Learn how to talk about clothing
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: Chuck here. Upper beginner, season 1, Lesson #21. Thick Skin As Solution To German Adjective Endings. Hello and welcome to 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 looking at in this lesson? |
| Judith: In this lesson, you learn how to talk about clothing. |
| Chuck: The conversation takes place at the Berliner Dom one of the most famous cathedrals in Berlin. |
| Judith: The conversation is between Joe and Anke. The speakers are friends. Therefore they will be speaking informal German. |
| Chuck: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Anke: Hallo Joe! |
| Joe: Hallo Anke! Schön, dass du da bist! |
| Anke: Ja, schön dich zu sehen! |
| Joe: Wollen wir gleich in den Dom? |
| Anke: Ja natürlich, warum sind wir sonst hier! |
| Joe: Haha, ja. Dann los zur schönen Aussicht! |
| Anke: Ja, auf geht‘s! |
| ... |
| Joe: Uff! Mensch, diese vielen Stufen! |
| Anke: Ja, das ist wirklich eine sehr lange Treppe! Aber guck…..sieht Berlin nicht toll aus von oben?! |
| Joe: Ja, eine tolle Stadt! Aber es ist ganz schön windig hier! Gut, dass ich eine dicke Jacke anhabe. |
| Anke: Ja. Ich bin auch froh, dass ich eine warme Jacke anhabe. Und ich habe noch dicke Handschuhe und einen dicken Schal mit. |
| Joe: Oh Gott, guck mal da! Der Mann hat nur eine Hose und einen Pullover an und keine Jacke! |
| Anke: Oh, nein. Das ist viel zu kalt! |
| Joe: Ja, das finde ich auch! |
| Anke: Joe, die Aussicht ist ja schön hier, aber es ist wirklich kalt. |
| Joe: Ja, stimmt. Hmm, wir könnten ja etwas essen gehen. Wenn wir drinnen sind, wird uns sicher warm. |
| Anke: Ja, das hört sich gut an und ich kenne einen guten Italiener dort vorne, da gibt es leckere Spaghetti! |
| Joe: Na dann los! |
| Anke: Hello Joe! |
| Joe: Hello Anke! It's good that you're here! |
| Anke: Yeah, good to see you! |
| Joe: Shall we go into the cathedral now? |
| Anke: Yes, of course, why else are we here? |
| Joe: Haha, yeah. Let's go see the beautiful sights! |
| Anke: Yeah, here we go! |
| ... |
| Joe: Man, so many steps! |
| Anke: Yes, that's a really long staircase! But look....doesn't Berlin look great from above? |
| Joe: Yeah, a fantastic city! But it sure is windy here! Good thing I have a thick jacket on. |
| Anke: Yes. I'm happy that I have a warm jacket on, and I also brought along thick gloves and a thick scarf. |
| Joe: Oh God, take a look there! That man only has pants and a sweater and NO jacket! |
| Anke: Oh no, that's much to cold! |
| Joe: Yeah, that's what I think too! |
| Anke: Joe, the view is beautiful here, but it's really cold. |
| Joe: Yeah, you're right. Hmm, we could go get something to eat. If we're inside, then we'll get warm for sure. |
| Anke: Yeah, that sounds good, and I know a good Italian restaurant out front, where they have really yummy spaghetti! |
| Joe: Let's go! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: I think for our cultural point, we should talk a bit about clothing here. |
| Chuck: If it’s cold outside, bring a coat. |
| Judith: Seriously. I recommend converting your size before coming here because Germany uses a different system. |
| Chuck: If you want to buy shoes especially convert your sizes. Some sizes such as XXL and up are only available in specialty stores because few Germans need them. |
| Judith: And on average, Germans are more conscious about fashion and will often choose fashion over comfort. To fit in better, bring the better part of your wardrobe. |
| Chuck: Bring at least one thing other than jeans in case you are invited to a nice restaurant, invited to see someone’s grandparents or want to attend Church on Sundays. Traditionally people are expected to dress best on Sundays out of respect for the day. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Chuck: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word is |
| Judith: Stufe. |
| Chuck: Stair. |
| Judith: Stufe. Stufe. Die Stufe and the plural is Stufen. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Treppe. |
| Chuck: Flight of stairs or staircase. |
| Judith: Treppe. Treppe. Die Treppe and the plural is Treppen. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Windig. |
| Chuck: Windy. |
| Judith: Windig. Windig. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Dick. |
| Chuck: Thick or fat. |
| Judith: Dick. Dick. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Jacke. |
| Chuck: Jacket. |
| Judith: Jacke. Jacke. Die Jacke and the plural is Jacken. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Anhaben. |
| Chuck: To wear. |
