Learn how to use the accusative case by changing the ending on feminine, masculine, and neuter nouns
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: Chuck here, intermediate series season three lesson ten. Were you prepared for the sales people on your German shopping spree? |
| Judith: Hi my name is Judith and I'm joined here by Chuck. |
| Chuck: Hello everyone and welcome back to germanpod101 |
| Judith: What are we talking about today? |
| Chuck: In this lesson. We'll learn how to buy clothes at a store in Germany. |
| Judith: This conversation takes place at a German department store. |
| Chuck: The conversation is between Frank Jones and a German salesperson. |
| Judith: These people are in a business relationship; therefore they will be speaking formal German. |
| Chuck: Let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Verkäuferin: Kann ich Ihnen helfen? |
| Frank: Ja, ich brauche einen neuen Aufzug für die Arbeit. |
| Verkäuferin: Aufzug? Sie meinen bestimmt Anzug? |
| Frank: Haha, ja natürlich. Ich suche einen Anzug. |
| Verkäuferin: Kein Problem. Aber Sie müssen in den zweiten Stock gehen. Dort finden Sie die Herrenbekleidung. |
| Frank: Ah, gut. Dankeschön. |
| ... |
| Verkäuferin: Guten Tag. Suchen Sie etwas Bestimmtes? Kann ich Ihnen helfen? |
| Frank: Ja, ich suche einen schwarzen Anzug für die Arbeit. |
| Verkäuferin: Okay… wie gefällt Ihnen dieser hier? |
| Frank: Hmm, ja der sieht gut aus. Haben Sie den in Größe 42? |
| Verkäuferin: Ja. Hier, bitte. |
| Frank: Wo kann ich den Anzug anprobieren? |
| Verkäuferin: Gehen Sie da vorne um die Ecke, dort finden Sie eine Umkleidekabine. |
| Frank: Danke. |
| … |
| Verkäuferin: Und, passt der Anzug? |
| Frank: Hmm. Ich finde, er sitzt nicht so gut. Die Hose ist sehr weit und die Ärmel sind zu lang. Ich glaube, ich brauche eine andere Größe, oder? |
| Verkäuferin: Ja. Warten Sie hier, ich bringe Ihnen die andere Größe. ... |
| Verkäuferin: Hier, bitte. Und ich habe Ihnen auch noch einen schönen dunkelgrauen Anzug mitgebracht. |
| … |
| Verkäuferin: Und, passt einer? |
| Frank: Hmm, also eigentlich habe ich ja einen schwarzen Anzug gesucht, aber ich glaube ich nehme den grauen Anzug. Er passt sehr gut und ich mag die Farbe! Dann kann ich wohl doch nicht für die Men in Black arbeiten! |
| Salesperson: Can I help you? |
| Frank: Yes, I need a new elevator for work. |
| Salesperson: An elevator? You surely mean a suit? |
| Frank: Haha, yes of course. I am looking for a suit. |
| Salesperson: No problem. But you have to go to the second floor. There you will find the men's clothing. |
| Frank: Ah, good. Thank you very much. |
| ... |
| Salesperson: Hello. Are you looking for something in particular? Can I help you? |
| Frank: Yes, I am looking for a black suit for work. |
| Salesperson: Okay... how do you like this one here? |
| Frank: Hmm, yes, that one looks good. Do you have it in size 42? |
| Salesperson: Yes. Here you go. |
| Frank: Where can I try on the suit? |
| Salesperson: Go around the corner up there in front, there you'll find a changing room. |
| Frank: Thanks. |
| ... |
| Salesperson: So, does the suit fit? |
| Frank: Hmm. I find that it doesn't fit so well. The pants are very wide and the sleeves are too long. I believe I need another size, don't I? |
| Salesperson: Yes. Wait here, I shall bring you the other size. ... |
| Salesperson: Here you go. And I have also brought you a nice dark grey suit. |
| ... |
| Salesperson: So, does one of them fit? |
| Frank: Hmm, actually I was looking for a black suit, but I believe I shall take the grey suit. It fits me very well and I like the color! Then it seems I won't be able to work for the Men in Black! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: Okay, how about we talk a bit about clothes? |
| Chuck: Sounds good. |
| Judith: What is your advice for people coming to Germany and possibly being in the situation of buying some clothes? |
| Chuck: One thing that's pretty important is to know your sizes in the Germany measuring system. Especially for shoes. |
| Judith: Yeah and the sizes are quite different here. |
| Chuck: You can convert them online usually. |
| Judith: There are some utilities for that. Also I should probably warn you that some sizes such as XXL and up are only available in specialty stores because few Germans need them. |
| Chuck: Also know that in many clothing stores sales people can be quite annoying because they get a percentage of any sales they generate. |
| Judith: Annoyingly persistent, you can't get rid of them and on average German people are more conscious about fashion and will often choose fashion over comfort. To fit in better, bring the better part of your wardrobe. |
| Chuck: And also when you come to Germany, bring something other than jeans in case you're invited to a nice restaurant or somebody's grandparents for example or want to attend church on Sundays. Traditionally people are expected to dress best on Sundays. Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we should look at is... |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Judith: [Aufzug] |
| Chuck: Elevator or lift. |
| Judith: [Aufzug, der] and the plural is [Aufzüge]. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Anzug] |
| Chuck: Suit. |
| Judith: [Anzug, der] and the plural is [Anzüge]. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [bestimmt] |
| Chuck: Certainly, truly, defined or particular. |
| Judith: [bestimmt] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Bekleidung] |
| Chuck: Clothing. |
| Judith: [Bekleidung, die] and it's a very formal word. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Größe] |
| Chuck: Size. |
| Judith: [Größe, die] and the plural is [Größen] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [anprobieren] |
