“It’s in the cards”
***
Hallo ihr lieben,
eigentlich sollte ja gestern Halbzeit-Show sein, aber beide Acts haben abgesagt. Das ist schade, und ihr alle wart sehr enttäuscht und traurig…
“Emanuel, eigentlich war ich überhaupt nicht trau…”
Ihr wart SEHR TRAURIG!!!!
Und ihr habt in den Kommentaren gefragt, ob ihr zumindest ein bisschen Werbung haben könnt.
“Emanuel, ich habe alle Kommentare gelesen, und da hat niemand nach Werb….”
Ihr habt nach WERBUNG GEFRAGT!!
Und deshalb habe ich entschieden, euch heute mein neues Projekt vorzustellen.
“Emanuel, du hast noch nicht mal dein Buchprojekt fertig.”
Ich werde euch meine neues Projekt vorstellen!!!
hi all you good people,
so yesterday originally was supposed to be the half time show, but both acts cancelled. That’s a pity and you all were very disappointed and sad.
“Uh, actually I wasn’t disappointed and sa…”
You were really disappointed and sad!!!
And you asked me in the comments, if you could have at least a few ads.
“Emanuel, I read all comments and no one asked for ads the…”
You ASKED FOR ADS!!
And that’s why I have decided to introduce my new project to you.
“Emanuel, you haven’t even finished the old book project yet.
I will introduce MY NEW PROJECT!!
Ein Kartenspiel für Präfixverben
A card game for Prefix verbs
I’m going to continue in English now, I’m already late for today anyway :).
So yeah, for a long time I have had this idea of a prefix verb card game in my head, and now it is becoming a reality.
The core idea
The core idea is that you have cards with prefixes and cards with verbs and you have to combine two together to form a verb that you know a meaning for.
There are several modes of playing, including something that has elements of poker, but I am still working on fleshing out the exact rules.
But yeah, the core idea is that you have to build prefix verbs that you know a meaning for and that way, you get to repeat the ones you know, pick up new ones and repeat those during the game and most importantly, you start building an intuition for how the prefixes work and you get some confidence that sometimes a meaning you just guess actually exists.
Well… that’s how I HOPE this game will turn out.
The reference
Anyway, for a while there was one big hurdle to actually following through on this. If you play the game in class, it’s not a problem because there’s a native speaker there, but if you play alone or without native speakers, you have to have a good way to check whether something exists or not.
Like… okay, you could use a normal dictionary, but ideally, you’d get at least SOME information why the meaning exists and also get some examples.
So from the start I knew the game needed its own little reference. But it was also a daunting task because it is a LOT of content and also, how do you present it. As a booklet?
But the good news is… this has now become feasible because I have my own dictionary, many prefix verbs are already in it and all I need to do is fill up the examples.
And I have found a programmer who I trust and like and who has helped me with some of the programming work here on YourDailyGerman already, so we’ve teamed up for this card game and … we’ll actually make a little web-app for it.
(And you can help us, because we’ll actually do a little crowdfunding next year :))
So there will be a site JUST for the game where you can quickly look up a prefix verb and get my handmade translations, notes and examples.
That was the missing piece and I’m really excited that this is actually happening now
Our awesome website
Now, I’ll definitely keep you up to date here, but we’ve also set up a website, that gives a little more information and most importantly, it gives you a look at the cards, because I already have a prototype :).
And if you’re interested, you can enter your email there, so you’re in a separate mailing list just for the cards (I’m only writing something if I have something to announce).
So, hop over and check out what we’re up to!
But then come back and tell me what you think :)
German Prefix Verbs – The Card Game
I’m really really curious to hear what your thoughts are about this, so please let me know in the comments.
Oh and also, if you’re actually a German teacher, or you work at a school, I’d like to connect, because I really think this is a nice game to play in class, maybe in groups.
Prefix verbs don’t get enough love in class, in my opinion and this game is (hopefully) a fun way to approach them.
So yeah, let me know in the comments what you think , have a great day and I’ll see you tomorrow.
Audio Speed
Dark Mode
typo: no l in halb (Halbzeit-Show)
(I’m not a native German speaker, so maybe Habzeit is correct in a way I can’t imagine, but I thought I should point it out)
You’re absolutely right :)! It should be “Halbzeit”!!
Can’t wait for the release!
