It’s common to hit a roadblock when studying German. Like you, many language learners require encouragement to keep learning. What is the most difficult aspect of learning German? Is it the speed, the language itself, or are you feeling overwhelmed?
What is the most difficult aspect of learning German?
You are thinking negatively if you are asking yourself this question. Before we get into the specifics, let us just say that while learning a language might be intimidating, it is ultimately up to you to make the experience pleasant, enjoyable, and successful.
There are so many difficult factors in learning the German language. Don’t get discouraged if you find this component challenging; chances are, with time, desire, and effort, you’ll be able to master it.
Additionally, acquiring a language is highly subjective and relative. It depends on a number of things, including the other language(s) you are already fluent in.
Due to this, we’ll concentrate on four potentially challenging aspects:
- Verbs
- Feminine and masculine nouns
- Pronunciation of double consonants
- sein und haben
The most difficult aspect of learning German
Start with the verbs. The hardest part of learning the German language is likely this one. For the present, past, and future, there are various verb tenses available in German. Moods like indicative, imperative, and subjunctive are also available.
More than 23,000 regular and irregular German verbs can be conjugated. Verb conjugation displays all finite and infinite forms in a verb table. Simply enter a verb or verb form in the conjugator’s input field to see all tenses, grammar, and meanings.
The “infinitive” form of the verbs is the German dictionary form. That is the “to” form in English: to be, to go, to say. In German, infinitives usually end in -en, but they can also end in -n: gehen (to go), sagen (to say), können (to be able/can), sein (to be), klingeln (to ring) (to ring).
What are the most difficult aspects of learning German?
We mentioned that there are additional factors that could be challenging. It might be challenging to distinguish between female and male nouns, particularly for English speakers. The word “book” is genderless in the English language. It is masculine in German, thus it does. Why? simply because.
You must memorize the gender of German nouns because it is completely arbitrary. We advise reading this article about the top German dictionaries available online because dictionaries can inform you whether a term is feminine or masculine.
The majority of German consonants are pronounced similarly to English consonants, but there are some differences. As long as you remember the rules, these German consonants are fairly easy to pronounce and easier to master than the vowel sounds.
When consonants ‘b,’ ‘d,’ and ‘g’ are at the end of a word, they are pronounced similarly to ‘p,’ ‘t,’ and ‘k.’
When the short/long vowel sounds ‘a, o, u, or ‘au’ are followed by ‘ch,’ the sound is produced towards the back of the throat, similar to making a ‘k’ sound. However, it is less abrupt while still allowing air to pass through, as in Bauch (tummy), Tochter (daughter).
The consonant ‘ß’ does not exist in English, but it is pronounced with a double’ss’ sound, as in the English word “miss” or the German word “weiß” (white). In general, ß is used in front of long vowels; otherwise, the double’ss’ is used. If you want to know more about the rules of the German language, read more from the informative blogs on this page.