Learn how to book a ticket for one of Germany's fast trains
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: Chuck here. Upper Beginner Season 1, Lesson #19. Don't You Wish You Were On A Fast German Train? Hello and welcome to germanpod101.com, the fastest, easiest and most fun way to learn German. |
| Judith: I am Judith and thanks again for being here with us for this Upper Beginner season 1 lesson. |
| Chuck: In this lesson, you learn how to book a ticket for one of Germany’s fast trains. |
| Judith: This conversation takes place at the Munich train station. |
| Chuck: The conversation is between Joe and the ticket salesperson. |
| Judith: The speakers are in a business relationship. Therefore they will be speaking formal German. |
| Chuck: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Joe: Guten Tag. |
| Verkäuferin: Guten Tag, was kann ich für Sie tun? |
| Joe: Ich möchte eine Fahrkarte von München nach Berlin kaufen. |
| Sie: Ja, gerne. Wann möchten Sie denn nach Berlin fahren? |
| Joe: Hmm, ich möchte morgen Abend hier abfahren. |
| Sie: Okay, also am 11.10. 2010… |
| Joe: Äh, ist morgen nicht der 10. November? |
| Sie: Hmm, ja das stimmt. Entschuldigung….also am 10.11…. Da haben Sie mehrere Möglichkeiten…. |
| Joe: Hmm, ich möchte so günstig wie möglich fahren und nicht so oft umsteigen, bitte. |
| Sie: Okay, dann sollten Sie um 19 Uhr fahren. Mit dem Zug müssen Sie nicht umsteigen und die Fahrt kostet 116 Euro. |
| Joe: Okay. Also am 10.11. um 19 Uhr? |
| Sie: Ja, Ankunft ist dann am 11.11. um… |
| Joe: Was, am 11.11.? Warum das denn? Ich fahre doch am 10. November und nicht am 11. November? |
| Sie: Ja, aber Sie fahren abends so spät los, dass Sie nachts um halb zwei ankommen. Und das ist dann schon der 11.11. 2010. |
| Joe: Ach so, natürlich. Entschuldigen Sie meine Unterbrechung… |
| Sie: Kein Problem. Also noch mal…Sie fahren am 10.11.2010 um 19 Uhr in München ab und kommen am 11.11. 2010 um 1 Uhr 30 in Berlin an. |
| Joe: Super. |
| Sie: Das macht dann 116 Euro. |
| Joe: Hier bitte. |
| Sie: Danke, hier ist Ihre Fahrkarte. Gute Fahrt! |
| Joe: Hello. |
| Ticket Seller: Hello, what can I do for you? |
| Joe: I'd like to buy a ticket from Munich to Berlin. |
| Her: Sure. When would you like to go to Berlin? |
| Joe: Hmm, I'd like to leave here tomorrow evening. |
| Her: Okay, so on the 11th of October, 2010... |
| Joe: Uh, isn't tomorrow the 10th of November? |
| Her: Hmm, yes, that's right. Excuse me....so, on the 10th of November. There are many possibilities on that day... |
| Joe: Hmm, I'd like to travel as cheaply as possible, and I don't want to change trains too often, please. |
| Her: Okay, then you should go at 7pm. With that train, you won't have to change, and the trip costs 116 euros. |
| Joe: Okay. So on the 10th of November at 7pm? |
| Her: Yes. Arrival will be on the 11th of November at ... |
| Joe: What? On November 11th? Why is that? I'm leaving on the 10th of November, and not on the 11th of November. |
| Her: Yes, but you're leaving so late in the evening that you'll arrive at 1.30am. And that will be the morning of November 11th already. |
| Joe: Oh yeah, of course. Sorry for interrupting. |
| Her: No problem. So, once more....You're leaving on the 10th of November at 7pm from Munich, and you'll arrive in Berlin on the 11th of November at 1.30am. |
| Joe: Great. |
| Her: That'll be 116 euros. |
| Joe: Here you go. |
| Her: Thanks, and here's your ticket. Have a good trip! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: Okay we talked about November often enough. Now what about the other German month names? |
| Chuck: The German month names shouldn’t be a problem for you because they are based on the same roots as the English ones. So treat it as a lesson on how to Germanize words or Eindeutschen as they say. |
| Judith: That’s too advanced a word Eindeutschen. So let’s start with January. January in German is Januar. |
| Chuck: The letter Y is almost nonexistent in German. |
| Judith: Yeah that’s why we don’t end one’s name with a Y but also the pronunciation is different. January. Januar. |
| Chuck: February |
| Judith: Februar. Again only the pronunciation is different if you drop the Y. |
| Chuck: March |
| Judith: März. Yeah this one is – it is quite different März. M Umlaut and RZ. |
| Chuck: April |
| Judith: April. Just the pronunciation is different. |
| Chuck: May |
| Judith: Mai. The Y was swapped for an I. Mai. |
| Chuck: June. |
| Judith: Juni. with I at the end. |
| Chuck: July |
| Judith: Juli with an I at the end. |
| Chuck: August |
| Judith: August. Okay the stress is different and the pronunciation is different but the spelling is identical. |
| Chuck: September |
| Judith: September. Same. |
| Chuck: October |
| Judith: Oktober. The hard c in October becomes a K in German. |
| Chuck: I bet you’ve seen this before from Oktoberfest. |
| Judith: Yes. |
| Chuck: November. |
| Judith: November. Just the pronunciation. |
| Chuck: December |
| Judith: Dezember. The soft C becomes a Z here. Sometimes it also becomes an S in other words but Dezember. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Chuck: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word is |
| Judith: Tun. |
| Chuck: To do. |
