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26 + 2 GERMAN VERBS IN ACTION | PART 8

Dear Germanee,

wie geht es dir heute? How are you doing today?

Have you read the previous blog post about fahren?

Then welcome, welcome to part 8!

Bist du bereit? Are you ready?

Let’s get to the 7th letter of the German alphabet, which is the beautiful “G”.
We pronounce it like “g” in the English words garden or go.

The g-verb, I wanna introduce you to seems like a simple one, but will turn out as quite complex in its meaning and use.


However, let’s go one step after the other and see how we conjugate the verb gehen:

Verb

basic form

Singular

Plural

ich

I

du

you informal

er/sie/es

he/she/it

wir

we

ihr

you

sie/Sie

they/you formal

gehen

gehe

gehst

geht

gehen

geht

gehen

As you could see, gehen is a regular verb and so only its endings are changing the way you’re already familiar with.
Phew! That’s good news, isn’t it?

The more tricky part is that we use gehen in many different ways.
Literally gehen means to go or to walk.
I think it’ll be best to figure out the other meanings in the following context.

Daniel, Tom, Erhan and Steven are having their own band. They usually meet twice a week for rehearsals. The four of them are a bit tense since they’ll have a concert soon.

STEVEN
Hey Jungs, was geht? Wie geht’s euch? Ich habe Kaffee für alle.
Hi guys, what’s up? How are you doing? I have coffee for everyone.
DANIELWas geht?!? Danke für den Kaffee, aber eyyy…Steven, du bist schon wieder eine halbe Stunde zu spät zur Bandprobe. Das geht gar nicht, Alter!
What’s up?!? Thanks for the coffee, but hey … Steven, you’re again half an hour late for our band rehearsal. That doesn‘t work at all, dude!
STEVENEs tut mir leid, Leute! Wirklich. Meine Oma ist krank und ihr geht es nicht gut. Geht es jetzt los? Ich bin bereit.
I’m sorry, guys! Really. My grandmother is ill and she is not well. Can we start now? I’m ready.
ERHANNix geht los. Unser Micro geht nicht. Ich denke, es ist kaputt.
Nothing starts. Our mic (doesn’t) work. I think, it’s broken.
TOMHey, seid mal cool, Jungs! Kein Stress, bitte. Das Micro geht nicht? Na und?! Erhan singt heute ohne Micro und bis zum Konzert nächste Woche ist alles wieder ok.
Hey, just be cool, boys! No stress, please! The mic isn’t working? So what?! Erhan sings today without mic and till our concert next week everything (will) be ok.
STEVEN
Ich denke, Tom hat Recht. Frieden?
I think, Tom is right. Peace?
DANIEL
Ok, Frieden.
Ok, peace.
ERHAN Ja, Frieden. Und bis nächste Woche geht alles wieder. Übrigens danke für den Kaffee, Steven. Der ist wirklich gut.
Yes, peace. And till next week everything (will) work perfectly. By the way thank you for the coffee, Steven. It is really great.
STEVENOhh … das freut mich. Der Kaffee ist von meiner Oma.
Ohh … my pleasure. The coffee is from my grandmother.
DANIELWaaaas? Ich denke, sie ist krank?!?
Whaaaat? I think, she is ill?!?
ERHANPssst … Ruhe, Daniel! Jungs, jetzt machen wir Musik. Und eins… und zwei … und eins, zwei, drei, vier …
Pssst … quiet, Daniel! Boys, now we’re making music. And one … and two … and one, two, three, four …

Dear Germanee, have you seen in how many ways we use our verb gehen?

Wie geht’s? or Wie geht es dir? /
How are you (doing)? or literally How is it going with you?

Was geht? or Was geht bei dir? /
What’s up? or What’s up with you?

Das geht gar nicht! /
That doesn’t work at all! …to criticize someone or something that you’d find unacceptable.

Geht es jetzt los? or Jetzt geht’s los. /
Do we start now? or Now it starts. …often used as an almost euphoric announcement of anticipation.

