While many people in Germany have just come back from their Osterferien, people in the United States and elsewhere may already be thinking about trips they might take during summer vacation (der Sommerurlaub or die Sommerferien). This month, we'll devote a few lessons to looking at essential travel vocabulary in German.

banner PLACEHOLDER

You may remember how much trouble Jenny had deciding what kind of vacation to take. In German, a trip to a city is called die Städtereise, but many people like to keep things a bit more low key: 

Ah, klar, ich könnte eine Kreuzfahrt mit dem Schiff machen.

Ah, right, I could take a cruise with a ship.

Caption 32, Jenny: Reiseziele

 Play Caption

Strandurlaub bei Windstärke sechs...

Beach vacation with a wind velocity of six...

Caption 42, Traumberuf: Windsurfer

 Play Caption

Once decided, you'll have to plan your trip and make the necessary reservations: 

Ich möchte gerne eine Reise zum Europapark buchen.

I would like to book a trip to Europapark.

Caption 4, Reiseplanung: Anruf bei einem Reisebüro

 Play Caption

In der Hauptsaison empfiehlt es sich zu reservieren.

In high season, it is recommended to make a reservation.

Caption 37, Reisebericht Luxemburg

 Play Caption

Part of the planning is figuring out how you are going to get to your destination. 

Stattdessen mit Bus und Bahn zum Reiseziel fahren.

Instead, travel by bus and train to your destination.

Caption 44, WissensWerte: Tourismus und Nachhaltigkeit

 Play Caption

Also mit dem Auto würde ich heute nicht fahren.

So, I wouldn't go by car today.

Caption 45, Deutsch mit Eylin Das Wetter

 Play Caption

Von dort können Sie ein Auto mieten oder mit dem Bus fahren.

From there you can rent a car or travel by bus.

Caption 13, Reiseplanung: Anruf bei einem Reisebüro

 Play Caption

Damit höre ich manchmal Musik, wenn ich im Zug oder im Flugzeug sitze.

Sometimes I listen to music with them when I'm on the train or on a plane.

Captions 23-24, Deutsch mit Eylin: Denk schnell!

 Play Caption

Auf dem Schiff haben fünfhundertsechzehn Gäste Platz, richtig viel Platz.

There is room on the ship for five hundred and sixteen guests, really a lot of space.

Caption 10, Kreuzfahrtschiff: An Bord der Europa 2

 Play Caption

Hallo, liebe Yabla-Schüler, ich stehe heute hier auf einer Fähre.

Hello dear Yabla students, I am standing here today on a ferry.

Caption 1, Unterwegs mit Cettina: an der Rheinfähre

 Play Caption

Further Learning

More travel vocabulary is coming! In the meantime, we have so many fun travel videos on Yabla German. Just do a quick search and you'll quickly find yourself in Heidelberg, Innsbruck, or the Alps! You may want to also check out this video on tourism and sustainability.

Today we'll continue with the third and final part of separable verbs and related prepositions, taking a look at how the same words with different meanings can sometimes coexist in German sentences.

Separable verbs often start with prefixes that are identical to prepositions. Here is a partial list of separable verbs that start with prefixes that on their own are prepositions, followed by examples of one of the verbs and the preposition:

BANNER PLACEHOLDER

Preposition: nach (to, after)
Separable verbs: nachahmen (to imitate); nachdenken (to think); nacherzählen (to retell, to relate); nachfolgen (to follow, to succeed); nachgeben (to give in); nachprüfen (to double check); nachschlagen (to look up, to reference); nachtun (to follow someone’s example); nachzählen (to recount, double-check)

This example uses the separable verb nachdenken: 

Manchmal denken wir Frauen zu viel über die Liebe nach.

Sometimes we women think too much about love.

Caption 7, Konjugation - Das Verb „denken“

 Play Caption

Whereas this example uses the verb denken and the preposition nach:

Stuttgart, schön. OK, ich denke, ich fliege nach Stuttgart.

Stuttgart, nice. OK, I think I'll fly to Stuttgart.

Caption 9, Reiseplanung - Anruf bei einem Reisebüro

 Play Caption

If we were to combine the separable verb nachdenken and the preposition nach, we could make a sentence like this: 

Ich denke über eine Reise nach Stuttgart nach.
I'm thinking about a trip to Stuttgart. 

Preposition: vor (to, before)
Separable verbs: vorbereiten (to prepare); vorbestellen (to pre-order); vorhaben (to plan, to intend); vorkommen (to come up, to happen); vornehmen (to carry out); vorstellen (to introduce, to imagine); vortragen (to perform, to give a lecture)

This example uses the separable verb vorhaben: 

Und was hast du heute noch vor?

And what else are you planning for today?

Caption 53, Unterwegs mit Cettina - an der Rheinfähre

 Play Caption

But this example uses the verb haben and the preposition vor:

Du hast mich immer wieder vor dir selber gewarnt

You have always warned me about yourself

Caption 15, Johannes Oerding - Mein schönster Fehler

 Play Caption

Again, we can make another sentence using the separable verb vorhaben and the preposition vor: 

Hast du wirklich vor, schon vor dem Deutschunterricht nach Hause zu gehen?
Do you really intend to go home before German class?

