Distinguishing between ‘das’ and 'dass’ is one of the hardest challenges when learning German, and it’s hard even for us native speakers! It’s especially difficult for learners whose native language is English in my opinion, because both usually simply mean 'that’. However, not exactly the same kind of 'that’. In this post I’ll try to show you how to distinguish these two by showing you what I usually do when having to choose between 'das’ and 'dass’.

'Das’

Article
“Das Haus ist gross” “Er geht, das Mädchen folgt ihm”
In these cases, 'das’ is used as an article, however, it can seem a bit tricky after a comma. But when you can match the 'das’ as an article to a noun, always write it with one s.

demonstrative pronoun
“Das ist gar nicht gut” “Sie sagte, das sei normal”
In these cases, 'das’ is a pronoun and the subject of a sentence, so 'das’ can replace a noun and acts on its own. You can always check whether it is a demonstrative pronoun by asking (let’s take the first sentence as an example) “wer/was ist gar nicht gut?” “DAS ist gar nicht gut”. This one is the hardest to spot for me actually but after a while (and after refreshing German pronouns) it gets a lot easier.

relative pronoun
“Das Haus, das einen grossen Garten hat” “Das Kind, das den Nachbaren gebissen hat”
Here 'das’ refers to an object/the subject in the  previous sentence part, in the examples above to “Das Haus” and “Das Kind”. You can check that by substituting 'das’ by 'welches’ i.e. instead of “Das Kind, das den Nachbarn gebissen hat” “Das Kind, welches den Nachbarn gebissen hat”, if that works then you’re dealing with a relative pronoun which is very similar to the English version: “The child who/that has bitten the neighbour”

'Dass’

Conjunction
“Es geht nicht, dass er sie so behandelt” “Dass du mir nicht vertraust, verletzt mich”
'Dass’ is only used in one instance; to link different parts of sentences, so it’s similar to words like 'und’ and 'oder’ but unlike those to which link two main clauses, 'dass’ always links a main clause with an subordinate clause, so unlike 'das’ it does never depend on a noun. Unlike i.e. a relative pronoun, 'dass’ can be shifted within the sentence as a whole, although it always stands at the beginning of the subordinate clause.

Whenever I need to choose between 'das’ and 'dass’ in an essay or such, I try to first go through all the possibilities including a noun (article, relative pronoun, demonstrative pronoun) and if none of these can be applied, I am only left with 'dass’.

And tada: that’s how I try to not get confused with 'das’ and 'dass’, however, I am sure that there are other methods as well which are super helpful :^)

Have a nice weekend, everyone!

German Politics Vocabulary

Nomen/nouns:

die Politik - politics

die Macht - power

der Politiker (die Politiker) - (male) politician

die Politikerin (die Politikerinnen) - (female) politician

der Staat (die Staaten) - state

der Präsident (die Präsidenten) - (male) president

die Präsidentin (die Präsidentinnen) - (female) president

der Staatschef (die Staatschefs) - (male) head of state

die Staatschefin(nen) - (female) head of state

die Präsidentschaftswahl(en) - the presidential elections

der Kandidat (die Kandidaten) - (male) candidate

die Kandidatin(nen)- (female) candidate

die Demokratie(en) - democracy

die Republik(en) - republic

die Diktatur(en) - dicatorship

die Militärdiktatur(en) - military dictatorship

die Monarchie(n) - monarchy

die konstitutionelle(n) Monarchie(n) - constitutional monarchy

die Oligarchie(n) - oligarchy

die Wahl(en) - election

der Wahlbetrug (die Wahlbetrüge) - election fraud

die Wahlstimme(n) - vote

die Abstimmung(en) - referendum

der Wahlsieg (die Wahlsiege) - election victory

die Wahlniederlage(n) - election defeat

die Wahlnacht (die Wahlnächte) - election night

das Parlament (die Parlamente) - parliament

der Parlamentarier (die Parlamentarier) - (male) member of the parliament

die Parlamentarierin (die Parlamentarierinnen) - (female) member of the parliament

die Mehrheit(en) - majority

die Minderheit(en) - minority

die Partei(en) - parties

die Demokraten (pl.) - democrats

die Republikaner (pl.) - republicans

die Liberalen (pl.) - liberals

die Konservativen (pl.) - conservatives

die Grünen (pl.) - green party

Verben/verbs:

wählen/seine Stimme abgeben - to vote

jemanden (akkusative) wählen - to vote for somebody

gewinnen - to win/to succeed

die Mehrheit gewinnen - to win the majority

verlieren - to lose

die Mehreit verlieren - to lose the majority

Adjektive/adjectives:

politisch - political

mächtig - powerful

kompetent - capable

demokratisch - democratic

links - left

rechts - right

liberal - liberal

konservativ - conservative

Nützliche Sätze/useful phrases:

“Ich habe den falschen Kandidat gewählt!” - “I’ve voted for the wrong candidate!”

