Hallo =Hi!

Hi ! = Hi!

We have seen this phenomena already very often. If young people talk to each other they have many forms to greet each other, Hallo / Hi / Ciao and many forms to say 'good by' but very seldom the use the official forms, 'Guten Tag' and 'Auf Wiedersehen', beeing these forms to formal.

Meine Schwester ist mir in letzter Zeit etwas zu anstrengend geworden, deshalb bin ich dieses Mal zusammen mit meiner Freundin verreist. = My sister has got a little bit irritating recently that' s why I decided to travel with my friend.

The verb werden (...zu anstrengend geworden...) sometimes causes problems, although it is much more easier to use than the corresponding english verbs (to become, to get etc.). In german every kind of change is described with one single verb, werden. In english there are several words to describe changes, which makes things more complicated.

Ich werde verrückt = I get made
Ich werde Arzt = I become a doctor
Ich werde nervös = I get nervous
Das Wasser wurde zu Eis = The water turned to ice

For more details The verb werden

Conjunctions are a strange kind of animal and in german there are a lot of them. They are strange because they not only establish a relationship between the main clause and the subordinate clause, that' s what conjunctions usually do, but they represent something as well, they have characteristics of a pronoun as well. This type of word word usually is to be translated to english with a pronoun and a conjunction: that' s why => therefore

anstrengend = exhausting
verreisen = to travel
zusammen = together

Super! = super!

Aber wo sind wir hier eigentlich? = But where we are?

In Brandenburg natürlich! = In Brandenburg obviously!

Was machen wir denn in Brandenburg? = And what are we doing in Brandenburg?

We have already seen that phenomena very often. In certain circumstances, for example if the sentence start with an interrogative adverb, there is a subject / verb inversion.

Wir können hier eine ganze Menge machen, schwimmen zum Beispiel, hier gibt es nämlich über 3000 Seen! = We can do a lot of things here, for instance swimming, there are more than 3000 lakes hier.

Brandenburg ist das Bundesland, das man um Berlin drum herum gebaut hat, oder? = Brandenburg is the federal state which have been constructed around Berlin, right?

bauen = to construct
drum herum = around

Genau. Brandenburg hat aber auch selber tolle Städte. Hinter uns ist Potsdam, die Hauptstadt. = Exactly. But Brandenburg has fantastic cities as well. Behind us is Potsdam, the capital.

Potsdam kenne ich, hier steht das Schloss Sanssouci. = I know Potsdam, that' s were the Palace Sanssouci is.

stehen = normaly: to stand, but here to be
kennen = to know

Ich dachte, das wäre in Frankreich! = I thought that this is in France!

Nein, Sanssouci gehört zu Potsdam, du verwechselst das wohl mit so einem anderen großen Kasten. = No, Sannsouci pertenece a Potsdam, lo confundes con otra caja grande.

gehören = to belong to
verwechseln = to confuse
anderer = other (in this case it is an indirect object, therefore it is anderen)

Egal, diese Schlösser sind doch alle gleich. Ich bin froh, dass ich in einem vernünftigen Haus wohne. = Doesn' t matter, all this castles look the same. I am happy that I live in a well constructed house.

gleich = same
froh = happy
wohnen = to live in
vernünftig = reasonable

The use of the word vernünftig is somehow strange in this context. What she want to say is that she lives in a house with heating, electricity, running water and so on. The castles didn' t have all that, therefore it is to be supposed that any modern appartement is more comfortable than a palace of that kind.

Ich auch! = So do I!

Tschüß! = See you later!

Ciao! = See you later!