Learn a somewhat irregular German verb and some places that you should be sure to visit while in Germany
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: Chuck here. Absolute Beginner, Season 2, Lesson 25, An Exhausting Day in Germany. Hello and welcome to GermanPod101.com, the fastest, easiest and most fun way to learn German. |
| Judith: I’m Judith, and thanks again for being here with us, for this Absolute Beginner, Season 2 lesson. |
| Chuck: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to politely decline a request. |
| Judith: This conversation takes place in Berlin at the Siegessaule. |
| Chuck: The conversation is between Frau Schneider and Paul Martins. |
| Judith: The speakers are not close friends yet, therefore they’ll be speaking formal German. |
| DIALOGUES |
| Chuck: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| Judith: So, sollen wir jetzt noch zu dem Buchladen laufen? |
| Chuck: Mhmm. Es tut mir leid, ich kann heute nicht mehr viel laufen. |
| Judith: Das verstehe ich. Berlin ist eine sehr interessante Stadt, aber man kann nicht an einem Tag die ganze Stadt besichtigen. |
| Chuck: Ja. Für heute ist es eigentlich genug, wenn Sie nichts mehr in der Stadt vorhaben... |
| Judith: Nein, von mir aus können wir jetzt nach Hause fahren. Wenn Sie möchten, können wir an einem anderen Tag wieder in die Stadt fahren. Vielleicht morgen oder am Samstag? |
| Chuck: Samstag ist gut, weil ich dann keinen Unterricht habe, dann können wir schon morgens fahren. |
| Judith: Okay, dann also Samstag. |
| Chuck: Vielen Dank. Ich bin froh, Ihr Gast zu sein. Sie helfen mir wirklich sehr. |
| Judith: Now, with the translation. |
| Judith: So, sollen wir jetzt noch zu dem Buchladen laufen? |
| Chuck: So, should we watch the bookstore now? |
| Judith: Mhmm. Es tut mir leid, ich kann heute nicht mehr viel laufen. |
| Chuck: Hmm, sorry, I can’t walk much more today. |
| Judith: Das verstehe ich. Berlin ist eine sehr interessante Stadt, aber man kann nicht an einem Tag die ganze Stadt besichtigen. |
| Chuck: I understand. Berlin is a very interesting city. But one can’t see the entire city in one day. |
| Judith: Ja. Für heute ist es eigentlich genug, wenn Sie nichts mehr in der Stadt vorhaben... |
| Chuck: Yes, that’s actually enough for today, if you don’t have anything else planned in the city. |
| Judith: Nein, von mir aus können wir jetzt nach Hause fahren. |
| Chuck: No, it’s fine by me if we go home now. |
| Judith: Wenn Sie möchten, können wir an einem anderen Tag wieder in die Stadt fahren. |
| Chuck: If you want, we can come into the city again another day. |
| Judith: Vielleicht morgen oder am Samstag? |
| Chuck: Maybe tomorrow or on Saturday. |
| Judith: Samstag ist gut, weil ich dann keinen Unterricht habe, dann können wir schon morgens fahren. |
| Chuck: Saturday is good because I don’t have class then, so we can go in the morning. |
| Judith: Okay, dann also Samstag. |
| Chuck: Okay, then Saturday it is. |
| Judith: Vielen Dank. Ich bin froh, Ihr Gast zu sein. |
| Chuck: Thanks a lot. I’m glad to be your guest. |
| Judith: Sie helfen mir wirklich sehr. |
| Chuck: You’re helping me quite a lot. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: Okay. Now, since we already talked about general tourism tips, how about some Berlin sites? |
| Chuck: Sounds good. |
| Judith: Berlin is an awesome city to sightsee. Well, there was the Siegessaule; the Reichstag, which is the parliament building; the Brandenburg Gate. You probably know all of these. But there are also other places that you should visit during your stay in Berlin. |
| Chuck: If you want to spend a lot of money, there’s always Unter den Linden, Berlin’s most famous boulevard where many important government buildings and many expensive shops are located. Unter den Linden stretches out from the Brandenburg Gate (inaudible) and especially helpful if you want to empty your wallet. |
| Judith: There’s also Potsdamer Platz. Potsdamer Platz features the Sony Center. It’s a glittering entertainment district with stunning post-modern architecture. This is also where you can watch Hollywood movies in the original English. |
| Chuck: Then there’s Alexanderplatz with its TV Tower. It’s the busiest square in Berlin and a place everyone has heard of here. |
| Judith: And Checkpoint Charlie. Checkpoint Charlie was the most well-known place where you can cross from the American part of Berlin into the Soviet one or vice versa. Today, the checkpoint still exist, but as a tourist attraction with actors as soldiers. |
| Chuck: Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, which was half destroyed in the war. But still looks stunning. |
| Judith: There’s also Ku’Damm. This is short for Kurfurstendamm, Ku’Damm. It’s Berlin’s most famous shopping street, stretching out westwards from Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. |
