Stories
Short German stories in four series, from A1 to B2. Each one takes a few minutes.
Zusammenleben in der WG
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
Neuanfang in Graz
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
Mit dem Glacier Express
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
Ein Jahr ohne Auto
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
Ein Formular zu viel
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
Die Weinlese
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
Die Vier-Tage-Woche
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
Die Sprachreise
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
Die smarte Stadt
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
Die Restaurierung des Altarbilds
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
Die Patchworkfamilie
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
Die Mieterhöhung
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
Die Lesung
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
Die Kunstausstellung
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
Die Kündigung
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
Die gefühlte Überwachung
After her company installs new monitoring software, Anna feels watched at work. Is she right to worry?
Passiv (passive voice) · 8 new words
Die Fusion
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
Die Erbschaft
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
Die Eigentümerversammlung
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
Die Betriebsversammlung
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
Die Besteigung
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
Die Ausstellung, die niemand verstand
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
Der Zeuge
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
Der verpasste Anschluss
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