It has been a somewhat temperamental summer in Germany, but there have certainly already been a number of hot days. Germans flock to rivers, pools, and lakes to swim, not to mention the North Sea and the Baltic Sea! Let's look at the German words for various bodies of water.
Der See ist fast einhundertneunzig Meter tief.
The lake is almost one hundred ninety meters deep.
Caption 5, Alpenseen - Kühle Schönheiten - Part 6
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Achtung: Der See means "the lake," but die See means "the sea." Das Meer is also a common word for "the sea."
Fünf kleine Pinguine schwimmen durch das Meer.
Five little penguins are swimming through the sea.
Caption 22, Kinderlieder zum Mitsingen - Fünf Pinguine
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Like in English, an ocean differs from a sea:
Mein Goldfisch, der heißt Friedolin und wohnt im Ozean.
My goldfish, he's called Friedolin and lives in the ocean.
Caption 25, Pänke - Friedolin
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There are some rivers in Germany that are approved for swimming, but if not you can always go to a swimming pool. In the summer, outdoor pools (Freibäder) are particularly popular.
Der Neckar ist ein Fluss, der durch Tübingen fließt.
The Neckar is a river that flows through Tübingen.
Caption 16, Deutschkurs in Blaubeuren - Der Relativsatz
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Das ist quasi so ein offener Bereich mit einem Schwimmbad...
That is, so to speak, an open area with a swimming pool...
Caption 25, Reisen - Dalís Haus
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Ponds and streams are not as popular for swimming, but we'll include them for the sake of vocabulary expansion!
Es war der Teich und am Rand stand die violette Blume.
It was the pond and at the edge stood the violet flower.
Caption 51, Märchen - Sagenhaft - Jorinde und Joringel
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Bald ist der Bach überschwemmt mit Eiern.
Soon the stream is inundated with eggs.
Caption 25, Alpenseen - Kühle Schönheiten - Part 2
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Further Learning
Make sure you have memorized the gender of these vocabulary words. What do you think are the genders of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea? You can also start learning the German names for famous bodies of water. Can you guess what das Mittelmeer and das Rote Meer are? Look them up on Yabla German!
The German word während means "during" or "while." If you have learned this word, you likely also learned that it is a preposition used with the genitive case. In fact, this is not always the case. But there are two common structures for the implementation of this word, so let's look at some examples.
The genitive case is required when während is used with a noun that expresses a period of time.
Und wie ist das passiert? Während des Trainings?
And how did it happen? During the training?
Caption 33, Jenny und Alena - Handball
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Während der vierzigtägigen Fastenzeit
During the forty day fasting period,
durften sie nur eingeschränkt essen.
hey were only allowed to eat limited amounts.
Caption 18, Deutsches Bier - 500 Jahre Reinheitsgebot
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However, there are instances where it is correct to use the dative (See the link provided in "Further Learning"). Moreover, it is not uncommon to also hear the dative case used with während in colloquial spoken German. The dative case may be used with nominalized verbs, for example:
Und jetzt geb ich während dem [Umgangssprache] Rühren nach und nach die Eier mit dazu.
And now I'll gradually add the eggs while stirring.
Caption 14, Sallys Tortenwelt und Kochwelt - Apfelkuchen mit Marzipan und Mandelsplittern
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Während is also implemented as a subordinating conjunction that connects a subordinate clause to a main clause. In this case, remember that the conjugated verb will be at the end of the subordinate clause.
„Während ich weg bin, musst du das Haus fegen,
"While I am away, you must sweep the house,
Feuerholz hacken und den Kessel mit Wasser füllen!“
cut firewood and fill the kettle with water!"
Captions 22-23, Märchen - Sagenhaft - Der Zauberlehrling
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So, während ich die Tafel putze,
So while I clean the blackboard,
überlegt euch mal Verben mit Präpositionen.
think about verbs with prepositions.
Caption 5, Deutschkurs in Blaubeuren - Relativsätze mit Präpositionen
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Danach sterben sie,
Afterwards they die,
während überall sonst endgültig der Bergfrühling einzieht.
while everywhere else the mountain spring finally moves in for good.
Caption 14, Alpenseen - Kühle Schönheiten
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Further Learning
To learn about instances in which the dative is used rather than the genitive, refer to the "Usage Notes" at the bottom of this page. You can review the declensions for the genitive and dative cases here. Then write your own sentences with the word während, or search for more examples on Yabla German.
The German language has a colorful variety of idioms for describing when a situation is in decline or when things have gone badly.
If something is "in the bucket" in German, at least it's not as bad as "kicking the bucket" in English!
Wenn Thorsten nicht genommen wird,
If Thorsten is not accepted
ist seine Karriere im Eimer.
his career will be in the bucket [idiom, ruined].
Captions 18-19, Die Pfefferkörner - Eigentor
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The less polite version of the above is im Arsch, which for politeness' sake is perhaps best left untranslated.
Whereas something going badly is said to be "going downhill" in English, in German the expression relates to water rather than mountains.
Seit ich wieder angefangen hab', geht unsere Ehe den Bach runter.
Since I started again, our marriage has been going downstream [idiom, falling apart].
Caption 7, Mama arbeitet wieder - Kapitel 3: Papa ist weg
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If things get too bad, maybe it's high time you hightail it out of there!
...und macht sich aus dem Staub.
...and makes herself out of the dust [idiom, absconds].
Caption 45, Alpenseen - Kühle Schönheiten
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Further Learning
This extensive listing of German idioms is amusing for the fact that the English translations are all literal and intentionally humorous. Pick out a few whose real meaning is unclear to you and look online to discover what the expressions really express, then search for some examples used in real conversations on Yabla German.
The title of this week's mini-lesson is from an American depression-era novel of the same title by John Fante, and is an allusion that can be taken both literally and figuratively. In most contexts, however, words take on their literal original meaning, as in the use of the word "dust" (German: der Staub) here:
Die Mischung aus Staub und Sonnenstrahlen
The mixture of dust and sunbeams
ließ das gleißende Licht entstehen,
gave rise to the glistening light,
das die tödliche Hitze im Film so glaubhaft macht.
that makes the deadly heat in the film so believable.
Captions 28-30, Hell - Science-Fiction-Kinotipp
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This week’s video release, Alpenseen, however, uses the word “dust” in an idiomatic sense meaning “to leave.” The English idiom “to dust out” and the 1920s-era slang "to take a powder" have similar meanings.
...und macht sich aus dem Staub.
...and makes herself out of the dust [idiom, absconds].
Caption 45, Alpenseen - Kühle Schönheiten
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Further Learning
Take a look at this German Wikipedia list of German sayings and do a search on German Yabla to see if you can find some of the sayings used in context in a video.
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