Our first Learn German Crossword!

We are proud to present our first Learn German Crossword. This one is all based around facts of Germany. See if you can post the quickest time but no cheating please, it’s just a bit of fun

PLEASE NOTE: All answers are German answers, e.g. if the answer is ’3′ you would write ‘drei’. Any answers which contain a special character will use the special character (e.g. ü ö ä and not ue, oe or ae). Check out our German Umlaut page for more information on these characters.

Questions

Across

• 1. Love Parade location 2010
• 2. Germany's largest Island
• 3. German City with the largest airport
• 4. How many countries border Germany?
• 5. Where Friedrich Nietzsche was born
• 6. Capital of Lower Saxony
• 7. Largest lake in Germany (German name)
• 8. Which river runs through Heilbronn?

Down

• 9. German State with the most inhabitants
• 10. Deaf German composer
• 11. Famous German physicist
• 12. German national goal keeper in 2010 World Cup
• 13. Second largest city in Germany
• 14. City with the highest church tower in the World
• 15. German state with the largest area

Top Times

1. Time: 0:37:48 by oky on 2010-09-02

We’ve already introduced you to some German Past Tense forms like the Perfect Tense or the Imperfect Tense. And in this article we will be looking at the Pluperfect Tense.

The Pluperfect Tense sounds complicated but is actually a pretty straight forward German past tense. It is used to describe something that had happened or had been true at some point in the past. In English, you will see the pluperfect used in sentences with a form like “I had gone” or “you’d given”.

For example:

Er war spät nach Hause gekommen. – He had come home late.

Wir hatten seinen Geburtstag vergessen. – We had forgotten his birthday.

Forming a German Past Tense Sentence in the Pluperfect Tense

The pluperfect tense is formed in a similar way to the Perfect tense in that it has two parts:

• the imperfect tense of the verb haben (to have) or sein (to be)
• the past participle

Some verbs are built with „sein“ and others with „haben“. Which verb to use with which is exactly the same rule as we already discussed in the blog about the Perfect Tense. The majority of German past tense sentences are constructed using the verb haben, however when talking about something movement related, you would use the verb sein.

Verbs with haben are built like this in the Pluperfect Tense:

Here are some example sentences:

Ich hatte meinen Geldbeutel vergessen. – I had forgotten my wallet.

Er hatte mir 100€ geliehen. – He had lent me 100€.

Wir hatten ihm ein Auto gekauft. – We had bought him a car.

Verbs with sein are built like this in the Pluperfect Tense:

Here are some example sentences:

Du warst spät angekommen. – You had arrived late.

Ihr wart in London gewesen. – You had been to London.

Sie waren schon weggefahren. – They had already left.

European Countries In German

In this post we are looking at all the European countries and what the German translation is. The list below includes all countries found in the European territory and considered part of Europe. Some of these you will very rarely use but many are used often in general conversation so are important to learn. Most of the European countries in German are neuter, however there are a few that are feminine. These are included with the article die.

Flag	Map	Country with German Translation
		Albania – Albanien
		Andorra – Andorra
		Armenia – Armenien
		Austria – Österreich
		Azerbaijan – Aserbaidschan
		Belarus – Weißrussland
		Belgium – Belgien
		Bosniaand Herzegovina – Bosnien und Herzegowina
		Bulgaria – Bulgarien
		Croatia – Kroatien
		Cyprus – Zypern
		Czech Republic – Tschechien
		Denmark – Dänemark
		Estonia – Estland
		Finland – Finnland
		France – Frankreich
		Georgia – Georgien
		Germany – Deutschland
		Greece – Griechenland
		Hungary – Ungarn
		Iceland – Island
		Ireland – Irland
		Italy – Italien
		Latvia – Lettland
		Liechtenstein – Liechtenstein
		Lithuania – Litauen
		Luxembourg – Luxemburg
		Macedonia – Mazedonien
		Malta – Malta
		Moldova – Moldawien
		Monaco – Monaco
		Montenegro – Montenegro
		Netherlands – die Niederlande
		Norway – Norwegen
		Poland – Polen
		Portugal – Portugal
		Romania – Rumänien
		Russia – Russland
		San Marino – San Marino
		Serbia – Serbien
		Slovakia – Slowakei
		Slovenia – Slowenien
		Spain – Spanien
		Sweden – Schweden
		Switzerland – die Schweiz
		Turkey – die Türkei
		Ukraine – die Ukraine
		United Kingdom – Vereinigtes Königreich England – England Scotland – Schottland Wales – Wales Northern Ireland – Nordirland
		Vatican City – Vatikanstadt

Here are some essential German words that can be found around the house:

Masculine words

Female words:

Neuter words:

What is the German Conditional Tense?