“Die Präsidentin ist sehr kompetent.” - “The president is very capable.”

“Der Staatschef hat am meisten Macht.” - “The head of state has the most power.”

“Die Wahlen waren schon lange fällig.” - “The elections were long overdue.”

“Die Demokraten und Republikaner teilen nicht die selben Ansichten.” - “The democrats and republicans don’t share the same values.”

“Viele junge Leute nehmen nicht teil an Abstimmungen.” - “Many young people don’t vote in referendums.”

(I wanted do a vocab list on politics for quite a while now, I hope you like it! Again, recommendations on what to improve are very welcome, I hope you have a nice Sunday!)

French Travel Vocabulary

noms/nouns:

le voyage - journey

le bagage - luggage/baggage

la valise - suitcase

le sac à main - handbag

le sac à dos - backpack

le carrousel - baggage claim

le passeport - passport

le visa - visa

la carte d'identité - ID card

les documents de voyage (m) - travel documents

l'avion (m) - airplane

l'aéroport (m) - airport

le vol - flight

la porte - gate

l'escale (f) - layover

l'arrivée (f) - arrival

le hall d'arrivée - arrival’s hall

le départ - departure

la salle de départ - departure lounge

le guichet - ticket desk

le train - train

la gare - train station

la gare centrale - main train station

le quai - platform

le billet - (rail road) ticket

le guichet - ticket counter

le bac/le ferry - ferry

le bateau - boat

le port - port

la croisière - cruise

l'hôtel (m) - hotel

l'auberge (f) - hostel

la nuit(ée) - overnight stay

la réservation - booking/reservation

le changement de réservation - transfer

verbes/verbs:

voyager - to travel

aller à l'étranger - to go abroad

changer de l'argent - exchange currency

voler - to fly

dédouaner qc. - to pay duty on something

prendre le train/aller en train - to take the train

rater le train - to miss the train

changer de train - to transfer to another train

arriver - to arrive

partir - to depart

conduire - to drive

attendre - to wait

passer la nuit - to stay overnight

coucher à l'hôtel - to spend the night at a hotel

réserver - to place a reservation/to book

découvrir - to discover

se perdre - to get lost

adjectifs/adjectives:

en retard - late

annulé(e) - cancelled

réservé(e) - reserved

quelques phrases qui pourraient aider/useful phrases:

“Où se trouve…?/Où est…?” - “"Where’s..?”

“J'ai perdu mon passeport.” - “I have lost my passport”

“Sur quel quai part ce train?” - “On which platform does this train depart?”

“Rien à déclarer” - “Nothing to declare”

“Combien coûte le/un billet?” - “How much does a ticket cost?”

“À quelle heure arrive le prochain bateau?” - “When will the next boat arrive?”

bon voyage! - have a nice journey!

(This is my second vocab list, aka the German one just translated to French, again if you have any recommendations to improve it, please tell me! And if you want me to do any vocabulary lists on certain topics in either German, French, and maybe Italian, then don’t hesistate to ask. I hope you all have a nice weekend!)

Thank you for all your corrections so far!

Nomen/nouns (plurals in brackets):

das Gepäck - baggage
der Koffer (die Koffer) - suitcase
die Handtasche (die Handtaschen) - handbag
der Rucksack (die Rucksäcke) - backpack
die Gepäckrückgabe(n) - baggage claim

der (Reise)Pass (die (Reise)Pässe) - passport
das Visum (die Visa) - visa
die Identitätskarte(n) (ID)/ der Personalausweis (die Personalausweise)- ID card
die Reiseunterlagen - travel documents

das Flugzeug (die Flugzeuge) - airplane
der Flughafen (die Flughäfen) - airport
der Flug (die Flüge) - flight
das Gate (die Gates) - gate
die Ankunftshalle(n) - arivalls hall
die Ankunft (die Ankünfte) - arrival
der Abflug (die Abflüge) - departure
der Ticketschalter (die Ticketschalter) - ticket desk

der Zug (die Züge) - train
der Bahnhof (die Bahnhöfe) - train station
der Hauptbahnhof (die Hauptbahnhöfe) - main train station
der Bahnsteig (die Bahnsteige) - platform
die Fahrkarte(n)- (railroad) ticket
der Ticketschalter (die Ticketschalter) - ticket counter

die Fähre (die Fähren) - ferry
das Boot (die Boote) - boat
der Hafen (die Häfen) - port
die Kreuzfahrt (die Kreuzfahrten) - cruise

das Hotel (die Hotels) - hotel
die Herberge (die Herbergen) - hostel
die Übernachtung (die Übernachtungen) - overnight stay
die Buchung(en)- booking
die Umbuchung(en) - transfer
die Reservation(en) - reservation

