Hello everyone,
And welcome to a new episode of a series everyone has forgotten about at this point.
No, not prefix Verbs Explained :)
I mean the series A Practical Guide to German Verbs.
In each episode of this series, we take one of the basic important German verbs you need daily and we go over all the basic important phrasings: present tense, past tense, questions and so on. And the verb we’ll tackle today is
warten
But we don’t just go through them in theory. We’ll actually use them in practice.
And by use them I mean, you will MAKE them.
So I give you sentences in English and you’ll say that in German.
Now the beginners among you are like “OMG, I don’t know if I’m at that level yet.”.
But don’t worry! This series is actually MADE for beginners.
We’ll go really slow, the phrasing will be easy, and I’ll slowly guide you, so you always know what you’re doing and why.
But the BEST thing about this exercise is that you don’t just build German sentences – you’ll actually SAY them.
Because we’ll use the awesome pronunciation AI from EF Languages, that they let me use.
For each sentence task, you’ll just have to press record and say the German version and you’ll get a breakdown of how well you said it, word by word.
Let’s do a trial maybe:
Here’s what you have to say in German.
Just click the button and speak and you should see the result.
My version:
You can listen to your own recording with the little play button next to the sentence and you can also check out how I say it by clicking “my version”.
Now, for this to work, you need to give the site permission to use the microphone. Chances are, you got asked by the browser and denied it out of reflex. To give permission, click on the little lock icon next to the address, like you see here:
If it still doesn’t work, please let me know in the comments.
of course you can also do the exercise as more of a translation practice, with a pen and paper, but the goal really is to get these basic phrasings into a semi automated state, so if your mic works, please do try to really say the things. Even if you’re shy. It’ll benefit you a lot :).
So, without further ado, let’s jump right in.
And we’ll start of course with the present tense.
“warten” in present tense
The present tense of warten is boring, which is just a different word for regular. No vowel change.
- Ich warte.
- Du wartest.
- Sie wartet.
And so we can already build our first sentence.
My version:
Hooray!!
That was pretty short though, so let’s add the thing we’re actually waiting for.
In English, this is done with the preposition for.
- I’m waiting for the bus.
And for is an awesome choice. Makes a lot of sense, sounds good, looks good, feels natural.
German doesn’t use für though.
In German, the preposition you need is auf.
And that’s also a great choice. Makes sense, sounds good, looks good. Just feels a little different, but you’ll get used to it :)
- Ich warte auf den Bus.
Oh and we need auf together with the Accusative case. Don’t worry too much about that though, just give it a try and if you pick the wrong form, just do it again a couple of times.
So, let’s give it a go.
My version:
And another one
My version:
And one more.
My version:
And now, let’s wait “for it”, which literally would be “auf es”, but at least if you’ve got some German under your belt already, you probably know that you need a da-word here… darauf.
My version:
With this, we’re all set for the next step.
You see, so far, the items we’re waiting for were “expressed” through a noun, or prounoun. But equally as often, it’s an action that we’re waiting for.
- I’m waiting for you to call.
And this phrasing does NOT work in German.
Instead, what we need is the “standard” phrasing with a da-word. And because the preposition is auf, we of course need… darauf. Or “darauf dass…” to be precise.
Here’s an example
- Ich warte darauf, dass du anrufst.
And now you give it a try.
My version:
And another one
My version:
And a last one
My version:
Don’t worry, we’ll practice this a lot more today, but now let’s introduce the other important piece of information about waiting… the time.
“warten” – adding the waiting time
The most common pieces of information that go with waiting are what we’re actually waiting for and then the “waiting time”. And there, we actually have to make a distinction between two cases:
- the duration of a “completed wait”
- the duration of an ongoing wait
Sounds a bit complicated, but it’ll be clear with examples.
- I waited (for) an hour and then I left.
- I’ve been waiting for an hour already and still no coffee.
In the first example, the waiting is over and it lasted an hour. In the second example, we’re STILL waiting and have been doing so for an hour. And in the first one, we can connect the duration directly (without “for”) while in the second one, we need for.
And German works pretty much the same as in English. So a “completed” duration is connected directly.
- Ich muss zwei Tage warten.
- I have to wait two days.
Let’s give it a try.
My version:
And let’s throw in what we’re waiting for.
My version:
Great. Let’s do one more. Maybe with a negation, which is basically just a nicht in the right spot.
My version:
And boom… you just made quite a long sentence.
Now, let’s make an even longer one by using an action.