Ok, let’s deal first with what the German conditional tense means. It is one of more specialised tenses as it deals with a specific situation. This situation is something that would happen, or would be true under certain conditions (hence conditional tense).

For example:

Ich würde ins Kino gehen, wenn ich Zeit hätte – I would go to the cinema if I had the time.
Was würdest du mit einer Millionen Euro machen? – What would you do with a million Euros?

When is the German Conditional Tense used?

The situation for when the German conditional tense is used is quite easy to identify. In English it is identifiable by the word would or an abbreviation e.g. we’d (we would).

How is the German Conditional Tense used?

The German conditional tense is formed in 2 parts.

1. The first part is the created by the würde form of the verb werden. You may see this referred as the Subjunctive but it is easier to remember würde.
2. The second part is the full form of the main verb in the sentence (the infinitive). This is as usual placed at the end of the sentence.

Verb Table for the German Conditional Tense

Examples of the German Conditional Tense

Ich würde einen Ferrari kaufen, wenn ich Geld hätte. – I would buy a Ferrari if I had more money

Wir würden zum Strand gehen, wenn es sonnig wäre – I would go to the beach if it was sunny

Würdest du jemals ein Motorrad fahren? – Would you ever ride a motorcycle?

What is a German Umlaut?

The German umlaut is recognisable by 2 little dots above a letter. The German umlaut is found on 3 letters, Ä, Ö and Ü.

What does the German Umlaut do?

When you see a German umlaut above one of the 3 letters, you will know that this is pronounced differently. It is quite simple to remember how to pronounce them as from an English point of view, you just add a letter E afterwards as follows:

Ä = AE

Ö = OE

Ü = UE

It is actually common to see words written without the German umlaut, but with an E afterwards instead. This is because many programs across the World are written for the English language only. They won’t accept any characters with a German umlaut. You would therefore see Muenchen instead of München for example.

Examples of the German Umlaut

der Mülleimer – the rubbish bin

die Äpfel – the apples

das Wörterbuch – the dictionary

When would you see a German Umlaut?

There is no simple rule to tell you exactly when you would see a German umlaut. However there are some situations where you will see them appear. It is best to learn them as you encounter them because any rule related to this would be too complicated to worry about.

There are 2 main situations where you are likely to encounter a German umlaut:

1. With some strong verbs where the stem changes in the du and er/sie/es forms.e.g. ich schlage, du schlägst, er/sie/es schlägt
   ich laufe, du läufst, er/sie/es läuft

   Remember this is not a rule, it is just a situation that you may encounter the German Umlaut.

2. The plural of some nouns:
   e.g. der Apfel – die Äpfel
   das Wort – die Wörter
   der Hafen – die Häfen

Extra Note: When a U follows an Ä, it is pronounced like OY in English

e.g. die Häuser – the houses – pronounced “die Hoyser”

The German future tense is very similar to the future tense in English. To talk about something in the future, you can use the present tense as you can also do in English. For example:

Wir fliegen nächstes Jahr nach Frankreich – We’re flying to France next year

Ich spiele morgen Gittare – i’m playing the guitar tomorrow

However there is a dedicated German future tense used to talk about something that will happen in the future. Quite often it is used to emphasise something that will happen in the future.

Here are some examples of the German future tense:

Er wird nach Spanien fahren – he will drive to Spain

Du wirst morgen einkaufen gehen – you will go shopping tomorrow

How is the German Future Tense formed?

The German future tense is formed using the normal present tense form of the verb werden. When used on it’s own in a future tense sentence, it means to become, however in English we will often say will become/will get/will be instead.

