Nina Schmidt ~ Vancouver German and Spanish Lessons

Author: Learn With Nina

  • Grammar Tips: German Word Order

    In statements, the initial conjugated verb is always the second element.

    All other words appear in the following sequence: Time + Manner + Place

    Time: “tomorrow” or “Wednesday of next week.”

    Manner: how something is carried out “with my sister” or “on foot.”

    Place: can refer to any location “Toronto” or “in the garden.”

    Option A:

    (Time) + (verb) + (subject) + (place)

    Morgen fahre ich nach Hamburg.

    Option B:

    (Subject) + (verb) + (time) + (place)

    Ich fahre morgen nach Hamburg.

    If all three elements are present, time is always placed first.

    (Time) + (verb) + (subject) + (manner) + (place)

    Morgen fahre ich mit meinem Auto nach Hamburg.

    In yes/no questions, verbs appear in the initial position.

    Spielst du?                                       Are you playing?

    Ja, ich spiele.                                   Yes, I am playing.

    With two verbs the second verb always goes to the END.

    Ich muss jetzt gehen.                         I must go now.

    Ich habe die Pizza gekocht.               I cooked the Pizza.

    Ich werde bald reisen.                       I will travel soon.

     

  • Cultural Corner: Paella

    Cultural Corner: Paella

    Paella is a popular dish of the Valencia region in Spain. Although it has ancient roots, its modern version was created in the mid-nineteenth century. It is enjoyed all over the world and many people consider paella as the national dish of Spain, although in Spain it is more common in Valencia, a region located south of Catalonia, on the east coast of Spain.

    There are many types of paella. The original paella from the Valencia region includes the following ingredients: white rice, green beans, meat such as duck or chicken, snails and saffron. The saffron gives it its particular color. You can also add several vegetables such as artichokes. Another variation uses shellfish instead of meat, particularly crustaceans.

    Probably the most popular type of paella cooked outside of Spain is a mix of recipes that includes meat and seafood along with vegetables and rice. Paella can be served spicy or mild depending on the spices used. All types of paella use olive oil for cooking and it is cooked in a special pan called the paellera. The name paella comes from an old French word ‘paelle’ which means frying pan.

  • Biography: Dolores Huerta

    Biography: Dolores Huerta

    Dolores Clara Fernández Huerta was born on April 10, 1930 in New Mexico. Her grandparents had come to the United States from Mexico. Her father was a coal miner and agricultural worker. Her parents divorced when she was only three years old and she and her two brothers were raised by her mother in Stockton, California. Her mother played an active role in many community organizations. She also helped the migrant farm workers by allowing them to stay in her hotel at low prices. Dolores says of her mother that she was a very generous and compassionate woman.

    Huerta began her own community activism while still in high school. She faced discrimination as a Latina growing up in the 1940s and 1950s and was an advocate for equal treatment for all. She trained to become a teacher, but she felt that she could do more by becoming an activist.

    In 1962, she cofounded the National farmworkers Association with César Chávez. Together they organized numerous strikes on behalf of agricultural workers from various backgrounds. She also supported bills such as a 1960 bill to permit Spanish-speaking people to receive a driver’s license examination in Spanish in California. Like César Chávez, Huerta believed in nonviolent forms of protest. In addition to her work with farmworkers, she has also focused on women’s rights and actively encourages Latinas to run for political office.

    Dolores is president of her own foundation that she started in 2002. For her activism, she has also received numerous honors and awards including the presidential medal of freedom which she received from President Obama in 2012.

    Huerta has been married twice and has a total of 11 children. She was also in a long term relationship with Richard Chávez, the brother of her fellow activist César, until his passing in 2011.

  • Biography: Miguel de Cervantes

    Biography: Miguel de Cervantes

    Miguel de Cervantes was a Spanish writer who is considered to be the greatest writer in the Spanish language of all time as well as the writer of one of the world’s first novels. Cervantes is best known for his masterpiece Don Quixote which has been translated into more languages than any other book on earth except for the Bible.

    Cervantes was born in Spain in 1547 near the city of Madrid. He received a Jesuit education for boys in Madrid. His parents were not wealthy and his father often struggled with debt. He had six known siblings but not much more is known of his childhood.

