Learn German demonstratives and some tips if you are in Germany to sightsee
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: Chuck here. Absolute Beginner, Season 2, Lesson 23, A Spot of Sightseeing in Germany. 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 long ago or start learning today. |
| Chuck: Thanks for being here with us for this lesson, Judith. What are we looking at today? |
| Judith: In this lesson, you will learn how to show a friend around the town in German. |
| Chuck: This conversation takes place in Berlin’s most famous street. |
| Judith: The conversation is between Frau Schneider and Paul Martins who have come for some sightseeing. |
| Chuck: The speakers are adults, therefore they’ll be speaking formal German. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUES |
| Judith: So, diese große Straße heißt „Unter den Linden“. Das ist eine sehr berühmte Straße und es gibt viele schöne alte und neue Gebäude hier. |
| Chuck: Aha. |
| Judith: Hier sehen Sie viele Botschaften. Das hier sind die Botschaften von Ungarn und von Venezuela. |
| Chuck: Und was ist das Gebäude da hinten? |
| Judith: Das da ist die Botschaft von Großbritannien. Komm, wir gehen weiter. |
| Chuck: So, das ist das Brandenburger Tor. Das kennen Sie, oder? |
| Judith: Klar. Das ist auf allen Postkarten von Berlin. |
| Chuck: Vor dem Brandenburger Tor sind immer viele Menschen, aber hinter dem Brandenburger Tor gibt es auch etwas zu sehen. |
| Judith: Was denn? |
| Chuck: Die Siegessäule. Die sehen Sie da hinten. |
| Judith: Ah, ja. |
| Chuck: Möchten Sie zur Siegessäule? Sie ist aber weit weg. |
| Judith: Ja, ich möchte sie sehen. |
| Chuck: Puuh, dieser Weg ist ja wirklich lang! |
| Judith: Now, with the translation. |
| Judith: So, diese große Straße heißt „Unter den Linden“. |
| Chuck: So the big street here is called Unter den Linden. |
| Judith: Das ist eine sehr berühmte Straße und es gibt viele schöne alte und neue Gebäude hier. |
| Chuck: It’s a very famous street. And there are many beautiful old and new buildings here. |
| Judith: Uh-huh. |
| Chuck: Uh-huh. |
| Judith: Das hier sind die Botschaften von Ungarn und von Venezuela. |
| Chuck: These here are the embassies from Hungary and from Venezuela. |
| Judith: Und was ist das Gebäude da hinten? |
| Chuck: And what is that building back there? |
| Judith: Das da ist die Botschaft von Großbritannien. Komm, wir gehen weiter. |
| Chuck: That one is the British Embassy. Come, let’s keep walking. |
| Judith: So, das ist das Brandenburger Tor. Das kennen Sie, oder? |
| Chuck: So that’s the Brandenburg Gate. You know that, right? |
| Judith: Klar. Das ist auf allen Postkarten von Berlin. |
| Chuck: Right, that’s on all the postcards from Berlin. |
| Judith: Vor dem Brandenburger Tor sind immer viele Menschen. |
| Chuck: There are always lots of people in front of the Brandenburg Gate. |
| Judith: aber hinter dem Brandenburger Tor gibt es auch etwas zu sehen. |
| Chuck: But behind the Brandenburg Gate, there’s something else to see. |
| Judith: Was denn? |
| Chuck: What? |
| Judith: Die Siegessäule. Die sehen Sie da hinten. |
| Chuck: The Victory Column. You can see it back there. |
| Judith: Ah, ja. |
| Chuck: Oh, yeah. |
| Judith: Möchten Sie zur Siegessäule? Sie ist aber weit weg. |
| Chuck: Would you like to go to the Victory Column? It’s quite far away, though. |
| Judith: Ja, ich möchte sie sehen. |
| Chuck: Yes, I’d like to see it. |
| Judith: Puuh, dieser Weg ist ja wirklich lang! |
| Chuck: This road is really long. |
| Judith: Ja, etwa 1800 Meter. Wenn man die Siegessäule sieht, denkt man, dass sie viel näher ist. |
| Chuck: Yes, about 1,800 meters. When you see the Victory Column, you think it’s much closer. |
| Judith: Ja, wirklich, sie scheint viel näher zu sein, als sie ist! |
| Chuck: Yes, it appears to be a lot closer than it is. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: All right, sightseeing. In our city, Berlin, I have some tips to give you. |
| Chuck: All right. |
| Judith: Not generally for Berlin, but sightseeing in general. In Germany, you should always plan enough time. Despite being a small country area-wise, Germany is full of great sights and every region is different from the next. |
