Why is German so difficult? Reasons Why and What Makes It More Learnable

You don’t have to be a German language student to ask this – why is German so difficult to learn?

When I was teaching German in a language school in Manila, almost all my students really had a hard time understanding the language and I as a teacher had to struggle with how to make it much easier for them. 

So yes, German is hard to learn. But, there are also reasons why it’s easy to learn. 

So why is German so difficult to learn?

I suppose, German is not your mother language, so it is indeed difficult and a challenge to learn this European language. Even some native Germans don’t even know how to explain some rules – they only know how to speak the language! 

The funny thing is when I mentioned präteritum and präsens to my German boyfriend, he vaguely answered me and said it’s been a long time already since he heard that in school. 

Oh well, anyway, here are the reasons why is German hard to learn.

Reasons why German is hard to learn

– The Cases (Kasus)

Of course, these could be one of the culprits why some students quit learning. They believe German is too difficult to understand because of these cases that make articles, pronouns and adjectives change in a sentence.

So what is a case actually?

→These are grammatical cases that change according to the role of the noun in a sentence. For total beginners, the German language has 4 cases namely:

• Nominative (the subject)
• Accusative (the direct object)
• Dative (the indirect object)
• Genitive (shows possession and ownership)

If the noun is the doer of the action or the subject, then it is in the nominative case. If it’s the receiver of the action, then it’s the direct object which we call the accusative case.

If it’s the second receiver or the indirect object, then it’s in the dative case.

Ich gebe meiner Schwester das Papier unserer Mutter.

I’m giving the paper of our mother to my sister.

Let’s dissect the sentence:

Ich – the one doing the giving (geben)

das Papier – what is being given

Unserer Mutter – shows possession or relationship which shows the pronoun ”unser” becomes ”unserer” since it performs the role of the genitive case

meiner Schwester – serves as the indirect object. You can identify the dative case if it answers the question ”to whom”.

It is also crucial to master the German case system if you’re taking a German certification exam. Furthermore, you can’t communicate and write properly if you don’t know the functions of each case.

Read related post ➡️ The Accusative Case In German: A Beginner’s Guide

– Declension

If the German four cases make you want to pull your hair, then maybe German declension will make you want to disappear and forget you ever thought of learning German.

But hear me out, it is indeed very confusing for German language learners because maybe in your mother language, you don’t need to formulate sentences that are always governed by case and declensions, but it is learnable and with the right learning mindset you can master these rules.

Declensions are essential in the German language. Without these declensions, a sentence wouldn’t even make sense. That means, it makes the sentence more understandable.

Declension enables speakers to identify the difference between subjects, direct objects, indirect objects and possessives by altering the forms of words with the articles associated with a word.

In English we can’t say, ”A coffee drink the man” but in German, you can simply formulate this kind of sentence without following the traditional and common sentence structure which is the Subject-Verb-Object.

Using the same sentence, you can say, ”Einen Kaffee trinkt der Mann.”

By looking at the indefinite article ”einen” and the definite article ”der”, you already have an idea that the accusative case is at the beginning of the sentence while the nominative case is placed at the end. You can differentiate that easily if you know the German cases by heart, which is indeed mandatory if you want to speak German fluently.

How do you apply declension in German?

By making changes to an adjective so it agrees with the noun according to gender and case, we already apply the rule of declension. This is what we call an ”adjective declension”. Only adjectives before nouns are declined in German grammar.

Ich esse einen leckeren Apfel.

I am eating a delicious apple.

In this simple sentence, we are using the indefinite article in the accusative case ”ein”(corresponds to English a/an) which becomes ”einen” in the accusative case because Apfel is a masculine noun and the adjective ”lecker” has an ending ”en” in the accusative case.

Look at the table below. This is how you apply adjective endings with indefinite or weak articles (including negation like kein (no) and possessive pronouns (mein, sein, ihr, unser).

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nominative	ein + er	eine + e	ein + es	keine + en
Accusative	einen + en	eine + e	ein + es	keine + en
Dative	einem + en	einer + en	einem + en	keinen + en
Genitive	eines + en	einer + en	eines + en	keiner + en

– Compound nouns

Compound nouns are words that are composed of more than one word. If you form a noun + a noun to form a word, then it’s a compound noun. In English, they can be together, separated or hyphenated but in German, compound nouns are always together.

German words like Kühlschrank (fridge), Arbeitnehmer (employee) and Waschmaschine (washing machine) are simple German compound nouns. They are also easy to understand and pronounce.

But that’s not always the case. German compound nouns can also consist of more than two words.

Here are German compound nouns that make German the hardest language to learn and speak:

• Rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaften – insurance companies providing legal protection
• Betäubungsmittelverschreibungsverordnung – Narcotics Prescription Ordinance
• Nahrungsmittelunverträglichkeit – food intolerance
• Zusammengehörigkeitsgefühl – the sense of togetherness
• Straßenbahnhaltestelle – tram stop
• Arbeitsunfähigkeitsbescheinigung – sick certificate

So if you’re looking for hard-to-guess passwords for your online accounts, you can use German compound nouns.

