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26 + 2 GERMAN VERBS IN ACTION | PART 6

Dear Germanee,

wie geht es Dir? I hope everything is well at your end.
Today, I’m going to continue with the 6th verb of my 26 + 2 series and so we’re getting to the letter “E”.

Welcome, welcome to part 6!

Bist du bereit? Are you ready?


Have you read the d-post, which introduces you to the verb denken?
No? Not yet? Then, you can find it here: http://26-2-german-verbs-in-action-part-5


The e-verb, I want you to learn is … ta-daaaaaa:

Another essential one, I suppose.
And since essen is such an important and life-saving action, this verb deserves kind of a high-maintenance-treatment.
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

essen

esse

isst

isst

essen

esst

essen

Now, you know, what I mean by high- maintenance, don’t you? As you can see, the verb essen changes its first letter from “e” into “i” in the second and third person singular. That’s something you should just learn by heart. Ich denke, since you’ll use essen quite often, you’ll remember it easily.

Have you actually noted already, how different we pronounce the “e” and “i” in German, compared to English?
While our German “E” is spoken like the “e” in the English word bed, the “I” in German is pronounced like the “ee”-sound in the word beef.
Please, all Germanees out there , would you keep that in mind?

Let’s now practice how you can use the verb essen in action.
Therefore, we’re going back to the Italian restaurant and to Shireen and Lukas, that newly in love couple from the previous post.

Shireen and Lukas ordered Shrimps and Pasta. Shireen had already bred and olive oil since she was starving.

KELLNER
waiter		So, bitte sehr! Hier sind die Shrimps und auch die Pasta. Wer isst was?
There you go. Here are the shrimps and also the pasta. Who eats what?
SHIREENAm besten alles einfach in die Mitte, bitte! Sharing is caring. Wir essen alles zusammen. Oder, Schatz?
The best (will be) everything in the middle, please! Sharing is caring. We eat everything together. Don’t we, darling?
KELLNERPerfekt. Guten Appetit.
Perfect. Enjoy.
LUKASVielen Dank! Wie lecker. Guten Appetit.
Thank you very much. How yummy. Enjoy.
LUKASHey Shireen! Isst du immer allein? Ich denke, sharing is caring und wir essen alles zusammen?
Hey Shireen! Do you always eat alone ? I think, sharing is caring und wir essen everything together?
SHIREEN
Mhhhhm. Uppps! Ach, Lukas … das tut mir wirklich so, so leid. Ich bin immer noch hungrig und ich esse immer sehr schnell.
Mhhhm. Uppps! Ahhh, Lukas … I’m really so, so sorry. I’m still hungry and I always eat very fast.
LUKAS
Najaaa … ich esse einen Shrimp und du isst zehn. Ich esse eine Spaghetti und du isst sie alle. Jetzt bist du satt und ich sehr hungrig.
Mhhmpf … I eat one shrimp and you eat ten. I eat one spaghetti and you eat them all. Now you are full and I am very hungry .
SHIREEN
to the waiter		Entschuldigung, haben Sie vielleicht noch einmal Brot und ein bisschen Olivenöl für uns? Es ist wirklich dringend. Die Liebe meines Lebens verhungert.
Excuse me, do you have maybe again bred and some olive oil for us? It’s really urgent as the love of my life is starving.
LUKASShireen, du bist unglaublich. Ich denke, nächstes Mal essen wir in einem Restaurant mit Buffet. Dann ist alles gut zwischen uns.
Shireen, you are unbelievable. I think, next time we’ll eat in a restaurant with buffet. Then all is good between us.
SHIREENAch, Lukas! Du bist so klug.
Oh, Lukas. You are so smart.

