In a previous newsletter, we looked at the German words for various bodies of water. This week, we'll take a look at different landscapes and landforms found in Germany and around the world. Germany itself has a surprising number of these diverse landscapes, with forests, rolling hills, valleys and mountain ranges, rocky and sandy coasts, and even wetlands. 

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Yabla has many videos about the incredible ecosystems of das Gebirge, the mountain range. You may also hear die Berge ("the mountains").

Nur wenige Menschen nehmen das beschwerliche Leben im Hochgebirge auf sich.

Only a few people take on the arduous life in the high mountains.

Caption 27, Die letzten Paradiese Schätze der Natur: Südtirol 

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Im kalten Stellisee verläuft ihre Entwicklung langsamer als im Tal.

In the cold Stellisee [a lake], their development proceeds more slowly than in the valley.

Caption 4, Alpenseen: Kühle Schönheiten

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Denn wenn das Eis der Gletscher schmilzt, fließt das Wasser von den Berghöhen durch Spalten tief ins Gebirge hinein.

Because if the ice of the glaciers melts, the water will flow from the mountain heights through fissures deep into the mountains.

Captions 35-36, Alpenseen: Kühle Schönheiten

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Fast die Hälfte der Landesfläche ist von Wald bedeckt.

Almost half of the state's area is covered by forest.

Caption 51, Bundesländer und ihre Rezepte: Rheinland-Pfalz

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People may indeed think of forested mountains when they think of Germany, but there are also landscapes that we might associate more with other countries:

Einfach durch den Sumpf reiten konnten wir natürlich nicht.

We couldn't just ride through the swamp, of course.

Caption 10, Jan von München: Als ich mich einmal selbst aus dem Sumpf befreite

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In den Hügeln der grünen Insel Irland lebte einmal ein armer Kerl namens Niall O'Leary.

In the hills of the green isle of Ireland there once lived a poor fellow named Niall O'Leary.

Caption 5, Märchen - Sagenhaft: Ein Topf voll Gold

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Es sah hinaus auf die Wiese, die etwas weiter reichte, als es sehen konnte.

It looked out onto the meadow that extended somewhat farther than it could see.

Caption 45, Märchen - Sagenhaft: Das hässliche Entlein

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Near the North Sea or Baltic Sea, you will find completely different landforms (including islands!) and ecosystems:

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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Die Hauptattraktion ist hier natürlich der Strand.

The main attraction here is, of course, the beach.

Caption 8, Berlin: Wannsee

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Of course, there are some landscapes that you simply won't find in Germany:

Sindbad kroch durch den Dschungel.

Sinbad crept through the jungle.

Caption 27, Märchen - Sagenhaft: Sindbad, der Seefahrer

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Die Wüste war heiß, die Berge waren hoch.

The desert was hot, the mountains were high.

Caption 5, Clueso Weil ich dich liebe

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Further Learning

There are many nature videos on Yabla German, and most of them include detailed descriptions of the landscape like in this series about the Alps. How would you describe the landscape of the country or region you are from? Try to talk about it with a tandem partner, or write down a few sentences. 

You probably came across the verbs gehören and gefallen quite quickly when you began learning German. They both belong to a group of verbs in German that require a dative object. They are both a bit perplexing at first because most past participles in German begin with ge- (and gehört is indeed the past participle of hören), and also because they follow a particular structure when used in a sentence that doesn't necessarily match the structure in English.

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Also, mir gehört er auf jeden Fall nicht.

Well, it definitely doesn't belong to me.

Caption 49, Das Urban-Art-Projekt - Polnischer Militärhubschrauber

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Das gefällt mir richtig, richtig gut.

I really, really like it.

Caption 5, Auto-Bild-TV - Tops & Flops der IAA

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Notice that in the case of gehören we use the same structure in English, whereas with gefallen the sentence doesn't translate directly. The closest we could come in English is "It pleases me," but this is rarely used nowadays.

Now let's look at gelingen. We notice right away that, like gehören and gefallen, it begins with ge-, which can cause some confusion since it resembles a past participle. Gelingen is indeed the infinitive, and gelungen is the participle. 

Gelingen means "to succeed," "to work out," or "to manage to do something." When we express this in English, the structure is very different. You could almost say that the subject and object are switched. Whereas Das gehört mir is easily translatable as "That belongs to me," there is no such easy direct translation for phrases like Es gelingt ihnen or Es ist mir gelungen in English.

Den Tauchern gelingen die ersten Filmaufnahmen dieses Verhaltens.

The divers manage to get the first film footage of this behavior.

Caption 35, Alpenseen - Kühle Schönheiten - Part 3

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Zusammen mit seiner Freundin gelingt ihm dann beim dritten Versuch endlich die Flucht.

Together with his girlfriend, he finally manages to escape on the third attempt.

Caption 20, 25 Jahre Mauerfall - Radtour durch die Geschichte

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In the sentences above, the subjects are die ersten Filmaufnahmen and die Flucht and the objects are den Tauchern and ihm. In English, this is essentially reversed, or the adjective "successful" is employed. Here are a few more examples: 

Dem treuen Charlie gelingt zur Halbzeit, was er in sechshundertundzwei Bundesligaspielen nicht geschafft hat.

Faithful Charlie achieves at halftime what he hasn't managed in six hundred and two national league games.

Captions 28-29, Fußball - Prominente beim Benefizspiel

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Das ist uns nicht gelungen und... jetzt gilt es natürlich die nächsten Spiele hochkonzentriert anzugehen und dann die möglichen Punkte zu holen.

We were unsuccessful and... Now it's necessary of course to approach the next matches highly concentrated and then to get all points possible.

Captions 50-51, Fußball - U21-Nationalmannschaft - Part 3

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Further Learning
Some verbs that follow similar structures in German (but not always in English!) include: fehlen, gehorchen, passen, schmecken, and wehtun. Look these up, and then go to Yabla German to see them used in a real-world context.