Coffee Break German

Hallo ihr Lieben! Welcome back to our weekly Word Builder! Today we will look at another idiom – an unusual sounding one. Today’s idiom is Jemandem einen Bären aufbinden. This German phrase is used to describe telling somebody an (obvious) lie. The idiom's literal translation might make you laugh: It means “To tie a bear onto someone (or on someone’s back)”. Although this might seem a little strange, the origin of the meaning is clear – One can not tie a bear onto someone else’s back without the person noticing sooner or later.
Can you come up with any examples this phrase could be used in? Let us know in the comments!

Hallihallo! We’re right in the middle of February, meaning it’s peak season for winter sports – especially in Austria, Switzerland, and the south of Germany. Last year, the Swiss ski area of Zermatt, by the iconic Matterhorn, was named best skiing location of 2019, and it’s easy to see why. Zermatt offers not only excellent skiing lessons, pistes for children and slow slopes for those who want to relax, but also lots more fast-paced routes for more experienced skiers. There i...s Europe’s longest piste which is 25km (15.5 miles) long! There’s is loads to do when you want to take a break, such as a visit to the igloo village or the blacknose sheep farm, as well as typical après-ski bars for some drinks after a long day in the snow. A wide range of restaurants and food stalls offer a fantastic culinary experience. Also, worauf wartet ihr? Auf geht‘s nach Zermatt!
Fährt ihr gerne Ski? What’s your favourite spot for skiing or other types of winter sports? Tell us in the comments below!
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Willkommen zum Grammar Builder am Mittwoch! Today we’ll do a quick revision of the German plural which has multiple forms, one of which is adding -er to a given noun. This is the case for nouns like: - das Kind (child) – die Kinder - das Buch (book) – die Bücher - der Geist (ghost) – die Geister - der Mann (man) – die Männer... There is not a single feminine noun that uses this -er plural; it only applies to nouns of neuter or masculine gender. Plus, most of them are really short, consisting of a single syllable, like the ones above. There are those which simply add the -er (e.g. die Kinder, die Geister) and those where you also have to add an Umlaut to the vowels (e.g. Bücher and Männer), so keep that in mind. Can you think of any other nouns that form the plural with -er? Share them in the comments below!
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Hallo liebe Deutschlerner! Today's phrase for our Monday Word Builder is einen Strich durch die Rechnung machen, literally: "making a line through the calculation". It's used when something doesn't really go as planned, and it means that something or someone scored out all your careful calculations, or crossed out your plans. For example: • eigentlich wollte ich ins Freibad gehen, aber der Regen hat mir einen Strich durch die Rechnung gemacht. - I wanted to go to the pool but the rain crossed out my plans.
Can you come up with other examples this phrase can be used in? Share them in the comments below!

Hallihallo! We are well into the month of February and that means one thing above all: it is time for the Berlinale. The Berlinale is an international film festival that takes place in Germany’s capital Berlin. Ever since the first Berlinale in 1951, this event has been attracted thousands of visitors every year. In addition to visitors from the profession, such as actors and directors, many events are also open to the public. Today, the Berlinale is a platform for awarding the most outstanding contributions to German, European and international cinema. This year’s Berlinale will take place at the end of the month. Do you have any favourites out of the films competing? Let us know in the comments below.