Dear Germanee, hast du jetzt auch Hunger?
Was isst du gern?
Und was isst du nicht gern?
It would be lovely if you could leave me a comment below – in German of course! – about your food favorites and your absolutely no-go-foods.
Ich esse sehr gern … / I like to eat … very much.
Ich esse überhaupt nicht gern … / I do not at all like to eat …

Since I gave you already some insights into the German world of bakeries (26 + 2 GERMAN VERBS IN ACTION | PART 3), I’m now going to talk about the second very serious and absolutely basic essence of the German nutrition, aside from Brot.
Guess what?!

… die Kartoffel

I don’t know why German cuisine is so under-rated. Typical German dishes are mostly quite hearty, regional and seasonal. Not that bad, right? Due to hard circumstances German population was facing, in terms of climate and hard work, up to the 1960ies, people really needed that kind of powerful fuel to maintain high caloric intake. I’m sure you’ve heard, how much we Germans love Kartoffeln, our potatoes. Rumor goes that some people out there in the world, even refer to Germans as “Kartoffel”.
Is that really true?!?


Picking the right sort of potato to match a certain dish is almost science. Depending on their texture, they’ll later turn out as of more creamy or crumbly consistency. To differentiate them, our Kartoffeln got beautiful names, such as Annabelle, Sieglinde or Laura. There are more than 2,000 different types out there and in Germany alone grow approximately 210 sorts.

To be honest, the word Kartoffel reminds me of some of the worst moments of my childhood. On Saturdays or Sundays, punctually at noon my mom used to call me resolutely, in her hands an orange plastic bowl which she handed out to me. No further words were needed. If I dared to roll my eyes she raised her hand with the bowl. No further movements were needed. I knew my scary duty: Going down into the cellar to pick Kartoffeln for our weekend lunch.
In the darkest spot of our dark cellar, was a section with a huge heap of potatoes, delivered in autumn and in such a high amount to make sure it’ll feed us for almost all year around. I hated the cellar because of its smell and its scary spiders. I hated the potato heap because of all its disgusting surprises. The further the year went on, my hands felt more and more of those wrinkled, shriveled and sprouted little potato beasts. Some of them just got wither, but others even became muddy and stinky. Just now, the question occurs to me why no one handed me at least a flashlight to make my duty less challenging.
However, I still love potatoes in my pots and on my plate. But of course, essen in Germany is not all about Kartoffeln.

Dear Germanee, I apologize for swooning out so elaborately. Most probably my writing took that potato-direction as I’m in Dubai right now and fresh, young potatoes is definitely something I miss here, especially at this time of the year.
It’s Spargel-Zeit, asparagus season, in Germany. Depending on the weather, Spargel-Zeit goes from late April till beginning of June. Then you can buy delicious white asparagus on every farmers market. With some new potatoes and just a little bit of heated butter, it already makes a wonderful and healthy meal. Oh yeah, I can hear the mumbling of all meat-lovers … and what about Schnitzel?!? Ok, you could – of course – add a Kalbsschnitzel, veal cutlet, to that dish if needed.

However, a trend has appeared few years ago towards German cuisine, with a strong awareness of ethical and environmental issues. The new chefs rely on sustainably grown, regional products to acknowledge the unique tastes of German rooted dishes by combining them with spices and certain ingredients from all around the world which not only results in fantastic flavors, but also reflects and honors the roots of all the “new Germans”.
What I personally like a lot about this movement, aside of the ecology, is the more laid back mentality in these restaurants: You can have exceptional delicious food without a stiff, formal etiquette.
If you’re curious to get a better idea, just check out these restaurants:

In Berlin: https://www.nobelhartundschmutzig.com/en/# oder https://www.ernstberlin.de

In Hannover: https://www.jante-restaurant.de/en/index.html oder https://www.11a-restaurant.de

Ohhh … jetzt habe ich ein bisschen Heimweh und auch Hunger, now I’m feeling a little homesick and hungry too.
In that case comfort-food can lift my spirit. I’ll cook a nice potato-soup, eine Kartoffelsuppe, based on a recipe,
recently revealed by German chancellor Angela Merkel.
Maybe you’ve heard that Mrs Merkel usually keeps private life private. Therefore it was quite a thing when she shared her secret tip how to prepare die perfekte Kartoffelsuppe.

