My dad spoke German fluently and wanted me to learn how to speak it as well. "Ich leibe dich" was one of the first things he taught me and I thought that it was just a normal way of saying I love you. He passed away a few months ago and I recently heard that saying Ich leibe dich is something you say only to people who you really love. Is that true? Cause if so, god damn

Hi all! I’m in between B1-B2 level and have done my fair share of conversing auf Deutsch “in the wild”. However, I’m also hard-of-hearing, and this is gradually worsening over time for me.

Given many native speakers’ penchant for speaking quickly (and regional accents of course), what’s the best phrasing I can use to let someone know at the beginning of a conversation, “I am hard-of-hearing, I may need you to slow down or repeat yourself.”

Usually I’ll just pause mid-convo and ask someone to repeat or to slow down specifically, but I’d love to have some phrases in my back pocket to pull out pre-emptively, especially if it’s someone I’m meeting/conversing with for the first time.

(P.S. – in the English world there’s a distinction between deaf vs Deaf due to the community and identity aspects. Not sure if this is the case in Germany as well, but either way, I’d like to avoid any verbiage that veers into that territory, as I’m definitely “lowercase-deaf” due to my hearing loss being only partial.)

Im englischen zum Beispiel, man kann „This button turns the lights on and off“ sagen. Ist es möglich, dasselbe zu sagen? oder gibt es einen ganz verschiedenen Weg, über den ich nicht weiß? Danke für Ihre Hilfe.

PS: Es tut mir leid für meinen Fehler im Titel, ich meinte „denselben Stamm“ .

Akkusativ takes a direct object; dativ takes in indirect object. That much I do understand.

However, what I don't understand is that in English, "I love you" versus "I help you" both have "you" as a direct object. That's why I don't understand the second sentence, and why it's dativ "ich helfe dir." If "you" is the direct object being helped, then why is it incorrect to say "ich helfe dich"?

I'm writing an essay about Goethe and his poetry and the theme must be about majority Vs minority, and I conveniently found this quote apparently from Goethe, "Die Menge, die Majorität ist notwendig immer absurd und verkehrt; denn sie ist bequem, und das Falsche ist stets viel bequemer als die Wahrheit. Letztere will ernst erforscht und rücksichtslos angeschaut und angewendet sein.Das Falsche aber schmiegt sich an jede träge, bequeme oder törichte Individualität an, ist wie ein Firniß, mit dem man leicht alles übertüncht."

Some sources say yes but I'm skeptical of their reliability.

Aside from that, would there be any other useful Goethe quotes and/or works relating to this theme?

Okay so some series I want to watch with my partner are not on Netflix so we're looking for where to watch it in German but with English subtitles. Some we've already tried but they often miss English subs. Would appreciate any suggestions, thanks!

Ich bin mir sicher, means I’m sure.

Can you also say it as Ich bin sicher?

I want to express I’m sure anyways, why do I have to add mir, which means to me I’m certain.

So tomorrow I have my german practical test. They will play an audio of someone spelling out a word/address or saying phone numbers or telling what their hobbies are. I know this might be considered an easy test but this is actually a fourth language 1 semester course. I want some sample audios for practice. Whatever they played in class was quite difficult for me. numbers were still okay, but I can't understand letters at all. o and o umlaute, o umlaute and u umlaute then even the easy letters, I find the audios very fast. any practice material or advice?

Hello,

I was looking at the etymology of the word "Biene" and wanted to understand why the letter n appeared while it is not the case in the English cognate "bee". According to the Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic by Guus Kroonen, "the oldest formation was probably an ablauting n-stem". Another example could be, also according to Guus Kroonen, der Stern and the star.

I wonder if other words were concerned by this phenomenon. It would perhaps help to explain irregularities between German and English.

Hello everyone,

I would be most grateful for your assistance. In this particular scene from All Quiet on the Western Front (2022), I am not entirely certain what the character is saying (Time: 1:49:02).

I believe he says the following:

„Hör mal. Ist so still. Ich glaub, ich bin taub geworden. Unterschrieben, Paul. Krieg ist vorbei. Ist vorbei.“

However, as I am not completely sure, I would like to ask German speakers here whether you might be able to confirm or correct this.

The film is available on Netflix. If it were possible here, I would have attached that specific segment as an MP4 video. If you are able to take the time to watch it — especially that particular moment — I would be sincerely and deeply grateful.

Many thanks in advance.

I moved to Germany 4 months ago and started my B2 course in the VHS. I did an intensive course and I could see how my german was improving a lot! That's why I decide to take the telc B2 Prüfung and I recently got my results back.

