The arts are basically divided into three different categories: the Visual Arts (die bildende Kunst), Literature (die Literatur), and the Performing Arts (die darstellende Kunst). Of course, there are art forms that combine the different categories—as well as art that is very difficult to categorize at all—but let's stick to the basics!
Today we'll focus on the Visual Arts. The first type of art in this category is architecture (die Architektur). The professional title of a person who creates architecture is an architect (der Architekt / die Architektin).
Architektur ist eben die Reflexion eines Zeitgeistes.
Architecture is simply a reflection of a spirit of the times.
Caption 38, Architektur der Stadt: Karlsruhe
Play Caption
Mit dem namentlichen Gedenken möchte Architektin Barbara Willecke einerseits den Ort der Synagoge wieder sichtbar machen
With memorialization by name, architect Barbara Willecke would like, on the one hand, to make the site of the synagogue visible again
Captions 65-66, Holocaust-Gedenktag: Gedenkstätte am Michelsberg
Play Caption
The next type of art in the visual arts is ceramics (die Keramik), which is classified in German culture as an artisanal handicraft (das Kunsthandwerk). Works of art made of ceramic are also called pottery (die Töpferware). You call a person who makes ceramics a ceramicist (der Keramiker / die Keramikerin) or a potter (der Töpfer / die Töpferin).
Und das ist jetzt auch aus Keramik produziert? -Das ist aus Keramik.
And this is also produced now out of ceramic? -This is made of ceramic.
Caption 48, Karlsruher Stadtgeburtstag: die Majolika-Manufaktur
Play Caption
Das hat 1936 die Keramikerin Else Bach kreiert.
That was made in 1936 by the ceramicist Else Bach.
Caption 7, Majolika Karlsruhe: Der Bambi-Filmpreis
Play Caption
The next type of art in the visual arts category is drawing (das Zeichnen), and the drawing that results is called die Zeichnung. A person who creates drawings is called a drawer (der Zeichner / die Zeichnerin) or an illustrator (der Illustrator / die Illustratorin), but many people working in the visual arts also use drawings as preliminary sketches.
Warum haben Sie meine Zeichnung gefälscht?
Why did you forge my drawing?
Caption 39, Großstadtrevier: Nicht mit mir
Play Caption
Die Zeichner legen viel rein und du siehst es auch einfach.
The illustrators put a lot into it, and you notice that too.
Caption 54, Manga-und-Anime: Treffen in Mainz-Kastell
Play Caption
Now we come to painting (die Malerei), a field practiced by painters (der Maler / die Malerin; also der Kunstmaler, die Kunstmalerin), which is probably the traditional art form that most people think of when they think about art. The work resulting from an artist in this field is a painting (das Gemälde).
Die Malerei macht glücklich und beruhigt die Seele.
Painting makes me happy and soothes my soul.
Caption 41, Malerei: Ernst Mente
Play Caption
So kamen auch zwei Kunstwerke des italienischen Malers Gennaro Greco ins Haus.
By this means, two artworks by the Italian painter Gennaro Greco also came into the house.
Caption 12, Restituierung von Raubkunst: aus der Nazi-Zeit
Play Caption
Next comes photography (die Fotografie), practiced by photographers (der Fotograf / die Fotografin), which has many aspects that are not generally considered fine art, such as photojournalism for the news and commercial photography for advertising. The picture taken by a photographer is called a photograph (das Foto, or less commonly, das Lichtbild). The German word for "photographer," der Fotograf, sounds very similar to the English word "photograph," so beware of this false friend! Note too that with most of the German words above, it is acceptable German spelling to substitute most instances of "f" with "ph": die Photographie, der Photograph, and die Photographin. The tricky word Foto, however, may not be written with "ph"!
Wann hast du angefangen, dich für die Fotografie zu interessieren?
When did you start to get interested in photography?
Caption 5, Der Fotograf: Sven Siegrist
Play Caption
Was ist denn da genau als Fotograf zu beachten?
What exactly is there to consider as a photographer?
