Language/German/Grammar/Common-Mistakes

Common language vs. textbook language and common mistakes of foreigners

Past tense:

In every textbook you can read about German past tense through „Präteritum/Imperfekt“.

Though it is right, and sensefull to learn, it sounds pretty weird and oldfashioned if you use it every-day language.

Then nearly everytime you use the „Perfekt“.

For example:

• Yesterday, I went to school.

schoolbook German:

„Gestern ging ich in die Schule.“

spoken German:

„Gestern bin ich in die Schule gegangen“

• I bought an apple at the supermarket.

schoolbook German:

„Ich kaufte einen Apfel im Supermarkt.“

spoken German:

„Ich habe einen Apfel im Supermarkt gekauft.“

Exception: war/bin gewesen

When it comes to describing that you have been somewhere to do something, or only you have been somewhere, it's common to use „war“ as well as „bin gewesen“.

Example(Have been somewhere):

• Yesterday I was at the cinema.

common German:

„Gestern war ich im Kino.“

or

„Gestern bin ich im Kino gewesen.“

the two are nearly equal here.

Example(Have been somewhere and did something there):

• Yesterday I was at the supermarket buying some food.

common German:

„Gestern war ich im Supermarkt Essen kaufen.“

or

„Gestern bin ich im Supermarkt gewesen, Essen kaufen.“ (first one is a little bit more common)

• Yesterday I went to the shopping center looking for a T-shirt.

common German:

„Gestern war ich im Einkaufscenter, ein T-shirt suchen.“

or

„Gestern bin ich im Einkaufscenter gewesen, ein T-shirt suchen.“

Remember: Use Perfekt.

Using future tense:

Using the future tense in spoken German is one of the easiest things in German.

Just use the present, with an additional word of time (like in japanese for example).

Example:

• Tomorrow, I'll go to the cinema.

textbook German:

„Morgen, werde ich ins Kino gehen.“

common German:

„Morgen, gehe ich ins Kino.“

• On friday we'll visit some friends.

textbook German:

„Am Freitag werden wir Freunde besuchen.“

common German:

„Am Freitag, besuchen wir Freunde.“

Remember: Use present tense.

Using the word “so”

An also very often mistaken word is “so”. Although it is very hard to describe in detail when to use so there's one rule I'd like to share, that many people make mistakes with:

“So” isn't used to conclude something.

Example:

• My husband fixed my computer, so I can use it again.

Mistake:

„Mein Ehemann hat meinen Computer repariert, so ich kann ihn wieder benutzen.“

Right:

„Mein Ehemann hat meinen Computer repariert, also kann ich ihn wieder benutzen.“

As you can see the sentence structure in the second part varies from the English one (a mistake also often made).

“So” is more of a filler word, implicating smalltalk or lead over to a beginning conversation/speech/new topic.

Example:

• „Wie gehts dir so?“ (Filling word, so how are you?)
• „So, wir fangen jetzt an.“ (Were about to start now, implicating the beginning of something)

If you want to conclude something use the word also:

Example:

• „Ich denke also bin ich.“ (I think therefore I am)

Sentence structure using words of time or words before the sentence:

Once of the most basic german sentencestructures is Subject-Prädikat-Objekt (could be translated with acting person or thing-verb/action-affected thing or person).

For example:

• I go to the cinema. „Ich gehe ins Kino.“
• You do nothing. „Du tust nichts.“
• We make dinner. „Wir machen Abendessen.“

But in contrast to english the sentence structure varies when you add a word before the sentence, then you change the verb and the acting person/thing.

Example:

• Sometimes, I go to the cinema. „Manchmal gehe ich ins Kino.“
• Because you've got nothing to do, you do nothing. „Weil du nichts zu tun hast, tust du nichts.“
• Yesterday, we made dinner. common language: „Gestern, haben wir Abendessen gemacht.“