Learn using the conditional mood, "Konjunktiv"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: This is Beginner Series, Lesson 22. |
| Judith: Willkommen zurück. |
| Chuck: Welcome to another GermanPod101 Beginner lesson. The Beginner Series is where the real meat is. We bring you authentic German, useful vocabulary, interesting cultural tidbits, and a comprehensive introduction to German grammar. |
| Judith: And when you’re done listening to our lesson, you can go to the learning center and cement your newly acquired knowledge by doing various exercises. There are summaries of what you learned in each lesson, multiple choice questions to test your understanding, a line-by-line dialogue with which you can improve your pronunciation, an in-built vocabulary trainer… |
| Chuck: Okay, I think we get that point. What you’re just trying to say is that it’s well-thought out system, especially if you’re not a super genius, like Judith, and you might forget things from one week to the next. So super genius, what are we going to learn this week? |
| Judith: I’m not genius. Come on! I study like everybody. |
| Chuck: All right. Sure you do. |
| Judith: Anyway. Today, we will cover the conditional mood and some German words that you just can’t go without. |
| Chuck: All right. Sounds good. Let’s listen to the dialogue. This dialogue takes place just after last lessons and it’s still just John and Michaela talking. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Michaela: So, ich werde jetzt zu meiner Freundin fahren und sie wegen dem Hund fragen. Am besten nehme ich ihn schon mit. Kommst du auch mit, John? |
| John: Jetzt? Ich würde gerne mitkommen, aber ich muss die Postkarten zu Ende schreiben... |
| Michaela: Und wenn ich erst in einer halben Stunde fahre? Würdest du dann mitkommen? |
| John: Ich werde wahrscheinlich mehr Zeit brauchen. |
| Michaela: Wie lang brauchst du denn noch? |
| John: Ich würde sagen noch eine Stunde. |
| Michaela: Okay, dann fahren wir in einer Stunde. |
| John: Vielleicht können wir dann auch die Postkarten verschicken. |
| Michaela: Gute Idee, das machen wir. |
| Judith: Now read slowly. |
| Michaela: So, ich werde jetzt zu meiner Freundin fahren und sie wegen dem Hund fragen. Am besten nehme ich ihn schon mit. Kommst du auch mit, John? |
| John: Jetzt? Ich würde gerne mitkommen, aber ich muss die Postkarten zu Ende schreiben... |
| Michaela: Und wenn ich erst in einer halben Stunde fahre? Würdest du dann mitkommen? |
| John: Ich werde wahrscheinlich mehr Zeit brauchen. |
| Michaela: Wie lang brauchst du denn noch? |
| John: Ich würde sagen noch eine Stunde. |
| Michaela: Okay, dann fahren wir in einer Stunde. |
| John: Vielleicht können wir dann auch die Postkarten verschicken. |
| Michaela: Gute Idee, das machen wir. |
| Judith: Now with the translation. |
| Judith: So, ich werde jetzt zu meiner Freundin fahren. |
| Chuck: So, I'll drive to my friend’s place now. |
| Judith: und sie wegen dem Hund fragen. |
| Chuck: And ask her about the dog. |
| Judith: Am besten nehme ich ihn schon mit. |
| Chuck: It’ll be best if I take him with me already. |
| Judith: Kommst du auch mit, John? |
| Chuck: Are you also coming, John? |
| Judith: Jetzt? |
| Chuck: Now? |
| Judith: Ich würde gerne mitkommen, aber ich muss die Postkarten zu Ende schreiben... |
| Chuck: I would like to come with you, but I must finish writing the postcards. And if I only go a half hour from now? |
| Michaela: Und wenn ich erst in einer halben Stunde fahre? Würdest du dann mitkommen? |
| Chuck: Would you come along? |
| John: Ich werde wahrscheinlich mehr Zeit brauchen. |
| Chuck: I will probably need more time. |
| Michaela: Wie lang brauchst du denn noch? |
| Chuck: How long will you still need? |
| John: Ich würde sagen noch eine Stunde. |
| Chuck: I would say another hour. |
| Michaela: Okay, dann fahren wir in einer Stunde. |
| Chuck: Okay, then let’s go in an one hour. |
| John: Vielleicht können wir dann auch die Postkarten verschicken. |
| Chuck: Maybe then we could also send the postcards. |
| Michaela: Gute Idee, das machen wir. |
| Chuck: Good idea, we'll do that. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: All right. Looks like a plan. |