The Coffee Break Catch-Up Live, February 2020

Hallo liebe Deutschlerner! Welcome to today's German Grammar Builder! You will probably have noticed that generally, words in German are pronounced similarly to how they are written. Today, we going to look at two exceptions from this rule of thumb: “sp” and “st”. On it’s own, an “s” in German would be pronounced simply as itself – similarly to English. However, this changes if this letter is followed by either the consonant “t” or “p”. In these particular cases, it is pronou...nced as a “scht” and “schp” accordingly. For you to practice this distinction, here are a couple of examples of “s” pronounced as a “sch“: • der Stuhl chair • das Spiel game • die Gestalt figure • versprechen to promise But be careful to keep in mind that this rule only applies when “sp” or “st” is at the beginning of a word or a syllable. For example, the “s” in the word Gast (guest) is pronounced as a simple “s”.
Can you write some other examples below?
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Hallöchen und willkommen zu unserem Word Builder! Today’s word is something that everyone should have, but no one should be forced to make use of. Today, we are going to look at the German word die Unfallversicherung. This is a compound word, which can be translated as accident insurance. Its first part Unfall is hereby simply the German term for "accident". The component -versicherung is a slightly more interesting word, which comes from the noun die Versicherung and means "...insurance". In turn this word’s origin lies in the adjective sicher, which means safe. Versicherung could therefore be directly translated as “making safe” or “adding safety”. This suffix can also be used to describe other kinds of insurances, all of which are also feminine because of the gender of die Versicherung. Here is a list of some examples:
• Lebensversicherung - life insurance • Krankenversicherung - health insurance • Sachversicherung - property insurance • Haftpflichtversicherung - liability insurance
Can you think of any more examples? Let us know in the comments!
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We rarely make any kind of public statement here at Coffee Break Languages, but today we’d just like to say that our lives have been and always will be better for being part of something bigger. Looking outwards and learning from other cultures is integral to everything we believe in. Our team is made up of many people from many different countries, and every one of us knows the benefits of travelling in, living in and being welcomed by other countries. We are a European company and we will remain a European company. 🇪🇺♥️

Es ist wieder Freitag, Zeit für unseren Knowledge Builder! We’re taking a culinary trip to Ramsbeck, situated in the Sauerland region in western Germany. The region known for its mountains and mining industry hides a small gem in its midst; a restaurant 300 metres (about 1000 feet) below ground, situated inside the Ramsbeck mine. Booking a slot at the restaurant goes way beyond dinner – it’s a whole 4-hour long experience! Besides food and drinks, the price also includes entr...y to the mine, where visitors get a guided tour (wearing protective clothes and helmets) and take the lift down to the mine’s centre where the restaurant is located. The restaurant itself serves traditional meals from the local region, offering vegan and vegetarian alternatives, too.
Have you ever been to any unusual restaurants like this one? Which other German places would you like to visit? If the Gruben-Light Dinner sounds like something you’d like to add to your bucket-list, you can find more below. _
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Willkommen zum Grammar Builder! Today, we’re looking at a construction that isn’t often taught when learning German grammar. Look at these sentences: • Ich war schwimmen und konnte deshalb nicht ans Telefon. - I was swimming, so I couldn’t pick up the phone. • Mara und Jan waren gestern zusammen essen. - Mara and Jan went for food together yesterday.
We have a subject, ... • such as ich or Mara und Jan, • the past form of sein (here: war, waren) • and the infinitive of the verb, in this case “schwimmen” (swimming) and “essen”.
To someone studying German grammar, this may seem odd, or grammatically incorrect. But it’s actually a newer, colloquial version of another outdated grammatical construction. Although it’s not used in formal letters or official texts, native speakers use it all the time in spoken German, so it’s really useful to be familiar with it.
Have you ever come across this before? Can you come up with your own examples?
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Willkommen zum Word Builder am Montag! We’re starting this week with the word Mahlzeit, something that’s good to know if you’ve ever had a meal with German speakers or if you’re planning to. die Mahlzeit literally means “meal time”, so it can be used whenever it’s time for food. Most often, native German speakers will use it as a less formal substitute for Guten Appetit, "enjoy your meal". If someone says Mahlzeit! to you before you dig into your food, you don’t have to reply but if you want you can just repeat Mahlzeit in case they’re having food too.
Have you heard this saying being used before? Do you know of any other phrases said before meals in German or in other languages?