Bis nächste Woche geht alles wieder. /
Next week everything will work perfectly well. …is used in a sense of something is or will be possible.

Das Micro geht nicht. /
The microphone doesn’t work. …put anything instead of mic that isn’t working.


The question Wie geht’s dir? is a quite useful phrase and
I’d recommend that you just learn it by heart.
In the contrary to English, asking “How are you?” in German isn’t part of our regular way of greeting. Hence, we take that question more literally and might reply to it purely honest.
So, dear Germanee, if you ask a German Wie geht’s dir?, be prepared that the answer can range from:
“Mir geht’s fantastisch” to “so lala” to “nicht gut” or even “schlecht”.


I hope you’ll always be on the smiling side of the following spectrum ;).



Hab einen wunderbaren Tag and please leave me a quick comment below as I’d love to know: Wie geht’s dir?

deine Tina Heimberg

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26 + 2 GERMAN VERBS IN ACTION | PART 7

Dear Germanee,

wie schön, dass du wieder da bist, so great to have you here again.

Are you curious to learn a German verb starting with “F”?
You’ve seen my previous post about essen, right?

Then, welcome, welcome to part 7!

Bist du bereit? Are you ready?


The f-verb, I want you to learn is … vroom … vrooom … vrooooooooom.

Good news is, knowing the verb fahren, will give you so many new opportunities
to talk in German about your everyday life.
Bad news is, fahren is also one of these slightly irregular verbs:(.
Let’s see:

Verb

basic form

Singular

Plural

ich

I

du

you informal

er/sie/es

he/she/it

wir

we

ihr

you

sie/Sie

they/you formal

fahren

fahre

fährst

fährt

fahren

fahrt

fahren

As you can see, the “a” in fahren changes into an “ä” in second and third person singular. But no worries, the more you practice the more you’ll get used to it.
Apropos practice, let’s have a look how we’d use our new verb fahren in a conversation.

Dalia and Josie are colleagues. Sie arbeiten beide bei Volkswagen. One morning they meet by chance in the tram.

DALIA
Hey Josie, guten Morgen, wie geht’s dir? Fährst du immer mit der Straßenbahn zur Arbeit?
Hey Josie, good morning, how are you? Do you always go to work by tram?
JOSIEDalia, wie schön! Guten Morgen. Normalerweise fahre ich mit dem Auto, aber das ist diese Woche in der Werkstatt. Und du?
Dalia, how nice. Good morning. Usually I go by car, but it’s in the repair shop this week. And you?
DALIAIch fahre meistens mit dem Fahrrad zur Arbeit. Aber heute habe ich später noch einen Termin und da ist die Straßenbahn praktischer.
I mostly ride my bike to work. But today I’ll have an appointment later and therefore the tram is more practical.
JOSIEHach, du Glückliche! Ich fahre auch so gern Fahrrad, aber zur Arbeit ist mein Weg leider zu weit.
Awww … you’re so lucky! I also like cycling so much, but my way to work is unfortunately too far.
DALIAKlar, ich verstehe. Ich liebe Fahrrad fahren auch total. Nächsten Monat fahren ein paar Freunde und ich sogar mit dem Fahrrad in den Urlaub.
Sure, I understand. I also totally love cycling. Next month, a couple of friends and I (will) even ride our bikes to go on holiday.
JOSIE
Wow! Du bist ja sportlich. Wohin fahrt ihr denn?
Wow! You are so sporty. Where (do) you (Plural!) go?
DALIA
Wir fahren zuerst mit dem Zug nach Magdeburg. Von dort fahren wir mit unseren Fahrrädern bis nach Dresden. Und dann fahren wir mit einem Kanu auf der Elbe bis nach Tschechien.
First we go to Magdeburg by train. From there we ride our bikes to Dresden. And then we go by canoe on the Elbe to Czech Republic.
JOSIE Das ist ja toll, Dalia! Ihr fahrt Fahrrad und Kanu bis nach Tschechien. Ich bin im Sommerurlaub meistens faul. Aber jeden Winter fahre ich in Österreich Ski.
That’s so great, Dalia! You (Plural!) ride your bike and canoe as far away as to Czech Republic. I’m mostly lazy in my summer holiday. But every winter, I go skiing in Austria.
DALIAHahaa. Wir zwei sind wirklich sehr verschieden. Ich bin im Winter faul. Ich fahre leider nicht Ski. Brrrrrr … Kälte mag ich gar nicht.
Hahaa. The two of us are really quite different. I am lazy in winter. I don’t ski unfortunately. Brrrrr… and I don’t like the cold at all.
JOSIEOhhh … Dalia, wir sind schon da! Hab einen schönen Tag. Und vielleicht fahren wir bald mal wieder zusammen Straßenbahn.
Oh … Dalia, we’re already there! Have a lovely day. And maybe we (will) soon again go together by tram.

