Deutsch 101
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Aroddo
Emperor
sophie
Break My Heart
Hey guys, so as you may or may not know I've been practicing German quite a bit over the last 6 or 7 months. Specifically I've been reading the Harry Potter books in German and watching various dubbed programs to help with reading and listening. The problem is I'm really not getting a lot of practice speaking the language, nor participating in any kind of conversational sense. So I was wondering if there might be any interest among the German learners (and possibly a few of the native speakers) to set up a regular (or semi-regular) skype group for practice. It wouldn't require anything crazy, just a bunch of cfc'ers jumping on skype (or facetime or [insert your free video/internet phone software here]) and shooting the [feces] on a regularish basis. Ideally it'd be great to get a native speakers (like metatron or the_J 
) to join in, if only to keep us from reinforcing terrible habits. Thoughts?
) to join in, if only to keep us from reinforcing terrible habits. Thoughts?
Why aren't you on fiftychat anymore?
Phrossack
Armored Fish and Armored Men
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2008
- Messages
- 6,045
Hey guys, so as you may or may not know I've been practicing German quite a bit over the last 6 or 7 months. Specifically I've been reading the Harry Potter books in German and watching various dubbed programs to help with reading and listening. The problem is I'm really not getting a lot of practice speaking the language, nor participating in any kind of conversational sense. So I was wondering if there might be any interest among the German learners (and possibly a few of the native speakers) to set up a regular (or semi-regular) skype group for practice. It wouldn't require anything crazy, just a bunch of cfc'ers jumping on skype (or facetime or [insert your free video/internet phone software here]) and shooting the [feces] on a regularish basis. Ideally it'd be great to get a native speakers (like metatron or the_J
I'm on Skype, and it would be good to practice. My German's so-so.
sophie
Break My Heart
Why aren't you on fiftychat anymore?
^[Owen doesn't come on #nes anymore]
sorry
also i should come on more myself
^ How to know if Owen is procrastinating on something and feels guilty about it.
Also lolya, you're one to talk.
Basically if I'm not on #fiftychat/#nes, it means that I'm procrastinating/haven't done something I was supposed to do on #nes and I feel guilty about it.
madviking
north american scum
Hey guys, so as you may or may not know I've been practicing German quite a bit over the last 6 or 7 months. Specifically I've been reading the Harry Potter books in German and watching various dubbed programs to help with reading and listening. The problem is I'm really not getting a lot of practice speaking the language, nor participating in any kind of conversational sense. So I was wondering if there might be any interest among the German learners (and possibly a few of the native speakers) to set up a regular (or semi-regular) skype group for practice. It wouldn't require anything crazy, just a bunch of cfc'ers jumping on skype (or facetime or [insert your free video/internet phone software here]) and shooting the [feces] on a regularish basis. Ideally it'd be great to get a native speakers (like metatron or the_J
Das ist gut.
carmen510
Deity
Hey guys, so as you may or may not know I've been practicing German quite a bit over the last 6 or 7 months. Specifically I've been reading the Harry Potter books in German and watching various dubbed programs to help with reading and listening. The problem is I'm really not getting a lot of practice speaking the language, nor participating in any kind of conversational sense. So I was wondering if there might be any interest among the German learners (and possibly a few of the native speakers) to set up a regular (or semi-regular) skype group for practice. It wouldn't require anything crazy, just a bunch of cfc'ers jumping on skype (or facetime or [insert your free video/internet phone software here]) and shooting the [feces] on a regularish basis. Ideally it'd be great to get a native speakers (like metatron or the_J
I would be interested in partaking; would be a good supplementary learning tool, especially since fluency in German is actually a graduation requirement for me.
Quackers
The Frog
Ich setze mich das neben Mädchen.
Ich Sass neben dem Mädchen.
Can somebody explain to me my example above?
I did a few exercises in a grammar book and whilst I got the majority correct; there is still plenty i got wrong. When you speak German is it crucial to know all the correct uses of the articles?
Germany should get rid of the cases or simplify it massively. Gits.
Ich Sass neben dem Mädchen.
Can somebody explain to me my example above?
I did a few exercises in a grammar book and whilst I got the majority correct; there is still plenty i got wrong. When you speak German is it crucial to know all the correct uses of the articles?
Germany should get rid of the cases or simplify it massively. Gits.
Tahuti
Writing Deity
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2005
- Messages
- 9,492
Not necessarily. It is wrong grammar all right, though native speaking Germans usually will be able to understand you provided your articulation is good.
The reason German has all this is because there are very little rules regarding sentence structure, so the words themselves are changed to reflect they are accusative, transitive, etc. , not unlike Latin.
Minor thing: Incorrect position of the article in the first sentence, fixed here.
While I'm not sure about the exact reason for the difference, I guess it has to do with being an action in direction of and the other one being an act of...er...not moving.
IIRC some language use different cases when the verb is something which moves.
To exercise it:
Ich setze mich neben das Mädchen.
Ich setzte mich neben das Mädchen.
Ich werde mich neben das Mädchen setzen.
Ich sitze neben dem Mädchen.
Ich sass neben dem Mädchen.
Ich werde neben dem Mädchen sitzen.
Moving (to sit down) is with the...er...akkussativ, whereas the verb which is static (sitting) is with the...dativ?
madviking
north american scum
yes. 'wo?' is answered with dativ, 'wohin?' is answered with akkusative.
Quackers
The Frog
Opps input error.
I think there is something in that.
I just think I have too sit down and learn it the hard way...
Come on, you can't just leave out the totally awesome Futur II
Ich werde mich neben das Mädchen gesetzt haben
or
Ich werde neben dem Mädchen gesessen haben
Aroddo
Emperor
In real life, you can't go without Präsens Konjunktiv II:
Ich säße neben dem Mädchen, ...
Ich säße neben dem Mädchen, ...
1. Essentially what J said.
There are two rules that explain most applications of accusative vs. dative:
1) In a construction with a primary and secondary object the primary will be accusative, the secondary dative ("Ich gab dem Mädchen (sec.) den Ball (prim.)."
2) Direction -> accusative, location -> dative
First rule supercedes the second. There are exceptions, etc. etc.2) Direction -> accusative, location -> dative
It's a recurring problem.
2. We are working hard on the elimination of the genitive (and general moronisation), so give us a break.
3. When you're a native speaker you don't think about this. You get it right 99.9999% of the time. You just do. And if you don't it's, like, absurdly embarrasing.
For second language speakers that's totally forgiveable or even cute, particularly if you're Anglospherian.
If you, like, care, about perception, i'd advise to err on the side of accusative in cases where you really don't know. Accusative instead of dative sounds way less derpy than the other way around.
PS:
And you're doing this in English too, btw. You do have an accusative and dative case in English, which is (usually*) reflected in prepositions and articles. You merely don't have flexions as markers.
*After having thought about it: Erm, yeah...or not.^^
Anywho, you still have the cases.
Aroddo
Emperor
Das Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod.2. We are working hard on the elimination of the genitive (and general moronisation), so give us a break.
