What's so funny about German? - Waiting for the Verb - Have your Say
Watch the video: Waiting for the Verb
The German sentence structure is brought to life with a bit of footie.
Have your say
More about the verb
Find out more with our online course German Steps
BBC Comedy
Comments
As a novice in German I am not able to say the grammatical authenticity of the material, but Henning has created a real interest towards the language through his humor. I like it very much!
Flag this comment
As a German, I have to disagree that the verb in German sentences allways comes second. In his examples "Ich habe... geschossen", "habe" is actually the first part of the verb. Yes, you only understand the sentece if you hear both parts, but this construction is only found in the past tence.
Flag this comment
Not meant to be an authoritative grammatical teaching aid, but wonderfully entertaining!
Flag this comment
Dude!, [notice how us Americans are instantly casual], your such a German! When you say the word 'verb' it sounds like 'word'! [Thus the reason "wednesday" was a code word on D-day.] :)
Flag this comment
Excellent set of videos, very funny and very true.
I think it has to remembered though that they're for entertainment first and foremost. It's not a grammar lesson, he's simply pointing out how silly it can be in German waiting for the verb. Getting into the nitty gritty of the specific constructions where the lexical verb goes to the end would just confuse newcomers to the language, and bore those who already understand it.
No-one's going to actually learn German from these videos, but they achieve what they're meant to do - provide a funny and informative overview of it.
Flag this comment
It was Chris Waddle who missed the decisive penalty in Italia 90 not Stuart Pearce wasn't it?
Flag this comment
Very well done, goes for all of them, particularly the alphabet clip with the back ground on the ä and ö, ü and ß - full marks!
One little hitch though - in this clip - waiting for the verb - you're not actually waiting for the verb, you're waiting for the past participle. I'd love to see a re-make of this with the correct grammatical terminology - we wouldn't want the English to benefit from a Eigentor now, would we? Come on, Herr Botschafter, you can do it, fame becons!
Flag this comment
I love Henning but he doesn't explain why Frank Skinner speaks exactly like him. Something to do with the Danelaw and the subsequent 1000 year isolation of the west midlands I suppose.
Flag this comment
NOT TRUE that the verb always goes at the end. It is the SECOND IDEA in a sentence unless it's been sent to the end by eg. a subordinating conjunction ( wenn, als , obwohl etc. ).
Also,in the video, the 1st. verb, "wissen" is something like the 3rd/4th. word in the sentence,tho' there is another at the end.
Flag this comment
I like the dry humour - especially the Stuart Pierce references (but not the Andreas Moller ones, it's still painful!).
Flag this comment