Hab einen wunderbaren Tag and please let me know how did you like die Karoffelsuppe!

deine Tina Heimberg

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26 + 2 GERMAN VERBS IN ACTION | PART 5

Dear Germanee,

In this series, I’d like to give you a powerful introduction into German language by explaining 26 + 2 verbs, following the main-letters of the German alphabet.

Welcome, welcome to part 5!

Bist du bereit? Are you ready?

The next letter in our German alphabet, following the “C” is … bingo! … the “D“.
We pronounce it similarly to English.
In case, you’ve missed the C-post, explaining the verb campen, you can find it here: 26-2-german-verbs-in-action-part-4.

As a popular German example-verb starting with an D, I’d like to introduce you to:

We often use the phrase Ich denke … to express our thoughts, beliefs or opinion.
And also as a question Was denkst du?, to ask another person for his approval, opinion or just to politely include someone in an ongoing conversation.

Now, let’s have a look, how denken – as a regular verb – changes in action:

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

denken

denke

denkst

denkt

denken

denkt

denken

Right now, I’m wondering, whether you, dear Germanee, might find these verb-conjugation-tables a bit boring. But otherwise, ich denke, it can be useful for you to get more familiar with and reminded of these ending changes.

I’d like to show you, how denken is used even in a situation, where we’d usually more feel than think.

Shireen and Lukas, newly in love, are having a romantic dinner in an Italian restaurant.

SHIREENWas denkst du, Schatz?
What (are) thinking you, darling?
LUKASDu bist schön, Shireen. Und unser Leben ist schön. Ich bin so glücklich wie noch nie. Und du? Was denkst du?
You are beautiful, Shireen. And our life is beautiful. I’m so happy as never before. And you? What (are) thinking you?
SHIREENIch denke gerade an frisches Brot, Olivenöl, Burrata, Tomaten, Pasta und Shrimps.
I’m thinking of fresh bred, olive oil, burrata, tomatoes, pasta and shrimps.
LUKASWaaas? Wie bitte?!? Oh, mein Gott, Shireen! Ich denke, du bist die unromantischste Person auf der Welt!
What? Pardon?!? Oh my god, Shireen! I think, you are the most unromantic person on earth!
SHIREENHahaaa, Lukas! Du bist so sensibel. Es tut mir wirklich leid, aber ich habe schrecklichen Hunger.
Hahaa, Lukas! You are so sensitive. I’m really sorry, but I have (a) terrible hunger.
LUKAS
to the
waiter		Entschuldigung, haben Sie vielleicht schon Brot und ein bisschen Olivenöl für uns? Es ist wirklich dringend. Die Liebe meines Lebens hier verhungert.
Excuse me, (do) have you maybe bred and a bit olive oil for us? It’s really urgent as the love of my life here is starving.
KELLNER
(waiter)		Aber natürlich! Ich denke, das ist überhaupt kein Problem. Brot und Olivenöl kommen sofort.
Sure! I think, that’s not a problem at all. Bred and olive oil will come immediately.
SHIREEN
+ LUKAS		Super! Vielen Dank.
Great! Many thanks.
SHIREENJetzt habe ich viele schöne Gedanken.
Now have I many nice thoughts.
LUKASAch, ja? Und was denkst du jetzt?
Oh, really? And what (are) think you now?
SHIREENIch denke, wie viel Glück ich habe. Ich habe Brot, Olivenöl und DICH, DICH, DICH.
I think, how much luck I have. I have bred, olive oil and YOU, YOU, YOU.

Ok. Ok, dear Germanee, ich denke, du denkst gerade: OmG, how cheesy! But, believe me, it’s indeed a challenge to stick to these few verbs you’ve learnt from previous posts and create a meaningful dialogue. Ich denke, that genius German, I’m going to tell you about now, would have been more talented to master it;).

