There are several words in German that convey the essential meaning of "however," even if they are not always translated as such. The primary words to look out for are allerdings, jedoch, and hingegen.

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Dirk Nowitzki weiß allerdings, wo seine Wurzeln liegen.

Dirk Nowitzki knows, however, where his roots lie.

Caption 24, Basketball-Superstar - Dirk Nowitzki im Kino

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Allerdings scheiterte sein Fluchtversuch. 

However, his attempt to flee failed. 

Caption 7, 25 Jahre Mauerfall - Radtour durch die Geschichte

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Das Wahrzeichen ist jedoch das mit feuervergoldeten Kupferschindeln gedeckte Goldene Dachl.

The landmark, however, is the Goldenes Dachl [Golden Roof] covered with fire-gilded copper tiles.

Caption 31, 48 h in Innsbruck - Sehenswürdigkeiten & Tipps

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Der Eintrittspreis ist jedoch der alte geblieben.

The entry fee, however, stayed the same.

Caption 17, Autokino - Gravenbruch

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An anderen Orten und in anderen Ländern wird hingegen das Vieh geehrt.

In other places and countries, however, the cattle are honored.

Caption 21, Cettina erklärt - Pfingsten

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Der Bilderrahmen hingegen ist quadratisch, weil alle vier Seiten gleich lang sind.

The picture frame, however, is square, because all four sides are equally long.

Captions 40-41, Eva zeigt uns - Formen

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You may also see any of the words above translated as "at the same time," "on the other hand," or simply as "but." Similarly, aber and doch are occasionally translated as "however." Dennoch (translated as "nonetheless," "nevertheless," "however") and wiederum ("in turn," "on the other hand," "however") are two more words that have a similar function.

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Further Learning
Pay attention to the various ways in which these words are translated on Yabla German and especially to the position of the word in the English sentence in comparison with the original German, as it may not be the same. 

You probably came across the verbs gehören and gefallen quite quickly when you began learning German. They both belong to a group of verbs in German that require a dative object. They are both a bit perplexing at first because most past participles in German begin with ge- (and gehört is indeed the past participle of hören), and also because they follow a particular structure when used in a sentence that doesn't necessarily match the structure in English.

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Also, mir gehört er auf jeden Fall nicht.

Well, it definitely doesn't belong to me.

Caption 49, Das Urban-Art-Projekt - Polnischer Militärhubschrauber

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Das gefällt mir richtig, richtig gut.

I really, really like it.

Caption 5, Auto-Bild-TV - Tops & Flops der IAA

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Notice that in the case of gehören we use the same structure in English, whereas with gefallen the sentence doesn't translate directly. The closest we could come in English is "It pleases me," but this is rarely used nowadays.

Now let's look at gelingen. We notice right away that, like gehören and gefallen, it begins with ge-, which can cause some confusion since it resembles a past participle. Gelingen is indeed the infinitive, and gelungen is the participle. 

Gelingen means "to succeed," "to work out," or "to manage to do something." When we express this in English, the structure is very different. You could almost say that the subject and object are switched. Whereas Das gehört mir is easily translatable as "That belongs to me," there is no such easy direct translation for phrases like Es gelingt ihnen or Es ist mir gelungen in English.

Den Tauchern gelingen die ersten Filmaufnahmen dieses Verhaltens.

The divers manage to get the first film footage of this behavior.

Caption 35, Alpenseen - Kühle Schönheiten - Part 3

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Zusammen mit seiner Freundin gelingt ihm dann beim dritten Versuch endlich die Flucht.

Together with his girlfriend, he finally manages to escape on the third attempt.

Caption 20, 25 Jahre Mauerfall - Radtour durch die Geschichte

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In the sentences above, the subjects are die ersten Filmaufnahmen and die Flucht and the objects are den Tauchern and ihm. In English, this is essentially reversed, or the adjective "successful" is employed. Here are a few more examples: 

Dem treuen Charlie gelingt zur Halbzeit, was er in sechshundertundzwei Bundesligaspielen nicht geschafft hat.

Faithful Charlie achieves at halftime what he hasn't managed in six hundred and two national league games.

Captions 28-29, Fußball - Prominente beim Benefizspiel

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Das ist uns nicht gelungen und... jetzt gilt es natürlich die nächsten Spiele hochkonzentriert anzugehen und dann die möglichen Punkte zu holen.

We were unsuccessful and... Now it's necessary of course to approach the next matches highly concentrated and then to get all points possible.

Captions 50-51, Fußball - U21-Nationalmannschaft - Part 3

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Further Learning
Some verbs that follow similar structures in German (but not always in English!) include: fehlen, gehorchen, passen, schmecken, and wehtun. Look these up, and then go to Yabla German to see them used in a real-world context.