Forgot to ask: stupid question here, but is this strictly a physical card game, or a webapp/mobile app? Or is the webapp you mentioned just to promote the physical card game?
I work at a college, although not for its German department. The college offers a German Studies major, and also has a separate language center that offers “immersion” style programs for various languages, including German. If you can spare a prototype I could ask the departments if they would be interested. We’re in the US, though.
So for now it’s a physical card game, but the app is not for promotion but rather the glossary for the game.
So you form a verb, and if you’re not sure, you look it up in the app.
I’d definitely be interested in sending you a copy so you can pass it around, but I only have 12 at the moment and sending to the US is a hassle compared to sending in Europe.
Ideally, I’ll find some way to get the ones for the US market actually printed in the US, but I haven’t looked into that.
But yeah, next year, once we’ve done the kickstarter and we have the funds to work on the app proper, I’ll look into all that :).
Wunderbar! Sehr kreativ!! Ich habe das Email-list des Projektes abonniert. I have tons of trouble with prefix verbs, so this sounds great.
Not strictly related, but something else regarding verbs and prepositions: I only recently realized that there is a vast world of verb + preposition idioms that I need to know better (warten auf, sich kümmern um, etc). Sure, we have those in English, but in German it just seems harder to deal with because of case, the related da-compounds, etc. Every time I think I’ve grasped a German grammar topic, something related comes along that causes a personal stack overflow. I’m curious if you or other people in the comments think the verb + preposition idioms are not exactly a piece of cake.
It would be cool to have our own Stammtisch for YDG members to play this game online together, or at least just talk together once in a while. My meager German skills are stuck at reading and writing. Ich kann nicht so gut Deutsch sprechen. (That was mild. I English I would say I can’t speak German for ****.)
Hey, that’s a good idea, a virtual get-together. I bet it wouldn’t be too hard to organize if enough people are interested.
Prepositions are tricky. You don’t necessarily think about them in your native language, but I think they’re one of the hardest things to learn in a new language.
Prepositions are definitely hard and in general do get a bit neglected. Maybe they should be considered as an essential part of the verb. At the beginning i didn’t pay enough attention as to if the prepositions were accusativ or dativ. If I started learning from scratch i would also make that a bigger focus. Sure there are some where you know it will (almost always) be akkusativ e.g. für or dativ e.g. bei but then there are others where you just have to memorise it e.g. an z.B. arbeiten an +dativ. I think the wo + da form becomes easier with time but prepositions will always need to be learned every time a new verb appears….
Completely agree! I think the vast majority of teaching material focused way too much on cases and gender, especially for beginners, when in fact the real “gains” are to be found by handling verbs properly. That makes a much bigger difference in how good or bad you sound. If you nail all prefixes, prepositions and the word order, then no one cares if you use the articles at random.
I don’t think nouns should necessarily be learner with their article, but I do think the verbs that have a fixed preposition, like “warten auf”, THOSE should be learned as a phrase right from the beginning.
You know what.. I actually thought about this and the game can easily be used to train verbs with their prepositions as well, because you already have the prepositions as cards.
So you’d just need to modify the rules a bit, and of course have more base verbs. But yeah, this would be a possible expansion pack, that has the most important verbs like “warten” and “aufpassen” and “konzentrieren” and then you just add the proper preposition from the cards you already have in the main deck :)
As for an online get together:
I guess I could set up a discord server, or organize a zoom meeting, but really only organizing. I absolutely despise online meetings for some reason, no matter whether it’s professional or private. I had like two during the whole Corona thing and I didn’t like it. So yeah, I’m happy to facilitate it, but it’s not really my thing.
Meine Stammtisch Gruppe werden diese spiel!!!
Camille
Oh, du hast einen Deutschstammtisch? Super :)!!
Ja!!! In Buffalo, NY. :)
I think I meant “spielen”, oder?
Ja, genau :)!!
I love the idea of an online version linked to the dictionary, that way we can get the audio too. I tend to remember words best when I can connect the sound to the written word.
Maybe you’ve thought about this already, but what if there were special cards like in Uno? You could have cards to force someone to swap cards with you, pass a card to the left/right, or draw a card (assuming the objective is to get rid of all your cards). Or a wild card. At least in a physical deck, it would be easy for people to decide if they wanted to play with or without those cards.
Nice idea!!