You may already be attending German class from home, but keep up the good work learning with Yabla German either way!

Further Learning
See if you can come up with some other sentences that contain a separable verb and a preposition that is identical to the verb's prefix and have your teacher check your work. You can also look for more examples of separable verbs used with prepositions that are identical to their prefixes on Yabla German.

The German language is not nearly as widely spoken as some other languages, like Mandarin Chinese or Spanish, for instance. According to a list of languages spoken around the world on Wikipedia, German is the 11th most-spoken language on the planet, with 89 million speakers or about 1.27% of the world population. Still, many people are surprised to hear that German is an official main language in six countries. Let's start with the obvious: 

BANNER PLACEHOLDER

Deutschland geht es gut,

Germany is doing well,

auch wenn das nächste Jahr ohne Zweifel schwieriger wird als dieses.

even if next year will undoubtedly be more difficult than this [year].

Captions 44-45, Angela Merkel - Neujahrsansprache

 Play Caption

And in second place, Austria:

Am nächsten Wochenende werde ich in Österreich sein.

Next weekend I will be in Austria.

Caption 49, Konjugation - Das Verb „sein“

 Play Caption

Followed by Switzerland: 

Der Rhein entspringt in den Alpen, also in der Schweiz.

The Rhine has its source in the alps, well, in Switzerland.

Caption 12, Unterwegs mit Cettina - an der Rheinfähre

 Play Caption

So far, so good. Most people know that German is spoken in the three countries listed above, but have no idea where to go from there. Let's start with the small country of Liechtenstein: 

Schweiz [die Schweiz], Deutschland, Liechtenstein, Österreich

Switzerland, Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria,

und die Niederlande.

and the Netherlands.

Caption 15, Unterwegs mit Cettina - an der Rheinfähre

 Play Caption

And in place number five:

Ein scharfer Abschluss einer überraschend interessanten

A spicy ending to a surprisingly interesting

Reise durchs unbekannte Luxemburg.

journey through unknown Luxembourg.

Caption 62, Reisebericht - Luxemburg

 Play Caption

The national language of Luxembourg is Luxembourgish, but German is also an officially recognized language. And the last country where German is, surprisingly for some, considered a nationwide, co-official language: 

Vor allem aus Belgien...

Above all from Belgium...

kommen immer mehr Campingfans.

more and more camping fans are coming.

Captions 38-40, Reisebericht - Luxemburg

 Play Caption

French and Flemish are the dominant languages in Belgium, but some districts near its eastern border with Germany speak predominantly German. German is also a co-official language in provinces of some other countries, including South Tyrol in Italy, the Opole and Silesian districts of Poland, and the Espírito Santo, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul districts in Brazil. 

BANNER PLACEHOLDER

Further Learning
Read this article on Wikipedia about places where German is spoken throughout the world, and look for further examples of where these countries appear on Yabla German.

There is a tendency in spoken German to use shorter forms of words. This is something that is especially noticeable in the first person present tense of verbs: ich geh, ich fahr, ich komm, etc. instead of ich gehe, ich fahre, ich komme etc. While the former should not be used in any kind of formal writing and would certainly lose you points on an accredited German test, they are nevertheless considered standard German and not slang or dialect. 

BANNER PLACEHOLDER

This dropping of the letter is called an elision. The basis for dropping the -e above is die Sprachökonomie or "speech economy," a positive description of which is "the improvement of communication through simpler modes of speaking." A less flattering motivation for shortening words might be "simple laziness."

Since the dropping of the -e in first person present tense verbs is standard (though not formally correct) German, the use of an apostrophe to notate the missing -e is not only unnecessary, it is incorrect. According to Duden: Ein solches nicht vorhandenes e wird nicht durch einen Apostroph ersetzt. However, it is Yabla's responsibility to teach formally correct German, and it is a priority to avoid giving the impression that ich komm is formally correct. Therefore, Yabla has decided to let the German learner know that a letter is missing from the formally correct version by using an apostrophe to indicate the missing -e: ich komm'. 

Here are some examples of elisions on Yabla German with the missing -e marked with an apostrophe. Because of the apostrophe, you learn that the word is not formally correct and requires the missing letter to be formally correct. Remember, however, that the formally correct German way of writing the elision is actually without the apostrophe! 

Nee, ich komm' von [aus] der Pforzheimer Gegend.

No, I come from the area around Pforzheim.

Caption 33, Unterwegs mit Cettina - an der Rheinfähre

 Play Caption

Ich fahr' eigentlich auch total gerne Schlittschuh.

I actually also really like to go ice skating.

Caption 3, Diane - auf dem Weihnachtsmarkt

 Play Caption

Ich geh' bloß, gern nach Italien in Urlaub.

I only, like to go to Italy on vacation.

Caption 32, Fasching - mit Cettina

 Play Caption

BANNER PLACEHOLDER

Further Learning
Read this article about die Sprachökonomie and find more examples of elisions on Yabla German to see these words used in a real-world context.