Learning from a disappointing test result | Learn German in English

Sentence explanations

1. Mein Testergebnis war enttäuschend, obwohl ich viel gelernt habe.

   My test result was disappointing, even though I studied a lot.

   Mein

   my

   Testergebnis

   test result

   war

   was

   enttäuschend

   disappointing

   obwohl

   even though

   viel

   a lot

   gelernt

   studied; learned

   habe

   have

   More detail

   Mein means “my” here and is the possessive determiner modifying Testergebnis. Because das Testergebnis is neuter singular and is the subject in the nominative case, the determiner has the form mein with no ending. For comparison, a feminine nominative singular noun uses meine, as in meine Prüfung (“my exam”). Testergebnis is a compound noun: Test + Ergebnis, meaning “test result.” Its useful base noun is Ergebnis (“result”); the first element specifies what kind of result it is. German nouns are capitalized, and the compound is neuter: das Testergebnis. war is the third-person singular past form of sein (“to be”): sein → war. It links the subject with the description enttäuschend, so the sentence describes the result in the past. Example: Der Film war lang. — “The film was long.” enttäuschend means “disappointing” here: it describes the result as causing disappointment. It is the present participle of enttäuschen (“to disappoint”) used as a descriptive adjective, and after war it has no adjective ending because it is predicative. Do not confuse it with enttäuscht (“disappointed”), which describes the person experiencing the disappointment: Ich war enttäuscht. — “I was disappointed.” obwohl introduces a subordinate clause expressing a contrast: “even though” or “although.” In German, it sends the finite verb to the end of its clause. The reusable pattern is obwohl ... , [verb] ... [finite verb]. Here the clause ends with gelernt habe, not habe gelernt. viel means “a lot” in this sentence and describes the amount of studying or learning. It is used adverbially with gelernt; it does not itself assert a specific numerical count. Example: Ich habe viel gelesen. — “I read a lot.” gelernt is the past participle of lernen (“to learn; to study”). In the supplied translation, the intended meaning is “studied.” The perfect construction is haben + gelernt; the participle stays as gelernt, while the auxiliary carries person and tense. Example: Sie hat Deutsch gelernt. — “She studied German.” habe is the first-person singular present form of haben (“to have”), used here as the auxiliary in the perfect: ich habe gelernt (“I studied / I have studied”). In the obwohl clause, habe is finite and therefore appears at the end: obwohl ich viel gelernt habe. Together, Mein Testergebnis war enttäuschend says “My test result was disappointing.” The subordinate clause obwohl ich viel gelernt habe adds the contrast “even though I studied a lot.” Thus the complete utterance is: “My test result was disappointing, even though I studied a lot.”

2. Bevor du die Motivation verlierst, schau dir an, welche Bereiche das Problem verursacht haben.

   Before you lose motivation, look at which parts caused the problem.