Kidding aside, if you’re a beginner in learning German, you don’t have to dive in immediately to learning and speaking those complicated compound words.

– No direct English translation

Normally, you can understand a foreign word if you can explain it in your own language or in English but there are words in German that have no direct translation or English equivalent.

Here are some words that have no direct translation that make learning German a bit challenging:

• Feierabend – Home time that is usually used when you’re finished with your work at a workplace
• Schadenfreude – the feeling of joy from other’s misfortune
• Sitzfleisch – the ability to sit for a longer period of time to finish a task
• Fernweh – longing to see distant places
• Kummerspeck – when somebody’s gaining weight from emotional eating

– The Three Genders

In the English language and in some languages, nouns have no gender. In Spanish, there are two genders but in German, there are three genders and they use determiners such as der, die, das for masculine, feminine and neutral nouns respectively.

What makes it more challenging is that the genders of the nouns change according to cases which we have already discussed above.

There are indeed clues but those clues are not applicable to all nouns. In that case, you have to memorise each gender of the nouns. There’s no other way. What you should do is whenever you encounter a German word or a noun, you should know immediately its corresponding gender.

Here are some hints in identifying the gender of a noun:

• Nouns that end in -e are feminine like – die Blume, die Tasche
• Nouns that end in – keit are feminine like – die Höflichkeit, die Kindheit
• Nouns that end in – ung are also feminine like – die Zeitung, die Übung
• Nouns that end in – er are masculine like – der Drucker, der Hammer, der Kummer
• Nouns that end in -ling are masculine like – der Liebling, der Schmetterling
• Nouns that end in -nis are neuter like – das Erlebnis, das Gedächtnis
• Nouns that end in -um are neuter like – das Ultimatum, das Studium

But like I wrote above, these hints don’t apply to all nouns.

Take note: These are just nouns that you may encounter that don’t follow the German gender rules I mentioned above.

• der Reichtum – wealth
• das Ende – end
• das Messer – knife

– Some verbs are separable

Maybe you have already encountered the word ”ausgeben” which means to spend. Sometimes the prefix of this verb ”aus” is at the end of the sentence, other times it stays together with the root word ”geben”. By the way, the prefix is an affix or a word, sometimes containing only a few letters which are added before a stem word.

If you don’t know the rules and are learning German without a tutor, this will definitely confuse you and wonder why the verbs are separated from prefixes.

Here are some rules and hints that a prefix of the verb is separated from the root verb:

– There are a lot of prefixes of verbs that are thrown to the end of the sentence, but there are only a few prefixes that stay with the verbs. These verbs are called inseparable verbs. Here are the prefixes that you should memorise that when you see one in a verb, you will immediately know that a verb is inseparable:

• be- begegnen, besprechen
• ge- gehören, gefallen
• ent- entkommen, entgehen
• emp- empfehlen, empfangen
• er- erobern, errichten
• zer- zerbrechen, zerstören
• ver- verringern, verachten
• miss- misslingen, misshandeln

– If the stem verb is being conjugated, thus without any change in the order of the sentence, the prefix goes at the end of the sentence.

''Sie kommt morgen um acht Uhr an.'' Eng: ''She arrives tomorrow at eight o'clock.''

The verb ”ankommen” is separable and it was used in a sentence where the main verb ”kommen” is conjugated according to the subject ”sie.” The main verb ”kommen” stays in the second position since it is only a simple sentence that doesn’t have any rule that may change the sentence order.

– If the mood of the sentence is imperative, thus commanding or expressing order, then the prefix of the verb is separated from the main verb.

''Steh auf!'' Eng: Stand up! or Get up!

Even in a formal form, the separable verb is still separated.

''Stehen Sie bitte auf.'' Eng: Please stand up.

But then these separable verbs are not always separated. That means a German grammar rule is applied that changes the sentence structure.

• If subordinating conjunction is used in a sentence. Some common subordinating conjunctions are weil, seit, and dass.

Ich konnte viel sparen, weil ich auch nicht so viel ausgebe. Eng: I could save a lot because I don't also spend a lot. 

Separable verbs are at the end of the sentence if a modal verb is used and conjugated.

Sie will nicht ausgeben. Eng: She doesn't want to spend (money).

– Conjugations

For English speakers, it could be a challenge because they don’t conjugate verbs the way Germans do. In English, you conjugate the verbs according to the subject in the sentence and the tenses (present, past and future).

There is no major change in the spelling or form of the verbs too.

What is conjugation by the way?

Conjugation is making changes in verbs to express tense, mood and person. A conjugated verb is a verb that has been altered already from its original form.

