Learn about dative personal German pronouns
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: Chuck here, Upper-Beginner Season 2, Lesson 3 - A promising German conversation with a potential candidate. 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 2 Lesson. |
| Chuck: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to call someone in response to a classified ad. |
| Judith: This conversation takes place on the phone. |
| Chuck: The conversation is between Paul Martins and Sandra [Käufer]. |
| Judith: The speakers don’t know each other, therefore they’ll be speaking formal German. |
| Chuck: Let`s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Paul Martens: Paul Martens. Hallo? |
| Sandra Käufer: Hallo, Sandra Käufer hier. Ich rufe an wegen dem Sprachtandem. Sind Sie das? |
| Paul Martens: Ja...wow. Der Zettel hängt erst seit zwei Stunden am schwarzen Brett! |
| Sandra Käufer: Oh, wow! Na ja, ich bin Deutsche und ich überlege mir gerade, ob ich Deutschlehrerin werden möchte. Deshalb wäre es interessant, mit Ihnen zu arbeiten. Ich könnte versuchen, die Grammatik zu beschreiben und so. |
| Paul Martens: Klingt gut. Wie gut ist Ihr Englisch? |
| Sandra Käufer: Ich spreche es schon ziemlich fließend. Ich habe einen kleinen Bruder und oft erkläre ich ihm Sachen. |
| Paul Martens: Ah... aber wie kann ich Ihnen dann helfen? |
| Sandra Käufer: Ich habe da eine Idee. Ich schreibe oft wichtige Briefe auf Englisch. Es wäre gut, wenn Sie die korrigieren könnten. |
| Paul Martens: Das ist kein Problem; das mache ich gerne. Okay, wo treffen wir uns? Bei mir zuhause? |
| Sandra Käufer: Oder vielleicht in einem Café? |
| Paul Martens: Das geht auch. Kennen Sie das Café "Im Büro" am Adenauerplatz? |
| Sandra Käufer: Ja, ich mag es. Lassen Sie uns dort treffen. Sagen wir Mittwoch um 17 Uhr? |
| Paul Martens: Ja, das ist gut. Also bis Mittwoch! |
| Sandra Käufer: Bis dann! |
| Judith: Now it’s slowly. |
| Paul Martens: Paul Martens. Hallo? |
| Sandra Käufer: Hallo, Sandra Käufer hier. Ich rufe an wegen dem Sprachtandem. Sind Sie das? |
| Paul Martens: Ja...wow. Der Zettel hängt erst seit zwei Stunden am schwarzen Brett! |
| Sandra Käufer: Oh, wow! Na ja, ich bin Deutsche und ich überlege mir gerade, ob ich Deutschlehrerin werden möchte. Deshalb wäre es interessant, mit Ihnen zu arbeiten. Ich könnte versuchen, die Grammatik zu beschreiben und so. |
| Paul Martens: Klingt gut. Wie gut ist Ihr Englisch? |
| Sandra Käufer: Ich spreche es schon ziemlich fließend. Ich habe einen kleinen Bruder und oft erkläre ich ihm Sachen. |
| Paul Martens: Ah... aber wie kann ich Ihnen dann helfen? |
| Sandra Käufer: Ich habe da eine Idee. Ich schreibe oft wichtige Briefe auf Englisch. Es wäre gut, wenn Sie die korrigieren könnten. |
| Paul Martens: Das ist kein Problem; das mache ich gerne. Okay, wo treffen wir uns? Bei mir zuhause? |
| Sandra Käufer: Oder vielleicht in einem Café? |
| Paul Martens: Das geht auch. Kennen Sie das Café "Im Büro" am Adenauerplatz? |
| Sandra Käufer: Ja, ich mag es. Lassen Sie uns dort treffen. Sagen wir Mittwoch um 17 Uhr? |
| Paul Martens: Ja, das ist gut. Also bis Mittwoch! |
| Sandra Käufer: Bis dann! |
| Judith: Now with the translation. |
| Paul Martens: Paul Martens. Hallo? |
| Paul Martens: Paul Martens. Hello? |
| Sandra Käufer: Hallo, Sandra Käufer hier. Ich rufe an wegen dem Sprachtandem. Sind Sie das? |
| Sandra Käufer: Hello, Sandra Käufer here. I'm calling about the language exchange. Are you the one (who posted the note)? |
| Paul Martens: Ja...wow. Der Zettel hängt erst seit zwei Stunden am schwarzen Brett! |
| Paul Martens: Yes...wow. The note has only been hanging on the bulletin board for 2 hours. |
| Sandra Käufer: Oh, wow! Na ja, ich bin Deutsche und ich überlege mir gerade, ob ich Deutschlehrerin werden möchte. Deshalb wäre es interessant, mit Ihnen zu arbeiten. Ich könnte versuchen, die Grammatik zu beschreiben und so. |
| Sandra Käufer: Oh, wow! Well, I'm German and I'm considering whether I should become a German teacher. Therefore it would be interesting to work with you. I could try to describe the grammar and such. |
| Paul Martens: Klingt gut. Wie gut ist Ihr Englisch? |
