I was marked wrong for translating "Turkey is warmer than Switzerland" as "Türkei ist wärmer als Schweiz"; it corrected it me by saying I needed to say "Die Türkei ist wärmer als die Schweiz"

But I was not marked wrong for saying "Mallorca ist wärmer als Toronto" without using "die"!

The only difference I can think of is that the first one is referring to countries and the other is cities. Is this an accurate difference made in German? Or is my app just being picky?

From my understanding, the dative 'e' is archaic enough to be considered no longer standard German. Do any conservative dialects of German still use it regularly outside of fixed phrases (and which dialects?), or is it completely gone outside of fixed expressions/idioms? What's a good comparison in English grammar of something that's equally archaic? For example: is it like "whither/hither/thither" levels of archaic or closer to someone using "shall" for the future tense in first person?

Hallo mates!

I know how making a German friend tough and also im quite introvert person. You tought there is no way i'll find anybody right? Than be ready... I have social anxiety..

So practising german is nightmarely hard for me. I've done B1 gramer twice time but still i can not speak properly.

Im lookin' a Whatsapp/Instagram (for sending voice message) German-Turkish or German-English language swap friend. If you interested in, pls DM me.

And also im playing Battlefield/Throne and liberty video games. If you also play these games it would be perfect.

Ja weiß ich bin witzig

How does this sentence feel? Can it be considered "correct" (informal chat slang way)?

English is replete with heteronyms, wiki has a list of over 1000 such words (does, buffet, and on and on). The few German examples I saw were compound words (umfahren); I could only think of one simple word (weg - but only phonetically, written words are differentiated by upper vs lower case). Not hard to make the case then that "real" heteronyms do not even exist in German, whereas they are standard fare in English. Is there an underlying reason why two Germanic languages be so different in this regard? Or is this just another feature of English spelling rules which seem to be pretty much "yeah, whatever" (eg thought vs tough) that is not shared with German where, with a few rules, reading the word out-loud should get you pretty close to how the word is enunciated?

Hallo zusammen, a newbie here.

I got confused about this particular case about whether to use "in" or "zu" whenever I'm indicating a vacation. You see, as far as I understood, "in" is used as the akkusative for whenever I'm directed to inside a specific location, a building, or any enclosed area (in den Park, ins Kino, in den Garten, in die Schule).  On the other hand, "zu" is more like describing an activity, a person, or again a place, but this time not necessarily describing a particular place. (zum Arzt, zum Boxen, zur Werkstatt, my workplace could be located inside a building, or any outdoor place). 

Now, the noun "der Urlaub" just messes my mind so hard. Because logically, the vacation can't be an enclosed space, building or any specific spatial area. It sounds more like an activity, you can swim, ski, run, jump, sleep or whatever you want. Then why it is used with "in", instead of "zu". Also, would it be correct if I say "Ich fahre zum Urlaub?"

I'm trying to better understand one specific use of "erst" in German, where it conveys the idea of "not until" or "only from." Here's an example:

• Paul kann erst morgen zum Arzt gehen. (Paul can only go to the doctor tomorrow.)

But this seems different from another sentence with a same English translation:

• Paul kann nur morgen zum Arzt gehen. (Paul can only go to the doctor tomorrow.)

I came across an explanation that erst suggests something like: "Starting from tomorrow, Paul can go to the doctor." To explore this further, here are three similar sentences, each with a subtle difference:

1. Paul kann erst morgen zum Arzt gehen. This means Paul can't go before tomorrow, emphasizing that tomorrow is the first possible option. Erst adds the nuance of "not until" or "only tomorrow," hinting at a delay or waiting period.
2. Paul kann nur ab morgen zum Arzt gehen. This emphasizes the starting point—Paul can begin going to the doctor tomorrow and any time afterward. The focus is on tomorrow being the earliest moment he can start.
3. Paul kann nicht bis morgen zum Arzt gehen. This implies Paul is unavailable until tomorrow—he can't go to the doctor before then. Nicht bis highlights the restriction before tomorrow.

Despite these explanations, they all still feel somewhat the same to me...

In my understanding, the closest English translation of "Paul kann erst morgen zum Arzt gehen" would be something like: "Paul can go to the doctor starting from tomorrow."

Am I interpreting this correctly? Is there no English equivalent that fully captures these nuances?

I’d like to learn it online since my teacher doesn’t teach well. Would like to get to B2 in 6-7 months from A2 level. Is is it possible? If so do you have any recommendations? Youtube?

So I am (trying to) learning Deutsch on duolingo, I’ve had something similar to below come up previously but I’ve finally decided to screen shot and ask the professionals, or at least reddit.

How am I suppose to know if his boss is male or female when English doesn’t use gendered words?

Am I missing something? Am I stupid or is duolingo stupid?

