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 bl...

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 bec...

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...

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...

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....

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...

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 wan...

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...

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 shoul...

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...

Understand a movie description & possessive pronouns in the accusative and dative: seinem/-r/-n, ihrem/-r/-n. Meili, Anna, Tim and Paul are waiting in the cinema for the film to start and they’re reading the movie description. Paul tells them that he is getting more and more online jobs now. It also turns out that his blog is becoming even more popular. He and his friends gather in front of hi...

Complain about pain, congratulate, and spur someone on & possessive pronouns in the accusative and dative: meinem/-r/-n, deinem/-r/-n. During a break while playing paintball, Meili, Anna, Tim, and Paul chat. Paul excitedly shares his first freelance gig. The blog about Fritz has gained traction, with fans speculating wildly about his alleged connections to the underworld - this is what Grandpa...

Write a story, ask questions, explain a reason & dative verbs: antworten, danken, sagen, fehlen, gefallen, gehören, glauben, helfen, passen. Paul is at home, creating online profiles for freelancer apps. He’s been writing his new blog for 2 days. Grandpa calls him and explains that he never found the painting because the address of the hiding place that was written in the book was no longer co...

Explain hardships of the past & personal pronouns in the dative: euch, ihnen / Ihnen. Paul boosts Grandpa's spirits with coffee and updates him on his search for the book. But because he gets many rejections for his job applications, he feels hopeless. Grandpa empathizes with him and suggests that he should start writing, even without a formal writing job. So Paul decides to work on freelancer...

Talk about the weather, hobbies and technology & personal pronouns in the dative: ihr, uns. Paul and Grandpa play chess together. Tim hears from a friend that Fritz is probably kitesurfing because his BMW can't carry a large windsurfing board. Tim wants to share a video of the best kitesurfing spots with Paul. Paul feels down because he keeps getting rejected after applying for jobs. Grandpa s...

Vocab for games, application documents & personal pronouns in the dative: mir, dir, ihm. Paul is bowling with his parents and talks about his career plans. His lie that he knew what job he wanted all along goes undetected. Tim writes that he doesn't have any news about Fritz either, but he believes lakes don't have real beaches. So Paul has to look for Fritz on Germany's coasts. But they are t...

Make a decision based on simple job descriptions & sum-up: all dative and accusative prepositions and their contractions. Paul discovers for himself that he wants to be an author. So today he plans to write 20 applications and tell his mother about it. But the chances to become an author are slim, because he doesn't have a degree in German Studies and there are many authors already. In the Wha...

Understand an article in a tabloid newspaper & fusion of prepositions and articles: am, beim, im, vom, zum, zur, ins. Paul checks the Whatsapp group to learn about Fritz. He thinks Meili might find something on Fritz' Facebook. He reads on a news app about an accident at the Oktoberfest. A lot of police are needed there. Laura explains that that's the reason why she has no time during the next...

Career planning, interest-based words & question word: welch-. Paul thinks about which job he wants and finds help in the job book he got from Anna. It was her present for Pauls birthday which she had angrily slammed on the table at the buffet in Berlin. He wants to do "something with writing, texts and words". He starts enthusiastically, but quickly gives up because he thinks you can't make a...

Talk about social problem areas and career choices, tip the waitress & subordinate clause with accusative (der Mann, den ich sehe). Paul is out with Laura when she tells him that Fritz always dreamed of owning a holiday home by the beach, maybe on the North Sea or Baltic Sea. Laura asks about Paul's job. Since he's jobless, he lies, saying he's a librarian but looking for something new. Laura...

Compare things, talk about the past & comparative and superlative. Paul sets up the date with Laura. Grandpa is still going on about former times. He starts talking about books that were banned in the GDR, former East Germany. That's when he remembers THE book. Paul lies again: he says the book is at home. He had lied to his mother about his job choice before, and now he feels that he got caug...

Explain economics and politics in very simple words & temporal prepositions: ab; von ... bis; zwischen. Everyone thinks that the sticker on Fritz's garage door opener is in the shape of a lake. Therefore, Paul looks for it on the internet. But he cannot find such a lake in all of Germany. He thinks there is little hope because Fritz is certainly abroad. Laura writes: She saw Paul's Oktoberfest...

Tell a story about the past, make conclusions & temporal prepositions: vor, nach, seit. Paul's mom feels guilty because he got fired and so she transferred € 500 to his account. He pretends to know what kind of job he wants and says he'll tell her next time. So he is spared from having to tell his friends that they have to pay themselves, even though he said „it’s my treat“. He meets them at t...

Emphasize the negative aspects of a person, make a friendly suggestion & Substituite forms for the imperative: Nicht so viel trinken! / Lass uns das nehmen! Paul writes his mother that he wants to borrow 500 € from her. He lies and says it’s for new clothes for a job interview - not for treating his friends to the Oktoberfest directly after a shopping frenzy. And he pretends to know what kind...

Make suggestions and give commands & Imperative with Sie: kommen Sie / suggestion with wir: gehen wir. Paul is buying new clothes to be prepared in case he is invited to a job interview. He doesn't have a lot of money, so he doesn't want to buy much. But he gets too excited and ends up on a shopping frenzy. Meili is happy because her problems are gone. That makes Tim and Anna happy, too. Paul...