Learning German: German Language Hacks | Meet the Germans

Confusing articles, mixed up numbers, complicated vocab: The German language can be hard going sometimes. Meet the Germans host Rachel Stewart knows this all too well - so she's come up with some of her favorite German language hacks to offer a helping hand to her fellow German-learners.
Rachel moved from the UK to Germany in 2016. As a relative newcomer she casts a fresh eye over German clichés and shares her experiences of settling into German life. Every two weeks she explores a new topic - from unusual bans to meaty cuisine or haunted castles. This week: how to get by when learning the German language.
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[@childofbodom244]

German here. Please don't be afraid to admit, you don't understand, what we are saying! Most Germans know, it's a difficult language to learn and nobody will judge you. And if they do, they are not worth your time.

[@Desam1000]

Most common things can be said simpler and more understandable in German. And most Germans can translate it to English for you.

[@ruturajshiralkar5566]

Danke gut

[@Remy1225]

Those commas are the most german thing ever 😍

[@AudiiS8]

exactly! they're not worth your time! because they are wasting your time! and that's not efficient!

[@Pabakus]

@Franzi If in doubt, put a comma if it's German and no comma if it's English. 😉

[@timecrayon]

Fun fact: many classrooms make it a game to count how often someone uses "halt", "ja" and "so" during a presentation.

[@Darilon12]

Leider ja. Aber was wäre Schule ohne Mobbing 🤦🏼‍♂️

[@CinemaBizarreShinya]

Naja, die meisten nutzen ja schon nicht mal diese Füllwörter sondern es ist nur noch ein Brei aus ''ehm'' und ''äh''.

[@hakon_dlc]

@@Darilon12 Nix mit Mobbing zu tun, es ist einfach besser, sich den Gebrauch von Füllwörtern abzugewöhnen. Gerade bei Vorträgen klingt es einfach unprofessionnell und wo anders sollte man sowas besser zu vermeiden lernen als in der Schule?

[@Darilon12]

@@hakon_dlc Vollkommen richtig. Das muss gelehrt werden. Aber nicht mit dieser Methode. Das beschriebene 'Spiel' kann und wird oft in Mobbing ausufern. Ist 'einfach' auch so ein Füllwort? ;)

[@UhuStick]

Ist ja halt auch so. 😁

[@walkwithdeath]

Rachel: I hate numbers in German French: Imma about to ruin this whole woman's career in quatre vingt dix sept ways

[@sushifornico]

1999 - so funny to hear this as in mille neuvcent 4 20 19 :-)

[@11vag]

Maybe it's a matter of practice, but French numbers are easier to handle than German's

[@marrykurie48]

@@11vag Not for a French learning native German I can tell you...

[@ilikeyourname4807]

@@sushifornico Mille (1000) neuf cent (9*100) quatre vignt dix neuf (4*20+10+9)

[@Hauketal]

English uses the same order as German for 13-19.

[@Wulfarwacht]

Tbh, even as a German, I absolutely hate when people tell you a phone number and just randomly switch up single digits and coupled ones. Just use one, like, jeez!

[@sourcererseven3858]

I just use it for when a digit repeats, like 88 doesn't matter which way around you note it down. Especially if you have more 8s, "achtundachtzig, achtundachtzig, acht" is easier than "acht acht acht acht acht". And in case of "elf" it's quicker to say than "eins eins", and I'm lazy :p

[@sleeplesshead602]

@@sourcererseven3858 acht acht acht sounds like someone pinches your hips 😂

[@happygimp0]

Use single digits every time, it makes more sense.

[@carmenschumann826]

@@sourcererseven3858 ölf zwölf trölf . . . oans zwoa troa gsuffa . . .

[@IgorRockt]

For telefon numbers, I've made it a habbit to always do one run with single digits - then another run with double digits (where it makes sense, e.g. I'll still call out a single zero/number if it's at the wrong spot for a double digit) to make sure the person on the other side got it right (it's easier to check for double digits when they are already written down in front of you, and it helps), so if the number was "0221/457689", I would start with "Vorwahl 0 - 2 - 2 - 1 fuer Koeln, dann 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9. Zur Sicherheit nochmal: 0 - 22 - 1 fuer Koeln, dann 45 - 67 - 89". Nobody has complained to me about this at anytime, but we actually catched a few missing/twisted number/surplus numbers with this, especially, if the number is something like "02244/6777889" (oftentimes, people would get the number of "7" or 8" wrong here after telling them the single digits, but using "67 - 77 - 88 - 9" makes it clear how many there are without a doubt ;-) ).

[@MickeyKnox]

To be fair ... when saying numbers, most germans don't make a pause like in the video ... we don't say "einhundert sieben ... und zwanzig" it's more like "einhundertsiemunzwanzig"

[@gurdevsingh5637]

So even more tough I guess?