| Judith: Anhaben. Anhaben. And this is a very colloquial word. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Froh. |
| Chuck: Glad |
| Judith: Froh. Froh. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Schuh. |
| Chuck: Shoe. |
| Judith: Schuh. Schuh. Der Schuh and the plural is Schuhe. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Hose. |
| Chuck: Trousers or pants. |
| Judith: Hose. Hose. Careful. One pair of pants is eine Hose. This word is feminine and the plural is Hosen. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Pullover. |
| Chuck: Pullover or sweater. |
| Judith: Pullover. Pullover. Der Pullover and the plural is the same. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Italiener. |
| Chuck: Italian man. |
| Judith: Italiener. Italiener. Der Italiener and the plural is the same. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Lecker. |
| Chuck: Yummy or delicious. |
| Judith: Lecker. Lecker. |
| 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 is Handschuh. |
| Chuck: Literally handshoe but it actually is the German word for glove. I actually even heard a foreigner call it handshoe the other day. |
| Judith: Really? |
| Chuck: Yeah. He is becoming Germanized I guess. |
| Judith: Also we should have a quick look at mithaben. |
| Chuck: To have brought along. |
| Judith: Anke said Ich habe einen dicken Schal mit. |
| Chuck: I have brought along a thick scarf. |
| Judith: And the phrase Drinnen wird uns sicher warm. |
| Chuck: Inside we will certainly get warm. |
| Judith: Uns wird warm is used for we will get warm. Similarly you’d say mir wird kalt to mean that you are getting cold. |
| Chuck: In German, it’s all about becoming rather than getting. |
| Judith: And in this dialogue Italiener |
| Chuck: Italian person |
| Judith: Was used to mean an Italian restaurant with presumably an Italian Chef. This is common colloquial practice. In English, it is the same actually. If you say, I know a good Italian nearby. |
| Chuck: The context clarifies your meaning. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Chuck: The focus of this lesson are basic adjective endings. German adjective endings are something that even advanced students of German may get wrong. I think I’ve even heard Germans get them wrong. Fortunately it’s also one of the least important grammar items when it comes to being understood. |
| Judith: Yeah Germans often slurr the endings or don’t even recall the right endings because they are used to slurring them so much. |
| Chuck: However let’s go over the very basics here and if you can memorize this, you will see a big improvement to the amount of endings you get right. It’s especially important when writing. |
| Judith: Yes. First you should remember that in German, only adjectives that are in front of nouns get any kind of ending. If an adjective is somewhere else in the sentence, it’s unchangeable. |
| Chuck: This is the major difference compared to other European languages that you may have studied. It makes things a lot easier. On the downside, German adjectives get different endings if their nouns are definite or not. So that’s an added complication other languages don’t have. |
| Judith: In this lesson, I want to talk about two endings that are used in at least 80% of the cases that you will see. The endings are E and en. |
| Chuck: Think of en as the base ending. If you have no idea what ending an adjective should get, it’s probably en especially if the adjective is following a definite article or if the noun is plural. |
| Judith: By contrast, E should be your first thought if the noun is feminine or neuter and used in the nominative singular or accusative singular. That is if the noun is used as a subject or direct object. E is also used if the noun is masculine and the adjective is following der. |
| Chuck: And that’s it. If you memorize these simple rules, you can safely ignore adjective endings until you are at an upper intermediate or advanced level. You’ve eliminated all other systematic mistakes. |
Outro |
| Chuck: Well that just about does it for today. |
| Judith: Looking for a word definition? |
| Chuck: Find exactly what you are looking for with the instant word finder. |
| Judith: Search the word dictionary to find the word you are looking for in English or in German. |
| Chuck: We will also display related audio lessons in our archive. |
| Judith: Add the word directly to your word bank. |
| Chuck: And find lessons and sentences that will put the word into context. |
| Judith: Go to germanpod101.com and try it now. |
| Chuck: So see you next week. |
| Judith: Also, bis nächste Woche. |
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