Nicht vs kein: negating nouns in German
In our previous article on negation with nicht, we looked at how nicht works in German sentences: where it goes, what it negates, and…
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Where does “nicht” go in German?
One of the most common questions German learners ask is: where does nicht go? English speakers usually negate the verb and use stress to…
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German passive voice: structure, usage and professional context
The German passive is common in reports, contracts and formal emails. Forming it is simple. Choosing the right auxiliary is where English…
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Should’ve learned German: how to say ‘would have’ and ‘could have’ in German
Should’ve learned German. Many learners think it at some point, looking back at a missed opportunity or a conversation that went wrong….
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Konjunktiv II in German business emails: how to sound polite and professional
Writing a polite email in German can be surprisingly challenging, even for learners who already speak the language well. Many English speakers…
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Gern and gerne: how to say what you like doing in German
Gern is one of the first words English speakers need, and one of the first they use wrongly. Here is how to…
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Expressing likes and dislikes in German
English uses like for everything. German chooses between four words, depending on what you like: gern, mögen, schmecken and gefallen. Activities: gern…
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Plurals in German
There are several different ways to form plurals in German. It can be difficult to predict plural endings with complete certainty, and…
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German verb conjugation: the present tense
During German lessons, you notice how German verb endings change depending on the subject they accompany. English verbs do the same but…
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To say in German: I do not understand
After a few private German lessons, you will want to say: I do not understand. Saying it in German is even better….
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The German prepositions ‘zu’ and ‘nach’
Whilst learning German, grammatical queries do come up. I want to use this opportunity to illustrate another topic that students ask me…
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German modal verbs
Studying German, learners come across modal verbs expressing desire, ability, obligation or probability. In German, we conjugate the modal verb, which retains…
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In German: is a Beemer he, she or it?
A Beemer, or BMW, made by the famous German car manufacturer Bayerische Motoren Werke in Munich, is a popular accessory for many…
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German grammar terminology explained
Being able to understand grammar terminology is crucial, but many people learning German find it challenging to get to grips with it….
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The perfect tense in German
The perfect tense (das Perfekt) is the past tense that German speakers most often use when describing events that have been completed….
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Do German nouns have gender identity issues?
Sometimes, while teaching German, students ask why German nouns change genders. It is ‘die Tür’, a feminine noun, and suddenly somewhere mid-sentence,…
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The hairy wife and German reflexive verbs
When learning German, you will have come across reflexive verbs. Reflexive verbs also exist in English and can sometimes be translated as…
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The brothers Grimm and the German dictionary
The brothers Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm are, of course, famed for fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin and Cinderella, known…
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The past perfect in German: using the Plusquamperfekt
During my German lessons students tend to meet the Perfekt, grow comfortable with it, and then run into a sentence that places…
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Irregular German verbs: present tense and simple past
Irregular verbs, sometimes called strong verbs, have irregularities in the present tense indicative, the simple past indicative and the past participle. This…
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An vs auf in German: when to use which
I see students struggle with the German prepositions ‘an’ and ‘auf’ during my lessons. Both describe locations and require either the Accusative…
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Position of the finite verb
During my German lessons, I see many students placing the finite verb in the 3rd position, as they would in their mother…
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Accusative and dative in German
When I teach German, students often ask me what the accusative and the dative are. The four German cases German has four…
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The gender of nouns in German
In my previous blog post, I wrote about the declension of adjectives, and I summed up the blog by stressing the importance…
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The present perfect continuous in German
During many years of teaching German to English speakers, I found that many students struggle with the same aspects of German due…