This is not a German ‘lesson’ but still a video that should teach some lesson(s) (and it does involve German).

This video was created for a multimedia assignment in a Creative Writing paper. PLEASE COMMENT (on the video in youtube, not on this post if possible), let me know YOUR THOUGHTS – be PART of my assignment (I want it to be interactive!!)!!

Thanks for playing the guitar, Nicholas! Thanks to Nastassja and Goldie for ‘proof-watching’ it (so if there are still any (unintentional) ‘mistakes’ in it, you’re to blame! >P)!

If you don’t want to just watch it and interpret it your own way, but know what my intentions were, check out my notes below!

• the futuristic woman’s English is ‘different’ (mainly lacking articles), which is supposed to show that language change and language contact (German ‘und’ for ‘and’) may result in drastic changes
• the ‘fairy tale’ evokes expectations, just as the princess expects everyone to speak English, which fortunately isn’t the case because that would mean that many people would lose their jobs (e.g. translators), many cultures would die out, and the diversity of languages, dialects, accents and writing systems would disappear. Plus, fairy tales are entertaining and informative which allows them to persist. They may be designed for children (who are very important when it comes to language; they manage to acquire it in only a few years and are the ones who will end up being responsible for language change) but can transmit ‘hidden’ messages to adults, who like them just as much.
• The story brings up many issues in linguistics; miscommunication, ambiguity due to (no) intonation, visual cues, different writing systems, symbolism (how would we communicate if there was no language? With symbols? But how would we agree on their meanings?)… The effects of (the presence or absence of) voice (some voices appear ‘nicer’ to us), the advances in (language) technology (speech synthesis – is ‘standard’ best? Why do some people dislike dialects and accents? Similarly, writing on computers – do people end up making more spelling mistakes when they’re handwriting because they’re used to ‘letting computers correct them’?)
• I also threw in some ‘different’ issues; the environment (are technological advances really that great?), stereotypes (a black princess, a short prince (does he reflect the German stereotype?), what people think about blondes…)…
• The princess is found in the Pacific – life ‘began’ with water, which points to the origins and evolution of language
• The princess’ soul and heart are still ‘intact’, her brain and heart are still present in the skeleton. I made them of bubble wrap: her bubble bursts when her dream doesn’t come true (is anything (in life) ever perfect? I highly doubt it, and neither is language!!), and she commits suicide i.e. dies, which sheds light on the fact that more and more languages are dying out, which is to a great extent our fault – we’re somewhat committing language suicide
• Before the princess died she had lots of time to write down her ‘not so fairy fairy tale’, and took the book into her ‘grave’ – the evolution of history can mainly be studied through ancient documentation (e.g. Rosetta Stone). The book is in ‘unchronological’ order (from present to past – which you unfortunately can’t see but my tutor, who’s going to assess the assignment, will get as ‘hand in’ the ‘box with the dead princess and her book’ (visible in the very last seen)) – this ought to reflect how we go back in time to unfold stories, it’s not like we know what’s gonna happen in the future. Furthermore, the book has been somewhat destroyed (environmental influences) which evokes the topic of ‘language destruction’ (is the ‘youth’ ruining language, e.g. by abbreviations and so on?) and how environment shapes language
• The princess’ ‘skeleton’ is made of wire, as anatomically correct (because language is REAL) as I was able to put it together, to represents her cold, dead body that is empty of love as she believed to die that way, and because language is ‘hardwired’ into humans, it’s somewhat innate – at least according to some linguists (big debate – worth googling!)
• (As (not) visible in the last scene:) The princess is found and put in a coffin-like underwater boat in which the future people transport her to land – the letter ‘L’ is ‘written’ on it, denoting ‘language, love, life’ (or otherwise: language death, unrequited love, death)
• The ending is unusual and unhappy with the prospect for a happy ending after all; language is pretty much unpredictable, many languages die out, others develop, they all change, and new ones are created!

Alle meine Entchen (nursery rhyme)

sorry for not posting anything in a while. I only had time for a short nursery rhyme, but I hope you enjoy it nevertheless. I’ll try and do more as soon as I’ve got more time!