   Bevor

   before

   Motivation

   motivation

   verlierst

   lose

   schau dir an

   look at

   Bereiche

   areas; parts

   Problem

   problem

   verursacht haben

   have caused

   More detail

   Bevor introduces a subordinate time clause meaning “before.” In German, the finite verb in this kind of subordinate clause goes to the end: Bevor du die Motivation verlierst. The clause sets the time of the main instruction; German present tense can express an event later than the instruction without using a special future form. Motivation is the feminine noun die Motivation. Here it is the accusative object of verlieren, although its form is unchanged from the nominative: die Motivation. The useful singular/plural contrast is die Motivation / die Motivationen, though the singular is the form used here. verlierst is the second-person singular present form of verlieren (“to lose”): du verlierst. The infinitive and this form both retain the spelling ie; there is no stem-vowel change here. In this sentence, verlieren takes die Motivation as its object, so the meaning is “lose motivation.” schau dir an is the informal singular imperative of the separable verb sich etwas anschauen, “to look at something.” The base verb is anschauen; in the imperative, its parts appear as schau ... an. dir is the dative reflexive pronoun matching informal singular du, while the thing being viewed is expressed separately. Example: Schau dir den Bericht an. — “Look at the report.” Bereiche is the plural of the noun der Bereich, meaning an area, section, or part. Here it refers to parts or areas relevant to the problem. In welche Bereiche ... verursacht haben, it is the plural subject of the embedded question, and its plurality agrees with haben. Problem is the neuter noun das Problem. In das Problem, the form is identical in the nominative and accusative, so the article and sentence structure matter: here it is the accusative object of verursacht. Its plural is die Probleme. verursacht haben uses the verb verursachen, “to cause.” verursacht is its past participle, and haben is the finite auxiliary. Because this is a subordinate clause, the auxiliary comes at the end: welche Bereiche das Problem verursacht haben. The plural subject Bereiche selects haben, not singular hat. Example: Die Fehler haben Verzögerungen verursacht. — “The errors caused delays.” The whole structure is Bevor ..., followed by the imperative schau dir ... an. Inside that instruction, welche Bereiche das Problem verursacht haben is an embedded question: the areas are the parts that caused the problem. Thus the complete meaning is “Before you lose motivation, look at which parts caused the problem.”

3. Die meisten meiner Fehler waren beim Hörverstehen und bei den Wortformen.

   Most of my mistakes were in listening and word forms.

   meisten

   most

   meiner

   my

   Fehler

   mistakes; errors

   waren

   were

   Hörverstehen

   listening comprehension

   Wortformen

   word forms

   More detail

   meisten is the superlative form related to viel (“much/many”): viel → mehr (“more”) → am meisten (“the most”) or, with a noun, die meisten (“most”). Here Die meisten refers to most of the mistakes mentioned in the sentence, not to an exact numerical count. meiner is the inflected form of the possessive determiner mein (“my”). In meiner Fehler, it marks the genitive plural relationship: “of my mistakes.” A useful contrast is mein Fehler (“my mistake,” singular) and meine Fehler (“my mistakes,” plural) in simpler cases; the form meiner here is required by this genitive construction. Fehler means “mistakes” here. Its singular and plural forms are identical: der Fehler can mean “the mistake,” while die Fehler means “the mistakes.” In this sentence, Fehler is plural because meiner is genitive plural and die meisten means “most” of them. waren is the simple past form of sein (“to be”) for a plural subject: sie waren = “they were.” The present form is sie sind (“they are”), and the singular past form is war (“was”). The plural subject here is Die meisten ... Fehler, so waren agrees with that whole subject. Hörverstehen is a compound noun meaning “listening comprehension.” It combines hören (“to hear/listen”) with Verstehen (“understanding”); German nouns are capitalized. In beim Hörverstehen, beim is a contraction of bei dem, and the phrase means “in listening comprehension” or “in the listening-comprehension area.” This is a useful distinction from simply Hören, which refers more generally to hearing or listening. Wortformen means “word forms.” It is the plural of die Wortform; the ending -en is the plural form here. A word form is a particular grammatical shape of a word, such as a form that changes for case, number, tense, or another grammatical feature. It is more specific than Wörter (“words”). In bei den Wortformen, den is the dative plural article after bei. Together, Die meisten meiner Fehler means “most of my mistakes.” The verb waren links that subject to two areas: beim Hörverstehen (“in listening comprehension”) and bei den Wortformen (“in word forms”). und joins the two areas, giving the complete meaning: “Most of my mistakes were in listening comprehension and word forms.”

4. Dieses Muster ist nützlich, weil es zeigt, worauf du dich konzentrieren solltest.

   That pattern is useful because it shows where to focus.