| Judith: Tun. Tun. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: November. |
| Chuck: November. |
| Judith: November. November. Der November. All the month names are masculine. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Möglich. |
| Chuck: Possible |
| Judith: Möglich. Möglich. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Möglichkeit. |
| Chuck: Possibility. |
| Judith: Möglichkeit. Möglichkeit. Die Möglichkeit. And the plural is Möglichkeiten. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: So wie. |
| Chuck: As as. |
| Judith: So wie. So wie. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Oft. |
| Chuck: Often |
| Judith: Oft. Oft. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Abends. |
| Chuck: In the evening. |
| Judith: Abends. Abends. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Nachts. |
| Chuck: At night. |
| Judith: Nachts. Nachts. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Entschuldigen. |
| Chuck: To excuse or with sich to apologize. |
| Judith: Entschuldigen. Entschuldigen. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Unterbrechung. |
| Chuck: Interruption. |
| Judith: Unterbrechung. Unterbrechung. Die Unterbrechung. And the plural is Unterbrechungen. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Fahrt. |
| Chuck: Drive or ride. |
| Judith: Fahrt. Fahrt. Die Fahrt and the plural is Fahrten. |
| 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 is Was kann ich für Sie tun? |
| Chuck: What can I do for you? |
| Judith: It’s a phrase that you will hear very, very often most likely. Was kann ich für Sie tun? and I also want to look at this so … wie möglich. |
| Chuck: As … as possible. |
| Judith: It’s another really common structure. For example, you might say so schnell wie möglich. |
| Chuck: As quickly as possible. |
| Judith: So gut wie möglich. |
| Chuck: As good as possible. |
| Judith: Or so bald wie möglich. |
| Chuck: As soon as possible. |
| Judith: And we also used Entschuldigen Sie. It’s an alternative to Entschuldigung. Instead of the noun Entschuldigung. |
| Chuck: Apology |
| Judith: You use the verb in the imperative. So excuse, as a request. Then you can add whatever you want that person to excuse right afterwards as an object. For example, Entschuldigen Sie meine Verspätung. |
| Chuck: Excuse my being late. Now there is an important one. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Chuck: The focus of this lesson are ordinal numbers and dates. When writing a date in Germany, you should always put the day first, month second and year last. Otherwise you will really confuse Germans because few people know that there are cultures that put the month first. |
| Judith: Yeah that’s really weird. Also in between the different parts of the date, we put a dot in German. So put the day first, then a dot, then the month, then a dot and finally the year. |
| Chuck: When reading the date, you need the ordinal numbers like 1st, 2nd, 3rd instead of 1, 2, 3. |
| Judith: In German, these numbers end in ter or whatever case endings they need. Ten is also very common when you use am as a preposition. So 1st is Erster or Ersten, 3rd is Dritter, Dritten but all the others are regular. Just take the German number word and add ter. So you get Zweiter, Vierter, Fünfter, Sechster, Siebter using the same shortcut as for Siebzig, Achter, Neunter and so on. |
| Chuck: These are also written as 2 dot, 4 dot, 5 dot and so on with dot indicating that it’s an ordinal number. So to read a date, just say the ordinal number for the day and then you can say another ordinal number for the month or you could say the month name. Finally for the year, you need the numbers above 1000 but fortunately we already studied those in lesson 22 of the absolute beginner series. |
| Judith: In total, you get something like Einundzwanzigster Fünfter Zweitausendzehn or Einundzwanzigster Mai Zweitausendzehn. |
| Chuck: Note that for dates in a different century, everyone says the German equivalent of 1900 rather than 1900. However unlike in English, you cannot leave out the 100 part. Note that because of the way that the numbers change like 21 if you leave out the 100, it’s going to sound really confusing. |
| Judith: Yes for example 1984 is neunzehnhundertvierundachtzig. |
| Chuck: And you can hear how incredibly hard it would be to understand neunzehnvierundachtzig. |
| Judith: Yeah. |
| Chuck: So you always have to have the hundert in there. |
Outro |
| Chuck: That just about does it for today. |
| Judith: Listeners, if you have any German language or lesson related questions |
| Chuck: Or maybe you have some feedback for us |
| Judith: Leave us a comment or ask a question on the lessons page. |
| Chuck: It’s super simple. Go to germanpod101.com |
| Judith: Click on comments. |
| Chuck: Enter your comment and name |
| Judith: And that’s it. |
| Chuck: Commenting is a great way to practice writing and reading in German. |
| Judith: It helps you learn faster. |
| Chuck: And it helps us get better through your feedback. |
| Judith: No excuses. Go to germanpod101.com and comment now. |
| Chuck: Now. So see you next week. |
| Judith: Also, bis nächste Woche. |
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