WordVale
German and English are close relatives, and it shows: Haus and house, Wasser and water, trinken and drink. That closeness makes German speakers some of the fastest learners of English, and it also produces a very specific set of errors, the ones where the two languages look the same and aren't.
False friends, starting with the famous one
"I would like to become a steak" is the classic. German bekommen means to get or receive; English become means to turn into. The waiter hears a request to be transformed into beef.
| German | Means | The English look-alike means |
|---|---|---|
| bekommen | get, receive | become: turn into |
| das Gift | poison | gift: a present |
| das Handy | mobile phone | handy: useful, convenient |
| eventuell | possibly, perhaps | eventually: in the end, after a long time |
| sensibel | sensitive | sensible: reasonable, practical |
| der Chef | boss | chef: a professional cook |
| aktuell | current, up to date | actual: real |
| also | so, therefore | also: too, as well |
| brav | well-behaved | brave: courageous |
| die Milliarde | a thousand million | that's an English billion; German Billion is an English trillion |
Some of the worst ones matter at work. "I will eventually send you the report" sounds like a vague promise for some distant date, when you meant "I might send it." "My chef is very sensible" tells an English speaker that your cook is level-headed, when you meant your boss is easily hurt.
Denglisch: English words German uses differently
German also has English-looking words that English does not use the same way. A Beamer is a projector (in English slang it's a BMW). An Oldtimer is a vintage car (in English an old-timer is a person who has been around a long time). Public Viewing means watching a match on a big screen outdoors, while in American English a public viewing is more likely to mean the chance to see a body before a funeral. Say "a projector", "a classic car" and "watching the game outside" instead.
"I am here since three years"
This is the grammar mistake German speakers make most persistently, and it comes from a direct translation of Ich bin seit drei Jahren hier. German uses the present tense for something that started in the past and is still going on. English uses the present perfect:
- ✗ I am here since three years. → ✓ I have been here for three years.
- ✗ I know her since 2019. → ✓ I have known her since 2019.
- ✗ How long are you married? → ✓ How long have you been married?
Notice that German seit splits in two. For goes with a length of time (for three years, for a week). Since goes with a starting point (since 2019, since Monday, since I moved here).
And the opposite: the present perfect where English wants the past
Spoken German uses the Perfekt for finished events: Ich habe ihn gestern gesehen. English does not allow the present perfect with a finished time. Once you say yesterday, last week or in 2020, you need the simple past.
- ✗ I have seen him yesterday. → ✓ I saw him yesterday.
- ✗ We have been to Rome last summer. → ✓ We went to Rome last summer.
A useful test: if you can answer "when?" with a specific finished time, use the simple past. If the time is "up to now" or doesn't matter, the present perfect is fine: I have been to Rome (at some point in my life).
Word order: verbs that wander, and time before place
German puts the verb second in a main clause, even when something other than the subject comes first, and sends it to the end of a subordinate clause. Carried into English, that gives:
- ✗ Yesterday went I to the cinema. → ✓ Yesterday I went to the cinema.
- ✗ I know that he tomorrow comes. → ✓ I know that he is coming tomorrow.
English keeps subject and verb together, in that order, in almost every statement. It also keeps the verb and its object side by side. German happily puts an adverb between them (Ich trinke jeden Tag Kaffee), but English does not: "I drink every day coffee" should be "I drink coffee every day."
Finally, German tends to put time before place; English usually puts place first. "I go tomorrow to Berlin" becomes "I'm going to Berlin tomorrow."
TH, the sound German doesn't have
German has neither English th sound, so they are replaced with the nearest German sounds: think becomes "sink", the becomes "ze" or "de". Occasionally this changes the word (thank and sank, thick and sick), which is why it's worth fixing.
The tongue tip goes lightly between the teeth, or just touches the back of the top teeth, and the air flows over it. For think there's no voice; for the and this the voice is on. It will feel exaggerated at first. Watch a native speaker's mouth on a video and you'll see the tongue tip is visible.
V and W, which trade places
German w is pronounced like English v, and standard German has no sound like English w. So wine becomes "vine" and west becomes "vest". Then, having learned that English has a w sound, many speakers overcorrect, and very comes out as "wery".
- V: the top teeth touch the bottom lip, and there's a buzz.
- W: the teeth touch nothing. Round your lips as if saying "oo", then open into the vowel. Wine is really "oo-ine", said fast.
Practise with pairs: vest/west, vine/wine, veil/whale, and the tongue-twister-grade very well.
Final consonants that go hard
German devoices consonants at the end of a word: Hund is pronounced with a t, Tag with a k. English does not do this, and the final consonant often carries the whole meaning. Devoiced, bed becomes bet, dog becomes dock, leave becomes leaf, and eyes becomes ice.
Here's the trick that makes it easier: in English, the vowel before a voiced consonant is noticeably longer than the vowel before a voiceless one. The vowel in bed is longer than the one in bet; leave is longer than leaf. Lengthening the vowel does much of the work, even if the final consonant itself isn't fully voiced, and it's often easier to control than the consonant.
Smaller habits worth catching
- Make and do. German machen covers both, so "make a photo" and "make homework" appear. In English you take a photo and do homework.
- Until and by. German bis covers both. "Send it until Friday" should be "send it by Friday" (no later than). Until means something continues up to that point: "I'm here until Friday."
- Capital letters. German capitalises every noun; English capitalises only proper nouns. "The Meeting is about the new Software" gives it away in writing.
What to do about it
Because so many English words look familiar, German speakers can read English long before they notice where it differs. The fix is to notice on purpose. When you read a sentence where your own instinct would have said "since three years" or "eventually" or "make a photo", save that sentence and review it until the English version comes first. The routine for making that stick is here.