Learning German from DuoLingo: Day 139 - The body, formal 'you', 'some', and shopping.
Today is day 139 in my continuing mission to learn to read the German language by using the DuoLingo mobile application and web site. This post covers the last twelve days, during which I completed the "Body 1", "Formal You", and "Some-" categories. Today, I began the "Shopping" category and completed the first level.
Sie haben zwei Augen (You have two eyes): Pixabay license, source
Before beginning, I may have shared this video before, but it's a perfect fit for the lessons in the "Some-" category, so even if I have shared it before, I think it's worth sharing again. Here is Nena singing a song from 1984, Irgendwie, Irgendwo, Irgendwann (somehow, somewhere, sometime).
You may enjoy listening while reading the remainder of this post.
In the last post, I discussed the Tips from the "Body 1" category, so in this one I'll discuss Tips from the "Formal You" category.
Until now, I have been using "du" as a singular form of you and "sie" as a plural form. In this category, I learned that "Sie" can also be a singular and formal form of "you" (similar to "tu" vs. "vous" in French, as I recall). Important points about "Sie" as a formal you are that it is usually accompanied by the "en" form of the verb, and it is always capitalized (like "I" in English). The tips suggest that if you're not sure whether to use "du" or "Sie" then use "Sie". Later in the conversation, it is possible to switch to "du" which connotes a friendlier or more familiar tone.
The Tips section goes on to review the acusative form and dative form of pronouns, which is fortunate because I still need practice with both. The accusative form occurs when a pronoun is a direct object of a phrase, and the dative form occurs when it is an indirect object. Some words that trigger the accusative from include für (for), ohne (without), or um (to). The dative form can be triggered by verbs like: helfen (to help), danken (to thank), or after prepositions like mit (with), von (of), or seit (since).
And here is a table combining the basic form, accusative form, and dative form all in one place (good reason to bookmark this post!):
| Basic form | Accusative form | Dative form |
|---|---|---|
| ich (I) | für mich (for me) | mit mir (with me) |
| du (you - familiar/singular ) | für dich (for you - informal/singular) | mit dor (with you) |
| er (he) | für ihn (for him) | mit ihm (with him) |
| sie (she) | für sie (for her) | mit ihr (with her) |
| es (it) | für es (for it) | mit ihm (with it) |
| wir (we) | für uns (for us) | mit (with us) |
| ihr (you - plural) | für euch (for you - plural) | mit (with you) |
| sie (they) | für sie (for them) | mit ihnen (with them) |
| Sie (you - informal/singular) | für Sie (for you - formal/singular) | mit ihnen (with you) |
Going from memory, so mistakes are possible, here are some examples from the lessons:
Body 1
| German | English |
|---|---|
| Auge um Auge | An eye for an eye |
| Sie hat kleine Ohren | She has small ears |
| Die Katze hat vier Beine | The cat has four legs |
| Es ist für die Beinen und den Rücken | It is for the legs and the back |
| Du und ich, wir hat zwei Hertzen | You and I, we have two hearts |
Formal you
| German | English |
|---|---|
| Sie und mich, wir hat zwei Hertzen | You and me, we have two hearts |
| Sprechen Sie deutsch? | Do you speak German? |
| Brauchen Sie einen Kaffee? | Do you need a coffee? |
| Sie gehen zu den Supermarkt | You are going to the supermarket |
| Sie und sie sprechen schnell | You and they speak quickly |
Some
| German | English |
|---|---|
| Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann | Somehow, somewhere, sometime (A Nena song and a DuoLingo exercise) |
| Da ist irgendwas | Something is there |
| Irgendwann reicht es | At some point, it is enough |
| Ich bin irgendwie traurig | Somehow, I am sad |
| Hat irgendwer ein Rezept? | Does anyone have a recipe? |
That's probably enough for today's post. I'll follow up with Tips from other categories and examples from "Shopping" in a future post.
Before I close, here are my current numbers in the application:
- Streak: 139 days
- Hearts: 5
- Crowns: 192
- Crystals: 1019
- Lingots: 528
- Total XP: 20,736
- XP Today: 138
- League: Diamond
- XP In league: 393
- Place in league: 17
- Time left in league: 2d 4h 42m
- Words learned: 684 in app, 878 on web site
There were no new special characters in today's post, so the full table (so far) still looks like this:
| Key press | character |
|---|---|
| ALT-0196 | Ä |
| ALT-0214 | Ö |
| ALT-0223 | ß |
| ALT-0228 | ä |
| ALT-0246 | ö |
| ALT-0252 | ü |
If you want to learn a foreign language (or Klingon or High Valyrian), my recommendation for DuoLingo continues to be "thumbs up". According to the app, you can also use DuoLingo to learn dead or endangered languages like Latin, Navajo or Hawaiian.
My guess is that no one is going to learn to speak a language perfectly through DuoLingo, but I think it can provide a solid foundation that can be used to build additional knowledge through other, immersive techniques.