 

Alle meine Entchen
all my ducklings

schwimmen in dem See (x 2)
are swimming on the lake

Köpfchen in das Wasser
their little heads dip into the water

Schwänzchen in die Höh’
their little tails stick out

10 kleine Fische (song)

10/9/8… kleine Fische, die schwammen im Meer
10/9/8… little fish, that were swimming in the sea

Da sagte ein kleiner Fisch: “ich kann nicht mehr”
then one little fish said: “I am exhausted”
(lit. ‘I can no longer’)

“ich bin nicht dumm, ich kehre um”
“I am not stupid, I return”

Ein kleiner Fisch, der schwamm im Meer
One little fish, that was swimming in the sea

Da sagte der kleiner Fisch: “ich kann nicht mehr”
then this one little fish said: “I am exhausted”
(lit. ‘I can no longer’)

“ich bin nicht dumm, ich kehre um”
“I am not stupid, I return”

Past Perfect Tense – Plusquamperfekt (Vorvergangenheit)

In order to form the past perfect tense in German, you need the preterite form of to be/to have (sein/haben) and the second participle of the verb.

As usual, you take sein for verbs denoting a change of state or place, and haben everywhere else.

The preterite forms of to be/to have are the following:

sein		haben
ich	war	ich	hatte
du	warst	du	hattest
er/sie/es	war	er/sie/es	hatte
wir	waren	wir	hatten
ihr	wart	ihr	hattet
sie	waren	sie	hatten

•  The second participle for a weak verb is formed by prefixing ge- and suffixing -t to the verb, and for strong verbs you prefix ge- and suffix -en.
• Note that many strong (and mixed) verbs change their stem in the second participle (e.g. gehen – gegangen).
• If the stem ends in d/t, you suffix -et to the weak/mixed verb.
• Do not prefix words with ge- if they end in –ieren, as in studieren – studiert.

You use the past perfect tense for actions before a certain moment in the past. Basically, like in English. I went to the doctor’s because I had been ill for weeks. Ich ging zum Arzt weil ich seit Wochen krank gewesen war.

The 2nd Future – Vollendete Zukunft

What you need to form the ‚second future‘ (Futur II, vollendete Zukunft) is the finite form of ‚werden‘ (to become), the second participle of the verb, and the helping verb sein/haben (to be/to have). Importantly, you need to be able to conjugate ‘werden’ appropriately, and you need to know how to form the second participle of a verb. This will allow you to construct sentences such as the following:

Ich	werde	gegessen	haben.	I will have eaten.
Du	wirst	gelesen	haben.	You will have read.
Er/sie/es	wird	gelernt	haben	You will have learned.
Wir	werden	gegangen	sein	We will have gone/walked.
Ihr	werdet	geboren	sein.	You will have been born.
Sie/Sie	werden	gestorben	sein.	You will have died.

When do you use ‘haben’ (have) and when ‘sein’ (be)?

‘sein’ is mostly used for intransitive verbs that denote a change of state or place (gehen, einschlafen, aufwachen,…), and ‘haben‘ anywhere else.

How do you form the second participle again…?

• weak verbs: ge…t
• strong verbs: ge…en
• mind that many strong and mixed verbs have a different stem in the second participle! (e.g. gehen – gegangen, bringen – gebracht…)
• verbs that end in –ieren are not prefixed; e.g. studieren – studiert (not *gestudiert)

When do you use this tense?

• When you assume that something has finished (keyword frequently ‘schon’): Es wird schon gut gegangen sein (I’m sure it worked out fine)
• When you assume that something will have finished by a certain time in the future: Ich werde meinen Aufsatz bis morgen Abend verbessert haben (I will have improved my essay by tomorrow evening)

Poem – Du musst das Leben nicht verstehen (Rainer Maria Rilke)

Du musst das Leben nicht verstehen Du musst das Leben nicht verstehen, dann wird es werden wie ein Fest. Und lass dir jeden Tag geschehen so wie ein Kind im Weitergehen von jedem Wehen sich viele Blüten schenken lässt.	You don’t have to understand Life You don’t have to understand life, then it will become just like a feast. Let everyday just happen to you like every child in moving along from every blow is given many flowers
Sie aufzusammeln und zu sparen, das kommt dem Kind nicht in den Sinn. Es löst sie leise aus den Haaren, drin sie so gern gefangen waren, und hält den lieben jungen Jahren nach neuen seine Hände hin.	Collecting and saving them, never enters the child’s mind. It gently unties them from its hair, where they were kept trapped with such delight, and to the loving youthful years it reaches out for new ones

Poem – Heinrich Heine – XLVII Du bist wie eine Blume

Du bist wie eine Blume,
You are like a flower,

so hold und schön und rein,
so sweet, and fair, and pure,

Ich schau’ dich an, und Wehmut
I look at you, and sorrow

schleicht mir ins Herz hinein.
steals into my heart.