So there is an r-version card and a joker card, so far, but there’s definitely room for more.
The cool thing about this (from a money perspective) is that you can sell expansion packs. So there’s a base pack (at the moment 18 prefixes and 19 verbs) but this can be extended. And so there could also be a “spice it up” set that has all kinds of special action cards.
But that needs a lot of testing, actually. Maybe the game is super boring, no one talks and everyone is frustrated.
cute illustrations
This reminds me of a card game I had back when I was homeschooling for teaching/reinforcing Greek and Latin roots. Maybe it will give you some ideas or inspiration: https://rummyroots.com/index.html
I am hoping your game (or a variation of it) will be suitable for children because I would want to play it with my granddaughter who, like me, is learning German.
Wow, this is awesome!! I’ll definitely check out their rules and game dynamics. Also, cool game in general.
Could totally be remade for German words, especially compound nouns.
It wouldn’t by any chance tell if they were separable or not would it? I am thinking non-separable would be the fewer number.
It does. The prefix cards have a marking
The webapp we’re building will make it clear too.
The card game idea sounds brilliant! (The exclamation mark helps you to recognize this as the American English adjective “brilliant”; the UK version has quite a different meaning, and is much less intense, as you know.)
Awesome :)!!
really? how are they different?
Das klingt spannend! Ich habe seit kurzem mein eignenes Spiel entwickelt: Das Präfix raten, bevor mein Gesprächspartner den Satz zu Ende gesagt hat.
I’m all signed up and will definitely be sharing the link with a few german teachers around me!
Haha, und, wie gut bist du in deinem Spiel :)?
Eigentlich funktioniert das beim Lesen ganz gut, oder?
Thanks a lot for the prospect of spreading the word! That’ll really help the game get traction.
This is a great idea. I’ve recently started taking a ‘proper’ german course and it’s sooooooooo boring (I’ve already learnt things better from your website!), but every now and then we play a game, which is the only time i really enjoy learning something in class.
I recently moved to Berlin and so I bought the german version of Codenames game, which I’ve played for years in Australia (in English) – i thought it would be good to play a fun game that forces you to think about the meanings of german words (and in particular multiple meanings and how words are related). So I bought it. Only problem – I forgot that you need four people to play, and I don’t know that many in Berlin yet hahaha!
Oh, when you’re in Berlin… In Friedrichshain there are not one but two board game stores, where people meet up to play board and card games and you can also rent them. It’s really cheap, actually.
And there are also people who play in English. I have not really been there except for renting a couple of board games, but it’s a nice atmosphere and at least one of the owners is British (sounded so) so he’ll know of the pains of learning.
If you’re interested, I can share the links here.
Also, if you’d like one of the prototypes, I’m happy to give it out.
I kind of need to get rid of them, actually, because I chose a very small fond size. Too small, to be comfortably read. So I’ll have to do another batch anyway.
Oh great – I’m living in Friedrichshain! I have seen Spielewiese if that is what you mean, but I havent been in there. Winter is a bit too cold to explore the Kiez now. But I have some friends visiting next week so I might take them there (even though they will want to do tourist stuff).
Happy to test drive a prototype if it’s helpful. I’ll be able to play against beginners and native speakers.
Wow, we’re neighbors then, I live next to Boxi :).
Yes, Spielwiese is one of the ones I meant and the other one is on Frankfurter Allee and is MUCH bigger.
If you want to go to Spielwiese for real, check the opening hours and maybe do a reservation, because it fills up quickly.
If you want, we can have a beer some day and I’ll show you the game.
Hallo,
No typos!
I REALLY REALLY want this!!!
I think you already know that prefix verbs are my Nemesis, but what you don’t know is that I’d already decided to make it my New Year’s resolution to actually learn the buggers…
And now you came up with this game that I think is really going to help (I’m still waiting for the book… but the game may be even better, because it allows for practice in a fun way).
Serendipity or what?
I’ve already signed up and I’ll definitely contribute when you do the crowdfunding :)
Bis morgen!
If you’re based in Europe, I can send you one of my prototypes. I have 12 or so and I’d be really happy to send one to your as a thank you for all the help over the years. Just send me an email with your address and I’ll send it your way :).
(sending to the US is a bit costly, I think)
Sounds like Elsa is so excited, she’d pay the shipping cost.
THANK YOU, I will!