German | B1 Grammar

Hello, this is my third grammar post and I feel like I really make progress in language! This is a great feeling becaue seeing that I am able to make progressess while in IB programme is motivating me. B1 was logically harder than A1 and A2. However I learned that B1 was the hardest part of grammar which relieved me. So that, I am no more nervous about B2 grammar. Now I can tell you what I have learned on this level.

Let me say it again: I think B1 was the hardest part, and I’m really pleased to have successfully completed it. Although the B1 section took longer than the other levels, it still lasted about a month. Whilst I learnt many new topics at this level, there were also revises of topics from previous levels that were quite challenging. I could cite conjunctions as an example of this. I covered this topic in great detail from the start and also worked on compound conjunctions. Although it was a topic that really challenged me in terms of memorisation, learning extra expressions to express myself naturally gave me a boost of confidence. Alongside this, I learnt relative clauses. Although it isn’t actually a difficult topic, having covered the genitive case at B1 level meant trying to distinguish between the different forms confused me a bit. In addition to these, I have now covered all six tenses in German and learnt the passive form of each tense. It was quite lengthy and relied heavily on memorisation. Of course, writing so many German sentences for each tense was exhausting for me, but reaching B1 level has motivated me. I’ve covered Participle 1 and 2 (i.e., participles). But there was one aspect of German that surprised me. Normally, German tends to have more difficult grammar topics compared to English, yet the gerund and infinitive—which is usually a lengthy topic in English—came across as a very simple subject in German, and I was quite pleased about that. In addition to all this, I learnt the diminutive form in German and also learnt the Konnjuktiv 1 after the second one.

What really worried me, however, was realising that I would have to learn each verb form five times in German. To list them: present, past, perfect, Konnjuktiv 1 and Konnjuktiv 2. Although this worried me, I decided to adjust my study workload accordingly and make that much progress in the language. I’d also like to mention that I’ve finished the A1 listening section before moving on to B2 grammar!!! I’m now moving up to A2 level in listening, and whilst I’m starting B2 level in grammar, my aim is to reach B1 in listening and A2 in writing. I hope things go according to plan. If all goes well, I’d like to share the good news that I’ll be visiting Germany again next year! Stay tuned for my future German language blogs and perhaps even some travel blogs!