It's quite easy to make mistakes with German words that sound nearly the same but have different prefixes and thus different meanings. For example, some verbs using the root verb lassen (to let, to leave):

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Der Witzleben ist doch vor zwei Jahren vom Führer entlassen worden.

Witzleben was let go by the Führer two years ago.

Caption 23, Die Stunde der Offiziere - Dokudrama über den 20. Juli 1944 - Part 13

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Sie verlassen den amerikanischen Sektor, Berliner Mauer

You are leaving the American Sector, Berlin Wall

Caption 1, 25 Jahre Mauerfall - Radtour durch die Geschichte

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The verb entlassen can mean "to be fired" or "to be let go," but it can also mean "to be released" as in released from prison. Depending upon its context, the verb verlassen can mean "to leave" or "to abandon."

But what about German words with different prefixes that can be translated as the same word in English? It can be even more confusing to keep these straight. A very good example of this are the verbs heiraten and verheiraten.

Ich weiß, eines Tages, da heiraten wir.

I know someday we'll marry.

Caption 32, Monsters of Liedermaching - Für immer

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Using the example below with verheiraten and the subject reflected as the direct object (example 1: wir/uns, example 2: sie/sich), we arrive at the same meaning: 

Ich weiß, eines Tages, da verheiraten wir uns.
I know someday we'll marry.

Ich weiß, eines Tages, da verheiraten sie sich.
I know someday they'll marry.

Both of the examples could use "get married" instead of "marry". The verb verheiraten, when used without a reflective direct object, has a different meaning, however: 

Die Großmutter wollte den Sohn auf jeden Fall verheiraten.
The grandmother wanted badly to get her grandson married off. 

Another easily confused pair are geheiratet and verheiratet: 

Mein Bruder Martin hat letztes Jahr geheiratet.

My brother Martin got married last year.

Caption 19, Die Wohngemeinschaft - Besuch - Part 3

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Der König freute sich, dass seine Tochter endlich verheiratet war.

The King was delighted that his daughter finally got married.

Caption 37, Märchen - Sagenhaft - König Drosselbart

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Both geheiratet and verheiratet can be translated as "got married," but there's a big difference in how you use the words. The word geheiratet is a past participle of the verb heiraten. The word verheiratet, on the other hand, is an adjective which stems from the verb heiraten. Thus you can can say: Ich habe geheiratet ("I got married") or Ich bin verheiratet ("I am married") but not vice-versa! A good way to remember the difference is that the prefix ge- ist one of the most common prefixes used in past participles of German verbs. 

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Further Learning
Look for variations of heiraten and verheiraten on Yabla German to see them in a real-world context, and take a look at this article on the topic!

For the next two lessons, we’ll look at vocabulary for expressing different types of relationships in German. This week, let’s take a look at platonic relationships.

In professional settings, we often hear der Kollege / die Kollegin. This means “the colleague” or “the co-worker.”

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Das ist der Kollege,

That is the colleague

der zusammen mit Jannik Sternberg auf dem Gerüst gearbeitet hat.

who was working with Jannik Sternberg on the scaffolding.

Caption 41, Großstadtrevier - Von Monstern und Mördern

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For young people who attend school together rather than work together, der Klassenkamerad / die Klassenkameradin is a term that means “classmate.” In university settings, der Kommilitone / die Kommilitonin is a common word for referring to one’s fellow students. 

Ich hab' zusammen mit meiner ehemaligen Klassenkameradin

Together with a former classmate of mine, I

einen Abiturientenlehrgang besucht...

visited a high school graduate seminar...

Captions 8-9, Die Klasse - Berlin '61

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You may already know that der Bekannte / die Bekannte indicates an acquaintance, whereas der Freund / die Freundin means “friend” or in some cases even “boyfriend”/“girlfriend.” In this case, the context becomes very important. 

und dann laden wir viele Bekannte und Freunde ein

and then we invite a lot of acquaintances and friends

Caption 18, Mode - mit Niklas

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To indicate a close relationship, enger Freund / enge Freundin (“close friend”) and guter Freund / gute Freundin (“good friend”) may be used. Men might also refer to a close friend as der Kumpel, which is more like “buddy” or “mate.”

Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim,

Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim,

ebenfalls Oberst im Bendlerblock,

also a colonel in the Bendlerblock,

ist enger Freund und Mitverschwörer.

is a close friend and co-conspirator.

Captions 4-6, Die Stunde der Offiziere - Dokudrama über den 20. Juli 1944

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Dann hat mein Kumpel gesagt:

Then my buddy said:

„Na, vielleicht wollten wir doch abhauen.“

"Well, but perhaps we indeed wanted to take off."

Caption 9, 25 Jahre Mauerfall - Radtour durch die Geschichte

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BANNER PLACEHOLDER

Further Learning
We’ll be back next week with vocabulary for various types of romantic relationships. In the meantime, you can learn the plural versions of these words (masculine and feminine), look for other examples on Yabla German, and practice any of the vocabulary above.