Caption 41, Der Fotograf: Sven Siegrist
Play Caption
The last form of visual arts is conceptual art (die Konzeptkunst), which may be defined as any contemporary art that does not use only the traditional visual art skills of painting or sculpture and so forth. A person who practices this art form is a conceptual artist (der Konzeptkünstler / die Konzeptkünstlerin). Since conceptual art may take the form of an installation, or a form that is not easily sold (in the way an object like a painting or sculpture can be sold), most conceptual artists live from art grants and other forms of financial support.
... hier bei der Eröffnung der aktuellen Ausstellung zur Konzeptkunst
... here at the opening of the current exhibition about conceptual art
Caption 8, Museum für Moderne Kunst
Play Caption
Further Learning
Go to Yabla German and watch the videos above relating to art forms and professions. Find a tandem partner in your class and make up some sentences in German using these art words, then compare what you both came up with.
Ich würde mich hauptsächlich erst mal auf meine Sensorik, also auf mein Auge, auf meinen Sehsinn, auf meinen Tastsinn und auch wieder auf meinen Geruchssinn verlassen.
I would rely mainly first on my senses, that is, on my eye, on my sense of sight, on my sense of touch and, also again, rely on my sense of smell.
Captions 6-9, Kochhaus Berlin: Frische Zutaten erkennen
Play Caption
In the Yabla example above, a chef discusses how he uses his senses when picking out produce. He first mentions sight—der Sehsinn—which relates to the verb sehen and was covered in a previous newsletter.
Das kann man besonders gut hier sehen.
You can see that particularly well here.
Caption 22, Eva erklärt: Farben
Play Caption
Der Tastsinn refers to touch. Here, there are three verbs you will regularly see: not only tasten, but also berühren and anfassen. Generally, anfassen refers to intentionally touching something in order to get a better sense of it, or possibly to hold onto it. The verb berühren could refer to barely touching something, or touching it carefully or accidentally. It can also refer to being emotionally moved or "touched" by something. The verb tasten often refers to touching with the intent of finding something, like when you feel around for something in a bag or purse.
Sie können's auch mal anfassen. -Das sieht so echt aus, so... -Ja.
You can also touch it. -It looks so real, so... -Yes.
Caption 50, Karlsruher Stadtgeburtstag: die Majolika-Manufaktur
Play Caption
Papa Wutz kann seine Zehen wirklich nicht berühren.
Papa Wutz really can't touch his toes.
Caption 35, Peppa Wutz: Sport
Play Caption
The chef in our first example lastly mentions der Geruchssinn, the sense of smell. The related verb here is riechen, which can be used to refer to both the act of smelling something or the state of smelling (like something).
Ich rieche daran, ob die wirklich auch nach einer Erdbeere riecht.
I smell it to see if it also really smells like a strawberry.
Caption 23, Kochhaus Berlin: Frische Zutaten erkennen
Play Caption
Boah, das riecht schon sehr gut.
Wow, that smells very good indeed.
Caption 50, Bundesländer und ihre Rezepte: Baden-Württemberg
Play Caption
Der Geschmackssinn is not mentioned, as you generally don't try food before buying it unless invited to do so. You will often see not only schmecken, which is used to describe how something tastes, but also kosten, which refers to the act of trying food.
Das heißt, die Sachen schmecken ganz normal.
This means that the things taste quite normal.
Caption 37, Die Pfefferkörner: Endspurt
Play Caption
Aber die meisten Leute kommen her, um das leckere Essen zu kosten.
But most people come here to taste the delicious food.
Caption 11, Weihnachtsmärkte: mit Eva
Play Caption
The chef also doesn't mention das Gehör—the sense of hearing. Luckily, we have a lesson all about listening that you can peruse, as well as one on unrelated verbs that contain the root hören.
Hört man das? -Ja, ja, man hört es.
Can you hear this? -Yes, yes, we can hear it.
Caption 41, Böhmermann: Wie geht man als Satiriker mit Rechtspopulismus um?
Play Caption
Further Learning
Practice describing what you can hear, see, smell, touch, and taste, and go to Yabla German to find other examples of the relevant verbs and nouns.
