Stories

Every morning the sky is blue, and every afternoon Tom gets wet. On Wednesday, he has a plan.

Verbzweitstellung (verb in position 2) · Negation: nicht vs. kein · 6 new words

Every evening at eight, someone in the building plays the piano, always the same song. But nobody in the building has a piano.

Präsens (present tense) · Negation: nicht vs. kein · 7 new words

Ms Roth brings a birthday cake to the office, and it gets smaller every hour. Everyone says it wasn't them. So who is eating it?

Akkusativ (accusative case) · 6 new words

The Haddad family spends a week by the North Sea, but the weather has its own plans. Will they see the sun at all?

Präsens (present tense) · Verbzweitstellung (verb in position 2) · 7 new words

On a sunny Saturday, Mia and her friends play football in the park. Then Paul arrives with his small, very fast dog.

Präsens (present tense) · Verbzweitstellung (verb in position 2) · 6 new words

It's Friday evening, and nobody wants to cook. Ordering a pizza sounds easy, until everyone says what they want.

Akkusativ (accusative case) · Modalverben (modal verbs) · 6 new words

Grandpa Herbert is eighty and has his very first smartphone. The phone has its own ideas, and the whole family notices.

Akkusativ (accusative case) · Modalverben (modal verbs) · 6 new words

Lena is taking the train alone for the first time, and she has a window seat. But someone is already sitting in it.

Präsens (present tense) · Verbzweitstellung (verb in position 2) · 6 new words

Marko lives in Berlin, and his sister Ana comes from Novi Sad to visit for a week. She loves every minute of it, maybe a little too much.

Präsens (present tense) · Verbzweitstellung (verb in position 2) · 7 new words

My new neighbor Clara is very nice. There is just one problem: her piano.

Modalverben (modal verbs) · 6 new words

Every Thursday Lukas and Carmen swap languages over coffee: one hour of German, one hour of Spanish. This week they meet in a kitchen instead.

Präsens (present tense) · Verbzweitstellung (verb in position 2) · 7 new words

Ali works at the supermarket checkout and knows his regular customers well. Only one of them is a small mystery.

Präsens (present tense) · Akkusativ (accusative case) · 6 new words

Mrs Berger's class visits a very quiet museum with very strict rules. Then Tim feels a sneeze coming.

Modalverben (modal verbs) · Negation: nicht vs. kein · 6 new words

Yusuf is forty and finally wants to get fit. His first day at the gym does not go to plan, until he finds a door at the back.

Modalverben (modal verbs) · Negation: nicht vs. kein · 7 new words

On a tired Monday morning, Jonas just wants a coffee and a piece of apple cake. But the café has other plans.

Akkusativ (accusative case) · Negation: nicht vs. kein · 6 new words

The kids' football team has a game on Sunday, but their goalkeeper is sick. Who will stand in goal?

Verbzweitstellung (verb in position 2) · Negation: nicht vs. kein · 6 new words

Anna spends a day in Berlin: the train, the big sights, friendly people and, in the evening, a café.

Präsens (present tense) · 8 new words

Anna and Paul find the perfect sofa: big, green and not expensive. There is just one small problem.

Akkusativ (accusative case) · 6 new words

On Fridays, Sara may bring her dog Bello to the office. Bello is very sweet, but he is also very hungry.

Modalverben (modal verbs) · Akkusativ (accusative case) · 6 new words

Seven-year-old Mia writes a letter to her grandma far away. She has big news, one big wish and a very clever idea.

Modalverben (modal verbs) · 6 new words

Jakob cooks soup for himself and Elif in his huge new pot. Then the evening takes a very different turn.

Akkusativ (accusative case) · Modalverben (modal verbs) · 7 new words

Every evening a grey cat sits at Anna and Max's door. They feed her and give her a name, but nobody really knows who she is.

Präsens (present tense) · Negation: nicht vs. kein · 6 new words

Fiona needs a train ticket in Bremen, but the ticket machine won't cooperate. Help comes from a ten-year-old girl who has a problem of her own.

Modalverben (modal verbs) · Negation: nicht vs. kein · 6 new words

Papa is on a diet: no sugar, no bread, no beer. And the whole family has to join in, whether they like it or not.