| Paul Martens: Sounds good. How good is your English? |
| Sandra Käufer: Ich spreche es schon ziemlich fließend. Ich habe einen kleinen Bruder und oft erkläre ich ihm Sachen. |
| Sandra Käufer: I already speak it fairly fluently. I have a little brother, and I often explain things to him. |
| Paul Martens: Ah... aber wie kann ich Ihnen dann helfen? |
| Paul Martens: Ah... but how can I help you then? |
| Sandra Käufer: Ich habe da eine Idee. Ich schreibe oft wichtige Briefe auf Englisch. Es wäre gut, wenn Sie die korrigieren könnten. |
| Sandra Käufer: I have an idea there. I often write important letters in English. It would be good if someone could correct them. |
| Paul Martens: Das ist kein Problem; das mache ich gerne. Okay, wo treffen wir uns? Bei mir zuhause? |
| Paul Martens: That's no problem; I'd gladly do that. Okay, where should we meet? At my place? |
| Sandra Käufer: Oder vielleicht in einem Café? |
| Sandra Käufer: Or perhaps in a café? |
| Paul Martens: Das geht auch. Kennen Sie das Café "Im Büro" am Adenauerplatz? |
| Paul Martens: That works too. Do you know the café "In the office" at Adenauerplatz? |
| Sandra Käufer: Ja, ich mag es. Lassen Sie uns dort treffen. Sagen wir Mittwoch um 17 Uhr? |
| Sandra Käufer: Yes, I like it. Let's meet there. Shall we say Wednesday at 5pm? |
| Paul Martens: Ja, das ist gut. Also bis Mittwoch! |
| Paul Martens: Yes, that's good. Until Wednesday! |
| Sandra Käufer: Bis dann! |
| Sandra Käufer: Until then! |
| CULTURAL INSIGHTS |
| Judith: Ok, maybe time to talk a bit about [inaudible 00:03:03] modesty in Germany because in Germany people are not as overly modest as the Chinese, but neither are they as easy to praise themselves as Americans. Here’s a rough guide of how not to sound too full of yourself. |
| Chuck: Yeah, soon you’ll be able to sound so not full of yourself like me. I'm so good at it. |
| Judith: Seriously, there should be some tips you can give people. |
| Chuck: When it comes to talking about money, lay low. Don’t tell people in any way that you’re rich or poor. Germans don’t like to show that off and it won’t improve people’s opinion of you. |
| Judith: Also avoid putting a price on things that you bought. People will learn about your financial situation by other means, for example by seeing your home or the clothes that you wear. |
| Chuck: When it comes to your country, you will also make a lot more friends if you don’t express pride in so many words. Because of history, it will be hard pressed to find a German who’s proud of his country, and those who are likely for the wrong reasons. |
| Judith: This is reinforced by education, to the point that some Germans find it excessively strange to be proud of any country. After all, being born in this country or that is just a matter of chance, it’s not a personal achievement. |
| Chuck: When it comes to talking about abilities and accomplishments, present them in an objective way. |
| Judith: For example, in German I would tell people that I speak English fluently, there’s no need to understate it as I would when speaking Chinese, but you also shouldn’t elaborate on this [inaudible 00:04:24], that would be boasting. In return, when a German compliments you and you think that what he said is true, you could accept the compliment matter of factly or treat it as you would any understandable interjection. There’s no need to say thanks or downplay the compliment. Germans don’t typically give out unwarranted compliments anyway, except maybe with foreigners if they’re aware of cultural differences. |
| Chuck: When it comes to talking about your career and work you can show pride in that and praise yourself a bit or embellish stories. It’s quite common and won’t be held against you. Let`s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Chuck: The first word we shall see is. |
| Judith: [Überlegen] |
| Chuck: “To think of” or “ponder”. |
| Judith: [Überlegen, überlegen] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Ob] |
| Chuck: Whether. |
| Judith: [Ob, ob] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Lehrer] |
| Chuck: Teacher. |
