German

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t-meister

I LOVE cases! I think they are one of the best parts of grammar. My worst thing with grammar is verbs, I was never taught to learn them like isst-aß-gegessen so they get very confusing.

The best part!? :eek3:

Ok, admittedly it does make the language far more specific and therefore waaaay more expressive, which means it does have its own advantages especially with literature! :biggrin:

I still hate them though :biggrin:

just cus I can't do them, of course :redface:

Much like a lot of people are daunted by the prospect of learning Chinese cus of the writing when to me, it's not too bad lol! :biggrin:

But then again, it's my mother tongue.

As to Nikki - Lol well I suppose there're still some that just takes a familiarity with the language to decipher. German spelling is most certainly WAY more regular than English spelling, even if I still find English spelling more intuitive :biggrin:

but then again, I would - I speak English, after all! lol!

Reply 21

nikki

irisng

German spelling is most certainly WAY more regular than English spelling

That's not saying much. :wink:

I still find English spelling more intuitive

Really? I think French is the only language I'm aware of that I find as strange as English when it comes to spelling...

Reply 22

Galipote

I hate cases! Well, not really, I've just always had problems with them because each time I learn them, I promptly forget them again! Arguably, this is because I am not doing it properly :frown:

Reply 23

khil

nikki

That's not saying much. :wink:

Really? I think French is the only language I'm aware of that I find as strange as English when it comes to spelling...

Lol well, English isn't so much intuitive. I just know English so I can spell without thinking :biggrin:

But looking at it from an entirely second language's point of view, German is more intuitive. I'm picking up German spelling very quickly and I don't think I'd be able to with English if I didn't already speak it. My trouble is I have no memory of truly struggling to remember spelling with English cus I *basically* grew up speaking it, even if I only started at the age of 8.

French - wouldn't know about French. It's a disgrace, really, the fact that I can't speak French, considering I studied it for 5 years!

Reply 24

nikki

irisng

French - wouldn't know about French. It's a disgrace, really, the fact that I can't speak French, considering I studied it for 5 years!

From what I remember, French spelling isn't too inconsistent, but they have the silent h which sometimes allows liaision and sometimes doesn't despite not being pronounced in either case. :confused:

Then there's all the letters at the end of the words which don't get pronounced. I reckon the French just like writing lots! Why use one letter when you can use 5!

I studied French for 5 years in school and can't remember a damned thing. I know more German after a year of teaching myself! I like German way more anyway. :biggrin:

Reply 25

khil

nikki

From what I remember, French spelling isn't too inconsistent, but they have the silent h which sometimes allows liaision and sometimes doesn't despite not being pronounced in either case. :confused:

Lol! Hahaha indeed, 5 letters are so much more colourful :biggrin:

My bf insists that French pronunciation is easy cus apparently all the sounds you need in French already occurs in German.

I don't remember German either :redface:

and I have 4 years in it. Mind you, I'm remembering it fast now that I've tried recapping. It's kinda cool to discover so many people actually like German, or at least they don't hate it :biggrin:

cus for some reason people I've met all seem to have an automatic dislike towards German cus of misconceptions, and English, being typically English, just refuses to even try it and give it the possibility of a doubt that they could be wrong cus they simply couldn't care less :frown:

English people just seem to have this complete indifference and even repulsion towards any language that is not their own :frown:

I don't get it, really.

German is more interesting than French, I find, even if I do find French slightly nicer-sounding.

Reply 26

t-meister

The only thing that I ace in German is grammar. Im CRAP at vocab and well, Im crap at most of it!

I have a gut feeling when it comes to genders and cases! Mind, thats all I have. Im crap when it comes to German, ha ha and Im doin it at Uni!

Reply 27

khil

t-meister

Well I'm sure your German is so crap that Leeds decided to take you just so you can lower their rep :rolleyes:

Oh c'mon, I'm sure your German is probably pretty amazing but you just have high standards for yourself!

And oh dear... I'm doing what I did when I came home from Germany. I just read "gut" as in the German to mean "good" instead of the English "gut" in your post :rolleyes:

When I was in Germany, I kept trying to figure out how the treble cleft makes the U in the German word "Sommer" :biggrin:

Of course, Sommer isn't spelt with a U but I kept thinking in English. Then in England, I decided to read "Die" as the feminine article "die" instead of the English word "die" in a newspaper.

I think I'm gonna have fun mixing up languages :redface:

oh dear...

