Telling stories during conversations can be difficult for Luxembourgish learners, but it’s a very important skill to have because a lot of the times when we see friends or coworkers or family we often tell stories.
It’s a great way for people to get to know you.
In this episode, let me show you how to tell a story during a conversation, at work or at a social gathering with friends or your family .
You’ll learn the key expressions we use to start telling a story.
So there are different ways to introduce a story in conversation. But also the use of signal words helping to better tell the sequence of events
Different ways to start a story in conversation
That’s a sentence my grandmother used to tell all the time I visited her:
Hunn ech dir schonn iwwer … erzielt?
Hunn ech dir schonn eng Kéier gesot, datt …?
This means “Did I ever tell you about / that…”
Beispiller
- Hunn ech dir schonn iwwer meng schwaarz Kaz erzielt.
- Hunn ech dir schonn iwwer mäin éischten Ausfluch zu Berlin erzielt?
- Hunn ech dir schonn eng Kéier gesot, datt ech 3 Méint a China gewunnt hunn?
You might also hear somebody say this “Oh that reminds me of ….”
In Luxembourgish you can either say
Dat erënnert mech un … (person, thing, memory) … or
Dat erënnert mech drun, wéi … (for a specific event)
We usually use this when someone is telling something and it reminds us of a story. So we suddenly think of a story from our own experience. So maybe someone is talking about something from their childhood or vacation
- Oh, dat erënnert mech u meng Kandheet. – That reminds me of my childhood
- Dat erënnert mech un eis lescht Vakanz a Portugal. – That reminds me of our last vacation in Portugal.
- Dat erënnert mech drun, wéi ech fir d’éischt um Mier war. – That reminds me of when I saw the sea for the first time
- Dat erënnert mech drun, wéi ech meng éischt Presentatioun op Lëtzebuergesch gemaach hunn. – That reminds me of my first presentation I gave in Luxembourgish.
You might also hear this:
- Ech muss dir mol erzielen, wéi / wat … – I’ve to tell you about…
- Ech muss der mol erzielen, wéi ech mat 20. Joer danzen geléiert hunn. – I have to tell you about the time I learned to dance when I was 20.
- Ech muss der mol erzielen, wat ech an der Vakanz a Südafrika erlieft hunn. – I have to tell you what happened to me on holiday in South Africa
- Ech muss der mol erzielen, wéi ech mäin éischten Dag op der Aarbecht vermasselt hunn. – I have to tell you about how I messed up my first day at work
You might also say this:
- Du wäerts ni roden wat geschitt ass. Or
- Du kanns der net virstellen, wat (mir) geschitt ass.
Meaning: You’ll never guess what happened (to me) / You can’t imagine what happened (to me)
And this is a great introduction to get the listener interested in what you are going to say:
Du kanns der net virstellen, wat (mir) geschitt ass and then you start telling.
- Du kanns der net virstellen, wat mir gëschter op der Party geschitt ass – ech hunn aus Versinn eng Fläsch roude Wäin um Dësch ëmgeschott. – Guess what happened to me at the party yesterday – I accidentally tipped over a bottle of red wine on the table.
- Du kanns der net virstellen, eat mer haut bei engem Patient geschitt ass – ech hunn aus Versinn d’Këscht mat all senge Medikamenter fale gelooss. – You can’t imagine what happened to me with a patient today – I accidentally dropped their medication on the floor!
These are all common ways to start telling stories in conversation.
The next thing I want to tell you about telling a story in Luxembourgish is that we often use.
Signal Words
What are signal words – I hear you asking? Well these are words that tell us where the story is going or maybe they tell us the sequence of events. What happened first, next. So to improve your storytelling I recommend using signal words.
Here are some examples:
fir d’éischt – dann – dono – zum Schluss.
These are just a few but the most used ones. To keep the listener attention use as well: op eemol – suddenly
They really help with the organization of your story.
Verb Tenses
When you tell a story in Luxembourgish one of the most common tenses we use is the past tense and the present perfect. Remember that most Luxembourgish verbs have no past tense. There are maybe 20 verbs and we actually use 10-12 in daily life. To tell a story you’ll use the past tense of sinn, hunn, sëtzen, kommen, kréien, wëssen and 4 modal verbs: sollen, däerfen, kënnen, wëllen – mussen has no past tense.
Beispiller:
Wéi ech jonk war ….
Wéi ech am Restaurant souz, hat ech mega Bauchwéi.
Natierlech koum ech ze spéit a krut näischt méi z’iessen
Ech wosst net, datt een do net parken duerft
For all other verbs we use the present perfect tense.
If you’d like a safe place to practise, get feedback, and build real confidence speaking Luxembourgish, I invite you to join our Speaking Practice Group B1.
This is where you move from knowing Luxembourgish to actually using it in real conversations.
Inside the group you’ll get:
• 1 live online speaking session per week (max 6 participants)
• Real-life workplace conversations and role-plays
• Guidance to help you express your ideas clearly and naturally
Step by step, you’ll feel yourself becoming more confident, more fluent, and more comfortable speaking Luxembourgish at work and also in everyday life
If that sounds like the kind of practice you need right now, come and join us in the Speaking Practice Group B1.
And who knows… maybe the next great story in Luxembourgish will be yours.
What else do we need to tell a story? Well you told your story now and the question is…
How do you end your story?
We like to signal to the listener that the story is finished. What do you say? Well there’s a couple of things you can say for example:
Kanns du der dat virstellen! – Can you believe that – lit: can you imagine that (but we use it also in the sense of can you believe that). So this is when you are telling a surprising story. Or you can finish by saying
Ech vergiessen dat ni – I’ll never forget it.
If the listener is not very enthusiastic or doesn’t show any reaction you can conclude with
Du häss missen dobäi sinn, fir et ze verstoen – I guess you had to be there to understand it
So today we covered a little bit about how to tell stories in Luxembourgish. And there is so much more to say on this subject.
One thing I always recommend to our students is to listen to how people tell stories, for example in talk shows or interviews. You’ll notice the rhythm, the expressions, and how people structure what they say.
But let’s be honest for a moment…finding talk shows in Luxembourgish can feel almost mission impossible.
So here’s a much better way to improve: practice telling stories yourself.
The more you speak, the more natural it becomes.
