My experiences with having roommates in the United States varied a lot. Sometimes the landlord just didn't care, or at most just asked to be informed. Sometimes they wanted to check the potential roommate's credit rating, or even go so far as adding them to the lease or rental contract.
Laws regarding renter's rights vary in different places in Germany, but in the city-state of Berlin, there are a number of peculiar aspects to what should be a fairly simple process: getting a roommate.
You are required by Berlin law to have the landlord's permission to sublet (untermieten) before your roommate, the subletter (der Untermieter, die Untermieterin), moves in.
Na ja, Sie sind doch der Vermieter hier.
Well, you're the landlord here.
Caption 8, Nicos Weg: Nachbarschaft
Play Caption
Bis sie eine Erlaubnis bekommen...
Until they receive permission...
Caption 36, Flüchtlingskrise: 10 Vorurteile, die nicht stimmen
Play Caption
Hast du Mitbewohner? Ja, ich habe eine Mitbewohnerin. Ihr Name ist Sarah.
Do you have roommates? Yes, I have a roommate. Her name is Sarah.
Captions 5-6, Drei Leute: beim Kofferpacken
Play Caption
The genders of the above are der Vermieter or die Vermieterin; der Mitbewohner or die Mitbewohnerin; die Erlaubnis.
If you don't ask the landlord's permission first, and either the landlord or somebody from the property management (die Hausverwaltung) notices a new name on the doorbell or mailbox, you could have a serious problem. If the landlord can prove you are subletting without permission—which is actually quite difficult without your roommate openly admitting it—you and your roommate could be evicted (zwangsgeräumt) from your apartment.
On a more positive note, however, if you have valid reasons, such as not wanting to live alone and/or wanting to save money on your costs of living, the landlord is required by law to grant you permission. First, you write them a letter asking permission to have a subletter and giving the personal details about your roommate such as their full name (der Vollname), date of birth (das Geburtsdatum), place of birth (der Geburtsort), and their last residential address (die letzte Wohnanschrift), and give valid reasons for wanting a roommate. The only legal reasons they might have for refusing are if your roommate has a bad rental history record or if there is less than 12.5 square meters (about 135 square feet) per person in the flat.
If the landlord fails to answer you within the period you asked them to, usually two weeks, you can get a lawyer to file against them and have the court order the landlord to give you permission. There are a number of renter's rights organizations in Berlin that, for a yearly fee of around 100 euros, offer free legal help, from advice all the way to the courtroom. It's smart to belong to one of these organizations!
Ich will Jura studieren und Rechtsanwältin werden.
I want to study law and become a lawyer.
Caption 42, Küss mich, Frosch: Für immer Frosch?
Play Caption
Ihrer Klage sehen wir gelassen entgegen.
We are calmly looking forward to your lawsuit.
Caption 21, Marga Engel schlägt zurück: Betrug
Play Caption
The gender variants for "lawyer" are der Rechtsanwalt and die Rechtsanwältin.
Unless you are subletting your entire flat, the landlord is not allowed to stipulate any conditions in their permission to sublet, such as a limited time period or based upon a yearly verification of your income. Even if you agreed to such conditions originally, they can be invalidated in court because the landlord was not allowed to stipulate them in the first place.
Once you get permission for your roommate to live with you, you should have them sign a sublet contract (der Untermietvertrag) and then fill out—and this is a real mouthful–eine Wohnungsgeberbescheinigung, which can be translated as "a housing provider certificate." Your roommate needs one of these so that they can get a residential registration (die Meldebestätigung) at your address. Without a valid residential registration, they will have a lot problems with things such as getting a library card, a bank account, or a residence permit!
Thankfully, renters have a lot of rights in Berlin, but you may sometimes find yourself in the position of having to fight for those rights. Joining a renter's rights association is a good option and gives you full access to advice from experienced lawyers.
Further Learning
If you are in the mood to get into some advanced German, read this article about a decision of the Landgericht Berlin about subletting rights by the Berliner Mietergemeinschaft. You can also go to Yabla German and find other videos with some of the German vocabulary words mentioned above!
