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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: This is Beginner series, lesson 3. |
| Judith: [Willkommen zurรผck] |
| Chuck: Welcome back. This is the 150th lesson that GermanPod101 has published. |
| Judith: Wow! 150 lessons. If you listened to all of them or even just most of them, your German must have improved a lot. |
| Chuck: And if you havenโt listened to all of them yet, go back to GermanPod101.com and check them out www.GermanPod101.com is the only place you can find all of our lessons. |
| Judith: While you are there, leave us a comment on this lesson. Maybe youโd like to congratulate GermanPod101 for reaching lesson #150. |
| Chuck: Or maybe you have a serious question that you want a native speaker to answer. Post your questions in the forum or as a comment underneath the lesson that they relate to. |
| Judith: We will see you there. |
| Chuck: Now letโs listen to the conversation. Todayโs conversation is again a continuation of the last lessons. |
| Judith: So itโs still between Maria Muller and the policeman. Both are speaking formal German. |
| DIALOGUE |
| P: Warum gehen Sie an die Spree? |
| Chuck: Ich gehe an die Spree, weil ich Inspiration fuฬr meine Buฬcher suche. |
| P: Was fuฬr Buฬcher schreiben Sie? |
| Chuck: Kennen Sie meine Buฬcher nicht?? |
| P: Nein. |
| Chuck: Hmpf. Ich schreibe Krimis. |
| P: Denken Sie, dass an der Spree Verbrechen passieren? |
| Judith: Now itโs slowly. |
| P: Warum gehen Sie an die Spree? |
| Chuck: Ich gehe an die Spree, weil ich Inspiration fuฬr meine Buฬcher suche. |
| P: Was fuฬr Buฬcher schreiben Sie? |
| Chuck: Kennen Sie meine Buฬcher nicht?? |
| P: Nein. |
| Chuck: Hmpf. Ich schreibe Krimis. |
| P: Denken Sie, dass an der Spree Verbrechen passieren? |
| Judith: Now with the translation. |
| P: Warum gehen Sie an die Spree? |
| P: Why do you go to the Spree River? |
| Chuck: Ich gehe an die Spree, weil ich Inspiration fuฬr meine Buฬcher suche. |
| Chuck: I go to the Spree, because I search for inspiration for my books. |
| P: Was fuฬr Buฬcher schreiben Sie? |
| P: What kind of books do you write? |
| Chuck: Kennen Sie meine Buฬcher nicht?? |
| Chuck: You do not know my books ?? |
| P: Nein. |
| P: No. |
| Chuck: Hmpf. Ich schreibe Krimis. |
| Chuck: Hmpf. I write mystery novels. |
| P: Denken Sie, dass an der Spree Verbrechen passieren? |
| P: Do you think that crimes happen at the Spree? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Chuck: Do you think that crimes happen in the spree? |
| Judith: Do you already know what might have happened? |
| Chuck: No I donโt know. What about you? |
| Judith: Well I wrote the story. So I know of course but Iโd really like to hear our listenersโ speculations. |
| Chuck: So go to GermanPod101.com, click in this lesson and tell us your speculations in the comments. |
| Judith: It will be fun to hear what you can come up with. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Chuck: So you think you can come up with some vocabulary for this lesson? |
| Judith: You bet I do. First word [warum] |
| Chuck: Why? |
| Judith: [Warum] |
| Chuck: Why? |
| Judith: [Warum, Warum] |
| Chuck: Why |
| Judith: Next [Weil] |
| Chuck: Because |
| Judith: [Weil] |
| Chuck: Because |
| Judith: Next [Suchen] |
| Chuck: To search for |
| Judith: [Suchen, Suchen] |
| Chuck: To search for |
| Judith: Next [Fรผr] |
| Chuck: For |
| Judith: [Fรผr] |
| Chuck: For |
| Judith: Next [Mein] |
| Chuck: My |
| Judith: [Mein] |
| Chuck: My |
| Judith: Next [Buch] |
| Chuck: Book |
| Judith: [Buch] |
| Chuck: Book |
| Judith: This word is neutral and the plural is [Bรผcher] |
| Chuck: Books |
| Judith: In German, you often have to learn the pleural with the noun because there are several different ways of forming a plural. We will cover that later. Just remember that [Bรผcher] is the plural of [Buch]. Next [Was fรผr] |
| Chuck: What kind of |
| Judith: [Was fรผr] |
| Chuck: What kind of |
| Judith: Next [Schreiben] |
| Chuck: To write |
| Judith: [Schreiben, Schreiben] |
| Chuck: To write |
| Judith: Next [Kennen] |
| Chuck: To know or be familiar with |
| Judith: [Kennen, Kennen] |
| Chuck: To know or be familiar with. Note this [Kennen] means to know as in to know a person or a place rather than to know a fact. |
| Judith: Yes next [Krimi] |
| Chuck: Mystery novel. |
| Judith: [Krimi] |
| Chuck: Mystery novel. |
| Judith: I believe that this originally meant [Kriminalroman] but [Krimi] is so common now that nobody thinks of it as an abbreviation any more. |
