Learn German With Songs

Songs can be a pretty efficient way to learn German. Below I walk through the grammar of one I like, line by line. The song is "Schokolade" by Deine Freunde, a hip-hop band for kids. Look it up on YouTube or Spotify before you read on.

Lyrics, melody, recording: © Deine Freunde and their label. I'm not reproducing the full text here. Quotes below are short snippets used for grammar commentary.

You can drill the song's vocabulary with Anki flashcards, then come back to work through the grammar.

How to use this post

1. Find the song on YouTube or Spotify. Listen once for the groove.
2. Drill the unfamiliar vocabulary with Anki.
3. Read each section below alongside the corresponding line of the song. I quote a short snippet, then explain the grammar.
4. Listen again with the grammar in mind.
5. Listen one more time without reading anything. Most of it should make sense now.

Grammar walk-through

The opening line: "Das ist ein Lied über etwas..."

• das here is not the neuter article. It's a demonstrative pronoun meaning this. Same form, different job.
• über = about. The other common meaning is above. Be careful with prepositions in general - their dictionary translations rarely cover all uses.

The relative clause: "...was ich ganz oft haben möchte..."

• was here is not what. It's a relative pronoun meaning that, used to refer to indefinite amounts (alles, etwas, vieles). The previous line ended in etwas, which is what triggers it.
• Because it's a relative pronoun, it initiates a side clause and pushes the conjugated verb (möchte) to the end.
• ganz oft: ganz literally means totally, but here it just intensifies oft. Translate as very often.

The next line: "...aber immer nur von einer Person bekomme."

• bekomme sits at the end because it's still inside the same side clause as the previous line. German happily strings two side clauses together and shoves both verbs to the end.
• The second was is omitted, the way English drops repeated relatives ("the thing I want and only get from one person").
• bekommen takes von when you want to say from whom. Verb-plus-preposition combinations are worth learning as units.

Time without a preposition: "Ich esse jeden Tag Obst..."

• jeden Tag is Accusative. The rule of thumb: time expressions without a preposition take Accusative; with a (two-way) preposition, almost always Dative.
  • Nächstes Jahr fliege ich nach Berlin. (no preposition - Accusative)
  • Im nächsten Jahr fliege ich nach Berlin. (preposition - Dative)
  • BUT: Ich fliege für ein Jahr nach Berlin. - für is an Accusative preposition and overrides the rule.
• Obst (n, always singular) translates as fruits and, as in English, is mostly used without an article. The phenomenon is called the null-article. Around 95% of the time the German articles behave like the English ones.
• mal mehr, mal weniger = sometimes more, sometimes less. With this paired construction you have to use the Komparativ.

A fixed expression: "Bei uns zu Hause..."

• zu Hause (also written zuhause) is a small, nasty exception. Learn it as a fixed expression in three combinations:
  • Ich bin/bleibe zu Hause. = I am / stay at home.
  • Ich gehe/komme nach Hause. = I go / come home.
  • Ich komme von zu Hause. = I come from home.
• bei uns zu Hause can't be split. It takes position I in the sentence, the verb ist takes position II.
• niemals is a stronger form of nie. Both mean never. Used here for rhythm.

An imperative: "Iss die Äpfel..."

• und, when starting a sentence, sits at position 0. It does the same with aber, denn, sondern, oder - together they make the initialism ADUSO: ADUSO is a l0ser.
• iss is the du-imperative of essen. Take the du-form (du isst), strip the personal ending (-st), and what remains is the imperative. Here the -st isn't fully stripped because the stem already contains two s's.
• The article die applies to Bananen too - German lets you omit it when the same article would apply to a coordinated noun.

Stacking adjectives: "...den ganzen anderen Kram."

• ganzen and anderen are two adjectives in a row. No matter how many you stack, they all take the same ending - -en in this example.

An Objektsatz: "...erzählt sie mir, wie wichtig Vitamine sind..."