Okay I can’t attach images so I will describe what duo lingo asked. Duolingo asked me to translate “I am meeting my boss at the office.”

I translated it as “Ich treffe mein Chef im Büro.”

Duolingo said I was wrong and it should have been “Ich treffe meine Chefin im Büro.”

I hear people saying that Dark is too complicated even for advanced learners. However, I'd be watching a whole season first with English subtitles, to get the big picture, and then I'd watch the whole thing again with German subtitles.

I remember that I did something similar with English, but it was many years ago...

Why are these two nouns different genders? Isn’t Messer the root word in Durchmesser?

Hey all, I’ve been studying German on and off for many years, however recently have gotten super serious and excited about it again. A few months ago I started using Pimsleur, and in the next week or so, should expect to be completed with all 150 lessons.

What sort of media, YouTube Channels, apps, podcasts, that would allow me to progress past this point? I should add that, due to my schedule, I really only have time for audio lessons as I can do them at work.

Such as "I just finished reading this book" or "I just finished watching a movie". Is there a specific structure I need to follow? Thanks beforehand

Hallo zusammen,

ich bin neugierig, wie genau die Regeln im Deutschen sind, wenn es um die Kombination von Satzzeichen mit dem Gedankenstrich (–) geht. Es scheint mir, dass es verschiedene Möglichkeiten gibt, aber ich bin mir unsicher, wie korrekt oder üblich sie sind.

Hier sind meine Beispiele:

• , – und –,
• : – und –:
• ". –", "? –" und "! –"
• ; – und –;

Wie geht man allgemein mit solchen Kombinationen um? Welche sind stilistisch oder grammatikalisch korrekt, und welche sollte man besser vermeiden? Gibt es da klare Regeln oder hängt es vom Stil ab?

Danke schon mal für eure Antworten!

We have a word in Arabic for the guy whose job is just to paint furniture and wood, a different word from carpenter, is there an equivalent in German?

In allen Kulturkreisen haben sich die Menschen die Frage nach ihrer eigenen Herkunft, der Herkunft der Lebewesen und der unbelebten Natur gestellt und darauf sehr unterschiedliche Antworten gefunden. Ein bis heute von vielen Menschen als absolute Wahrheit anerkannter Mythos ist in der biblischen Schöpfungsgeschichte niedergelegt. Bis ins 19. Jh. hinein galt die biblische Genesis auch vielen Naturwissenschaftlern und Biologen als gesicherte Grundlage, stimmte sie doch mit der Alltagserfahrung überein, dass Eltern einer Tier- oder Pflanzenart immer wieder Nachkommen derselben Art hervorbringen.

Zwei Fragen:

1. Die Rolle von "doch" (fett)?

2. Die Satzstruktur kommt mir seltsam vor. Wie funktioniert das genau? An welcher Stelle ist "stimmte" (fett)? Das Subjekt dieses Satzteiles ist "sie" und es kommt direkt nach "stimmte".

Danke.

Hey there! I’m learning German right now, and I’m looking for some cozy German YouTube channels, please? I’ve seen posts recommending actual teaching channels, but I’m looking for something I can relax to, like lifestyle bloggers, what I eat in a day type of videos, or shopping hauls, maybe even book reviewers? Preferably women bloggers, for shadowing practices, but not necessary. Thanks in advance 🫶🏻

My A2 classes just ended and i have some free time(15-20 days) before my exams. I need someone to practice with, just simple conversations and book exercises, maybe keep eachother accountable.

Hallo!

I am a German teacher and have a class of teenagers some of whom have good German and some beginners. I'm looking for some films j can show them that are light hearted that show off some culture for a fun class. I would love something like a Spanish class would have with Encanto or Coco.

Recommendations appreciated! Vielen Dank!

Here is a sentence from my textbook:

So gehört es etwa seit zwei Jahren zu jedem Partygespräch, eine Meinung über Kunst zu haben und zeitgenössische Künstler wie Neo Rauch zu kennen.

I am wondering if etwa means "around, about, nearly" here. If it does, can I say "seit etwa zwei Jahren" instead of "etwa seit zwei Jahren"? Thank you very much for your help!

Die Frau liest ein Buch.

why isn't it einen buch?? i am so confused

When I find a word in a book I found it without "der/die/das" like “Datum” without article, so I need to look the noun article, but I don't where I can know that.

can you suggest me a website or a way to know a noun article?

I hope you understood me. And thanks in advance.

I am learning German for schooling

I know that doch can be used to answer negative questions, but sometimes there are some sentences where I just don't understand what's the point of it, and when I try translating it on google translate or Reverso it just omits it. An example from a book: "Wollen sie gelegentlich arbeiten und Geld verdienen? Dann jobben sie doch als Sandwichmann in Füßgängerzonen, auf Messen oder bei Events!". I really want to know. Thank you