Germany – das Land der Dichter und Denker

I’m sure you’ve heard that phrase before: Germany is considered as the country of poets and thinkers, das Land der Dichter und Denker.
Martin Luther, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Friedrich Schiller, Alexander von Humboldt, Friedrich Nietzsche, Hermann Hesse, Albert Einstein, just to name a few.
And of course, not to forget:

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
(1782 – 1832)

I have to admit, although I did my masters in German literature, it took me many more years after university to fell in love with our famous Goethe. In fact, I had to travel to the city of Weimar, where Goethe lived most of his time. There I finally understood his true brilliance.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a universal genius and a hedonist, who knew how to live life to the fullest. His poems, plays and novels prove only one of his many talents.
The scope of his collected works is up to 143 volumes, which include aside of his literature work, countless essays about scientific subjects, ranging from the theory of colors, his discovery of a small bone at the tip of the upper jaw, being a landscape architect to the morphology of plants.
Shortly after publishing “Die Leiden des jungen Werther”, “The Sorrows of Young Werther”, he became a rock-star of his era. I could probably continue my praises of this outstanding Denker for hours as there would be so many remarkable events and achievement. Right now, it comes to my mind that I should soon write an additional blog post about the brilliant Goethe in the category Kunst & Kultur, art & culture.

Ich denke, das ist ein guter Gedanke to close my today’s post about denken.

But … stop! Didn’t you too stumble about the fact, that all Dichter und Denker, I named above, were men?! No smart German ladies? I can’t leave it like this. Have you ever heard about Hildegard von Bingen, Dorothea Erxleben, Clara Schumann, Hannah Arendt? And of course, there would be many more to name and not least Angela Merkel.

Hab einen wunderbaren Tag und viele schöne Gedanken! / Have a wonderful day and many nice thoughts!

deine Tina Heimberg

P.s.: If you are too curious now to learn a bit more about Goethe and Weimar, please check out this link to a short video by Deutsche Welle: DW Weimar – Goethe, Schiller & Co. https://www.dw.com/en/weimar-goethe-schiller-co/av-18346649

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How to start learning German as a Beginner

Dear Germanee,

Are you wondering how to start learning German as a Beginner? First of all: Congratulations!

Being a beginner carries a lot of magic, surprises and – of course! – challenges innate itself.
Do you feel that tingling thrill in your tummy, right below your navel?

Feel it!
Embrace it!
Enjoy it!

But, never feel silly

The older we get, the rarer become our chances to experience ourself sitting in the beginner’s row. This may be a reason, why we don’t feel comfy at all at the beginning of our beginner’s trip. We just got so used to the fact that we’re proficient in everything we do, that at first it scares us a bit to leave our proficiency zone.

Especially learning a new language – OmG! That very moment, you start talking in German, you will sound hilarious. Yes, I promise. But, it doesn’t matter. It’ll be so much fun. I always enjoy my student’s first magic steps into their German-language-adventure. That highly focused expression on their faces by building up first sentences in German. That happy smile, when they realize, they understand short conversations and have something to say in that new language. Although, these weird combinations of letters taste kind of awkward on the tongue and feel sometimes even overwhelming as if someone puts you in a dress that doesn’t fit at all.

Making mistakes makes so much sense

Just don’t be afraid of mistakes. Make as many mistakes as you can at the beginning. As a beginner you’re entitled to do so. Mistakes won’t hurt and you can never fail. Isn’t that great news?! Remember, when you learned how to ride a bike. How painful it was, when you fell down. Or when you learned how to swim. How scary was that feeling of drowning and how disgusting was the taste of chloride or salty water in your mouth – and even worse in your nose!?!
In language learning, the contrary is the case, with every mistake you just grow and expand your knowledge by playing around with each new word or phrase you’ve learnt.