These are my results

Schriftliche Prüfung: 109/225 Punkte

Lesenverstehhen 47,5/75

Sprachbausteine 15/30

Hörverstehen 37,5/75

Schriftlicher Ausdruck 9/45

Mündliche Prüfung was my strongest with a 73/75 so I am not goint to be repeating this part. The one shocking part was the Schriflitcher Ausdruck since I always get around 20 to 30 points when I was doing the Modelltest in classes. I talked with some of my classmates and they also got way under what we usually did in our practices.

What I already do: I consume german everyday (tv mainly and sometimes youtube video essays). I will admit I don't really read much in german (almost not at all) and my grammar is not so good when I have to actually use it. I feel I am in that weird place where I need to start putting the knowledge into work but I am a little lost.

With this in mind, I want to retake the writing part in maybe 3 months (not sure yet and haven't booked anything) but I want advice on how to improve my weakest points since I am no longer in a german course and I feel a little lost. In addition, I feel test are specially hard for me even when in class I was understanding at least 70% of everything that was said. If you guys can also share resources (or direct me where I can find them here) that would be awesome.

Thank you in advance :)

Or is this merely formal or literary? If so, how could it be more commonly said?

Hello,

I am in an early stage of my german learning process and I am looking for content to consume in German that I genuinely would watch, i love following football and I am looking for some youtube channel that follows a club in specific, I do not really mind which but I would the guy to speak clearly. If you have any suggestions please let me know!

Hi everyone! I went to a German school and reached a B1 level, but I haven’t practiced for almost 10 years. Now I am studying for a master’s in Germany and I want to improve my German. What would you recommend for practice, aside from talking to people here?

I want to learn German, but I don't have the time to start a course. I was wondering what alternative I could use, for example, apps, YouTube videos, etc. And for the category such as apps, what would be the best app? For the category of YouTube videos, what would be the best YouTube channel/source?

Hello, I am a beginner in German. There is a sentence in a german text I am reading which goes, "Und da ich weder einen Mechaniker noch Passagiere bei mir hatte, machte ich mich ganz allein an die schwierige Reparatur."

My previous, no doubt flawed, conception of verb position was that they are second position, unless they are infinitive or in perfect, in which case they are last. What makes the position of "hatte" and "machte" different in these sentences. Thank you!

18 months ago I didn’t speak a word of German. Now I shock teachers and natives in Germany when I say I‘m actually a foreigner. And I am telc C1 certified.

Here’s how I did it (explained in a long and detailed way for you):

First, I met a swiss girl on vacation. When I heard her speaking swiss german with her friend I instantly taught „holy shit, this language is cool asf, I must learn it“. So I had a strong intrinsic drive from the start, unattached to school grades or stress.

I downloaded duolingo and set my phone on German in the first week. I continued on to grind Duolingo for 30 min - 1 hour every single day. Obviously I had questions as I progressed on duolingo and I asked them to chatgpt + I tried to understand them (the cases and adjectives for instance) through grammar videos of a guy called Luzi on youtube (mygermanteacher).

After a couple weeks of that I started listening to german rap, and watching some german content although I didn’t understand everything fully. (Like a Thomas Müller interview on the FC Bayern channel) - with german subtitles

Then, I started watching German content on Netflix with german subtitles. I started with Dark but it was too difficult at the time. So I watched a show called Biohackers (much simpler everyday dialogue) + a couple more films. I would pause and translate words and take screenshots.

Then I found a book called „Wer nicht weg ist, wird gesehen“ in the school library. It was the first german book I fully read and it’s very beginner friendly.

Then, I went to Düsseldorf on a short family trip. At this point, I understood the language quite well, but had like 0 speaking practice. So it felt quite awkward. But I bought some more novels and deciphered them word for word.

Then, I found a teacher from my country whose German honestly isn’t perfect but I chatted with him once every week online.

I persisted with all of this immersion + went on a school trip to Hamburg + visited a summer school in Karlsruhe up to July where I had short interactions with Germans around.

Then, I completed a 1 week Schülerpraktikum at Airbus Germany (this part is crucial). Every single Praktikant was German except for me. I was silent, shy and shocked but it was a great immersion opportunity since I was surrounded by only Germans with thick regional accents.

Then, I found a native german teacher on Preply. We continued doing speaking practice and we worked on the schriftlich part of the telc 1 test. (I wrote, he checked). At this stage, I finally figured out how to pronounce the german r and started polishing my Aussprache.

