Video 3: Reflexive Verbs, Vacation Vocabulary & Connectors (weil/da, deshalb, trotzdem, obwohl)

Source: ~2.5 hour recorded live Zoom class (third session of the B1 batch). Long stretches are pure logistics/silence (the recording was left running) and are skipped below. Approximate topic timestamps:

• Roll call, homework chat, "foulenzen" small talk (00:00–04:00) — skipped, administrative/chitchat only
• Homework review: Infinitiv mit zu sentences re-checked from prior chapter (04:00–08:00)
• Reflexive verbs: fixed-reflexive vs. sometimes-reflexive (sich treffen example) (13:50–17:10)
• Large vacation/travel vocabulary list, Übungsbuch p.16 onward (17:50–40:30)
• Reading comprehension exercise: matching headings to texts about German vacation habits, with embedded grammar/vocab corrections (number "und" rule, jeder/jede zweite) (40:30–01:14:00)
• Connectors: weil vs. da (because), deshalb (that's why), trotzdem (still/yet), obwohl (although) — verb position rules and practice sentences (01:15:00–01:50:30)
• Wind-down / recording left running, no further content (01:50:30–end) — skipped, silence only

Topics Covered

• Reflexive verbs that are only sometimes reflexive vs. verbs that are always reflexive (sich treffen)
• Vacation/travel vocabulary (accommodation, weather, scenery, transport, emotions/moods)
• Number-formation reminder: und after twenty, no und below twenty
• Ordinal-style expression: jeder/jede zweite ("every second person")
• Subordinating connectors expressing reason: weil vs. da (both = "because", verb to the end)
• deshalb ("that's why") — a position-1 connector, not a subordinating one
• trotzdem ("still"/"yet") — showing an unexpected/contrary action
• obwohl ("although") — subordinating connector showing the reason behind a contrary action
• The position-1/position-3 swap rule, and why obwohl and trotzdem cannot be combined in one sentence

Reflexive Verbs: Fixed vs. Sometimes-Reflexive

Some German verbs are reflexive only in certain sentence structures, not always. The example worked through was sich treffen (to meet).

Rule given in class: if the verb has a direct/prepositional object in the sentence, it is not used reflexively. If there is no other object, the reflexive pronoun is used instead.

• Wir treffen unseren Freund am Abend. → We are meeting our friend in the evening. (Freund = object present → no reflexive pronoun)
• Wir treffen uns am Abend. → We are meeting (each other) in the evening. (no other object → reflexive uns appears)

Dictionary notation mentioned: glossaries mark this distinction by whether sich appears in brackets or not next to the verb:

• (sich) treffen → sometimes reflexive (depends on whether another object is present)
• sich verb written without brackets → always reflexive, no exceptions

The teacher noted there are several categories of reflexive verbs (5–6 types) and that the full breakdown is covered later, in Chapter 8–9 — this class only introduced the fixed vs. sometimes distinction as a preview.

Vacation & Travel Vocabulary

A large vocabulary set was built from the Übungsbuch (workbook), grouped roughly by theme:

Accommodation / lodging:

• das Ferienhaus → holiday house
• das Wellnesshotel → spa/wellness hotel
• die Hütte → hut
• der Hut → hat (worn) — contrasted with die Mütze (cap)
• die Badewanne → bathtub
• die Unterkunft → accommodation (synonym: das Domizil)
• übernachten → to stay overnight
• der Übernachtungspreis-type vocab: im Freien übernachten → to stay overnight outdoors/in the open
• zelten → to camp; aufbauen → to build (e.g., a tent)
• die Halbpension → half board (breakfast + one meal, e.g., lunch); die Vollpension → full board (all meals included)
• enthalten sein (in) → to be included — synonym: inbegriffen sein
• der Empfang → reception/welcome

Scenery / nature:

• der Ausblick → view, specifically the outlook from a window (fixed expression: einen Ausblick haben)
• die Aussicht → view in the sense of overall scenery/vista (e.g., when admiring a landscape) — and figuratively, "point of view"/opinion
• die Natur → nature; die Umgebung → surroundings
• der Himmel → sky; die Wiese → meadow; die Traube → grape(s); reif → ripe
• der Berg / das Gebirge → mountain / mountain range (fixed preposition: ins Gebirge, i.e. in)
• giftig → poisonous (⚠️ note: never say "I have a Gift" thinking it means "gift" — Gift in German means poison, a classic false-friend trap)
• der Schutz → protection; das Netz → network
• die Einsamkeit → loneliness/solitude; einsam → lonely