For example:

Ich werde am Samstag 25 Jahre alt – I will be 25 on Saturday
Er wird bald ein Vater – He will soon be a father
Ihr werdet jeden Tag besser – you will get better every day

German Future Tense with additional Verb

When you want to talk about doing something in the future, you will need to construct the German future sentence in two parts. The first part is as above with the present tense form of the verb werden. The second verb which explains what you will be doing goes to the end of the sentence:

Sie werden ein Auto kaufen – You will buy a car
Du wirst morgen gewinnen – you will win tomorrow
Ich werde dich küssen – I will kiss you – note: with reflexive verbs, the reflexive pronoun (mich, dich, sich etc) comes straight after the present tense form of werden.

We hope this helps you learn how the German future tense is used. If you have any comments please feel free to leave them below.

Here we want to go through how you talk about the German Past Tense. There are a few forms of the Past Tense in German. We were talking about the Perfect Tense in our last blog and in this article we will be looking at the Imperfect Tense.

This German past tense, the Imperfect Tense, is used to talk about situations in the past such as:

A situation which happens in the past which has no link to the Present anymore:

For example:
She bought a red bag which she gave her friend. – Sie kaufte eine rote Tasche, die sie ihrer Freundin schenkte.

A situation which describes how people felt in the past or how things were in the past:

For example:

I was glad when he came home. – Ich war froh als er nach Hause kam.

A situation which used to happen regularly in the past:

For example:

I played the piano every day. – Ich spielte jeden Tag Klavier.

Forming a Past Tense German Sentence in the Imperfect Tense

Forming a past tense German sentence within the Imperfect Tense depends on whether the verb is a weak verb, a strong verb, or a mixed verb.

Forming the Imperfect Tense with weak and mixed verbs:

To form the Imperfect Tense of a weak verb, you need to change the ending and leave the stem as it is in the Present Tense. The Imperfect Tense with mixed verbs is built with the same ending than the weak verbs. But remember, that the stem with mixed verbs will change.

Here are a few examples of how to get a weak verb into the past tense:

spielen – to play – ich spielte

machen – to make – ich machte

reden – to speak – ich redete

Here are a few examples of how to get a mixed verb into the past tense:

kennen – to know – ich kannte

rennen – to run – ich rannte

Some weak verbs will change their spelling when used in the Imperfect Tense. This depends, with what letter the stem of the weak verb is ending.

If it ends with d, t, m or n you need to put an extra “e” before the usual imperfect ending.

For example: ich arbeitete – I worked (I was working)

If the m or n has one of the consonants l, r or h in front of it, the e is not added in the pronoun form du, er, sie, es and ihr.

For example: du lerntest – you learned (you were learning)

Forming the Imperfect Tense with strong verbs:

The main difference between the weak and the strong verbs in the Imperfect Tense is, that the strong verbs will have different endings if used in the Imperfect Tense.

As with mixed verbs, the stem may change when going into the past tense German form.

Examples:

essen – to eat – ich aß
fahren – to drive – ich fuhr
trinken – to trink – ich trank

The Perfect Tense – A Common German Past Tense

Here we want to go through how you talk about the German Past Tense. There are a few forms of the Past Tense in German, and in this article we will be looking at the Perfect Tense. This is probably the most common of the past tenses in German.

This German past tense, the Perfect Tense, is used to talk about situations in the past such as:

I have played football – Ich habe Fußball gespielt

She has been to the cinema – Sie ist ins Kino gegangen

The perfect tense is a form of German past tense that is made up of 2 parts:

1. The present form of either haben or sein. The majority of past tense German sentences are constructed using the verb haben, however when talking about something movement related, you would use the verb sein.
2. The past tense German verb called the Past Participle. This is equivilent to played, walked, gone etc. in English.

Forming a Past Tense German Sentence in the Perfect Tense

As explained above, forming a past tense German sentence within the perfect tense is done in 2 parts. The first part, with haben or sein is pretty straight forward.

The second part, forming the Past Participle (the past tense German verb) is a little bit more involved. This depends on whether the verb is a weak verb, a strong verb, or a mixed verb.

