Learn German plurals with certain endings
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: Chuck here, Absolute Beginner, Season 2, Lesson 22, An Outing With German Plurals. |
| Judith: Hello, everyone. I’m Judith and welcome to GermanPod101.com. |
| Chuck: With us, you’ll learn to speak German with fun and effective lessons. |
| Judith: We also provide you with cultural insights. |
| Chuck: And tips you won’t find in a textbook. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to make plans in German. |
| Judith: This conversation takes place at the Schneider family home. |
| Chuck: The conversation is between Mrs. Schneider and Paul Martins. |
| Judith: The speakers are adults. Therefore, they will be speaking formal German. |
| DIALOGUES |
| Chuck: Let’s listen to this conversation. |
| Judith: Guten Tag, Herr Martens! |
| Chuck: Guten Tag! |
| Judith: Wie war der Unterricht? |
| Chuck: Good, Wir lernen wirklich viel. |
| Judith: Toll. Möchten Sie jetzt in die Stadt fahren, oder erst etwas essen? |
| Chuck: Wie spät ist es? |
| Judith: Es ist zwölf Uhr fünfundzwanzig. |
| Chuck: Und wie lange dauert die Fahrt? |
| Judith: Die Fahrt dauert nicht lange, nur etwa eine Viertelstunde. |
| Chuck: Ich habe noch keinen Hunger. Lassen Sie uns in der Stadt etwas essen. |
| Judith: Okay, das machen wir. Was genau suchen Sie in der Stadt? |
| Chuck: Ich möchte schöne Gebäude sehen, Denkmäler und so. Außerdem möchte ich Bücher kaufen. |
| Judith: Was für Bücher? |
| Chuck: Egal. Einfach Bücher auf Deutsch. Ich möchte versuchen, etwas auf Deutsch zu lesen. |
| Judith: Ah, ich kenne einen guten Buchladen. Da finden Sie auch einfache Bücher mit nicht so vielen Vokabeln. |
| Chuck: Klingt gut. Gehen wir! |
| Judith: Now, with the translation. |
| Judith: Guten Tag, Herr Martens! |
| Chuck: Good day, Mr. Martins. |
| Judith: Guten Tag! |
| Chuck: Good day. |
| Judith: Wie war der Unterricht? |
| Chuck: How was class? |
| Judith: Good, Wir lernen wirklich viel. |
| Chuck: Good, we really learned a lot. |
| Judith: Toll. Möchten Sie jetzt in die Stadt fahren, oder erst etwas essen? |
| Chuck: Great. Would you like to go into the city or eat something first? |
| Judith: Wie spät ist es? |
| Chuck: What time is it? |
| Judith: Es ist zwölf Uhr fünfundzwanzig. |
| Chuck: It’s 12:25. |
| Judith: Und wie lange dauert die Fahrt? |
| Chuck: And how long does the drive last? |
| Judith: Die Fahrt dauert nicht lange, nur etwa eine Viertelstunde. |
| Chuck: The drive doesn’t take long. Only about a quarter of an hour. |
| Judith: Ich habe noch keinen Hunger. Lassen Sie uns in der Stadt etwas essen. |
| Chuck: I’m still not hungry. Let’s see something in the city. |
| Judith: Okay, das machen wir. Was genau suchen Sie in der Stadt? |
| Chuck: Okay, we’ll do that. What exactly are you looking for in the city? |
| Judith: Ich möchte schöne Gebäude sehen, Denkmäler und so. |
| Chuck: I’d like to see beautiful buildings, memorials and stuff like that. |
| Judith: Außerdem möchte ich Bücher kaufen. |
| Chuck: Besides that, I’d like to buy books. |
| Judith: Was für Bücher? |
| Chuck: What sort of books? |
| Judith: Egal. Einfach Bücher auf Deutsch. |
| Chuck: Whatever, just books in German. |
| Judith: Ich möchte versuchen, etwas auf Deutsch zu lesen. |
| Chuck: I would like to try to read something in German. |
| Judith: Ah, ich kenne einen guten Buchladen. |
| Chuck: Ah, I know a good bookstore. |
| Judith: Da finden Sie auch einfache Bücher mit nicht so vielen Vokabeln. |
| Chuck: We’ll find simple books there with not so many vocabulary words. |
| Judith: Klingt gut. Gehen wir! |
| Chuck: Sounds good. Let’s go. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: All right, maybe it’s time to talk about shopping. |
| Chuck: Sounds good. |
| Judith: In Germany, the shops are not necessarily open all day or every day because it’s a very recent thing and only available in the bigger cities. A lot of Germans are totally not expecting that. |