There are many German verbs that consist of a rather common or basic verb combined with a prefix. Their meaning may then be somewhat or completely different from the verb they contain. You may have read our lessons about verbs related to gehen and verbs with holen. We also have overviews for sprechen and kaufen. Today, let's have a look at some verbs that stem from the verb laufen.
By itself, the verb laufen is sometimes synonymous with the translation of gehen as "to walk." However, it also means "to run," and can be used to describe a human or animal running, but also a machine that is "running." It is often used to describe something that is in progress, happening, in operation, or proceeding. Take a look at how the following sentences are translated:
Wir laufen durch die Straßen.
We walk through the streets.
Caption 39, Christina Stürmer: Wir leben den Moment
Play Caption
Ja, und wie läuft's bei dir so in der Wache? Nein, sag bloß!
Yes, and how is it going with you at the station? No way!
Caption 46, Großstadtrevier: Von Monstern und Mördern
Play Caption
Und das sind die drei Kriterien, wenn die gut laufen, dann läuft auch der Blindenfußball gut.
And these are the three criteria, if they go well, then blind football also goes well.
Caption 22, Blindenfußball Treffen nach Ton
Play Caption
Die meisten kennen mich wahrscheinlich aus der Sendung „Der Bachelor“, die sehr erfolgreich auf RTL läuft.
Most of you probably know me from the series "Der Bachelor," which is having a very successful run on RTL.
Captions 11-12, Anja Polzer: Interview
Play Caption
Sorry, das läuft auf meinem alten Laptop nicht. Da müssen wir zu dir.
Sorry, this won't run on my old laptop. We'll have to go to your place.
Caption 35, Die Pfefferkörner: Gerüchteküche
Play Caption
And now for some related verbs. Let's begin with ablaufen, which can mean "to go," "to proceed," "to lapse," or "to expire."
Bei manchen Leuten läuft's sogar komplett ohne Symptome ab.
For some people, it even runs its course completely without symptoms.
Caption 23, Coronavirus: Schutzmasken zum Selbermachen
Play Caption
Jetzt werde ich euch erzählen, wie ein Tag in meinem Leben abläuft.
Now I will tell you how a day in my life goes.
Caption 16, Jenny erklärt: Zeitintervalle
Play Caption
Deine Zeit ist gleich abgelaufen.
Your time will be up soon.
Caption 21, Küss mich, Frosch: Für immer Frosch?
Play Caption
Among its many meanings, verb auslaufen can mean "to spill" or "to leak," but also "to run out" or "to peter out."
Die Ostalgie-Welle ist auch langsam ausgelaufen.
The wave of "Ostalgie" has also slowly petered out.
Caption 2, Der Trabi: Das Kultauto aus dem Osten
Play Caption
Then there are the verbs verlaufen and sich verlaufen. As you can see, these have very different meanings!
Bis jetzt ist alles wirklich gut verlaufen.
Up until now, everything has really gone well.
Caption 7, Berufsleben: Probleme mit Mitarbeitern
Play Caption
Du sagst, wir haben uns nie verlaufen.
You say we've never gotten lost.
Caption 21, Philipp Dittberner: Das ist dein Leben
Play Caption
Further Learning
You can find many other verbs in this list, some of which are more common than others. You will find many of these on Yabla German as well. Try to make your own examples with the following verbs: davonlaufen, fortlaufen, entlaufen, and herumlaufen.
For our beginners, we are devoting this week's newsletter to expressing probability, or the likelihood that something will occur or be the case. There is a range of adverbs that can help you express this in German.
When something is certain, common adverbs used are definitiv, sicher, or bestimmt. "Definitely" is also among the common translations of the phrase auf jeden Fall.
Für Kerber steht fest,
For Kerber it is certain
dass sie die Abstiegsrunde im April definitiv spielen wird.
that she will definitely play at the relegation round in April.
Caption 19, Angelique Kerber - Fotoshooting mit Porsche
Play Caption
Na ja, es wird sicher kein Problem sein,
Well, it will certainly not be a problem
den Internetbetreiber zu zwingen, den Film zu löschen.
to compel the internet provider to delete the movie.
Captions 6-7, Die Pfefferkörner - Gerüchteküche
Play Caption
Die Kündigung hat bestimmt andere Gründe.