Negation: nicht vs. kein · Modalverben (modal verbs) · 6 new words

Amira gets her first library card in Hamburg and may borrow ten books. But which book do you choose when German sentences are still so long?

Modalverben (modal verbs) · Akkusativ (accusative case) · 7 new words

Mia wakes up, and it is already bright outside. Her alarm clock didn't ring, and now every minute counts.

Präsens (present tense) · Negation: nicht vs. kein · 6 new words

One day in Goran's Berlin taxi: a man on the phone, a tourist with a lot of questions and a very nervous bride.

Verbzweitstellung (verb in position 2) · Akkusativ (accusative case) · 6 new words

On Monday morning Leo can't find his key and is late for work. In the evening, his kitchen has a surprise for him.

Präsens (present tense) · Negation: nicht vs. kein · 7 new words

Tim is new at the office, and he has a question about everything. At lunch, his colleagues find out why.

Modalverben (modal verbs) · 6 new words

It's Tarik's first day as a kindergarten teacher. Twelve children are waiting for him, and they are a tough audience.

Präsens (present tense) · Modalverben (modal verbs) · 6 new words

Paul is so tired that he falls asleep on the bus to work. When he opens his eyes, he is not where he should be.

Verbzweitstellung (verb in position 2) · Negation: nicht vs. kein · 6 new words

Anna and Max meet in a park for the first time. Both are a little nervous – how will it go?

Präsens (present tense) · 8 new words

Emre is thirty-five and can do many things, but he can't swim. His swimming course holds a surprise on the very first day.

Modalverben (modal verbs) · 6 new words

Nora grows tomatoes on her tiny balcony, with seeds from the old man downstairs. But someone else in the neighbourhood likes tomatoes too.

Akkusativ (accusative case) · Modalverben (modal verbs) · 6 new words

Monday morning, home office: Sara types her password, and the computer says it's wrong. Again and again.

Negation: nicht vs. kein · Verbzweitstellung (verb in position 2) · 7 new words

A free summer concert in the park, a blanket, bread, cheese and good friends. What could go wrong?

Präsens (present tense) · Akkusativ (accusative case) · 6 new words

Julia's hotel room is tiny, the window is stuck and the water is cold. It is going to be a long night.

Modalverben (modal verbs) · Negation: nicht vs. kein · 6 new words

Zofia's phone falls into the bath. Now she has a whole week without messages, music or maps.

Negation: nicht vs. kein · Akkusativ (accusative case) · 6 new words

Jana is looking for the perfect birthday present for her friend Mira. A red toaster seems like a great idea, until Mira opens her presents.

Akkusativ (accusative case) · Negation: nicht vs. kein · 6 new words

Every Saturday, Milena buys fruit and vegetables at the market. Today she counts her coins, and something doesn't add up.

Präsens (present tense) · Akkusativ (accusative case) · 7 new words

Max's back hurts, so his doctor sends him to yoga. The exercises are harder than he thought – but one of them suits him perfectly.

Dativ (dative case) · Nebensatz (subordinate clause) · 6 new words

Milica's flight from Munich to Belgrade is four hours late, and her mother is already cooking. Then she hears a familiar voice at the next table.

Perfekt (present perfect) · Nebensatz (subordinate clause) · 6 new words

Nina and her brother Felix cycle around Lake Constance through three countries. In Switzerland, a tyre goes flat – and nobody has the tools.

Dativ (dative case) · 6 new words

Ewa is planning a secret party for her father's eightieth birthday. Everything is going to plan – until a key turns in the door far too early.

Dativ (dative case) · Trennbare Verben (separable verbs) · 7 new words

Dad wants to cook sarma, his favourite dish from childhood, for his German colleagues. Soon the whole kitchen is in chaos.

Trennbare Verben (separable verbs) · Dativ (dative case) · 7 new words

Rafael from Brazil and Olena from Ukraine sit next to each other in a German course – and always make exactly the same mistakes.

Nebensatz (subordinate clause) · 6 new words

Sandra has an important video call with her strict boss. On top she wears a nice blouse, underneath her pyjama bottoms – what could go wrong?

Trennbare Verben (separable verbs) · 7 new words

Jakub spends a night in a youth hostel room with five strangers. The light goes out at ten – and then the snoring begins.

Nebensatz (subordinate clause) · 6 new words

Ana spends a weekend with her friend Klara in Vienna: a famous cathedral, cake in an old coffee house and a waiter who never smiles.