| Chuck: Let’s say typical shops are open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., or if you’re in a smaller town, maybe even until 6. Also you’ll notice that some family-owned business take lunch breaks. |
| Judith: Yes, and on Saturday, opening hours may also be reduced. Some shops are only closing at 2 p.m. or something and no shops are allowed to be open on Sundays except gas stations and shops inside train stations. |
| Chuck: These won’t stock much food or household items though. And what little they have is seriously overpriced. That means that on Saturday many people rush to the shops to get supplies for Sunday. It’s worse before a long weekend. |
| Judith: If you absolutely need to buy something after hours or on Sundays, there are kiosks in some regions. These stocks sweets, cigarettes and booze, also a limited supply of emergency household items and maybe some fast foods and rolls or the like. These kiosks are not bound to regular opening hours, but that doesn’t mean that they’re always open. It’s simply up to the owner’s discretion and sometimes the owner is the only worker there, so you can imagine that it’s not going to be 24 hours, 7 days a week. |
| Chuck: Restaurants are open on Sundays but typically close on Mondays or another day of the week. Also restaurants typically aren’t open in the mornings and may not be open for lunch, or if they are, they may close between 2 and 5 p.m. and only reopen for dinner afterwards. Since most Germans typically stick to regular lunch hours, it’s pretty much only a problem for foreigners and workaholics. |
| Judith: Okay, maybe one more thing. It’s very rare to eat breakfast out unless you’re meeting with a business partner. Also keep in mind that German breakfast usually isn’t warm and that you can’t get pancakes for breakfast. If you do want to eat out for breakfast, a bakery or a cafe is your best bet. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Chuck: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is... |
| Judith: toll |
| Chuck: Great. |
| Judith: toll |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: erst |
| Chuck: First or only then. |
| Judith: erst |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: dauern |
| Chuck: To last or to take as in a certain amount of time. |
| Judith: dauern |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Fahrt |
| Chuck: Drive or ride as in a vehicle. |
| Judith: Fahrt and the plural is Fahrten |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: etwa |
| Chuck: Approximately or in questions, surely not. |
| Judith: etwa |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Stunde |
| Chuck: Hour. |
| Judith: Stunde and the plural is Stunden |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: lassen |
| Chuck: Not do, leave or let. |
| Judith: lassen and this is a vowel-changing verb. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: genau |
| Chuck: Exactly or exactly. |
| Judith: genau |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Denkmal |
| Chuck: Monument. |
| Judith: Denkmal and the plural is Denkmäler |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: außerdem |
| Chuck: Besides. |
| Judith: außerdem |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: kaufen. |
| Chuck: To buy. |
| Judith: kaufen. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: was für |
| Chuck: What kind of. |
| Judith: was für |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: versuchen |
| Chuck: To try. |
| Judith: versuchen |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: lesen |
| Chuck: To read. |
| Judith: lesen and this is another vowel-changing verb, the E changes to IE. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Laden |
| Chuck: Shop. |
| Judith: Laden and the plural is Läden |
| 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 look at is „Wie spät ist es?“. |
| Chuck: How late is it? |
| Judith: „Wie spät ist es?“ is a standard phrase for asking for the time. And then there’s a „eine Viertelstunde“. |
| Chuck: A quarter hour. |
| Judith: Is a compound noun. It consists of „Viertel“. |
| Chuck: Quarter. |
