In last week's newsletter, we looked at the various ways of expressing the adverb "even" in German. We shouldn't forget that adverbs not only describe verbs, but adjectives as well. In this case, "even" is expressed with "noch":

Und mit ein bisschen Unterstützung der Teamkollegen klappt's vielleicht noch besser.

And with a little support from the team members it might work out even better.

Caption 11, Fußball - Torwandschießen

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In English we say something is "even better" or that it is getting "better and better." The latter exists in German as well and is often constructed with the verb werden, the word immer, and a comparative adjective. 

Man wird ja immer besser durch die Übung.

One does get even [always] better through practice.

Caption 26, Singer-Songwriter - Sebastian Niklaus

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As you can see, this construction can be used with most adjectives: 

Sie wird im Spiegel immer kleiner

It gets smaller and smaller in the mirror

Caption 85, Wincent Weiss & Benni Freibott - Musik sein

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Und deshalb wird es auch immer wichtiger werden,

And therefore it is going to become more and more important

dieses auch in Zukunft, äh, zu verstärken.

to, uh, also emphasize this in the future.

Captions 35-36, Angela Merkel - beim Nachhaltigkeitsrat

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Sie ist, äh, durch die Erweiterung des Flughafens

It has, uh, through the expansion of the airport,

natürlich immer komplexer geworden...

become more and more complex, of course...

Captions 35-36, Berlins regierender Bürgermeister - Pläne für 2014

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However, make sure to take context of the sentence and the presence or absence of werden into account. The sentence below shows that immer can be combined with an adjective and still just mean "always."

Wenn man gemeinsam reist, ist es immer besser.

It's always better if you travel together.

Caption 20, Traumberuf - Windsurfer

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Further Learning
Based on the tips above, how would you translate the phrase immer wieder? Do a search on Yabla German!

There are a number of ways to indicate that something is going "up" in German, but today let's take a look at the prepositional phrase nach oben, which can be translated into English in a number of ways, depending on the context. Let's take a look at some different interpretations of the phrase in German Yabla videos.

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Vielleicht halten Sie's grad so ein bisschen nach oben.

Maybe you could hold it up a little bit.

Caption 29, Fußball - Torwandschießen

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... dass ein unsichtbarer Faden am Kopf den ganzen Körper nach oben zieht.

... that an invisible thread on top of your head is pulling the whole body upward.

Caption 15, Flirt-Coach-Serie - Die richtige Körpersprache

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Das war ein langer Weg nach oben.

It was a long way to the top.

Caption 3, Preisverleihung - Bestes Magazin

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Nach oben sind dem Preis keine Grenzen gesetzt.

No price limits are set at the top.

Caption 13, Highend-Fashion aus dem Kloster - Ein Mönch als Maßschneider

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Als der Frosch nach oben in ihr Bett getragen werden wollte ...

When the Frog wanted to be carried upstairs to her bed ...

Caption 57, Märchen - Sagenhaft - Der Froschkönig

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In the examples above, you see nach oben used to mean "up," "upward," "to the top," "at the top," and "upstairs." Note that when you say in German that you are going upstairs, it is more common to simply say you are going nach oben than to use the more literal die Treppe hinaufgehen.

The prepositional phrase nach oben also has a number of idiomatic usages: 

Das heißt natürlich nicht, dass hier alle Leute die Nase nach oben tragen.

Of course, that doesn't mean that all the people here put their noses up [idiom, are conceited].

Caption 5, Rhein-Main-TV - Badesee Rodgau

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Die Nase nach oben tragen means "to be conceited."

Es gibt noch Potential nach oben.

There is still upward potential [room for improvement].

Caption 21, Rhein-Main-TV - Green-Region-Konferenz zur Nachhaltigkeit

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And here, Potential nach oben means there is room for improvement.

Ein Mann will nach oben is the title of a novel by Hans Fallada, whose final novel from 1947, Jeder stirbt für sich allein (English title: Every Man Dies Alone), became a surprise bestseller in its English translation in 2009. Ein Mann will nach oben was made into a 13-part TV film in 1978.

Ein Mann will nach oben.

A man wants to move up.

Caption 1, Mathieu Carriere - Ein Mann will nach oben

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Further Learning
Do a search for nach oben on Yabla German and see some more examples of how this phrase is used in German in a real world context! 

Let’s take a look today at adjectives that define quantitative amounts without actually resorting to the specifics of numbers. The most common of them, viele (“much” or “many”) and wenige (“little” or “not many”), are used irregularly, however, so let’s check them out first. When viele and wenige occur as a definite article or after a definite article, they are conjugated as normal adjectives: 

Für die vielen amerikanischen Soldaten im amerikanischen Sektor...

For the many American soldiers in the American Sector...

Caption 9, Berlin - der alte amerikanische Sektor

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But when viele or wenige occur without an article before a singular noun, they are usually left unconjugated: 

Aber dafür bleibt wohl wenig Zeit.

But there seems to be too little time for that.

Caption 25, Fußball - Torwandschießen

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As you can see above, a normal adjective for the feminine word die Zeit would, in the nominative case as here, end with an “e.” Wenig is a little different!

Here are some examples of more typical indefinite quantity adjectives, which are conjugated as normal adjectives. We can start will alle (“everything”):

Natürlich stehe ich hinter allen Songs.

Of course I'm behind all of the songs.

Caption 62, Deutsche Bands - Luxuslärm

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And then wind up with keine (“none” or “no”): 

Bisher allerdings ist noch keine Schildkröte in Sicht.

Up to now though there's still no turtle in sight.

Caption 43, Ausgrabungen - Auf den Spuren der Dinosaurier

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Some other common indefinite quantity adjectives to look out for are: beide (both), einige (some), einzelne (single, individual), ganze (whole), gesamte (entire), manche (some), sonstige (other, further), übrige (the rest), weitere (further), zahllose (innumerable), and zahlreiche (numerous). 

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Learning suggestions:

Keep your eyes out in every Yabla video for the many ways that indefinite quantity adjectives are used, and pay particular attention to the way that viele and wenige are conjugated, because the irregular usage will take some training and getting a feel for! For a further foray into the world of indefinite quantity adjectives written in German, take a look here. Ich wünsche euch viel Spaß beim Lernen!