First an example:
- I don’t want to wait two days for you to call back.
- Ich will nicht 2 Tage darauf warten, dass du zurückrufst.
The only thing “new” here (besides the general newness of the phrasing, of course) is that darauf is not at the very end, but before warten now.
That’s simply because warten moved to the end from position two.
- Ich warte 2 Tage darauf [ ], dass….
- Ich muss zwei Tage darauf [warten], dass…
Are you ready to try? Take a breath and let’s do it:
My version:
Cool.
Now, let’s look at how to connect the other duration… the ongoing wait.
The word we need here in German is seit.
- for an hour (and ongoing)
- seit einer Stunde
It’s “einer” now because seit goes with Dative, but don’t worry about that today.
What does matter though is that there’s a REALLY important difference between German and English.
Here’s an example:
- Where is my coffee? I have been waiting for an hour already.
- Wo ist mein Kaffee? Ich warte schon seit einer Stunde.
Did you catch it?
English uses the perfect tense (have been waiting) while German uses the PRESENT. German does that because the waiting is still ongoing right this moment. Using the perfect would low key sound like it’s already done, but the seit signals that it’s ongoing, so to a German brain, that would be incoherent.
That’s a common mistake German speakers make in English – saying stuff like “I’m waiting since 30 minutes.”
Now you know why.
So, let’s practice this. And remember… you do need SPBA-PT in German. That’s short for simple, plain, boring ass present tense :).
My version:
I know, it might feel strange. But just try to roll with it.
My version:
Now, let’s add the “item” we’re waiting for. And note that the item almost always comes AFTER the time in German.
My version:
One more.
My version:
And now, let’s try it with an action
My version:
Phew… that takes quite a bit of concentration already.
So let’s maybe leave this for now and go on to our next topic.
“warten” in past tense
warten is pretty “normal” – so we use the spoken past (Perfekt 1) to talk about the past, the helper verb is haben and the ge-form is regular.
Here it is in its barest form:
- Thomas hat gewartet.
And now let’s work with that :)
My version:
Let’s add add a place maybe, just for fun. And keep in mind that the “target” of the waiting (here: Maria) will trend toward the right. It’s not the ONLY correct way, but let’s do it like that today.
My version:
And now let’s add a duration. And let’s do “time – place – target” for this one. Other options are possible, but we have to pick one.
My version:
Cool.
Now, let’s try the same, but with an action. So we’ll need darauf again and just like earlier, the gewartet will come AFTER the darauf, because it’s basically warten that moved to the end.
- Ich warte darauf [ ], dass…. .
- Ich habe darauf gewartet, dass …. .
Ready?
Then let’s go.
My version:
And now let’s add some elements. First, a location.
My version:
Now, the duration.
My version:
And now, let’s throw in the time when this happened… last week. Start with that and keep in mind that then comes the verb.
My version:
Good job!
Let’s do one completely unrelated one for good measure.
My version:
And I think that’s enough for the past.
Now, just a quick reminder … the purpose of this practice is not that you just ace it immediately. It’s meant as a tool for you to work with. Do it a few times over the course of a week until you have no more problems formulating the sentences. It’s a bit like a pattern drill really, but not as boring.
All right.
Let me check my notes real quick… we’ve done present tense, the darauf-phrasings, phrasings with seit, we also had a couple with modal verbs … and we had past tense. Looks like the only thing missing for a basic toolkit are questions. Which also means that we get to practice the second person singular a bit. Yeay!
“warten” in questions
And we’ll jump right in with the most basic one:
My version:
If that threw you off … German yes or no questions always start with the verb, or the helper verb in past tense. So no do you, did you shenanigans.
Now, let’s add the “target”?
My version:
Next, let’s add some question words.
First, why
My version:
And now, let’s ask since when. And here, you’ll see a word that we already praticed because since is also translated as seit in German.
My version:
All right.
Now, let’s do some in past tense.
My version:
And now the why:
My version:
And now let’s throw in a negation.
My version:
And an unrelated one:
My version:
Pretty straightforward right?
And now, the only piece missing is how to ask for the “target” of the waiting.
- What are you waiting for.
THIS does NOT work in German. Oddly enough, I have to say, considering how much german LOOOOVES to split things up and move parts to the end.
But not in case of what-questions. The question-chunk stays together.
And there are two options here for us. The first one is with auf at the beginning and that’s what you need if you want to ask for a person.
- Auf wen wartest du?
