Learn how to use separable verbs and what the Reichstag building means to the German people and government
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: Chuck here. Absolute Beginner, Season 1, Lesson 13 – “Touring Germany in Style.” Hello and welcome back to GermanPod101.com, the fastest, easiest and most fun way to learn German. |
| Judith: I’m [Judith] and thanks again for being with us for this Absolute Beginner, Season 1 Lesson. |
| Chuck: In this lesson you’ll learn how to do tourism in German. |
| Judith: This conversation takes place at a hotel reception and then at the Reichstag building in Berlin. |
| Chuck: The conversation is between Joe and a hotel clerk, followed by Joe and the clerk in the Reichstag. |
| Judith: And the speakers and in a business relationship, therefore they will be speaking formal German. |
| Chuck: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Joe: Entschuldigung… |
| Rezeptionist: Ja bitte? |
| Joe: Wie komme ich zum Reichstag? |
| Rezeption: Steigen Sie da vorn in den Bus einhundert (100) ein. Er hält am Reichstag. |
| Joe: Ah, das ist ja gut. Danke. |
| Rezeptionist: Viel Spaß! |
| ... |
| Joe: Entschuldigung, wie komme ich auf den Reichstag? |
| Einweiserin: Der Eingang ist da vorne. Kommen Sie, ich bringe Sie hin. |
| Joe: Oh, danke. |
| Einweiserin: Kein Problem. ... Kommen Sie aus den USA? |
| Joe: Nein, ich komme aus Kanada. |
| Einweiserin: Ach so! Sie sprechen gut Deutsch! |
| Joe: Danke. |
| Einweiserin: Es gibt im Reichstag einen Audio-Guide auf Deutsch und auch auf Englisch. |
| Joe: Ah, das ist gut. Dann leihe ich einen Audio-Guide aus. Und was kostet der Audio-Guide? |
| Einweiserin: Er ist kostenlos. |
| Joe: Oh, wirklich? |
| Einweiserin: Ja. Und der Eintritt zum Reichstag ist auch kostenlos. |
| Joe: Mensch, das ist ja super! |
| Joe: Excuse me... |
| Receptionist: Yes please? |
| Joe: How do I get to the Reichstag? |
| Receptionist: Get into the bus 100 up there. It stops at the Reichstag. |
| Joe: Ah, that's good. Thanks. |
| Receptionist: Have fun! |
| ... |
| Joe: Excuse, how do I get onto (= to the top of) the Reichstag? |
| Usher: The entrance is over there in front. Come, I'll take you there. |
| Joe: Oh, thanks. |
| Usher: No problem. ... Do you come from the USA? |
| Joe: No, I come from Canada. |
| Usher: Ah! You speak German well! |
| Joe: Thanks. |
| Usher: In the Reichstag there is an audio guide in German and also in English. |
| Joe: Ah, that's good. Then I shall borrow an audio guide. And what does the audio guide cost? |
| Usher: It's free. |
| Joe: Oh, really? |
| Usher: Yes. And the admission to the Reichstag is also free. |
| Joe: Man, that's great! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: Okay, so let’s talk about the Reichstag. Let’s give our listeners a bit of background information here. |
| Chuck: Sounds good. |
| Judith: The Reichstag building in Berlin is a really impressive building really. This is where the German parliament met between 1894 and 1933. |
| Chuck: Wait, isn’t that the building where the Nazi set fire to in 1933 and blamed it on the communists? |
| Judith: Yes, yes, exactly. That was the excuse so they wouldn’t continue meeting there. |
| Chuck: What was that called? Oh, the Reichstag fire, right? |
| Judith: Yeah. After the war, when Germany divided into two separate states and Berlin split in two as well, the East German parliament connived in the palace of Republic in East Berlin and the West German government settled down in Bona, it was a safer place because East Berlin was an island and East Germany and they didn’t want to meet there. |
| Chuck: Well, once Germany was reunified they started using Berlin as a site of government again in 1999. |
| Judith: Yes. The reunification was in 1990 already, but it took them until 1999 to convince everybody to move there and bear all the expenses or have to pay the taxes, all of them. But it’s good because now the German parliament is meeting in the historic Reichstag building again. |
| Chuck: The building is also opened to tourists and there’s always a long line of visitors waiting to be allowed into the dome which is really beautiful. |
| Judith: Yes and the dome also allows a really good view of Berlin. |
| Chuck: Let’s take a take look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Chuck: The first word is? |
| Judith: [zu] |
| Chuck: “To”. |
| Judith: [zu, zu] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [steigen] |
| Chuck: “To rise” or “climb”. |
| Judith: [steigen, steigen] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [einsteigen] |
| Chuck: “To enter” – a vehicle. |
| Judith: [einsteigen] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [einsteigen, einsteigen] |
| Chuck: “Bus”. |
| Judith: [Bus, der Bus] and the plural is [Busse] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [hundert] or [einhundert] |
| Chuck: “Hundred” or “one hundred”. |
