Das ist doch alles Käse!
There are a few sayings in German using words from the food category. I’d like to introduce you to some of them :)
1. Das ist doch alles Käse / Quark!
literal: That’s all cheese / curd! -> meaning: That’s nonsense.
2. Das ist mir Wurst!
literal: That’s sausage to me! -> meaning: I don’t care.
3. jemandem Honig ums Maul schmieren
literal: to smear honey around someone’s mouth. -> meaning: to flatter so. / to bootlick so.
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Describing a picture in German
I know that describing pictures is a task that teachers really like to give to their students. Since many of you learn German at school/university, I figured it would be helpful to teach you some important phrases to describe a picture:
1. Das Bild zeigt…. The picture shows….
2. Im Vordergrund/Hintergrund sieht man… In the foreground/background you can see…)
3. In der Mitte des Bildes sieht man… In the middle of the picture you can see…
4. Auf der linken/rechten Seite sieht man… On the left/right side you can see….
5. Das Bild ist farbig / schwarz-weiß. The picture is colored / black and white.
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How to offer/refuse in German
Imagine you’re at a bar in Germany. And a pretty lady or a handsome guy walks up to you and says….
“Möchtest du / Möchten Sie ein Glas Wein mit mir trinken?”
(Would you (informal/formal) like to drink a glass of wine with me?)
How would you respond?
1. Ja, (sehr) gern. -> Yes, I’d love to.
2. Nein, danke. -> No, thank you.
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A famous German saying:
MAN IST, WAS MAN ISST. -> “isst” and “ist” is pronounced the same.
(You are what you eat)
This means: You can see what somebody eats, because that’s the way they feel / look like (healthy/unhealthy)
(pic via obstauslese.de)
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Words with “snow” in German…
1.) der Schnee = snow
2.) verschneit = snowy
3.) Schneemann (-männer) = snow man (men)
4.) Schneeball (-bälle) = snowball (-s)
5.) Schneeflocke (-n) = snowflake (-s)
6.) Schneewehe (-n) = snowbank (-s)
7.) Schneeschuh = snowshoe (-s)
and a useful saying…
Das ist Schnee von gestern.
literal: That’s snow from yesterday.
meaning: Something belongs to the past and doesn’t matter anymore.
(pic via planet-wissen.de)
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Survival Phrases #5 may help how to pay someone a compliment ;) (jemandem ein Kompliment machen). Take a read and listen :)
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Take a read and listen carefully to practise pronunciation :)
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I’ve decided to help you more with pronunciation by posting more audio. Hopefully this will help you a bit :)
In the past, I’ve written some posts called “Survival phrases” where I’m basically teaching you random, more or less important phrases. So now you actually get to hear the phrases and not only read them ;)
Please read along while listening :) SURVIVAL PHRASES 1
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kelli-leigh-o asked: I just recently found your blog, and am so excited because I will be traveling to Germany in about six months. If there were three essential German phrases that any first-time visitor must absolutely remember, what would they be?
1.) “Entschuldigung, darf ich bitte Ihre Toilette benutzen? / Entschuldigung, wo ist Ihre Toilette bitte?” (Excuse me, may I use your bathroom please? / Excuse me, where is your bathroom please?)
2.) “Ein Bier bitte!” (One beer, please!) ;)
3.) “Sprechen Sie Englisch?” / “Entschuldigung, ich spreche leider kein Deutsch.” (Do you speak English? / Sorry, I don’t speak German unfortunately.)
ENJOY YOUR TRIP!!! :)
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Mir ist….”It is…to me” vs. Ich bin….”I’m…”
Some of you are confused by when to use “Mir ist…” and when to use “Ich bin…”.
“Mir ist….” is used to express a certain feeling. It literally translates to something like “It is… to me”. In English you use “I’m…” (= Ich bin) but you have to be careful, because that’s not how it works in German. Here are some common phrases to remember:
Mir ist kalt (I am cold). (I’m freezing = Ich friere)Ich bin kalt (doesn’t make any sense). (I’m cold-hearted = Ich bin kaltherzig)
Mir ist warm/heiß (= I feel warm/hot). (I’m sweating = Ich schwitze) Ich bin warm (makes no sense) / Ich bin heiß (= one way of saying “I’m horny”). CHANGES THE MEANING!
Mir ist schlecht (I’m nautious/sick) Ich bin schlecht (= ich bin ein schlechter Mensch). (I’m a bad person) CHANGES THE MEANING!
Mir ist schwindelig. (I’m feeling dizzy) Ich bin schwindelig. (doesn’t make sense)
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