| Chuck: Yeah so you will often also hear Germans say, do you like to read crime? |
| Judith: Itโs just hard to translate. A mystery doesnโt sound the same because in German, we have another form of books. They are called Mystery books and they are still a bit different. |
| Chuck: Okay. |
| Judith: They are not necessarily about a crime. Just mysterious things happening you know X-Files or something. You call them a mystery and before I forget, [Krimi] is masculine and plural is [Krimis] |
| Chuck: Mystery novels. |
| Judith: Next [Denken] |
| Chuck: To think. |
| Judith: [Denken, Denken] |
| Chuck: To think. |
| Judith: Next [Dass] |
| Chuck: That |
| Judith: [Dass] |
| Chuck: That. Notice this was two Sโs at the end and itโs used to separate the main clause from the sub clause. |
| Judith: For example, [ich denke, dass] and then something. |
| Chuck: Exactly. |
| Judith: Next [Verbrechen] |
| Chuck: Crime |
| Judith: [Verbrechen, Verbrechen] |
| Chuck: Crime |
| Judith: This word is neutral and the plural is the same. [Verbrechen] |
| Chuck: Crimes. |
| Judith: Next [passieren] |
| Chuck: To happen. |
| Judith: [passieren] |
| Chuck: To happen. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Judith: And thatโs all for today. So now letโs talk about the topic that I really love. |
| Chuck: Whatโs that? |
| Judith: Book stories. |
| Chuck: Oh! Oh oh! |
| Judith: And books. |
| Chuck: Oh itโs going to be a while. Judith is in the bookstore. |
| Judith: I am not in the bookstore. Otherwise you would really take it away. |
| Chuck: I thought that this is going to be our longest podcast ever. |
| Judith: Letโs just compare between Germany and USA. |
| Chuck: All right. Sounds good. |
| Judith: What have you noticed here? |
| Chuck: What have I noticed, well I have noticed that there is generally itโs not as common that you will find a place to sit down but I have also noticed that in recent years, that has been changing in Germany at least in bookstores I have seen. |
| Judith: I think it also depends on how large the bookstore is. If itโs a very big one, then they are more likely to have a little corner with nice couches or something. |
| Chuck: Yeah although actually I have been seeing it generally in the middle, the very center of the bookstore, they seem to have seats. |
| Judith: I think it does not matter as long as there are some because I like to browse my books before buying. |
| Chuck: Yeah, what have you noticed? |
| Judith: Well, I havenโt seen that many American bookstores. Maybe I can tell you that German bookstores will mostly have German books and maybe a little โ a few English ones and there will be books about general knowledge. Thatโs something that I think is not so common in the States, you have books about โ that say like, read this book and you will have good general knowledge. Generally Self-help books or books on how to behave. |
| Chuck: I think they are quite common in the States as well. |
| Judith: How to Behave? |
| Chuck: Yeah. |
| Judith: I havenโt seen also. I was thinking because in Germany, itโs so common for people to you know, one to improve their standing by appearing more sophisticated. |
| Chuck: You would also see tons and tons of self help books in the States. |
| Judith: Yeah self help German books. I donโt know. I have to go back again. One thing I really liked in the States is that you can sometimes get free water you know when you are in a bookstore or waiting somewhere orโฆ |
| Chuck: I have noticed that lately, pretty much all bookstores except for the really small ones in the States have a cafรฉ attached to them but I think you pretty rarely find that in Germany. |
| Judith: Uhoo definitely. |
| Chuck: So I canโt think of any. |
| Judith: Also audio books have become a lot more popular here. Not sure over there but here you can find a lot of literature now available as an audiobook. I mean from the classics to really, really cheap stuff you know. Cheap novels, you can also find as an audiobook or there are also audio books used for foreign language learning. If you want to learn Spanish or French or whatever based in German, then they give you these CDs that have a booklet in it and you get the booklet that contains the book. |
| Chuck: Yeah. |
| Judith: Particularly with some vocabulary explanations. I think it is neat idea. |
| Chuck: I think you typically donโt have that in the states because most people canโt understand the foreign language well enough to understand them unfortunately. |
| Judith: I think thatโs all it I can think of right now about books and bookstores. |