- Who are you waiting for?
And this phrasing colloquially also works for things.
My version:
And if you want to go for the more polished version, well… then you need a wo-word.
Come on… just give it a go.
My version:
And that’s where we’ll stop for today, because it’s the most important sentence of the entire practice… what am I waiting for.
And at least when it comes to practicing or improving your German, there really is no good answer except one – myself.
That doesn’t mean that there aren’t REASONS why you’re “waiting”. Maybe you’re too shy to talk. Maybe you want it to be “perfect” before you start using it. Maybe you don’t have anyone to talk to.
But if YOU decide to act, you will act. Despite the shyness or perfectionism or whatever. So don’t make yourself wait on yourself :).
And that’s it for today!
This was our practical guide of the word warten. Of course, we didn’t go over ALL possible phrasings but I hope you got a good foundation to build the rest by yourself.
And like I said… do this exercise a few times over the course of a few weeks, until you can pretty much record all the answers without having to think too much. That’s how you drill the patterns into your brain and make them feel “normal”.
Anyway, if you have any questions about any of what we did today, just leave me a comment.
I hope you liked it and see you next time.
Audio Speed
Dark Mode
What do the colours mean after I have said a sentence? (I gather green is correct?)How do I correct my speaking and grammar errors, word order etc.? Is there somewhere that I can see the correct sentence?… I am not very intuitive.
Erik
The colors give you an indication how high the word scored in similarity to a native speaker.
0–19% red
20–49% yellow
50–79% grey-teal
80–99% light green), bold
100% Same as amazing, plus an outline
You can see the correct sentence when you make your first recording. The color graded sentence is the correct sentence, it is NOT a transcription of what you said.
You can also listen to the sentence via “my version”, which is a recording by me.
But you cannot read the sentence before you say it. That would defy the point of this practice which is to force you to speak without writing or reading, just straight out of your mind into the mic.
Does that help?
Loved it. Well thought out and executed (imo). Auf/an meinem iPad, sieht der Artikel bei darkmode sehr gut aus.
Ohhh, thanks!!
I want to do more in this series actually, but I keep forgetting about it.
Kann man “schon” anstatt “seit” für Zeitdauer benutzen? Zum Beispiel könnte man sagen, “Ich warte schon zwei Stunden auf den Kundendienstberater, der mir ‘ein Moment bitte’ gesagt hat”?
Ja, kannst du, aber der Fokus ändert sich.
“seit 2 Stunden” ist eine relativ neutrale Zeitangabe von “Dauer”, und die Beschwerde, dass das lang ist, ist vielleicht vom Kontext impliziert.
“schon 2 Stunden” macht klar, dass du “2 Stunden” viel findest.
Omg are you also one of the Babbel voices? How did I not know this until now?!
Not that I am aware of, no. Why are you asking? Are they using my stuff?!
Wenn jemand vor einem WC steht und du nicht weisst, ob diese Person wartet oder nicht… Welche ist richtig?
Warten Sie aufs WC?
Sind Sie am anstehen?
Stehen Sie an?
All are correct. The first and third are the best option, but skip the “auf das WC”.
That was a surprisingly challenging exercise for me, particularly the first time: mostly it was just the relatively simple sounding task of joining the individual chunks into a much longer sequence. Things became much more straightforward the second time around, and the ordering began to feel a lot more intuitive, which I guess is the general idea ;-) Fun stuff, and thanks for setting it up for us!
I have to admit that the AI was very grumpy about my pronunciation “warte”, even though it loved my “gewarten” (to the extent that I got 100% scores on all the past tense examples! Woo hoo!). Part of it is my stupid, longstanding tendency to make a leading “w” too much like an English “f”, hence pushing the word “warte” into “Vater” territory. The same issue has previously reared its ugly head when I was caught pronouncing “wir” too much like “vier”. I probably also need to lengthen the “ah” sound a bit more.
The other slight oddity is that it hates the way I say the word “Date” (aus irgendeinem ungöttlichen Grund), which is a bit of a slap to the face of a native English speaker, but I think I’ll manage to get over that one ;-)
“Things became much more straightforward the second time around, and the ordering began to feel a lot more intuitive, which I guess is the general idea”
Yes, 100% :). It’s not about acing pronunciation. That’s really just bait and a distraction from what’s actually going on.
It has issues with my polished “wartest” and “warte” as well, so feel free to consider your pronunciation there better than indicated.