Dear Germanee, have you seen in how many ways we use the verb fahren?

Josie fährt normalerweise mit dem Auto und Dalia mit dem Fahrrad zur Arbeit. /
Josie usually goes to work by car and Dalia by bike.
Aber heute fahren sie beide Straßenbahn. /
But today they both go by tram.
Im Urlaub fährt Dalia Zug, Fahrrad und Kanu. /
On holiday Dalia goes by train, bike and canoe.
Josie fährt im Winterurlaub gern Ski. /
Josie likes skiing on winter holiday.

Und wie fährst du zur Arbeit? Fährst du Auto, Metro, Scooter, Boot oder Fahrrad? /
And how do you go to work? Do you go by car, metro, scooter, boat or bicycle?


The holiday, mentioned in the conversation above between Dalia and Josie, became definitely a trend.
You can cycle all over Germany, following a river or circling lakes. It’s a wonderful way to experience nature and landscapes in its purest. Since there are train stations everywhere, you can easily hop on a train if you feel tired or wanna speed up your journey.
One very popular cycling tour is the Elbe-Rad-Weg.
Dear Germanee, even if you feel like you hate bikes … just tell me you don’t! … please check out that link as it gives you a beautiful impression about the many shades of Germany in terms of culture and nature.

I’ll never forget a conversation I had once with Mohammed, one of my students here in Dubai. Mohammed has learned German to do his masters in Germany. When he returned to Dubai for holiday, after his first two semesters, we met for a coffee. I was very curious to hear about his experiences and how he liked his life in Germany. One of the first things he mentioned was the cycling culture in Germany. He was so amazed by the fact that his professors, but also so many other people in suits are commuting to and from work by bike.
There are cycle paths everywhere in cities and it’s indeed -mostly!- a pleasant way to get from A to B. Often it would be even faster to ride your bike; plus no headache from searching for parking.
I’d dare to claim that bikes have become kind of a status symbol and among the really cool people they replaced cars by far. There are so many different bikes on the market, ranging from cool to comfortable to sporty to elegant, that everyone can find his perfect fit to meet his needs and express his individuality.


Fahrrad fahren is like a life style choice.

In Germany, I ride my bike to the farmers market on Saturday mornings or to a restaurant meeting friends in the evening. I do all my grocery shopping by bike. Radfahren is just part of the everyday life and I love that. It gives me a feeling of being somehow more connected or grounded. Do you understand what I mean?

In Dubai it’s completely the opposite, I love and enjoy Autofahren, while Radfahren is a hobby. When I’m on my way to Al Qudra cycling track, mein Rennrad im Kofferraum, my race bike in the rear trunk, my heart is jumping full of anticipation. Cycling through the desert, exposed to heat and wind, means pure happiness. Just thinking about it, makes me realize how grateful I am to feel home in both life styles.

Although Fahrrad fahren became more and more popular, many Germans are still so in love with their Auto / car. And Autos play a big role within the German economy. Volkswagen, Opel, Audi, BMW, Mercedes or Porsche are very well known.
Ehmm … did I forget any German car brand?
I think, especially in Dubai, the German Autobahn is something every speed-lover wants to try. Heading from Hamburg to Munich within a few hours is definitely an experience. There is a myth that no speed limits apply to Autobahn.
I am sorry, but THAT IS NOT TRUE.
There are few parts of every Autobahn, usually in more rural and less busy areas, where you can legally take your car to vroom … vroooom … max speed.
And yes. That’s thrilling.

