Grammar ♥︎ Practice auf Deutsch: 3 Twists That Trip Up German Learners (And How to Overcome Them Easily)

Before I dive deeper into German grammar for this week's useful blog post, I want to take a minute to say "I know!" to all of you who think that German is a hard language to learn. Today's article is about to prove that you guys are not entirely wrong. Yes, the German language has some Tücken (twists).

But read on to discover how to get over each of these twists without ever worrying about them again.

Just like I did in our French Grammar Practice, I've selected 2 topics for German beginners and 1 twist for advanced learners. So there's something here for everyone.

Twist #1: sie is not Sie is not sie

The little words that can take the place of a noun or a name in language are called pronouns. They are placeholders that make it easier for us to communicate - just imagine how that previous sentence would work if I didn't have the words "they" and "us" for example! When you learn a foreign language, you start picking up its pronouns very early.

In German, this is particularly true as the verb doesn't do all that much by itself. The way pronouns are used is pretty similar to English, but here's the sting: 3 German pronouns look similar when they are not similar at all. I'm talking about the word sie, which you'll spot 3 times in the German pronoun table.

Many German learners are aware that Sie is the polite "you" in the German language, addressing a person from a point of distance or respect. It's corresponding to the French vous in this way. But if you think that's all you need to understand sie, it is time to take a look at the full verb table:

Sie pops up three times, but each time this word stands for a different person. There is more to it than just the polite "you".

There are three different kinds of sie

• It stands for the female 3rd person singular pronoun - that's "she" in English

Examples:
Sie heißt Melanie. - Her name is Melanie.
Das ist meine Schwester. Sie kann auch Spanisch. - This is my sister. She speaks Spanish too.

• It stands for the 3rd person plural pronoun - that's "they" in English

Examples:
Sie kommen aus Deutschland. - They are from Germany.
Das sind meine Geschwister. Sie können auch Spanisch. - Those are my siblings. They speak Spanish too.

• It stands for the polite "you" (grammatically that's also the 3rd person plural, kinda like addressing a royal "we")

Sie kommen aus Deutschland, Frau Krämer. - You are from Germany, Ms Krämer.
Wie heißen Sie? - What is your name?

How To Know The Difference

The first distinction is so easy to spot that I wouldn't even call it a "language hack". When you see Sie and the first letter is a capital letter, it's the polite you. Make sure you use it this way in your writing too.

If you're in a conversation (and you can't hear the capital letter), check out what the verb is doing.

When the verb ends in -t, you're looking at a "she".
When the verb ends in -en, it's most likely "they" or "you"...and then you have to figure out what the sentence is about and take other clues.

Twist #2: Prefixes are Everything

If you're going to learn one thing about German at an early stage, it's that the little things make all the difference. For example, take the concept of the separable verb. At the heart of it, you've got a verb like machen (to make, to do) or kommen (to come). Add a little prefix (usually 2-4 letters) to the verb, and suddenly you've twisted the meaning.

The good news here is that learning prefixes pays off a billion times over, as you'll be able to add them to pretty much any verb going to make yourself understood in spoken German. Prefixes split off when a verb is used in the sentence, so make sure you look out for them at the end of the sentence. So in other words, the final word in a sentence is very important in German. Sometimes it can twist the whole meaning.

Check out the following video from my German Grammar video Course for a detailed explanation.

Here are a few example sentences:
Wir kommen am Freitag. - We're coming on Friday.
Wir kommen am Freitag an. - We're arriving on Friday.
Ich komme heute. Er kommt am Freitag nach. - I'm coming today. He'll follow on Friday.
Wir fahren nach Berlin. Kommst du mit? - We're going to Berlin. Are you coming?

Test Yourself

How many words can you spot that carry the prefix auf? When you think of it's generic meaning "up", how many meanings can you guess from the following list?

• aufmachen
• aufgehen
• aufstehen
• auflegen

Let me know what your guesses are in the comments.

Twist 3: For Advanced Learners, werden becomes complex

The dictionary meaning of the German verb werden is "to become", plain and simple.

But watch out for two other ways that the verb is used. It teams up with another verb to build two advanced structures.

When werden works with another verb, the sentence structure is always:

Subject + werden + (any adverbs) + (any object) + the other verb

The other verb is what's really happening. If it stands in the infinitiv (that means it's not changed at all from how you find it in the dictionary), the sentence is in the future tense. For example, Ich werde etwas essen means "I will eat something". If it stands in the participle (this is that past tense form with ge-), then you're looking at the passive voice! For example, Etwas wird gegessen is not future tense at all

Examples:

Ich werde nach Berlin fahren. - I will drive to Berlin.
Ich werde nach Berlin gefahren. - I'm being driven to Berlin.