    In 1570, Cervantes enlisted as a soldier in the Spanish Marines and left Spain. He traveled to Italy, Malta and other Spanish territories often being required to fight even while in ill health. He distinguished himself and received numerous commendations from the king. At one point he was shot in the arm and chest leaving him with lasting injuries. After recuperating for six months in Italy, he set sail for Spain but before reaching his destination his ship was intercepted and he was taken prisoner by Ottoman pirates. From 1575 to 1580 he was kept as a captive in Algiers. These experiences help lay the foundations for some of the details found in Don Quixote as well as his two plays set in Algiers.

    Upon his eventual return to Spain, Cervantes began writing about his experiences but worked in other positions such as banking to support himself. In 1584, he married a much younger woman. It is said that her uncle, a man by the name of Alonso de Quesada y Salazar was the inspiration for the character of Don Quixote.

    Over the following 20 years, Cervantes continue to write on and off while living in numerous Spanish cities before settling in Madrid in 1606. After publishing the first volume of Don Quixote in 1605, someone wrote an unauthorized continuation of the story prompting Cervantes himself to write a second volume published in 1615.

    Don Quixote is arguably the first European novel. The story takes place contemporaneously in Spain as an older gentleman by the name of Alonso Quixana, roams the country as a self proclaimed Knight-errant. He travels under the name of Don Quixote de la Mancha (his home region) after reading too many stories of chivalry from the medieval period and falling in love with a local girl he would like to impress. The moral of the story is that humans cannot fight modernization as exemplified by a famous scene in which he charges at windmills, a new technology of the time, in an attempt to destroy them.

    Luckily for students of Spanish, the language used in Don Quixote is quite similar to modern standard Spanish and therefore can be read by upper level students of Spanish without the notes generally reserved for works such as Shakespeare, his contemporary. The book is still widely read today in Spanish literature courses with often a full semester being dedicated to it. Today the two volumes are generally published as one long novel.

    Cervantes died in Madrid on April 22, 1616 after having suffered briefly from diabetes in an age in which there were no treatments for this disease. In addition to Don Quixote, Cervantes also wrote numerous plays that are still performed today. His works have a special type of comedic element that influenced later writers particularly in the 18th and 19th centuries. Numerous films, ballets and operas have also been written about his story of Don Quixote.

  • Cultural Corner: Carnival

    Cultural Corner: Carnival

    Carnival is celebrated throughout the Catholic world approximately five weeks before Easter every year. It is a time of celebration. People sing and dance in the streets and watch parades go by. Many people dress up in feathers, masks and colorful costumes. The highlight of carnival is Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. This day is 40 days before Lent and a time for people to eat and drink as much as they like before fasting for Easter.

    Carnival has been celebrated for centuries as a time of celebration before the time of serious reflection that comes with Easter. The largest carnival in the world is celebrated in Brazil but another large celebration is held in Cologne, Germany. In the German version, the celebrations go on for days even in the cold weather. People often wear costumes and walk through the streets carrying on until late into the night.

    Cadiz, Spain has also celebrated carnival for many centuries as it is once was one of the most important maritime ports in the world. The main events during the Spanish carnival include a coronation of the goddess of the carnival, numerous parades, children’s parties and a great masked ball. There are also singing competitions where teams of singers get together and write their own songs to perform in the streets. On the final day the dancers and singers are judged. Many songs include funny lyrics while other songs contain satires of well-known people such as local celebrities and politicians.

  • Hildegard von Bingen Biography

    Hildegard von Bingen Biography

    Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) was a Benedictine nun and a German mystic of the Middle Ages. She dealt with such diverse disciplines as religion, medicine, biology and music. Von Bingen was the tenth child in her family and therefore went to church at the age of eight. The woman, who was a mother figure for her in the monastery was named Jutta. Von Bingen only told Jutta about her periodic visions, in which she spoke directly with God. She wrote down these experiences in her own alphabet so that she could keep the experiences secret. Although von Bingen was often sick in bed during her life time, she had a very long life.

    Apart from the Bible, she also studied plants from her garden and how they could be used as remedies. In addition, she composed many songs that are sung to this day. Later in life von Bingen became an abbess and she traveled a lot in Germany to preach. For a woman in the Middle Ages, she had a lot of power. To this day, Hildegard von Bingen is known far beyond the borders of her homeland for all she contributed.