| Judith: And „Stunde“. |
| Chuck: Hour. |
| Judith: It means a quarter hour and „eine Viertelstunde“. Then the phrase „Lassen Sie uns“. It’s the German equivalent of “let’s” for when you’re talking formally. When you’re addressing someone informally, the expression is just „Lass uns“. This was the imperative of the verb „Lassen.“ Then the expression „und so“. |
| Chuck: Basically, the German equivalent of “and the like”. |
| Judith: Don’t confuse it with and so on because that’s „und so weiter“ in German. „Laden“ means shop. There are a lot of compound nouns with this. For example, „Buchladen“. |
| Chuck: Book shop. |
| Judith: „Teeladen“. |
| Chuck: Tea shop. |
| Judith: „Geschenkladen“ |
| Chuck: Gift shop. |
| Judith: „Uhrenladen“. |
| Chuck: A shop for watches and clocks. |
| Judith: Beware of „Saftladen“ though. |
| Chuck: Literally would be a juice shop, but in German slang, it actually means a dump or an unorganized place. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| The focus of this lesson is the plural in German Part 2. |
| Judith: So far we’ve already talked about foreign nouns that add S for a plural, masculine words that add E for plural and feminine words that add N or EN for plural. |
| Chuck: That leaves neuter nouns. Neuter nouns often add ER for plural and unfortunately, that usually also involves changing the vowel. Have you seen examples of this lately? |
| Judith: Yeah, a few. We have seen „das Haus with the plural die Häuser“. |
| Chuck: Houses. |
| Judith: „das Buch – die Bücher“ |
| Chuck: Books. |
| Judith: das Denkmal, die Denkmäler |
| Chuck: Monuments. |
| Judith: Surprisingly, the very masculine word man also works the same way „Mann“. |
| Chuck: Men, that actually almost changed the same as English. |
| Judith: Because of the vowel change, yeah. Now, there’s just one word group of plurals that is missing. There are some words that don’t change at all or only change the vowel. |
| Chuck: This usually happens if the word already ends and with the typical plural endings. |
| Judith: For example, „Gebäude“ doesn’t change, „Tochter“ becomes „Töchter“. |
| Chuck: Daughters. |
| Judith: And „Engländer“ stays entirely the same. |
| Chuck: There’s even a rule for it, all words that end in ER in singular are masculine and will not change for plural. It’s an incredibly useful rule because there are hundreds of these words. Almost all names for professions of nationalities fall under this rule. |
| Judith: Okay. Additionally, there are words that end in EL and that it always neuter and also never change. So far, we’ve only seen „das Viertel“. |
| Chuck: Quarter. |
| Judith: And the last big group that doesn’t add any ending are the words that end in chen, C-H-E-N, is the German in diminutive that means it makes something smaller or cuter like house becomes „Häus-chen“. |
| Chuck: Little house. |
| Judith: „Tochter“ becomes „Töchterchen“. |
| Chuck: Little daughter. |
| Judith: „Karte“ becomes „Kärtchen“. |
| Chuck: Little guard. |
| Judith: And beer becomes „Bierchen“. |
| Chuck: Little beer. We already mentioned that the article for plural nouns is always D. there’s no more worrying about dear, dear does. Also I only tell you that mine, dine, kind, unser and so on will almost always end in E for plural while adjectives overwhelmingly end in EN. |
Outro |
| Judith: All right, that just about does it for today. |
| Chuck: Attention perfectionist, you’re about to learn how to perfect your pronunciation. |
| Judith: Lesson review audio tracks. |
| Chuck: Increase fluency and vocabulary fast with the short effective audio tracks. |
| Judith: It’s super simple to use, listen to the German word or phrase. |
| Chuck: They’re repeated out loud in a loud, clear voice. |
| Judith: You will speak with confidence, knowing that you speak in German like the locals. |
| Chuck: Go to GermanPod101.com and download the review audio tracks right on the lesson’s page today. |
| Chuck:So, see you next week! |
| Judith:Also, bis nächste Woche! |
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