| Chuck: Well I wouldn’t need this because I’m always too lazy to send out postcards but, well, you know that already. Hopefully our listeners have a bit more discipline than me. With discipline, I guess they should learn some vocabulary, shouldn’t they? |
| Judith: Yes. You know, you can also review the vocabulary in the learning center. We have a special tool called Word Bank that allows you to practice the vocabulary just like our commercial vocabulary trainer. |
| Chuck: Well, there’s a commercial vocabulary trainer. |
| Judith: No, because you’ll get it for free with your premium subscription. It’s just one of the benefits. |
| Chuck: So you get it free when you pay for it. |
| Judith: Come on! Another company would charge you this much for the vocabulary trainer alone. |
| Chuck: Yeah, I know. It’s pretty cool that you get so much stuff at the premium membership actually. I’m just picking on you today because it’s fun. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Judith: Okay. On with the vocabulary. The first word for today is Fahren [natural native speed]. |
| Chuck: “To drive or go”. |
| Judith: The next word is Wegen [natural native speed]. |
| Chuck: “Because of”. |
| Judith: Next word is Fragen [natural native speed]. |
| Chuck: “To ask”. |
| Judith: Next, Am besten [natural native speed]. |
| Chuck: “It would be best”. |
| Judith: The next word is Gern(e) [natural native speed]. |
| Chuck: “Gladly or willingly”. |
| Judith: The next word is Ende [natural native speed]. |
| Chuck: “End”. |
| Judith: Next, Wenn [natural native speed]. |
| Chuck: “If or when”. |
| Judith: Next, Stunde [natural native speed]. |
| Chuck: “Hour”. |
| Judith: Stunde [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Stunde [natural native speed]. |
| Chuck: “Hour”. |
| Judith: And the plural is Stunden. |
| Chuck: “Hours”. |
| Judith: The next word is Mehr [natural native speed]. |
| Chuck: “More”. |
| Judith: Next, Lang [natural native speed]. |
| Chuck: “Long”, |
| Judith: Last word for today is Verschicken [natural native speed]. |
| Chuck: “To send off or to mail”. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Judith: Today’s grammar is the conditional mood, which is confusingly called Konjuntiv in German. |
| Chuck: Is that that mood that you sometimes get in when you can’t decide what you want to do? |
| Judith: No. You know, conditional mood in English is things involving would, or could, or might; I could go, I might go. It’s conditional because it depends on a condition. |
| Chuck: Oh, yeah, in the grammar section. Never mind. |
| Judith: So Konjuctiv actually means subjunctive. But the meaning of this mood, if you translate it, is almost certainly the conditional. In Germany, it can be formed using the auxiliary “würde”. “Ich würde”. |
| Chuck: “I would”. |
| Judith: “du würdest” |
| Chuck: “You would”. |
| Judith: “er würde” |
| Chuck: “He would”. |
| Judith: “wir würden” |
| Chuck: “We would”. |
| Judith: “ihr würdet” |
| Chuck: “You all would”. |
| Judith: “sie würden” |
| Chuck: “They would.” Why don’t they make it as easy as English? I just repeated myself over and over. |
| Judith: Come on. It’s the same endings as for “möchte” so it should really be not a problem. You just need to memorize that it’s “würde”, and if used with an infinitive verb just like the future tense. For example, in the future tense, you would say “Ich werde ins Schwimmbad gehen.” |
| Chuck: “I will go in the swimming pool.” |
| Judith: And in the conditional, this becomes “Ich würde ins Schwimmbad gehen.” |
| Chuck: “I would go in the swimming pool.” |
| Judith: Similarly, “Er wird dir nicht antworten.” |
| Chuck: “He won’t answer you”. |
| Judith: “Er würde dir nicht antworten.” |
| Chuck: “He would not answer you”. |
| Judith: Note that in German, the conditional mood maybe used on both sides of a conditional statement. For example, the statement “Ich würde mitkommen, wenn du das Treffen verschieben würdest.”. |
| Chuck: I would come along if you would move the meeting. |
| Judith: In German, we would “would move”, but in English you’re supposed to say “if you move the meeting”. At least, that’s what I learned in my grammar class. |
| Chuck: I think they’re both actually acceptable. |
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