Learn how to use the imperative
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: Chuck here. Beginner series, season 2, Lesson #12. Giving Orders in German, The Letter Says, “Stay At Home!” Hello and welcome to the beginner series, season 2 at germanpod101.com where we study modern German in a fun, educational format. |
| Judith: So brush up on the German that you started learning long ago or start learning today. |
| Chuck: Thanks for being here with us for this lesson. Judith, what are we talking about in this lesson? |
| Judith: In this lesson, you will learn how to give commands in German. |
| Chuck: This conversation takes place outside on the way back home from the supermarket. |
| Judith: It’s not quite a conversation. Rather Maria is reading us a letter she found in the front yard. |
| Chuck: She and the writer of the letter do not seem overly friendly. So this letter will feature formal German. Now before we listen to the conversation |
| Judith: We want to ask |
| Chuck: Do you read the lesson notes while you listen? |
| Judith: We received an email about the study tip. |
| Chuck: So we were wondering if you tried it and if so |
| Judith: What do you think of it? |
| Chuck: You can leave us feedback in the comments section of this lesson. Okay let’s listen to this conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Sagen Sie Ihrem Freund nichts. |
| Geben Sie der Polizei keinerlei Informationen. |
| Gehen Sie nicht mehr an die Spree. |
| Bleiben Sie zuhause, essen Sie zuhause, ziehen Sie keine Aufmerksamkeit auf sich. |
| Warten Sie auf ein Zeichen. |
| Judith: Now it’s slowly. |
| Sagen Sie Ihrem Freund nichts. |
| Geben Sie der Polizei keinerlei Informationen. |
| Gehen Sie nicht mehr an die Spree. |
| Bleiben Sie zuhause, essen Sie zuhause, ziehen Sie keine Aufmerksamkeit auf sich. |
| Warten Sie auf ein Zeichen. |
| Judith: Now with the translation. |
| Sagen Sie Ihrem Freund nichts. |
| Don't tell your friend anything. |
| Geben Sie der Polizei keinerlei Informationen. |
| Don't give the police any kind of information. |
| Gehen Sie nicht mehr an die Spree. |
| Don't go to the Spree anymore. |
| Bleiben Sie zuhause, essen Sie zuhause, ziehen Sie keine Aufmerksamkeit auf sich. |
| Stay home, eat at home, don't attract any attention to yourself. |
| Warten Sie auf ein Zeichen. |
| Wait for a sign. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: Sounds like criminal activity to me. |
| Chuck: Yeah it does. |
| Judith: But generally, Germany is a lot safer than the States. Most areas are safer. |
| Chuck: Yeah but what happens next. |
| Judith: You want me to tell you? I don’t think so. |
| Chuck: Yeah tell me, tell me. |
| Judith: No. |
| Chuck: Well I have to wait for the next podcast? |
| Judith: Yeah or maybe the one after that. |
| Chuck: Okay. |
| CULTURAL SECTION |
| Judith: Let’s see what do we can make of the story but I was going to talk about crime in Germany. For example, there are no schools in Germany where the students must be checked for weapons. |
| Chuck: I think that’s because well there just aren’t that many weapons here. |
| Judith: Yeah there are hardly any gun violence either. |
| Chuck: Ah but there are more hate crimes. |
| Judith: Yeah well the definition is broadly. A lot more things are prosecuted, a lot of things are crimes in terms of hatred. |
| Chuck: Like what? |
| Judith: Well like making racist remarks, that’s like the most common or denying the holocaust. That’s a crime. On the whole I would say, Germany is a very safe place to visit. |
| Chuck: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Judith: First word [Sagen] |
| Chuck: To say |
| Judith: [Sagen, sagen] Next [Geben] |
| Chuck: To give. |
| Judith: [Geben, geben] Next [Polizei] |
| Chuck: Police |
| Judith: [Polizei, Polizei] Next [Keinerlei] |
| Chuck: No kind of, not any |
| Judith: [Keinerlei, keinerlei] Next [Information] |
| Chuck: Information |
| Judith: [Information, Information, die Information] This is feminine. Next [Mehr] |
| Chuck: More |
| Judith: [Mehr, mehr] Next [Bleiben] |
| Chuck: Stay |
| Judith: [Bleiben, bleiben] Next [Ziehen] |
| Chuck: To pull or drag. |
| Judith: [Ziehen, ziehen] Next [Auf] |
| Chuck: On or on to. |
| Judith: [Auf, auf] Next [Warten] |
| Chuck: To wait |
| Judith: [Warten, warten] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Chuck: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Judith: The first word we look at is the preposition [Auf]. This one is used in a variety of cases. |
| Chuck: The direct English translation is [on] but as you know, prepositions don’t always translate exactly. |
| Judith: Yeah for example, [Auf] is also used in [Warten auf] |
| Chuck: To wait for |
| Judith: And [Aufmerksamkeit ziehen auf] |
| Chuck: To draw attention to. |
| Judith: The second word we look at is [Mehr] |
| Chuck: More |
| Judith: Just on its own, it means more but in combination with [Nicht] it means not any more. So [Nicht mehr] is not any more. |
| Chuck: Or just like no more. |
| Judith: Yes okay now how about some grammar? |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Chuck: This lesson’s sentences are not in the present tense. They are in the imperative form. The imperative is used to give commands or also polite requests if you add bitte. |
| Judith: In German, the formal imperative is just the same as the formal present tense except that the verb comes first and the [Sie] comes second. So for example, if you say [Gehen Sie] |
| Chuck: Go as in formally. |
| Judith: Or [Kommen Sie] |
| Chuck: Come but Judith, the informal is used more often. Isn’t it? |
| Judith: Depends on what kind of people you interact with. If you are 50 years old, you probably use the formal imperative more often. |
| Chuck: Umm okay. |
| Judith: If you are a parent, use informal imperative more often because you have to tell your kid to do so many things or not to do. |
| Chuck: And I guess if you are a boss, then you’d also use the formal imperative right? |
| Judith: Yes of course. It would be very impolite to do it otherwise even with the bitte. |
| Chuck: Yes unless you get really mad at your employees. |
| Judith: No even then, it’s not. So the informal imperative is the kind that you’d use with friends and it’s more interesting. This one corresponds to just the word stem without any ending and the pronoun is not used either. So you just have a word like [Geh] |
| Chuck: Go. |
| Judith: Or [Komm] |
Outro |
| Chuck: Come. That just about does it for today. Okay some of our listeners already know about the most powerful tool in germanpod101.com |
| Judith: Line by line audio. |
| Chuck: The perfect tool for rapidly improving listening comprehension. |
| Judith: By listening to lines of the conversation again and again. |
| Chuck: Listen until every word and syllable becomes clear. Basically we break down the dialogue into comprehensible bite size sentences. |
| Judith: You can try the line by line audio in the premium learning center at germanpod101.com |
| Chuck: See you next time. |
| Judith: [Bis nächstes Mal!] |
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