Dativ (dative case) · 6 new words

The grandchildren give Grandma Hilde a tablet for video calls. Nobody believes it will work – and the first call is a little chaotic.

Perfekt (present perfect) · 7 new words

One Sunday the power goes out in Mrs Weber's building: no coffee, no TV, almost no phone battery. By evening, the stairwell is the only place with light.

Nebensatz (subordinate clause) · 7 new words

Ivana goes to see her first German film without subtitles. She doesn't understand everything – but she has a clever trick.

Perfekt (present perfect) · Dativ (dative case) · 6 new words

Zeynep only went out for bread rolls – and came back to a flooded bathroom. Then the grumpy neighbour from downstairs rings the bell.

Perfekt (present perfect) · Trennbare Verben (separable verbs) · 6 new words

Mr Wolf gets a smartwatch for his sixtieth birthday. He doesn't like it at first – it keeps telling him what to do.

Dativ (dative case) · Trennbare Verben (separable verbs) · 7 new words

Every month, Klara gets a postcard from a different city, but nobody ever signs it. Who is writing to her from all over the world?

Perfekt (present perfect) · Dativ (dative case) · 7 new words

Jonas goes with his girlfriend to her cousin's wedding in Serbia. He only knows two words of Serbian, but they get him surprisingly far.

Perfekt (present perfect) · Dativ (dative case) · 7 new words

Tim and his sister Anna share a flat, a TV and one remote control – and they fight over it every evening. Then one day the remote is gone.

Trennbare Verben (separable verbs) · 6 new words

Nina is invited to her colleague's birthday party on the fourth floor. She has a wonderful evening – there's just one small problem.

Perfekt (present perfect) · Nebensatz (subordinate clause) · 6 new words

Lena comes home tired on a Friday evening, but her key is gone. Where could she have lost it?

Perfekt (present perfect) · 6 new words

David flies to Hamburg for a language course, but his suitcase doesn't. Luckily his host, Mr Brandt, has a big wardrobe – full of very colourful shirts.

Perfekt (present perfect) · 7 new words

Tom goes shopping with a long list but forgets something important. How will he solve the problem?

Trennbare Verben (separable verbs) · 8 new words

Jonas moves into a fourth-floor flat with the help of two friends. He didn't write anything on the boxes – what could go wrong?

Trennbare Verben (separable verbs) · Perfekt (present perfect) · 6 new words

Dragana and Yusuf love their new robot vacuum – until their socks start to disappear. Yusuf has a suspect, and a plan to catch it.

Trennbare Verben (separable verbs) · Nebensatz (subordinate clause) · 7 new words

Petra is fifty-two and runs her very first city race. After two minutes, she can only see the other runners' backs.

Perfekt (present perfect) · Trennbare Verben (separable verbs) · 6 new words

The new boss is only twenty-eight and changes things from day one. The whole office is nervous – until his first Friday.

Nebensatz (subordinate clause) · Dativ (dative case) · 7 new words

Zeynep has just moved in and bakes an apple cake to meet her new neighbours. They eat every crumb – but they are strangely quiet.

Trennbare Verben (separable verbs) · Perfekt (present perfect) · 7 new words

Every morning there is a letter in Eva's garden – and it is always for someone else. The postman swears he has never lost one. So who is delivering them?

Nebensatz (subordinate clause) · Perfekt (present perfect) · 7 new words

Jakub only wants his hair a little shorter. He falls asleep in the chair – and wakes up with a haircut he would rather hide under a hat.

Perfekt (present perfect) · Trennbare Verben (separable verbs) · 7 new words

After the Saturday market, a brown dog follows Lukas all through town. Lukas is sure he has found a new best friend.

Trennbare Verben (separable verbs) · Nebensatz (subordinate clause) · 6 new words

It's Jonas's first day at a new job, and he is very nervous. In the office kitchen he meets a woman who has a problem with the coffee machine.

Trennbare Verben (separable verbs) · Nebensatz (subordinate clause) · 7 new words

Giulia and Marko have never been camping. Their first tent takes two hours to put up – and then the night rain begins.

Perfekt (present perfect) · Trennbare Verben (separable verbs) · 7 new words

Selin has her very first job interview, at a small bakery, and she has no experience at all. Then the owner asks a difficult question: can she get up at four?