| Chuck: Well you are done with books. Thatโs like the fastest time. |
| Judith: I am not done with books. I just havenโt been to the states recently enough to say more about the subject. Maybe in a later lesson. |
| Chuck: All right. Sounds good. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Judith: So we will do some grammar. |
| Chuck: Do we have to? |
| Judith: Yes we have to. |
| Chuck: All right. And I guess, we will do some grammar then. |
| Judith: Come on, this is the easy stuff. |
| Chuck: So what are you going to teach us today? |
| Judith: I was going to teach you how to make your sentence negative but I think you can teach that you. Donโt you? |
| Chuck: Ah okay, you just add [nicht] |
| Judith: Yes as simple as that. For example, [Ich wohne in Berlin] as the first sentence andโฆ |
| Chuck: Let me try this. [Ich wohne nicht] in Berlin. |
| Judith: Exactly. |
| Chuck: That was tough. |
| Judith: That would be I donโt live in Berlin and [Sie schreiben gut] You write well? |
| Chuck: [Sie schreiben nicht gut] |
| Judith: Exactly. You donโt write well or you write not well. Thatโs no different actually in German. |
| Chuck: Yeah and notice that the first one is literally I live not in Berlin because if you ever talk with Germans, you will often hear this mistake in their English, I live not in Berlin. |
| Judith: Additionally in this dialogue, we have seen some subclauses. For example, we have the sentence [Ich gehe an die Spree, weil ich Inspiration fรผr meine Bรผcher suche] and in this sentence, [Weil ich Inspiration fรผr meine Bรผcher suche] is a subclause. |
| Chuck: Because I inspiration for my book search for. |
| Judith: Books pleural. |
| Chuck: Books yeah, thatโs true. |
| Judith: And similarly [Das an der Spree Verbrechen passieren] is a subclause to [denken Sie] So [denken Sie] do you think and [das an der Spree Verbrechen passieren] |
| Chuck: Do you think that on the spree, crimes happen? |
| Judith: Yes. |
| Chuck: Actually that one almost works. |
| Judith: Almost. All subclauses in German have one thing in common. The verbs move to the very end and they pile up there if necessary. |
| Chuck: Yeah itโd be pretty crazy when you see a couple of verbs at the end. I think Mark Twain wrote quite a bit on that. |
| Judith: Yeah but he hadnโt researched his stuff well. He wrote some sentences that we wouldnโt say like this. |
| Chuck: Yeah Euro-Journalism hah! |
| Judith: Just remember. Normally in the normal sentence, the verb comes in second position and if you have a subclause then the verb will come last. Itโs as easy as that. I think the most difficult part to realize is that when you have a subclause that comes first in the sentence, then that will count as the first item and the verb will come next to it after the subclause. For example, if you invert this thing [Weil ich Inspiration fรผr meine Bรผcher suche, gehe ich an die Spree] |
| Chuck: All right. |
| Judith: See itโs not [Weil ich Inspiration fรผr meine Bรผcher suche ich gehe an die Spree but gehe ich] because this whole subclause counts as the first item of the sentence. |
| Chuck: Yeah. So to summarize, the verb comes last in the subclauses. It will come in the first in a yes or no question and it will come second in the other sentence or a question. If you can memorize the simple rule, you have mastered most of German word order. |
| Judith: Yeah I think itโs easy enough. I already mastered it. |
| Chuck: Umm you are a native speaker. |
| Judith: Well yes. |
| Chuck: Itโs kind of cheating, isnโt it? |
| Judith: I think you are doing well too though. |
| Chuck: All right. |
| Judith: You are not forgetting that rule too often. So thatโs it for today. |
Outro |
| Chuck: Now donโt forget to stop by GermanPod101.com and pick up the lesson notes. |
| Judith: It has the conversation transcript. |
| Chuck: Vocabulary, sample sentences and grammar explanation |
| Judith: And a cultural insights section. |
| Chuck: Seeing the German really helps you remember faster. Try it for yourself. |
| Judith: I am looking forward to communicating with you in German. |
| Chuck: Yeah. And you will get there if you just study your lessons and keep at it. So see you next week. |
| Judith: In German, that is [bis nรคchste Woche] |
Comments
HideHello Jo,
Thank you for posting. ๐
That's a nice compliment. ๐
If you have any questions, please donโt hesitate to contact us again.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
Judith's voice is so lovely and charming haha
Ich glaube, dass ich mich in sie verliebt habe โค๏ธ
I am almost in love with her ))
Hi Delia,
Thank you for posting.
