6 Common Mistakes Intermediate German Learners Make | Easy German Podcast 642

Welcome back to the Easy German Podcast this time again as a video And today we have special guests namely our German teacher Erik Good to have you here again And to our ever-persistent German learner Janusz Exactly Janusz how are you doing today Yes I'm learning German permanently as always Erik how are you doing Yes very well everything's great Erik you've prepared another topic for us today—a linguistic one When we last met in this group we discussed Janusz's mistakes and learned from them And today we're laughing at so many people How does that work Erik I'd like to say that mistakes are never a reason to laugh but let's first get started on our This week's theme today is typical mistakes made by advanced or intermediate German learners What is the German word for intermediate Average Yes average Intermediate-level German learners Why intermediate level Because… Yes and because there are also many mistakes that learners carry over from the beginner level I think they inevitably bring them into higher levels Exactly And since our audience you are primarily at the B1 B2 level We found out through a survey and today we're just Janusz are you going I kept it very secret Discreet Hopefully without any secretion Yes actually we did notice your German mistakes last time I looked at it and thought it was a very beautiful episode When it comes to talking about mistakes at's always tricky because it can either demotivate or motivate and the comments e ones we've learned about through this broadcast which we're linking to again up here as well were very positive Many people said wow if Janusz can make mistakes and talk about them openly then I don’t have to feel ashamed about my own mistakes And likewise Erik how do you see this as a German teacher Many people are indeed afraid of their teacher because he constantly reminds her of her mistakes Yes then he's a bad teacher How would you handle that Well I'd assume at first that we're allowed to make mistakes and that mistakes are okay be necessary to do in order to keep progressing in learning German And even if it's uncomfortable and also Even if that sometimes hurts it's simply part of the process You said that well We have to make mistakes We have to make the mistakes so that we can continue to grow And that's why Erik took a look at your mistakes We actually recorded some errors over several weeks and took notes Secretly This time we examined our Easy German community on Discord Many of You're already a member of Easy German which means you receive additional materials every time Join us each week for our videos podcast episodes and learn German with us on our learning platform and writes with us on Discord And you Erik you were so mean You didn't even do it on Discord ot only corrected the errors but also documented them especially if you've frequently encountered the same mistake That's right In the process I noticed I've read so many texts from our members corrected and in doing so I noticed several recurring errors coming from various people often from those with different native languages And precisely that is why Let's take a closer look at these errors that tend to pile up among advanced learners We'll start with the first mistake What did you notice Erik What keeps happening over and over That's a confusion between two words—the two words remain and stay overnight And there I also found an example sentence on Discord that I’ll read aloud once There are only two truly effective ways to discover a new city You can stay in a youth hostel because you get to meet lots of people there Staying in a youth hostel I understand what the person is trying to say right away But of course one would stay overnight I think so too It sounds somehow yes more idiomatic to my ears Idiomatic What does that mean Erik Common Exactly natural—just how a native speaker would say it And why can't one say "stay" You can You could say that but I believe it's primarily a carryover from English There one can stay and that can be used for various meanings On one hand it means staying i e spending the night And in German we make that distinction by using two different words Exactly you can say "bleiben " but then you mean something different What's the matter Well maybe you stay there for two days or four days You could say I'm staying two days in a youth hostel You could say that yes or I could stay in this city for a few days But then if we're talking about this now where are you staying or where are you sleeping That works I think—better to stay overnight It somehow makes things clearer It's a bit similar to this one with the modes of transportation In English you say "to go" for many things whereas in German the distinction is made far more precisely When I ride my bike I say I'm cycling to the office When I walk I say I'm walking to the office When I'm flying by plane I say I'm flying You can't just say I'm going to Hamburg Also you really should mention how to get there Great that’s already a solid first tip What else is on your list Next are two words that are often confused Namely the words only and first Oh we must've made an entire video about this I think And yet I can't explain it off the top of my head right now Janusz have you ever made this mistake before Do you know this error Definitely and definitely I've already had this in tools I've got it right here I'm pretty sure I'm using this correctly but I'm curious to see how Eric explains it now so we know where mistakes are made and why Yes I'd like to take an example sentence: Janusz drank only coffee today That just means it's final not that there are no more possibilities It means it's the beginning of a series and the first item is this single cup of coffee— the rest are yet to come Exactly if I say Janusz drank only one cup of coffee today that's not incorrect but it means the day is over But if it's twelve o'clock noon and I want to say that more cups might still come Then I say Janusz has only just had a cup of coffee today In English wouldn't both be the same word Yes yes only And thus I believe comes a large part of the confusion in German because here too there are again two separate words for the two different meanings So in summary one can say that merely stating something is little and that it's also final in the sense you mentioned Kari And when we first start we assume that there's still more to come Ah I'm only 41 years old And I'm just 64 You're only yes Sorry 65 Exactly but now Bald 66 It's interesting because that's the kind of thing you say when you're talking about age you say it first because you assume there's