Verben/verbs:

reisen - to travel
ins Ausland gehen - to go abroad
Geld wechseln - to exchange currency

fliegen - to fly
verzollen - to pay duty on

den Zug nehmen - to take the train
den Zug verpassen - to miss the train
den Zug wechseln/umsteigen - to transfer to another train
ankommen - to arrive
abfahren - to depart

fahren - to drive
warten - to wait

übernachten - to stay overnight
buchen - to book
reservieren - to place a reservation
erkunden - to discover

sich verlaufen - to get lost

Adjektive/adjectives:

verspätet - delayed
gestrichen - cancelled
verzollbar - customable

gebucht - booked
reserviert - reserved

Hilfreiche Sätze/useful sentences:

“Wo ist/liegt …?” - “Where’s …?”

“Ich habe meinen Pass verloren.” - “I’ve lost my passport”

“Auf welchem Bahnsteig fährt dieser Zug (ab)?” - “On which platform does this train depart?”

“Nichts zu verzollen” - “Nothing to declare”

“Wie viel kostet eine Fahrkarte?” - “How much does a ticket cost?”

“Wo kann ich eine Fahrkarte kaufen?” - “Where can I buy a ticket?”

“Wann kommt das nächste Boot?” - “When will the next boat arrive?”

(Ay, this is my first vocab sheet, and I’d love to get some recommendations on what to do better. However, I hope you enjoy it and have a nice day!)

send asks while i write down my german notes? <3

open for hq

had my first german class yesterday and i’m so excited!!

open for hq

welcome to the first part of this post series on french adverbs, which focuses on adverb formation! 

note - what is an adverb? an adverb is a word that modifies a verb, the same way adjectives modify nouns! 

e.g. she studied quickly.in this case, quickly modifies the verb studied. 

i. regular formation

this works in most cases, but of course, with french, there are always exceptions

take the feminine form of a adjective and add -ment

• parfait (perfect, masc) → parfaite (perfect, fem) → parfaitement(perfectly.) 
  
• malheureux (unfortunate, masc) → malheureuse (unfortunate, fem) → malheureusement(unfortunately)
• réel (real, masc) → réelle (real, fem) → réellement(really)
  

ii. adjectives that end with a vowel 

add an -ment 

• facile (easy) → facilement(easily) 
  
• grave(serious) →gravement(seriously) 

iii. adjectives that end in -ant or -ent 

replace the -ant with an -amment or the -ent with -emment to form an adverb 

• évident (obvious) → évidemment(obviously)
  
• brillant (brillant)  → brillamment(brilliantly)
  

iv. -ément exception 

for some adjectives, you form an adverb by taking the masculine form and adding an -ément to the end.

if the adjective ends with an e in the masculine form, remove then e and then add the -ément 

• aveugle(blind) →aveuglément(blindly) 
  
• commun (common) → communément(commonly) 
• confus (indistinct) → confusément(indistinctly/confusedly) 
• énorme (enormous) → énormément(enormously/tremendously) 
• intense (intense) → intensément(intensely) 
• obscur (obscure) → obscurément(mysteriously) 
• précis (precise) → précisément(precisely)
• profond (profound)  → profondément(profoundly)
• uniforme (uniform) → uniformément(uniformly) 

v. irregular formation 

just memorize them, there really aren’t rules 

• bon(good) →bien(good)
• mauvais (bad) → mal(bad)
• pire(worse) →pis(worse)
• meilleur(better) →mieux(better)
• bref (brief) → brièvement(briefly)
• gentil(gentle) → gentiment (gently) 
• gai(happy) →gaîment (happily)

vi. commonly used adverbs that don’t end in -ment 

• ainsi (in this way/thus)
  
• debout(up/awake/upright)
  
• exprès (on purpose)
  
• vite(quickly) 
  
• volontiers(gladly)
  

current situation: snuggled under a blanket on the sofa, writing out notes from today’s japanese class with colourful pens, japanese radio playing, a purring cat beside me and my favourite drink within reach.