German for Beginners – Details, episodes & analysis

The Dativ prepositions are also very reliable. Difficult sometimes, but always reliable.

Review the transcript, study the lesson and do the quizzes: www.newsinslowgerman.com/series/guts/20/transcript

The two most important things to know about prepositions are:

1. Prepositions tell us how one thing is related to something else. 

2. Prepositions are language-specific.

Here we won't deal with an exhaustive list of prepositions, but we will work with the most commonly used prepositions. As you discover additional prepositions in the news articles you read, feel free to add to these lists.

It's important, too, to note that you don't need to learn an exhaustive list of translations for these prepositions. It's most important that you use the prepositions in German, that you develop a sense of how to do so.

Review the transcript, study the lesson and do the quizzes: www.newsinslowgerman.com/series/guts/19/transcript

In lesson 1 you learned that we can replace someone's name with a pronoun. You may specifically remember that we talked about Gisela (sie): Gisela liest die Nachrichten und trinkt Tee. Here we'll work more on replacing names with pronouns and we'll take that one step further.

Review the transcript, study the lesson and do the quizzes: www.newsinslowgerman.com/series/guts/10/transcript

In this lesson, we're going to build upon what you learned about the articles in Lesson 3 and add one more layer. We'll also cover a bit of the rules of der/die/das groupings and a couple of techniques to help you learn which article goes with which noun.

Review the transcript, study the lesson and do the quizzes: www.newsinslowgerman.com/series/guts/9/transcript

Now that you've got a handle on Positions 1 and 2, you can start working with questions that will help you acquire more information than only a Yes/No answer. These are called W-Fragen, or W Questions, which are frequently referred to as open-ended questions.

Review the transcript, study the lesson and do the quizzes: www.newsinslowgerman.com/series/guts/8/transcript

In lesson 6, we used the verb in Position 1 to create the Imperativ. You also need to utilize Position 1 to ask a question for which there is a Yes or a No answer.

So, first be very clear in your mind that we've now switched to asking questions.

Review the transcript, study the lesson and do the quizzes: www.newsinslowgerman.com/series/guts/7/transcript 

The command form or Imperativ in German is used differently and much more frequently than it is in English. So, this lesson is as much a cultural lesson as it is a grammatical one.

Review the transcript, study the lesson and do the quizzes: www.newsinslowgerman.com/series/guts/6/transcript

You've already learned about verbs with separable prefixes, and now we're going to explore verbs with set prefixes. These prefixes are glued on, so they have to stay where they are. They are inseparable prefixes.

Because this is a beginner's course, this lesson functions very well as a reference for you as you read various news articles. We'll give you the gist, and you can always pick up more details and more inseparable prefix verbs as you go along.

Review the transcript, study the lesson and do the quizzes: www.newsinslowgerman.com/series/guts/5/transcript

The modal verbs are in a league of their own because they conjugate in their own unique ways. Modal verbs help us say things like can, should, want to, would like to. They also usually require the use of a second verb, however not always.

Make sure to review the transcript, study the lesson and do the quizzes: www.newsinslowgerman.com/series/guts/4/transcript

One of the most noteworthy things about learning German is one particular aspect: the many different words we have for the article the.

You may find this mind-blowing, frustrating, or even entertaining. Maybe all three! You will likely decide what you think of this by the end of this lesson.

Because this is early in the German learning process, remember too, that learning this takes time and loads of repetition. No one learns this the first time they read it.

Make sure to review the transcript, study the lesson and do the quizzes: www.newsinslowgerman.com/series/guts/3/transcript