German Stories - Learn German with Stories

Complain, ask for advice, give advice and express a plan & subjunctive II with sollte.

Paul is depressed and regrets that he couldn't be there for Grandpa in the end. His work is also not going well since he is out of ideas. When Laura hears that he uploaded his Sylt adventure today, she is a little too interested in the new blog post, especially since she already knows the whole story. His blog is now super popular, but that doesn't cheer him up: Grandpa would have loved to look for the painting. But now he and the page are gone, which leaves Paul with no clue about where to find it. Tim complains about his employee and partner at his workshop. Laura remembers that Fritz, too, had a workshop and a partner. He betrayed also him, then ignored him and then used an excuse with a burnt cell phone - the same excuse he gave Paul. Fritz is ruthless, which is why he had also drawn suspicion on Anna by telling Paul about her previous conviction. Noticing how he has been tricked again, Paul is very angry and wants to report Fritz to the police. And he has proof: he had used his phone to make a sound recording of their last conversation on Sylt. Will he really report Fritz and thus put his police career in danger? Why is Laura suddenly so overly interested in the blog post about Sylt even though she already knows everything?

Transcript, lesson and extras: german-stories.com/85-ich-sollte-eine-anzeige-gegen-fritz-machen-subjunctive-ii-sollte

On our German Stories website, you can see the meaning of every single word in each episode. Just tap on it! You can also activate whole sentence translation for better understanding. Try it out now for FREE at german-stories.com

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Reproach, stroll down memory lane & subjunctive II with würde.

Paul is back in Munich, riding his bike to Grandpa's apartment. He has the book, but without the important page. His parents are already there. They're clearing all the rooms because he has died. That is why Paul’s mother was so strange on the phone when he was on Sylt. The call wasn't dropped due to bad reception - she hung up because she was crying. When Grandpa's condition got worse and she heard that Paul was on Sylt, she knew he couldn't come back that same day and see him one last time. But knowing that he was going to realize his dream of finding the book and the painting made Grandpa happy in the end. Paul’s father reveals that Fritz's theft is partly to blame for his death. Paul’s parents don't know where the missing page is and stroll down memory lane with his old photos. That's when Paul arrives at the apartment, thinking he is still alive... He never gets the opportunity to normalize his relationship with him, and ask him about the missing page with the important info. What will happen with regard to the missing page and the painting?

Transcript, lesson and extras: german-stories.com/84-heinz-kommt-nie-mehr-zurueck-subjunctive-ii-wuerde

• Firstly, we pick you up at your level, starting from zero.
• Secondly, we lead you to your goal in small steps. There is a constant, low amount of new words, and only a small piece of grammar in each lesson. This way, you don't get overwhelmed.
• Thirdly, we teach you with a full-blown, continuous story. It's a modern audio drama, played by over 30 professional voice actors, designed to always make you want to know what happens next episode!

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Sad song: "Come Back Home" created by Ardie Son, licensed by Artlist.io

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Accusations, reasons, excuses & subjunctive II with hätte.

At the party, Fritz hid the book under his sweater and took it away. That actually saved it from falling off the balcony, he says. When Paul upset everybody there was no chance to give it back secretly. And the option to admit that he was the one who had the book without losing his face was gone, too. So he handed the book over to the caretaker who's doing the lost-and-found for Paul's apartment building. But that was already 3 weeks ago. That's why he's so shocked that Paul doesn't have it back yet. Fritz thought Paul would surely assume that it had fallen down and ask the caretaker if someone found it. And he thought that the caretaker probably told him it was Fritz who gave him the book. That - and the fact that he is together with Paul’s ex-girlfriend - is the reason why he isn't surprised that Paul is angry at him. He shows him his phone and SIM card: They’re burnt. It looks like Fritz’s electronics really got wet in a rain. And in Berlin, Fritz was apparently on the phone all the time because he bragged to his new girlfriend about "his" new holiday home - which actually belongs to his uncle. Paul calls Anna. She goes to the caretaker and gets the book. He is very happy, but the glued-in page with the important info is missing. Without it, Grandpa won't be able to find the new address of the hiding place of the painting. Fritz says he doesn't have it, and stays in denial till the end: "I didn't do anything wrong." The book is back, but what will Grandpa say about the missing page and the important info being lost?

Transcript, lesson and extras: german-stories.com/83-das-grosse-wiedersehen-teil-3-subjunctive-2-haette

The Immersive Learning mini app on the German Stories website will teach you the words and phrases from each lesson in a smart way using spaced repetition to make sure you don't forget them. It keeps track of how good you know every word, and schedules when to review it again. And it mixes up the ways in which it teaches you: multiple choice, single flashcards, order the words, listen and write - you name it! Try it out NOW at german-stories.com

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Get upset about someone, blow off steam, make excuses & order of dative and accusative in a sentence when both objects are personal pronouns.