| Chuck: To try on. |
| Judith: [anprobieren] the [an] splits off. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Umkleidekabine]. |
| Chuck: Changing room. |
| Judith: [Umkleidekabine] this word is feminine [die Umkleidekabine] and the plural is [Umkleidekabinen] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [passen] |
| Chuck: To fit or to go with something as in clothing or to pass or fold or send again. |
| Judith: [passen] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [sitzen] |
| Chuck: To sit, to fit tight or look good as in clothing. |
| Judith: [sitzen] the forms are [Er sitzt, Er saß, Er hat gesessen]. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [dunkel] |
| Chuck: Dark. |
| Judith: [dunkel] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [grau] |
| Chuck: Gray. |
| Judith: [grau] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Farbe] |
| Chuck: Color or paint. |
| Judith: [Farbe, die] and the plural is [Farben] |
| 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 phrase we'll look at is [Herrenbekleidung] |
| Chuck: Men's clothing. |
| Judith: [Herr] it's not just Mister when addressing someone, it's also used to the sense of lord or gentleman or on signs like this. |
| Chuck: You'll often see [Herren] or simply age on men's restrooms in Germany so this is important. |
| Judith: The other thing I wanted to talk about is [doch nicht] |
| Chuck: Not after all. |
| Judith: As in the phrase [Dann kann ich doch nicht für die Men in black arbeiten]. |
| Chuck: It seems I won't be able to work for the men in black after all. |
| Judith: And finally I should talk about the difference between [passen] and [sitzen] both can be translated as to fit but [passen] is more about a piece of clothing being the right size whereas [sitzen] is about not having creases or bulges in the right places. If a dress is too tight for you to wear it then you'd say [Es passt nicht] whereas if it doesn't drape right you'd say [Es sitzt nicht gut]. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Chuck: The grammar focus of this lesson is the accusative singular. At the beginning of your studies, I wouldn't worry so much about using the right forms of [der, die] or [das] and the right endings for adjectives. |
| Judith: Even if you get it wrong people will still understand you and there's little potential for confusion. Sometimes you'll even see an educated Germans having trouble with these. |
| Chuck: Also since the system is quite big and unwieldy not to mention illogical it's best to get a lot of exposure first. However since you're listening to the intermediate series, we'll assume you had the exposure and now it's time to study the endings in depth. Today we're looking at the accusative singular endings since the dialogue contained lots of them. |
| Judith: For masculine nouns such as [der Mann] or [der Anzug]. |
| Chuck: Suit. |
| Judith: The key ending is en for the accusative. |
| Chuck: The key ending is the ending that always has to be present. |
| Judith: The masculine accusative singular form of the is [den] and the equivalent form of [a] is [einen]. both with the en and also any adjective will get the en ending as well. |
| Chuck: Could you give us some examples of masculine words with the accusative singular. |
| Judith: For example [Ich mag den Anzug, Ich den grauen Anzug, Ich mag einen Anzug] finally I should say that there are also a few masculine nouns such as [der Mensch] that will also adopt the [en] ending for accusative. In this case it would be [den Menschen] |
| Chuck: So masculine nouns everything en, okay I get it. How about feminine nouns? |
| Judith: For feminine nouns such as [die Frau] or [die Größe]. |
| Chuck: Size. |
| Judith: The key ending is e, actually feminine nouns are exactly the same in the nominative which is the base form and the accusative so this is easy. Always choose the form that ends in e, so the forms will be [die], [eine] and [andere] the adjectives getting an e. |
| Chuck: And some examples here? |
| Judith: [Ich mag die Größe], [ich mag eine Größe], [Ich mag eine andere Größe]. |
| Chuck: So e for feminine and for a neuter. |
| Judith: For neuter nouns such as [das Kind] or [das Kleid] |
| Chuck: Dress. |
| Judith: The key ending is s, neuter nouns are also exactly the same in accusative and nominative so you're again saving yourself some time. The correct form of [der, die, das] for accusative singular is obviously [das] |
| Chuck: But wait, we saw [ein Kind], [ein] does not contain that s. |
| Judith: Yeah, indeed it's a problem, it cannot be helped when you're just saying [ein Kleid] or something like that but once you add an adjective, that adjective has to end in s, well es for pronunciation reasons. If the article is [das] however then the adjective doesn't need that additional s it will just end in e. |
| Chuck: Okay, I think I get it. Could you give us some examples anyway though? |
| Judith: Sure [Ich mag das Kleid, Ich mag das schwarze Kleid, Ich mag ein Kleid, Ich mag ein schwarzes Kleid] memorize these forms well and have another look at the dialogue to identify all the accusative forms. Make sure you can figure out now why they have the endings that they have. |
Outro |
| Chuck: That just about does it for today. Testing yourself is one of the most effective ways to learn. |
| Judith: That's why we have three types of quizzes. |
| Chuck: Vocabulary, grammar and content specific. |
| Judith: Each quiz targets a specific skill. |
| Chuck: And together these quizzes will help you master several fundamental skills. |
| Judith: You can find them in the learning center at |
| Chuck: germanpod101.com so see you next time. |
| Judith: [Bis nächste Woche]! |
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