As we know, German nouns can be masculine, feminine, or neuter, and the article used with a noun is dependent on its gender. You may have already been advised to memorize the definite article der, die, or das as an essential part of the noun itself, as there are few patterns that will reliably help you retrieve the gender of the noun later on. At Yabla, we try to help with this by always including the definite article of any new vocabulary words presented in our newsletters.
However, because new words are not always presented with their definite article in Yabla videos or in real life situations, it may be good to learn a few tendencies that exist for certain word endings. Let’s start with some typically masculine endings, keeping in mind that these rules do have exceptions and that memorizing the article along with each individual noun will always be a better idea.
Often, words ending with -er, -or, -en, -ling, -smus, -ig, -eig, -ant, or -eich are masculine and require the definite article der.
Der Teig hat doch eine ganze Stunde gebraucht, um fertig zu werden.
The batter did indeed take a whole hour to be ready.
Caption 17, Weihnachtsplätzchen backen - mit Diane und vielen kleinen Helfern
Play Caption
Dann wird der Honig in Gläser abgefüllt.
Then the honey is filled into jars.
Caption 28, Piggeldy und Frederick - Vergessen
Play Caption
Der Garten, den ihr hier seht,
The garden, which you see here,
der gehört zur Domäne Dahlem.
belongs to the Dömane Dahlem [name of museum].
Caption 4, Berlin - Domäne Dahlem
Play Caption
It is important to note that these rules often don’t apply to monosyllabic words. For example, words ending in -eich are often masculine, but not das Reich ("the empire").
Und der hintere Bereich jetzt hier, wo kommen wir jetzt hin?
And the area now behind here, where are we going now?
Caption 14, Karlsruher Stadtgeburtstag - die Majolika-Manufaktur
Play Caption
And don't forget: these “rules” are really only tendencies due to exceptions. As we see here, there are words ending with -ant that are not masculine.
Der Elefant wollte an seine Frau nach Afrika schreiben.
The elephant wanted to write to his wife in Africa.
Caption 34, Janoschs Traumstunde - Post für den Tiger
Play Caption
„Wie heißt das Restaurant, dessen Essen so...
"What is the name of the restaurant whose food...
dessen Essen so gut sein soll?"
whose food is supposed to be so good?"
Caption 5, Deutschkurs in Blaubeuren - Der Relativsatz
Play Caption
Further Learning
We will be back next week with typical endings for feminine nouns. In the meantime, make some flashcards with vocabulary from past lessons or your favorite videos on Yabla German, and always include the definite article so that you learn the gender of the noun. If you have flashcards but have not included the articles, add them now! It is important to get into the habit of doing so.
In last week's lesson, we discussed how translating animal names directly may not be wise, and the same applies to flora as well. If you were to directly translate the German word for "dandelion" into English, for example, you would wind up with "lion's tooth" (der Löwenzahn). You may be relieved, however, to recall that, as poet Gertrude Stein once famously wrote: "A rose is a rose is a rose." Or as the case may be, eine Rose.
With spring hopefully just around the corner, let's take a look at some flower names as they appear in some Yabla German videos.
Eine Kornblume mit vielen Blütengeschwistern.
A cornflower with many sibling blossoms.
Caption 30, Piggeldy und Frederick - Unkraut
Play Caption
Das Stoppelfeld, die Sonnenblume, schläfrig am Zaun...
The stubbled field, the sunflower, sleepy against the fence...
Caption 9, Sabine und Ivana - Gedichte im Bus
Play Caption
Er hat sich die Tulpen überallher bringen lassen.
He had tulips brought in from all over the world.
Caption 52, Karlsruher Stadtgeburtstag - die Majolika-Manufaktur
Play Caption
The above are quite easy examples, in that they are either coincidentally correct as direct English translations or, in the case of "tulips," are very similar words.
Further Learning
Take a look at this list of German flower names and see how many you can guess correctly without having to look them up. Meanwhile, keep your eyes open for the first flower of spring...
Spanish
French
Italian
Chinese
English
English 
Español
Français
Italiano
Português
Deutsch