Paul confronts Fritz, who does not apologize, but justifies his behavior instead: His new girl is Paul’s ex girlfriend, and he thought Paul would mind. So he didn't tell him. He blocked his facebook posts for all of his friends because it was supposed to be a surprise that he caught the Großkauf thieves, got the promotion, the vacation, and the holiday home. But he forgot that Meili is also on facebook and can see his posts. Since he was late for Paul’s party, he didn’t hear him say the book is valuable. And he just „borrowed“ it for his new girl. Later he wanted to give it back. But then Paul made a big deal about it and upset everybody. So he wanted to have another party to get a chance to secretly put it back. But there were no more parties, soe he tried to visit Paul to put it back. But he came and stood in front of closed doors. Fritz says both his phone and SIM card are broken because they got wet in a rain. He couldn't get in touch and didn’t mean to ignore him. He has no phone numbers, no logins for social media and messengers, and no access to e-mail. Paul wants to know where his book is. Fritz is shocked to hear that he doesn't already have it. Why is Fritz so shocked and thinks Paul already has the book? If he thinks Paul already has the book, why wasn’t he surprised that he is still mad at him?

Transcript, lesson and extras: german-stories.com/82-das-grosse-wiedersehen-teil-2-order-of-dative-accusative-in-sentences

We felt that the best way to learn German is NOT using the old style teaching material with chapters full of tiny texts and unrelated stories. Our idea was to spoon-feed you German in very small bits. And to tell you parts of one big story at the same time. An awesome, full-blown story with different storylines that continues throughout all lessons. We wanted to keep you motivated and say "I can't wait to find out what happens next episode!" If you're curious about the idea behind German Stories, go to german-stories.com/the-best-way-to-learn-german

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Travel vocabuary, neighborhood rules & order of dative and accusative in a sentence when one object is a personal pronoun.

Paul thinks about his situation: he doesn't get any unemployment benefits anymore because he’s now able to make a living as a freelancer. Fortunately, his laptop and cell phone survived yesterday's rain thanks to a plastic bag. He has already checked out of the hotel room. And he has been looking for Fritz for five hours today - with no success. He realizes that he has to give up the search. Unfortunately he will have to disappoint Grandpa. Maybe he'll never talk to Paul again. Laura writes: She has read the entire story in the blog now, and is no longer angry. Actually, she can understand Paul. She, too, was unfair to him in the beginning when she ghosted him. At this moment, he overhears a man’s voice in the distance. Loud complains about mowing the lawn on a Sunday. He notices that there is also a red BMW with Munich license plates in front of a garage nearby. He sees the man's neighbor who has an eye-catching tattoo. And then he notices that the man is Fritz! It's his car that is parked in front of the garage - apparently he doesn't have a second garage door opener. What will happen when Paul confronts Fritz?

Transcript, lesson and extras: german-stories.com/81-das-grose-wiedersehen-teil-1-order-of-dative-accusative-in-sentences

The characters in our story DON'T speak at a regular speed, just like native speakers among themselves. Why?
They speak natural German. But we put in countless hours of work to direct every voice actor so that he or she speaks a bit slower and more clearly, adapted to the language level. You can always speed up the audio in the app. We believe this is the better way. Just as we believe that at the beginning, training wheels teach a child to ride a bike better than bruises from falls do. If you want know why we spent over 1 1/2 years of work before we even published our first lesson, go to german-stories.com/the-best-way-to-learn-german

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Hotel room amenities and their convenience & order of dative and accusative in a sentence when both objects are nouns.

It's getting late and bad weather is coming. Paul's rain jacket was in the backpack which he lost. He sees a clothes shop, but it closed 5 minutes ago. He has been looking for Fritz for two hours today. Now the e-scooter battery is almost empty. Paul sees another red BMW, but is disappointed again - it's not Fritz's car. He's hungry and still doesn't have a hotel room. He gets a message from Laura: She wanted to call him, but that didn't work. Is he ignoring her? Paul had told her to read his blog to soften the unpleasant news for her. Unfortunately for Paul, it seems like she only read the beginning where he was just dating her because he needed information. She's very angry! It starts to rain and Paul accelerates, because he wants to find a hotel fast. That's when the e-scooter battery dies. He gets soaked. Hopefully his cell phone and laptop won't get wet, otherwise his online work will be over. He wants to give up the search and write about it in the blog. Will Laura read the rest of the blog and see Paul's good side?

