Was ist das?

Er ist groß. Er hat meine Milch, Butter und mein Käse. Er ist kalt.

Please write your little puzzle in the comment field, using the correct personal pronoun (er, sie, es). Feel free to guess each others riddle, including mine.

Ein Freund, eine Freundin

Dear students of the Monday/Wednesday course,

Please write a little profile of a friend or a relative, using as template the texts and vocabulary we studied last week.

Here is John's text:

Jason H. lebt in Prenzlauer Berg.

Er ist 47 Jahre alt und ledig.

Sein Berufstätig ist Sprachen Lehrer

Er hat zwei Kinder.

Er ist auch ein Musicker und wir spielen Musick zusammen

Reisen und Trinken sind seine Hobbys.

Er ist derzeit auch ein Teilzeit Berlin Reiseleiter für ausländische Touristen.

Please consider:

The word “berufstätig” is an adjective (employed, working). The word “Beruf” is a noun and means profession.

Jason ist berufstätig. Sein Beruf ist Sprachenlehrer.

We like to create compound nouns:

Sprachenlehrer, Teilzeitreiseleiter in Berlin.

The word “Musick” does not need a “c”: die Musik.

Hypatia writes:

Das ist meine Freunde Maria. Sie kommt aus Griechenland und sie lebt in Athen. Maria ist zweiundvierzig Jahre alt.

Sie ist ledig und hat ein Kind noch kleine. Das ist nicht leicht.

Beruf Maria ist lehren Pilates und ihr Hobby ist Surfen.

Please notice: Kind <noun, klein <adjective

Here we can use “klein” as attributive adjective: Sie ist ledig und hat ein kleines Kind.
We also can say: Sie ist ledig und ihr Kind ist noch klein.

Beruf Maria, better: Marias Beruf.

lehren Pilates, better: Pilateslehrerin (never miss a chance to create a compound noun)

Panos writes:

Das ist mein Freund Johannes. Johannes ist zweiundreissig Jahre alt. Er lebt in Vienna, aber er kommt aus Deutschland. Dort er arbeitet als Professor.

Johannes ist verheiratet und hat drei Kinder. Seine Kinder ist noch kleinen. Sein Sohn Berthold ist 5 Jahre alt und seine Tochter Kristine ist 7 Jahre alt. Berthold möchte später werden Musiker und Kristina möchte später werden Photographin. Johannes spielt gut das Klavier und möge spielt Tennis.

Please notice:

Vienna is English. In Austria they call this beautiful city “Wien”.

Usually, we put the verb on second position. We say, “Dort arbeitet er als Professor.”

Johannes hat drei Kind. If we refer to the children, we have to use the right verb conjugation: Seine Kinder sind noch klein.

Panos is already ahead of the class. He uses a modal verb: möchten (would like). When we use a modal verb, the main verb (as infinitive) gets at the end of the phrase:

Berthold möchte später Musiker werden und Kristina möchte später Photographin werden.

The verb “mögen” means to like. Johannes likes to play tennis = Johannes mag (irregular verb) Tennis spielen. We also can use the adverb “gern”. If we add it to a verb, it will say that we like to do it: Wir lernen gern. Johannes spielt gern Tennis.

Besuch deine Freunde in Berlin! The Imperative

The imperative is the verb form for a command. To form a command we must put the verb in the first position. With second person familiar (du) the verb appears as verb stem only, blunt and without ending.

Mach eine Pause.

Sing!

Lach!

There are some exceptions, for example when the verb stem ends with a -t.

Arbeite jetzt.

Warte!

With second person formal (Sie), the word order in imperative is the same but the verb is followed by Sie.

Machen Sie eine Pause!

Singen Sie!

With ihr we drop the personal pronoun.

Macht eine Pause!

The verb sein changes for first person singular, familiar (du-people).

Sei ruhig! (be quiet)

Second person formal (Sie-people).

Seien Sie nett. (be nice)

First person plural, familiar (ihr-people)

Seid nicht so böse. (don't be so nasty)

The verb combined with the word “doch” the command turns into a suggestion.

Was soll ich machen?

Besuch doch deine Freunde in Berlin.

Your friends are visiting you in Berlin. They have no idea what to do. Here is a list of possible activities. Choose five activities and write them as suggestions. In addition, you can make your own suggestion.