The layoff surely has other reasons.
Caption 30, Berufsleben - Probleme mit Mitarbeitern
Play Caption
Oh, wow! Dann wirst du ihn auf jeden Fall wiedersehen, oder?
Oh, wow! Then you will definitely see him again, right?
Caption 47, Die Wohngemeinschaft - Die Verabredung
Play Caption
The best translation of "likely" and "unlikely" or "probable" and "improbable" in German is wahrscheinlich and unwahrscheinlich.
Wahrscheinlich brauchen wir noch ein bisschen Nachhaltigkeitsunterstützung.
We likely still need a little bit of support with sustainability.
Caption 77, Angela Merkel - beim Nachhaltigkeitsrat
Play Caption
Dass der Winter noch mal in voller Wucht zu uns zurückkommt,
That winter will return to us in full force
ist im Moment aber ohnehin eher unwahrscheinlich.
is, momentarily, however, without a doubt rather improbable.
Captions 41-42, Rheinmain im Blick - Frühling im Zoo
Play Caption
Like wahrscheinlich, the word wohl as an adverb also signifies that something is likely or probable. Eventuell, vielleicht and möglicherweise are used when something is possible but can't be guaranteed.
Und das wird wohl auch erst mal so bleiben.
And it will first also likely stay like that.
Caption 19, Andreas Bourani - Startet durch
Play Caption
Es kann sein, dass wir eventuell etwas Milch brauchen.
It could be that we'll maybe need some milk.
Caption 12, Sallys Tortenwelt und Kochwelt - Apfelkuchen mit Marzipan und Mandelsplittern
Play Caption
Vielleicht wird's morgen für mich regnen.
Maybe it will rain for me tomorrow.
Caption 15, Andreas Bourani - Eisberg
Play Caption
Das Kartengerät ist möglicherweise schon seit Wochen angezapft.
The card reader was possibly tapped for weeks.
Caption 44, Großstadtrevier - Neben der Spur
Play Caption
Just as auf jeden Fall means definitely, auf keinen Fall means that something definitely will not occur, by no means.
Na, du wirst auf gar keinen Fall arbeiten.
Well, you won't work in any case.
Caption 45, Küss mich, Frosch - Für immer Frosch?
Play Caption
Further Learning
Create your own sentences in which you describe how likely certain events are to happen, from the definite or most likely to the most improbable. If you need more guidance, you can find many more examples of these adverbs in use on Yabla German.
The adjective übel in German has a number of translations, both alone and in various idiomatic contexts. First of all, it can mean "queasy," "sick to one's stomach," or "nauseated":
Davon wurde manchem übel.
Some people became sick to their stomachs from that.
Caption 13, Deutsche Welle - Was ist das Reinheitsgebot?
Play Caption
It can also be used colloquially to express dislike of something, and means "bad," "objectionable," or "over the top."
Na ja, vielleicht ist es ja gar nicht so übel.
Well, maybe that isn't that bad at all.
Caption 51, Küss mich, Frosch - Für immer Frosch?
Play Caption
Auch diese ganzen Witze,
Also, all of these jokes,
auch vor allem, wie die Frankfurter sie sich über Offenbach ausdenken,
above all how those from Frankfurt come up with things about Offenbach,
die sind übel, ja?
they are over the top, right?
Captions 43-44, Badesalz - Offenbach gegen Frankfurt
Play Caption
You also might hear the colloquial expression jemandem etwas übel nehmen. This means "to take something the wrong way" or "to hold something against someone."
Deshalb nimmt es Ihnen dort auch niemand übel,
That's also why no one there will hold it against you
wenn Sie es sich mal eben in einem der kostbaren Oldtimer bequem machen.
if you just make yourself comfortable in one of the valuable vintage automobiles.
Captions 6-7, Rhein-Main Ferien - Technische Sammlung Hochhut
Play Caption
Further Learning
Although übel is not necessarily an adjective we hope you will have to use, you can practice using the word in its various contexts in case a relevant situation arises. Nimm es mir nicht übel = "Don't hold it against me." Mir ist übel = "I am feeling nauseated."
Spanish
French
Italian
Chinese
English
English 
Español
Français
Italiano
Português
Deutsch
