Learn how to use vowel-changing verbs
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: Chuck here. Beginner series, Season 2, Lesson #14. German Vowel Changing Verbs. Do You See Those Clouds? |
| Judith: Hello everyone. I am Judith and welcome to germanpod101. |
| Chuck: With us, you will learn to speak German with fun and effective lessons. |
| Judith: We also provide you with cultural insights. |
| Chuck: And tips you won’t find in a textbook. In this lesson, you will learn how to talk about the weather in German. This conversation takes place in Berlin at a German home. |
| Judith: The conversation is between Maria and her boyfriend. |
| Chuck: The speakers are friends. Therefore they will be speaking informal 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 are wondering if you’ve 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 the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| B: Warum hast du keine Lust, einen Spaziergang zu machen? Der Himmel ist blau, die Sonne scheint, es ist warm… |
| M: Ich habe einfach keine Lust. Außerdem sieht es nach Regen aus. Siehst du die Wolken da? |
| B: Ich denke nicht, dass es Regen gibt. |
| M: Ich bleibe jedenfalls hier. |
| M: Isst du jetzt mit? |
| B: Ja, ich habe Hunger. Und was machst du nach dem Essen? |
| M: Vielleicht lese ich ein Buch, oder ich gucke Fernsehen. |
| Judith: Now it’s slowly. |
| B: Warum hast du keine Lust, einen Spaziergang zu machen? Der Himmel ist blau, die Sonne scheint, es ist warm… |
| M: Ich habe einfach keine Lust. Außerdem sieht es nach Regen aus. Siehst du die Wolken da? |
| B: Ich denke nicht, dass es Regen gibt. |
| M: Ich bleibe jedenfalls hier. |
| M: Isst du jetzt mit? |
| B: Ja, ich habe Hunger. Und was machst du nach dem Essen? |
| M: Vielleicht lese ich ein Buch, oder ich gucke Fernsehen. |
| Judith: Now with the translation. |
| B: Warum hast du keine Lust, einen Spaziergang zu machen? Der Himmel ist blau, die Sonne scheint, es ist warm… |
| B: Why aren't you in the mood to take a walk? The sky is blue, the sun is shining, it is warm… |
| M: Ich habe einfach keine Lust. Außerdem sieht es nach Regen aus. Siehst du die Wolken da? |
| M: I am just not in the mood. Besides it's looking like rain. Do you see those clouds? |
| B: Ich denke nicht, dass es Regen gibt. |
| B: I don't think that there will be rain. |
| M: Ich bleibe jedenfalls hier. |
| M: In any case I am staying here. |
| M: Isst du jetzt mit? |
| M: Are you going to eat with me now? |
| B: Ja, ich habe Hunger. Und was machst du nach dem Essen? |
| B: Yes, I am hungry. And what are you doing after the meal? |
| M: Vielleicht lese ich ein Buch, oder ich gucke Fernsehen. |
| M: Maybe I will read a book, or watch TV. |
| CULTURAL SECTION |
| Judith: Yesterday it was looking like they described in the dialogue. It was all the – sky was blue and it was really warm, summer day, nice and sunny and… |
| Chuck: And then what typically happens here is you walk outside and once you are far away from your apartment, it starts to rain. |
| Judith: Exactly. That happened to us yesterday. |
| Chuck: I guess this is what taxis are good for. |
| Judith: Yeah the weather in Germany is quite typical for this region. I mean you won’t find better weather say in France either. It’s a temperate, cool and cloudy weather mostly except in summer. |
| Chuck: While you tend to find that the winters aren’t as cool, just say the states like I grew up in the Northeast of United States and the winters are really colder and the summers are hotter typically. |
| Judith: Yeah it’s the continental climate that you have in North America but here I’d say temperatures above 28 degrees Celsius in summer are quite uncommon. |
| Chuck: That’s 82 degrees Fahrenheit. |
| Judith: Or for the winter, below Zero degrees Celsius is also uncommon. I mean it happens. |
| Chuck: For those of you who didn’t remember your physics classes, that’s 32 degrees Fahrenheit. |
| Judith: Thanks for the translation. If you want to do winter sports during Christmas time, then you have to visit the southern part of Germany, the Alps or maybe one of those indoor skiing centers. They’ve become quite popular. Most of Germany is just too flat for there to be skiing. |
| Chuck: So where do you go if you want to swim I mean? There is no beaches in Germany out there. |