Nebensatz (subordinate clause) · Modalverben (modal verbs) · 7 new words

Daniel plays tennis with his girlfriend's father for the first time. The man is almost seventy, so Daniel has a kind plan: he will let him win.

Dativ (dative case) · Perfekt (present perfect) · 7 new words

Zeynep wanted to be a journalist, but at the local paper she mostly makes coffee. Then a colleague gets sick, and she gets a small, strange assignment.

Perfekt (present perfect) · 6 new words

Lisa has planned the perfect picnic down to the last detail. But at the lake, the friends discover that a few things are missing.

Perfekt (present perfect) · Nebensatz (subordinate clause) · 7 new words

Mark wants to buy a new smartphone and is looking for the best deal. Then his old phone rings.

Trennbare Verben (separable verbs) · 8 new words

Every night something scratches and rattles in the basement. Jana and her neighbours have their theories – and one night they go down to find out.

Nebensatz (subordinate clause) · Perfekt (present perfect) · 7 new words

Ahmed goes to the Oktoberfest for the first time – in borrowed Lederhosen that are much too small for him.

Perfekt (present perfect) · Dativ (dative case) · 6 new words

After six weeks of messages, Luka and Amira finally meet in a café. Both are nervous, and both have a small secret about their photos.

Nebensatz (subordinate clause) · Perfekt (present perfect) · 7 new words

Sofia visits a German Christmas market for the first time. It is freezing cold – and she has forgotten her gloves.

Nebensatz (subordinate clause) · Dativ (dative case) · 6 new words

After twenty years without contact, Katrin gets a message from her old school friend Julia. Over coffee, the two are polite strangers at first, until a waiter trips over a chair.

Präteritum (simple past) · 7 new words

Every Friday, three friends play the lottery and dream big: a trip around the world, a house by the sea. Then, one Saturday evening, some of their numbers actually come up.

Konjunktiv II (would, could) · 6 new words

At the back of a kitchen cupboard, Jelena finds her late grandmother's recipe book, full of notes, photos and memories. She decides to bake the family's favourite dish.

Präteritum (simple past) · Relativsatz (relative clause) · 8 new words

Lukas and Ana set off on a sunny hike to a mountain inn famous for its apple strudel. Then, halfway up, the fog rolls in.

Präteritum (simple past) · Konjunktiv II (would, could) · 7 new words

Four strangers share a compartment on the night train from Hamburg to Vienna, and none of them can sleep. So they start telling each other why they are travelling – all except the silent man in the grey suit.

Präteritum (simple past) · 7 new words

Ayla wants to travel through Europe by train, and her seventy-five-year-old grandmother simply comes along. Soon it is no longer clear who is looking after whom.

Präteritum (simple past) · Relativsatz (relative clause) · 7 new words

When her phone falls into a cup of coffee, Mira has to live without it for a whole week. What she misses, and what she finds instead, surprises her.

Konjunktiv II (would, could) · Nebensatz (subordinate clause) · 7 new words

Anna lives in Berlin, Stefan in Belgrade, and their phone gets hot every evening. Anna often wonders what life would be like in one city, until Stefan sends her a photo of a train ticket.

Konjunktiv II (would, could) · 7 new words

An ordinary Monday at the office – until Anna notices that her boss has not turned up.

Präteritum (simple past) · 8 new words

Anna has wanted to go to the theatre for a long time. When she finally goes, the evening brings more than just a good play.

Präteritum (simple past) · 8 new words

Every night on her drive home, the nurse Mira listens to a small radio station. Then the presenter with the deep voice starts talking about things only she can know.

Präteritum (simple past) · 7 new words

Jonas has spent three weeks writing his speech as best man. At the wedding the first page goes perfectly, and then he turns to the second one.

Konjunktiv II (would, could) · 7 new words

The evening before the premiere, the lead actor of a small amateur theatre is in bed with a fever, and there is no understudy. Then a quiet voice speaks up from under the stage.

Präteritum (simple past) · Nebensatz (subordinate clause) · 7 new words

Mira has spent three weeks preparing the presentation that could win her team more money. Five minutes before it starts, her laptop screen goes black.

