5 interesting sentences to remember

things the decoding might have drawn your attention to

Note: All these are examples of spoken, not written German (except #3).

1. ETWAS AM MACHEN SEIN

Sie ist die meiste Zeit am Schlafen.

[She is the most Time on-the Sleep.]

She sleeps most of the time.

am + (capitalized) Verb + sein describes the state of doing something. But don’t confuse its use with the present progressive (I am doing sth), just consider it as an alternative to the present tense that works when you’re describing a more or less constant state. („Sie schläft die meiste Zeit.“ would be perfectly fine as well.) Furthermore, note that this construction is particularly common in South Germany, and that there are people who might consider this bad German. (For very advanced learners, the SPIEGEL article Wie die Sprache im Rheinland am Verlaufen ist by Bastian Sick might be interesting.)

Other typical uses are:

„Geh’ raus! Ich bin am Arbeiten!“

[Go out! I am on-the Work!]

„Leave! I am working!“

„Bist du schon wieder am Fernsehgucken?“

[Are you already again on-the TV-watch?“]

„Are you watching TV again?“

2. NUR ETWAS TUN/NUR AM ETWAS TUN SEIN

Nachts ist die nur am Schreien!

[At-night is ☞t(she) only on-the Cry/Scream!]

At night, she cries all the time.

nur (only) here is short for immer nur (always only) which is used to express that somebody is always doing the same thing. (Remember that nur also has its usual meanings only or just. The individual context dictates the precise meaning).

3. EINSCHLAFEN

Bitte schlaf ein!

[Please #sleep on#!]

Please go to sleep!

einschlafen (ich schlafe ein, du schläfst ein; ich bin eingeschlafen; ich schlief ein ) [on-sleep] (I #sleep on#, you #sleep on#; I am on-slept; I #slept on#)

go to sleep/fall asleep

einschlafen is a verb with a separable prefix (ein). You can compare its use to the English verbs like clear out. While in English, it’s either clear your drawers out or clear out your drawers, the prefix in German is usually put at the end of the sentence (a # in the decoding shows where it belongs). This is true for all verb forms except the infinitive (einschlafen) and the Perfekt/Plusquamperfekt, where ein is part of the participle (Ich bin/war eingeschlafen. I fell/had fallen asleep).

How to remember that?

It’s easiest to learn verbs directly with their corresponding forms. Add them to your flashcards or write down different example sentences for the different forms.

4. DIE = SIE, DER = ER?

Die ist immer so ruhig.

[☞ (T)She is always so quiet.]

She is always so quiet.

The personal pronouns er (he), sie (she), es (it) and sie (they) can be replaced by the corresponding article forms der, die, das and die. In the decoding we indicate this mixture as a mixture of the and she/he/it/they plus a pointing index, e.g. ☞ (t)he or ☞(t)she. The pointing index illustrates the effect of the replacement: It’s like pointing at someone while you’re talking about that person.

When talking like that about someone who is present, this is quiet impolite. (Was will die denn? - What does SHE want?)

When talking about someone who is absent (or can’t here you) it can express annoyance or anger, but it’s also common for banal gossip. (a student about his teacher: Der ist so gemein! – He is so mean!)

Furthermore, it’s used for answering questions about people, most often about where they are or what they do. Then the answers usually start with die/der. Again, this lays emphasis on the subject.

Wo ist deine Mama?

[Where is your Mum?]

Where is your mother?

Die ist schon weg.

[☞T(She) is already gone.]

She has already gone.

Ist dein Papa da?

[Is your Dad there?]

Is your dad at home?

Nein, der kommt erst um fünf zurück.

[No, ☞t(he) comes first(=only) at five back.]

No, he won’t be back until five.

5. DENN AND DOCH CAN EXPRESS ANNOYANCE

Warum schläfst du denn nicht ein?

[Why #sleep you {annoyed} not #on?]

Why don’t you go to sleep? {annoyed}

The particles denn and doch can express annoyance, denn in questions and doch in declarative sentences. Watch another sketch to see these particles in use.