Becoming fluent in a language is never a sprint, but a marathon

What I know from my teaching experience, but also from myself as a student, many of us usually overestimate what we can learn in a short period of time while we equally underestimate our learning capacity in a long-term run. Would you agree? It happens too often that we get trapped in this unfortunate cycle of big excitement at the beginning, followed by impatience which finally leads us to disappointment and frustration, that let us give up way too soon. Please, dear Germanee, do not get me wrong here: It’s definitely not my intention to discourage you! In the contrary, I want to prepare and motivate you for your German-Language-Marathon.
I just had to look up on google, how long absolute beginners need to prepare themselves and train to run a marathon. Guess what? It takes up to two years by a weekly pensum of three to five training units.

I promise, if you’ll train your brain with German lessons three to five times a week, each for half an hour minimum, you’ll master that language marathon within one year. To make this very clear: I’m not saying that you have to run that fast. Depending on your goal, you can of course reach proficiency in German or any language within walking or even strolling pace. But then, you should still get yourself involved with the language on a regular basis, at least three times a week. I know, at the beginning it won’t even feel like an effort because everything is so new and exciting, especially since you’ll see a very fast progress. Use that magic to make your German studies a new habit. Later on, when your progress slows down a bit or maybe reaches a plateau – which is absolutely normal and happens in every learning process – it’ll be helpful if you’ve committed yourself before to a regular study practice. However, I’ll be here too, to cheer for you and more importantly to keep you on track – fueled, encouraged and inspired. 

Learn your WHY

Do you know Simon Sinek’s book „Start with WHY“? I read it twice and find his thoughts very inspiring. Although, he actually addresses entrepreneurs and business people, I strongly believe, to ask ourselves about our WHY before we start doing something, can be mind-blowing; or at least a useful tool to clarify our motives and to keep us committed. If you would like to get some insights about my WHYs, just click here as I found them worth an additional post.

In German, the question word why means WARUM. But, it also has many synonyms: WIESO? WESHALB? WOZU? Just to name a few. I’d highly recommend you, dear Germanee, to take a few minutes and write down your WARUM. Why do you wanna learn German? / Warum willst du Deutsch lernen? Maybe it’ll work the best, if you’d write it on the first page of your note-book. I suppose, you already have one for all your new words, phrases and sentences in German, right?

If you’re a bit like me, you definitely have one. I’m in love with notebooks, preferably plain ones by Moleskin. If a shop offers Moleskin notebooks as „two for one“ or „three for two“  – that makes my day.

All right, now, since you know about my notebook obsession, let’s get back to your „Warum“-page. You could even write the question in German already: Warum will ich Deutsch lernen? / Why do I wanna learn German? It would be wonderful if you could share your WARUM with me. Please guys, write it in the comments below or send me an email! I’d love to know your WARUM. For you, knowing your WARUM will help you to stay motivated and focused. Probably, within your learning process, you might find many more aspects of your motives or your WARUM will even change. Therefore, leave some space on your WARUM-page. So you can easily add new reasons on that list at any time of your German language journey. Later on, you can enjoy re-reading your WARUMs. It’ll make you realize how much you’ve learned within that time span and on the other hand it’ll make you smile by reminding you of your first seat in the German-beginner’s-row. It’ll be like going through old photographs to provide you with sweet memories.

… apropos sweet …

Sweet treats for German beginners

In Germany, we have that sweet tradition of Zuckertüte or, depending on the region in Germany, also called Schultüte. It’s a large cornet of designed cardboard, filled with sweets and little presents and we give it to our children on their first day at school. Usually, the parents secretly craft these Zuckertüten for their kids. (When my daughter came to school, I made her one with a very cute horse since she loves horses so much.) The kids are told that these Zückertüten grow on a certain tree at the school yard and right when these cornets are big enough, it’s time for the children to start school. Actually, I think that’s a wonderful idea to sweeten up their way into their school-career and into learning.