   Dieses

   this

   Muster

   pattern

   nützlich

   useful

   weil

   because

   zeigt

   shows

   worauf

   what ... on

   dich … konzentrieren

   focus; concentrate

   solltest

   should

   More detail

   Dieses is the neuter singular nominative form of the demonstrative dies- (“this”). It agrees with the subject Muster: dieser (masculine), diese (feminine or plural), dieses (neuter). Here the translation identifies the referent as “that pattern,” so the demonstrative points to the pattern being discussed. Muster means “pattern” here. It is a neuter noun: das Muster, plural die Muster. The same word can also mean a model or sample in other contexts, but “pattern” is the relevant meaning here. nützlich is the adjective “useful” or “helpful.” In this sentence it is the predicate adjective after ist, so it describes the subject without an adjective ending: Das Muster ist nützlich. weil introduces a reason clause, “because.” In a clause introduced by weil, the conjugated verb normally goes to the end. A reusable pattern is ..., weil + subject + ... + verb. zeigt is the third-person singular present form of zeigen, “to show.” The subject here is es (“it”), referring to the pattern in the supplied translation: es zeigt = “it shows.” The present tense presents the showing as true or relevant now. worauf is a pronominal adverb meaning “what ... on” or, in this context, “where to.” It combines wo- with auf and introduces the target of focusing: worauf du dich konzentrierst = “what you focus on.” Pronominal adverbs are used for things or topics; they are not used to name a person. dich is the reflexive pronoun for second-person singular du. With du, the reflexive form is dich: du konzentrierst dich (“you concentrate”). Reflexive forms change with the subject, for example ich konzentriere mich and sie konzentriert sich. konzentrieren is the infinitive “to concentrate” or “to focus.” The reusable construction is sich auf etwas konzentrieren (“to focus on something”). In this sentence, auf is represented by the pronominal adverb worauf, so the sentence does not repeat a separate noun after auf. solltest is the second-person singular form expressing “should” here, from sollen. The form is compatible with du; the infinitive konzentrieren names the action that is recommended. In the subordinate clause, the infinitive comes before the conjugated modal: du solltest dich konzentrieren → ..., worauf du dich konzentrieren solltest. The whole sentence is assembled as Dieses Muster ist nützlich (“This pattern is useful”) + weil es zeigt (“because it shows”) + worauf du dich konzentrieren solltest (“where you should focus”). Thus it means: “That pattern is useful because it shows where to focus.”

5. Ich dachte, dass längeres Lernen ausreichen würde.

   I thought studying longer would be enough.

   dachte

   thought

   längeres

   longer

   Lernen

   studying

   ausreichen

   be enough

   würde

   would

   More detail

   dachte is the simple past form of denken (“to think”): ich denke → ich dachte. Here it introduces a past belief. The following dass clause states what was thought; in German, the finite verb goes to the end of its clause. längeres is the comparative form of lang (“long”): lang → länger → am längsten. In this sentence it means “longer” in duration. Its ending -es agrees with the neuter noun Lernen, which is the subject of the dass clause. Lernen is the capitalized nominalized infinitive of lernen, meaning “studying” or “learning” here. Nominalized infinitives are neuter in German, so längeres Lernen has the structure “longer studying.” Example: Regelmäßiges Lernen hilft. — “Regular studying helps.” ausreichen means “to be enough” or “to suffice.” It is an infinitive; its finite form can separate the prefix: Das reicht aus. — “That is enough.” Here it appears as an infinitive because it is used with würde. würde is the Konjunktiv II form of werden used with an infinitive. würde ausreichen expresses “would be enough,” presenting sufficiency as the expected result within the past thought. In the dass clause, the finite verb and infinitive form a final verb group: the infinitive ausreichen comes first, followed by the finite würde. Together, Ich dachte means “I thought,” and dass längeres Lernen ausreichen würde means “that studying longer would be enough.” Thus the complete utterance is: “I thought studying longer would be enough.”

6. Manchmal ist die Strategie wichtiger als die Anzahl der Stunden.

   Sometimes the strategy matters more than the number of hours.

