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Zwischen den Jahren

In Germany, the time between Christmas and New Year's is often referred to as zwischen den Jahren ("between the years"), which is a dative construction. As you may know, the word zwischen is a two-way preposition, which means it may be followed by either the accusative or dative case. Here you can see how the article (and adjective!) changes depending on whether something is in the process of being put or going between, or is simply stationed between:

 

Ganze sechs Wochen hat man an dem Rezept getüftelt. Nach amerikanischem Vorbild kommt hier nicht einfach nur Fleisch zwischen die Brötchen.

An entire six weeks were spent tinkering with the recipe. According to the American model, it's not just meat that gets put between the buns.

Captions 7-8, Berlin: Die beste Auswahl an Hamburgern

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Erst neunzehnhundertneunundachtzig wurde die Mauer zwischen den beiden Regionen wieder geöffnet.

It was not until nineteen eighty-nine that the wall between the two regions was reopened.

Captions 19-20, Bundesländer und ihre Rezepte: Bundesland Berlin

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In addition to the preposition zwischen, you may have also seen the words dazwischen and inzwischen. These words are both adverbs. The word dazwischen is often translated as "in between," though there may be instances in which other phrasings are more applicable in English. 

 

Also, entweder gewinnen wir oder wir fahren alle anderen kaputt. Also, dazwischen gibt's nichts.

Well, either we win or we run everyone else off the road. So there is nothing in between.

Caption 6, VW-Käfer-Cup: auf dem Hockenheimring

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Und dazwischen ist eine kleine Biene hin und her geflogen.

And in between them, a little bee flew back and forth.

Caption 22, Piggeldy und Frederick Der Apfel

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Und dazwischen ist immer wieder Zeit für eine kleine Rast und einen kleinen Ratsch.

And along the way, there's always time for a little rest and a bit of conversation.

Caption 33, Die letzten Paradiese: Die Schönheit der Alpen

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The word inzwischen has quite a different meaning, as it refers to time. It means "meanwhile," "in the meantime," or "by now."

 

Hier in Ulrichstein am Vogelsberg stehen inzwischen sechsundvierzig Windräder.

Here in Ulrichstein, there are meanwhile forty-six windmills.

Caption 4, Energiewende in Hessen: Windräder und Solarparks

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Claudia Schiffer ist inzwischen dreifache Mutter.

Claudia Schiffer is in the meantime mother of three.

Caption 28, Claudia Schiffer: Nach der Babypause

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Und wir haben inzwischen viele Begegnungen gehabt.

And we have had many meetings in the meantime.

Caption 6, Angela Merkel :Gemeinsame Pressekonferenz mit Barack Obama

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Further Learning
You can find many examples with these words on Yabla German. Meanwhile, enjoy your time "between the years," and stay tuned for our first lesson of 2023!

German Verbs Connected with Lassen

There are at least ten German verbs that have unique meanings when connected with lassen ("to let"). Not so very long ago, they were literally connected with lassen in that they used to be written together as a single verb. However, in the last decades, the arbiter of German grammar, Duden, proclaimed that it is preferable grammatically to write the root verbs and lassen as separate words. Oddly enough, rather than subordinating the version with lassen to the main listing for the verb in question, Duden still has them listed in a dictionary single entry -- for two verbs. Thus if you search on Duden for the old spelling of fallenlassen, the first match will be fallen lassen.

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Here are some examples of verbs connected to lassen which in the past would have been written as a single verb, but are now usually separated by a space:

 

Und als sich der Mond schließlich zeigte,

And when the moon finally revealed itself,

glänzten die weißen Kieselsteine, die Hänsel hatte fallen lassen,

the white pebbles that Hansel had let fall gleamed

wie Silber.

like silver.

Captions 31-32, Märchen - Sagenhaft - Hänsel und Gretel

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Ich bin locker. Wenn ich will, kann ich mich total gehen lassen.

I am relaxed. If I want to I can totally let myself go.

Caption 26, Filmtrailer - Keinohrhasen

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Ansonsten gilt im Zoo weiterhin die Frühlingsdevise:

Apart from that, in the zoo the spring slogan still applies:

einfach mal hängen lassen!

at times simply just let it all hang out!

Caption 48, Rheinmain im Blick - Frühling im Zoo

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Diese Knochen macht dem Greifvogel kein Futterrivale streitig,

No rival will fight the bird of prey for these bones,

deshalb kann er sie ruhig liegen lassen.

so it can leave them well alone.