Coast / beach:

• der Strandurlaub → beach vacation
• die Küste → coast/seaside
• der Sand → sand
• die Strandpromenade → beach promenade/seafront

Transport / journey:

• buchen → to book; vorbuchen → to pre-book
• der Hauptbahnhof → central/main railway station
• der ICE → Intercity Express (high-speed train)
• der Kofferraum → car boot/trunk, luggage compartment
• die Schiffsfahrt → ship journey; das Boot → boat
• die Alpen → the Alps
• die Entfernung → distance (also: removal)
• die Fahrtzeit → travel time
• gegen → (1) around [approximate time], (2) opposite

Moods / feelings / actions:

• (sich) entspannen → to relax; entspannend → relaxing; angenehm → pleasant (unangenehm → unpleasant)
• sich erholen / sich beruhigen / sich ausruhen → three near-synonyms for "to relax/recover"; (sich) beruhigen can also mean to calm/soothe someone else
• faulenzen → to laze around, to loaf around, to be lazy/idle
• spazieren → to walk
• mitarbeiten → to collaborate/work together
• vorbeikommen → to come over/by/around
• begeistert sein → to be excited
• gut/schlecht gelaunt sein → to be in a good/bad mood
• zufrieden sein → to be satisfied
• nervös sein → to be nervous
• verzweifelt sein → to be in despair/desperate in the sense of sadness (⚠️ distinguished in class from the English "desperate" meaning eager/excited — German verzweifelt always carries the negative, despairing sense)

Other fixed expressions/fillers:

• jedenfalls → anyway, in any case
• unterwegs → on the way
• enttäuscht / die Enttäuschung → disappointed / disappointment
• die Entscheidung → decision; (sich) entscheiden → to decide
• gemeinsam → together
• (sich) treffen → to meet
• chic → fancy, stylish (e.g., ein schickes Hotel → a fancy hotel)
• typisch → typical (das ist typisch für... )
• der Rückblick → look-back/throwback (used colloquially the same way as a "throwback" social-media post)
• circa (zirka) → approximately
• offenbar → obviously, apparently
• momentan → currently, at the moment
• sogenannt → so-called

Reading Comprehension: Vacation Trends in Germany

The class read a multi-paragraph text (Übungsbuch) about German vacation habits and practiced matching headings to text paragraphs — explicitly flagged as the same difficulty level and pattern as the telc exam.

Key content sentences from the text, with translation:

• Im Durchschnitt war der Urlaub 2019 neun Tage lang. → On average, vacation in 2019 was nine days long. (im Durchschnitt = "on average," a fixed expression)
• Weniger als zwanzig Prozent der Österreicher waren vierzehn Tage oder länger unterwegs. → Less than 20% of Austrians were traveling for 14 days or longer.
• Experten nennen drei Gründe, warum der Haupturlaub immer kürzer wird:
  1. Viele Firmen genehmigen ihren Angestellten nicht mehr als zwei Wochen Urlaub auf einmal. → Many companies no longer approve more than two weeks of vacation at once for their employees. (genehmigen = to approve; Angestellte = employees, synonym of Mitarbeiter)
  2. Viele wollen auch Winterurlaub machen und sparen deshalb Urlaubstage. → Many also want to take a winter vacation and therefore save up vacation days.
  3. Jeder oder jeder zweite hat für einen längeren Urlaub einfach zu wenig Geld. → Every person, or every second person, simply has too little money for a longer vacation.
• Wer früher bucht, hat die Wahl / das Angebot für Frühbucher ist viel größer → whoever books earlier has more choice; the offer/range available to early bookers is much bigger.
• Frühbucher bezahlen aber meist mehr als Last-Minute-Reisende, die erst ganz kurz vor dem Urlaub buchen. → Early bookers usually pay more than last-minute travelers, who only book shortly before their vacation.
• Wer lieber Last-Minute reist, muss bei Reisezeit und Reiseziel sehr flexibel sein. → Whoever prefers to travel last-minute must be very flexible about travel time and destination.
• Im Sommer ist Hauptsaison von Juli bis August; günstiger ist es Ende Juni und Anfang September. → Summer peak season runs July–August; it's cheaper at the end of June and beginning of September.
• Familien mit schulpflichtigen Kindern können diesen Vorteil leider nicht nutzen. → Families with school-age children unfortunately cannot use this advantage (they're stuck with peak-season, peak-price travel).
• Eltern mit kleinen Kindern oder kinderlose Personen buchen ihren Urlaub lieber in der Nebensaison. → Parents with small children, or childless people, prefer to book their vacation in the off-season.
• Ungefähr ein Viertel der Deutschen macht Urlaub im eigenen Land. → Approximately a quarter of Germans vacation in their own country. Two reasons given: die Reisekosten sind niedriger (travel costs are lower) and die Sprache ist vertraut (the language is familiar).

