The difference between "zu Hause" vs. "nach Hause" easily trips up German learners, but it doesn't have to trip you up. Here are 3 ways to help you remember the difference.

1. "zu Hause" = home

"zu" is usually used as a preposition, so it would stand by itself and you might think that "zu Hause" means "to home." This is an exception. When you say "Ich bin zu Hause," I am home, you're really using three blocks of language. Think of them like lego blocks.

[Ich]  [bin]  [zu Hause].

So just as you learn "der Tisch" and not just "Tisch," learn this as one piece of language or one idea, not as two different words. So learn "zu Hause" meaning home just as you would "der Tisch" for table.

Aldi is a world-wide discount supermarket store from Germany and they offer a limited amount of offerings for very low prices. Every week they have a different special on special purchase items and this week it's Oktoberfest - products imported from Germany.

Aldi has their own brands and labels for their products and the German products sold in the US are sold under the name "Deutsche Küche," German kitchen.

Here are 3 highlights of the German foods this week:

1. Erdnussflips - Peanut Puffs. A puffed snack covered in peanut butter (like a peanut-version of cheese puffs). Delicious and dangerously addictive. It's probably a good thing these are only available a couple of times a year.

2. Jaffa Cakes - I don't know where this name comes from, but these are cookies readily available in German supermarkets. Filled with raspberry jam or orange, these cookies are then covered in chocolate. Mmm, lecker!

5 Ways to Re-Use Your German & Learn More in the Process

There is one key ingredient to students who learn the most in their German lessons:  they repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat.

My first German teacher was (and surely still is) an excellent instructor. She told me if I wanted to learn a new word in German, I'd have to use it 28 times.

28 times!! That's a lot of repetition. (If that's an average, sometimes it goes faster--say 20 repetitions, and sometimes it takes longer, say 40 repetitions. For as many times as you have to remind yourself that it's "das Ende," suddenly 28 times sounds fairly reasonable, oder?)

My awesome teacher was right.

Germans have a great way to use up small amounts of leftover noodles & meat--Nudelpfanne! Literally:  noodle-pan.

While it's probably most convenient to make Nudelpfanne with leftovers (Essensreste), you might be in the mood to just make a Nudelpfanne. It's simple, delicious, and you can make it the same or different every time.

Here's the step-by-step process:

Zutaten:

IKEA Germany advertises with a catchy slogan:

Wohnst du noch, oder lebst du schon?

Are you living still, or are you living already?

This works in German since wohnen ≠ leben. But the difference is significant. Here's how to tell the difference between wohnen and leben.

wohnen

"wohnen" is used for short-term situations.

"Ich wohne bei meinen Eltern" ...because I'm at home for the summer.

"Ich wohne bei einer Freundin" ...because I'm waiting for my new apartment to open up next week.

"Ich wohne in Berlin" ....because I'm only here for one semester.

"kennen" is not the same as "wissen" and sometimes it takes a while to get used to the difference. After all, in English we only have 'to know.'

kennen - is for things you can get to know, like people, cities, countries, films, museums, schools, stadiums.

wissen - is for facts about things.

For example:

Ich weiß, dass Neil deGrasse Tyson intelligent ist! - I know that Neil deGrasse Tyson is intelligent!

But you don't know him unless you've met him. So, assuming you've never met him:  Ich kenne Neil deGrasse Tyson nicht.