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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!

There she blows!

The phrase above, often written colloquially as "Thar she blows," comes from the classic 19th century American novel Moby Dick, written by Herman Melville. It refers to an exclamation made by whalers at sea in the 19th century when they spotted a whale to hunt, a practice now fortunately outlawed by most countries in the world. When whales—or dolphins—surface, some species blow air and water condensation into the air in a visible stream.

 

In German, the verb "to blow" can be translated with a variety of words, depending upon the context. You're probably already familiar with sich die Nase putzen, which means "to blow one's nose," literally "to clean one's nose." Let's take a look today at  some other German verbs that are often translated as "to blow."

 

Sie hören sogar einen Baum, der vor ihnen steht, weil der Wind, der um den Baum weht, ein Geräusch macht.

They can even hear a tree that is in front of them, because the wind that blows around the tree makes a noise.

Captions 47-48, Meine Freundin Conni: Conni schläft im Kindergarten

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The verb wehen is the usual term for the wind blowing.

 

Der Wind pustet ordentlich Sauerstoff in unsere verschmutzte Luft.

The wind blows lots of oxygen into our polluted air.

Caption 15, Piggeldy und Frederick: Aufräumen

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Here, the translator chose to translate the verb pusten as "to blow," but it could also have been translated as "to puff," a more common translation for this word.

 

Und weil in der mit 500 Metern über dem Meeresspiegel höchstgelegenen Stadt Hessens der Wind so kräftig bläst.

And since, at 500 meters above sea level, Hessen's city with the highest elevation, the wind blows so strongly.

Captions 5-6, Energiewende in Hessen: Windräder und Solarparks

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Here, the translator chose to translate the German verb blasen as "to blow," a verb related to the noun die Blase, which means "bubble." In fact, the blowhole of a whale is called das Blasloch, and the act of blowing out air and condensed moisture is called der Blas.

 

Zu spät, denn mitten in dem letzten Angriff pfeift Mr. Attwell ab und die Deutschen waren bedient.

Too late, because in the middle of the last attack, Mr. Attwell blows the final whistle.

Caption 27, Fußball: U21-Nationalmannschaft

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The verb pfeifen means to whistle, but it also means "to blow a whistle."  If a referee blows a whistle for a foul, you'd say er pfeift ein Foul. The verb abpfeifen above means "to blow a whistle to stop the play," "to signal the halftime," or "to end the game."

 

Wie schön ist doch die Welt, alles löst sich in Wohlgefallen auf.

How beautiful the world is, everything blows over.

Captions 43-44, Großstadtrevier: Alle für einen

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The idiom sich in Wohlgefallen auflösen literally means "to dissolve in pleasure," but is often translated with the English idiom "to vanish into thin air" or "to go up in smoke." Here, the translator nicely chose to use the idiom "to blow over."

 

Wenn's nach mir ginge, würde ich ihn lieber heute als morgen in die Luft sprengen.

If it were up to me, I would rather blow him up today than tomorrow.

Captions 62-63, Die Stunde der Offiziere: Dokudrama über den 20. Juli 1944

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The verb sprengen (as well as in die Luft sprengen) means "to blow up" or to explode something. Although murder is an extreme means of regime change, killing the person in the case above could probably be seen as justifiable, given the millions of lives at stake.

 

Further Learning
Go to Yabla German and search for the verb "to blow" in a variety of conjugations, such "blow," "blows," and "blown." You can also expand your knowledge of how some of the other German verbs above can alternately be translated by looking up, in various conjugations, the verbs putzen, wehen, pusten, blasen, pfeifen, and sprengen.