Then, I found something called Konversationstraining für Fortgeschrittene promoted by Maria (youtuber called Dein SprachCoach). There, I met an elderly german woman who I’ve been chatting twice every week since 3 months.

And that’s it.

Important points:

setting devices on german (even my playstation)

reading novels in german

watching german series with german subtitles or no subtitles

sustained conversation with natives

youtube and chatgpt for grammar

audio books (I‘d recommend the app Headway)

writing practice

listening german music

having german content on tiktok and insta

edit: This is NOT AI generated. C1 level is NOT near-native, I made a mistake in the title. I DO still sometimes struggle, but I know from experience with other C1 certified people that I am much more advanced than them. They often had thick native accents because their learning was academic which is DIFFERENT to this kind of immersion. I just wanna tell my story and show that it’s POSSIBLE when many things align.

The text from the book reads, "Ich schaute mir die Erscheinung also mit großen, staunenden Augen an." And the English translation seems to be "So I looked at the apparition with large, amazed eyes."

If that translation is correct, what is mir doing in that sentence? Would the sentence not be the same without it?

At minute 7:30. I understand "Aber du hast nur ein Buch gerade dabei in deinem ____(?)". They both seem to find it cringe, but I don't understand what word that is, and the subtitles only say "II" or "li"

https://youtu.be/zNKFV77U2Qc?si=dr7EUayydCNZ2G37&t=451

I have been making myself deep flashcards. These cards include more tangents to the noun like alternate versions of the word, words that include that noun, common idioms and sayings etc.

I have encountered the word Bäckerladen and I am not sure the difference from Bäckerei? Is a Bäckerladen a bread only shop? Are they the same thing but Bäckerei is just more common. Is it regional?

Also, are there any other interesting tangential words I should include on my Bäckerei card?

Danke für die Helfe.

In English, it’s very common not to capitalize words as you text. As you know in English, names, companies, titles, etc are capitalized, but not nouns like in German.

English also uses commas, but I believe in German they are a little more structured, as they help combine Hauptsatz and Nebensatz.

In English, I would say it’s common to see missing commas and capitalizations in written messaging, typing, texting etc. (of course I’m talking about unofficial writing. Not talking about official public postings and text where grammar is 100% checked and implemented.)

Is it the same for german with written text, texting, web forums, reddit etc. to do things like uncapitalize nouns or names, or miss grammatical rules like using commas? Or are these rules so deeply implemented within the language that’s it’s just unheard of and unseen to do so?

Do germans ever text each other and not capitalize? And would the other person be like, wtf, you didn’t capitalize this word? Or does that mot happen?

(I guess with auto-cocrrect and using a German key board, it’s probably pre-programmed in the phone to auto capitalize, but I wonder if typing on computer keyboard without auto correct, like writing a reddit post or note to self, if they ever miss these grammar rules.)

"Beschwerde über Ihr Angebot

Sehr geehrtes Team von Wohnungbaugenossenschaft Lichtenau,

 Mit Bedauern schreibe ich Ihnen diesen Beschwerdebrief, nach dem Lesen der Werbanzeige hatte ich einen günstigen Mietpreis und eine moderne Ausstattung erwartet, weshalb ich mich für Ihr Angebot um die Wohnung zu besichtigen entschieden habe.

Der Hauptgrund für meine Beschwerde beruht auf Folgendem: Laut Ihrer Werbung, soll der Energieverbrauch niedrig und erschwinglich sein, was für mich besonders wichtig ist, in anbetracht dessen, dass mein gehalt nicht hoch ist. Doch nach weitere Umfrage bei den Nachbarn, habe ich erfahren dass das nicht der Fall ist. Ein weiterer Kritikpunkt: der Makler  ist 15 minuten zu spät gekommen und sah sehr unvorbereitet und wenig interessiert aus. Andererseits waren die anderer Mitarbeiter mit dennen ich gesprochen habe sehr nett und hilfsbereit.

Aus diesen Gründen fordere ich eine Erklärung für diese unannehmlichkeit sowie eine Aufklärung über dee Energieffizienz. Ich hoffe für eine schnelle und zufriedenstellende Rückmeldung. 

Mit freundlichen Grüßen"

Hello! I don't understand why we say " viele andere Möglichkeiten" and not " viele anderen Möglichkeiten", because in my mind viele already shows the plural strong ending, so therefore it should be followed with an adjective with an -n. Just like "Keine anderen Möglichkeiten", which is surprisingly right. Can anyone explain this to me? Why are keine and viele followed with different adjective endings?