https://www.youtube.com/embed/yKn5kPZCxwE Witches, sorcerers, costumes, tricks, and superstition...no, it’s not Halloween! We’re talking about Walpurgis night in Germany.  While you might not associate the beginning of spring with witchcraft and sorcery, this correlation has some interesting roots in numerous European countries. In this article, you’ll learn about the origins of this mystical holiday and how it’s celebrated today.  Let’s go! 1. What is Walpurgis Night? Walpurgis is a festival that takes place each year, beginning on the night of April 30 and ending on May 1. This festival is also common in a number of other European nations, including Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic, and Estonia. ... Show more

Maybe you weren’t fortunate enough to grow up with German restaurants nearby or German relatives in the family. If not, you’ve missed out on some amazing food. German food is soul food by any definition: rich, hearty, and packed with flavor. Anyone who’s been to Germany would probably agree that visiting restaurants was the highlight of their trip! How well do you know your German food—and how well can you talk about it in German? In this article, you’ll get to know some brand-new dishes as well as some that you’ve probably sampled before. All the while, pay attention to the words used to describe them and their German names. You might find yourself picking up some important German vocabulary! Table of Contents ... Show more

Congratulations, you’ve joined the club! By just opening this article, you’ve become a learner of German. Excited? Well, that’s how easy it really is. Lots of people say that learning German is hard, but it’s really just something you have to approach methodically. And that’s because of German grammar. While German vocabulary is based on roots and quite logical, and German pronunciation is easy to master with a few new lip shapes, the grammar tends to prove difficult for learners (though some say that it’s getting simpler over time). So now that you’re learning German, what exactly is it that you need to pay attention to? How complex are the different parts of German grammar, and what is it going to take to master them? It’s time... Show more

German is a language with a long history of great writing. It’s no wonder that there are a lot of excellent quotes that have been passed down through the centuries! In order to help you become a more eloquent German speaker, GermanPod101 has compiled a list of the best German quotes in several different categories.  As you study these quotes, you’ll also start to make important connections concerning the grammatical structures being used. The end result? You’ll pick up German grammar without even realizing it! Table of Contents Quotes About Success Quotes About Life Quotes About Time Quotes About Love Quotes About Friendship Quotes About Food Quotes About Health Quotes About Language Learning ... Show more

The best way to learn German is by letting go and allowing your subconscious to do all the work.  That might sound a bit too sci-fi for you, but it’s kind of true.  Think about how German teens nowadays learn English—they sleep through English class in school, then come home and stay up late watching Minecraft videos in English on YouTube.  Then the world praises Germany for being a multilingual country—but you can do it, too! All you need is a good recommendation.  In this article, you’ll find ten different German YouTube channels covering a wide range of interests. At the same time, you’ll also see the Internet’s best free German educational resources to help give you a leg up when you’re not quite ready for late-night... Show more

You might be one of those folks who wishes they knew German. But wanting to know German is different from learning German or wanting to learn German. The people who just long for the day when they know German are usually the ones asking "Is German hard to learn?" But here’s the thing. Every language out there is hard in one way or another, even the ones that are close to your native language. Whether the difficulty comes at the beginning of the journey or in the middle, you’re never going to get off easy. The challenge is the fun of it! And besides, do you really have that much to worry about when it comes to learning German?  Table of Contents Is it Hard to Learn German? The Hardest Parts of German The Easiest Parts... Show more

Make no mistake—people have been complaining about the difficulty of the German language for centuries. Mark Twain did it then, and you’re probably doing it now. It seems like the harder a language is, the more pressure we put on ourselves to get it exactly right. That’s even more true when the locals tend to speak English quite confidently.  But as the Europe of today becomes more and more multicultural, the stigma of "perfect German or bust" is slowly falling away. There’s no need to paralyze yourself with doubt concerning common German mistakes or creating the perfect German sentence, because others in your community are probably dealing with language struggles of their own.  So if you want to improve your German, you can start... Show more

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to tonight’s round of German Questions Extraordinaire!  Does that sound like a quiz show you would watch? It would certainly help out your German! Perhaps you’ve realized that every time you have a German conversation, you’re kind of on a quiz show yourself. Conversations tend to be built around questions and answers—especially the kinds of conversations that you’re likely to have as a foreign student of German. Therefore, practicing the following German questions and answers for beginners will provide you with the tools you need to sail through opening conversations like they’re nothing. In a typical German conversation, questions and answers like the ones we’ll introduce today will... Show more

You know, German treats verbs differently. In contrast to pretty much any other European language, German moves the verb all the way around the sentence quite often. They call it "verb-second" and "verb-final." All that to say, you’re going to need to know your German verbs well if you want to be a good German speaker. Here are one hundred of the best German verbs for beginners to learn—how many do you know already? Table of Contents Regular Tourist Verbs in German Verbs at Home Verbs in the Kitchen Verbs at the University Verbs at Work Verbs for Your Spare Time Verbs at the Gym Verbs on a Date Conclusion 1. Regular Tourist Verbs in German Everybody wants to travel to Germany... Show more

You already know you need to learn about German pronouns. They're a small but absolutely indispensable part of learning a new language. Congratulations - you mostly know them already! German pronouns are almost the same as the English ones, with just a couple more here and there. You know, plural second person, formal address, all that good stuff like in other European languages. The only difficult part is, well, the grammar. Each pronoun has several different forms based on what case it's in. You not only need to know what that means, but you also need to get used to actually making those changes during natural speech. Since cases are the key to really understanding German pronouns, let's start with those. Table of... Show more