  • Biography: Selena

    Biography: Selena

    Selena Quintanilla-Pérez was born on April 16, 1971 in Texas. She is known as the queen of Tejano music, which is a combination of music from Texas and Mexico and is very popular among the Mexican-American populations of southern and central Texas.

    Selena was the youngest of her family and began singing in public at the age of nine with her older brothers. At the age of 11, she started recording professionally. Culturally, women could not sing Tejano music in the eighties, but Selena was persistent and won a music award in her genre in 1987, an award that she went on to win 8 more times!

    In 1992, Selena married her guitarist Chris Perez and they moved to Corpus Christi. A song from her album of the same year, entitled Como la flor, is one of her best-known songs. In 1994 Selena released another album titled Amor prohibido that became one of the best-selling Latin albums in the United States.

    Selena was a sensation. She was known for her hair styles and clothes, and began designing and manufacturing her own clothing line and even opened two stores. In 1994, she hired a woman by the name of Yolanda Saldívar to manage the new stores. Unfortunately, this woman stole money from the family and when Selena confronted her, Saldívar shot her. Selena died a few hours later in the hospital.

    After her death in 1995, people began to refer to Selena as the Mexican Madonna. In her honor, Texas radio stations played her music non-stop for days. More than 60,000 people attended her funeral and Selena appeared on the cover of People magazine and the New York Times. Two weeks after her death, George W. Bush, then Governor of Texas, declared her birthday Selena Day in Texas because, according to him, she represented the essence of South Texas and its mixed culture.

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  • Common German Idioms

    Common German Idioms

    Idioms can be fun and a challenge to learn in a foreign language. Here are some great ones in German!

    1. um den heißen Brei herumreden

    Literally: to talk around the hot porridge
    English equivalent: to beat around the bush

    2. Da kannst du Gift drauf nehmen

    Literally: You can take poison on that
    English equivalent: You can bet your life on that

    3. sich zum Affen machen

    Literally: to make an ape of oneself
    English equivalent: to make a fool of oneself

    4. eine Extrawurst verlangen

    Literally: to ask for an extra sausage
    English Equivalent: to ask for special treatment

    5. Da steppt der Bär

    Literally: The bear dances there
    English Equivalent: It will be a good party

    6. Tomaten auf den Augen haben

    Literally: to have tomatoes on one’s eyes
    English Equivalent: to be oblivious to what is going around you

    7. Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof

    Literally: I can only understand “train station.”
    English equivalent: It’s all Greek to me.

     

  • Biography: Cesar Chavez

    Biography: Cesar Chavez

    Cesar Chavez was a union leader and civil rights activist. He was ‘Chicano’ a term that refers to the descendants of Mexicans living in the United States. Many roads, schools, and other institutions bear his name particularly in California and Arizona. During his life he became an icon in the Latino community. His famous expression “Sí, se puede” was used by Barrack Obama in 2008 in his election campaign.

    Chavez was born in Yuma, Arizona in 1927. His parents were Mexican farm workers. He was one of six children.  Sadly, his family lost their home during the Great Depression forcing them to emigrate to California in search of work. He had a difficult childhood and his family struggled for years to feed themselves. Chávez had to leave school in the seventh grade to start working in the fields.

    At the age of 25, Chavez began to become involved in the labor movement. He encouraged Mexican Americans to vote and organize themselves to have a political voice. In 1962, he helped form the United Union of Agricultural Workers or UFW. He also began to organize strikes with leaders of other minority groups to fight for better working conditions and pay for all.

    Chavez believed in a form of nonviolent protest and often fasted for long periods of time in protest. He also began working with another activist who was named Dolores Huerta in the 1970s. Together they held one of the biggest labor strikes ever in the history of the United States!

    In 1948, Chavez had married Helen, his high school sweetheart, and together they had eight children. Throughout his life, he remained vegan because he believed in animal rights. Chavez died in 1993 at the age of 66. Today, March 31, his birthday, is known as Cesar Chavez Day and is a state holiday in California, Colorado and Texas.

  • Grammar Terms for German Students

    Grammar Terms for German Students


    Here are the most important grammar terms for learning German.