Exam strategy tip emphasized by the teacher: when matching headings to texts, don't fixate on a single matching word/phrase (e.g., "cost" appearing in two different paragraphs) — read the whole paragraph and match based on its main idea, since the exam deliberately includes overlapping vocabulary across multiple paragraphs to create confusable distractors.

Grammar note surfaced mid-text: numbers above twenty use und (e.g. einundzwanzig); numbers below twenty do not use und (e.g. siebzehn, not sieb-und-zehn).

Vocabulary clarified mid-text:

• alle vs. alles → alle = "all" (used with countable/plural things, e.g. alle Kinder), alles = "everything" (used only with non-count "things" in general)
• aus der Nähe → "from close up/nearby," a fixed expression
• nutzen vs. benutzen → near-interchangeable ("to use"); careful not to confuse with nützen (umlaut!), a different verb meaning "to benefit," covered later in Chapter 5
• der/die Reisende → "traveler" — same form for masculine and feminine (and plural)

Connectors: weil/da, deshalb, trotzdem, obwohl

The teacher reviewed a group of subordinating/connecting words used to express reason and contrast, with their fixed verb-position rules — flagged as core B1 grammar, not just A2 review.

weil and da — both mean "because"

Both trigger a Nebensatz (subordinate clause): the conjugated verb moves to the end of the clause.

• Ich gehe nicht ins Büro, weil ich krank bin. → I am not going to the office because I am sick.
• Ich gehe nicht ins Büro, da ich krank bin. → same meaning, with da instead of weil.

Position-1 / position-3 swap: since both weil and da send the verb to the end of their own clause, the clause can also be moved to the front of the sentence — and when that happens, the two clauses (originally in position 1 and position 3) simply swap places:

• Da ich krank bin, gehe ich nicht ins Büro. → Because I am sick, I am not going to the office.
• A sentence can never start with "weil" the verb-at-second-position way main clauses do — weil/da always force the Nebensatz word order even at the start of a sentence (verb still goes to the end of that clause, followed by a comma and then the main clause with verb-second).

Recommendation given: between weil and da, da is considered the "better"/more advanced choice, but it's also riskier in spoken/partner exam practice because da has multiple meanings (there/locative; a meaningless filler word; "because") and can confuse a conversation partner who doesn't immediately catch which sense is meant. For students unsure about pushing the verb to the end correctly, the teacher suggested it's safer to use denn (a position-1 connector that keeps normal word order) instead of risking mistakes with weil/da — but once comfortable with Nebensatz word order, prefer a mixture of weil and da.

deshalb — "that's why" / "therefore"

deshalb is not a subordinating connector — it does not send any verb to the end. Instead, deshalb itself occupies position 1, and the conjugated verb stays in position 2 (i.e., immediately after deshalb), followed by the subject in position 3.

• Ich bin krank. Deshalb gehe ich nicht ins Büro. → I am sick. That's why I'm not going to the office.
• Pattern: deshalb (pos. 1) + verb (pos. 2) + subject (pos. 3) — note this reverses the usual subject-first order, since deshalb itself takes the first slot.
• Equivalent meaning to a weil-sentence, just restructured: "I am not going to the office because I am sick" = "I am sick, that's why I am not going to the office" — same logical content, opposite sentence order.

trotzdem — "still" / "yet" (showing unexpected/contrary action)

trotzdem introduces an unexpected consequence — the action happens despite the stated fact. Same position rule as deshalb: trotzdem (pos. 1) + verb (pos. 2) + subject (pos. 3), and it can also be placed mid-sentence with subject-verb inverted around it.