Konjunktiv II (would, could) · Nebensatz (subordinate clause) · 7 new words

At two in the morning, nurse Miriam finds an old patient who can't sleep. He tells her about storms, ports and a ship's cook, and the night flies by.

Präteritum (simple past) · Relativsatz (relative clause) · 8 new words

Luca is travelling to his first big trade fair in Frankfurt. The journey takes much longer than expected, and the people in his compartment suddenly start speaking Polish.

Präteritum (simple past) · Konjunktiv II (would, could) · 6 new words

Bilal is training to be a baker, and his alarm rings at three every morning. At first he hates it, until one early morning he is sent outside for a moment.

Präteritum (simple past) · 7 new words

The new caretaker has a rule for everything, from doormats to laughing in the stairwell. After a few weeks, the tenants decide to answer him in his own language.

Relativsatz (relative clause) · 7 new words

On a cold Monday in January, a man plays the violin in a busy station and almost nobody stops. Only Mira, a music student, listens to the end, and two days later she finds out who he really is.

Relativsatz (relative clause) · 7 new words

Selin and Jakob take over an allotment garden that comes with a thick folder of rules and a neighbour who measures hedges for fun. What starts as a lecture turns into a friendship.

Relativsatz (relative clause) · 7 new words

The Haddads look after their neighbour's parrot for two weeks. “He only talks a little,” she says – but Kasimir listens to everything, and he has a very good memory.

Relativsatz (relative clause) · Präteritum (simple past) · 6 new words

In Mr Brandt's window, the light is on every single night, and the whole building has a theory about why. Then a card turns up in every mailbox.

Relativsatz (relative clause) · 6 new words

A red suitcase stands alone on platform three, and soon the whole station is closed. When the police finally open it, they find something nobody expected.

Präteritum (simple past) · Relativsatz (relative clause) · 6 new words

Ivana enters the village cooking competition with her grandmother's paprika stew. The problem: there has never been a written recipe.

Präteritum (simple past) · Relativsatz (relative clause) · 8 new words

Marta gets dizzy on a ladder, but her daughter has given her a climbing course for her birthday. Twelve metres of wall, one rope and a head full of “what if” questions.

Konjunktiv II (would, could) · 6 new words

Sabine's internet is down, so she asks her provider's chatbot for help. Max is extremely helpful, just not with the router.

Konjunktiv II (would, could) · 7 new words

Petra trains for six months for her first marathon, while her friend Ines, who hates sport, thinks she's crazy. At kilometre thirty, Petra's legs feel like concrete and she wants to stop.

Konjunktiv II (would, could) · Präteritum (simple past) · 7 new words

While renovating their old house, Karim and Dorota find a yellowed letter behind the wall panelling. It was written in 1957, and nobody has ever read it.

Relativsatz (relative clause) · Präteritum (simple past) · 7 new words

One by one, the bikes in a courtyard disappear, and a few days later they are back, in better shape than before. A teacher on the ground floor decides to find out who is behind it.

Präteritum (simple past) · Relativsatz (relative clause) · 7 new words

On a walk in the park, Anna hears loud shouts – and suddenly finds herself in a football game she never planned.

Präteritum (simple past) · 8 new words

Three friends build a bike-delivery app in an old garage, financed by one very strict grandmother. Then a man in an expensive suit turns up and asks how many customers they have.

Relativsatz (relative clause) · 8 new words

For his birthday, Felix's girlfriend takes him to a restaurant where the chef decides what everyone eats. Felix would much rather have a schnitzel.

Konjunktiv II (would, could) · 7 new words

A village football club from the lowest league suddenly has to play a Bundesliga team in the cup. Ten thousand people come to watch, and nobody expects a miracle.

Präteritum (simple past) · 7 new words

A mysterious parcel addressed to a certain “Mr Bello” sits in the stairwell for days, and the neighbours can't agree on what to do with it. Then Lena, who has just moved in, hears something that gives her an idea.

Präteritum (simple past) · Relativsatz (relative clause) · 7 new words

The Novak family is late for a wedding, and Grandma Ruža has brought her old road map. Nobody needs it, says her son: the GPS knows everything.

Präteritum (simple past) · Konjunktiv II (would, could) · 7 new words

A tiny museum in an old station shows things that travellers forgot on trains, from umbrellas to a wedding dress. One grey Sunday, a visitor stops in front of a one-eared teddy bear and goes very quiet.