Ich werde den Käse kaufen. - I will buy the cheese.
Der Käse wird gekauft. - The cheese is being bought.
Der Käse wird gekauft werden - (combining future and passiv) The cheese will be bought.

So whenever your form of werden pops up, pay attention and make sure that you don't end up confusing future and passive. They're pretty different.

How to Escape The Werden Trap

One easy tip to speak German without the pains of werden is to avoid using the future tense altogether. That's what native speakers do all the time, simply using the present tense together with words like morgen (tomorrow) or gleich (in a minute). It's so simple, it's practically Chinese grammar! (Someone once told me Chinese doesn't have conjugation. I was like "whoah"!)

Where To Look For More German Grammar Explanations

If you're studying German grammar in your first year, you will find answers to every grammar question in my video course Easy German Grammar for Beginners. It contains dozens of simple videos, quizzes and workbooks to help you become a confident speaker.

For advanced learners, the best grammar book I know is Deutsche Grammatik, supported by a great website and useful tables. It's helped me explain so many rules in clear terms, and was a support when I made the full video course.

Which Parts of German Grammar Do You Find Tricky?

Word order, verbs, cases...there's a lot to discover in German grammar. Has any of it tripped you up? Let me know in the comments!

5 Grammar Learning Techniques To Make You a Language Natural

Let's hear it for the structure, the building blocks and road maps of language in my blog's grammar ♥︎ season. Exploring language patterns gives you depth, context, and answers.

Today I'm sharing a handful of ways in which you can become a better language learner without ever memorizing a whole verb table.

How Can Grammar Be Your Ally When Motivation Goes South?

Language learning follows the curve of excitement that you can find in many new projects. First there is a real burst of activity and motivation, bumping you up to emotional highs. This is where app streaks get completed, flashcards are interesting, and you're out there telling the world about your project. It is the perfect time to buy stationery.

After a little bit of time, your notebook is half full and your brain feels tired. Progress becomes invisible. The first burst of excitement gives way to a recognition of the gaps that you still have, and you find yourself having to memorize quite a lot in a short time. It gets frustrating, demotivating, it kinda sucks. This is where you go online and read my blog and I tell you that you're awesome and you must! not! stop!

The frustration point is where discipline and organization have to kick in.What you might not realize is that this very point of plateau is the perfect time to start speaking to people in your target language. You might not be entirely ready yet, but that's ok. Perfection isn't required anyway.

If you have only been studying stock phrases and vocabulary so far, you will reach that point of plateau with NOTHING.

But with just a small amount of key grammar structures like knowing how to say a sentence in the present tense, or how to ask a question, your range of expression will become immense. This is the magic of using grammar as your roadmap.

How Can You Learn and Remember Grammar Structures?

I know how bloody boring all grammar can be if you study it in the wrong way. In fact, I know that even the word "grammar" sounds like an instant yawn.

But maybe you can find a way of sneaking in a little bit of that goodness without losing all will to exist. Here are 5 steps that work for me every time, and I know that you'll feel so much better once you get going with them.

1. Observe and Record

Observing natural inputs is one of your biggest allies for developing the right feel for a language. Learners from anywhere can use the internet to do this in millions of ways. My own students do it by listening to the news on their drive to work, tuning in to German podcasts, or watching cool German TV shows like Deutschland 83.

Classic ideas to get you started:

• Play Pattern Bingo by making a note of any sentence you spot in one week that follows a rule you've recently learnt.
• If you're reading, work with a colour-coding system, for example the traffic light system. Constructions you know are in green, the ones you aren't sure about are in yellow, and the ones where you're completely lost are in red. And don't worry. Everyone's got an all-red page at some point.

2. Cut the Negative Talk

Negative self-talk in language learning is nobody's friend. So the more you dread the g-word and the more you resist, the harder it gets to make sense of even the most basic structures. Just like we're doing here in grammar ♥︎ season, it's helpful to create an atmosphere of positivity in your language learning.

For a few ideas about how exactly you might do this when faced with a conjugation rule, try Fluent's fabulous set of language affirmations.