But, if I can choose my favorite drive, I’d prefer a slower pace. Eine Cabrio-Fahrt an einem warmen Sommertag, a trip in a convertible on a warm summer’s day, on one of these countless alleys towards the baltic sea – that’s freedom and heaven in one. The air is filled by a spicy scent of nature and you look up into a tight but light canopy of leaves. The closer you get to the sea the more you’ll smell the salty air and discover the pastel-colored sky. Actually, similar to cycling, you can experience your route with all senses. You see, feel, hear, smell your way.

Auf dem Fahrrad oder im Cabrio – for me, that means fahren.


Hab einen wunderbaren Tag and let me know what fahren means to you!

deine Tina Heimberg

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26 + 2 German Verbs in Action part 4

Dear Germanee,

The third letter of the German alphabet won’t come as a big surprise to you: It’s the C.
Well, we don’t have many words in German starting with a C.
We borrowed most of them from other languages.
If a German word starts with C, we’d pronounce it like a K, i. g. Clown or Camping.

While camping leads me directly to the verb, I’d like you to get in touch with.

The third verb out of 26, the C-verb of my choice is:

Does it look familiar to you?
Yes, you’re right.
We stole it from the English language and just added our German verb-endings. 

Welcome, welcome to part four. Ta-daaaaaaaaa!

Bist du bereit? Are you ready?

Then, let’s have a look how the verb campen changes in action.
Do you recognize these different endings already from part 3-verb backen?

Verb

basic form

Singular

Plural

ich

I

du

you informal

er/sie/es

he/she/it

wir

we

ihr

you

sie/Sie

they/you formal

campen

campe

campst

campt

campen

campt

campen

I believe, there are three different groups of camping people in Germany:

Either youngsters go for camping or families
or die-hard campers of the elder community. 
I have to admit straight away, I don’t belong to any of them;).

Let’s have a closer look,
how we’d use the verb campen in our everyday German.

Imagine, it’s Friday,
weekend just around the corner
and a wonderful summer morning.

Nadja and Carlos bump into their common friend Marie
in front of their university.

CARLOSHallo Marie! Guten Morgen. Schön dich zu sehen! Wie geht’s dir denn?
Hello Marie! Good morning. Great to see you! How are you doing?
MARIEHeyyyyy … Nadja! … Carlos! Schön euch zu sehen. Mir geht’s wunderbar.
Das Wetter ist traumhaft und ich habe dieses Wochenende frei.
Heyyyyy … Nadja! … Carlos! Great to see you (plural!). I’m very well. The weather is gorgeous and I’ll be off this weekend.
NADJAOh, wie cool! Du arbeitest am Wochenende nicht?!? Wir haben Tickets
für das Fusion Festival am Wochenende. Komm doch mit!
Carlos, was meinst du?
Oh, that’s cool! You (don’t) work on the weekend not? We have tickets for the Fusion festival this weekend. Just come with us! Carlos, what do you think?
CARLOSNatürlich! Super Idee. Komm mit, Marie! Das Wetter ist so toll und wir campen. Das wird richtig schön.
Sure! Great idea. Come with us, Marie! The weather is so nice and we go for camping. It’ll be awesome.
MARIEWow, ich liebe das Fusion Festival! Und ich campe soooo gern. Aber so spontan? Ihr Zwei seid ja verrückt.
Wow, I love the Fusion festival! And I like camping sooooo much. But, that spontaneous? You two are crazy.
NADJAKomm schon, Marie! Lass uns spontan sein! Wo ist das Problem? Du hast frei. Du liebst das Fusion. Du campst gern. Wir haben genug Platz im Auto…
Come on, Marie! Let us be spontaneous! Where is the problem? You are off. You love the Fusion. You like camping. We are having enough space in the car…
CARLOSMarie, sag einfach JA! Hmmm … aber hast du ein Zelt? Unser Zelt ist leider zu klein für drei Leute.
Marie, just say YES! Hmmm … but (do) have you a tent? Our tent is unfortunately too little for three people.
MARIEOk. Ok. Ok. Leute, ich bin dabei. Ahhhh … und ich freue mich so, so sehr. Ein Zelt ist überhaupt kein Problem. Mein Bruder campt oft mit seiner Familie und er hat ein großes Zelt. Das kann ich ganz sicher haben.
Ok. Ok. Ok. Guys, I’m in. Awww … and I’m looking so, so much forward to it. A tent isn’t a problem at all. My brother often goes camping with his family and he has a big tent. I can have that for sure.
NADJAWohooo – Fusion, wir kommen! Das wird so toll.
Wohooo – Fusion, we’re coming! It’s gonna be so great!
CARLOSSuper, Mädels. Wir starten dann heute Nachmittag gegen drei. Bis dann!
Great, girls. We start then today in the afternoon around three. See you then!

