Learn the beginning rules of German plural nouns
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: Chuck here. Absolute Beginner, Season 2, Lesson 18. Simple 10 Types of German Beer. |
| Judith: Hi, my name is Judith and I'm joined here by Chuck. |
| Chuck: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to GermanPod101.com. |
| Judith: What are we learning today? |
| Chuck: In this lesson, you'll learn how to order beer and other drinks. It's a very important ability to have. |
| Judith: Today's conversation takes place at a German pub. |
| Chuck: The conversation is between Sarah, Paul, Sarah's friend Simon, and the waitress. |
| Judith: Sarah, Paul, and Simon are friends, so they will be speaking informal German to each other. But they will speak formal German with the waitress, of course. |
| Chuck: Let's listen to this conversation. |
| DIALOGUES |
| Chuck: Hallo Sarah! |
| Judith: Hallo Paul! Da bist du ja! Das ist mein Freund Simon. |
| Chuck: Hallo Simon. Ich bin Paul. |
| Chuck: Hallo. Entschuldigung, ich spiele in zehn Minuten und habe jetzt keine Zeit. |
| Chuck: Kein Problem. Wir sehen uns später noch. |
| Chuck: Okay, bis später! |
| Judith: Bis später, Simon! |
| Chuck: Ich habe Durst. Gibt es eine Karte hier? |
| Judith: Oh, da ist schon die Kellnerin. |
| Chuck: Was möchten Sie trinken? |
| Judith: Ich bin mir noch nicht sicher. Was haben Sie? |
| Judith: Ähm... Wir haben zehn Sorten Bier, verschiedene Weine, Cocktails, Longdrinks, oder auch Säfte, Bionade, Kaffee, Tee… |
| Chuck: Ich hätte auf jeden Fall gern ein Berliner Pilsener. |
| Judith: Oh... ich nehme einfach auch ein Berliner Pilsener. |
| Judith: Sehr gut. Sonst noch etwas? |
| Chuck: Nein. |
| Judith: Now with the translation. |
| Judith: Hallo Sarah! |
| Chuck: Hello, Sarah. |
| Judith: Hallo Paul! Da bist du ja! |
| Chuck: Hello, Paul. There you are. |
| Judith: Das ist mein Freund Simon. |
| Chuck: This is my friend, Simon. |
| Judith: Hallo Simon. Ich bin Paul. |
| Chuck: Hello, Simon. I'm Paul. |
| Judith: Hallo. Entschuldigung, ich spiele in zehn Minuten und habe jetzt keine Zeit. |
| Chuck: Hello. Excuse me, I play in 10 minutes and don't have time now. |
| Judith: Kein Problem. Wir sehen uns später noch. |
| Chuck: No problem. See you again later. |
| Judith: Okay, bis später! |
| Chuck: Okay, until later. |
| Judith: Bis später, Simon! |
| Chuck: Until later, Simon. |
| Judith: Ich habe Durst. Gibt es eine Karte hier? |
| Chuck: I'm thirsty. Is there a menu here? |
| Judith: Oh, da ist schon die Kellnerin. |
| Chuck: Oh, there's the waitress already. |
| Judith: Was möchten Sie trinken? |
| Chuck: What would you like to drink? |
| Judith: Ich bin mir noch nicht sicher. Was haben Sie? |
| Chuck: I am not sure yet. What do you have? |
| Judith: Ähm... Wir haben zehn Sorten Bier, verschiedene Weine, Cocktails, Longdrinks, oder auch Säfte, Bionade, Kaffee, Tee… |
| Chuck: We have 10 types of beer, various wines, cocktails, long drinks or also juices, organic lemonades, coffee, tea. |
| Judith: Ich hätte auf jeden Fall gern ein Berliner Pilsener. |
| Chuck: In any case, I'd like to have a Berliner Pilsner. |
| Judith: Oh... ich nehme einfach auch ein Berliner Pilsener. |
| Chuck: Oh, I'll also just take a Berliner Pilsner. |
| Judith: Sehr gut. Sonst noch etwas? |
| Chuck: Very good, anything else? |
| Judith: Nein |
| Chuck: No. |
| Judith: Im Moment nicht, vielleicht später. |
| Chuck: Not right now, maybe later. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: Okay. So, did I hear anything about organic lemonade? |
| Chuck: Yeah, I believe so. What's weird about that? Or (you haven't lived in Berlin) too long? |
| Judith: Yeah, some really weird drinks in Germany and in Berlin in particular. Like there is Berliner Weisse. |
| Chuck: Oh, wait a minute. The thing you were saying before, lemonade isn't the same as the Americans understand as lemonade, is it? |
| Judith: No, of course not. |
| Chuck: What is lemonade in Germany? |
| Judith: Sugar water, you know, like Sunkist or Coke or something. |
| Chuck: Maybe like Sprite? |
| Judith: Yeah, Sprite. And there are some really weird German drinks like Berliner Weisse. |
| Chuck: Oh, that's a special wheat beer to Berlin. But it doesn't really taste like beer like I know of it. It's quite sour and it's normally served with sweet syrup, like either raspberry flavor or woodruff flavor. Now, woodruff doesn't grow in North America, so you may not have encountered this before. |
| Judith: Yeah, it's really weird. There's also Fassbrause. It's another drink that's special to Berlin. It's a kind of a homemade, not too sweet soda, a taste of apple and also vaguely of herbs. |
| Chuck: Also from Germany, you get other weird sodas such as the Bionade brand that jumps on the organic food bandwagon by offering sodas made from organic foods. Flavors are quite bizarre. They give ginger and orange, lychee, herbs, and elderberry. |
| Judith: You can also get flavored water in various flavors. And don't forget the German national drink, Apfelschorle. That is carbonated mineral water mixed with apple juice. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Chuck: Before you get too thirsty, let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall look at is. |