   Manchmal

   sometimes

   Strategie

   strategy

   wichtiger

   more important

   als

   than

   Anzahl

   number; count

   Stunden

   hours

   More detail

   Manchmal means “sometimes” and places the statement in an occasional, not constant, time frame. Example: Manchmal lerne ich morgens. — “Sometimes I study in the morning.” Strategie means “strategy.” The observed form is singular; with the definite article, the full noun phrase here is die Strategie. Its plural is Strategien. Example: Eine gute Strategie hilft. — “A good strategy helps.” wichtiger means “more important.” It is the comparative form of wichtig (“important”): wichtig → wichtiger → am wichtigsten (“most important”). In this sentence, wichtiger compares the strategy with the number of hours. als introduces the second side of a comparison, corresponding here to “than.” The pattern is A ist wichtiger als B — “A is more important than B.” Anzahl means “number” or “count,” specifically the quantity of something countable. The phrase die Anzahl der Stunden means “the number of hours”: der Stunden specifies what is being counted. Anzahl is singular here; its plural is Anzahlen, although the singular is the normal choice for one measured quantity. Stunden means “hours.” It is the plural of Stunde (“hour”). In der Stunden, the plural noun appears in the genitive form after Anzahl; the plural form itself is Stunden, while the singular is Stunde. Together, die Strategie ist wichtiger als die Anzahl der Stunden says that the strategy has greater importance than the quantity of time spent in hours. With Manchmal at the beginning, the complete utterance means: “Sometimes the strategy matters more than the number of hours.”

7. Dann sollte ich beim nächsten Mal das Hörverstehen unter Zeitdruck üben.

   Then I should practice listening under time pressure next time.

   Dann

   then

   sollte ich

   I should

   beim nächsten Mal

   next time

   Hörverstehen

   listening comprehension

   unter

   under

   Zeitdruck

   time pressure

   üben

   practise

   More detail

   Dann means “then” here and places the action after the earlier point in the sequence. It can also introduce a consequence: Dann übe ich. — “Then I practise.” Sollte ich combines ich (“I”) with sollte, the form of sollen used here to express “should.” In this sentence, sollte presents a recommendation or personal plan, and ich is the person who will practise. Compare Ich soll üben. — “I am supposed to practise.” Beim nächsten Mal means “next time.” beim is the contraction of bei dem; this expression uses it in a time phrase. The adjective nächsten is an inflected form of nächst-, related to nah (“near”): nah → näher (“nearer”) → nächst- (“nearest/next”). Here, nächsten modifies Mal, and Mal means “time” in the sense of an occasion, not a duration. Hörverstehen is the noun for understanding spoken language, or listening comprehension. It is capitalized because it is a German noun. The compound relates to hören (“to hear/listen”) and verstehen (“to understand”), while the observed form names the skill or activity as a whole. Das Hörverstehen ist schwierig. — “Listening comprehension is difficult.” Unter means “under” here and introduces the circumstances of the practice. With Zeitdruck, it forms the reusable expression “under time pressure.” In this use, unter governs the dative, although the bare noun phrase unter Zeitdruck does not visibly mark that case. With an article, the phrase is unter dem Zeitdruck. Zeitdruck means “time pressure.” It is a masculine compound noun formed from Zeit (“time”) and Druck (“pressure”). With a definite article, it is der Zeitdruck; in the dative phrase above, it is dem Zeitdruck. Üben is the infinitive “to practise.” With sollte, the infinitive remains at the end of the clause: Ich sollte regelmäßig üben. — “I should practise regularly.” Together, Dann sollte ich gives “Then I should,” beim nächsten Mal specifies the next occasion, and das Hörverstehen unter Zeitdruck üben names the activity and the circumstances for it. The complete meaning is: “Then I should practise listening comprehension under time pressure next time.”

8. Versuch das, und wiederhole Wortfamilien statt einzelner Vokabeln.

   Try that, and review word families instead of isolated vocabulary.

