This week, we'll conclude our lessons on travel vocabulary. So, you've decided what kind of trip and mode of travel, and you've booked your accommodation. Now it's time to consider your itinerary and activities. The types of activities you plan on your trip will also depend on your destination, of course. Cities may offer the opportunity to visit museums or famous historical sites, go to markets, or go shopping:

...aber die kleine Stadttour würde ich gerne machen.

...but I would gladly do the small city tour.

Caption 47, Rollendes Vergnügen: Segway-Touren

 Play Caption

Jedes Jahr kommen an die 5.000 Besucher ins Museum.

Every year nearly 5000 visitors come to the museum.

Caption 25, Flipperautomaten: Kunstwerke für flinke Kugeln

 Play Caption

Das ist eine Sehenswürdigkeit in Köln: der Kölner Dom.

This is an attraction in Cologne: The Cologne Cathedral.

Caption 8, Nicos Weg: Ich war schon in Berlin

 Play Caption

Hier findet der Markt nämlich täglich statt.

Because here, the market takes place every day.

Caption 16, Reisen: Ein Tag in Freiburg

 Play Caption

Sie hat Bock auf Shopping, also in die Stadt.

She feels like shopping, so it's off to the city.

Caption 23, Cro: Bye Bye

 Play Caption

banner PLACEHOLDER

Being in nature, whether on the coast or in the mountains, offers its own program of sports or relaxation. In a recent newsletter, we already had the noun das Sonnenbad, but some people like to be a bit more active.

Dieses Naturreservoir ist zu Fuß in nur gut zwei Stunden zu erreichen.

This nature reserve can be reached by foot in just over two hours.

Caption 6, Die letzten Paradiese Die Schönheit der Alpen

 Play Caption

Ich soll wandern gehen, ich soll segeln oder surfen.

I should go hiking, I should go sailing or surfing.

Caption 15, Nicos Weg: Freizeitstress

 Play Caption

Aber es ist perfekt, um ans Meer zu fahren und baden zu gehen.

But it's perfect for going to the sea and going for a swim.

Caption 39, Deutsch mit Eylin: Das Wetter

 Play Caption

Beach-Volleyball hört sich an wie ein Freizeitvergnügen, ist aber seit 1996 olympisch und ein knallharter Profisport.

Beach volleyball sounds like an enjoyable free-time activity, however, since 1996, it's an Olympic and a tough professional sport.

Captions 3-4, Olympische Spiele: Beachvolleyball

 Play Caption

So many options! Now all that's left is to pack. If you're flying, you will need to check whether it's possible to check a bag, or whether you'll have to make do with Handgepäck. The noun das Gepäck is a general word for luggage or baggage, or you can say der Koffer to refer to a suitcase.

Wir packen jetzt unseren Koffer.

Now we'll pack our suitcase.

Caption 9, Deutschkurs in Tübingen: Reisevorbereitung

 Play Caption

And if you're flying, there's one more thing you'll need to do...

Um später Zeit zu sparen, checkt Olcay online ein.

To save time later, Olcay checks in online.

Caption 67, Galileo Zug vs. Flugzeug: Von München nach Berlin

 Play Caption

Gute Reise!

Further Learning

Check out our travel videos on Yabla German. Do you have an upcoming trip or vacation? Consult all three lessons, and write down five sentences about how you will get to your destination, where you will stay, and what activities you would like to do.

In German, there are many ways to accept or reject an offer or a situation, or talk about doing so. First, there is die Zusage and die Absage, and the verb forms zusagen and absagen. The noun die Zusage is essentially a positive answer, a confirmation (another noun is die Bestätigung), or can even refer to an acceptance letter. You may remember that absagen often means "to cancel" rather than "to reject" or "to decline." Have a look at the Yabla examples below:

Ich muss den Leuten, mit denen ich gesprochen habe, noch heute eine Zusage geben, sonst ist das Angebot weg.

I have to give the people I've spoken with a positive answer today or the offer is gone.

Captions 27-28, Nicos Weg: Ein Praktikum beim Film

 Play Caption

Aber ich kann Ihnen heute noch nicht zusagen.

But I can't give you a confirmation today.

Caption 34, Die Pfefferkörner: Alles auf Anfang

 Play Caption

Es ist bestimmt eine Zusage.

It's probably an acceptance letter.

Caption 20, Nicos Weg: Das hört sich gut an!

