After looking at the two-way preposition in last week, let's continue our series with an. This preposition is also a two-way preposition and is used in a multitude of contexts, including with the accusative case to express movement from one place to another.
We use an rather than nach or in in some contexts where we will end up next to or to the side of something rather than in or on it.
Sarah, komm du doch mal bitte an die Tafel.
Sarah, come up to the blackboard, please.
Caption 5, Bundesländer und ihre Spezialitäten - Baden-Württemberg
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Ich gehe rüber ans Fenster
I go over to the window
Caption 5, Philipp Poisel - Wie soll ein Mensch das ertragen?
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An is also used when we are going to a place that forms a boundary or edge. In particular, you can memorize an die Küste and an den Strand.
Natali und Florian zieht es zunächst an die Küste Cornwalls.
Natali and Florian proceed first to the coast of Cornwall.
Caption 28, Abenteuer Nordsee - Unter Riesenhaien und Tintenfischen
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In dieser Nacht segelten sie zurück an den Strand von Troja.
That night they sailed back to the beach of Troy.
Caption 80, Märchen - Sagenhaft - Das Trojanische Pferd
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Eine neue Hiobsbotschaft
A new piece of bad news
ist die plötzliche Abberufung Tresckows an die Ostfront.
is the sudden recall of Tresckow to the Eastern Front.
Captions 80-81, Die Stunde der Offiziere - Dokudrama über den 20. Juli 1944
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Und man davonfliegen möchte, so leicht wie eine kleine, weiße Feder,
And you would like to fly away, as light as a little white feather
bis ans Ende der Welt.
to the end of the world.
Captions 32-33, Piggeldy und Frederick - Das Fernweh
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Further Learning
Other places/nouns that are commonly paired with the preposition an when they are the destination include die Kreuzung (the intersection), die Wand (the wall), and die Grenze (the border). With all three of these examples, an + the accusative is only used when the barrier is NOT being crossed or traversed and it is simply a matter of going/driving/walking "up to" it. When you see an on Yabla German, you can quickly note whether it's being used with the accusative to mean "to" or with the dative to mean "at" or "on." Don't forget, however, that an also appears in contexts that have nothing to do with going or being anywhere (for example, an etwas denken).
Let's take a look this week at some German idioms as outlined in the Yabla video series Eva erklärt Sprichwörter.
Wenn du so dreinschaust, ist nicht gut Kirschen essen mit dir.
When you look like that, it's not good to eat cherries with you.
Caption 41, Marga Engel schlägt zurück - Betrug - Part 1
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The above saying has little to do with the pleasant pastime of eating cherries, but as Eva explains:
Wenn mit jemandem nicht gut Kirschen essen ist, dann meinen wir damit eine unfreundliche Person.
If it's not good to eat cherries with someone, then we mean by that an unfriendly person.
Captions 10-11, Eva erklärt - Sprichwörter - Part 2
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From eating cherries, we move up to the nose:
Früher habe ich Fußball gemocht, aber seit dem gestrigen Halbfinale hab ich die Nase voll!
I used to like soccer, but since yesterday's semi-finals, I have the nose full!
Captions 22-23, Konjugation - Das Verb „mögen“
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The person above is not literally suffering from nasal congestion, but rather:
Wenn man die Nase voll hat, dann bedeutet das, dass man auf eine bestimmte Situation keine Lust mehr hat, verärgert ist oder einer Sache überdrüssig wird.
If you have your nose full, then it means that you have no more patience for a certain situation, are annoyed, or have become weary of a matter.
Captions 34-36, Eva erklärt - Sprichwörter - Part 2
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And lastly we go from nasal situations to an apparent lack of pigs:
„Das“, sagte Frederick, „tja... das weiß kein Schwein.“
"That," said Frederick, "well... no pig knows that."
Captions 39-40, Piggeldy und Frederick - Das Fernweh
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„So lange Vorderfüße hat doch kein Schwein und damit basta!“
"But no pig has such long front feet, and that's the end of it!"
Caption 38, Piggeldy und Frederick - Unendlichkeit
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Vom Schwein spricht man übrigens auch, wenn man Desinteresse ausdrücken möchte. Dann sagt man: „Das interessiert doch kein Schwein.“
By the way, you also speak about pigs when you want to express disinterest. Then you say: "But no pig is interested in that."
Captions 55-56, Eva erklärt - Sprichwörter - Part 2
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The simplest straightforward translation of the idiom kein Schwein is thus "no-one."