| Judith: Yes there are. Up in Northern coast of course and the German islands but if you want to go swim somewhere else, we have to go to a lake or in the [Ruhrgebiet] in this big industrial area in the west, it’s very common to go to artificial lakes that are reminiscence of the Gravel mining. They are called [Baggerlöcher]. If you want to go swimming in one of those man-made lakes, then you should probably be a local or be with a local because they can tell you which ones are safe to swim in and which are not and they are typically quite deep. |
| Chuck: So let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Judith: The first word is [Himmel] |
| Chuck: Sky or heaven. |
| Judith: [Himmel, Himmel]. Blau. |
| Chuck: Blue |
| Judith: [Blau, blau]. Sonne. |
| Chuck: Sun. |
| Judith: [Sonne, Sonne, die Sonne] This is feminine and the plural [Sonnen]. Scheinen. |
| Chuck: To shine; or to seem |
| Judith: [Scheinen, scheinen]. Außerdem. |
| Chuck: Besides. |
| Judith: [Außerdem, außerdem] |
| Chuck: To look, have the appearance. |
| Judith: [Aussehen, aussehen]. Nach. |
| Chuck: To |
| Judith: [Nach, nach]. Regen. |
| Chuck: Rain |
| Judith: [Regen, Regen, der Regen] This is masculine. [Wolke]. |
| Chuck: Cloud. |
| Judith: [Wolke, Wolke, die Wolke] This is feminine and the plural [Wolken]. Jedenfalls. |
| Chuck: In any case. |
| Judith: [Jedenfalls, jedenfalls] |
| Chuck: To read. |
| Judith: [Lesen, lesen]. Fernsehen. |
| Chuck: Television. |
| Judith: [Fernsehen, fernsehen] |
| 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: First let’s look at [Mitessen]. The prefix [Mit] can be translated as along. It implies that you are joining someone. So [Essen Sie mit?] |
| Chuck: Are you joining us for the meal? |
| Judith: [Kommen Sie mit?] |
| Chuck: Are you coming with us? |
| Judith: Okay next thing [Nach dem Essen] The word [Essen] in this phrase is treated like a noun but it’s based on the verb [Essen] |
| Chuck: To eat. |
| Judith: You can use the same kind of phrasing with any verb. For example [Nach dem Einkaufen] |
| Chuck: After the shopping. |
| Judith: [Nach dem Kochen] |
| Chuck: After the cooking. |
| Judith: [Nach dem Warten] |
| Chuck: After the waiting. |
| Judith: And so on. Also note that while this German dialogue used only the present tense, sometimes we use the future tense in the English translation. In German, you can imply the future. For example, [Vielleicht lese ich ein Buch nach dem Essen] |
| Chuck: Maybe I will read a book after the meal even though it technically means maybe I am reading a book after the meal. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Judith: The grammar focus of this lesson are the vowel changing verbs. You’ve seen the verb [Essen] |
| Chuck: To eat. |
| Judith: But there is something we didn’t tell you about it before. It’s not quite regular. It’s actually part of the group of verbs called vowel changing verbs and if you didn’t guess, the thing they have in common is that they change their stem vowel at some point. |
| Chuck: To be precise, they always change their stem vowel for the second and third person singular. That is the [Du] and [Er, Sie, Es] forms. Here are the forms of the vowel changing verbs you’ve encountered so far. |
| Judith: So for [Essen] this would be [Ich esse, Du isst, Er isst, Wir essen, Ihr esst, Sie essen]. For [Geben] [Ich gebe, Du gibst, Er gibt, Wir geben, Ihr gebt, Sie geben]. For [Sehen] to see [Ich sehe, Du siehst, Er sieht, Wir sehen, Ihr seht, Sie sehen]. |
| Chuck: Could you do the lassen? |
| Judith: Yes the lassen is interesting because so far we’ve all seen the change from [E sound to I sound] and lasson has a different one [Ich lasse, Du lässt, Er lässt, Wir lassen, Ihr lasst, Sie lassen] So from [A] to [Ä] it’s also a vowel change and this change is even recognized in the informal imperative form. For vowel changing verbs, the imperative also includes this change. For example, you’d say [Iss] and not [Ess] You say [Gib] for give [Sieh] for see. |
| Chuck: What about [Lass]? |
| Judith: Yeah you wouldn’t say less. You have to say [Lass] This is irregular I guess. |
Outro |
| Chuck: Okay well that just about does it for today. Before we go, we want to tell you about a way to drastically improve your pronunciation. |
| Judith: The voice recording tool. |
| Chuck: Yes the voice recording tool in the premium learning center. |
| Judith: Record your voice with the click of a button. |
| Chuck: And then play it back just as easily. |
| Judith: So you record your voice and then you listen to it. |
| Chuck: Compare it to the native speakers |
| Judith: And adjust your pronunciation. |
| Chuck: This will help you improve your pronunciation fast. See you next week. |
| Judith: [Bis nächste Woche]. |
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