   Versuch

   try

   das

   that

   wiederhole

   review; repeat

   Wortfamilien

   word families

   statt

   instead of

   einzelner

   individual; isolated

   Vokabeln

   vocabulary items

   More detail

   Versuch is the informal singular imperative of versuchen (“to try”). The subject du is understood, so German does not need to state it here. The same verb in a present-tense statement is du versuchst; the imperative removes the subject and uses Versuch!. das means “that” here. It is the accusative singular neuter form of the demonstrative pronoun der/die/das, used as the object of Versuch. The text and translation do not identify exactly what “that” refers to, so its grammatical form can be explained without assigning it a specific referent. wiederhole is the informal singular imperative of wiederholen, “to repeat” or, in this context, “to review.” The subject is again understood as du. In a statement, the form is du wiederholst; an example is Wiederhole den Satz. — “Repeat the sentence.” Wortfamilien is the plural accusative form of the noun die Wortfamilie, “word family.” It is the object of wiederhole. A word family groups related words built around a shared lexical element; the plural ending changes Wortfamilie to Wortfamilien. statt introduces what should be replaced and means “instead of.” It can be followed by a genitive phrase, as here, or commonly by von plus a dative phrase. The pattern X statt Y means “X instead of Y.” einzelner is the inflected form of the adjective einzeln, “individual” or “single.” In statt einzelner Vokabeln, it is genitive plural, agreeing with the plural noun Vokabeln; the ending reflects the phrase’s grammatical form, not a change in the adjective’s basic meaning. Vokabeln is the plural genitive form of die Vokabel, “vocabulary item” or “word.” The noun’s plural is also Vokabeln, so the genitive plural has the same visible ending here. The contrast is between reviewing word families and reviewing isolated vocabulary items. Together, Versuch das gives “Try that,” and wiederhole Wortfamilien statt einzelner Vokabeln gives “review word families instead of isolated vocabulary.” The two imperatives are joined by und, producing the complete meaning: “Try that, and review word families instead of isolated vocabulary.”

9. Ich fühle mich wegen dieses Ergebnisses immer noch schlecht.

   This result still feels bad.

   fühle

   feel

   wegen

   because of

   Ergebnisses

   result

   immer noch

   still

   schlecht

   bad; unwell

   More detail

   fühle is the first-person singular present form of fühlen (“to feel”). In the fixed construction Ich fühle mich, Ich is the subject and mich is the reflexive object: literally, “I feel myself,” but naturally “I feel.” The form fühle shows that the speaker is the one experiencing the feeling. Example: Ich fühle mich besser. — “I feel better.” wegen introduces the cause: “because of” or “on account of.” In careful standard German it is commonly followed by the genitive, as in wegen dieses Ergebnisses. Ergebnisses is the genitive singular of the neuter noun das Ergebnis (“the result”). The genitive marks the result as the cause after wegen. The demonstrative dieses agrees with the neuter singular noun and means “this” here. Example: wegen des Wetters — “because of the weather.” immer noch means “still.” It says that the situation continues at the relevant time. Example: Ich warte immer noch. — “I am still waiting.” schlecht means “bad” in this expression, describing the speaker’s state or feeling. sich schlecht fühlen commonly means “to feel bad” or “to feel unwell”; it does not by itself say that the speaker has behaved badly. Example: Sie fühlt sich heute schlecht. — “She feels unwell today.” Together, Ich fühle mich gives “I feel,” wegen dieses Ergebnisses gives the cause “because of this result,” immer noch adds “still,” and schlecht describes the feeling. The whole utterance means: “I still feel bad because of this result.”

10. Aber wenigstens zeigt es mir, was ich verbessern muss.

    But at least it shows me what to fix.

