Angelika Davey 
‘Ich bin’ or ‘ich habe’ – normally, when you need to decide whether to use ‘sein’ or ‘haben’ it’s because you are writing a sentence in the perfect tense and need to decide whether the verb takes ‘sein’ instead of ‘haben’. This blog post, however, talks about something easier! It’s about the different ways to … Read more
“How do you say ‘get lost’ in German?” is a frequent question often asked by those who want to know some swearwords. But there is a little more to “get lost”. So, this blog post comes in three parts. Part one covers phrases to use when you are lost. Part two has lots of phrases … Read more
EDIT: I wrote this post during lockdown in 2020. Luckily, things have improved and people travel again. But there could be lots of other reasons why you may not be able to visit Germany. So, if you would love to visit Germany but can’t, this post is for you! Planning a holiday has become more … Read more
Modal verbs! How much do you know about them? You probably remember a few things things: They are conjugated differently to ‘normal’ verbs. There aren’t many (können, müssen, sollen, wollen, dürfen) They are ‘helping verbs’ as they always come with a second verb. You’ll find that second verb in its infinitive at the end of … Read more
Welcome to the July edition of the German Action for Happiness Calendars. As before, you can if you wish also print out a PDF version. And if you want or need to, you can see it here in English, where you also find further foreign languages. Use the following sentences as a German reading and translation exercise and act on … Read more
Do you know what a Muffel is? Apart from being such a great word what is it? It’s a grouch, a grumpy or sullen person. You can also use ‘Muffel’ to describe people who are indifferent or disinterested in a certain matter. A little bit of grammar: Muffel is masculine, no matter whether the grouchy … Read more
It’s disappointing when a trip to Germany doesn’t happen, whether it’s because of the Coronavirus or any other reason. But you can still look around German museums. It’s obviously not the same as being there in person, but at least these visits are free. Here are 10 museums in Germany, where you can take a … Read more
Robert Schumann (8 June 1810 – 29 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He was born in Zwickau and died in a sanatorium in Bonn after a long time with mental health problems. Wikipedia has a detailed account of his life in German and English. If you’d rather read some … Read more
Welcome to the June edition of the German Action for Happiness Calendars. As before, you can if you wish also print out a PDF version. And if you want or need to, you can see it here in English, where you also find further foreign languages. Use the following sentences as a German reading and translation exercise and act on … Read more
When new students learn the German alphabet and come across the umlauts for the first time, they often ask if it matters whether they get the different pronunciation right. The good news is that most of the time the rest of the sentence gives away which word is required. So, even if a German learner … Read more
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