Relativsatz (relative clause) · 6 new words

Jan's smart house controls the lights, the heating and the door, so he no longer needs a key. Then, on a rainy evening, his phone shows a message he has never seen before.

Relativsatz (relative clause) · Präteritum (simple past) · 7 new words

In an open-plan office in Cologne, Dario sings all day long, and his colleagues dream of having their own offices. Then he goes on holiday for two weeks.

Konjunktiv II (would, could) · Relativsatz (relative clause) · 7 new words

In a box of old photos at a flea market, Sofia finds a picture of her late grandfather in front of a house she has never seen. She decides to find out where it is.

Relativsatz (relative clause) · Präteritum (simple past) · 7 new words

Sara only wants a cheap sofa for two nights in Leipzig. Her host Konrad describes himself in a single sentence: “I have a sofa and too much coffee.”

Relativsatz (relative clause) · 6 new words

A student, a retired teacher and a nurse share a flat, and a cleaning rota on the fridge decides more than just who cleans the bathroom.

Passiv (passive voice) · Relativsatz (relative clause) · 7 new words

A Serbian engineer moves to Graz for his dream job and gets stuck in a bureaucratic loop, until an unexpected landlady steps in.

Konjunktiv II (would, could) · Relativsatz (relative clause) · 6 new words

A teenager boards the slowest express train in the world, determined to spend eight hours on her phone, while her grandmother quietly looks out of the window.

Passiv (passive voice) · Genitiv (genitive case) · 6 new words

A family sells their car for one year as an experiment, and their relatives are sure they won't last two weeks.

Passiv (passive voice) · Konjunktiv II (would, could) · 6 new words

Mr Pfeiffer only wants to put a garden gnome next to his tomatoes, but the allotment association has rules, and every rule comes with a form.

Passiv (passive voice) · Genitiv (genitive case) · 7 new words

Harvest time at a family winery on the steep terraces above the Danube, where every grape is still picked by hand. Then a storm is forecast.

Passiv (passive voice) · Genitiv (genitive case) · 8 new words

A window manufacturer tries out the four-day week for six months, and its loudest critic is a foreman who has no idea what to do with his Fridays.

Passiv (passive voice) · Genitiv (genitive case) · 7 new words

A retired bridge engineer from Porto spends a month at a language school in Freiburg and battles with the German subjunctive. The eight-year-old daughter of his host family turns out to be a strict teacher too.

Genitiv (genitive case) · Konjunktiv II (would, could) · 6 new words

A small town fills its streets and bins with sensors. The mayor promises that everything is anonymous, but the data soon shows something nobody planned for.

Passiv (passive voice) · Konjunktiv I (indirect speech) · 7 new words

A conservator is restoring a damaged altarpiece in a village church when a strange green shimmers through beneath the Madonna's cloak.

Passiv (passive voice) · Genitiv (genitive case) · 7 new words

Two families move into one house: three teenagers who refuse to share a room, and two dogs who fall in love on the first evening. Then comes their first Christmas together.

Konjunktiv II (would, could) · Relativsatz (relative clause) · 7 new words

A letter announces a big rent increase, and the property management gives every tenant a different excuse. Only the oldest tenant in the building says nothing and quietly heads to the city archive.

Konjunktiv I (indirect speech) · Genitiv (genitive case) · 6 new words

A local paper reports on an author's sold-out reading from her new novel, and on a question from the third row that nobody had expected.

Konjunktiv I (indirect speech) · 7 new words

A renowned gallery is preparing a new art exhibition when an unpleasant discovery is made. The team's solution surprises everyone.

Passiv (passive voice) · 8 new words

At a staff meeting the boss promises that nobody has to worry. Dana, who knows the figures, goes home and starts kneading dough.

Konjunktiv I (indirect speech) · 7 new words

After her company installs new monitoring software, Anna feels watched at work. Is she right to worry?

Passiv (passive voice) · 8 new words

For sixty years two rival bakeries in a small town ignored each other. Now they have to become one, and the founders' grandchildren have to share a bakehouse.

Passiv (passive voice) · Genitiv (genitive case) · 7 new words

Three siblings inherit their parents' house and cannot agree on what to do with it, until one of them escapes the argument and climbs up to the attic.