| Chuck: Plus, planning is a very essential part of being in Germany. You should get used to it. Also, you could spend a lifetime in Germany and still discover things you haven’t seen. If you come here for a week, don’t expect to get more than an overview of one German region. And then come back later for the others. |
| Judith: Another thing is to try the local food, because German food is not yet famous internationally. But it is really delicious and the meals are usually well balanced. Also try German bakery goods like bread, cake, pastries. This is what Germans miss the most when living abroad. |
| Chuck: Also, I’d say, avoid asking your hosts for numbers. Like Germany’s most popular sites don’t generally fit in the categories: biggest, tallest, fastest. It may fit in oldest, but even if they do, German’s generally don’t care about the numbers. Look them up online to find out the exact statistics if you have to know them. |
| Judith: Yes. And bring your camera. What Germans do care about is beauty. So nice architecture, even on the normal houses, interior arrangement, art, you will find plenty of things to take photos of. |
| Chuck: Yeah, you’ll never know when you’ll run into a castle. Also, learn a bit about history. Despite the bombings, there are plenty of old houses in German cities, old churches, cathedrals, even medieval castles like I just mentioned. |
| Judith: Yes, and ruins dating back to Roman times. |
| Chuck: You’ll appreciate this better and avoid making a fool of yourself if you know a little about German history, or European history in general. |
| Judith: Watch out for our audio blogs. We have some audio blogs on German history. |
| Chuck: And if you’re still in school, then pay attention to history class. They may come in handy some day. |
| Judith: Okay, one last tip, that is, to give public transport a try. The city centers of most German big cities were laid out long before cars were around. And many streets in the those city centers are now too narrow for the amount of traffic that should pass through them, not to mention that Germans like the pedestrian zones where cars don’t have any access. |
| Chuck: Oh, and are you afraid of buses? Well here, pretty much all the buses show you what stop is coming up before you even get there. |
| Judith: Yeah, so the next (tree). And the things is also if you’re having a car in the city center, then parking is really is scarce. Parking houses are your best bet and they’re really expensive. So you can save yourself a lot of stress and money. You can use the subway, bus, tram or train to get around. |
| Chuck: It’s particularly true of Cologne where the main train station will drop you off right next the big cathedral, that’s Cologne’s main site. And in the center of the pedestrian shopping streets. |
| Judith: If you try getting there by car, it’s a nightmare. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Chuck: So let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is. |
| Judith: groß |
| Chuck: Tall or big. |
| Judith: groß |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Straße |
| Chuck: Street. |
| Judith: Straße |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: berühmt |
| Chuck: Famous. |
| Judith: berühmt |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Botschaft |
| Chuck: Message, announcement or embassy. |
| Judith: Botschaft |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Ungarn |
| Chuck: Hungary. |
| Judith: Ungarn |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Großbritannien |
| Chuck: Great Britain. |
| Judith: Großbritannien |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: weiter |
| Chuck: Further on or continue to. |
| Judith: weiter |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: klar |
| Chuck: Clear, clearly or of course. |
| Judith: klar |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Postkarte |
| Chuck: Postcard. |
| Judith: Postkarte |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: immer |
| Chuck: Always. |
| Judith: immer |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: hinter |
| Chuck: Behind. |
| Judith: hinter |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: weit |
| Chuck: Wide, broad or far. |
| Judith: weit |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: weg |
