This week's lesson is all about exercise! When you think of "exercise" in the context of Yabla German, you might immediately think of language exercises, but we are now talking about die Übung in relation to der Sport or das Training. These are two common nouns for "the exercise" or "the workout," along with their related verbs: 

Ja, mehr Sport machen, drei Kilo abnehmen und eine Tätowierung.

Yeah, exercise more, lose three kilos and a tattoo.

Caption 31, Silvester: Vorsätze für das neue Jahr - Karlsruhe

 Play Caption

Ganz gemütlich, wir trainieren hier jetzt die Oberschenkel.

Very comfortably, we are training the thighs now.

Caption 68, TEDx: Lebenslange Fitness

 Play Caption

banner PLACEHOLDER

When people go to the gym (ins Fitnessstudio gehen), they may use particular machines or equipment. But there are lots of exercises that can be done just with a mat, or no equipment at all:

Ja, also, ich muss sagen, ich trainiere wirklich sehr, sehr gerne im Fitnessstudio, also wirklich auch im Freihantelbereich.

Yeah, well, I have to say, I really, really like to work out at the gym, really in the free weights area too.

Captions 54-55, Anja Polzer: Interview

 Play Caption

Er reagiert genauso auf Training wie dein Bizeps auf Hanteltraining.

It responds to exercise the same way like your biceps to dumbbell training.

Captions 9-10, Deutsch mit Eylin: Kreatives Schreiben

 Play Caption

Liegestütze, Kniebeugen... und solche Sachen.

Pushups, squats... and things like that.

Caption 48, Deutsch mit Eylin: Sportarten

 Play Caption

So, die nächste Übung ist auch wieder für die Beine, wir machen einen ganz weiten Ausfallschritt nach vorne.

So, the next exercise is also for the legs again, we make a very big lunge forward.

Captions 19-20, Workout mit Erik: Übungen für Arme, Beine, Po, Rücken

 Play Caption

Ja, was man auch machen kann, ist zum Beispiel, Sit-ups, Bauchtraining.

Yes, what you can also do are, for example, sit-ups, abdominal training.

Caption 33, Finanzassistentin: Sarah interviewt Cettina

 Play Caption

Of course, some people do not like gyms and prefer to get exercise outside or through team sports:

Es ist dreimal effektiver auch als joggen, das heißt, du verbrennst hier dreimal mehr Kalorien als beim Joggen.

It's also three times more effective than jogging — that is, you burn three times as many calories here than when jogging.

Captions 53-54, Rhein-Main Ferien: 360 Jump in Dietzenbach

 Play Caption

Further Learning
On Yabla German, you can watch Erik's workout video in its entirety to get a sense of how a sequence of exercises would be directed in German, or watch Eylin's video on sports to learn the German words for all sorts of sports. 

This week, let's have a look at the German verb halten and consider how it is combined with prefixes to make other verbs. Even by itself, the verb halten has a number of meanings. First of all, it translates as "to stop": 

Nein, Peter! Du darfst ihnen nichts geben. -Halt!

No, Peter! You mustn't give them anything. -Stop!

Caption 9, Heidi: Die Mutprobe

 Play Caption

banner PLACEHOLDER

Halten may also mean "to hold" or "to hold onto" (also in the variation festhalten) in either a literal or figurative sense.

Und zwar dürfen Sie sich jetzt mal hier kurz festhalten. Genau.

And, that is, you may now hold onto this here for a moment. Exactly.

Caption 44, TEDx: Lebenslange Fitness

 Play Caption

...und dann halt die Finger so über deinen Ohren.

...and then hold your fingers over your ears like this.

Caption 112, Coronavirus: Schutzmasken zum Selbermachen

 Play Caption

It can also mean "to keep" or "to last." Here you can see an example with the reflexive verb sich halten:

Die Rohmilch hält sich natürlich nicht ganz so lange wie die Supermarkt-Milch.

The raw milk, of course, doesn't keep quite as long as supermarket milk.

Caption 47, Rhein-Main-TV Moderne Milchtankstelle

 Play Caption

The first phrase below is heard constantly these days, and is one instance in which halten means "to keep" as in "to maintain." The phrase aufrecht halten would normally be translated as "to uphold," but in this case is also better translated as "to maintain."

Wir müssen Abstand halten.

We have to maintain distance.

Caption 24, Bundesamt für Gesundheit: Coronavirus und Schulen

 Play Caption

Und ich leite den Einsatz und halte die Kommunikation mit den Gastronomen und Hoteliers aufrecht.

And I lead the operation and maintain the communication with the restaurants and hotels.

Captions 23-24, Schweizer Felsenputzer: suchen Nachwuchs

 Play Caption

banner PLACEHOLDER

"To sustain" and "to abide by" are other possible translations of halten. The structure in this example is sich an etwas halten:

Alle Einwohner und Einwohnerinnen und der Staat müssen sich an die Gesetze halten.

All inhabitants and the federal state have to abide by the law.

Captions 36-37, Bundesrepublik: Deutschland Einbürgerungstest

 Play Caption

Then, as is the case with many other common German verbs, there are verbs that consist of halten combined with a prefix and may have either a related or an entirely different meaning. Here are two examples:

So, was könnte Olaf Scholz noch aufhalten auf seinem Weg ins Kanzleramt?

So, what could still stop Olaf Scholz on his way to the chancellorship?

Caption 20, heute-show: Die männliche Merkel hat Erinnerungslücken

 Play Caption

Wie sollte sie es nur ohne ihn aushalten?

Just how was she supposed to bear it without him?

Caption 70, Märchen - Sagenhaft: Die Weiber von Weinsberg

 Play Caption

Further Learning

Many examples with halten and related verbs can be found on Yabla German in both reflexive and non-reflexive forms. Can you find examples with enthalten / sich enthalten, erhalten, behalten, and verhalten / sich verhalten?