Hallo, CoffeeBreakers! Wie geht's? 🇩🇪 Today we're bringing you the final episode in this series of the Coffee Break German Magazine! We hope you've enjoyed the series so far, and thank you for joining us! In episode 10, Andrea and Mark are talking about Berlin's most popular shopping street. We also hear from a CBG listener Andrew, and Olivera talks about a very long German word. Click here to listen to the full episode: https://rlng.co/38zRM9w

Salut tout le monde! Hello everyone! Don’t worry you are still on the right page, this is still Coffee Break German. However, this week, we celebrate the deutsch-französischen Tag (German-French day). The origins of this day lie in the signing of the Élysée Treaty in 1963, which was a treaty of friendship between Germany and France and marked the end of French–German enmity. This historic treaty marked the beginning of political and cultural collaboration between the two countries. Ever since then, then we celebrate the deutsch-französische Freundschaft, "German-French friendship" every year on January 22nd. Such festivities usually involve events for cultural exchange between the two countries.
What is your favourite aspect about French and/or German culture? Let us know in the comments!

Hallo und herzliche Grüße! Today, we are going to delve into another one of the big mysteries of German spelling: How do we spell s – sounds? As you will already know, there is three different ways to translate this sound into writing: 1. Use one solitary “s” This is the general case and the most used one. Examples of this use include Kapsel, "capsule" or Kasten, "box". This is also the letter that is always used at the beginning of word, such as in Sache, "thing" or Socke, "...sock".
2. Use double “ss” If the s-sound is preceded by a word stem with a short vowel sound, it is followed by a double “ss”. Examples include Masse, "mas", or Hass, "hatred". This also applies to the formation of the plural of some words, like Bus, "bus" – Busse, "buses". Articles and pronouns, like for example was, "what", represent an exception from this rule.
3. Use the ß This letter is called Eszett or“scharfes s, "literally sharp s". It is used when the s-sound is preceded by a long vowel sound. Examples include Maße, "measurement" and Größe, "size".
Viel Spaß beim Üben! Oder viel Spass? Oder vielleicht sogar viel Spas? Which one do you think is right? Please share other examples in the comments
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Hallihallo! As we are in deep mid-winter, we thought that it was time to look at another seasonal word: die Schneeschaufel. As with most words we have looked at, this is a compound word made up by two parts. The first part is Schnee-, which simply translates to the word "snow". On the other hand, the word’s second component -schaufel comes from the German word for "shovel". As we can see, Schneeschaufel is therefore literally translated as "snow shovel". A quick reminder: Kee...p in mind to be careful about the gender of compound words – they always get their gender from their final component. While der Schnee for instance is masculine, die Schaufel is a feminine noun. Thus, die Schneeschaufel is feminine.
Do you still need to know a Schneeschaufel or has all the snow already disappeared? Or does it perhaps not snow at all where you live? Let us know in the comments!
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Hallöchen! It’s time for a trip to Germany again with our Knowledge Builder, this time to the city of Reutlingen, where we’ll find die engste Gasse der Welt – "the narrowest alley in the world". Now, although many cities have claimed this title for one of their cobbled alleys between two houses, this one’s the real deal; with a width of only 31cm (about a foot wide), the Spreuerhofstraße claimed the official title in 2007 from the Guinness Book of World Records. The alley was built after the city fire of 1726, which destroyed most of Reutlingen. Originally, der Spreuerhof was a grain store for the local hospital. In this picturesque little corner, the past of the medieval city is still alive.
Have you ever heard of Reutlingen or been to any other place with narrow alleyways, like Lübeck or Venice?

Hallo, liebe Deutschlerner! In today’s Grammar Builder, we’ll have a look at how adding -weise to certain adjectives and nouns turns them into an adverbs and changes their meaning: • interessant - interesting – interessanterweise - interestingly • teil - part – teilweise - partly • normal - normal – normalerweise - normally/usually • reihe - row – reihenweise - dozens of/one after the other
... Although you can’t just turn any adjective or noun into an adverb with this trick, it’s great to add some of the ones above to your vocabulary!
Can you think of more examples or make sentences with the ones above?
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