| Chuck: Gone, not there, or away. |
| Judith: weg |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Weg |
| Chuck: Way or path. |
| Judith: Weg This only differs by the capitalization. weg and Weg. Weg is capitalized and weg is not. And this is a noun. It’s masculine and the plural is Wege. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: nah |
| Chuck: Near or close. |
| Judith: nah |
| 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 word we’ll look at is „die Siegessäule“. |
| Chuck: The Victory Column. |
| Judith: “Sieg” means victory, and “säule” means column. In this lesson, Siegessaule refers to the famous Victory Column that you can see behind the Brandenburger Tor in Berlin. But in fact, many cities have victory columns. It’s not a vocabulary item that you have to study. It’s just given for reference here. Then we have „hinten“. |
| Chuck: In the back. |
| Judith: If you change the final consonant, you get „hinter“. |
| Chuck: Behind. |
| Judith: Don’t confuse the two. „hinten“ in the back. „hinter“ behind. Also, in colloquial German, „möchte“, can be used with other verb. For example, in Mrs. Schneider’s phrase, „Möchtest du zur Siegessäule?“. |
| Chuck: Do you want to the Victory Column? |
| Judith: Always say, this means, “Do you want to go to the Victory Column?”. Whenever you use „möchte“ without another verb, you have to take a guess, because it’s usually something really obvious. For example, imagine someone asking you „Möchtest du ein Bier?“. |
| Chuck: Would you a beer? |
| Judith: Obviously, he’s asking whether you want to have one or to drink one. It’s a really common thing to say, but it’s not quite correct use of German. |
| Chuck: Yeah, I think some grammar freaks would like to joke in the answer. So what are you asking? Do you want to throw away a beer, give you a beer, vomit a beer? |
| Judith: Yeah. So „möchte” And don’t confuse „weg“ and „Weg“.I believe I already mentioned, „Weg“ is a noun meaning path or way, and „weg“ means “away”. „weg“ is also a verb prefix, one of those that’s split off. |
| Chuck: Of course, writing this is easier because the „Weg“ for path will be capitalized. |
| Judith: Yes. Okay, and the last thing for today is „nah“ . „nah“ is to „näher“ as „früh“ is to „früher“. It’s the comparative which we’re not to fully explain yet. Anyway, „nah“, means near or close by, and „näher“ is nearer or more close by. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Chuck: The focus of this lesson is demonstratives. Technically, this is “dieser” in German, and that is “jener”. “dieser“ are for things that are close by and „jener“ for things that are further away. |
| Judith: However, “dieser“ is almost out of use in spoken German and „jener“ is already out of use. You’ll sound really strange if you say „jener“ for anything. It still occurs in written German of course. |
| Chuck: So how do you say these concepts anyway? |
| Judith: Well, very often, we simply use a different article, „der, die, das“. „Der, die, das“ can replace both „dieser“ and „jener“, though, it replaces „jener“ more often. |
| Chuck: When it’s necessary to make a distinction, you can add „hier“ or „da“ after the word. |
| Judith: Yeah, so you’d say like das Gebäude hier. |
| Chuck: This building. |
| Judith: das Gebäude da |
| Chuck: That building. |
| Judith: diese Botschaften or die Botschaften hier. |
| Chuck: These embassies. |
| Judith: die Botschaften da |
| Chuck: Those embassies. |
Outro |
| Chuck: That just about does it for today. |
| Judith: Listeners, if you have any German language or lesson-related questions. |
| Chuck: Or maybe you have some feedbacks for us, leave us a comment or ask a question on the lessons page. |
| Judith: It’s super simple. Go to GermanPod101.com. |
| Chuck: Click on comments. |
| Judith: Enter your comment and name. |
| Chuck: And that’s it. |
| Judith: Commenting is a great way to practice writing and reading in German. |
| Chuck: It helps you learn faster. |
| Judith: And it helps us get better. Throws your feedback. |
| Chuck: No excuses. |
| Judith: Go to GermanPod101.com and comment now. |
| Chuck:So, see you next week! |
| Judith:Also, bis nächste Woche! |
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