Further Learning
Kein Schwein should be misunderstanding German idioms: Go to Yabla German and watch the Eva erklärt - Sprichwörter series and find other examples of these expressions in different contexts. Later in the month we will be bringing you some more examples of idioms from this Yabla series!
Gertrude Stein may have felt that a "rose is a rose is a rose is a rose," but William Shakespeare wrote that "the summer's flower is to the summer sweet," especially after a "barren winter, with his wrathful nipping cold." You probably already know that flowers are Blumen, but do you know the names of some of the common varieties? Let's start with some parts of the flower:
Die Bienen und Hummeln
The bees and the bumblebees
ohne Gegenwind von Blüte zu Blüte fliegen konnten.
could fly from blossom to blossom without a headwind.
Caption 9, Piggeldy und Frederick - Vergessen
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Irgendwas zum Fressen gibt's eigentlich immer,
There's always something to eat,
Knospen, Blätter oder Früchte von Platanen.
buds, leaves, or fruit from the plane trees.
Captions 25-26, Freilebende Papageien - Überwintern in Wiesbaden
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And on to some specific flower varieties:
Ein achtundzwanzig Meter großer Baum
A twenty-eight meter tall tree
und sechzehn riesige beleuchtete Lilien.
and sixteen gigantic illuminated lilies.
Captions 1-2, Der Sternschnuppenmarkt - in Wiesbaden
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Weil heute Valentinstag ist,
Because today is Valentine's Day,
gibt es besonders viele rote Rosen.
there are especially many red roses.
Caption 9, Valentinstag - in Karlsruhe
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Die Hagebuttenrosen blühten so rosa wie schon lange nicht mehr.
The rose hips were blooming pinker than they had in a long time.
Caption 26, Piggeldy und Frederick - Das Fernweh
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Those whose seasonal interests extend beyond the horticultural may enjoy watching some videos on another favorite summer pastime: soccer (aka football). Check out this Yabla video at the top of this article and search for more soccer videos on German Yabla.
Further Learning:
Take a look at this excellent list of German flower names. See which ones are easy to remember for their similarities to English, and make up a set of flash cards for the ones you find difficult. Hibiscus is clearly der Hibiskus, but who could've guessed that baby's breath is das Schleierkraut? Then go through the Yabla videos above and explore the context in which these flowery sentences were used!
Inseparable Verbs: verbs with an unstressed prefix that are not separated when used in a sentence, e.g. beschreiben, erfinden, entspannen.
As Piggeldy and Frederick stroll down country roads in Das Fernweh (the yen for faraway places) Piggeldy gushes at the way his brother Frederick has aptly described this unknown concept.
So schön kann nur mein lieber Bruder Frederick 'Fernweh' beschreiben.
Only my dear brother Frederick could describe 'fernweh' so beautifully.
Caption 36, Piggeldy und Frederick - Das Fernweh
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Beschreiben (to describe) is the inseparable verb in our example and if we subtract the prefix be- it becomes schreiben (to write).
Different prefixes alter or change the meaning of their respective unadorned infinitives or root words, which may even be other parts of speech. See this list:
Be-: often makes a transitive verb from an intransitive verb, e.g. siegen (to win) vs. besiegen (to defeat)
Er-: tends to relate to creative processes, e.g. erfinden (to invent), erörtern (to discuss)
Ent-: usually describes processes of removing, e.g. entfernen (to remove), entführen (to kidnap)
Zer-: is used for destructive actions, e.g. zerstören (to destroy), zerdrücken (to crush, to mash)
To put this rough rubric into practice, let's look at another inseparable verb in one of our clips. Reporter Raudy, from the trendy magazine RheinMain Szene, tells recording artist "Der Graf" (the Count) to relax, when the Count admits that at times he still experiences stage fright.
Echt? Entspann dich doch! Ich bitte dich!
Really? Hey, relax! I'm asking you!
Caption 7, rheinmain Szene - Unheilig - „Der Graf“
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As we can see from the list above, the inseparable prefix ent- reverses a process in place. In this last example, it "loosens the strings" of the Count’s tightly strung psyche, hence entspannen means “to relax.
Further practice
Review the lesson Separable or not separable... that is the question!, and then test yourself on separable and inseparable verbs.
Learning Tip
Pick out a troublesome German phoneme, like the pesky R-sound. Create a word set by selecting only words that have this phoneme, whether in the initial or intermediate position. Then go back to the newly created word set and practice those words. Don’t be discouraged if you find progress slow in coming. It takes time, effort, continuous monitoring, and even trial and error, before you get it all right. When you meet a German who can no longer immediately peg your land of origin you’ll be glad you made the effort!
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