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!

This week, let's take a look at the verb ziehen. It's true that there are many nuances, but we'll focus for now on the two main translations, the first of which is "to pull":

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Super, Jo. Und ihr helft mit ziehen, ja?

Super, Jo. And you'll help us pull, right?

Caption 6, JoNaLu - Heiß und kalt

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Viele haben aber wohl schon darüber nachgedacht, wie es wäre, einfach mal den Stecker zu ziehen.

Many have, however, likely already thought about how it would be to simply pull the plug.

Captions 5-6, Vierzig Tage offline - Ein Selbstversuch

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Relatedly, in English, we say "to take a ticket" or "to draw a number," but in German ziehen is also used for this purpose: 

Zieht sich 'n Ticket, vier siebzig für die Fahrt ist ja ganz schön hart

She takes a ticket, four seventy for the ride, it's quite tough [quite a lot] indeed

Caption 27, Cro - Bye Bye

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The second common meaning of ziehen is "to move," "to migrate," or "to proceed."

Rötlich-violette Schwaden ziehen durchs Wasser, das hier fast frei von Sauerstoff ist.

Reddish-violet vapors move through the water, which here is almost oxygen-free.

Caption 8, Alpenseen - Kühle Schönheiten - Part 5

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Sie ziehen von Haus zu Haus und verlangen Süßigkeiten.

They proceed from house to house and demand sweets.

Caption 16, Cettina erklärt - Halloween

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Interestingly enough, there is a common usage of ziehen which can be translated as "to draw," but also implies movement towards something. In a way, it is a combination of the two meanings.

Kaum scheint die Sonne, zieht es die Schleckermäuler an die Eisdielen.

The sun is scarcely shining and it draws [those with a] sweet tooth to the ice-cream parlors.

Caption 1, Eis - Eiskalte Leidenschaft

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Ich als Hamburger bin hier eigentlich als Flachlandtiroler und dennoch zieht es mich immer wieder in die Berge.

As a resident of Hamburg, I am actually known as a "flatland Tyrolean" and yet I am still repeatedly drawn to the mountains.

Captions 3-4, 48 h in Innsbruck - Sehenswürdigkeiten & Tipps - Part 1

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Further Learning
There are many sentences that include the verb ziehen on Yabla German, so do a quick search if you need more examples. You can also review past newsletters in which we looked at the phrases Bilanz ziehen and Es zieht! 

But then you hopefully knew that already! You may not, however, be completely familiar with differences between the two words and the different meanings they can have in specific contexts. 

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The most common translation of the pronoun etwas is "something":

Etwas hat sich schon verändert.

Something has indeed changed.

Caption 11, 2raumwohnung - Achtung fertig

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Und doch hat diese Ausstellung etwas sehr Besonderes.

However, this exhibition has something very distinct about it.

Caption 5, DDR zum Anfassen - Ganz tief im Westen

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However, when etwas is used as an adjective pronoun (usually a possessive, or noting quantities of something), it can be translated as "a bit," "somewhat," or less commonly, the simple "some":

Planktonfresser hin oder her, ihm ist doch etwas mulmig geworden,

Plankton eaters or not, he did get a bit queasy

Caption 25, Abenteuer Nordsee - Unter Riesenhaien und Tintenfischen

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Bachforellen sind etwas kleiner als die ursprünglich hier lebenden Marmoratas.

Freshwater trout are somewhat smaller than the marble trout that originally lived here.

Caption 1, Alpenseen - Kühle Schönheiten

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...verlor das Fahrrad zwischenzeitlich etwas an Bedeutung.

...the bicycle lost some of its significance for a while.

Caption 25, 200. Geburtstag - Die Geschichte des Fahrrads in 2 Minuten

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The adverb etwa can be translated as "about," "approximately" or "something like." It is most often used before a numerical measurement:

Und es sind etwa 35 Kilometer von den

And it's about 35 kilometers from the

weißen Klippen von Dover zu den Sanddünen von Calais.

white cliffs of Dover to the sand dunes of Calais.

Caption 20, Abenteuer Nordsee - Unter Riesenhaien und Tintenfischen

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Jährlich werden pro Person in Deutschland etwa 160 Liter Kaffee getrunken.

Every year, approximately 160 liters of coffee are drunk in Germany per person.

Caption 5, Eva zeigt uns - wie man Kaffee kocht

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Das bedeutet etwa „Ende des Sommers“.

That means something like "end of the summer."

Caption 6, Cettina erklärt - Halloween

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The adverb etwa can also be used as a grammatical particle, which is often difficult to directly translate, but in this case lends a suggestion of disbelief to the statement: 

Rauchst du etwa wieder?

Are you smoking again?

Caption 4, 12 heißt: Ich liebe dich - Kapitel 3: Erfolgreiche Vernehmung

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Zweifelst du etwa an der Aufrichtigkeit meiner Gefühle?

Are you doubting the sincerity of my feelings?

Caption 9, Küss mich, Frosch - Die Zeiten haben sich geändert

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As you see in the two examples above, etwa is not directly translated. A more literary translation of the above examples, which gives them more of an expression of disbelief on the part of the speakers, could respectively be: "But you aren't smoking again?" and "But you aren't doubting the sincerity of my feelings?"

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Further Learning
Read the definition and examples given for the particle usage of etwa on Duden, and search for etwa and etwas on Yabla German to see other examples of these words used in a real-world context.

Halloween in Germany is not the major celebration that it often is in the United States, but it has definitely gotten more popular in recent decades, with kids' costumes showing up in the shops and people having costume parties. This latter tradition is, of course, already a part of German culture as found in the ancient carnival or Fasching customs. You can brush up on some of your spooky German with examples from the following videos.

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In der Nacht vor Allerheiligen sind die Monster los.

In the night before All Hallow's Eve, the monsters are on the loose.

Caption 1, Halloween - Gruselvergnügen auf Burg Frankenstein

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Geister, Untote, paranormale Phänomene...

Spirits, zombies, paranormal phenomena...

Caption 1, Paranormal? - Auf Geisterjagd in Ludwigsburg

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Da reiben sich die Hexen mit Flugsalbe ein

Then the witches rub on flying ointment

und fahren auf ihren Besen.

and ride on their brooms.

Captions 23-24, Geschichte - Hexenverbrennung im Odenwald

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Das Grauen ist hier real!

The horror is real here!

Caption 22, Halloween - Gruselvergnügen auf Burg Frankenstein

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Vermutlich geht Halloween auf eine Tradition der alten Kelten zurück.

Supposedly Halloween goes back to a tradition of the ancient Celts.

Caption 4, Cettina erklärt - Halloween

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Further Learning
Watch the above videos to get into the Halloween spirit and search on Yabla German for more videos related to the topic. Most important of all, we wish you a happy and safe Halloween!