Learning:
Do a search on Yabla German and see if you can find some more examples of verbs that vary between ß and ss in their infinitives and their conjugations.
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