How was it?
I’m sure you understood that these friends talk about their weekend plans. They wanna go to the Fusion festival, a very popular one among fans of electronic music.

There are numerous other festivals for all kind of music in Germany,
from spring time till late summer.
Just to name a few:
Rock am Ring for rock and punk music over three days, with around 90,000 visitors.
Wacken open air for fans of Heavy Metall with about 75,000 guests
or Lollapalooza for rock, rap and punk as well as dance, comedy, fashion and art.
Aside from these kind of huge events, there are smaller and cozier ones too, almost every weekend around the year for every music taste.
If you’re interested in getting some detailed information about all festivals, you can check out this website: https://www.festival-alarm.com

For many Germans – of all ages or stages of life – it’s a must to travel around the country and spend some summer weekends at one of these festivals.
I believe, it’s the full package of fun, joy and music, what makes the experience so unique: Taking a break of normal routines. Enjoying music, live performed by world class stars on several stages. Spending intense hours with your friends, but also with new people you’ve never met before.
Stepping back to the roots of civilization by sleeping in a tent and preparing your morning coffee on a camping stove. Being exposed to nature and weather; unlike Dubai there is no guaranteed sunshine in Germany;).

And what about you?

Campst du gern? / Do you like camping?
Wo campst du? / Where do you go for camping?
Und warst du schon mal bei einem Musik Festival? / And have you ever been at a music festival?

I’d love to know your stories!

Hab einen wunderbaren Tag / Have a wonderful day

… and let me know your camping adventures in the comments below!

Bis bald,

deine Tina Heimberg

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26 + 2 GERMAN VERBS IN ACTION | PART 3

Dear Germanee,

I hope you’ve already had your breakfast today?!?
I’m going to talk about yummy stuff, while introducing you to a German verb starting with B.
We pronounce our B similarly to English (bread or banana).

The second verb out of 26, the B-verb of my choice is:

It comes to you with a bunch of mouth-watering new words. 

Welcome, welcome for part three. Yippeeeee!

Bist du bereit? Are you ready?

As I guess, you have baked something – at least once in your life –
and so you have an idea about the action itself. 

If not, maybe at the end of that lesson, you can’t help and wanna bake something. 

Or if you’re a bit like me, you’ll run to your baker and grab your favorite piece. 

But first, let’s have a look how the verb backen changes in action.
Do you recognize these different endings already from part 2-verb arbeiten?

Verb

basic form

Singular

Plural

ich

I

du

you informal

er/sie/es

he/she/it

wir

we

ihr

you

sie/Sie

they/you formal

backen

backe

backst

backt

backen

backt

backen

To see, how we’d use the verb backen in our everyday German,

I’d like to invite you to meet
Benno, the baker.

Let’s imagine Clara, a Journalist from a local newspaper, interviews Benno,
who runs a popular bakery in a small town, called Neustadt.