much more to come But if someone dies young would we then say he lived only fifty years Yes yes And then exactly one focuses on the fact that this is barely anything Right Yes a sad topic Erik what's the next topic That can be sad too It's about two words that are often confused Miss and miss out Ah I miss Does this also relate to English where one would say "I missed the train " whereas in German it's not "I have missed the train " but "I have missed the train" That might be the wrong point Yes exactly precisely that And I think this is also true in some other languages at these two meanings are covered by the same verb And in German we now have two different verbs again o differentiate the meaning depending on context Also clear you can miss a bus But that means something entirely different from missing him It means you were infatuated with the bus You loved the bus and now the bus is gone and you miss your bus Exactly And you're sad That would be emotionally negative And then I just miss it—I'm too late so I don't make it onto the bus I've missed it Do you have an example sentence for that Yes one with "miss " I missed my sister when she was abroad And then one that I missed I missed my sister because she just left the door five minutes ago So I haven't seen her since I missed her We missed each other That means missing is something emotional whereas missing out is truly about opportunity He doesn't run into him Either the train has already left or his sister has already gone out the door It's really just a matter of logistics Yes exactly You could put it that way Good And yes the interesting thing is that English is somehow imprecise here quotation marks and not meant in a negative way at all And we German-speaking people have an additional layer of distinction built into our language I've never felt this so deeply or perceived it so clearly before: German is a nuanced language full of intricate details Yes but languages that generalize more such as Chinese or English They could be a bit more creative in my opinion since it's easier to describe something Since you won't have to worry about those minor differences anymore Ah how do you know that Janusz Are you speaking Chinese by any chance I just thought that up a minute ago Eric as a language teacher what do you think about it I find it beautiful that the German language can be so precise I'm happy about that but I also know it partly makes things more complicated for you learners How did you experience learning German Janusz Did you also feel that the German language is very precise with certain things or was it more like Yes it becomes evident when reading philosophical books—sometimes in a nearly laughable way And if you read Heidegger you’ll start laughing after five minutes—how incredibly precise the writing is Or Immanuel Kant renowned precisely for his precision—and I wouldn't know that from personal experience Even a little but above all writing about it is what other philosophers or professors do and that's well known But if I were writing a song lyric now I'd much rather do it in English than in German Because English somehow makes everything more accessible If you need to make up a line for your lyrics English works well because you're less likely to get bogged down by the language's complexities My native language is Polish and in it every word is declined in a specific way And when you write lyrics do you do that too Exciting That's already a fascinating approach Erik what's the next common mistake you've noticed We're going to dive a bit deeper into grammar and the cases Now things get really fun Cases Janusz which cases do you remember I use three cases in German Nominative accusative dative—and that's it There's still the genitive Which cases are we discussing now Erik We're focusing on the dative and the accusative After all there are many sentences in German where both elements appear together And then the question always arises: in what order do they come Does the dative come first or the accusative And is there a rule for that There are a few guidelines you can follow And I also brought along an example This is not an authentic example anymore Let's just say I couldn't find any on Discord But it's a mistake that's often made and one that people frequently struggle with Example sentence I give a horse to my friend Very realistic sentence I've often thought about giving away a horse myself But yes Janusz can you hear what's wrong with that sentence I'm giving a horse to my friend Not at all Actually all of this is correct for me Wait wait let me think because this is getting strange now And I'm giving it's the horse Yes that's correct So I'm giving a horse to my friend Exactly And he I think always said a horse didn't he No no a horse is correct To my friend I give my friend a horse It's correctly declined but what's wrong Erik Yes at least the order isn't the standard order in German Here the proper way would be I give my friend a horse That would be the standard sequence That means the dative comes first followed by the accusative object When you have two nouns in a sentence And that’s the vibrant essence of the Polish language In Polish since every word is declined it doesn't matter at all where you put the noun And perhaps once more with a different example The thing is both are possible in German but only one is standard If you do it differently you're trying to emphasize something For instance I could say "I'm giving the glasses to Janusz " which would be the standard Moment But if I say I'm giving the glasses to Janusz I'm emphasizing that I'm giving them to you and not to you Yes or you could say I'm giving this glasses to my wife That works too Exactly there 's already some freedom there Exactly there's flexibility there and that's nice Exactly but that's more of a suggestion for you if you're unsure about placing the dative before the accusative in a sentence like this With two nouns you're safe—this serves as a helpful guideline The rule is always dative before accusative Unless you want to emphasize something specific it can also be done differently Exactly And the topic can be explored even further One could just say I'm giving it to my friend That could be said which would then be accusative before dative You couldn't say "I'm giving it to my friend " That sounds completely awkward Then this "it" would somehow be like a letter carved into stone I'm giving it to my friend boyfriend or girlfriend But no you're still thinking of the horse Exactly the horse— we're still talking about the horse right The difference is simply that in this sentence we have both a noun and a pronoun Whatever was previously the horse is