    Adjectives-there are two kinds of adjectives: limiting adjectives and descriptive adjectives. Both kinds describe nouns. Limiting adjectives give some sense of number. Words such as some, few and four are examples of limiting adjectives. Descriptive adjective examples include: beautiful, yellow, big etc.

    Adverbs-adverbs are words that tell you something about a verb, adjective or another adverb. In English, many adverbs have the ending -ly. German has lost many distinct adverb forms: good/well = ‘gut’ but sometimes we add: -erweise

    Affirmative-affirmative sentences make statements that are not negative. For example, she is always happy rather than she is never happy.

    Articles-there are two kinds of articles: indefinite (a, an) and definite (the). Indefinite articles refer to unspecified items whereas definite articles refer to something specific. For example, I saw a man vs. I saw the man.

    Auxiliary verbs– Auxiliary verbs couple with other verb forms to create tenses. Have is a common auxiliary verb. For example, I have eaten, Ich habe gegessen.

    Cognates– Words that are similar in spelling and meaning between two languages.

    Conjugating-to conjugate is to take the base form of a verb and to add the appropriate ending for each person. Example, I eat but he eats. Ich esse, wir essen

    Demonstratives-these words indicate proximity. Examples are: this or dieser

    Gender– English does not generally have gender for inanimate objects. All German nouns however are feminine, masculine or neuter!

    Imperative-imperatives are commands. For example, Get up!

    Infinitives- the infinitive is the non-conjugated form of a verb. In English infinitives require the proposition ‘to’. For example: to eat, to study. In German, an infinitive always ends in -en or -n: essen, spielen.

    Interrogatives-Interrogatives are question words: who, what or wer, wo etc.

    Nouns-nouns are people, things, animals and concepts. For example, table, beauty and freedom. German nouns are always capitalized: Tisch, Freiheit.

    Objects-there are two kinds of objects: direct and indirect. A direct object receives the action of the verb whereas the indirect object usually answers the question to/for whom something is done. For example, Tony bought a car for Maria. In this example, ‘car’ is the direct object and ‘Maria’ is the indirect object.

    Object pronouns-these words take the place of a noun functioning as an object. For example, I read the book becomes I read it. The book is replaced by ‘it’ and therefore avoids repetition.

    Past participles-a past participle is the part of the verb used to form a compound tense. For example, we have finished. In German, the majority of past participles are formed by taking the root of the verb and adding ge- to the beginning and –t to the end: gespielt. About 20% of past participles are irregular: gebracht.

    Possessives-possessives indicate to whom something belongs. For example, it’s mine, our books. In German, possessive pronouns must agree in gender and case with the item being possessed: mein, deinem etc.

    Predicate-the predicate tells you something about the subject. The predicate can be a noun, adverb or adjective. For example, he is a man or he is tall. Man and tall refer back to the subject.

    Prepositions-prepositions give information such as location, time and direction. Examples: towards, with, in, under, between or mit, unter, ohne etc.

    Pronouns-pronouns take the place of nouns. For example, Terry runs well. He runs well. ‘He’ is a pronoun. German examples: ich, er, sie etc. Pronouns help us to avoid repeating the names of people and things!

    Reflexives-reflexive verbs use object pronouns that refer back to the subject. In English we accomplish this by saying -self. For example, I wash myself. He gave himself a massage. English does not use reflexives as much as German. Many verbs in German can be used both reflexively and not reflexively with different meanings. Ich wasche das Auto vs. Ich wasche mich.

    Subject-the subject is the person(s) or thing(s) performing the action in a given. sentence. For example, He is eating the bread. Er isst das Brot.

    Superlatives-formed in English with the ending ‘the -est’. For example, he is the oldest man in the village. In German, the superlative is formed by using ‘am -sten’.

    Tenses-tenses are verb forms that refer to different planes of time. For example, the present, future and past.

    Verbs-verbs show actions, states of being or transformations. For example, I worked. I was happy. It began to rain.

    Voice-there are two kinds of voice: active and passive. In an active sentence, the doer of the action is emphasized whereas in a passive sentence it is the receiver of the action that is emphasized. For example, active: She ran over the cat. Passive: The cat was run over by her. Passive voice is commonly used in the news.