Day 27: Feelings and describing things

how you feel · Mir ist kalt · Lust haben · adjective endings — the survival version · 30 min

Two jobs today.

① Say how you feel — which in German is often dative, not ich bin. Getting this wrong produces one of the funniest and most memorable errors in the language (section 2).

② Put an adjective in front of a noun. You have been avoiding this for 26 days, because German adjective endings are genuinely a big system. Section 4 gives you the honest 80% version — enough to speak, with a clear note about what you are leaving until after the challenge.

1. How you feel

After sein, these take no ending — Day 5's gift, still true: Ich bin müde. · Sie ist müde. · Wir sind müde.

Intensifiers

2. ★★ Mir ist kalt — physical states are dative

### Temperature and physical sensations use the DATIVE, not ich bin.

★ Ich bin heiß and Ich bin langweilig are the two errors every English speaker makes once and never makes twice. Learn the shape now and skip the story.

The logic is consistent: ich bin X describes what you are; mir ist X describes what is happening to you. Cold is a condition passing through, not an identity.

And the same dative runs through the everyday phrases you already know:

3. ★ Lust haben, and the haben-feelings again

Day 5 gave you Hunger, Durst, Angst, Recht, Glück as things you have. Two more that you will use constantly:

Hast du Lust, ins Kino zu gehen? — Do you feel like going to the cinema? Ich habe keine Lust. — I don't feel like it.

★ Hast du Lust? is how Germans actually invite people to things. It is friendlier and less committal than Willst du…? — the single most useful social phrase left in this course. Answer with Ja, gern! or Ich habe keine Lust (which is direct but not rude).

Asking after someone

4. ★★ Adjectives in front of a noun — the survival version

Everything so far has been "Der Mann ist gut" — adjective after the verb, no ending. Move it in front of the noun and German adds an ending.

Be honest with yourself about the size of this: the full table has three genders, four cases and three article types. It is the main thing you will study after this challenge. What follows is the part that gets you through a conversation.

The 80% rule

① After der/die/das in the basic form → -e.② After ein/eine/mein/kein in the basic form → the ending the article "should" have had.③ Almost everywhere else → -en.

★ Look at rule ②: ein cannot show that Mann is masculine or Kind is neuter — so the adjective does it instead: ein guter Mann, ein gutes Kind. The information has to appear somewhere, and if the article cannot carry it, the adjective does. That is the entire logic of German adjective endings, and knowing it now makes the full table much cheaper to learn later.

What to actually do for the next four days

★ When in doubt, say -en. It is correct more often than any other ending, it is never badly wrong, and nobody will misunderstand you. Say mit dem guten Wein, ein guten Wein, der guten Wein — only one is right and all three are understood.Fluency first. The table can wait until day 31.

5. Dialogue

Anna: Alles klar? Du siehst müde aus. — doo zeest MEW-duh OWSS — you look tiredAlex: Ja, ich bin ziemlich gestresst. Ich hatte eine schwere Woche.Anna: Was ist los? — Alex: Viel Arbeit. Und mir ist die ganze Zeit kalt.Anna: Bist du krank? — Alex: Ich glaube nicht. Aber mir ist oft schlecht.Anna: Du solltest zum Arzt gehen. Gute Besserung!Alex: Danke. Und wie geht es dir?Anna: Mir geht's gut! Ich bin echt glücklich — ich habe einen neuen Job.Alex: Wirklich? Herzlichen Glückwunsch! — HAIRTS-likh-en GLEWK-voonsh — congratulationsAnna: Danke! Hast du Lust, das heute Abend zu feiern?Alex: Ich habe keine Lust auszugehen… aber für dich, gern. Wo?Anna: In dem kleinen Restaurant neben dem Kino. Das gefällt mir sehr.Alex: Perfekt. Bis später!

★ Three shapes side by side: ich bin gestresst (identity), mir ist kalt (sensation), mir geht's gut (state). And two adjectives in front of nouns — eine schwere Woche, in dem kleinen Restaurant — both following section 4.

6. Exercises

A. Ich bin or Mir ist?

1. ___ müde. 2. ___ kalt. 3. ___ krank. 4. ___ langweilig. (I'm bored)
2. ___ heiß. (I'm hot) 6. ___ glücklich. 7. ___ schlecht. (I feel sick)

B. ⚠️ What did they actually say?

1. Ich bin heiß. 2. Ich bin langweilig. 3. Ich bin kalt.

C. Translate.

1. I'm quite tired. 2. I'm not at all nervous. 3. I'm a bit stressed.
2. Do you feel like going to the cinema? 5. I don't feel like it.

D. Adjective endings — the 80% rule.

1. der ___ Mann (gut) 2. ein ___ Mann (gut) 3. die ___ Frau (gut)
2. eine ___ Frau (gut) 5. das ___ Kind (gut) 6. ein ___ Kind (gut)
3. mit dem ___ Wein (gut) 8. Ich sehe den ___ Mann (gut)

E. Which dative phrase?

1. I'm sorry. 2. I don't mind. 3. I like it. 4. How are you? (du)

F. ⚠️ Fix the error.

1. Ich bin kalt.
2. Ich habe langweilig.
3. Hast du Lust? — Nein, ich bin keine Lust.
4. Das gefällt mich.

7. Today's 10 sentences (flashcards)

1. Mir ist kalt. — I'm cold (meer ist KALT)
2. Mir ist schlecht. — I feel sick (meer ist SHLEKHT)
3. Ich bin ziemlich müde. — I'm quite tired (TSEEM-likh MEW-duh)
4. Ich bin echt glücklich. — I'm really happy (ekht GLEWK-likh)
5. Wie geht es dir? — Mir geht's gut. — How are you? — I'm well (meer GAYTS GOOT)
6. Was ist los? — What's wrong? (vass ist LOHS)
7. Hast du Lust? — Do you fancy it? (hast doo LOOST)
8. Ich habe keine Lust. — I don't feel like it (KY-nuh LOOST)
9. Das tut mir leid. — I'm sorry (dass toot meer LITE)
10. Gute Besserung! — Get well soon! (GOO-tuh BES-suh-roong)

8. 📲 Upload to LangNote

Upload section 2 (the dative states) and section 7 → study language German.

★ Two days left before the final challenge. Tomorrow is about linking — filler words, connectors, and the small noises that turn correct sentences into real speech.

langNote is a paid subscription and this course recommends it. The 30 lessons are free and complete either way.