We know you're learning German, but what other subjects have you studied? Even if you're not currently in school, it's always interesting to talk with people about what they studied, and which subjects are still relevant to their lives today.
First, we can start with the natural sciences and the applied sciences, respectively called die Naturwissenschaften and die angewandten Wissenschaften in German.
Jan hat heute seine Physikarbeit zurückbekommen.
Jan got his physics paper back today.
Caption 2, The Simple Physics: Schrödingers Katze
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Ja, das ist Mathematik oder Mathe.
Yes, this is mathematics or math.
Caption 8, Deutsch mit Eylin: Denk schnell!
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...das heißt wir gewinnen zusätzlich noch in dem Bereich Biologie auch eine gewisse Kapazität.
...which means we also gain a certain capacity in the field of biology.
Caption 40, Für Tierfreunde: Przewalski-Wildpferde
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Ich habe schnell gemerkt, dass mich Elektrotechnik sehr interessiert
I quickly noticed that electrical engineering really interests me.
Caption 10, Deutsche Welle: Lieber Ausbildung als Studium
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In these next captions, you will find some fields that relate to the social sciences, or die Sozialwissenschaften, and the world of business.
Ja? Das wäre so eine Geschichte, ähm, mit interdisziplinärem Input aus der Sportwissenschaft, der Sportmedizin, der Psychologie und der Soziologie.
Yes? That would be something, um, with interdisciplinary input from sport sciences, sports medicine, psychology, and sociology.
Captions 65-66, TEDx: Lebenslange Fitness
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Ich hab schon in Spanien zwei Semester Jura studiert.
I already studied law in Spain for two semesters.
Caption 7, Nicos Weg: Am Bankautomaten
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Ich studiere Wirtschaft und arbeite in einem Café.
I study economics and work in a café.
Caption 27, Magie: Die Zaubershow
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The humanities, or die Geisteswissenschaften, include history, languages, literature, philosophy, and often the arts as well. For more on the arts, you can refer to two recent lessons, one which covered the visual arts, and the other on the performing arts.
Kunstgeschichte wird ja von Kunsthistorikern gemacht. Da haben Sie recht, das waren immer Männer.
Art history is written by art historians. You are right about that, those were always men.
Caption 25, Malerei: Impressionistinnen
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Interessierst du dich für Literatur?
Are you interested in literature?
Caption 9, Nicos Weg: Das macht mir Spaß!
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Further Learning
Based on what you read above and have found on Yabla German, see if you can figure out the meanings of the following: die Politikwissenschaft, die Kulturwissenschaft, die Religionswissenschaft. Some disciplines, like die Philosophie, die Geografie, die Geologie, die Anthropologie, or die Medizin, have similar names to their English counterparts and may be easy to identify. And then, of course, some subjects have simply adopted the English term, such as das Marketing and das Management.
You may have noticed that the German verb finden doesn't only mean "to find" as in "to locate" or "to retrieve," but also has another meaning:
Und ich finde wirklich, dass sie in dieser Zeit am besten schmecken.
And I really think that they taste best during this time.
Captions 19-20, Deutsch mit Eylin: Gemüse aus Deutschland
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Die meisten Menschen finden Warzenschweine hässlich.
Most people find warthogs ugly.
Caption 28, Deutsch mit Eylin: Adjektive und ihre Gegenteile
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The verbs denken ("to think") and glauben ("to believe") can also be used to express opinions. Then there is the question of the verb meinen. This verb can either be translated as "to mean" in the sense of referring to something, but also in the sense of having an opinion.
Du meinst, die machen Überstunden? -Illegale Überstunden.
You mean that they are working overtime? -Illegal overtime.
Caption 21, Großstadtrevier: Von Monstern und Mördern
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Eins meinte, Stroh wäre das richtige.
One thought that straw would be the right thing.
Caption 26, Märchen - Sagenhaft: Die drei kleinen Schweinchen
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One word for "the opinion" in German is die Meinung. For expressing your opinion with this noun, there are two different constructions to know about:
Was den Nahen-Ost-Friedensprozess anbelangt, so, bin ich der Meinung, dass die Kerry-Initiative eine gute Grundlage ist, um Friedensgespräche wieder in Gang zu bringen.
With regard to the Middle East peace process, well, I am of the opinion that the Kerry initiative is a good basis to restart the peace talks.
