Learn how to use the German comparative when speaking
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: Chuck here intermediate series season 3 lesson 22. At a German pharmacy. Hello and welcome to Germanpod101.com, the fastest, easiest and most fun way to learn German. |
| Judith: I’m Judith and thanks again for being here with us for this intermediate series season three lesson. |
| Chuck: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to get the medicine you need in Germany. |
| Judith: This conversation takes place at a German pharmacy. |
| Chuck: The conversation is between the pharmacist and Mr. Jones. |
| Judith: The speakers are in a business relationship therefore they will be speaking formal German. |
| Chuck: Let’s listen to the conversation. Note that when you buy medicine in Europe, there is a standardized leaflet inside the package which tells you in great detail what ingredients are contained in the medicine and under what circumstances you must not take them. I’d not take it when signs that you might be reacting negative to the medicine, what are the side effects and how often do they occur and so on. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Jones: Hallo. |
| Apothekerin: Guten Tag. Was kann ich für Sie tun? |
| Jones: Ich brauche Halsschmerztabletten. Hier ist mein Rezept. |
| Apothekerin: Gut. Einen Moment bitte. |
| … |
| Apothekerin: Also, wir haben diese Halstabletten leider nicht da. |
| Jones: Oh und nun? |
| Apothekerin: Also ich kann Ihnen die Tabletten bestellen und Sie holen sie morgen ab. Oder Sie nehmen andere Halsschmerztabletten. |
| Jones: Was ist denn besser? |
| Apothekerin: Das kommt darauf an… Wie schlimm sind die Schmerzen denn? |
| Jones: Na ja, sie werden jeden Tag stärker. |
| Apothekerin: Wenn die Schmerzen immer schlimmer werden, sollten Sie lieber sofort etwas nehmen. |
| Jones: Welche Tabletten können Sie denn empfehlen? |
| Apothekerin: Ich kann Ihnen diese empfehlen. Ich finde sie wirksamer als die anderen Halstabletten. Außerdem schmecken sie süßer und kosten weniger. |
| Jones: Oh, das hört sich gut an. Und sie helfen genauso gut wie die anderen? |
| Apothekerin: Ja, ich finde sie sogar noch besser. |
| Jones: Äh, jetzt bin ich verwirrt. Welche mögen Sie lieber? |
| Apothekerin: Diese hier. |
| Jones: Ach so. Gut. Dann nehme ich diese. |
| Apothekerin: Gut. Sie sollten die Tabletten vier Mal am Tag nehmen. Einfach ohne Wasser lutschen. Sie können die Tabletten auch bis zu sechs Mal am Tag nehmen, wenn es Ihnen schlecht geht, aber nicht öfter. |
| Jones: Danke. |
| Apothekerin: Darf es sonst noch etwas sein? |
| Jones: Nein danke. |
| Apothekerin: Gut, das macht dann 4,95€, bitte. … Und ich packe Ihnen noch eine Packung Taschentücher ein. |
| Jones: Äh, aber die wollte ich doch gar nicht. |
| Apothekerin: Nein, die sind auch kostenlos. |
| Jones: Oh, ach so. Dann danke. |
| Apothekerin: Bitte, und gute Besserung! |
| Jones: Hello. |
| Pharmacist: Good day. What can I do for you? |
| Jones: I need cough drops. Here's my prescription. |
| Pharmacist: Good. One moment please. |
| ... |
| Pharmacist: So, we unfortunately don't have these cough drops. |
| Jones: Oh and what then? |
| Pharmacist: Well, I can order the cough drops for you and you can pick them up tomorrow. Or you can take other cough drops. |
| Jones: What's better? |
| Pharmacist: It depends... How bad is the pain? |
| Jones: Well, every day it gets stronger. |
| Pharmacist: If the pain gets worse and worse, you should rather take something immediately. |
| Jones: Which tablets can you recommend? |
| Pharmacist: I can recommend these to you. I find that they are more effective than the others. They also taste sweeter and cost less. |
| Jones: Oh, that sounds good. And do they help just as well as the others? |
| Pharmacist: Yes, I find them to be even better. |
| Jones: Ehm, now I'm confused. Which ones do you like better? |
| Pharmacist: These here. |
| Jones: Ah. Good. Then I shall take these. |
| Pharmacist: Good. You should takes the tablets four times a day. Simply suck on them without water. You can also take the tablets up to six times a day, if you're feeling bad, but not more often. |
| Jones: Thanks. |
| Pharmacist: Would you like anything else? |
| Jones: No, thanks. |
| Pharmacist: Good, then that's 4.95 euros, please. ... And I shall bag a pack of tissues for you as well. |
| Jones: Ehm, but I didn't want those really. |
| Pharmacist: No, they're free. |
| Jones: Oh, I see. Then thank you. |
| Pharmacist: You're welcome, and get well soon! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: To understand this often very technical language, there are some key words that you definitely need. For example [die Packungsbeilage] |
| Chuck: The name of this leaflet. |
| Judith: Yes literally means something that is inside the packaging like an attachment. Then there’s the word [die Nebenwirkung] |
| Chuck: Side effect. |
| Judith: Yes [Nebenwirkung] means side so [die Nebenwirkung] as opposed to [die Wechselwirkung] |
| Chuck: Reciprocal effect. |
| Judith: Yes [Wechsel] is to switch so [die Wechselwirkung] |
| Chuck: What does that mean exactly? |
| Judith: Well the effect that this medicine may have if you also take some other medicine if they were to interact with each other. |
| Chuck: Ah okay. |
| Judith: And then there is [die Anwendung] |
| Chuck: Usage or conception or application of medicine. |
