You too may be suffering from the post-Halloween blues. If you're a kid and went trick-or-treating, you've probably eaten about ten times your usual allowed amount of candy. If you're a grown-up like myself, you may have had half of a big bag of candy left over from the few trick-or-treaters brave enough to pass by the scary pumpkin on the doorstep. My problem is that I can't just leave candy lying around, I have to eat it. Either way, too much sugar can make you feel pretty down later on—your body's way of telling you that eating that much sugar just can't be very good for you.
By now, if you still have a carved pumpkin sitting outside, it's probably starting to sag and look even scarier than it did when it was fresh. You probably wouldn't want to eat it after it's been sitting out for a couple of days, but if you saved some of the inside bits (not the seeds and slimy stringy bits!), you can make some very tasty meals and desserts out of it. Let's talk today about pumpkins in German!
Kinder höhlen Kürbisse aus und feiern Halloween-Partys.
Children hollow out pumpkins and celebrate at Halloween parties.
Caption 15, Cettina erklärt: Halloween
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Weil Halloween ohne Kürbisse kein Halloween ist, oder?
Because Halloween isn't Halloween without pumpkins, right?
Caption 20, Nicos Weg: Feste und Feiertage
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Es entstand die Tradition, zum Totenfest Laternen aus Rüben zu schnitzen. Daraus hat sich nach und nach die Tradition entwickelt, Kürbisköpfe auszuhöhlen und sie in hässliche Fratzen zu verwandeln.
The tradition emerged of carving lanterns out of turnips for the festival of the dead. Out of that, the tradition gradually developed of hollowing out pumpkin heads and and transforming them into ugly faces.
Captions 28-30, Cettina erklärt: Halloween
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From der Kürbis, we get der Kürbiskopf. It's a good thing we don't still carve out hard turnips for Halloween, especially since we might have to eat something made of turnips later! Speaking of food:
Wir haben damals im Herbst immer ganz viele Gerichte aus Kürbissen gemacht, zum Beispiel Kürbissuppe, Kürbiskuchen, Kürbismarmelade, Kürbismuffins, Kürbisbrot...
We always used to make a ton of dishes from pumpkins in autumn — for example, pumpkin soup, pumpkin pie, pumpkin jam, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread...
Captions 22-24, Nicos Weg: Feste und Feiertage
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Die Kürbissuppe, der Kürbiskuchen, der Kürbismuffin and das Kürbisbrot all sound delicious, but die Kürbismarmelade? Sorry, but pumpkin marmalade just sounds weird!
Ich finde Kürbis total lecker.
I think pumpkin is totally delicious.
Caption 80, Sallys Tortenwelt und Kochwelt: Kürbissuppe
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Und deswegen gibt's heute eine leckere Kürbissuppe.
And that's why there's a delicious pumpkin soup today.
Caption 3, Sallys Tortenwelt und Kochwelt: Kürbissuppe
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Ich gebe immer gern noch ein bisschen von diesem Kürbiskernöl mit rein.
I always like to put a little bit of this pumpkin seed oil in with it.
Caption 67, Sallys Tortenwelt und Kochwelt: Kürbissuppe
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The Austrians are particularly proud of their fine pumpkin seed oil (das Kürbiskernöl), and for very good reason: A little drizzle over a salad or into a soup can work wonders. If you've never tried it, trust me: it's delicious, practically magical. Speaking of magic:
Aber mit einem Wink ihres Zauberstabs verwandelte die Fee den Kürbis in eine goldene Kutsche.
But with a wave of her magic wand the Fairy transformed the pumpkin into a golden carriage.
Captions 44-45, Märchen - Sagenhaft: Aschenputtel
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Of course, the pumpkin plays a major role in the tale of Cinderella too. This is the origin of the phrase "to turn into a pumpkin," which is something people say when it's getting late, and they are either getting tired or they're going to miss their curfew getting home on time.
Further Learning
Read the Yabla German lesson Halloween in Deutschland and watch some of the videos above in their entirety to get your head around pumpkins in German. Just be careful not to turn into one!
In English, one way of saying that an event is finished or done with is to say that it's "over." In German, the word über, though usually meaning "about," is sometimes translated as "over" when it is referring to the physical placement of something:
Ganz zum Schluss verteile ich meinen Zuckerguss über den Kuchen.
Right at the end, I spread my sugar frosting over the cake.
Caption 36, Apfelkuchen - mit Eva
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But in German, if you want to say that an event is over, the word über turns out to be a kind of false friend: the correct term here is vorbei:
Doch diese Zeiten sind vorbei
But those times are over
Caption 12, Christina Stürmer - Wir leben den Moment
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Meine Stunden bei der Gepäckverladung der Bodenverkehrsdienste sind vorbei.