As for “date”… maybe you have to say it with a German accent. Like “We häw ä däit at ze choppa.”
I have the same issues. I have tried saying “Date” with a german accent, but it’s just really picky with it. Same goes with basically every other Anglicism, forced german accent or not haha. I’m sure it’ll just get better with time.
Thank you Emnauel for the awesome lesons and your efforts. And a big thank you to the great community for the Patenschaft account.
I’ve never gotten the speech recognition to work here. Well, it did when you first introduced it some time ago. But not since the AI feature. It seems to operate, but always comes up 0% for the result. Tried it on four different browsers on my iPhone. Sigh.
It’s Apple. They’re being “special”.
I have looked for some workarounds, but wasn’t successful so far. And I don’t have an Apple device to try with. It’s still on my todo list :/
Wow. This is fanstastic! Is there an explanation somewhere about the meanings of the colors pink, yellow, green in our answers?
No, I forgot to add that.
Here you go:
– red: not very good (<20% match)
- yellow: okay (<50% match)
- light green: good (<80% match)
- green: amazing (80-99% match)
- green+outline (100% native level)
Hallo Emanuel.
Vielen Dank für diese Übungen!
Es ist gleich Sommer und es war sehr heißes Wetter am Wochenende.
Die vergangene Wochenende habe ich Sachsen besucht und es war spannend. Es war ein totales Überraschungsgeschenk, dann könnte ich die deutsche Sprache verbessern. Wenn du die Natur magst und hast Bock zu wandern, Schläge ich Sachsen besonders Sächsische Schweiz jetzt viele vor.
Ein paar Korrekturen:
– bald (not “gleich”… gleich is too soon)
– Vergangenes Wochenende (no “Die”)
– war ich in Sachsen (You can sscratch “besuchen” from your vocabulary for this context. Germans do not really use it except for formal visits of people)
– konnte (not “könnte”)
– schlage (not “schläge”)
– sehr vor (not “viele vor”)
Hoppla, “schlaege” ist doch schon korrekt und zwar im zweiten Konjunktiv, “schlage” aber im ersten Konjunktiv, z.B “Der Reporter sagte, Kanzler Scholz SCHLAGE den Wiederaufbau der Damm-Bruecke vor.” vs. “SCHLAEGST du mal vor..” bzw. “Wuerdest du’s eben vorschlagen, dass wir uns um 15ooUhr vor dem Kino treffen?”
Uje, Korrektur meinerseits! “schlUge” ist der Konj. II “schlagen”!
Isn’t it “schlüge”?
Of course! Mistyped it again, thanks LOL
My apologies. (Juckte schon der Tastefinger, gibt’s doch keine “Editiertaste” zu druecken)
Great lesson, Emanuel!
I couldn’t find the button to adjust the speed of your spoken examples. Can you advise?
Also there is no little lock icon next to the site’s address to give permission to use the microphone.
Thanks
Halbri
To adjust the speed you need to be logged in. Then it is on the bottom right on desktop (haven’t checked on phone in a long time, so maybe it’s missing there).
Which browser are you using and what are you seeing next to the site’s address?
oh thats what that speed thingy is
My Austrian wife says these forms are also possible:
1. Ich warte, dass er kommt. I’m waiting for him to come. Indeed Googling confirms this form is used. Eg the German book “Warten, dass er kommt”.
2. Ich warte bis er kommt. I’m waiting until he comes. This form is for all practical purposes equivalent in meaning.
1.
Yes, it works, but it sounds a bit odd to me personally. And it doesn’t generalize well, so you can’t say
– Was wartest du?
I would recommend for learners to work with “auf”. It’s a great verb to get used to this type of structure with.
2.)
Yes, 100%! “warten bis” is absolutely idiomatic. It answers the question “till when are you going to wait?”.
It’s not exactly always the same though.
– Ich warte darauf, dass mein Paket kommt.
– Ich warte, bis mein Paket kommt.
The second sentence implies that you will do something different as soon as the parcel comes. The first one does not do that. There’s an implicit “and then I’ll do XYZ” there, that the first sentence doesn’t have.
It’s the same in English.
– I wait for my parcel.
– I wait till my parcel arrives.
A point of clarification on case 2…
Your example and comment is reasonable—at least for things (parcels; busses etc). For people though there is no practical difference in English and I humbly suggest in German either. There is always the strong inference that something will happen after “he comes”, even if unstated. Otherwise what’s the point of waiting? The difference is emphasis, not omission.