 Play Caption

banner PLACEHOLDER

... die radikale Absage an Putin, an die Gasimporte.

... the radical rejection of Putin, of the gas imports.

Caption 3, Umweltbewusstes Wohnen: Zu Besuch in einem Wiener Passivhaus

 Play Caption

Am liebsten würd ich ihn absagen.

I'd actually prefer to cancel it.

Caption 10, Nicos Weg: Freizeitstress

 Play Caption

Ich will wissen, warum du unser Treffen abgesagt hast.

I want to know why you canceled our meeting.

Caption 15, Nicos Weg: Der Umzug

 Play Caption

Among the other verbs that can be used in the context of accepting something are annehmen and hinnehmen. The verb akzeptieren can be used in the sense of "to come to terms with something" in German, and hinnehmen may have a negative connotation as well.

Die Partner sollten dieses Angebot annehmen und die Chance nutzen...

The partners should accept this offer and use the opportunity...

Caption 63, Angela Merkel: Gemeinsame Pressekonferenz mit Barack Obama

 Play Caption

Wir würden einen kleinen Verlust hinnehmen.

We would accept a small loss.

Caption 43, Berufsleben: Probleme mit Mitarbeitern

 Play Caption

Und das ist schwierig zu akzeptieren, dass andre auch vom Grundgesetz profitieren.

And it's difficult to accept that others also benefit from the constitution.

Caption 4, Böhmermann: Wie geht man als Satiriker mit Rechtspopulismus um?

 Play Caption

banner PLACEHOLDER

There are then the verbs ablehnen, zurückweisen, and verweigern for expressing rejection or refusal, or declining an offer.

Früher bedeutete dies, dass man einen Heiratsantrag abgelehnt hat.

It used to mean that you rejected a marriage proposal.

Caption 18, Eva erklärt: Sprichwörter

 Play Caption

Darf die Müllabfuhr wegen falscher Mülltrennung den Abtransport verweigern?

Is the garbage collection service allowed to refuse transport due to incorrect trash separation?

Caption 75, Richter Alexander Hold Wer hat recht bei falscher Mülltrennung?

 Play Caption

Further Learning
You will find many examples of these words in use on Yabla German, so do a quick search to get a better understanding of how they are implemented in sentences. Most of the verbs mentioned above have a related noun (like die Hinnahme and die Ablehnung), so you can also look these up and memorize their articles. 

In a previous Yabla lesson, we discussed verbs using sagen ("to say") as their root word, all of which had to do with speaking. Today let's take a look at a couple of other words using sagen as their root word that are not related to speaking—though at first glance, they may appear to be!

Doch wenn es etwas stürmischer wird, versagen viele Modelle ihren Dienst.

But if it gets somewhat stormier, many models fail to do their job.

Caption 5, Erfindung aus Japan: Der verkehrte Regenschirm

 Play Caption

Es besteht die Gefahr, dass im entscheidenden Moment Ihre Nerven versagen.

The danger exists that your nerves will fail at the deciding moment.

Caption 67, Die Stunde der Offiziere: Dokudrama über den 20. Juli 1944

 Play Caption

banner PLACEHOLDER

Es tut mir leid, dass ich versagt habe.

I am sorry that I failed.

Caption 28, Küss mich, Frosch: Für immer Frosch?

 Play Caption

Leider haben wir da sehr, sehr oft vorm Tor versagt.

Unfortunately, we failed many, many times before the goal line.

Caption 47, Fußball: Saisonpremiere

 Play Caption

Perhaps versagen originally had sagen as its root word because people "failed" to carry out something they had promised. There is also a noun form of the verb for a person who fails:

Ich bin ein Versager, weil ich mich doch nicht traue.

I'm a failure because, after all, I don't dare.

Caption 15, Cro: Bye Bye

 Play Caption

The next word with the root word sagen also has negative connotations:

Am liebsten würd ich ihn absagen.

I'd actually prefer to cancel it.

Caption 10, Nicos Weg: Freizeitstress

 Play Caption

Du kannst doch nicht einfach eine Weiterbildung absagen.

You can't just cancel a training program.

Caption 59, Großstadtrevier: Neben der Spur

 Play Caption

Letztes Jahr wurde ein Event abgesagt.

Last year an event was called off.

