Learning German from DuoLingo: Day 15
I started using DuoLingo to try to learn to read German on June 28, and I've managed to sneak in 15 or 20 minutes every day since then. A couple days ago, @cmp2020 suggested that it might help me pick the language up better if I log my activities on Steemit, and it sounded like a good idea, so here's my post to log today's learning.
Pixabay license, source.
Today, and for the last several days, I have been learning about the "accusative" cases of words like "ein" (a/an) and "der" (the).
The tips from the lesson include the following examples and mappings:
| basic form | accusative case |
|---|---|
| der Apfel (the apple) | Ich habe den Apfel (I have the apple.) |
| ein Apfel (an apple) | Ich esse einen Apfel (I have an apple.) |
| form | the | a/an |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | der -> den | ein -> einen |
| feminine | die -> die | eine -> eine |
| neuter | das -> das | ein -> ein |
Recent lessons have also focused on the conjugation of verbs. Examples in the tips are:
| Example |
|---|
| Ich trinke (I drink) |
| du trinkst (You drink) |
| er/sie/es trinkt (he/she/it drinks) |
| wir trinken (we drink) |
| ihr trinkt (you [all] drink) |
| sie trinken (they drink) |
Words like lese, esse, isst, and liest are still confusing to me at this point.
@cmp2020 gave me the dust pneumonic device for remembering that "du" verbs end with "st". That is very helpful. Also, looking at the table now, the pneumonic device: est-ten-ten occurs to me: (I/e, du/st, er-sie-es/t, wir/en, ihr/t, sie/en). I'll be glad when I get to the point where the right suffix comes to mind without thinking through the rules, though.
Today, I started on "level 2" and advanced to "level 3" of the accusative case lessons. The levels go up to 5.
I don't know what most of this stuff means, but I am in the DuoLingo "Silver League" with 1201 total XP, including 468 earned this week, and about 61 earned today. I have 15 "total crowns" and am on a 15 day streak. I have my daily goal set to "20 minutes", and I met the goal today.
A few days ago, DuoLingo said that I had learned 28 words. I don't see a way to get the current value for that metric.
Lessons completed to date include "Basics 1", "The", "Basics 2", and "Phrases".
Five things I think I remember from today's lessons
| German | English |
|---|---|
| Ich trinke Wasser | I drink water |
| Du trinkst Wasser | You drink water |
| Sie trinkst Wasser und sie essen Brot. | She drinks water and they eat bread. |
| Die Kinder essen einen Apfel. | The children eat an apple. |
| Die Frauen trinken die Wasser | The women drink the water. |
The proof is in the pudding, so we'll have to see if I manage to learn the language by using DuoLingo, but so far it seems like a decent tool.