[@gamerforlife9988]

@@gurdevsingh5637 😂

[@fittenticker3695]

Hundertsiebenzwanzisch

[@carmenschumann826]

@@fittenticker3695 hunasimezwansch hundatsimmazwanzg

[@fauxcommander]

@@carmenschumann826 accurate

[@V45194]

The suggestion to leave spaces between digits while writing down numbers is extremely helpful. Danke, Rachel!

[@theferalmaker]

Even for me - and I AM German 😅

[@RachelStewart04]

Gerne!

[@D0MiN0ChAn]

@@theferalmaker Haha same 🤣

[@siblinganon66]

Perhaps in a similar vein. It's relatively common when dictating or repeating numbers to say 'zwo' instead of 'zwei'. Helps to distinguish 'zwei' from 'drei'.

[@jonas1630]

I am a native speaker and I sometimes mess up with numbers

[@appleslover]

Two days ago "Jana aus Kassel" became my first meme to understand in German.

[@VictorSteiner]

Lol :) funny and also deeply sad starting point

[@appleslover]

@@VictorSteiner tragedy is the starting point for comedy

[@m3lodr4matic]

Please don't call it a meme, that just plays down and sugarcoats what actually is behind that.

[@appleslover]

@@m3lodr4matic I know But just reading the comments with everyone saying things like: I'm X aus Y and i feel like..., when I do ... Made it a meme for me Also I know who was sophie scholl and the true tragedy behind this stupid comparison, the joke itself was on her actually doing what you said not because of wilful ignorance.

[@seofanforlaif2727]

what does it mean?

[@labelmail]

just to make you even more confused with the articles: during the day it is usually der Weizen, das Korn, but in a pub it is usually das Weizen und der Korn 😁😁😁

[@Maddie1402_]

this is gold xDDD

[@lamokoverde]

Did someone say genderfluid?

[@PortCharmers]

@@lamokoverde Sort of. Gender depends on whether it's in solid or fluid state

[@floriandiem1223]

@@lamokoverde It's different words "der Weizen" and "das Korn" describe the plant while "das Weizen" und "der Korn" describe the beer made from these plants

[@renelederer7177]

Der war gut! Es liegt natürlich an der Abkürzung : das Weizen - Bier und der Korn - Schnaps . Es gibt auch "den Kirsch" ( Schnaps ), aber trotzdem nicht "den Pflaumen" und ebenso wenig "den Kirschen". Es sei denn, du fragst : "Was machst du mit den Kirschen?"

[@NoxofBuilder]

German here. When Rachel said "[Halt] doesn't mean much at all." I just burst out laughing because it's so true and yet I use it everyday :'D ...

[@antjehoffmann4685]

I wouldn‘t say it means nothing at all... Ich hab es gemacht= I did it// Ich hab es halt gemacht= I simply did it. Sometimes „halt“ gives it sort off a defiant undertone.

[@floop1108]

@@antjehoffmann4685 Just like 'just' in English. See? It just means nothing, only it gives a bit of emphasis.

[@heikosale1027]

"halt" or "eben" are regular so-called "modal particles" which can be used to describe that something is *obviously* as it is. It can also mean you are justifying an action: "da bin ich halt rein gegangen" could be freely translated to "then obviously I went in (silent part: you think I was justified, too, right?) While "eben" is more northern German, "halt" is more southern German.

[@fbbecca64]

@@heikosale1027 ahhh danke:D

[@stopske9332]

Is halt eben echt so

[@merky6004]

Learning German was like trying to do algebra in your head real-time.

[@christopherx7428]

More like converting the numbers to hexadecimal, THEN do the algebra and finally convert the result back to decimal again!

[@RioMuc]

Well, the French counting is also weird. They only have words for the tens until sixty (soixante). From seventy on you have to start calculating: 70 is "sixty plus ten" (soixante-dix), eighty is "four times twenty" (quatre-vingt) and ninety is "four times twenty plus ten" (quatre-vingt-dix). That's not logical either.

[@blubberdignubber]

@@christopherx7428 Think twice, the weird imperial units used in many English speaking countries drive every English learner crazy. Luckly the even more weird British currency had been reformed in 1971. A pence wasn‘t a 1/100 £. An elder example 1 Sovereign = 4 Crown = 8 Half Crown = 10 Florin = 20 Shilling = 60 Groat = 240 Penny = 960 Farthing = 1 Pound Sterling. Every language/culture has its crux

[@christopherx7428]

@@blubberdignubber Thanks, but I know all that and live in a country that has been metric forever. Even the British have gone metric these days. It is really just the US, Liberia and Myanmar that sticks to the old system. This really has nothing to do with the difficulties non-German speakers have in learning the proper articles.

[@blubberdignubber]

@@christopherx7428 Right, but speed limits and other street signs are also still in „mile“.

[@JossJoss5000]

The Word „na“ can be used as a placeholder for whole sentences, especially when meeting someone. e.g. „Na?“ = „How are you today and what is the latest news in your life?“

[@aramisortsbottcher8201]

Best is, when people sat "na" instead of "nein" and you just here the a and think "ja" was meant...

[@RobertLinthicum]

Overheard two young Mädeln greeting one another in the street: "Na du, fette Sau?" Must have been good friends!