Caption 29, Traumberuf: Windsurfer

 Play Caption

Ich will wissen, warum du unser Treffen abgesagt hast. -Ich habe das Treffen nicht abgesagt.

I want to know why you canceled our meeting. -I didn't cancel the meeting.

Captions 15-16, Nicos Weg: Der Umzug

 Play Caption

There is no German noun for somebody who cancels a lot, but there is a noun derived from absagen: 

...die radikale Absage an Putin, an die Gasimporte.

...the radical rejection of Putin, of the gas imports.

Caption 3, Umweltbewusstes Wohnen: Zu Besuch in einem Wiener Passivhaus

 Play Caption

The noun die Absage can be either a cancellation or a rejection, depending upon the context.

Further Learning
Go to German Yabla and find other examples of the verbs and nouns discussed above to get a better feel for the contexts in which they can be used. 

This week we're going to go through the cases used with German prepositions. If you are an advanced German speaker, this will be nothing new for you, but will hopefully be helpful for beginners as a learning tool and for intermediate German speakers as a refresher. Nouns, pronouns, and adjectives that come after prepositions take either the accusative, dative, or genitive case, but to make things slightly confusing, some prepositions require either the accusative or dative case, depending upon the context. Let's take a look in Part I today at the prepositions that require only the accusative case for the nouns, pronouns, and adjectives. 

BANNER PLACEHOLDER

For a basic start, let's look at the accusative case for nouns as follows for the definite article "the," with the nominative case followed by the accusative case: 

der => den
die => die
das => das

And for the indefinite article: 

ein (masculine) => einen
eine => eine
ein (neuter) => ein

And for the personal pronouns "you," "him," "her," and "they":

du => dich
Sie (formal "you") => Sie
er => ihn
sie => sie
uns => uns

Remember too, that if there is no definite or indefinite article, the adjective must still take the case appropriate for its gender with the preposition.

The common German prepositions that require the accusative case of nouns and pronouns are für, um, durch, gegen, entlang, bis, ohne, and wider. The BBC website Bitesize cleverly suggests a good way of remembering them: in that order, the first letter of each word combined makes the phrase "fudge bow." If you can remember that phrase, with very few overlaps into dative and genitive prepositions, you'll be able to know if the preposition you are about to use requires the accusative case!

Here are some examples from Yabla German: 

Ich wollte dir gerne ein paar Sachen für den Umzug mitbringen.

I wanted to bring you a few things for the move.

Caption 5, Nicos Weg - Freizeitstress

 Play Caption

Wenn es um mich geht, ist es reflexiv.

If it's about me, it is reflexive.

Caption 54, Deutschkurs in Tübingen - Akkusativ - Action

 Play Caption

Der schwebt also durch den Raum.

So it floats through the space.

Caption 36, Das 1. Newtonsche Gesetz - erklärt am Beispiel des Dodomobils

 Play Caption

Ich habe echt nichts gegen dich gesagt.

I've really said nothing against you.

Caption 7, Die Pfefferkörner - Gerüchteküche

 Play Caption

Streute sie die Krümel von ihrem einzigen Stück Brot den Weg entlang.

She scattered the crumbs from her single piece of bread along the way.

Caption 48, Märchen - Sagenhaft - Hänsel und Gretel

 Play Caption

Note that the preposition entlang usually appears after the noun when used in the dative case. There is also a genitive use of entlang, but more on that in a later lesson!

Das war's von Rhein-Main-Szene. Bis nächste Woche. Ciao, ciao.

That's it from Rhein-Main-Szene. Till next week. Ciao, ciao [Italian: Bye, bye].

Caption 64, Frida Gold - Interview - Part 2

 Play Caption

Don't forget that bis ("till" or "until") is more commonly seen as a conjunction than as a preposition. 

Wie sollte sie es nur ohne ihn aushalten?

Just how was she supposed to make it without him?

Caption 70, Märchen - Sagenhaft - Die Weiber von Weinsberg

 Play Caption

Wer wider besseres Wissen vortäuscht...

Whoever pretends despite better knowledge...

Caption 41, Großstadtrevier - Schatten der Vergangenheit

 Play Caption

Further Learning
Go to Yabla German to look for more examples of prepositions whose nouns, pronouns, and adjectives take only the accusative case. And don't forget the key phrase "fudge bow" for remembering them, as ridiculous as it sounds! A chocolate violin, anyone? Sounds sweet...