Every kingdom has a king, a queen, knights, advisors β and a magician. In this lesson, we use the "German Sentence Structure Kingdom" to make word order finally click: who the characters are, why the magician (a personal pronoun) outranks almost everyone, and the three practical rules that work fa...
Das ist kein Apfel, sondern eine Birne. β That's not an apple, but a pear. π "Sondern" is one of those small German words that trips learners up because English only has one word, "but," for two different jobs. In this lesson, we break down exactly when to use sondern instead of aber, with the rul...
Ich spiele FuΓball am Samstag. Sounds fine, right? Not in German β it's one of the most common Satzbau (sentence structure) mistakes A1 and A2 learners make. π In this lesson, we go through 20 of the most common German word order mistakes, from where the verb goes to where "nicht" belongs, with th...
Ausgeben, verbringen, or verschwenden β which one do you use when you want to say "to spend" in German? π€ In this video lesson, we break down three German verbs that get mixed up constantly. Ausgeben and verbringen both translate to "to spend" in English, but they are NOT interchangeable in German...
Both "machen" and "tun" are usually translated as "to do" in English, but in German they are almost never interchangeable. So when do you use "machen" and when do you use "tun"? This lesson answers that question with practical examples from daily life, gives you a simple rule of thumb, and finishe...
If you've ever said "Ich bin kalt" in German and gotten a strange look, you accidentally told someone you're a cold, unfriendly person instead of saying you feel cold. German has a small group of adjectives that change their entire meaning depending on whether you pair them with "sein" (to describ...
"Antworten" and "beantworten" look almost identical, and they are two of the German verbs that learners confuse most often. The good news: the difference is easy to learn once you know what each verb connects to. This lesson shows you exactly how to tell them apart and when to use which one. One o...
Which meaning does "noch" actually have in this sentence? "Noch" is one of the most frequently used German words, and its different meanings are a common headache for learners. This lesson explains the 4 main situations in which "noch" changes its meaning and how to recognize each one. Even the me...
German has a special way to talk about things that aren't real β wishes, hypotheticals, "if I could fly..." situations β and it all comes down to one small word plus one important verb form: wenn + Konjunktiv 2. In this lesson we'll quickly review Konjunktiv 2 and then focus on exactly how to comb...
If every German story you tell sounds like "und dann... und dann... und dann," you're not alone β it's one of the clearest signs of a beginner still thinking in a single gear. German has a whole toolbox of sequencing words that native speakers use instead, and learning just six or seven of them wi...