Captions 59-61, Angela Merkel: Gemeinsame Pressekonferenz mit Barack Obama
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Mancher Finanzminister der Länder ist der Meinung, das tun wir heute schon.
Some state finance ministers are of the opinion that we are already doing that today.
Captions 15-16, Angela Merkel: beim Nachhaltigkeitsrat
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Es hat aber meiner Meinung nach natürlich auch sogar einen Forschungscharakter.
But in my opinion it also of course has a research character.
Caption 39, Für Tierfreunde: Przewalski-Wildpferde
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Ihrer Meinung nach ist der Beluga-Wal der wahre Gewinner.
In their opinion, the beluga whale is the real winner.
Caption 57, Die Top Ten: Die 12 freundlichsten Meerestiere der Welt
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Another noun that can be used similarly is die Ansicht, which can also mean "the perspective" or "the point of view." Here are a few more examples:
Und ich bin der Ansicht, dass das die neuen Volkslieder der neuen Generation sind.
And I am of the opinion that these are the new folk songs of the new generation.
Captions 12-13, Heino Neue Volkslieder
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Das Geld ist meiner Ansicht nach nicht verloren.
In my opinion, the money isn't lost yet.
Caption 29, Finanzkrise Die Lehman-Pleite
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Further Learning
Using the verbs and phrases above, build some sentences that express your opinions about food, politics, languages, movies... whatever you want! And, as always, you can find further examples on Yabla German.
The way to say "apart from" something, an expression that is helpful when you want to make a specific point about a topic in a conversation, is the phrase abgesehen von (etwas).
The problem for English speakers with learning this is that the phrase is based upon a verb, absehen, which is confusing when used in the "apart from" context, since it is usually translated as "to foresee" or sometimes as "to predict":
Ja, man konnte es absehen.
Yes, you could foresee it.
Caption 57, Rhein-Main-TV - Interview mit Edmund Stössel
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Even the adverbial form, absehbar, is usually translated as "foreseeable" or sometimes "predictable":
...dass es sich in absehbarer Zeit ins Gegenteil verkehrt.
...that in the foreseeable future, it will move in the opposite direction.
Caption 26, Olympiade in Deutschland - Nicht um jeden Preis
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Deswegen war absehbar: Das wird nicht auf ewig so sein, diese Doppelbelastung.
Therefore, it was foreseeable that it wouldn't last forever, this double load.
Caption 54, Rhein-Main-TV - Interview mit Edmund Stössel
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The phrase abgesehen von (etwas), however, does not mean that something can be foreseen, but rather:
Abgesehen von neugierigen Bootstouristen sind sie dort relativ ungestört.
Apart from the curious tourists on boats, they are relatively undisturbed there.
Caption 12, Abenteuer Nordsee - Unter Riesenhaien und Tintenfischen
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Schlüters Entscheidungsunfähigkeit passt perfekt zur Merkel,
Schlüter's inability to make decisions fits perfectly with Merkel,
von kleineren Problemen abgesehen.
apart from a few small problems.
Captions 14-15, Der Merkelpilot - der kleine Mann, der es macht
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Aber abgesehen von kleinen Anlaufschwierigkeiten schienen die Tiere schon sehr zufrieden.
But apart from minor initial difficulties, the animals seemed to be quite content.
Caption 16, Für Tierfreunde - Przewalski-Wildpferde
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If the subject of your point has already been mentioned, you can also say abgesehen davon:
Abgesehen davon ist Vielfalt bei der Ernährung immer eine gute Sache.
Apart from this, variety in [one's] diet is always a good thing.
Caption 46, Kochhaus Berlin - Kochen mit Kindern
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Mal ganz abgesehen davon, dass wir natürlich kleine Schülerzahlen haben.
Quite apart from that, the fact that we have, of course, a small number of students.
Caption 65, Strothoff International School - Interview mit dem Rektor
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Mal abgesehen davon, dass wir dann gar nicht da wären,
Apart from that, we then wouldn't be here at all
wäre es dunkel auf der Erde... dunkel und kalt.
if it were dark on Earth... dark and cold.
Captions 2-3, Unser Universum - Die Sonne
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Further Learning
Apart from abgesehen von, can you think of any other ways to express "besides" or "other than?" Hint: search on Yabla German for similar expressions that use the prepositions außer, sonst, neben, außerdem, and the expression darüber hinaus.