German verbs are conjugated according to the grammatical moods of the verbs (indicative, subjunctive, imperative, participle and infinitive). Without this conjugation, you can’t comprehend a single sentence and you can’t tell who is speaking and when the action is being done.

Conjugating a German verb relies on the subject and the time of speaking. While I was learning conjugation, I also learned it with a pattern but these patterns are only applicable to German weak verbs or regular verbs.

Look at the table below to understand the pattern for conjugating a regular German verb. Let us use the verb ”sagen” which is a regular verb in German which means ”to say”.

Personal pronouns	Present tense conjugation	Pattern
ich	sage	Remove en and add -e
du	sagst	Remove en and add -st
sie/er/es	sagt	Remove en and add -t
wir	sagen	Remains the same
ihr	sagt	Remove en and add -t
sie	sagen	Remains the same
Sie	sagen	Remains the same

Conjugating a German regular verb is easier than conjugating a strong verb or irregular verb. There are no patterns like what a regular verb has and the spelling of the verbs is also altered differently. You have to familiarize each word and memorise the conjugation painstakingly.

Look at the table below to see how an irregular German verb is conjugated. Let us use the verb ”laufen” which means ”to walk”.

Personal pronouns	Present tense conjugation	Past tense conjugation
ich	laufe	lief
du	läufst	liefst
sie/er/es	läuft	lief
wir	laufen	liefen
ihr	lauft	lieft
sie	laufen	liefen
Sie	laufen	liefen

How can you memorise German verbs and their conjugations?

When you memorise a verb and its conjugations, you have to memorise the conjugations in its past tense and perfect tense as well. You should formulate German sentences by using the verbs you have just learned and apply them using different persons and in different tenses.

You can also write the verbs and the conjugations on paper and or index cards then you can browse through them even if you’re outside.

Learning is a process, it is personal and subjective. You have to create your own strategy if the strategies of others are not working for you.

But what makes German an easy language to learn?

German simple sentence pattern

Like English, German grammar follows an English pattern Subject-Verb-Object. Everything starts from there. If you’re a beginner, use that to your advantage. Learn and speak more German by using this structure. From then, you can move towards more complicated German grammar rules.

But if you know this simple pattern and how you conjugate a German verb, you won’t get hungry and can order a menu already in a restaurant.

German words have similarities to English words

Both English and German use the same alphabet. There are even German words that have almost the same sound in English with the same meaning.

That is because English and German languages come from the family of Indo-European languages’ Germanic branch.

However, even the young generation today speaks mixed English in their conversations in Germany. You might hear ”cool” from teenagers and even ”cringe” was chosen as the Youth Word of the Year in 2021.

Without mentioning those youth words that youngsters borrow from English, there are German words that have similarities to English words.

• finden – to find
• das Wasser – water
• trinken – to drink
• die Nase – nose
• das Knie – knee
• die Milch -milk
• der Reis – rice
• geben – to give
• helfen – to help
• der Vater – father
• die Mutter – mother
• der Sohn – son
• die Tochter – daughter
• haben – to have
• fallen – to fall
• neu – new
• alt – old
• weit – wide
• kochen – to cook
• backen – to bake
• das Haar – hair

And many more. You will encounter more German words that are similar to English words as you learn German and try to be better at speaking every day.

– German language is not that complicated to learn

When I was learning German, I used to sit in Finnish class as well which made me realize German is not the most difficult language to learn. In the Finnish language, it sounds like in every word, they add a suffix (correct me if I’m wrong because I didn’t pursue learning it until the end).

It’s the same thing with the Hungarian language – formulating a sentence doesn’t even follow the S-V-O sentence order that German has.

Compared to other languages, German language has only four cases which make the language more understandable and logical when some people think, it is quite the opposite – they think, these four cases make the language impossible to learn.

Yes, it might be hard learning those cases in the beginning but when you think of it in the long run – these cases organize your thoughts and ideas.

If you have the right strategies, learning German is quite fun and challenging, in a positive way.

How long does it take to learn German?

How long you could learn to speak German depends on the hours you spend on it and how determined you are to master the language. If you go to a language school, you will usually learn it from six months up to one year.

If you challenge yourself to only learn German within 30 days or up to 150 days, then you’re going to make if you pair that with the right strategies and determination.

I however learned German within six to seven months and within that timeframe, I also achieved my B2 German Certification on Goethe Institute.

So it really depends to a person, number of hours you spend on learning and how serious a person is.

Let’s wrap it up: Is German hard to learn?

You might have heard a lot from naysayers to quit learning German because it’s hard to learn but if you’re on a deciding point right now while reading this, then there’s no really harm in trying.

Learning something new is always fun – it might be difficult but like they said, if it’s hard then it’s really worth it.

If you’re learning German for your future, for moving to Germany or to work in Germany, then the more you should strive to learn the language.

Bis dann und viel Spaß beim Lernen!

Clyde xxx

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