| Judith: [hundert, einhundert] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [Spaß] |
| Chuck: “Fun”. |
| Judith: [Spaß, der Spaß] and the plural is [Späße] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [Eingang] |
| Chuck: “Entrance”. |
| Judith: [Eingang, der Eingang] and the plural is [Eingänge] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [hinbringen] |
| Chuck: “To bring” or “take somebody somewhere”. |
| Judith: [hinbringen, hinbringen] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [leihen] |
| Chuck: “To bring” or “take to a place”. |
| Judith: [leihen, leihen] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [ausleihen] |
| Chuck: “To borrow out, to lend out” or “to rent out”. But notice this is for small things like videos or books, not for, say, an apartment. |
| Judith: Yes, definitively. [ausleihen, ausleihen] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [kosten] |
| Chuck: “To cost” or “have a taste”. |
| Judith: [kosten, kosten] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [kostenlos] |
| Chuck: “For free” or “free of charge”. |
| Judith: [kostenlos, kostenlos] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [Eintritt] |
| Chuck: “Admission” or “entry”. |
| Judith: [Eintritt, der Eintritt] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [super] |
| Chuck: “Super” or “great”. |
| Judith: [super, super] |
| 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 [am], this is a combination of [an dem] so it means “at the”. But at the same token we have [zum], a combination of [zu den], so it’s “to the”. |
| Chuck: You can think of this a bit like contractions in English like “don’t” is “do not”, except there’s no apostrophe in these. |
| Judith: And then, a really important phrase for you to know is [Viel Spaß] |
| Chuck: Literally “Much fun”, but usually it means “Have fun!” or “Enjoy!” |
| Judith: Yes. And also let’s talk about the [los] as in [kostenlos] |
| Chuck: It’s pretty similar to the English “less”, I would say. |
| Judith: Yes. [kostenlos] well, literally means “cost less” and that means “free”, but at the same token we have [arbeitslos] “workless” or “unemployed”. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Chuck: The focus of this lesson is separable verbs. A separable verb is one that splits in two at the slightest provocation. For example, [ausleihen] as in “to lend out” or “borrow out”. |
| Judith: And the infinitive [ausleihen] is one word, as you can also see in the phrase [Ich werde ihm mein Auto ausleihen] |
| Chuck: “I’ll lend out my car to him.” |
| Judith: However, when it’s conjugated, the [aus] part splits off and positions itself at the end of the sentence. [Ich leihe ihm mein Auto aus] |
| Chuck: And this is only for the sense of borrowing or for renting, right? |
| Judith: Yes. |
| Chuck: The prefix [aus] is the direct link of the English “out” and “to lend out”, so [leihen] means simply “to lend” or “to borrow” depending on whenever the person is mentioned or not. However, unlike in English, this verb prefix is jumping around. The [aus] is an identical part of the infinitive [ausleihen] but when you use it in the conjugated form, it splits off and places itself at the end of the sentence. Shall we give an example, [Judith]? |
| Judith: [Ich leihe ihm das Auto aus] The same thing happens with the verb [einsteigen] where [ein] is the same as “in”, so “get in” and also is the verb [hinbringen] where [hin] means “to” so “bring to some place”. It’s always the same prefixes that splits off, once you get the hang of it it’s not really difficult, just an annoyance. We shall we a lot more separable prefixes. |
Outro |
| Chuck: Well, that just about does it for today. Before we go, I want to tell you about a way to improve your pronunciation drastically. |
| Judith: The voice recording tool. |
| Chuck: Yes, the voice recording tool in the premium learning center. |
| Judith: Record your voice with a click of a button. |
| Chuck: Then play it back just as easily. |
| Judith: So, you record your voice and then you listen to it. |
| Chuck: Compare it to the native speakers. |
| Judith: And adjust your pronunciation. |
| Chuck: This will improve your pronunciation fast. See you next week! |
| Judith: [Bis nächste Woche] |
| -- |
| Judith: [Ich bringe Sie hin]. |
| Chuck: [Danke.] |
| Judith: [Kein Problem.Kommen Sie aus den U.S.A.]? |
| Chuck: [Nein, aus Kanada]. |
| Judith: [Achso. Sie sprechen gut Deutsch]. |
| Chuck: [Danke]. |
| Judith: [Es gibt im Reichstag einen Audioguide auf Deutsch und auch auf Englisch]. |
| Chuck: [Ah, das ist gut. Dann leihe ich einen Audioguide aus. Und was kostet der Audioguide]? |
| Judith: [Er ist kostenlos]. |
| Chuck: [Wirklich]? |
| Judith: [Ja und der Eintritt zum Reichstag ist auch kostenlos]! |
| Chuck: [Mensch, das ist ja super]! |
| -- |
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