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Pages, Paragraphs, Sentences, and Letters

Let's make sure we are all on the same page! If you are taking a German class in addition to your work on Yabla, these are some very important vocabulary words for referring to your textbook, or books and texts in general. 

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First of all, you need the German word for "the page":
 

Wir öffnen unser Buch, Seite vierzig.

We'll open our book, page forty.

Caption 1, Deutschkurs in Tübingen - Verben der 2. Kategorie

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You will often want to refer to a particular paragraph, which can also be done using ordinal numbers rather than cardinal numbers.

 

Gemäß Artikel dreiundsechzig Absatz zwei des Grundgesetzes für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland

According to article sixty-three, paragraph two of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany,

habe ich heute Frau Abgeordnete Doktor Angela Merkel zur Bundeskanzlerin ernannt.

today I have named parliamentarian Dr. Angela Merkel as Federal Chancellor.

Captions 6-7, Bundesregierung - Vereidigung der Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel

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The word der Satz in German is a little tricky because it can mean either "sentence" or "clause" depending on the context. Take a look:
 

„Scribe“ ist das schwierigste Spiel, denn du musst den ganzen Satz selbst schreiben.

"Scribe" is the most difficult game, because you have to write the whole sentence yourself.

Caption 41, German Intro - Cettina

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Zweiter Satz: „Sie ist größer als Stefanie."

Second clause: "She is taller than Stefanie."

Caption 19, Deutschkurs in Blaubeuren - Der Relativsatz

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The word for a letter of the alphabet is der Buchstabe, hence the verb buchstabieren ("to spell"). Ein Zeichen is a character, which could be a letter, number, or even a space (das Leerzeichen). You may recognize this word as it also means "a sign" or "a symbol."

 

Das scharfe S oder Eszett ist ein Buchstabe, der ausschließlich in der deutschen Sprache vorkommt.

The sharp S or eszett is a letter that occurs exclusively in the German language.

Caption 22, Deutsch mit Donna Blitz - Das Alphabet

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Further Learning
Make sure you are also familiar with die Zeile ("the line"), das Kapitel ("the chapter"), der Band ("the volume"), die Strophe ("the stanza"), and der Abschnitt  ("the section", "the paragraph").

Halt oder ich schieße! The many ways to say “stop” in German

Many of you probably know the stock line Halt oder ich schieße! (Stop or I’ll shoot!) from old American and British WWII movies, but did you know there are many other ways to say “stop” in German? The German verbs halten and stoppen are easy to remember, since they have the English equivalent verbs “halt” and “stop,” but separable verbs such as aufhören and anhalten are a bit trickier! 

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Let’s first take a look at a couple of examples using the verb halten in the imperative mood, both from the classic children’s book series Der Struwwelpeter:

 

Halt! Das ist noch gutgegangen

Stop! That just barely turned out ok

und die Fischlein sehen's mit Bangen.

and the little fish watch it with fear.

Caption 12, Der Struwwelpeter - Hans Guck-in-die-Luft

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Robert, halt! Dein Schirm fliegt fort.

Robert, stop! Your umbrella is flying away.

Caption 11, Der Struwwelpeter - Der fliegende Robert

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Next we see the use of the verb stoppen

 

Bislang konnte das die Ausbreitung der Läden aber nicht stoppen.

So far, however, this hasn't stopped the spread of the shops.

Caption 35, Perlentee - In allen Mündern

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And even an example using both halten and stoppen in the imperative mood: 

 

Stopp! Stopp, stopp, stopp, stopp, stopp! Halt!

Stop! Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop! Hold on!

Caption 24, Deutschkurs in Blaubeuren - Der Relativsatz

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Note that Yabla purposefully translated halten as “hold on” in order to differentiate it from the translations of stoppen as “stop.”

Another very useful German word for “stop” is aufhören, which is a separable verb that is most commonly used when you want an activity to stop. Here in the conditional mood:

 

Nein, wenn wir keine Lust mehr hätten, würden wir ja aufhören.

No, if we had no more desire, yes, we would stop.

Caption 25, Die Beatles - in Deutschland

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In the imperative mood, the verb’s lexical core is separated from its particle:

 

Hör auf! -Du musst genau hinsehen.

Stop! -You must watch closely.

Caption 13, Filmtrailer - Wir sind die Nacht

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And here an example using the present perfect tense:

 

Sie hat überhaupt nicht mehr aufgehört mit Eismachen.

She just never stopped making ice cream.

Caption 6, Eis - Eiskalte Leidenschaft

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The separable verb anhalten, on the other hand, is used primarily to indicate the stopping of moving objects or vehicles: 

 

Ein Mann fährt mit seinem Auto.

A man is driving in his car.

Dann wird er von der Polizei angehalten.

Then he is stopped by the police.

Captions 2-3, Sabine erzählt Witze - Die Pinguine

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It is possible to confuse anhalten with the verb for “to keep” (halten) and the preposition “on” (an). Usually the context makes it obvious: 

 

Ihren Pfiffi sollten sie aber lieber an der kurzen Leine halten.

But you had better keep your Fifi on a short leash.

Caption 39, Für Tierfreunde - Geparden

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Another version of “stop” with a very specific context is stehen bleiben, alternately written as one word (stehenbleiben), which is when a person stops walking or running:

 

Das heißt, jedes Mal, wenn man ihn gefangen hat,

That means, every time you catch it,

muss man stehen bleiben.

you have to stop.

Caption 10, Ultimate Frisbee - Spielregeln

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How would you translate the following?

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Stopphalthör auf mit dem Anhalten!

Note that in the above sentence, the verb anhalten has been nominalized into the noun Anhalten. Many of the alternate German words for "stop" may be translated, depending on the context, with other English synonyms for “stop,” such as “cease,” “discontinue,” “interrupt,” “turn off,” “shut down,” “finish,” “break off,” “close,” or “end.”

 

Learning suggestions:

When you're watching Yabla videos, see if you can spot any other German versions of “stop.” You may learn some more synonyms for “stop” here

Expressions