3. Force Yourself to Speak or Write..

It doesn't matter where you live, or if you can afford lessons, or if you are an eskimo living on the moon. As soon as you observe a new pattern, challenge yourself to use it quickly and make it your own. You should be writing or speaking at least 3 sentences in your target language every day. In a guided scenario, you have a tutor or a great course to prompt what you are working on. But it's just as good to take the notes you made in point 1 of this list and start building your own variations on set pieces.

4. ...and Get Feedback

Yep, even though you're now producing language you're not even done yet. Whatever you write, say or record has got to go out to another human. Find a person that you trust to make you feel positive and support you fully in the language learning journey. They should not be allowed to make you feel bad for making mistakes.

My advice is always to make that person someone who has studied your target language extensively, ideally a 1-to-1 tutor. The reason is that whenever you make a mistake, your curiosity perks up. You'll want to know more, and good teaching means explaining how something works, and prompting you gently so that you can do it correctly and adopt new patterns.

5. Leave Grammar Books to Your Tutor

By now, you've probably learnt that the most important killer trick for learning grammar is to leave the hard study to your tutor. If they are good, and if they are as fanatic about language as possible, then they may already have read the book from cover to cover. The key here is that the tutor is a great resource for you, because it creates a trusted environment where someone can explain to you why the language behaves a certain way.

Wield That Grammar Force

I haven't seen a lot of Star Wars. But as a pop culture aware person, I do know one thing: Star Wars films talk a lot about the Force. Wikipedia tells you:

The Force is a binding, metaphysical, and ubiquitous power.

The story of the force contains a dark side, of course. You can't just go and start wielding it all willy-nilly or you'll end up like that guy Darth Vader.

Now, I admit that knowing how to name words and conjugate verbs isn't exactly going to power anyone's lightsabre. But just like the Force, the key to mastering grammar is in learning how to use it for your own purposes.

Some learners are curious and want to know the exact rules of language. Others just want to get a feeling for how to do things correctly.

Which one are you?

3 Unexpectedly Easy Ways To Simplify Language Learning

In this article, you're invited to explore with me how to experience a little bit of love for the structure of language. We'll focus on how to put words together and construct sentences. In other words, you'll learn an awful lot about starting to speak a language.

Now before you all click away from my blog because the word "grammar" has scared you of, let's give this a chance and discover a few joyful sides to grammar.

3 Unexpectedly Easy Ways To Simplify Language Learning

1) Never Start With the Grammar Book

Last week, a friendly lady at my community Welsh class gave me a book she found second-hand. It's called "Modern Welsh Grammar". The worst thing I could possibly do with it is to read it from start to finish, because it would quickly become overwhelming, dull and complicated.

Instead, here's what to do:

Grammar books and courses are designed to solve problems by answering your questions as they come up. So as I'm studying and listening, as I start to wonder how to say someting in past tense, or how to talk about "he is nice" and not just "I am nice", that's when the book will start fulfiling its purpose.

In my German Grammar Course and my French Grammar Course, the structure is carefully set up to guide you through learning from complete beginner to confident speaker. But I've been careful to make every lecture count as an independent resource too. This is because I want you to follow your own path in learning, and those explanations will be right there when you need them.

2) Take Control of How Good You Are

Certain language learning systems will have you believe that the best way to learn a language is to study "naturally, like a small child". In fact, it's a hugely common myth that it's infinitely harder for adults to learn a language than for kids. This myth has led to courses that treat adults as if they were babies, incapable of understanding logic or structure.

Learning like a grown-up means taking control and working what grammar offers.

Notice that I'm not using the word "study" here. Learning a language doesn't mean becoming a slave to tables and books. It means analyzing, trying, playing and growing into things.

Grammar tables are not useless - they can handy tools to keep around when you haven't quite memorized everything yet. But the key is to stop being a slave to grammar, and start making it your building block.

3) Speak the Language Instantly and Playfully

The most important mindset change you can have in language learning is to start understanding how grammar serves you. Armed with simple knowledge about the structure of your target language, your abilities become absolutely incredible.

You can say infinite sentences with just 20-30 vocab words.

Good grammar will help you eliminate that fear of saying wrong things, and provide construction blocks and patterns, so that all you need to do is start filling in the blanks.

Beyond giving you confidence, it's actually fun. You'll quickly realise that speaking in this way is the most playful, creative language learning imaginable. No more restrictions to phrasebooks. You can now go out and speak to anyone, make those sentences, express yourself with more freedom than ever before. And if you make a mistake, you'll now know why and how to fix it.

Do you feel the Grammar Groove?

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