You may have noticed that there are two words used to talk about springtime in German: das Frühjahr and der Frühling. Sometimes these two words are used interchangeably, like "fall" and "autumn."
However, if we look at the Duden definition of each word, we see that der Frühling is specified as a season in which mild temperatures prevail and plants begin to grow, whereas das Frühjahr is more vaguely defined as the period of time between the end of winter and the end of spring. This may seem like a subtle difference, but means that we will be more likely to hear das Frühjahr used in contexts where we are more generally talking about the transitional months in the early part of the calendar year.
Also dann... [sic] wir sehen uns im Frühjahr zweitausendneun im Kino.
So, then... we'll see one another in the spring of two thousand nine at the movies.
Caption 29, Filmtrailer - Hexe Lilli
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Jedes Frühjahr wandern die großen Tintenfische durch das Wehr.
Every spring, the large coleoids travel through the dam.
Caption 8, Abenteuer Nordsee - Unter Riesenhaien und Tintenfischen
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Im Frühjahr zweitausendundelf
In the spring two thousand eleven,
sollen die ersten Fohlen geboren werden.
the first foals are expected to be born.
Caption 44, Für Tierfreunde - Przewalski-Wildpferde
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Unlike das Frühjahr, der Frühling clearly indicates the season (March through May in the Northern Hemisphere), along with its positive connotations of warm weather. If spring is named among other seasons, it will much more likely be referred to as der Frühling, and not das Frühjahr.
Frühling, Sommer, Herbst und Winter,
Spring, summer, autumn and winter,
so heißen die Jahreszeiten auf Deutsch.
that's what the seasons are called in German.
Captions 3-4, Herbst - mit Eva
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Winter muss eben sein, nich'? Aber, ja, Frühling ist mir lieber.
Winter has to happen, right? But yes, I prefer spring.
Caption 7, Berlin - Im Winter
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Knallige Farben sind im kommenden Frühling und Sommer ein Muss...
Loud colors for the coming spring and summer are a must...
Caption 2, Das Beauty-Einmaleins - Fingernägel
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Further Learning
Check out this previous lesson on compound words featuring Frühling. Look up the meanings of additional compound words such as die Frühjahrsmüdigkeit, der Frühjahrsputz, das Frühjahrsquartal, die Frühjahrsmesse, or die Frühjahrsmode.
Although Easter has been a predominantly Christian holiday in Germany for the last millennia, a number of originally pagan-based traditions still survive. Let's talk about some German Easter traditions and find some examples of the words in other contexts on Yabla.
Although largely supplanted by the Easter Bunny (Osterhase), some regions still imagine different animals delivering the eggs. In parts of North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony, the eggs are still brought by the Easter Fox (Osterfuchs). Parts of Saxony have the tradition of the Easter Rooster (Osterhahn), and Thuringia still has the Easter Stork (Osterstorch).
Oder die meisten denken, es wär' irgendwie Hase oder Fuchs.
Or most of them think it's somehow rabbit or fox.
Caption 12, Queensberry - gegen Pelz
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In much the same way as the pagan tradition of the decorated tree came to be associated with Christmas, the Easter Egg Tree (Ostereierbaum) is also a popular tradition still in Germany and Scandinavia. Branches are gathered from outside and decorated with colored eggs.
Da hat der für Eier keine Zeit!
He has no time for eggs there!
Caption 56, Welt-Pi-Tag - Unser Leben mit der Kreiszahl
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A favorite cake made during the Easter Holidays is called the "Easter Lamb," or Osterlamm, and is baked in the shape of a reclining lamb.
Die ist ihnen nachgelaufen wie ein Lamm.
She ran after them like a lamb.
Caption 20, Für Tierfreunde - Przewalski-Wildpferde
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Easter is also a convenient way to remember in German when to put on or remove the snow tires from your car:
Von O. bis O., also von Oktober bis Ostern,
From O. to O. [E.], so from October to Easter
sollte man mit Winterreifen fahren.
you should drive with winter tires.
Captions 4-5, Winterreifen - Wenn der erste Schnee naht
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Außerdem steht das Osterfest kurz bevor.
Aside from that, the Easter celebration is approaching.
Caption 4, Papst Franziskus - Der neue Papst hat viel zu tun
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Happy Easter holidays to all of you from all of us at Yabla!
Further Learning
Look on Yabla German for other examples of some of the bold-faced words above being used in different contexts.
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