    Aber

    but

    wenigstens

    at least

    zeigt

    shows

    es

    it

    mir

    to me

    was

    what

    ich

    I

    verbessern

    fix; improve

    muss

    must; has to

    More detail

    Aber introduces a contrast: “but.” It is a coordinating conjunction and commonly links a statement to something that contrasts with what came before. Example: Ich bin müde, aber ich arbeite. — “I am tired, but I am working.” wenigstens means “at least” in the sense of identifying a minimum positive point. Here it presents the showing of useful information as a positive point. Example: Wenigstens weiß ich jetzt die Antwort. — “At least I know the answer now.” zeigt is the present-tense third-person singular form of zeigen, “to show.” The subject is es, so the verb has this singular form. zeigen can take a person receiving the information with the dative: Das Beispiel zeigt mir den Unterschied. — “The example shows me the difference.” es is a third-person singular pronoun meaning “it” here. It is the subject of zeigt, referring to the thing that provides the information; the supplied texts do not identify that thing more specifically. This is a regular referential subject here, not an empty subject used only to fill the clause. mir is the first-person singular dative form of ich, meaning “to me.” It marks the person who receives the information from zeigt. Compare ich for the subject role with mir for the dative role: Sie erklärt mir die Regel. — “She explains the rule to me.” was introduces the content of what is shown: “what.” In was ich verbessern muss, it begins a subordinate content clause meaning “what I have to improve” or, in the fixed translation, “what to fix.” It is not the subject of the following verb; ich is the subject there. Example: Ich weiß, was du meinst. — “I know what you mean.” ich is the first-person singular subject pronoun, “I.” It is the person who must carry out the improvement in the embedded clause. Its form contrasts with the dative form mir seen earlier. verbessern is the infinitive of “to improve” or “to make better.” In this utterance it describes the action that needs to be carried out; the translation’s “fix” expresses this intended practical sense. With a modal verb, the infinitive remains in the infinitive form: Ich muss den Text verbessern. — “I have to improve the text.” muss is the first-person singular present form of the modal verb müssen, “must” or “have to.” Its subject is ich. In a main clause, the modal is finite and the other verb goes to the end: Ich muss lernen. — “I have to study.” In the embedded clause here, muss is also at the end, after the infinitive verbessern. Together, was ich verbessern muss is a subordinate content clause: was introduces the information, ich is its subject, and verbessern muss places the infinitive before the finite modal at the clause’s end. zeigt es mir means “it shows me,” with es as the subject and mir as the recipient. Thus the whole utterance means: “But at least it shows me what to fix.”

11. Jetzt hast du einen konkreten Plan für den nächsten Versuch.

    Now you have a concrete plan for the next attempt.

    Jetzt

    now

    hast du

    you have

    konkreten

    concrete

    Plan

    plan

    nächsten

    next

    Versuch

    attempt

    More detail

    Jetzt means “now” and places the situation in the present. It is a time adverb and can also begin a sentence: Jetzt lerne ich. — “Now I am learning.” hast du is the reusable German pattern for “you have.” hast is the second-person singular present form of haben (“to have”); its base form is haben. The subject du follows the verb here because Jetzt occupies the first position. This is a common German word-order pattern: Heute hast du Zeit. — “Today you have time.” konkreten means “concrete” here in the sense of specific rather than vague. It is the adjective konkret, inflected as konkreten because it describes masculine singular Plan in the accusative after the indefinite article einen. The ending belongs to the adjective, not to the noun. Compare: ein konkreter Plan — “a concrete plan” (nominative) and einen konkreten Plan — “a concrete plan” (accusative). Plan is a masculine noun meaning “plan.” Its plural is Pläne. In this sentence, Plan is the thing that the person has, so it appears in the accusative after haben: Ich habe einen Plan. — “I have a plan.” nächsten means “next” here. It is the inflected form of the adjective nächst-, related to nah (“near”) and used to identify the item that comes next in a relevant sequence. The ending -en appears because it modifies masculine singular Versuch in the accusative after the definite article den: den nächsten Versuch. The adjective carries the inflection; Versuch remains the noun’s base form here. Versuch is a masculine noun meaning “attempt” in this context. Its plural is Versuche. The phrase für den nächsten Versuch means “for the next attempt”: für takes the accusative, which is why the masculine article is den rather than nominative der. Here, für expresses what the plan is intended for. Together, Jetzt hast du gives “Now you have,” einen konkreten Plan gives “a concrete plan,” and für den nächsten Versuch specifies what the plan is for. The complete meaning is: “Now you have a concrete plan for the next attempt.”