[@holzimperator210]

And then there are the Variations in the different dialects. Here, near Frankfurt, it's not "na?" , it's "un"? ...

[@beageler]

"Ne" is even better, "Na" implies wanting feedback. That's "ne" with a short "e," pronounced with a long "e" it would be a form of "no."

[@Caanze]

@@holzimperator210 Antwort "ei jo."

[@the.mayberries]

It's funny that Rachel sounds like a completely different person when she is speaking German 😅. But her German is very impressive for an English speaker 👍👍👍

[@MAKgargos]

Another person explained in her videos: If you speak another language, you also speak another culture. In English you are "softer" and more polite, in German more direct and this is also in the voice and accentuation.

[@schnorpel]

My advice: always learn german nouns with their article.

[@RachelStewart04]

Yup, I wish I had done that from the beginning!

[@ruturajshiralkar5566]

Das Die Die Der

[@jts49]

Only if i realize this from the get go.....

[@bobland7628]

AMEN!! AMEN!! AMEN!!

[@xel61]

Very true! gleich von Beginn an „DasBett“, „DerTisch“, „DieLampe“, etc. lernen. Die Artikel sind komplett unlogisch und somit sinnlos (z.B. „Der Fluß“, aber „Die Donau“, etc.). Dieser Unsinn (aus dem Lateinischen übernommen?) sollte in der Verwendung für Sachen abgeschafft, bzw. immer durch „das“ ersetzt werden. Es wird allerdings sehr hart für uns das durchzuziehen ...

[@planetpetey]

When I was learning German my friends in Berlin gave me some children’s books. It was a brilliant way of improving my grammar and was quite fun. I never was fluent but I could hold my own. The great thing about Germans is that they are very supportive and encouraging of English speakers learning their language. They are also forgiving of mistakes and just pleased you are giving it a go.

[@italianorgan3868]

That's true. I am Dutch, living quite near to the German border, and as a child I learned my basic German from tv-series like Die Sendung mit der Maus and Die Rappelkiste (who still remembers that?).

[@avi4francis]

You got good friends!

[@theacid1]

In German the word "umfahren" can mean to drive somebody over or to bypass him depending on the pronunciation.

[@SimplyPhoenix]

Aber man fährt entweder jemanden um oder umfährt jemanden. Das Wort wird unterschiedlich benutzt hat nichts mit der Aussprache zu tun.

[@fleggitier]

@@SimplyPhoenix Wir müssen das Hindernis umfahren. Wir müssen das Hindernis umfahren. Wo ist jetzt die unterschiedliche Verwendung? Erst denken dann schreiben.

[@SimplyPhoenix]

@@fleggitier Ja stimmt. Trotzdem kann man am meinem Beispiel sehen dass man die Wörter unterschiedlich benutzt. Außnahmen gibt es immer. Aber es verwirrt mich gerade das es sich mit dem vorgeschobenen Verb "müssen" ändert. Stimmt natürlich so aber irgendwie krass. Ich hab nie groß über Verben nachgedacht die sich splitten können je nach Satzbau.

[@jessicaseven]

@@fleggitier Entweder, du fährst um das Hindernis herum (eine Verkehrsinsel) oder du fährst das Hindernis um (z.B. wenn es ein Mensch ist). Ja, erst denken, dann schreiben. Das Wort kann auf zwei Arten interpretieren.

[@zombee0036]

@@SimplyPhoenix Das hat sehr wohl etwas mit der Aussprache zu tun. Wenn man etwas ausweicht liegt die Betonung auf dem Wortteil fahren: Wir müssen etwas umFAHREN. anders rum wenn man drüber fährt: Wir müssen etwas UMfahrn. Auch gut zu merken ist dass bei unbetonten wortteilen oft einzelne Buchstaben verschluckt werden woraus man darauf schließen kann welches gemeint ist. Allerdings ist das dann auch wieder schwer vom Dialekt abhängig edit: das verschlucken von buchstaben passiert häufig wenn man aus 2 gleich betonten silben eine silbe macht (fah_ren -> fahrn) um schneller reden zu können

[@heidirichter]

One thing I learned fairly early was how common compound-words are in Deutsch. While it's not particularly common in English, it's extremely common in German. Often this makes learning new words easier I find, because while you may not be familiar with the combination, you may already know one or more of the words that make up longer words. Sure, German has a reputation for having some long words, but usually those long words can be broken down into individual words that just don't have spaces between them. I found once I got used to this, it made things much easier.

[@RachelStewart04]

True, and it's SO rewarding when you "make up" a word this way and the find out it really is the correct word!

[@naneneunmalklug4032]

be careful though, Blumentopferde has nothing to do with horses (but with dirt) and Rohrohrzucker is neither related to pipes nor to a human ear lobe ;-)

[@Cornu341]

@@naneneunmalklug4032 Rohr ohr zucker is a nice image for an interesting medical practice, while Roh rohr zucker is just food (should be treated as a spice). :D

[@Cornu341]

@Tagedieb sugar for your ear delivered or transferred via pipe? I have no idea, but it sounds interesting

[@ErklaerMirDieWelt]

@Tagedieb It's Roh-Rohr-Zucker, raw cane sugar.

