Ihr in Deutsch!

 The word ihr has multiple meanings in German. Here are all the possible meanings of the word ihr,

1. Ihr - Your (formal)
2. ihr - Your (informal)
3. ihr - her
4. ihr - their
5. ihr - it

Here are some tricks to understand what is the meaning of the ihr in a given sentence.

• If it is with capital I and is not in the beginning of the sentence, then it means formal your.
• If it is present with a noun, then it is either your (informal), their or her
• If it is present without a noun, then it will mean you (all) or her, or it
• if it is the subject, then this ihr means you (all)
• if it is object and in Dative form, then it mean her/it, context will tell which one exactly

Let's see some examples now,

• Wo wohnt ihr? - her or it
• Sie spricht mit ihr. - you all
• Wo ist Ihr Haus? - you formal
• Wo ist ihr Haus? - her

Sie in Deutsch

 German continues to baffle me. This time with Sie. I was surprised to learn that there are ten different meanings of the word Sie in German. Here are these ten meanings,

1. Sie -> You (in Singular form, as a subject)
2. Sie -> You (as an object)
3. Sie -> You (in plural form, as an object)
4. Sie -> You (object in plural)
5. Sie -> She (as subject)
6. Sie -> Her (as object)
7. Sie -> They (as subject)
8. Sie -> Them (as object)
9. Sie -> It (as subject)
10. Sie -> It (as Object)

Now, the question arises how to differentiate all these different meanings of sie/Sie, well, that will be clear with the 4Cs --> Capital, Conjugation, Contest, and Case.

Few easy tricks to understand this are,

•  if it's written with capital S in the middle of the sentence then it means either You (in singular) or You (in plural, as in you all)
• if it's with small s, then it could mean she/her/they/them/it

Now, another trick to identify the correct meaning of sie is to look at the verb

• If the verb used is in infinitive form, like sind, wohnen, etc. then that sie is likely to be they/them
• If the verb used is in singular form, like ist, wohnt, fragt, then it is likely to be her/it

Another important thing to look in these sentences is the position of sie, if it's subject or object.

in Sie frage ich, Sie is object, so here sie could mean her/them/it. However in, Ich frage sie, sie is the object, now because it is small letter s, it could mean either her/it.

Let's learn it by some examples,

1.Wo wohnen Sie? 

There could be following meanings for this sentence,

• Where do you (just singular you) live?
• Where do you (all, in plural form) live?

2. Wo wohnen sie?

Now, this could mean one of following,

• Where does she live?
• Where does it live?
• Where does they live?

3. Ich liebe sie.

This could mean one of the following, depending on the context,

• I love her.
• I love them.
• I love it.

4. Sie frage ich.

This could mean one of the following,

• I ask them.
• I ask her.
• I ask it.

5. Sie kaufe ich.

Now this could just mean I buy it.

Alles Gute meinen Freunden!

German words around your home

 Types of accommodations

• Studentenwohnheim - student accomodation
• Wohnung - apartments
• Bauernhaus - farmhouse
• Alt-Bau - old building
• familienhaus - family house, these are usually USA style houses with garden, garage etc.

• Rent related
• Warme - warm. In Indian terms it is like cost with maintenance.
• Kalt - cold. This means the basic price of the house

• Other popular words in context
• Billig - cheap or less expensive
• Teuer - expensive
• Klein - small
• Gross - big
• Dunkel - dark or not bright
• Hell - well lighted and bright
• Lang - long, as in long foyer would be lang flur
• Hoch - high, like high ceilings would be hoch decke
• Fussboard - usually used for under floor heating

In the apartment

• Zimmer
• Wohnzimmer - living room
• Schalfsofa - sofa-bed
• Sessel - armchair
• Tisch - table
• Essetisch - dining table
• Stuhl - chair
• Esstsuhl - dining chair
• Teppich - carpet
• Regal - rack or shelf
• Licht - light
• Badzimmer / Toilette - bathroom / toilet
• Speigel - mirror
• Fenster - window
• Tur - door
• Dusche - shower
• Schlafzimmer - bedroom, schlaf means to sleep.
• Bett - bed
• Matratze - mattress
• Decke - blanket
• Schrank - closet
• Kleiderschrank - wardrobe
• Nachttishe - night stand
• Kommode - chest of drawers
• Kuche - kitchen, pronounced as koo-she
• Kuhlschrank - literal translation would be cool almirah i.e. Fridge
• Herd - Stove, you might come across its variants like elektroherd meaning electrical stove.
• Waschmachine - washing machine for clothes
• Trockner - cloth dryer
• Geschirrspülmaschine - Dishwasher
• Lebensmittel regal - food shelf
• Arbeitzimmer - study or home office
• Burostuhl - office chair
• Schreibentisch - writing table
• Bucher regal - book shelf
• leseecke - reading corner, lese is reading and ecke means corner
• ecketisch - corner table
• Kinderzimmer - children's room

• Other things
• Balkon - balcony
• Teresse - terrace
• Garten - garden

German words to know when you are using German public transport

• Ausgang - Exit
• Eingang - Entry
• Ziehen - Pull
• Druck - Push

 Ziehen and druck are commonly find on the doors

• S-Bahn - over the ground train line / local train compared to India
• U-Bahn - Underground rail / metro in India
• Zug - Train
• Glies - Platform
• Busse - Buses
• Fahr - Drive or ride
• Fahrscheine - Ticket machine
• Passe - Pass or ticket
• Linie - Line
• Bahn - Rail
• Bahnof - Railway station
• Hauptbahnof - Central Railway station

Some commonly found phrases on the platforms, etc.

• Bitte nicht einsteigen - Please do not enter. You will find this on the platform boards these, if the train is to be suddenly cancelled, etc.
• Achtung! - Attention
• Fahr endet hier - Ride ends here, common phrase on trams and buses, you have to leave the bus at this stop.
• Zug Fallt aus - Train is cancelled
• ersatzverkehr - Replacement service. Sometimes, due to line work or something you will find that trains are cancelled and buses are running for those routes and similarly for tram. So to find those buses and their stops, this phrase might help.
• Betreibsfahrt - This are kind of route testing buses or something, you will often find buses with this label. Nobody can board these.
• Fahrschule - Driving school. Some times trams and buses have this available and you know you can not board them because people are just learning to drive there.

Knowing some numbers in German would also help in deciphering those announcements at train stations. Specifically, finding which train is coming at which platform, or during train ride, which trains will be there on different stops.

Confusing words in German language

You might across some German words which sound and are spelled just like English but they have totally different meanings. Here is a list of some such words,

• Chef
• German meaning: Boss
• English meaning: Head cook at restaurant
• Gymnasium
• German meaning: High school
• English meaning: Place for gymnastics
• Kind/Kinder
• German meaning: Kind means child and kinder means children
• English meaning: Polite or courteous 
• Bad
• German meaning: Bathroom
• English meaning: not good
• Links
• German meaning: Left as in direction
• English meaning: to connect 
• Hell
• German meaning: well lighted or bright
• English meaning: Opposite of heaven
• Regal
• German meaning: row or rack
• English meaning: resembling to

I will try to keep this list updated as I will go through my German learning adventure. Please don't hesitate to comment any such word you have came across.