• Ich bin krank. Trotzdem gehe ich ins Büro. → I am sick. Still, I am going to the office.
• Ich habe Fieber, trotzdem gehe ich spazieren. → I have a fever, (but) still I'm going for a walk.
• Since trotzdem and the preceding clause are both "position 1/3"-style elements, they can be swapped: Trotzdem gehe ich ins Büro, [obwohl] ich krank bin type restructuring is possible the same way as with da/weil.

obwohl — "although" (subordinating connector, shows the reason)

obwohl is a true Nebensatz connector: like weil/da, it sends the conjugated verb to the end of its clause.

• Obwohl ich krank bin, gehe ich ins Büro. → Although I am sick, I am going to the office.
• Obwohl ich Fieber habe, gehe ich spazieren. → Although I have a fever, I am going for a walk. (Note: spazieren gehen is a double-infinitive/separable-style verb, so gehen splits to the end as usual.)

Conceptual distinction taught between obwohl and trotzdem:

• obwohl expresses the reason/fact behind a contrary outcome — it answers "what fact makes this surprising?"
• trotzdem (and "still"/"yet" in English) expresses the action/consequence itself — what actually happens despite that fact.
• Both describe the same contrary-to-expectation situation, just from two different grammatical angles (reason clause vs. consequence clause), and the same idea can usually be re-expressed with either one by restructuring the sentence.

Worked examples drilled in class:

• Er hat kein Geld. Trotzdem kauft er ein neues Handy. → He has no money. Still, he's buying a new phone.
• Obwohl er kein Geld hat, kauft er ein neues Handy. → Although he has no money, he's buying a new phone.
• Obwohl Lisa morgen eine wichtige Prüfung schreiben muss, lernt sie nicht. → Although Lisa has to write an important exam tomorrow, she is not studying.
• Lisa muss morgen eine wichtige Prüfung schreiben, trotzdem lernt sie nicht. → Lisa has to write an important exam tomorrow; still, she is not studying.
• ⚠️ Correction: Obwohl ich Rückenschmerzen habe, gehe ich ins Fitnessstudio. — a student's first attempt put the clauses/verb positions in the wrong order; corrected to keep habe at the end of the obwohl-clause and gehe second in the main clause.
• ⚠️ A full stop can be used instead of a comma between an independent trotzdem-sentence and the clause before it (unlike weil/da/obwohl, which conventionally use a comma to join the two clauses of one sentence).

Important restriction: don't combine obwohl and trotzdem in the same sentence

obwohl and trotzdem express the same contrast logically, so using both together in one sentence is redundant/incorrect — pick one or the other:

• ❌ Obwohl ich die Prüfung nicht bestanden habe, trotzdem habe ich die Motivation.
• ✅ Obwohl ich die Prüfung nicht bestanden habe, habe ich die Motivation. → Although I haven't passed the exam, I still have the motivation.
• ✅ Ich habe die Prüfung nicht bestanden, trotzdem habe ich die Motivation. → I haven't passed the exam; still, I have the motivation.

Notes & Tips

• Reflexive verbs aren't binary — check whether another object is present in the sentence before deciding if a "reflexive" verb like treffen actually needs its reflexive pronoun; this distinction will be formalized with more categories in Chapters 8–9.
• Gift is a false friend — in German, das Gift means "poison," not "gift" (Geschenk). Saying "Ich habe ein Gift" does not mean what an English speaker would assume.
• Exam reading-comprehension strategy: match headings to whole-paragraph main ideas, not single repeated keywords — the telc exam intentionally scatters similar vocabulary (e.g., "cost," "price") across multiple paragraphs as distractors.
• Connector choice is flexible but must be grammatically consistent: students are free to choose whichever connector (weil, da, deshalb, trotzdem, obwohl) they're most comfortable with for speaking/writing — but must not mix verb-position rules from different connectors within the same clause, and must never combine obwohl + trotzdem in one sentence since they're logically redundant.
• Number formation reminder: use und only above twenty (einundzwanzig), never below (siebzehn, not "sieb-und-zehn") — a small but easy-to-miss spelling/speaking error.
• Half board vs. full board: Halbpension = breakfast + one main meal; Vollpension = all meals included — useful vocabulary for travel-themed writing/speaking tasks.