| Chuck: We can’t forget KaDeWe, Kaufhaus des Westens. It’s a famous gigantic department store that has all kinds of foreign goods that are otherwise hard to get in Germany. If you’re homesick for root beer or vegemite, they will definitely have it, at horrendous price of course. I heard this was even made to make the east Germans, wasn’t it? |
| Judith: Yes, to have like one store where you have all the goods that they couldn’t possibly get. And which of course were just as unavailable to people from Western Germany say in Dusseldorf or the like. But at KaDeWe, you could get anything. |
| Chuck: Even bananas. |
| Judith: It’s a common joke to say that East Germans are crazy about bananas. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Chuck: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is. |
| Judith: laufen |
| Chuck: To jog, function, or to be underway. |
| Judith: laufen and this a vowel changing verb. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Es tut mir leid |
| Chuck: I’m sorry. |
| Judith: Es tut mir leid |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: können |
| Chuck: Can, to be able to, to be allowed to. |
| Judith: können this is irregular. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: interessant |
| Chuck: Interesting. |
| Judith: interessant |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: ganz |
| Chuck: Whole, completely, or absolutely. |
| Judith: ganz |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: eigentlich |
| Chuck: Actually. |
| Judith: eigentlich |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: genug |
| Chuck: Enough. |
| Judith: genug |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: nichts |
| Chuck: Nothing. |
| Judith: nichts |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: anderer; andere; anderes |
| Chuck: Other or another. |
| Judith: anderer; andere; anderes |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Samstag |
| Chuck: Saturday. |
| Judith: Samstag |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: weil |
| Chuck: Because. |
| Judith: weil |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: froh |
| Chuck: Glad. |
| Judith: froh |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: helfen |
| Chuck: To help. |
| Judith: helfen and this is another vowel changing verb. |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Chuck: Let’s have a closer look of the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Judith: The first phrase we’ll look at is „Es tut mir leid“. |
| Chuck: It literally means “it does me harm.” But it actually means “I’m sorry.” |
| Judith: To say, “Paul is sorry that he can’t come,” you have to say, „Es tut Paul leid, dass er nicht kommen kann“.. Then there’s an expression, „von mir aus“. |
| Chuck: “As far as I’m concerned.” |
| Judith: „von mir aus“. Then Germans often say „morgens“ instead of „am Morgen“. |
| Chuck: In the morning. |
| Judith: In this case, only in the final “s” distinguishes it from „morgen“.„morgen“ means tomorrow. „morgens“ means “in the morning.” |
| Chuck: What’s the difference between „morgens“ and „am Morgen“. |
| Judith: There is none really. Both can mean in the morning or like every morning or one particularly day in the morning. Okay. And Vielen Dank. |
| Chuck: Thank you very much. |
| Judith: It’s another way of saying „Danke“. |
| Chuck: Thanks. |
| Judith: It’s related to muchas gracias. That’s why there’s a „viel“ at the beginning. |
| Grammar Point (running time 3:00, preparation time 30 min) |
| Grammar:The focus of this lesson is können |
| Chuck: The focus of this lesson is können. |
| Judith: In this lesson, we came across the verb „können“, which is somewhat irregular in German. |
| Chuck: Actually, it matches „mögen“, one to one. |
| Judith: Just like „mögen“, „können“ has two separate stems. One for singular and one for plural. For „mögen“, the singular stem is „mag“ and for „können“ ,it is „kann“. For „mögen“,the plural stem is „mög“. And for „können“, it’s „könn“. |
| Chuck: The endings are exactly the same. Can you tell us all the forms anyway? |
| Judith: Of course, “Ich kann” |
| Chuck: I can. |
| Judith: “Du kannst” |
| Chuck: You can. |
| Judith: “Er kann” |
| Chuck: He can. |
| Judith: “Wir können” |
| Chuck: We can. |
| Judith: euch kann |
| Chuck: You all can. |
| Judith: “Ihr kannt” |
| Chuck: They can. |
| Judith: And quickly, “Sie können” |
Outro |
|---|
| Chuck: Well, that just about does it for today. |
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| Chuck: So that you can just focus on mastering German. |
| Judith: Go to GermanPod101.com to set up your customized My Feed today. |
| Chuck: Thanks for joining us. This is the last lesson of the Absolute Beginner Series. |
| Judith: Yes. Now, you can check out the other beginner lessons we have or one of the upper beginner lessons. |
| Chuck:So, see you next time! |
| Judith:Also, bis nächstes Mal! |
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