Reply 28

nikki

irisng

And oh dear... I'm doing what I did when I came home from Germany. I just read "gut" as in the German to mean "good" instead of the English "gut" in your post :rolleyes:

When I was in Germany, I kept trying to figure out how the treble cleft makes the U in the German word "Sommer" :biggrin:

oh dear...

I do that a lot too! I spent ages thinking about what 'kit' was supposed to mean once so I could work out what 'kitchen' meant... until I worked out it was an English word! This has me laughing every time I read/see it too! :biggrin:

Reply 29

khil

nikki

kit... I wonder what that could possibly mean? What would Chen mean in German? :biggrin:

oh dear! (the link!)

That reminds me of something my bf read in a newspaper. Someone was advertising their cabin and tried to say "comfortable cabin" - this was all in German - and the guy had misspelt 1 letter and ended up saying "uncomfortable cabin" :biggrin:

And I really wish I'd taken a photo of this sign I saw in Germany that says: BAG STOP. Nice trend and prices. :biggrin:

Reply 30

fuglyduckling

Cases are simple! Just learn the table and understand how they are used:

1) Used after certain pronouns (the reason why they are used after these pronouns relates to no.2);
2) Used to indicate relation of noun to the verb, according to the following model...

I/HE/SHE/IT (always nom) + VERB + it/an object (indirect obj = accusative) TO (or other prep) HIM/HER/THEM (indirect obj = dative).

Some examples:

I (nom) gave (verb) the book (acc) to (prep) him (dat).

Sometimes the word order changes but the model is the same:

He (nom) afforded (verb) [to] the buildings (dat) a certain glamour (acc). <-- here we note

You can always tell which is nom/acc/dat by asking these questions:

Who/what is DOING the verb? Nom
Who/what is RECEIVING the verb? Dat
What is being affected by the verb (i.e. verb = given, what is being given)? Acc

Once you have learned these basic rules, the prepositions and the tables, you can't go wrong!

Reply 31

nikki

fuglyduckling

Once you have learned these basic rules, the prepositions and the tables, you can't go wrong!

Until you encounter something irregular like "ich glaube dir" :wink:

Reply 32

fuglyduckling

Yup but there are very few commonly used exceptions - you learn them quickly and easily.

Reply 33

BovineBeast

fuglyduckling

Yup but there are very few commonly used exceptions - you learn them quickly and easily.

And they're fairly obvious. "Ich helfe dir", for example, uses the dative case because you are helping for someone. I forget, are there any verbs that take a genitive noun for their object?

Reply 34

khil

fuglyduckling

Yeh, that's what confuses me, having to work out who's being affected and etc. What's the difference between "receiving" the verb and being "affected" by it cus surely if you're receiving it, then you're receiving some sort of impact from the verb then surely you're being affected :confused:

Plus my other problem is I constantly forget which case is for what :redface:

Oh and as for that link with Bad Hotel, I recently found out it actually makes perfect sense in German cus Bad's meant to be like "Bath" in German :rolleyes:

Ahhh well seeing as I admit to my complete ignorance of German I still think it looks hilarious from an English's point of view :biggrin:

Reply 35

fuglyduckling

Some verbs take genetive: wegen des ... , for example.

Diff between receiving and being affected? Take the verb 'to do'. He (nom) does SOMETHING to SOMEONE. Something is what is being affected - poor term on my part, sorry - by the verb (i.e. it is being 'done') whereas someone is on the receiving end of the verb; i.e. something is being done to them. Note that this ties in to what was said earlier about how prepositions help you - you don't need to know the rule if you just accept that zu --> dative.

Reply 36

khil

fuglyduckling

Yeh I gotta get memorising what preposition uses what case as well. For some reason I've tried and tried to simply memorise the mere endings for each case in relation to gender and I keep forgetting and forgetting :frown:

It's not a lack of memory cus I memorised the entire Japanese alphabets in a week so my memory is good. And I don't know what gender the noun belongs to half the time which means I don't know what case to apply, even if I know what endings apply for what case.

Problem is I can't just memorise the rules for the preposition cus cases apply in like everything :frown:

It doesn't just occur after a preposition, as far as I know.

Perhaps I should start by learning what word belongs to what gender...

Reply 37

BovineBeast

fuglyduckling

Some verbs take genetive: wegen des ... , for example.

That's a preposition, isn't it?

Reply 38

nikki

irisng

Oh and as for that link with Bad Hotel, I recently found out it actually makes perfect sense in German cus Bad's meant to be like "Bath" in German :rolleyes: