Hello everyone,
Welcome back to the internet’s favorite German learning blog.
The language actually had a bit of a back-seat over the last few weeks because we were talking about the German elections and politics.
But that’s OVER now. Time to get back to learning.
And after all the reading, I thought it’s more than time to do something more practical, so today, we’ll do… drumroll…
A German Synonym Quiz
Together, we’ll go over a few nice to know German synonyms, some easier, some harder.
And because the goal of this is learning something and not just testing or performing, I’ll give you a short explanation along with each answer, so you KNOW what’s going on and why an answer is wrong or right or pink or purple.
So if you’re ready, let’s jump right in.
Hah… psyche!!!
I have one quick “housekeeping comment” :).
I’ll switch on my italic voice for that, hold on.
Ahem… so, a few of you have recently ordered one of my prefix verb card games (you can find out more about that here).
Well, I kind of messed up packaging a bit and used a box that was small enough in Germany, but too big internationally. I’ll pass part of the blame to DHL for calling both products XS but changing height measures, but anyway.
I did get a couple of packages back due to packaging rule violations. I also emailed a bunch of you to ask whether you received your game or not, and the majority of parcels did go through despite being “too big” .
But if you did order a game more than two weeks ago, and you have NOT received it yet, please do reach out to me so I can potentially resend. I do not have tracking, because DHL would want 40 Euro extra for that (when sending the US). Per parcel. That’s just insanity.
Thanks and sorry if it happened to you.
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All right, but now let’s jump right in to the world of… synonyms.
Viel Spaß!
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So how was it? How many did you know?
Let me know in the comments how you did and also, if you’d like more sessions like this about synonyms.
And of course, if you have any questions about any of the words of today – meaning, usage, nuances – just ask in the comments and I’ll do my best to clear things up.
That’s it for today, I hope you enjoyed it, have a great week and bis zum nächsten Mal!
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thanks for having last question as “review-question”. it really reminded me of what I was doing during the whole quiz. please add the last question just like that summary of the whole quiz in future topics.
Hi emanuel, ich hoffe es geht dir gut.
Ich könnte endlich ins Deutschland kommen und seit diesen 10 Tagen, in denen ich an der Universität bin, verstehe ich nichts viel von was Lehrerinnen uns sagen.
Ich weiss, dass Schwierigkeit von Fachsprache auch überlegt werden soll, aber ich habe das notiert, dass ich einen Schwachpunkt in Hören habe.
Oder wenn ich z.b. die Slides oder PDFs lese, finde ich viele komplizierte Wörter und Verbs.
Ich hatte einen Unterricht mit einen Lehrer, bei dem ich nix (wahrscheinlich %1) verstanden hatte und ich wollte ehrlich weinen.
Gestern habe ich für einen Job in den Kleidungsmarkt gegangen und ich könnte nicht mit Kunden gut kommunizieren. Ich sagte Ihnen ich passe dieser Job nicht, obwohl Sie mir gesagt hatten, dass ich noch bei Ihnen bleiben muss, aber ich fühlte viel Drück und Stress auf mich)
Das würde sehr nett von dir, wenn du mir beraten würdest.
(Sorry dass ich Sie, duzen habe.)
Glückwunsch, dass du es geschafft hast und angefangen hast zu studieren und sofort zu arbeiten. Das ist schwer, wenn man die Sprache noch nicht so gut kann!! Respekt.
Ich weiß allerdings nicht, wie ich dich beraten soll. Ich habe keine Erfahrung mit so einer Situation. Da findest du auf Reddit bestimmt bessere Hilfe, von Leuten, die das gleiche erlebt haben.
Vielen Dank für die Antwort dear emanuel.
Nice Job here! Had a lot of fun doing it, thank you :)
Quick question on “sich erinnern”:
Is it not necesary always the “daran”? (so: sich an etwas erinnern).
How I was teached, i would tend to day “Ich erinnere mich grad nicht daran, wo das war”
It’s not wrong to say it, but it’s more idiomatic without it.
Hi, have you an article ”dafür”? I’ve been wondering, when to use these Da-words.
I don’t have an article for “dafür” specifically, but for the da-words in general, you can find more here:
https://yourdailygerman.com/da-words-meaning-german/
You can also ask your questions about “dafür” specifically in my dictionary entry for it here. It’d be perfect to explore it further there, because then others will see that too who might have the same questions.
https://yourdailygerman.com/meaning/te-to/da/dafur/
Great! Thanks a lot
12/16. Ich mochte das Quiz. Mehr, bitte.
This was enjoyable and informative. I haven’t spoken German in 25 years – not many opportunities where I live now. 13/16 – I was pretty surprised by that. I also had never heard ode used that way – I remember it coming across as distasteful. The review at the end was super. Thank you!
Hah, once things are in long term memory, they’re REALLY with you for decades :)
I only got 9 of 16 points, but I’m at about A1-2 level. Plus I’m really just getting to grips with prefixes. But the explanations were really helpful, so I think I’ve learned a lot, and that’s always the goal! I did also enjoy the beer synonyms!
9/16 for A1-2 level is great!
Just do the quiz again in a couple of days and see if you do better. The goal is learning, not performing, after all :)
I chose losfahren, for BEGIN because you are beginning a trip. I was thinking of 2 people sitting in a car, getting settled in for a long drive. Once the futzing around has stopped, everyone‘s coffee is in place, sunglasses on, music ready, the driver turns to the passenger/friend and says „Und jetzt fahen wir los?“
Would that work in German?
Yes, but that really only works if you’re driving (train, car) or riding (bike) somewhere.
I like how many synonyms there are for imitate. Semantically self-fulfilling
Lol, true!! More than one would think are needed :)
I like the beer synonyms. It transports a person into an aspect of German daily life. My friend’s father also had cute expression after tennis on a Saturday afternoon at the bar: Can I have a bottle of paw-paw sauce please?
I like the translation of Yippee as Yuchuu. In Duolingo when presented with the sentence…
..my response was..
I was wrong. The correct answer was..
There’s a typo there.
I’d say that people definitely also say “shhh” or “shhht” or “pshhht”. Though in German, you’d write it “schhhhhh”.
But the most iconic one is definitely “psst” so maybe Duo was going for that.
13/16 points. The matching exercise to reiterate what we learned at the end was a nice touch! The “remember” question threw me off when it said “vergessen” because I was thinking in strict synonym terms, not an antonym that can be negated to become a synonym.
In German, “memorable” we translate as “unvergesslich”, since something which is literally “unforgettable” will always be remembered:-)
In English we use both, but I would say “unforgettable” feels stronger than “memorable” for me. I might say “a memorable story” vs “an unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Hello everyone
I just wanted to thank everyone who help others to have the possibility of free account.And a big than you to Emanuel .I love not only the quality of the website but also the quality of the humer . Love it.
Dankeschön
Diese kleinen Quizze sind echt gut informierend und machen auch Spaß.
Thanks SO much for the quick explanation of the difference between “sich erinnern” and “sich merken.” I always have trouble with that, and now I’ve got it.
Happy it helped :)
“sich merken” can be used in various contexts, among them,
Hier ist doch keine Grundschule, Martin, sondern eine Universitaet
und man erwartet ein gewisses Niveau, merk dir das nur!”
“sich erinnern” denotes generic memory of past events, rather than of
noting attention to specific details, therefore may only rarely be used in the Imperative, except perhaps as an exhortation, e.g.
“Der ganze Krieg war aber eine Schande! Erinnern Sie sich bloss…”
Suffice to say for me as a German, the last sentence might sound a trifle odd, though not necessarily “foreign”, although clearly not natural.
I did better than I usually do, so this was fun for me! There were also several new vocabulary words I hope to absorb. Thanks Emanuel.
BTW the prefix verb cards arrived fine at my daughter’s place in Freiburg. They‘re now safely with me in the US. No insane DHL funnybiz. :-)
Awesome, glad to hear that!
I got 11 out of 16. I use the verb “abmachen” more than “ausmachen” when it comes to agreeing to meet. I have just started using the Take Notes feature and I am hoping that I will actually use the notes I made for further learning instead of archiving it :)
True, “abmachen” means the same in that sense. I actually never use it, but it’s not rare. Completely up to personal preference.
In a more formal register, one can say/hear occasionally “Abgemacht!” in the sense of “Agreed!” as in to firming up
an appointment or a specific task, wouldn’t you say?
“Ausmachen” is more to, literally, “work something out”, such as,
“Die Plaene habe ich schon ausgemacht.”
‘Course there always “sich ausmachen” as well:
“Treffen wir uns da oder bei mir?” – Nu, das macht mir nichts aus!
100%…but only because I had to take it twice…I wasn’t signed in the first time. It was 65% first time (one of these days I will really remember ausX vs aufX…today was not that day). Love the explanations and what you stress are important take aways to know/understand.
Hey everyone, I’m a student who learns German and well, I’ve got myself year long account thanks to you beautiful people and Emanuel. I just want to thank you all. You are all amazing.
Thank you for this, please do more. I got 56% and loved it. Some of the words I hadn’t heard of before.
Hi! I haven’t had the chance to explore the site much yet, but I am very thankful to all members and sponsors! :D
Hello,
I found one typo in Q3:
“Can sounds dismissive” (Can sound dismissive)
I got 14 points, 7 out of 9 questions, so I suppose it’s not too bad!
And yes, I’d like more quizzes like this, especially if the explanation part is included, which I think it’s a really great feature :)
Bis bald!