[@dweuromaxx]

Who here is learning German and what is the most difficult part for you?

[@KooShnoo]

Finding the time is easy. It’s using it well that’s hard for me. I intersperse drilling Übungen and pretending I understand EasyGerman videos to keep motivated

[@heidirichter]

I've been learning for a few years now, for me, it's the way the word order can be different to what I'm used to in English that gives me the most trouble. I know there are rules for this, but I can never remember them and so it still catches me out. I don't just mean how nicht can go on the end of a sentence, that's not hard to get used to, it's when words change order to something that would make no sense at all in English in the same order that catches me out. To be fair, I've only been learning for a few years and I have nobody to practice with, as I don't have any local friends who speak German. So I watch movies and TV shows in German, also obviously german speakers on KZbin (sometimes with the speed slowed down, haha) and try to get a feel for the way the language is actually used.

[@happygimp0]

das and dass, and i am a native German speak and finished school over 10 years ago.

[@jonasgrunberger3381]

​@@happygimp0 if you are a bavarian or austrian there is a awesome trick: if you dont know what to use, either "dass" or "das", try to spell the same sentence with "des": Ich wusste, dass das Haus in Flammen steht. ich wusste, das des Haus in Flammen steht. ich wusste, des des Haus in Flammen steht. (sounds totaly wrong xD)

[@momo_bg]

Satzstruktur und Wortgeschlecht auf jedem Fall

[@butenbremer1965]

The most sophisticated expression in my eyes is "ach was", it is perfectly used after someone has tried to explain obvious and logical things to you.

[@MarsOhr]

But could also mean, with different stress, "not at all". In my dialect pronounced "Awa".

[@yd2zfrp2]

But as far as I know, they did the numbers thing in the UK too. Back in the days of Jane Austen and others. In the books you see the numbers also written as "four and twenty" and so on...

[@Gerhard-Martin]

Or "syx ond twentig" for 26 in OLD ENGLISH. kzbin.info/www/bejne/o2qnkpqqaLiKpdE

[@rajrana5274]

Pro tip while talking with the job employer Employer : "Herr Rana, wann können Sie arbeiten?" Me: "Ja"

[@LoldemortII]

„krass“

[@svily0]

During WWII... a fight broke... Russians run around shooting, Germans too. At the Russian camp a guy is approaching, he is asked: " Seryozha, is this you?" Ja, the voice said... Come over here... Ja, ja, the voice said again. (Well Я -> Ja means I in Russian)

[@rajrana5274]

@Onkel Roman I really did not wanted to remember the time when my friends told me that Rana means Frog in Spanish or some language

[@Barchaloo]

as a German who has learned 5 foreign languages I really do have a lot of respect for anyone willing to learn German. I haven't come across a language harder to learn - even a lot of Germans are having trouble with it.

[@grapefruitbierchen2141]

Dann hast du aber wahrscheinlich noch keine slawische Sprache gelernt oder?

[@marcjohnson8819]

Rachel It is not that long ago that we used to count in the same way as the Germans do today. We all remember learning in school the song four AND twenty blackbirds baked in a pie ect. Also in any Jane Austen novel/film a young lady would never say she was 22 or 27 . She would however say she was two AND twenty or seven AND twenty. The way we count must have slowly changed between about 1820 -1900 with both ways of counting in use for a time. It would be interesting to know why this changed in English but not German.

[@Crydus]

Instead of "halt" you can also use "irgendwie". - or you can use "so", "halt" and "irgendwie" together - "Und dann hab ich so irgendwie halt so darüber nachgedacht" And a little sidenote regarding articles. "Die Orange" and "das Orange" are both correct - "Die Orange" is the fruit and here you speak the "-e" at the, while it is silent for the color orange.

[@lovelessOrphenKoRn]

Das mit der Orange ist mir nie aufgefallen, ist ja interessant :D

[@kulturfreund6631]

@Crydus "halt" in this context means "just" or "simply" (in colloquial language). - Ich hab' halt gesagt (...). - I just said (not be confused with: "Ich habe "halt" gesagt." which means "I've said "stop".".)

[@Crydus]

@@kulturfreund6631 Das weiß ich doch :D Also halt, wenn ich das irgendwie versuche zu erklären, dann krieg ich das schon hin :D

[@kulturfreund6631]

@@Crydus "halt" ist nicht gleich "irgendwie", was bei Dir zu lesen ist. (...Außer vielleicht bei vollendeten Dummschwätzern.) So wie es seit Generationen in der Umgangssprache verwendet wird, ist es gleichbedeutend mit dem englischen "just" oder "simply", und, soweit ich es überschaue, mit nichts anderem sonst zu übersetzen.