Mir ist, als ob ich die Hände
I feel that my hands,

aufs Haupt dir legen sollt’,
I ought to lay upon your head,

Betend, dass Gott dich erhalte
Praying that God may receive you

so rein, und schön, und hold.
so pure, and fair, and sweet.

Poem – Das Rad der Zeit

© Gabriela Bredehorn

Jeder spricht vom Rad der Zeit, ich hab’ es nie gesehen. Es “radelt” wohl zum Zeitvertreib, bleibt es auch jemals stehen?	Everyone talks about the wheel of time, I’ve never seen it. It cycles maybe to pass the time, will it ever stop?
Schon mancher wurde überrollt und nahm dabei kein Schaden. Wer hat das denn nur so gewollt? Die Zeit verlangt stets Taten.	Quite a few were rolled over yet were not harmed. who wanted it this way? Time always requires deeds.
“Was wäre wenn es rückwärts fährt, macht man die selben Fehler?” Die Frage wird wohl nie geklärt, zu tief sind manche Täler.	‘What if it moved backwards, would one make the same mistakes?’ This question will probably never be solved, some valleys are too deep.
Das Rad der Zeit dreht seine Kreise, doch du bestimmst das große Ziel. Es holt dich ein auf seine Weise, ‘drum lebe immer möglichst viel.	The wheel of time moves in a circle, yet you decide the ultimate goal. It overtakes you in its way, thus always live as much as possible.

The Present Perfect Tense – 2. Vergangenheit (Perfekt, Vollendete Gegenwart)

In order to form the present perfect tense, you need the conjugated present form of the verbs to be or to have (Präsens-Form von sein/haben) and the second participle (3^rd principle part) (dritte Stammform des Verbs, Parizip II).

Conjugation of sein/haben in the present tense

	present-form of to be – Präsens-Form von sein	present-form of to have – Präsens-Form von haben
ich	bin	habe
du	bist	hast
er/sie/es	ist	hat
wir	sind	haben
ihr	seid	habt
sie/Sie	sind	haben

 

How to form the second participle:

	second participle – Partizip II (remove the verbs ending and add:)	example
weak verbs	ge…t	lernen – gelernt
strong verbs	ge…en	sehen – gesehen

 

When sein and when haben?

• verbs of movement normally take ‘sein’, all other verbs take ‘haben’

Note:

• Many strong verbs change their stem in the second participle; e.g. gehen – gegangen (that’s why, when I was a kid, I used to say gang instead of ging (past participle))
• If the weak verb ends in d/t, you add et; e.g. bluten – geblutet
• If the verb ends in –ieren, you don’t need to prefix ge-; e.g. musizieren, ich habe musiziert

When do you use it?

• Completed actions: Ich habe gestern ein Eis gegessen. (I had an ice cream yesterday). In speech, the present perfect is the favoured past tense, in particular in the south of Germany, in Switzerland and many dialects.
• Something happened in the past and had consequences on the present („Präsensperfekt“ – gegenwartbezogene Vergangenheit): Ich habe zwei Stunden Sport gemacht (und jetzt bin ich müde). (I worked out for two hours (and now I’m tired).)
• Apparently also instead of the Futur II, I personally wouldn’t use it in that way though. E.g.: In einer Woche hat sie ihren Führerschein bestanden. Instead of: In einer Woche wird sie ihren Führerschein bestanden haben.

Talking about the past – die Vergangenheit

As you may remember from a previous video on verbs, Stammformen, there are three principle parts of each verb. The infinitive, the preterite and the past participle. Now in order to form the simple past tense in German (Imperfekt, Präteritum, Vergangenheit) all you need to know is the verb conjugated in the past participle.

Conjugation of weak verbs

ich	lernte
du	lerntest
er/es/sie	lernte
wir	lernten
ihr	lerntet
sie	lernten

Conjugation of strong verbs

ich	sah
du	sahst
er/es/sie	sah
wir	sahen
ihr	saht
sie	sahen

Conjugation of to be and to have

sein		haben
ich	war	ich	hatte
du	warst	du	hattest
er/es/sie	war	er/es/sie	hatte
wir	waren	wir	hatten
ihr	wart	ihr	hattet
sie	waren	sie	hatten

note:

• Many strong verbs change their stem in the past participle.

usage:

• You use this tense for completed actions: Sie heirateten im Dezember. (They got married in December.)
• It is often interchangeable with the perfect tense (which is preferred in common speech; Sie haben im Dezember geheiratet.)
• It is commonly used in narrations and reports: Es war einmal ein Kind. Es lebte bei seinen Eltern. (Once upon a time there was a child. It lived with its parents.)