| Judith: [Lehrer, Lehrer, der Lehrer] and the plural is the same. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Wäre] |
| Chuck: Would be. |
| Judith: [Wäre, Wäre] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Arbeiten] |
| Chuck: To work. |
| Judith: [Arbeiten, arbeiten] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Klein] |
| Chuck: Small. |
| Judith: [Klein, klein] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Bruder] |
| Chuck: Brother. |
| Judith: [Bruder, Bruder, der Bruder] and the plural is [Brüder]. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Oft] |
| Chuck: Often. |
| Judith: [Oft, oft] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Erklären] |
| Chuck: “To explain” or “declare”. |
| Judith: [Erklären, erklären] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Wichtig] |
| Chuck: Important. |
| Judith: [Wichtig, wichtig] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Brief] |
| Chuck: Letter. |
| Judith: [Brief, Brief, der Brief] and the plural is [Briefe]. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Bei] |
| Chuck: “At”, as in a person’s place. |
| Judith: [Bei, bei] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Büro] |
| Chuck: Office. |
| Judith: [Büro, Büro, das Büro] and the plural is [Büros]. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Mittwoch] |
| Chuck: Wednesday. |
| Judith: [Mittwoch, Mittwoch, der Mittwoch |
| 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 [Sind Sie das?]. |
| Chuck: Is that you? |
| Judith: Here is means “Are you the one who posted the note?” because Paul forgot to sign it, he just put a phone number. [Sind Sie das?] is very common in Germany. They also use it to ask who ordered something at fast food stands. You may even hear [Sind Sie die Pommes?]. |
| Chuck: Are you the one who ordered the French fries? |
| Judith: Yeah, but literally, “Are you the French fries?” Used like that is not good German. Avoid it at all cost. |
| Chuck: Oh, well, what if they want to work at a fast food stand? |
| Judith: They can still use correct German, there’s no law against it. Ok, so we’ve seen a lot of examples of nationalities and professions where for the male person you have ending ER and for a female person you have the additional ending IN. Like for men we say [Der Lehrer] or [Der Amerikaner], for female people we say [Die Lehrerin, die Amerikanerin]. This is a pattern that works for a lot of things, but it does not work for Germans. A male German is [Ein Deutscher], a female German is [Die Deutsche], so this one just doesn’t have the ER and doesn’t have the typical IN ending. This is important, a female German is [Die Deutsche]. |
| Chuck: The expression [Sagen wir?] means “Shall we say?” |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Chuck: The focus of this lesson is dative personal pronouns. We just talked about cases. In English, personal pronouns are relics of cases. For example when you say “to him” rather than “to he” or “to me”. |
| Judith: In English, personal pronouns are relics of cases. For example, when you say “to him” rather than “to he”. You also say “to me” rather than “to I”, that’s the dative. |
| Chuck: Let’s look at the German dative personal pronouns. Most of these you’ve seen before, so this is just completing the picture. |
| Judith: For [Ich] the pronoun is [Mir]. |
| Chuck: To me. |
| Judith: For [Du] dative is [Dir]. |
| Chuck: “To you” informally. |
| Judith: So [Mir, dir] sounds like a pattern. There’s also [Ihr] for [Sie]. |
| Chuck: To her. |
| Judith: [Er] becomes [Ihm]. |
| Chuck: To him. |
| Judith: [Es] becomes [Ihm]. |
| Chuck: To it. |
| Judith: [Wir], the dative is [Uns]. |
| Chuck: To us. |
| Judith: [Ihr], the dative is [Euch]. |
| Chuck: “To you”, plural. |
| Judith: [Sie] the dative is [Ihnen]. |
| Chuck: “To them” or “to you”, formally. |
| Judith: So, to summarize, we have [mir, dir / Ihnen, ihr, ihm, ihm, uns, euch, ihnen] |
Outro |
| Chuck: Well, that just about does it for today. |
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| Chuck; Ok, see you next week. |
| Judith: Ok, dann bis nächse woche |
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