My hours at the baggage loading area of the ground traffic services are over.
Caption 45, Selbst versucht - Gepäckabfertigung bei Fraport
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Es ist jetzt vorbei, ich starte neu
It's over now, I'm starting anew
Caption 7, Beatrice Egli - Irgendwann
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Depending upon the context, vorbei can also be translated as "passed," or "gone," or "past," to name a few possibilities:
Vier Jahre sind vorbei und unser Team ist mit dabei
Four years have passed and our team is in
Caption 9, Die gestiefelten Zwerge - Am Kap der Hoffnung steht der Cup
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... denn dann ist der Zauber vorbei.
... because then the magic is gone.
Caption 57, Märchen - Sagenhaft - Aschenputtel
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Der Winter ist vorbei.
The winter is past.
Caption 2, Jahreszeiten - Der Frühling
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Another possibility for expressing that something is over or has passed by is the adverb vorüber:
So, jetzt ist der Haxen fertig, die drei Stunden sind vorüber.
So now the knuckle is finished, the three hours have passed by.
Caption 45, Kochen mit Cettina - Schweinshaxe
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Ein Jahr weht vorüber...
A year flies past...
Caption 24, rheinmain Szene - Selig
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Further Learning
Go to Yabla German and see the many other examples of vorbei and vorüber in a real world context. See too if you can correctly translate the title of this week's lesson: Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei. Hint: the direct translation "fat years" isn't quite right!
Have you come across the phrase “strong verbs” or “weak verbs” in your studies and wondered what exactly is meant?
Strong verbs have a stem-vowel change in one or more tenses, for example in the simple past or present tense. In other words, they are irregular. The sign of a strong verb is that its participle will end with -en.
For example, with genießen ("to enjoy") the present tense conjugations do not have a vowel change, but the past tense does (genoss). The participle accordingly ends with
-en:
Genießt euren Kaffee, wie auch immer ihr den zubereitet.
Enjoy your coffee, regardless of how you make it.
Caption 39, Eva zeigt uns - wie man Kaffee kocht
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Und ich habe an einer sehr renommierten Universität ein sehr umfangreiches Marketingstudium genossen.
And I enjoyed a very comprehensive marketing program at a very renowned university.
Captions 26-27, Berufsleben - das Vorstellungsgespräch - Part 2
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In the case of the verb empfehlen (“to recommend”), the present and simple past tenses both have a different stem vowel change. Once again, the participle ends with -en:
Neben dem Stadtrad empfiehlt sich vor allem die Innsbruck Card für die Erkundung.
In addition to the city bike, above all, the Innsbruck card can be recommended for the exploration.
Captions 26-27, 48 h in Innsbruck - Sehenswürdigkeiten & Tipps
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Schafft das keine Linderung, wird empfohlen, die Höhe des Computerbildschirms zu überprüfen.
[If] that doesn't bring relief, it's recommended [that you] check the height of the computer screen.
Captions 19-20, Nackenverspannungen - Entspannungstipps für den Büroalltag
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Weak verbs are more “regular” in the sense that all tenses resemble the infinitive. The participle ends with -t. Let’s look at the verb reisen:
Wenn man gemeinsam reist, ist es immer besser.
It's always better if you travel together.
Caption 20, Traumberuf - Windsurfer
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Dafür reiste das Filmteam bis nach Korsika.
For this the film team traveled as far away as Corsica.
Caption 35, Hell - Science-Fiction-Kinotipp
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Für zwei Wochen bin ich durchs Land gereist.
For two weeks, I traveled across the country.
Caption 20, Grete - eine Freiwillige in Israel
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Now, of course, because German is never easy, there are exceptions in the form of irregular weak verbs. These have a participle with -t rather than -en, but also have a stem vowel change. Many common verbs, such as bringen and wissen, fall into this category.
Ein Benefiz-Fußballspiel brachte sie jedoch alle zusammen auf den Rasen.
A benefit football match nevertheless brought them all together on the turf.
Caption 2, Fußball - Prominente beim Benefizspiel
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Aschenputtel wurde in den Palast gebracht.
Cinderella was brought to the palace.
Caption 105, Märchen - Sagenhaft - Aschenputtel
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Further Learning
When you learn a new verb on Yabla German, always find out immediately whether it's strong or weak and memorize this as well as its definition. Here is an extensive list of strong and irregular verbs. Look up the participles of niesen versus genießen and of the verbs winken and stinken, which are particularly tricky.
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