German has two verbs that sound exactly the same when you use them in different ways. Today I had to explain that difference to my class.<\/p>\n
Let us suppose we want to say “Helmut eats a cake.” That would be “Helmut isst einen Kuchen.<\/em>” When used in the first-person singular form the verb “to eat” – isst<\/em> – sounds exactly like the first-person singular verb “is” – ist<\/em>. That one little “s” can make all the difference in the world. Therefore…<\/p>\n Helmut isst einen Kuchen. – Helmut eats a cake. Then I realized that there is little else separating cakes from humans. Both cakes and humans…<\/p>\n May the Almighty help us if the cakes learn to speak German.<\/p>\n [Edit] : A reader caught my nominative case error. Thanks!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" German has two verbs that sound exactly the same when you use them in different ways. Today I had to explain that difference to my class. Let us suppose we want to say “Helmut eats a cake.” That would be “Helmut isst einen Kuchen.” When used in the first-person singular form the verb “to eat” … Continue reading Teaching Zeitgeist<\/span>
\nHelmut ist ein Kuchen. – Helmut is a cake.<\/p>\n\n