This is a chapter about common mistakes in German and how to avoid them.

As a real German, I will start with the ‘don’ts’, as we are a country of lots of prohibited things, therefore maybe an often used form : Das darf man nicht, pretty hard to translate, something like it is not allowed to, it is forbidden, but it doesn’t really catch the meaning, because very often instead of referring to a rule or law it refers to the common sense, or, better, what some people think is their common sense.

Anyway, from the point of view of a good teacher, I will  start with what a good teacher shouldn’t start with: The don’ts!

1. Let’s start with a very small thing, the comma. Don’t use it, as you might be used to do it in other languages, especially in English!

Why is this small symbol so important?

Most of the German students learn quite soon one of the most important rules for the German sentence structure: The verb 2-rule, which simply means, the verb must always go in the second position (at least in the main sentence).

Ich lese ein Buch.

Easy one, hardly to say it in a different way.

Ich lese heute ein Buch.

Thinking from an English speaking point of view, somebody might put the time expression ‘heute’ after the object ‘Buch’. This is wrong, but another issue, about which I will talk at another time. This  sentence here is correct, but actually, we don’t like it so much, I know, we are a bit fuzzy about our language, so we would much prefer this one:

Heute lese ich ein Buch.

Just a simple rule: Never start a sentence with ‘ich’. Not wrong, just not nice, kind of doesn’t sound good. Here we are already faced with a problem not always easy to explain. From a simply grammatical point of view, the sentence is correct, we just don’t use it so often, we don’t like it. That’s all. Not really a good explanation.

Now I come back to the verb 2 -rule. Some people will say: But in English – and then translated in German, you could say:

*Heute, ich lese ein Buch. (the star just means, the sentence is wrong!)

Never put a comma after a time expression!

But in English … yes, exactly, in English you do it, but this is German, and we don’t want to speak Denglish.

With all the similarities between English and German, there is at least one big difference: the verb 2 -rule, which German has in common with only a few other languages.

 

But then, we should have a ‘do it’.

Write a comma, whenever there a two sentences, because they must separated, or when you feel it. What? Grammatical rules are all about feeling?  Now sometimes they are, and you are entitled to ask your own heart what you feel, at least this is true for two main sentences. So, in the sentence you can decide to put a comma or not.

Peter geht jetzt einkaufen (,) und ich wasche ab.

If you feel, the two actions are related pretty closely ( you might prepare something for the same party, and you are working well together), then you would prefer not to write it. If you feel, oh gosh, there is really no collaboration between you both, then you might decide not to write one. I suspect, most of the Germans won’t reflect much about this difference, and often they even don’t know that now, they are invited to choose.

The case is much easier with subordinated clauses. They must always be separated from the main sentence by a comma, and this is always located in front of the conjunction – in case the subordinated sentence follows the main sentences (1), or between the verbs – in case the subordinated sentence precedes the main sentence (2).

1) Ich gehe nicht spazieren, wenn es regnet.

2) Wenn es regnet, gehe ich nicht spazieren.

Most of the German students prefer the first sentence, probably because it seems easier, while it is likely that most of the German native speakers will use the second one. At the end, one has just to remember that the the two follows each other with in between the comma.

 

2. Never translate!

I just did it, and look what is the outcome?

Tomorrow want I together with a friend to Hamburg go.)

A horrible, unintelligible sentence. Who would like to speak like that? Of course, nobody. So you can imagine to do the same just the other way round. What you get is Denglish, no German at all. Learning a language and translating are two different skills, but they should be never mixed. It happens quite often that bilingual people are not good translators, and sometimes good translators are not really fluent in the language they translate, at least when it comes to speaking (of course, interpreters have to). That shows that these are two separated abilities, which quite often interfere with each other.

Take this example:

How can you express in German the difference between the two sentences:

I am reading a book.

I read a book.

Very simple, you can’t. In German, you just say:

Ich lese ein Buch.

And that is why Germans often are struggling (or: struggle?) with the English -ing. Okay, we could say: Ich lese gerade ein Buch, but it doesn’t catch all the aspects of the -ing-form.

 

3. Never start a sentence with ‘ich’ – at least in the written form

Although some people think German can be sometimes quite rude, the language has some rules probably in order to avoid that. So, when you are talking about what you AND some other people are doing or going to do, never start with ‘ich’! To explain that in a rather rude way, there is a saying in German that goes like this:

Der Esel nennt sich immer zuerst. (The donkeys always mentions himself first)

So never say: Ich und meine Freunde gehen nachher in die Kneipe. (I and my friends are going to go to the pub later.)

You must say: Meine Freunde und ich gehen nachher in die Kneipe.

But you can say: Ich gehe später mit meinen Freunden in die Kneipe.

With a different focus: you (singular) are going to go -… and your friends are also coming along. the subject is just you, and not your friends. Indeed, it follows the TeKaMoLo- rule (when, why, how, where), with ‘mit meinen Freunden’ being the how-part (später: when, in die Kneipe: where).

But anyhow, as a more generic rule, it doesn’t sound so nice to start a sentence with ‘ich’.

Ich gehe morgen ins Kino.

The sentence is correct, but probably, most of the native speakers would prefer this one, and probably they couldn’t tell why and would just say that it sounds better.

Morgen gehe ich ins Kino.

Students of German usually say, they would prefer the first one, simply because it is easier. Unfortunately, life is not always easy, and this is for sure right also for German. (But I know, there are other much more difficult languages out there.)