Genitiv (genitive case) · Konjunktiv II (would, could) · 8 new words

An owners' meeting in a bicycle cellar has to decide the fate of the old chestnut tree in the courtyard, and almost everyone has a reason to cut it down.

Konjunktiv I (indirect speech) · Genitiv (genitive case) · 6 new words

For weeks the canteen has been buzzing with rumours that production is moving abroad. Then the managing director calls everyone to a staff meeting.

Konjunktiv I (indirect speech) · Passiv (passive voice) · 7 new words

Two siblings are only two hundred metres below the summit they have dreamed of for years, when a dark wall of cloud appears in the west.

Präteritum (simple past) · Genitiv (genitive case) · 7 new words

Three empty halls, a bucket and a ladder: a modern art exhibition is torn apart by the critics, and then the cleaner comes in on a Monday morning.

Passiv (passive voice) · Konjunktiv I (indirect speech) · 7 new words

A bike courier crashes on a street corner, and three witnesses give a detective three completely different versions of what happened.

Konjunktiv I (indirect speech) · 7 new words

Late at night, at a small station, a connecting train is cancelled and seven strangers are stranded on an empty platform. Then the signalman comes out of his signal box with a key.

Passiv (passive voice) · Konjunktiv II (would, could) · 7 new words

After six defeats in a row, a football club sacks its coach, the fans are furious, and the new man promises very little.

Konjunktiv I (indirect speech) · Passiv (passive voice) · 8 new words

A small town discovers an uncomfortable truth about the factory owner whose statue stands on its market square, and suddenly everyone has an opinion.

Konjunktiv I (indirect speech) · Genitiv (genitive case) · 8 new words

The drivers of a rural bus company go on strike, and the union and the management trade statements through the press. Then, on the third day, the managing director's car won't start.

Passiv (passive voice) · Konjunktiv I (indirect speech) · 7 new words

Munich's most feared critic tears apart a small Balkan grill. The owner doesn't argue: he simply invites him back.

Konjunktiv I (indirect speech) · 8 new words

Almost a million people follow Leon's perfect mornings on the beach, but his neighbours have never seen him before ten. Then a windy Tuesday blows a piece of beach off his balcony.

Konjunktiv II (would, could) · Relativsatz (relative clause) · 7 new words

Three days after her first big win, a young cyclist is suspended for doping. She swears she has never taken anything, and her coach goes through every detail of her last few weeks.

Konjunktiv I (indirect speech) · Passiv (passive voice) · 7 new words

A small town votes online for its honorary citizen for the first time, and one typo on the website changes everything. The mayor does his best to fix it.

Passiv (passive voice) · Genitiv (genitive case) · 7 new words

For a whole year, an envelope full of money turns up at a children's hospital every month. Then one note mentions something hardly anyone could know.

Konjunktiv I (indirect speech) · Passiv (passive voice) · 7 new words

A publishing house lets software decide which manuscripts are worth reading. One editor doesn't trust it, and finds a novel at the very bottom of the reject pile.

Passiv (passive voice) · Konjunktiv I (indirect speech) · 8 new words

A manager who is never offline travels to his brother's wedding in a mountain village, where his phone finds no signal at all.

Konjunktiv II (would, could) · Relativsatz (relative clause) · 6 new words

A priceless medieval book of herbs vanishes from a small town's library, and every witness tells a different story.

Passiv (passive voice) · Konjunktiv I (indirect speech) · 7 new words

A vegan restaurant opens in a Bavarian village, and the regulars at the local inn already know it won't last three months. Especially the village butcher.

Konjunktiv I (indirect speech) · Genitiv (genitive case) · 7 new words

A small town prepares for its annual festival, and the woman who has run it for thirty years notices that her committee is suddenly keeping secrets.

Passiv (passive voice) · Genitiv (genitive case) · 8 new words

A nervous intern interviews a beekeeper from a safe distance, and the local paper turns his words into something he never said.

Konjunktiv I (indirect speech) · 8 new words

A journalist investigates an abandoned villa where strange noises are heard and lights are seen at night. What secret will she uncover?

Passiv (passive voice) · 8 new words

An online retailer announces that no customer data was affected by a security problem. A journalist receives an anonymous email and starts making phone calls.

Konjunktiv I (indirect speech) · Genitiv (genitive case) · 7 new words