[@Crydus]

@@kulturfreund6631 Halt, so und irgendwie können alle in Form von Satzfüllern genutzt werden - da gibt's dann teilweise regionale Unterschiede. Ähnlich wie ein "ehm". Es ist nicht zu 100% gleich, kann aber ähnlich genutzt werden.

[@selenemoon3001]

You know there are still differences in the German language. Swiss, Austrian and Germany-german are still quite different and then there are the dialect as well. Sometimes we German speakers do not understand each other depending where we are from. The gender in the articles change too sometimes.

[@fleggitier]

der oder das Ketchup? der oder das Nutella?

[@selenemoon3001]

@@fleggitier for ketchup there are technically both right. In my circle we use 'das Ketchup' und der sounds wrong for me. For Nutella somehow I personally use 'die'. It's an Italian feminine substantive therefore the feminine article. In different regions or countries you might find der/das acceptable

[@franko161]

"Ach soooo" Hahaha that made my day. Love it :D

[@TheMan-nk6cj]

Hey, I am from Germany. I just came across your series about my country. A lot of tips and topics are really good researched and explaned. Good work!

[@dweuromaxx]

Glad you liked it 😁 feel free to comment anything we missed!

[@sidibouarrakia8706]

hallo. I am interested for learnng germany, if you have groups face book, twitter ... for exchange language. thanks

[@Brain4Zombie]

German here, the most import "just throw in word" is.... *drummroll* "Tja". It's just one word and if you can use the englisch 'well' in the following cases you're good to go: You've missed the last bus or train, no coffee in the morning, zombie apocalypse, meteor impact, when you drop your ice cream coup, etc. This single word could mean everything from "Herrgottverdammtedreckskacke!" up to "Ach nein, das kommt mir jetzt doch aber etwas ungelegen!", Tja is just efficient.

[@l1ncs]

a well placed and emphasised “tja” goes a long way lol

[@domsjuk]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="163">2:43</a> "Klar" is probably the most versatile of all these words. It's unassuming but reassuring. Perfect choice, if you've got no clue, but don't want to admit it. And "halt", "eben", "so" and "einfach" and any combination of them will allow you to stretch pretty much any sentence to about 500% its original length. Can't be overestimated

[@Windona]

This really is helpful, thank you! (And yes, articles are the bane of my studies)

[@Sturzfaktor2]

To my surprise I found numbers like "four-and-twenty" in older English literature.

[@alexturner1309]

I think Shakespeare used numbers this way sometimes. But I'm not sure

[@nratkin]

I also heard those kinds of numbers in nursery rhymes.

[@labemolmineur]

I love the German numbers because that's exactly how we read ours in Arabic!

[@SpandauJerry]

😘

[@rumpelppilz]

Beautiful, arabic is 2000 times elder then english and german 3 times, meinst, we are right, 'ne?

[@SpandauJerry]

​@@rumpelppilz In historical terms, elder means als also dated. Younger systematics often offers more appropiate or usable customs, and so does English numbers. As an adult native German w/ PH degree I much to often confusses my German numerology. Think modern!!

[@aromanticfranziskavonkarma]

i think that die/der/das table might actually be the most useful image i have ever seen in my life thank you so much

[@mdasifrezwanshishir742]

Always love the videos of 'Learning German' ... great work Rachel and Katharina and other stuffs

[@hyacinth_snail]

This helped tremendously, thank you so much!

[@MegaXflare]

I must say Rachel, your German accent is incredible! It´s very clear and at times indistinguishable from a native speaker. It´s ten times better than my own (this is coming from someone who´s half-German and half-British)

[@RachelStewart04]

It has its bad moments I promise you :P

[@tammygant4216]

Rachel! this was so helpful. You stopped showing up in my feed for a long time (what's up with that You Tube??), but now I'm binging new stuff and revisiting old stuff. Love this channel!

[@dweuromaxx]

Thank you! Welcome back 🤗. That silly algorithm...

[@LucasBenderChannel]

These videos are so charming! All the little transitions between examples are so cute! Definetly gonna copy some of them for my own stuff! :)

[@anarose7505]

“quasi“ is a word I use all the time it’s like „like“ in English ,a Filler . I use is quasi all the time lol

[@appleslover]

I'm learning German and the most difficult thing for me is ... anglicisms. I mean, I know what they mean most of the time (because I know English) but what if I didn't? What if my mother language was my ONLY language? Also how to pronounce them? Like in English or with a German accent? They really seem so alien in sentences, which reminds me of the best thing about German: it's phonetical consistency and lack of foreign words, which makes it simple and enjoyable to unriddle its secrets and connections between the words. Also they're(anglicisms) a major drawback for any language learner because there might be a lot of false friends in them .

[@m3lodr4matic]

"Lack of foreign words" ? 🤔 German might be anything but definitely not lacking foreign words

[@appleslover]

@@m3lodr4matic compared to English which has 65% of its vocabulary taken from other languages

[@zwingerdrossel-musicreview40]

We've taken over a huge number of words from Greek and Latin. These sound now so natural that it is hardly noticeable. Later we took over a lot of words from French, just like Regisseur (= direktor), Portemonnaie, Etage, Menü (Menu) and much more. And at least there are Anglicisms.