Transcript, lesson and extras: german-stories.com/80-so-finde-ich-ihn-nie-order-of-dative-accusative-in-sentences

Grammar, and vocabulary drills can make your life easier. Do you know what's also great for your German learning? The hints and learning tips on the German Stories website! Why not try them out for FREE? Just go to german-stories.com

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Baggage and paperwork vocabulary & dative reflexive verbs and sentence structure: mir etwas anziehen, mir etwas kaufen, mir etwas leihen.

Paul arrives at the train station in Westerland on the island of Sylt. He loses his backpack and unsuccessfully tries to get help in the lost-and-found office. He is desperate because the garage opener is in it, and he needs it to find Fritz's garage. He wants to give up, but then it occurs to him: Without his garage opener, Fritz has to park outside. In that case, Paul would be able to see his red BMW parked outside. Paul's mother calls, but the cell phone reception is poor on the island. She already tried to call him three times today. He tells her that he is looking for Fritz and the book on Sylt. She says she just wanted to tell him that she is proud of him for telling Grandpa the truth. Then the call is dropped due to bad reception. Paul sees a red BMW, but it's not Fritz’s car. He borrows an e-scooter to look for him. Will Paul be able to find Fritz without the garage opener by looking for his red BMW parked outside? Or has Fritz found a way to park inside his garage, making Paul's search pointless?

Transcript, lesson and extras: german-stories.com/79-mein-rucksack-ist-weg-reflexive-verbs-dative-accusative

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Understand online comments & question words and pronouns in the accusative and dative: wem, wen, welcher, welchen, keinen, keinem, jemanden, jemandem, ....

Working online has become a good income source for Paul. He reads some blog comments during the train ride to Sylt: Among other things, people write that at first Paul only took advantage of Laura as a source of information. He answers her message and says he doesn't have time for a date. She wants to know why but he doesn't tell her. He really likes her, and he thinks he will lose her if he tells her that at the beginning he only used her to get information from her. But because people already know the truth, she will find out sooner or later. He figures he has to tell her, but how? How can he soften the news for her that at first he only dated her because he needed information?

Transcript, lesson and extras: german-stories.com/78-paul-muss-es-laura-sagen-wem-wen-welchen-jemandem

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Briefly describe a place, tourism vocabulary & possessive pronouns in the accusative and dative: unserem/-r/-n, eurem/-r/-n.

All of a sudden Paul doesn't want to waste any more time. He quickly looks up information about the German island of Sylt, then rushes to get the train to there. Apparently, this is his understanding of „taking action“. On the phone, he gets some tips from Anna: He should try finding Fritz's garage by using the garage opener. Fritz's house is surely close to the garage. And he has a red BMW - there are certainly not many cars like this on the island. Then Laura writes Paul. Her Oktoberfest police operation is now over and she is free. She wants to know if Paul has time. Paul doesn't know what to do: He has no time, but he can't tell her why he has no time because that would shurely make her angry. Will Paul find Fritz on the island? Why would Laura get mad if he tells her why he doesn't have time?

Transcript, lesson and extras: german-stories.com/77-ich-fahre-zu-unserem-freund-accusative-dative-possessives

Learn German while you play with words, pictures, and audio!

The Immersive Learning mini app on the German Stories website will teach you the words and phrases from each lesson in a smart way using spaced repetition to make sure you don't forget them. It keeps track of how good you know every word, and schedules when to review it again. And it mixes up the ways in which it teaches you: multiple choice, single flashcards, order the words, listen and write - you name it! Try it out NOW at german-stories.com

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Demand something, complain, and apologize & possessive pronouns in the accusative and dative: ihrem/-r/-n, Ihrem/-r/-n.

While waiting for the movie to start and looking on the internet for the best surf spots, Tim suddenly wants to see Paul's key ring. Fritz’s garage door opener is attached to it. They see on the website that the sticker on it is a symbol which represents the North Sea island of Sylt. It’s hard to say if Fritz is really on Sylt. Right when Paul intends to turn off his phone, Grandpa calls. Despite the annoyed moviegoers, he doesn't have the heart to cut off the phone conversation with him. Grandpa found out how to find the new address of the hiding place of the painting. But for that he needs the book and the information written in it! Paul's father had helped Grandpa with the research despite being banned from using a smartphone. That’s how he was able to find out that the book nowadays has an extremely high value, too. So Paul absolutely must get the book back! He decides that he has to take action now. What does he mean by "taking action"?

Transcript, lesson and extras: german-stories.com/76-pauls-schlussel-accusative-dative-possessives

Dynamic transcripts make learning German easy

On our German Stories website, you can see the meaning of every single word in each episode. Just tap on it! You can also activate whole sentence translation for better understanding. Try it out now for FREE at german-stories.com

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