For example:

a) Geh doch ins Berghain.

b) das Brandenburger Tor fotografieren

c) E-Mails schreiben

d) Freunde einladen (separate verb!)

e) Abendessen kochen

f) im Tempelhof-Park Würstchen grillen

g) nach Potsdam fahren

h) im Tiergarten spazieren

i) Champagner im KaDeWe trinken

j) ein BVG-Ticket kaufen

k) ein Fußballspiel besuchen

l) eine Party feiern

m) im Club zu elektronischer Musik tanzen

Hausaufgabe: Wir organisieren eine Winterparty

Hausaufgabe für die Teilnehmer, Kurs A1.1 – A1.2
März, April 2013:

Wir machen eine Winterparty. Bitte diskutiert:

1. Wann?
2. Wo?
3. Wer besorgt was?
4. Was kann man, was muss man, was darf man nicht auf der Winterparty machen?

In Kreuzberg: German for Beginners, Jan. 16 - Feb. 18



Learn fast and effective in a group at a pleasant location in Berlin-Kreuzberg.
* Ten lessons, 90 min. each, Mondays and Wednesdays,  for beginners in a group with max. 8 students.
* Learning material will be provided – some from books, some I will develop during the course based on the needs and interests of the students.
* You will speak German as early and as much as possible. You will improve your comprehension, your writing and reading skills.
* The course starts on Wednesday, January 16^th , and ends on Monday, February 18^th.
* Hours: There will be two classes
5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
and
7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
* Location: "Gudruns Kulturraum," Böckhstr. 40, Kreuzberg. (see images above)
The Price
* FIRST CLASS IS FREE
* 12 Euro per class, meaning 108 Euro for the remaining 9 classes, each 90 minutes (learning material included).
The Teacher:
My name is Bernd Hendricks. I am a writer and a German teacher with a teaching certificate DaF (German as Foreign Language). I returned from New York after 15 years to teach and tutor German in Berlin.
If you are interested, please contact Bernd at (030) 34 71 99 75 or at bernducha@gmail.com



Verbs: What You Can Say with the Prefix “be”

Verbs are usually seen as indispensable for creating a sentence. It doesn’t make much sense to have a couple of nouns hanging out with some adjectives and doing nothing. Only verbs can keep them busy. Who would have thought then that verbs represent only a pathetic minority. No more than two percent of the German vocabulary are verbs, only 900 to 1.000 words. However, the German language has a nice tool to make them look larger than life: the prefix, little guys consisting of two or three letters who can be attached to many verbs (or many verbs can be attached to them, depend on your viewpoint). There are only a dozen of them, but they can increase the meaning of a verb exponentially and quadruple the chance of a life-changing misunderstanding.
Don’t tinker with prefixes like an-, auf-, zu-, er-, ver-, emp-, ein-, aus-, ge- etc. unless you know exactly what you want to say.
With the verb fallen or example you can simply fall. With the prefix auf- , thus auffallen, you stand out, with ver- as in verfallen your talent declines, with ge- as in gefallen you will please.
Today, we are going to look at the prefix be-.
The prefix be- is especially treacherous because very often (not always) it does not change the meaning of the verb directly. A moment ago, staunen (to be astonished) was a nice, independent verb, only committed to the subject of the sentence, something that is capable of staunen, a human being or some animal. Now, with the prefix be- it needs an object, something to marvel at: Wir bestaunen das Brandenburger Tor.In many cases (not in all cases), the prefix be- changes an intransitive verb, a verb that does not have an object like leben (to live), into a transitive verb, a verb that needs an object, like beleben (to revive, to revitalize, to activate).
Other examples are...
- lügen (to lie) > belügen (to lie to someone): Das Volk belügt die Politiker (just kidding);
- zahlen (to pay) > bezahlen (to pay for something): Ich bezahle das Bier;
- urteilen (to judge, to pronounce a judgement) > beurteilen (to judge or to evaluate something or someone): Der Chef beurteilt meine Arbeit.
- lächeln (to smile) > belächeln (to smile at something or someone condescendingly): Die Diva belächelt den Fan.
Other verbs change their objects after they got aquainted with be-. The verb singen can stand alone, like the soprano on the stage: Sie singt. It can have an object, too: Sie singt das Lied (song).
With besingen however, she celebrates or praises something. She sings ein Lied von Schubert oder Madonna, but sie besingt die Liebe.
Other examples are...
- antworten (to answer a person, dative) > beantworten (to answer a letter, e-mail, twitter, questions etc.),
- schenken (to give something as a gift) > beschenken (to give a gift to a person),
- bauen (to build a building) > bebauen (to build a building on something, for instance, a piece of land),
- fahren (to drive a vehicle) > befahren > (to drive a vehicle on a street, alley, Autobahn etc.).
Sometimes, be- modifies the verb’s meaning:
- fragen (to ask a question) > befragen (to consult, to canvass, to interrogate, to survey)
- grüßen (to greet) > begrüßen (to welcome someone)- raten (to advice) > beraten (to consult)