[@appleslover]

@@zwingerdrossel-musicreview40 I know, but as I said earlier it's small compared to other languages and the foreign words are too obvious. Also this isn't meant as a bad thing.

[@zwingerdrossel-musicreview40]

Our most beloved Anglicism now is nice. 😊

[@AlessandroBottoni]

The tip regarding how to write numbers when taking note is a valuable one. Thanks.

[@davidmuller5423]

Rachel never fails to put me in a good mood :) Thank you!

[@bigadorn]

The German language is like Rubik’s Cube. It’s a tough one until you crack the code. Love your videos, Rachel ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[@truecitizen58]

I have been learning (trying to that is) on the DUO language app. Having fun with it but I am waiting to crack that "code" you mentioned. I sure hope I can one day.

[@proserpina4448]

Only that you can`t destroy a language but a rubik`s cube... =D

[@pierrebezukhov2698]

@@truecitizen58 Don't know how long you've been using Duo, for me it's been 7 years. No, I haven't broken any code yet, and I'm almost finished with it. The best I can do is to look at a sentence in German and maybe get a reasonable idea of what it's trying to tell me.

[@tar8000]

The most important hack for any German: gemischtes Hack.

[@senfdame528]

buuuuh, geh weg mit deinem unlustigen Gartenzwerg!

[@Honigball]

Was soll deine Strafe sein?

[@Aussenluft]

Gemischtes Hack ist wie Mario Barth: Premium für den bildungsfernen Pöbel.

[@senfdame528]

​@@Aussenluft Das sag ich meiner Mutter!

[@lamokoverde]

Flache Witze....so bad, it turns out to be good

[@holly_kay5570]

Thank you for mentioning the numbers and especially trying to write them down!

[@johnsonyip1127]

the "halt" in sentences like "das ist halt eben so" means that the things that follow in the sentence are the way they are just because for example "das ist halt eben so" -> "thats just the way it is"

[@taehunkim2773]

21 is einundzwanzig, so I thought 21st would be something like ersterundzwanzig. It turns out that it was einundzwanzigster which sounds like one and twentieth 🤦‍♂️

[@RachelStewart04]

😆

[@habibi3333]

bruder soju ballert so krass danke dass ihr das erfunden habt

[@hurtigheinz3790]

My German teacher from 5th to 7th grade used to shout "STOP" verly loud, whenever someone said "halt" when asked a question. No further explanation. We figured out pretty quickly what he meant and tried to avoid using it. Great teaching move!

[@Wolf-yw7en]

Good job Rachel. Really informative.

[@dheerendrapratapsingh6246]

I love the way she present the material.

[@tamaszsombortolvaj7517]

as someone who learns German, one of the best hacks is to get a good German teacher in the first place, so he/she can tell you everything about the language and its rules.

[@tomedward8652]

I think Oscar Wilde summed it up best: "Life is too short to learn German."

[@tigre3droyce771]

Me as a german 50%... lmao... True...half of my life was a waste....

[@tomedward8652]

I am British but was fortunate enough to pass the Berlin Einbürgerung Sprachtest (a bit like a B1) before the Brexit deadline. I am not very good at languages and struggled with german. My top top tips are: Start of listening to Michael Thomas audio books where he teaches basic german, then try Memrise or Busuu or an online german teaching aid and try and stick to it for at least half an hour each day.

[@tigre3droyce771]

@@tomedward8652 watch Bud Spencer movies in German.. ;)

[@Honigball]

No one can speak german 100% perfect. Even a nativ speaker. But you dont‘t have to speak it that good. Even If your grammar is bad, everyone can understand you

[@iloveprivacy8167]

It was actually Thomas Love Peacock, but: yeah.

[@allenchristopher3117]

Ach soooo....interresant! Entertaining clip as usual....with some excellent editing as well. Keep up the great work.

[@stuborn-complaining-german]

I could watch your videos forever. Realy good, Thank you!

[@dreamdancer8212]

Btw. Arthur Conan Doyle lets his characters say something like "He was only six and twenty" So English must have followed the same pattern as German at least up to the late 19th century.

[@mahtra2372]

Jane Austen wrote it as one and twenty, too (~200 years ago).

[@akashparamhans9764]

one of the best german hacks video I have ever come across :)

[@michaelmorgan9824]

What a GREAT Thanksgiving Day present for us (in America anyway) a DW video! Thank you Rachel and producer Katarina Abel and Evgenij Dubnov what a good team you all are. Lots of interesting tips for all of us who want to understand German more thoroughly ! And occasionally your use of those hacks will come in very handy. Stay safe!

[@dweuromaxx]

@Michael Morgan: Happy Thanksgiving, hope you'll be able to enjoy it this year 🦃

[@Noor-hy7rt]

this was so helpful, thankyou!

[@agalva100]

My to go is "ach so", always, "ach so" 🤭

[@Crom1980]

Better is "verstehe".