CLARAHallo. Guten Morgen. Ich bin Clara Schreiber und ich arbeite als Journalistin bei Neustadt-News. Und wer bist du?
Hello. Good morning. I am Clara Schreiber and I work as(a) journalist for Neustadt-News. And who are your?
BENNOGuten Morgen, Clara. Mein Name ist Benno Müller. Ich arbeite als Bäcker und ich liebe es.
Good morning, Clara. My name is Benno Müller. I work as(a) baker and I love it.
CLARABenno, der Bäcker. Wie schön! Wie heißt deine Bäckerei?
Benno, the baker. How nice! How (is)called your bakery?
BENNOMeine Bäckerei heißt “Benno’s Backwerk” und ich habe drei Filialen in Neustadt.
My bakery (is)called “Benno’s Bake-factory” and I have three branches in Neustadt.
CLARAWow, drei Filialen! Backst du ganz allein?
Wow, three branches! (Do)bake you all alone?
BENNOOh nein, natürlich backe ich nicht allein. Ich habe ein super Team aus fünf Bäckerinnen und Bäckern.
Oh no, of course bake I not alone. I have a great team of five (female) bakers and (male) bakers.
CLARASuper, Benno! Und was backt ihr hier? Was sind Benno’s Spezialitäten?
Great , Benno. And what (do)bake you here? What are Benno’s specialties?
BENNOWir backen früh am Morgen Brot und Brötchen und dann später auch viele verschiedene Kuchen.
We bake early in the morning bread and rolls and then later also many different cakes.
Meine Kunden lieben unser Dinkelbrot und den saftigen Mohnkuchen. Hier bitte, Clara, probier doch mal!
My customers love our spelt bread and the juicy poppy-seed cake. Here please, Clara, try it!
CLARAMhhhhm … ist das lecker! Alles schmeckt soooo gut. Ich komme auf jeden Fall wieder.
Mhhhm … is that yummy! Everything tastes soooooo good. I (‘ll) come definitely again.

I hope, you could follow the conversation between Clara and Benno.

Isn’t it great, that you understand what they say?

As you could see, the verb backen changes its endings in a regular way, depending on its heroes aka pronouns.

At this point, I can’t miss out on the chance to give you some tasty insights and more vocabulary related to baking.

Have you ever heard someone swooning over
German bakeries?

Just thinking about it, makes me feel awfully sentimental. Especially on a cold winter’s day, when you enter eine Bäckerei and the warm, flavory air embraces you and tells you to forget all your knowledge about calories as well as the danger of white flour and sugar.

It’s just heaven!

Loafs of Brot come in all shapes and in about 3,200 shades of brown. Yes. That’s the official number of registered bread types, according to the German Bread Institute. (https://www.brotinstitut.de) The German Bread Culture has been acknowledged as part of the UNESCO Cultural Heritage.

Don’t laugh here! Brot is very serious business in Germany.

I don’t know about the number of bakeries in other countries. But in Germany, you can find one, even in the smallest village and in a city definitely just around every corner. While in the Arab part of the world people would grab a Zataar-mankheesh or a Shawarma-sandwich – Germans go for Brötchen.

You can buy these rolls, of course in a wide range of flavors, from Rosinenbrötchen – a white milky dough with raisins and nuts – up to multigrain and healthy Roggenbrötchen – similar to rye bread. You can ask the Bäcker for a filling of your taste, such as Butter, Ei, Tomate mit Mozzarella, Salami and / or Käse.

An einem Samstagmorgen, on a Saturday morning, you’d see a queue of Brötchen-buyers in front of every Bäckerei, since frische Brötchen are essential for Frühstück on weekends.

Of course, you can find tons of Torte, Kuchen and any kind of baked sweets in every Bäckerei too.

Each Bäckerei is somehow famous for its specialties in town.

Do you feel hungry now?

I definitely do.

But, let’s just increase your appetite a bit more
by practicing all those tasty new words:

Ich wünsche dir einen schönen Tag und bitte grüß auch deinen Bäcker von mir ;)! /
I wish you a great day and please send my regards also to your baker ;)!

Bis bald,

deine Tina Heimberg

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