In this lesson we’re tackling a tricky subject for learners of German: word order. In particular we’re looking at where adverbs come “inside the Verbklammer”. For this we’ll be introducing you to a new concept: “Tekamolo”. All will become clear in this lesson.
It’s time to look at reflexive verbs in the past. In this lesson you’ll learn to say what you enjoyed, what you complained about and what you looked forward to, and much more besides! Julia is back with a cultural correspondent segment on an area in Italy where German is spoken, Südtirol.
In this episode you’ll learn to use reflexive verbs in German. In addition to being able to talk about “washing yourself” and “scratching yourself” (among other things!), you’ll also learn to talk about looking forward to things, relaxing, deciding, catching a cold, getting annoyed, remembering things and complaining! Reflexive verbs are hugely important and this
We’ve already covered the topic of family in Coffee Break German, but in this lesson you’ll learn how to talk about your extended family, and deal with possessive pronouns in the nominative, accusative and dative cases. Is it mein, meine, meinen, meinem or meiner? By the end of this lesson, you’ll know!
So far in Coffee Break German we’ve learned to use haben, sein and some modal verbs in the Präteritum. In this lesson Andrea and Mark look at other verbs in the Präteritum which are not used commonly in spoken German, but you’ll find them in any story you read. You’ll also learn about some irregular
In this lesson you’ll learn to talk about rules and regulations in the past using the Präteritum of the modal verbs dürfen and müssen. By the end of the lesson you’ll know how to talk about what you were or weren’t allowed to do as a child.
There are many winter activities on offer across the spectacular resorts in Germany, Switzerland and Austria and so many chances to practise your German speaking skills. From snowboarding to bobsledding, “fat bikes“ to swimming (yes, outdoors, in winter!), there is something for everyone in the winter playground around the Alps. If you hit the slopes
This lesson marks the end of the first half of our second season of Coffee Break German. Mark and Andrea take the opportunity to review the topics covered in lessons 11 to 19 with lots of new examples, helping you build your vocabulary and practise the grammar points at the same time.
In the last lesson we looked at the Präteritum, the past tense form which is commonly used with verbs such as sein, haben and so on. In this lesson, we’ll be taking the Präteritum a little further and learn how to talk about what we wanted to do and what we were able to do
This episode of Coffee Break German introduces the verbs sein and haben and how they are used in the past. In fact, these verbs use a different tense, the Präteritum, or “imperfect” as it is often referred to in English. You’ll learn to conjugate the imperfect of sein and haben and how to use it
In this episode we’re focusing on the use of weil with the Perfect Tense and you’ll be learning to give excuses as to why you arrived late and why you haven’t done your homework!
In this lesson we’re looking further at the dative case and specifically at verbs which need the dative like geben, schicken, schenken, antworten and helfen. You’ll also be learning to use the dative forms of the personal pronouns.
This lesson focuses on the topic of asking questions, both “open” questions using the W Fragewörter, and more closed questions which are more likely be answered by ja or nein. You’ll learn to ask questions using various words, all of which begin with the letter W, and you’ll also learn to use reported speech involving
Learn how to gossip in German! In this lesson we’ll be looking at reported speech and how this works with dass. You’ll learn how to say who said what to whom, of course using the correct grammatical constructions.
In this episode of Coffee Break German we’ll be learning how to translate “much”, “many”, “some”, “few”, and lots more quantifying words – something learners often find difficult. By the end of this lesson you’ll be able to talk confidently in German using the words viel(e), wenig(e), etwas, manche, and say how much chocolate you
In this lesson of Coffee Break German we’ll be taking the dass structures a stage further and looking at other verbs which can be used in this context. You’ll learn to use a number of verbs with this structure and you’ll also learn some important rules involving grammar and word order.
In this lesson we’ll be covering the topic of subordinate clauses. That sounds more complicated than it is! Basically this lesson will teach you how to make requests in German and tell people what you’d like them to do – or not do! Julia is back with another Cultural Correspondent segment and in this episode
In this episode of Coffee Break German you’ll be amazed when you realise how far you’ve come, as you review everything you have learned so far in Season 2. Andrea and Mark talk about the topic from this unit such as cases and adjective agreements, adverbs, using denn and weil and making sure your perfect
If you’ve been following our Coffee Break German lessons you can now use denn to give a reason – ausgezeichnet! However, there is another word which also means “because”, and that’s weil, and this word brings with it some challenges regarding word order. In this lesson you’ll master weil and you’ll learn how to use
In this lesson of Coffee Break German you’ll learn how to give a reason – without having to worry about word order! This lesson introduces the word “denn” and you’ll be delighted to know that it does not change the word order of your sentence.
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