| Judith: Yes normally [Anwendung] means application or usage but in medicine talk they always use it for consumption or application and one strange formulation [Es wird abgeraten]. |
| Chuck: It is not recommended. |
| Judith: Yes, this is passive, as in people do not recommend [Es wird abgeraten] and one last word that’s vital to know is [absetzen] |
| Chuck: To stop taking the medicine. |
| Judith: Yes normally [absetzen] is to put down but in medicine talk it’s just stop taking the medicine. [absetzen] |
| Chuck: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word is; |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Judith: [schlimm] |
| Chuck: Dire or bad. |
| Judith: [schlimm] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [stark] |
| Chuck: Strong or strongly. |
| Judith: [stark] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [lieber] |
| Chuck: Rather or preferably. |
| Judith: [lieber] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [wirksam] |
| Chuck: Effective, efficient or potent. |
| Judith: [wirksam] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [süß] |
| Chuck: Cute or sweet. |
| Judith: [süß] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [sogar] |
| Chuck: Even. |
| Judith: [sogar] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [verwirrt] |
| Chuck: Confused. |
| Judith: [verwirrt] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [lutschen] |
| Chuck: To suck. |
| Judith: [lutschen] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [einpacken] |
| Chuck: To pack bag or wrap up. |
| Judith: [einpacken] the [ein] splits off. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Packung] |
| Chuck: Package or pack. |
| Judith: [Packung, die] and the plural is [Packungen] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Taschentuch] |
| Chuck: Tissue. |
| Judith: [Taschentuch, das] and the plural is [Taschentücher] |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: [kostenlos] |
| Chuck: For free or free of charge. |
| Judith: [kostenlos] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Chuck: Let’s have a closer look for the uses for some of the words from this lesson. |
| Judith: The first phrase is [immer schlimmer] |
| Chuck: Literally, always worse or more dire as in worse and worse or more and more dire. |
| Judith: Yes, I don’t think in English you would say always worse you would say worse and worse or [immer besser] better and better. And another phrase we want to look at is [sie sollten die Tabletten viermal am Tag nehmen]. |
| Chuck: You should take the tablets four times a day. |
| Judith: In this phrase, the verb [nehmen] is used figuratively. To be absolutely clear that you need to consume rather than to take, you could also use the verb [einnehmen, Sie sollten die Tabletten viermal am Tag einnehmen] |
| Chuck: Up to six times a day. |
| Judith: You should memorize the phrase in [Bis zu sechsmal am Tag] if you have two numbers you can say [vier bis sechsmal], |
| Chuck: Four to six times. |
| Judith: Using just [bis] but with just one number you have to say [bis zu, bis zu sechs mal]. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Chuck: Up to six times, the focus of this lesson is the comparative. You say that something is nicer, bigger, better or the like in German, add “er” to the adjective. Well that’s just like English. |
| Judith: Not quite, English has a similar rule except In English you sometimes have to add more instead. |
| Chuck: Ah you mean like for example more beautiful. |
| Judith: Yes I don’t think it’s possible to say beautifuler. |
| Chuck: No sounds like what a German might make his mistake. |
| Judith: Yes, yes exactly because in Germany it’s just that way, we always use “er” it’s never possible to use [mehr] I mean more, you have to add “er” and sometimes you also have to change the vowel. |
| Chuck: But if you ever use [mehr] it will come across something like you are saying beautifuler. |
| Judith: Yes, well there is no difference between adjectives and adverbs in German though this rule applies to bit types of words. In today’s dialogue you saw [schlimm] becoming [schlimmer] |
| Chuck: More dire. |
| Judith: [stark] becoming [stärker] |
| Chuck: Stronger more strongly. |
| Judith: [wirksam] becoming [wirksamer] |
| Chuck: More effective or more effectively. |
| Judith: [süß] becoming [süßer] |
| Chuck: Sweeter or more sweetly. |
| Judith: [wenig] becoming [weniger] |
| Chuck: Little becoming less. |
| Judith: [oft] becoming [öfters] |
| Chuck: Often becoming more often. |
| Judith: There are a few irregular comparison forms for example [gut] changes to [besser] |
| Chuck: Better. |
| Judith: This shouldn’t be hard to memorize because English mirrors this change. |
| Chuck: Just one more thing. Remember all those endings for genitive and a cursive that we talked about? Well just because we see an adjective in its comparative form doesn’t mean it’s exempt from those endings. All the usual rules still apply. |
| Judith: Yes, for example we say [die Tabletten sind süßer] |
| Chuck: The tablets are sweeter. |
| Judith: But if [süßer] is used as an attribute, then you have to say [Ich empfehle die süßeren Tabletten]. |
Outro |
| Chuck: I recommend the sweeter tablets. That just about does it for today. Premium members don’t forget to subscribe to the premium feed. |
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| Chuck: Get the sample feed at germanpod101.com. SO see you next week. |
| Judith: [Also bis nächste Woche]! |
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