German Notes
Back to Language Notes
Vocabulary
- Heute Morgen - This morning
- Heute Vormittag - This forenoon
I have no idea when I would ever say "forenoon". Perhaps this is for times like 11 AM? - Heute Nachmittag - This afternoon
- Heute Abend - This evening/Tonight
- Heute Nacht - Tonight
- Morgen Abend - Tomorrow evening
- Morgen Früh - Tomorrow morning
- Gestern Morgen - Yesterday morning
- Gestern Abend - Yesterday evening
- Vorgestern - The day before yesterday
- Ich wasche mich - I wash (myself)
- Sie waschen sich - You wash (yourself)
- Du waschst dich - You wash (yourself)
This is the informal term. - Er wäscht sich - He washes (himself)
- Sie wäscht sich - She washes (herself)
- Es wäscht sich - It washes (itself)
- Wir waschen uns - We wash (ourselves)
- Sie waschen sich - They wash (themselves)
If not at a beginning of a sentence, "sie" will be lower case here. This separates it from the formal you, "Sie". - Waschen Sie sich! - Wash yourself!
- Ich kleide mich an - I dress (myself)
- Sie kleiden sichen - You dress (yourself)
- Du kleidst dich an - You dress (yourself)
- Er kleidet sich an - He dresses (himself)
- Sie kleidet sich an - She dresses (herself)
- Es kleidet sich an - It dresses (itself)
- Wir kleidet uns an - We dress (ourselves)
- Sie kleiden sich an - They dress (themselves)
- Kleiden Sie sich an! - Dress yourself!
- Ich kleide mich aus - I undress (myself)
Note that "an" (which means on) is used in "dress self", but "aus" (which means out) is used in "undress self". - Kleiden Sie sich aus! - Get undress!
- Ein Uhr - One o'clock
- Eine Uhr - A watch
Watch the beginnings here to understand the difference, and when in doubt, use context!
Grammar Notes
In German, "halb fünf" means halfway to 5 o'clock, not half past. This is also true for quarter and three quarters.
If Der Morgen is spelled with a capital M, it's "the morning"; if morgen is spelled with a small M, it's "tomorrow".
For some verbs, adding "myself" is necessary to the sentence. For instance, saying what is technically "I wash myself" is necessary, as it separates it from other forms of washing (such as laundry).
In Germany, commas and decimal points are switched for numbers. So 1,000 in the US would be 1.000 in Germany. However, $1.99 in the US would be €1,99 in Germany. Finally, $111,111.99 in the US would be €111.111,99 in Germany.
Questions
I'm not sure if "früh" should be capitlized or not, 'cause I don't know what that word technically means yet. I think it's probably a noun, since it has to deal with the next morning, but I'll look it up proper when I have the time.
Notes
Not really a note on the language itself, but apparently there's so much German on this page that Firefox asked if I wanted to translate it, hahaha.
Back to Language Notes