Guide - German With Laura

January 12, 2026January 12, 2026 by Laura Bennett

Why You’re Stuck Learning German—And Which Apps & Courses Actually Work (2026)

Built from hundreds of our own students’ responses.

You’re busy. You want German that works in the real world, not just another streak. We collected hundreds of candid notes from our own students about the tools they actually used; what helped, what didn’t, and why progress sometimes stalled. Below is a synthesis of those responses, plus my own (Laura’s) take so you can best leverage the tools to your advantage.

Let’s dive into the top learning tools used by my students, what they love and don’t love so you can learn German effectively and efficiently.

January 13, 2026January 10, 2026 by Laura Bennett

The Duolingo Trap: You’re Not Learning German, You’re Learning Duolingo

Close Duolingo right now. Don’t look at your lessons, your word bank, or your exercises. On a blank piece of paper, write three sentences in German about what you do on a typical day. Use correct articles, correct verb conjugations, correct word order.

Can’t do it?

You’ve fallen into the Duolingo Trap.

September 23, 2024December 15, 2020 by Laura Bennett

Just when German is starting to make sense, you’re thrown another curveball: the elements of German sentences can move around … a lot.

We’re not used to this! To our English brains, having words swap places in a sentence drastically changes what is being said (including the option of the final result being utter nonsense).

So, when we try to translate a German sentence word-for-word into English, we can end up with some wonky, confusing sentences. It’s easy to feel lost, fast.

May 31, 2023December 11, 2020 by Laura Bennett

One of the classic mistakes made by German learners is assuming that German grammatically functions the same way English does (<-- nope!!!

One of the areas where the differences are most obvious is with sentence structure, which — in German — can seem pretty funky to a native English speaker.

This guide will give you the necessary bird’s eye view of the components of a German sentence and the order in which you must put them.

July 14, 2025September 10, 2019 by Laura Bennett

The nominative case is the subject of the sentence — is the person, place, thing, idea, etc. that is doing something.

Example:

August 5, 2024August 21, 2019 by Laura Bennett

What is the deal with German adjective endings?!

Why do we have to put -m, -n, -r, -s, -e onto the ends of adjectives? And how do we know which one to use when?!

Learning German adjective endings is crucial to speaking German well … but it can feel so random, nonsensical, and overwhelming.

I have good news … you’re likely doing it all wrong! 🙃

April 28, 2025August 16, 2019 by Laura Bennett

Like the genitive case as a whole, genitive prepositions are a sticky subject.

Some genitive prepositions are still used, but more and more are replaced by dative constructions. How does one know when to use what? (<-- we’ll talk about that!)

May 1, 2023August 16, 2019 by Laura Bennett

At this point in your German-learning journey, you’ve probably got a good sense for accusative and dative prepositions (<– if not, start there!).

But now there’s a whole category of prepositions that switch back-and-forth between the accusative (when indicating direction) and dative (when indicating location)?! *facepalm*

Nah, actually it’s not that bad. 😉

May 1, 2023August 15, 2019 by Laura Bennett

No language-learning is complete without tackling prepositions. They are pretty necessary little words that add important info on when, where, how and with whom things are done!

Prepositions are little words such as with, for, against, to, on, over, under, in, behind, between, through, etc. that we use all. the. time. in both English & German.

May 1, 2023August 15, 2019 by Laura Bennett

When you first start learning German, you realize fast that you can’t get far without learning prepositions.

Prepositions are little words such as with, for, against, to, on, over, under, in, behind, between, through, etc. that we use all. the. time. in both English & German!