I’m waiting for him (to come). – Why? What then? – Then I’ll call the police.
I’m waiting until he comes – Why? What then? – Then I’ll call the police.
But even for packets and busses, there may still be something unstated:
What are you doing? – I’m waiting for the bus (to come). – Why? What then? – I’m going shopping.
What are you doing? – I’m waiting for the packet (to arrive). – Why? What then? – Then we’ll start my birthday party.
Consider:
A. Warten wir hier, bis er kommt,… bevor wir spazieren gehen! Let’s wait here until he comes / for him to come… before going for a walk.
B. Warten wir hier darauf, dass er kommt, … bevor wir spazieren gehen! Let’s wait here for him to come… before going for a walk.
i would agree the inference of the subsequent action is a little stronger in case A but I assert it always exists in case B too. Whether explicit or implicit At least I can’t think of a counter example.
BTW The action could also have been pre-stated, eg
C. Gehen wir spazieren! – Noch nicht. Warten wir hier darauf, dass er kommt. OR
D. Gehen wir spazieren! – Noch nicht. Warten wir hier, bis er kommt.
Let’s go for a walk. – Not yet. Let’s wait here for him to come / until he comes.
The sense in English is essentially the same.
BTW Your article is excellent. Perhaps you could add imperatives. Eg
Wart einmal! Wart a mal! Wart a bissl! Wart ein wenig!
Warten wir bis Montag!
Warten wir bis Montag auf ihn!
Well yes, of course there’s a lot of unspoken and implied stuff wafting around, whenever we talk pretty much.
From your perspective, you’re looking for examples and reasonings how they’re the same, but that’s not really what matters.
What matters is the areas that make them different because “warten auf” and “warten bis” are NOT synonyms. They’re “adjacent”.
So they overlap a lot, but they each have their own distinct nucleus. Think of it as a the gravitational center of a randomly shaped cloud. The clouds can overlap a lot, but for synonyms, they’re pretty much the same.
It’s hard to flesh out such a nucleus, but I would say that for “warten bis”, it is a notion of holding of something that you theoretically could be doing already.
– Wir warten bis der Regen aufhört, dann gehen wir los.
You can phrase it with “darauf”, but “bis” is just the better match to what you have in mind.
Translating this to English though, I feel like hat “waiting for” and “waiting until” are probably even closer than the German counterparts.
– We’ll wait until the rain stops and then we’ll go.
– We’ll wait for the rain to stop and then we’ll go.
But there are instances where you would specifically go for “until” and not “for” and then there are instances where “until” wouldn’t fit what you’re trying to say.
These instances are the key to finding the nucleus.
If you as a learner could only pick one, “warten auf” or “warten bis”, then you definitely should do “warten auf”, which is why I used it here. I can’t go over all the phrasings after all, that would be too much. I always try to pick the ones that are the most relevant and that also train a general aspect of German at the same time.
Good point about imperative though!! “Wart mal kurz!” would have been a good one to add :)
I too find “Was wartest du?” incorrect usage. “Worauf” is really the only grammatically correct form in this instance!
Obviously though, Austrian German differs substantially from Standard German in Germany, the only one with which I’m naturally familiar.
I know that’s a no go, but what do you think of something like this:
– Was wartest du da noch? Fahr schon los!
which I think is along the lines of
– (Well), what are you waiting for? Get going!
Is that something native speakers say? And if so, how common would you say it is?
Great example, yes, that is fairly common in spoken German, but to me, the “was” does NOT feel like a direct object question here. More like a “was ist der Grund” but it’s really elusive.
The phrase as a whole is definitely a surrogate for “Why are you waiting” and not so much “What are you waiting for?” in the sense of really asking for the object.
Does it feel like there’s an implied “auf” at the beginning? (Auf) was wartest du da noch?
Or maybe it’s its own thing. This example seems similar:
– Was stehst du da so rum?
Like a way of saying “why are you doing that” or “what are you doing that for”, and maybe not expecting a real answer.
Nah, no implied “auf”.
It’s its own thing and your example now is perfect.
– Was wartest du so lange?
– Was stehst du da rum?
They feel exactly the same to me.
Hallo Emanuel!
Ouf, that was quite the exercise, but I loved it; I got to practice my wording, my pronunciation. I will do as you suggest and practice so that I can remember it all…or most of it. Have a great day! Louise
Yes, definitely do so. And don’t focus too much on perfecting the pronunciation. That’s not the purpose of this exercise :)
Thanks a lot to the whole yourdailygerman community and Emanuel for the Patenschaft account.