| Judith: Zeit |
| Chuck: Time. |
| Judith: Zeit |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Problem |
| Chuck: Problem. |
| Judith: Problem and the plural is Problemen |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Durst |
| Chuck: Thirst. |
| Judith: Durst |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Karte |
| Chuck: Card, menu, map or ticket. |
| Judith: Karte and the plural is Karten |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Kellnerin |
| Chuck: Waitress. |
| Judith: Kellnerin and the plural is Kellnerinnen |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: sicher |
| Chuck: Sure, safe, secure or surely. |
| Judith: sicher |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Sorte |
| Chuck: Sort, kind, type, variety or species. |
| Judith: Sorte and the plural is Sorten |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Bier |
| Chuck: Beer. |
| Judith: Bier and the plural is Bieren |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: verschieden |
| Chuck: Different. |
| Judith: verschieden |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Wein |
| Chuck: Wine. |
| Judith: Wein and the plural is Weine. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Saft |
| Chuck: Juice. |
| Judith: Saft and the plural is Säfte. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: hätte gern |
| Chuck: Would like. |
| Judith: hätte gern |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: sonst |
| Chuck: Otherwise, other than that. |
| Judith: sonst |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Moment |
| Chuck: Moment. |
| Judith: Moment and the plural is Momenten |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| 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 „Durst haben“. |
| Chuck: To have thirst. |
| Judith: This is what we say instead of "to be thirsty". We say "to have thirst" „Durst haben“. The adjective „durstig“. |
| Chuck: Thirsty. |
| Judith: It exists but is not commonly used. The same goes for saying that you're hungry. It's „ich habe Hunger“. |
| Chuck: I have hunger. |
| Judith: You don't say "I am hungry". Then, there's a phrase „ich bin mir sicher“. |
| Chuck: It means "I am sure.” |
| Judith: Just accept that there will be an extra „mir“ in the German sentence „ich bin mir sicher“. Languages don't have to make sense. For the first person plural, this phrase would be „wir sind uns sicher“. |
| Chuck: We're certain. |
| Judith: There's always an extra pronoun in there because the phrases are reflexive in German. Finally, the phrase „hätte gern“. |
| Chuck: Literally translates to "would gladly have". |
| Judith: It's the most common phrase when placing an order. It doesn't matter if you're ordering a drink, some food or even non-food items like clothing, you can always express your wishes with „ich hätte gern“. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Chuck: The focus of this lesson is noun plurals part 1. Today, we shall look at the plural in German. Unfortunately, there are several different ways of forming a plural in German. It's not as straightforward as in English; otherwise, we would have talked about it much earlier. |
| Judith: Instead, we let you get a feel for the typical shape of German words. And with this, you will find it easier to understand the plural. Today we shall look at three different ways of forming a plural. |
| Chuck: First, there are words that add "S" like in English. Those are the easiest. Words like cocktail, long drink, team, handy, or hobby will simply add an "S" like in English. |
| Judith: Yeah, except that in German, it's hobbys with "YS" and not "IES". |
| Chuck: A lot of words derived from foreign languages work this way. Abbreviations do too. For example, auto is short for automobile and the plural is autos. |
| Judith: Next, there is a large group of words that add "EN". |
| Chuck: These are largely feminine words. If you know that a word is feminine, assume that the plural ending is "EN". |
| Chuck: For those last two, there's actually a general rule. All nouns ending in "UNG" will use "UNGEN" for plural. And they're all feminine as well. |
| Judith: Okay. The final group of nouns we're looking at is masculine nouns. They will usually add "E" for plural. If they already end in "E", then they will simply stay the same. |
| Chuck: For those that add an "E", you need to be careful though. Some of them additionally add an Umlaut to their vowel. |
| Judith: Like the word „Saft – Säfte“ in this lesson. And some more examples are Jahre, Abende, Busse, Brote, Geschenke, Gäste, Städte, Tage.. |
Outro |
| Chuck: That just about does it for today. |
| Judith: Want a free way to build your German vocabulary? |
| Chuck: Follow our German word of the day at GermanPod101.com. |
| Judith: See and hear the word of the day. |
| Chuck: Plus sample phrases and sentences. |
| Judith: Get these daily vocabulary alerts on Facebook, Twitter, and the GermanPod101.com blog. |
| Chuck: And add this widget to your own website or blog. They're available on 35 languages. |
| Judith: Get these easy instructions at germanpod101.com/german-phrases. |
| Chuck:So, see you next week! |
| Judith:Also, bis nächste Woche! |
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