[@mambabajamba5621]

You know you're german when you can pronounce: Tschechisches Streichholzschächtelchen 👍

[@ajithkumar02]

Really helps, try to post this type of videos regularly. Thank you

[@juanandresramirez5336]

One of the best videos so far!

[@rmendell]

So, this video posts exactly at the same time I've finished my Duolingo German lesson for the day (Day 160, btw). Das ist damit 2020.

[@RachelStewart04]

How's the learning going??

[@rmendell]

@@RachelStewart04 Ich kann kaufen Brot in einer Bäckerei. Wahrscheinlich.

[@fabianherrmann6398]

@@rmendell Good and totally fine for 160 days but this is how it is correct: Ich kann wahrscheinlich Brot in einer Bäckerei kaufen. Keep at it!

[@ich8159]

How do you find Duolingo?

[@rmendell]

@@ich8159 Liking it, but I've liked Babel and Busuu too. At this point though, I've got to keep the streak going. 😉

[@blava3155]

This number system where the ones come before the tens is the exact same in Arabic and it goes on with the hundreds just as in German! Fun fact: In the very past, in the Arabic language you would start counting from the smallest number to the biggest! So 1673 would be read as: three and seventy, six hundred, and one thousand. They changed that later and now it's just like the German way.

[@Qu.Z.]

It's also the same in the Dutch language.

[@WillKemp]

@@Qu.Z. it is. And i think it used to be similar in English. My grandmother, who was born 120 years ago, used to say, for example, "five and twenty past four" (i.e. 4.25 (time)). And there's the old nursery rhyme: "Sing a song of sixpence, a pocketful of rye, four and 20 blackbirds baked in a pie". Four and twenty = 24

[@carmenschumann826]

@@WillKemp . . . this one is pretty interesting to learn . . .

[@Gerhard-Martin]

@@WillKemp Interesting. 8-/ And this even goes way back to OLD ENGLISH, too: "syx ond twentig" = 26 !

[@Sven_Forest]

This video was really helpful and great 😄 I really hope you do another video of Learning German Language part 2😜😊😊

[@RachelStewart04]

Of course! Anything in particular you want tips on?

[@milanminic8545]

So noone's gonna talk how awesome editing Is in this video and how funny and creative this Is?

[@asalmoezi3052]

Whenever you don't know the article of a word, try making your sentence in plural form. Plural nouns always have the article "die". 😉

[@factsare3852]

You should teach more German that was really helpful. Dankeschön

[@Refo3000]

this was surprisingly helpful thanks

[@mocken777]

This was very helpful. Good woman Rachel thanks!

[@paolopoempel3048]

Tha all time favourite in every discussion: 'doch' (sorry, not literally translatable)

[@fleggitier]

closest thing would be "yes it is" or variations thereupon: das ist nicht so einfach! doch! - it's not that easy! yes it is! Du kannst das nicht einfach so sagen! Doch! - you can't just say it like that! yes I can!

[@tobiass2622]

I never knew how to teach my Australian boyfriend the German language. Well, 'Meet the Germans' made everything sooooo much easier for me. I was literally laughing tears while watching this video. The different intonation of "Ach so" are very accurate hahah. Thanks, Rachel!!

[@RachelStewart04]

😀 gerne!

[@Glickse]

I simply can't imagine Meet the Germans without Rachel

[@felixnoveloc.2051]

Excelent tips! I just loved them.

[@dweuromaxx]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Suburp212]

I laughed tears because of you this morning, thank you.

[@RachelStewart04]

😆

[@scenealizer]

Meine Muttersprache ist Afrikaans, so es ist einfächer für mich um Deutsch zu lernen als die die Englisch haben.

[@jonas1630]

*einfacher; *für mich (um) Deutsch zu lernen; Dein Deutsch ist sonst aber wirklich gut

[@scenealizer]

@@jonas1630 Sorry, still learning😂

[@jonas1630]

@@scenealizer No problem. It was just a friendly note so you can improve in the future. 😊

[@kulturfreund6631]

Eigentlich heißt Afrikaans auf deutsch "Kapholländisch".

[@rizen3467]

@@kulturfreund6631 Hab ich noch nie gehört 😂 afrikaans aber schon

[@michaelmorgan9824]

I love this video! Whenever I am having a hard time the first 10 seconds always make me smile, I challenge anyone to watch the beginning and not have a brighter day. Thank you Rachel!!

[@mucsalto8377]

the most lesson-like video since the start of the serie. As a German, I learned a lot.

[@bizhanm3833]

Don't forget to say "Alles Klar!"😅😅😅😅

[@mho...]

so is das!

[@bizhanm3833]

@@mho... :)

[@tamoghnabio]

I exactly did this for 4 years before I started learning the language

[@rewalos5077]

Thank you for these wonderful tips.

[@annadeak1184]

Yet another episode of Rachel throwing things 😄 I've been binge watching these for days now, even though I don't live in Germany

[@jackkruese9929]

I’m a Brit and have been trying to learn german for 3 years because I totally love the language but sometimes wish I hadn’t started.