Guess what – this one is for you, filled with Bonbons,
Gummibärchen and Schokolade, along with tons of German words and phrases.

Wishing you a pleasant and great start as the beginner of your very own German-language-adventure,

deine Tina Heimberg

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26 + 2 German Verbs in Action | part 2

Dear Germanee,

In this series, I’d like to give you a powerful introduction into German language by explaining 26 + 2 verbs following the main-letters of the German alphabet.

Welcome, welcome for part 2! Woohoo.

Bist du bereit? Are you ready?

After learning about the most basic verbs sein and haben in part 1, let’s now begin with letter A. In German, we pronounce the A as you’d pronounce the last letter in the name Anna. 

As a popular German example-verb starting with an A, I’d like to introduce you to:

Could you please read it aloud? ar – bei – ten
Again, please: ar – bei – ten

Now, think about any detail you love the most about your work.
Do you smile now?
Great.
Since all good things come in threes, keep on smiling and
say it one more time: ar – bei – ten. Wonderful!

Now we need to combine our action arbeiten with heroes, performing that action:

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

arbeiten

arbeite

arbeitest

arbeitet

arbeiten

arbeitet

arbeiten

What happened here?

As you can see, depending on the hero, in other words pro-noun, our verb changes its ending, while the root of the word arbeit(e) remains. These ending-changes apply to every German verb.
Ehmmm, aside from a few exceptions.
But, only a few. I promise.

Let’s now use arbeiten a bit in context.

Igor and Linda are participating at a seminar and having a chat during their coffee-break. Right now they’re talking about their professions, what and where they and their partners work.

IGORIch arbeite als Ingenieur bei Siemens. Sophia, meine Frau, arbeitet auch bei Siemens.
I work as(an)engineer for Siemens. Sophia, my wife, works also for Siemens.
Sie arbeitet als Marketing-Assistentin. Und du, Linda? Wo arbeitest du?
She works as (a) marketing-assistant. And you, Linda? Where (do)work you?
LINDAIch arbeite als Grafik-Designerin bei IBM.
I work as (a) graphic-designer for IBM.
Ahmed, mein Mann, arbeitet auch als Ingenieur. Er arbeitet bei Volkswagen.
Ahmed, my husband, works also as (an) engineer. He works for Volkswagen.
IGOROhhh, wow! Interessant. Wir, Sophia und ich, arbeiten beide in München..
Ohhh, wow! Interesting. We, Sophia and I, work both in Munich.
Arbeitet ihr auch in München?
(Do)work youPlural! also in Munich?
LINDANein. Ich arbeite bei IBM in Dresden und Ahmed bei Volkswagen in Chemnitz.
No. I work for IBM in Dresden and Ahmed for Volkswagen in Chemnitz.

In this short dialogue, you can see how we would use the verb arbeiten and how its endings change, depending on the person it’s related to. When Linda says Ich arbeite… or when Igor speaks about his wife Sophia / sie arbeitet…

You can also learn how arbeiten is used to give more information about your job, what, where and for whom do you work:
Ich arbeite als Ingenieur. Ich arbeite bei Siemens. and Ich arbeite in München.

Now it’s your turn: Please build up your own sentence and answer my question at full length.

Wo arbeitest du?

Ich arbeite als … bei … in …

I’d love to know about you! It would be great if you could write your respond in the comments below.

Vielen Dank! / Thank you very much.

Hab einen schönen Tag und arbeite nicht zu viel! / Have a great day and don’t work too much!

Wishing you a germanful day,

deine Tina Heimberg

P.s.: There are many slang words for arbeiten and one of them, by mere chance, starts with an A too. If someone works really hard or under very tough circumstances, you could use the verb ackern.

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26 + 2 German Verbs in Action | part 1

Dear Germanee,

In this first series, I’d like to give you a powerful introduction into German language by explaining 26 + 2 verbs following the main-letters of the German alphabet.