Well, you seem to be a bit of a detective yourself. ๐
I don't want to say anything here because it may spoil the developing story
for others.
If you have any questions, please donโt hesitate to contact us again. ๐
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
Ich habe gelesen dass haben gestorben einige Leute weil die andere Seite in Fluss versucht su gehen. Willeicht in der Krimi, Jemand das forgebe, aber das ist nicht richtig. Wirklich es einer Mord war.
Hallo maria,
Thank you so much for your kind message! ๐โค๏ธ๏ธ
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
Good luck with your language studies.
Mit freundlichen Grรผรen,
Levente
Team GermanPod101.com
I really love the lessons here and I am a big fan of Judith and Chuck! I find their series very awesome to listen to and learn from. Love the conversations, vocab, grammar and all the cultural talk. Sad to hear Chuck is leaving soon. Germanpod101 is definitely a great place to learn German.
Hallo Mark and Gavin,
Danke schรถn for taking the time to leave us your comments. ๐ We are very happy to have you here!
Let us know if you have any questions.
Mit freundlichen Grรผรen,
Levente
Team GermanPod101.com
Hi, My name is Gavin, Leicestershire England,
Like yourselves we are in lockdown, Corona virus.
Loads of time too spare.
Twenty years ago we went to Germany to work, Walkerbout, its Australian phrase.
Ich meine Deutsche auf der Baustelle und in dem Kneipe gelernt. Kein Grammatische.
My dream was always to speak good German.
This may be my second chance.
Regards Gavin.
6th April 2020
Please Stay Safe!
Thank you very nice lesson
Hi Philip & Joseph,
Thank you for posting.๐
We are sorry to say but Chuck might be leaving us soon. Admittedly,
he has a strong accent, but I agree with what Joseph is trying to say:
it highlights the difference between native and non-native pronunciation and
a lot of learners might benefit from that.
If you have any questions, please let us know.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
It's fun to hear two people with different background talking to each other, Judith is the native and chuck is the translator that also trying to be good at in german, someone that teaching and learning in the same time which I find myself somewhat relatable to him.
Good job Germanpod.101
you should change the guy in this course with another one, his german is horrible and it is very annoying
Hi Fabian,
Thank you for your feedback.๐
You are right in what you are saying. I think what
our team was trying to do was to highlight German culture by
holding it against another country's. It's interesting that you
think there was too much on the other country in the story.
If you have any questions, please let us know.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
Just a quick thought, try to focus more on the german culture and less on the American culture, since we are more interested in learning about Germany or german speaking countries.
Danke
Hallo Jenna,
Thank you for your kind feedback! ๐ We are very happy to have you here studying with us. If you ever have any questions, please let us know!
Kind regards,
Levente
Team GermanPod101.com
This is a great lesson!๐๐
This is so dumb how I have to pay four bucks to use this trash. They made it sound like it free but this crap is trash. I can't even see the conversation or anything else. I feel lucky that I can comment here without paying something.
Hi Stephen,
Thank you for posting.
Please try to log in with a different browser.
You can also try downloading the audio file and listening to it with an audio player on your device.
If you experience any other technical issues, please send us an email at contactus@GermanPod101.com
Thank you for using GermanPod101.com!
Sincerely,
Cristiane
Team GermanPod101.com
In the free version of Germanpod 101 I was able to listen to the audio version of the lesson transcript; that is, the banter between Judy and Chuck. Now that I've subscribed, it appears that the audio version isn't available. Actually I enjoyed listening to as well as reading the lesson transcript. Is it still available for subscribers?
thank you for the vocabulary list