Incredible! We only have WARTEN AUF in class and not all detailed usage methods are explained. My WARTEN world has totally changed after reading this article. Now I find German is not that difficult, just some different brain links. Once I get used to it the whole world will be easier.
Glad you enjoyed it.
I have a few more like this for verbs like “gehen”, “sein” and “finden”. You can find them and some similar ones about time and past tense here (in the pronunciation section):
https://yourdailygerman.com/german-exercise-2/
Hallo,
Wartest du auf ein paar Typos? :)))
“you don’t just build German sentence – you’ll actually SAY them” (you don’t just build German sentences – you’ll actually SAY them)
“the waiting is still ongoing righ this moment” (the waiting is still ongoing right this moment)
straightforward is just one word
And now I’m going to have a go at the exercise, thanks for breaking the verb usage up into chunks :)))))
Bis bald!
Oh man, why can I not remember “straightforward”. I feel like you told me two dozen times already and it just won’t stick :D!
Noch ein Apple-benutzer(in?), bei der das AI nicht funktioniert, trotz Erlaubnis. Ich benutze Safari auf iPhone. Keine beschwerde, nur Anzeige.
Ich auch
I’ve got a question. What word could I use in German to describe being not challenged, not stimulated enough, like for example in my German class where there are many absolute beginners. Wäre ,,unterfordert” eine Möglichkeit oder gibt es eine bessere Alternative? Gibt es überhaupt ein Substantiv für dieses Gefühl?
Yes, “unterfordert” is about not being challenged enough, like in a course with beginners when you’re a B1.
1.How wrong does “ich warte auf es” actually sound?
2. What range of scores do you get when you say the sentences – or are you hitting 100% every time?
These exercises didn’t used to work for me , but i changed OS and now they do. yay!
1. It sounds quite bad. A bit like “I need to show you it.” sounds to me, though to an English speaking ear, that one is probably not as weird.
2. Not every time. There are some words that I have trouble with (meaning, the AI has trouble scoring it correctly), like “du” for instance, but even with little effort and lots of slurring and a bad mic and background noise I get 90-100% consistently. The AI is really pretty good at picking up on native speakers, so I think it’s a fair enough guide at how close you are. Anything above 80 is good enough, below that, you should work on it.
Which OS did you come from and which one are you using now? Please share, I think others are having similar issues, especially on Apple.
1″I need to show you it” sounds fine to me, colloquial but fine. Some people say ” i need to show it you” which maybe gets closer to what you mean. Maybe i even say that sometimes with english friends, dunno.
2 Yeah, i’ve been getting 80 plus mostly. I just finished a pronunication course actually, so it seems to be working…
3 I was on pop os (which i found a bit buggy in general) but swapped to ubuntu which seems very smooth so far…
Here’s an example where putting “it” at the end sounds really bad:
– It’s what I meant.
– What I meant is it.
I don’t know if that’s more extreme. It sounds about as wrong as you can get, and it’s borderline unintelligible.
Great example!
To me, it sounds “okay”, but that’s clearly because of my german speaker brain wiring.
“auf es” doesn’t sound anywhere near as bad, or at least it’s far from bein unintelligible. It’s just like sitting on a chair when having tennis ball in your backpocket. You can sit, but you really really really want to take it out.
Oh, that’s a great visual! Made me think of the wallet bit from Seinfeld.
Been there! I really does affect your back if you have something in one backpocket all the time. I used to have my keys there, not a bit lump, but enough to make me tilt a little.
The AI drives me crazy! I have to almost yell at it so that it picks up all the sounds, even though I am using an excellent external mic/speaker – and even then, it rarely gets to 95%. Somehow, it never liked my “wartest” more than green without an outline. So despite my perfectionism, I’ll accept the 85-95s.
But this was a marvelous progression. How about after every 3 or 5 of these “Practical Guides to German Verbs” providing a comprehensive review test/exercise, mixing up the verbs? Ich warte sehnsüchtig darauf.
Did you listen to your recordings? It’s weird that you have to yell, so check the recordings if it’s really quiet or noisy.
As for “wartest”… it does have some “issues” with that one. It’s the one word where I don’t automatically get a full score here in this excerice (besides “du” which is also an issue). 85-95 is completely fine. This is not about perfecting your pronunciation. I can’t be, you’d need a native speaker for that. It’s about driving home these structures.