To exemplify the use of these verbs in our everyday language, you’ll find short dialogues, consistently oriented on naturally spoken German. Followed by short texts, which will be kind of a weird mix of German and English to make sure, that German-Newbies will get the most of it, while advanced German-Speakers will still learn something or might find my texts at least amusing. It’s my ambition, to enable you to absorb a wide range of vocabulary along with these verbs, through dialogues and texts.

Bist du bereit? Are you ready?

But, wait a minute: Does everybody know, what a verb is? I’d dare to claim, that verbs are the most important words in every language. Verbs are the action-words in sentences that describe what a subject is doing. Since we all love action, I assume, I want to challenge you to fall in love with verbs.

Before we begin with letter A, I want you first to get friends with the two most basic verbs, we have in German:

These two are so essential, that they want to remind us of their importance all the time. Like divas who always stand out of the crowd. Our sein- and haben-divas just act more irregular with their heroes, compared to all the other verbs you’re going to learn here. So, just accept their VIP-status and give them what they want: attention!

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

sein

bin

bist

ist

sind

seid

sind

haben

habe

hast

hat

haben

habt

haben

As you can see in that table, both verbs change its spelling from slightly to completely different, depending on the acting hero aka pronoun.

Please, do not get scared here! These two behave just exceptional and therefore you should learn them by heart. But, since you’ll use them a lot as a German speaker, they’ll easily stick in your mind and reward you with loads of opportunities to express yourself.

And now, let’s see how to use haben and sein in action:

Jens and Lena meet and chat at Christina’s birthday party. Christina is their common friend.

JENSHi! Ich bin Jens. Ich bin ein Freund von Christina. Und wer bist du?
Hi! I am Jens. I am a friend of Christina. And who are you?
LENAHallo Jens. Freut mich. Ich bin Lena.
Hello Jens. Happy to meet you. I am Lena.
JENSHey, Lena. Freut mich auch. Du bist Christinas Nachbarin, oder?
Hey, Lena. Nice to meet you too. You are Christina’s neighbor, aren’t you?
LENAJa, genau. Jonas, mein Mann, und ich sind Christinas Nachbarn.
Yes, exactly. Jonas, my husband, and I are Christina’s neighbors.
JENSOk, super. Wo ist Jonas? Ist er auch hier?
Ok, great. Where is Jonas? Is he also here?
LENANein, Jonas ist zu Hause. Wir haben zwei Kinder. Sie sind noch klein.
No, Jonas is at home. We have two children. They are still little.
JENSOh, wow! Ihr habt schon Kinder? Cool.
Oh, wow! You have already children? Cool.

Since I translated every line from German into English, you’ll see that both languages have many similarities. But still, please keep in mind that we can’t translate word by word from one language into another. Some phrases you should just learn as a whole.
Aside from that, you’ll discover that word order in German sentences is a bit different. Although, it might sound weird and funny, I keep the German word order for all English translations. I believe, it’ll help you to get quickly familiar with the structure of German language.

Dear Germanee, I hope you enjoyed this little introduction into the world of German verbs.
I’m very curious to learn a little bit more about you.
It would be great, if you could leave me your comment to tell me:

Wer bist du?
Who are you?

and

Wo bist du?
Where are you?

Wishing you a germanful day,

deine Tina Heimberg

P.s. After thinking so intensively about sein and haben, an amazing book came to my mind: TO HAVE OR TO BE? by Erich Fromm, a psychoanalyst and philosopher. He was a German Jew, who emigrated to the US to flee the Nazis in 1933. In his book, Fromm analyzes the differences between having and being within our societies. He points out that we as humans exist more and more in the having-mode while losing our actual true being-mode. He found out that these changes reflect in our behaviors, relationships and even in our languages.

Although, Fromm’s THE ART OF LOVING might be more popular, that one is definitely also an excellent read.

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