• dann takes position I; the verb follows on II.
• erzählen is one of the German verbs that can take two objects. The thing being told is Accusative; the person it's told to is Dative. There are three exceptions worth ignoring as a beginner: lehren, nennen, kosten.
• wie here begins an Objektsatz - another flavour of side clause. The verb goes to the end. You could swap it for dass: ..., dass Vitamine wichtig sind.

Another imperative: "...sei ein liebes Kind."

• sei is the du-imperative of sein (to be). Irregular. Just memorise it.

Superlative + relative clause: "...der Liebste, den es gibt."

• der Liebste is the superlative of lieb. It can also be built with am: Pizza esse ich am liebsten.
• For people, you'll see der Liebste / die Liebste / das Liebste.
• den introduces a relative clause referring back to der Liebste, again pushing the verb to the end.

Side clause + abbreviated verb: "...wenn ich aufgegessen hab', dann sing ich..."

• wenn opens a side clause and pushes the auxiliary hab' to the end.
• hab' is short for habe. The apostrophe signals an omitted e. Don't write it like this in formal correspondence.

The chorus: "...das macht mich groß und stark."

• lecker, used attributively, is unflektiert - it doesn't take an ending where it normally would. Lecker is an oddball; learn it as an exception.
• das here is a Demonstrativpronomen. Almost identical in form to the Relativpronomen, it refers to something just mentioned (Obst und Gemüse) or about to be mentioned: Nun reden wir über das, was ich möchte.

Modal verb structure: "...möcht' ich zu Oma fahren..."

• denn is in the ADUSO gang, so position 0.
• Modal verbs always require an infinitive at the end of the same sentence: möcht' (modal) ... fahren (infinitive at the end).

Pronoun roles: "die gibt mir, was ich mag."

• die here is a Demonstrativpronomen.
• was is a Relativpronomen.

Two-object verb in action: "Oma holt mir Naschi aus dem Schrank."

• woher requires aus or von, both Dative prepositions. Aus dem Schrank.
• holen takes up to two objects. Identify the two key elements:
  1. Oma holt Naschi - Oma fetches the sweets.
  2. Oma holt mir? - Oma fetches me?
  Combination 1 is the right one. Oma is the subject (Nominative). Naschi is the direct object (Accusative). Mir is the receiver of the direct object - the indirect object, in Dative.
• aus dem Schrank is neither - it's a prepositional object.
• Standard order with two objects (excluding prepositional ones) is Dative, Accusative, Dative, Accusative. (Repeating "DA" makes the order easier to remember.)

Word-shortening apostrophe: "Sie hat da so 'ne Schublade..."

• 'ne = eine. The apostrophe shortens the start of a word here. Colloquial only.
• so works as a demonstrative (= such) in this register.
• voller is a preposition followed by Genitive. The case is invisible without an adjective: voller süßer Schokolade - Schokolade is feminine, so the adjective süß takes the (f) Genitive ending -er.

Comparison: "...so wie im Schlaraffenland."

• so wie compares two things that are identical: Er ist (genau) so groß wie ich. = He's as tall as me.

Indirect question: "...was ich jeden Tag ess'?"

• was signals an indirect question; the verb sits at the end. Direct form: Was ess' ich jeden Tag? with the verb on position II.

The Papa-version of the chorus

• von mir aus = for all I care. An equivalent is meinetwegen.
• aus'm = aus dem. Common colloquial contraction; never use it in exams or formal writing.
• wie again opens an Objektsatz, see above.

Want more?

Pick another German song you like (with clear vocals - not Rammstein at full volume). Anything by Wir sind Helden, Annenmaykantereit, AnnenMayKantereit, or older stuff by Reinhard Mey works well. Read the lyrics, mark unknown words, run them through the same grammar lens. The song stays in your head; the grammar comes along for the ride.

If you want a structured course instead of self-directed song-mining, my A1 to B2 courses walk you through every concept above with worked examples and exercises.