[@haydenwu2405]

Warum das denn ? 😋

[@SpandauJerry]

The German "halt" makes sense as a self affirming talk like "just, simply, only". Synonymes are "eben, einfach, bloß". 😉

[@christoohunders5316]

You're bloody gifted love ! Your channel is a treat even for non german speakers !

[@markus_k]

Awesome editing!

[@michaelhaber4034]

Vielen Dank an darchy_softwares, die mir geholfen haben, auf mein Instagram und Snapchat zuzugreifen

[@roshanantony64]

I'm learning German on Duolingo and the 1st day was like <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="5">0:05</a> and now its <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="3">0:03</a>😂

[@RachelStewart04]

Haha progress!! :D

[@31337flamer]

as a native german speaker i tried the german duolingo section jff.. i didnt even make it to lvl 5 LUL

[@TZeman-yb2rw]

Interessant! 😀 no really, I fell in love with these videos. Great job!

[@abhinobbaruah3474]

serious lifesaver, thanks a lot tuchuss !

[@FreeTutoring]

A bit late to the party but here are couple of hacks for word articles. Even my German friends were surprised when I told them. :D - All words ending with "ung" are feminine with exception of Schwung and Sprung. They're both masculine. - All words ending with "o" are neutral e.g. Das Auto, Das Radio etc. With exception of Po (bum), its masculine. - All words ending with "heit", "keit" and "schaft" are feminine e.g. Schönheit, Möglichkeit, Mannschaft etc. - All words ending with "mus" are masculine e.g. Rassismus. - All words ending with "um" are neutral. There was one exception but I can't remember right now. - All words ending with "ment" are neutral except for Moment which is masculine. However if you use Drehmoment (torque) then it is neutral. As a rule of thumb, a longer word takes the article of the last word when it's made up using smaller words. There are rare exceptions such as Drehmoment which is considered as a single word despite Dreh and Moment being words on their own. Please do correct if I have made any mistake with the rules. I am not a native speaker. :)

[@timothygrunau]

The word ending with "um" and not being neutral is "der Rum" ;)

[@khaouladjouabi7270]

Thanks

[@derelastischebernd5879]

I feel kinda sry for how we count and say numbers. Its dumb everytime

[@appleslover]

Arabic does that too And french is just.. *no comment*

[@umiyuki5566]

I was so triggered when she took down that phone number

[@happygimp0]

@@appleslover They also read from right to left, so there it makes sense.

[@RioMuc]

@@appleslover As I wrote somewhere else here, French counting is not logical either. They only have words for the tens until sixty (soixante). From seventy on you have to start calculating: 70 is "sixty plus ten" (soixante-dix), eighty is "four times twenty" (quatre-vingt) and ninety is "four times twenty plus ten" (quatre-vingt-dix). Just weird.

[@appleslover]

@@RioMuc yeah that's what I meant

[@erkanturan7215]

This video was amazing. Apparently, they have invested too much time and did a really great job. More of these kinds of videos, please!

[@davidward6908]

It is a wonderful light hearted support of German language learners.

[@Semmelein]

"Ach sooo." 😂 And I'm always baffled how Rachel can sound so native in both languages. 👍 Also, I learned how weird German counting is just a couple of weeks ago. As a native speaker I never realized that but oh boy - why are we counting like that? 🙈

[@rogeri2468]

I have a feeling that she might be from a military family and grew up in Germany, like me. I think that I sound the same as Rachel. However, my brother lived in Switzerland for a few years and started sounding Swiss, which my friends thought was really weird.

[@spotlight-kyd]

@@rogeri2468 Just watch all her DW videos and you'll notice how her German pronouncation noticably improved over time. I believe it's 'just' genuine dedication and enthusiasm.

[@rogeri2468]

@@spotlight-kyd I think this is one of the first videos of hers I watched, so I was thinking of a logical (to me) explanation. I have heard some truly awful accents from Brits speaking German I was actually searching for videos to share with Germans I am helping with English and helpful hints to create links (Eselsbrücken) across the languages; especially as one is retired.

[@unklarnamenpflicht]

I don't have any hacks but despite of living for almost ten years in Germany the spreadsheet for the "Adjektivdeklination" is still my best friend Update: I do have a hack for native speakers of the romance languages. Always use latin words you know from your mother language. The germans will love how sophisticated you sound (and they won't know that you forgot the german word for the same thing)

[@katharinawinter3788]

I'm possibly too late but if you count on this spreadsheet (48 endings) you will find that 23 of them are -en. So: When in doubt, use -en.

[@michtrug]

This is amazing! So helpful :D

[@sunu84]

its more dificult as it sounds here. love the video. thank you for your work.

[@michaelhaber4034]

Schreiben Sie darchy_softwares auf Instagram für jeden legitimen und sicheren Hacker zur Wiederherstellung eines Kontos.

[@akmsadi3698]

Trying to learn more about germans and their culture. I really like her way to explain.

[@roybz6952]

That's perfect. Vielendank!!!