Captions 46-47, Die letzten Paradiese - Die Schönheit der Alpen 1

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Den Teig lassen wir jetzt fünfundvierzig Minuten ruhen.

We'll let the dough sit now for forty-five minutes.

Caption 33, Bundesländer und ihre Rezepte - Bayern

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Und somit hab ich dann alles, was mit Studium und Musik zu tun hatte, erst mal sein lassen.

And with that, I then let everything go that had to do with university studies and music.

Caption 44, Powerfrau - Lina bleibt auf dem Boden

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Sie haben meiner Tochter schöne Augen gemacht und sie dann sitzen lassen.

You made eyes at my daughter and then abandoned her.

Caption 20, Oskar - Gehen, wenn es am schönsten ist - Loslassen

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Man sollte ihn besser für alle Zeiten stehen lassen.

You'd be better off to leave it there for all time.

Caption 35, Piggeldy und Frederick - Regenbogen

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As an added note, there are many other verbs ending with lassen that are still written as one word. Most of them have adjectives or adverbs as prefixes. Go to this link at dict.cc and see many examples.

 

Further Learning
See if you can guess the meanings of bleiben lassen and fahren lassen and then check a German dictionary to see if you got them right. You can also look for more examples of the above verbs related to lassen on Yabla German.

German Expressions of Frequency

In addition to adverbs of indefinite frequency, such as oft or häufig, and adverbs of definite frequency, such as täglich or morgens, there are also expressions for talking about how often something occurs. In English, we often say that something happens "once a month" or "every other week." How do we express this in German? 

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You likely know the phrase jeden Tag, or "every day." But do you know how to say "every other day"?

 

Dazu gehört auch, dass den Jungvögeln jeden zweiten Tag ein Tisch mit Knochen gedeckt wird.

This also means that every other day, a table is set with bones for the young birds.

Caption 29, Die letzten Paradiese - Die Schönheit der Alpen 1

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You can say jede zweite Woche for "every other week," but generally something happening at particular intervals will be expressed with alle and not jede zweite. Take a look:

 

Die Bergbahn fährt alle zwanzig Minuten hoch zum Königstuhl

The mountain railway goes up to the Königstuhl every twenty minutes

und alle zehn Minuten zurück runter in die Innenstadt.

and back down to the city center every ten minutes.

Captions 12-13, Jenny zeigt uns - Das Heidelberger Schloss

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Bei warmen Temperaturen gebären sie

In warm temperatures, they give birth to

alle acht bis zehn Tage dreißig bis vierzig Jungtiere.

thirty to forty young every eight to ten days.

Caption 14, Abenteuer Nordsee - Unter Riesenhaien und Tintenfischen

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Wir finden hier alle vier Wochen eine Schildkröte.

We find a turtle here every four weeks.

Caption 42, Ausgrabungen - Auf den Spuren der Dinosaurier

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Das Projekt „Lunch Beat“ besteht in Hamburg seit dem vergangenen Sommer

The project "Lunch Beat" has existed in Hamburg since last summer

und findet in unregelmäßigen Abständen alle zwei bis drei Monate statt.

and takes place at irregular intervals every two to three months.

Captions 9-10, Lunch Beat - Tanzen in der Mittagspause

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To more specifically state that something happens "once" in a particular time interval, we can use the word einmal in + dative.

 

Das tue ich für gewöhnlich einmal in der Woche.

I typically do it once a week.

Caption 2, Wäsche waschen - mit Eva

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Einmal in der Woche trainiert Astrid Bittner-Utsch Frauen und Männer,

Once a week, Astrid Bittner-Utsch trains women and men

die ihrem Traumberuf ein Stück näher kommen wollen.

who want to get a little bit closer to their dream profession.

Captions 9-10, Auf dem Laufsteg - Modelcollege in Wiesbaden

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Leon, wieso? -Einmal im Jahr gibt es diese Mathe-Olympiade.

Leon, why? -Once a year, the Math Olympics take place.

Caption 20, Die Pfefferkörner - Gerüchteküche

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Further Learning
Based on what you see above, how do you express "once a month"? What about "every five days" or "every five years"? Can you find another way to say "every other day"? For more practice, you can go to Yabla German to look for more examples, or translate some basic sentences about your current routine into German.