Weak Verb and Mixed Verb Past Participle

To form the past participle of a weak or mixed verb, you add ge to the beginning of the verb and -t after the stem of the verb. Here are a few examples of how to get a weak verb into the past tense:

Spielen – to play – gespielt

Lachen – to laugh – gelacht

Lernen – to learn – gelernt

Sagen – to say – gesagt

Remember, with mixed verbs (as with strong verbs), the stem of the verb may change when going into the German past tense.

Bringen – to bring – gebracht

Denken – to think – gedacht

Strong Verb Past Participle

To form the past participle of a strong verb, you again add ge to the beginning of the verb, but instead add -en to the end of the stem. As with mixed verbs above, the stem may change when going into the past tense German form.

Lesen – to read – gelesen

Fahren – to drive – gefahren

Essen – to eat – gegessen

Trinken – to trink – getrunken

Putting it all together

Now you know to use haben or sein, and how to form the past tense German verb, you can put it all together to form a sentence in the German past tense:

Ich habe so sehr gelacht.

• I have laughed so much.
• (lit) I have so much laughed.

Ich bin gestern nach Hause gefahren

• I drove home yesterday
• (lit) I am yesterday home driven

Ich habe ein tolles Buch gelesen.

• I have read a great book.
• (lit) I have a great book read.

A Couple of Exceptions

There are a couple of exceptions when creating a past tense German verb. These exceptions exist when the verb in it’s standard form begins with ge or be or ver. When this happens, the beginning of the verb stays the same.

Ich habe letzte Woche meine Oma besucht – (besuchen)

• I have visited my grandma last week
• (lit) I have last week my grandma visited

What is a Verb Prefixiin German?

A verb prefix in German is an additional word such as an (on, to, by), zu (to), weg (away), which is added to the beginning of a verb to change it’s meaning. We have a similar occurrence in English but the extra word goes after the verb, e.g. shut > shut up >shut down.

Examples of Verbs with Prefixes:

zugeben, zumachen, ausgehen

German Separable verbs and inseparable verbs, What is the difference?

Inseparable verbs keep the prefix on the beginning of the verb at all times. German Separable verbs split into 2 parts (the extra word and the original verb) and are often placed in different parts of the sentence. The way to tell if a verb is separable or inseparable is where the stress of the word is when spoken. If the stress is on the extra word (e.g. the an, zu, weg etc.) then it will be separable. If the stress is in the verb or the word, it will be inseparable. Here are a few examples of German separable verbs and inseparable verbs, with the stress of the word in italics:

Inseparable verbs:

Ich verliere immer meinen Geldbeutel.

Ich vergesse jedes Jahr deinen Geburtstag.

Separable verbs:

Ich komme um 15 Uhr in München an.

What are the extra words that can create a German separable verb?

There are many words that can be added to a verb to change its meaning and result in a German separable verb. These are:

ab-, an-, auf-, aus-, bei-, da(r)-, ein-, her-, hin-, mit-, nach-, vor-, zu-.

These can also be combined further to create further meanings, e.g:

dabei-, daher-, dahin-, daran-, darauf-, darein-, davor-, dazu-, hinab-, hinan-, hinzu-, voraus-, vorbei-, vorher-.

How is the sentence structured with a German Separable Verb?

As mentioned above, the extra word part separates from the verb. In basic one verb sentences, the verb part stays at the beginning of the sentence, after the pronoun (ich, du, sie…etc). The extra word part moves to the end. Here are some examples:

Ich schaue ihm zu.

Where the sentence is in a tense, or has 2 verbs, which places it at the end of the sentence, the separable verb stays in one piece.

Wir müssen jetzt weggehen.

Where the sentence requires the additional word zu, this gets placed in between the extra word part and the verb part. See below for some examples:

Der alte Mann braucht Hilfe, um in den Zug einzusteigen.

The most common German seperable verbs are:

abfahren – to leave

ankommen – to arrive

aufstehen – to get up

ausgehen – to go out

einsteigen – to get in

herkommen – to come (here)

hinlegen – to put down

mitmachen – to join in

vorziehen – to prefer

zuschauen – to watch