Mo., March 12: Intensive Course German for Beginners

Together with my collegue Anja Rohde, I am offering an intensive course "German for beginners" in a small group and at a warm and friendly location in the center of Berlin-Kreuzberg.
The Course:
- 4 times a week (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday), three hours (9 am – 12:15 p.m., including a 15minutes-break. Kitchen facilities available.)
- The course begins on Monday, March 12^th and ends on Wednesday, March 28^th , altogether 30 hours.
- Learning material will be provided – some from books, some we will develop during the course based on the needs and interests of the students.
- You will speak German as early and as much as possible. You will improve your comprehension, your writing and reading skills.
- Try out our FREE 90-minute introductory class on Wednesday, March 7^th at 9 a.m. before you decide to sign up.
The Teachers:
- Anja Rohde: Anthropologist and German teacher with a teaching certificate DaF (German as Foreign Language). Lived in France, England, Spain, Thailand and Ireland and knows what it means to learn a new language. Teaches German to individuals, groups and company staff in Berlin.
- Bernd Hendricks: Writer and German teacher with a teaching certificate DaF (German as Foreign Language). Returned from New York after 15 years of teaching and tutoring German to English speakers (groups and individuals, children and adults). Teaches German to individuals and groups in Berlin.
The Location:
"Gudruns Kulturraum," Böckhstr. 40, Kreuzberg (See the photo above)
The Price:
The course costs 290 Euro. (Learning material included, no text book purchase necessary.)
Bring a friend and both of you pay 270 Euro.
Bring two friends and all three of you pay 260 Euro.
If you are interested, please contact Bernd at (030) 34 71 99 75 or via e-mail bernducha@gmail.com

Das Gesicht brennt vor Kälte

This poem was written by my student Zareen S.
Its language is as clear as cold winter air.

Das Gesicht brennt vor Kälte
 Ich riskiere nicht, durch die Nase zu atmen.
Das Feld ist blendend weiss.
Der Schnee muss nicht hoch sein, um zu glitzern

Ein riesiger Himmel,
Babyblau bis farblos am Horizont.
Die Luft schmeckt wunderbar.
Die Gedanken sind so klar und so hell
Wie der Tag.

Meine Ohren genießen
Das Geräusch der Schritte auf dem Schnee.
Zuckerguss auf dem Rasen,
Jeder Fuß fühlt den Widerstand der Kruste.

Wir brechen das Eis
Und werfen Stück für Stück über den gefrorenen See.
Der Ruf eines Vogels
Hallt betörend schön über den See zurück.
Zareen S.

Gesichtspuzzle - German Class January 11

Johanna sent this photo of the face puzzle we did in our class last week.

Starting Mo., January 16: Course German for Beginners

On Monday, January 16^th I will start a new "Yorkville German Language Course" German for Beginners.
You will learn German in a fun and friendly atmosphere, and fast and effective in a group at a pleasant location in Berlin-Kreuzberg. The first class is free.
The Course:
* 10 lessons, twice a week, Mondays and Wednesdays, each 90 minutes for beginners in a group with max. 10 students.
* Learning material will be provided – some from books, some I will develop during the course based on the needs and interests of the students.
* You will speak German as early and as much as possible. You will improve your comprehension, your writing and reading skills.
* The course starts on Monday, January 16, and ends on Wednesday, February 15
* Hours: 7 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
* Location: "Gudruns Kulturraum," Böckhstr. 40, Kreuzberg.The Price
* FIRST CLASS IS FREE
* 12 Euro per class, meaning 108 Euro for the remaining 9 classes, each 90 minutes (learning material included).

If you are interested, please contact me via email: bernducha@gmail.com