now it a pronoun And in this case we have the pronoun in this case accusative followed by the friend Complicated Also normally I'd give my friend the horse first But if one of the two is replaced with a pronoun Then first the pronoun Okay I give him the horse or I give it to my friend or I give it to him Exactly that might still be worth remembering I'm completely confused You can easily remember that right Yes What else is on your list Next up we have two words that learners often confuse Specifically the small temporal conjunctions "when" and "as " Temporal conjunctions—what are those Janosch Um never heard of them Okay you know the words "when" and "as " And I'm quite sure I randomly mix it up and use it incorrectly I'd say that's the top mistake I also hear when I talk with German language learners It's hard to distinguish them as both could be translated as "when" in English Give us an example Erik Yes here's another example from our Discord server: I stepped out of my comfort zone when I moved to Berlin Ah okay That is a false statement Moving to Berlin was when I stepped out of my comfort zone which would be correct Right Why It's actually quite simple—this one we use specifically for one-time events that happened once in the past And since I moved to Berlin that happened just once in the past not regularly so that's why we use it here like this Okay Also Janusz an example from your life when I was at the doctor's this morning My doctor was very pleased because all the blood test results have dramatically improved Congratulations Janusz Best wishes to Dr Lauch Best wishes That was an example from your life—you were at the doctor this morning and that’s finished If you were speaking about the future right now you'd say that if I go to the doctor tomorrow then I'll ask my doctor this and that What were the results of the blood test Exactly that would be the future Also keep that in mind as past tense when thinking about the future right Future or present isn't that so Or generally things that happen regularly And that's now the difference which is perhaps why it's also difficult when something happens regularly for example when I play guitar on Mondays Exactly it happens every day When I play guitar I always think… of love and freedom Or Bavarian-style it would fit if when I drink beer I think about how Kari doesn't want me to drink so much beer No no that's when I still drank beer I'd sometimes get drunk yes Erik did we explain that clearly Yes I think so Let 's not make it more complicated than it needs to be I think we also made a video about this didn't we Good question Just Google it folks Easy German when as Look at this—we've made so many videos that we now have to Google ourselves Actually seven years ago Super Easy German Number 69 We've linked it up here above Do you have one last typical mistake for us Yes I'll try to keep it brief It's about the to-infinitive What does "zu-infinitive" even mean Well I know the word "zu" That's right And in German there are various verbs and expressions that require a verb to follow them combined with zu That's a to-infinitive for example I try… to make it short Exactly Yes absolutely right I try to endure it here I'm trying to play guitar better I have to say I see this mistake very often and it happens in both directions Either eliminate the unnecessary "to " or simply forget about it How can one remember this Yes I'd recommend thinking in terms of verb categories Specifically we have the group of modal verbs which many of you are probably already familiar with such as want should and can Let me explain this for those who don't know… because I'm Polish myself and I had to learn it These modal verbs are essentially the oldest verbs in the language roughly speaking They're so old that they were already in use before grammar— German grammar in particular—had even emerged and been codified And that's why they're usually full of exceptions They behave differently in language conjugating differently as well They're just special and very old You just have to learn them and that's it—you've got it Erik is that right Yeah maybe I just thought of that in a flash Very nice What I'd add to emphasize it once more these modal verbs This group of verbs requires and must not have an infinitive So I want to work you must not smoke and so on To be or not to be Okay so this is the rule They don't have that So you just need to remember five or six modal verbs Yes this one must be remembered Also pay attention to the verb For example I hear the door shut You don’t need anyone else for that And the verb "let" is another classic like that I'm having my hair cut No I'm just getting my hair cut or something like that Erik now we just need to figure out exactly when to use "zu" before an infinitive at all Yes that's actually a whole separate topic in itself To give a few examples these are verbs such as try forget hope decide Also herbs that somehow point toward the future And also constructions with adjectives for example It's important to do this and that or it's difficult to do this and that But there are entire lists available and we might be able to link one under the video for you I think we actually made a video about it with Emanuel at one point We'll link that again down here Tough topic Janusz what do you think I'd like to offer some good advice As someone learning German and still striving to speak it as accurately and flawlessly as possible To speak Specifically this issue and all related problems And I mean this seriously even if it doesn't sound serious Simply ask CGPT Said hey CGPT explain this to me like I'm five And CGPT is really good at that Great idea Yes and simply question it daily when you're unsure whether something is right or wrong—precisely in such a moment You can try it even though you should keep in mind that CGPT isn't always completely accurate But a German teacher yes maybe not Yes dear people it was very nice spending time with you today Erik thanks for preparing this list You're very welcome If you'd like to learn more German in this mysterious Discord group feel free to join Easy German We don't fix everything on Discord but there are regularly tasks related to our videos and you also provide feedback Erik Yes I provide personal feedback on each of your texts Fantastic Sign up at easygerman org/slash/Membership I'm looking forward to seeing you all again here soon this time with Manuel back on our podcast And don't forget this was a video podcast today on YouTube We have many more podcast episodes than are available on YouTube You can find them in all podcast apps Just search for Easy German Goodbye dear friends Goodbye and see you soon