Learn how to state what you want using a formal conversation as an example
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Gina: Hi everyone, I’m Gina, and welcome back to GermanPod101.com. This is Absolute Beginner Season 3 Lesson 8, Getting What You Want Using German. |
| Frank: Hello everyone, Frank here. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use the conditional verb "möchten", and about word order after adverbials. |
| Gina: This conversation takes place at a German home where Kate is staying with the host family. |
| Frank: The conversation is between Kate and Mr. Kirsch, the father in her host family. |
| Gina: The speakers don’t know each other well. Therefore, they will be using formal German. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Kate: Ich möchte gerne Deutsch lernen. |
| Herr Kirsch: Okay. Möchten Sie etwas essen? |
| Kate: Ja, gerne. |
| Herr Kirsch: Gut. In zehn Minuten gibt es Essen. |
| Kate: Essen wir alle zusammen? |
| Herr Kirsch: Ja, meine Frau und meine Tochter möchten auch etwas essen. |
| Gina: Let's hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Kate: Ich möchte gerne Deutsch lernen. |
| Herr Kirsch: Okay. Möchten Sie etwas essen? |
| Kate: Ja, gerne. |
| Herr Kirsch: Gut. In zehn Minuten gibt es Essen. |
| Kate: Essen wir alle zusammen? |
| Herr Kirsch: Ja, meine Frau und meine Tochter möchten auch etwas essen. |
| Gina: Now, let's hear it with English translation. |
| Kate: Ich möchte gerne Deutsch lernen. |
| Gina: I would like to learn German. |
| Herr Kirsch: Okay. Möchten Sie etwas essen? |
| Gina: Okay. Would you like to eat something? |
| Kate: Ja, gerne. |
| Gina: Yes, I'd like that. |
| Herr Kirsch: Gut. In zehn Minuten gibt es Essen. |
| Gina: Good. There will be food in ten minutes. |
| Kate: Essen wir alle zusammen? |
| Gina: Are we all eating together? |
| Herr Kirsch: Ja, meine Frau und meine Tochter möchten auch etwas essen. |
| Gina: Yes, my wife and my daughter would also like to eat something. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Frank: Okay, Gina. Let’s talk about my favorite thing...food! |
| Gina: Sounds great! Well, my perception is that Germans like their sausages! What about you, Frank? |
| Frank: Yes, I’d say I’m quite partial to a Würstchen here and there! |
| Gina: How about meal times? |
| Frank: Lunch is the biggest meal of the day and is usually hot, while dinner is often just some bread with cheese or some meat. |
| Gina: Yes, meat on bread is a common thing in Germany, both for breakfast and at night. |
| Frank: The evening sandwiches are often open-faced and are called Abendbrot. |
| Gina: If you have a meal with a German family, you’ll notice that families have meals together. That means they don’t eat meals on the side while watching TV or the like. |
| Frank: Yeah. And when you have a meal, you say Guten Appetit to wish someone an enjoyable meal. And you can respond it with Danke, gleichfalls, meaning “thank you, likewise” and then everyone can start eating. |
| Gina: Interesting! Now, let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Gina: The first word we shall see is… |
| Frank: möchten [natural native speed] |
| Gina: to want, would like |
| Frank: möchten [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Frank: möchten [natural native speed] |
| Frank: etwas [natural native speed] |
| Gina: something |
| Frank: etwas [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Frank: etwas [natural native speed] |
| Frank: essen [natural native speed] |
| Gina: to eat |
| Frank: essen [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Frank: essen [natural native speed] |
| Frank: Essen [natural native speed] |
| Gina: food |
| Frank: Essen [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Frank: Essen [natural native speed] |
| Frank: gern(e) [natural native speed] |
| Gina: gladly |
| Frank: gern(e) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Frank: gern(e) [natural native speed] |
| Frank: es gibt [natural native speed] |
| Gina: there is, there are |
| Frank: es gibt [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Frank: es gibt [natural native speed] |
| Frank: zusammen [natural native speed] |
| Gina: together |
| Frank: zusammen [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Frank: zusammen [natural native speed] |
| Frank: bitte [natural native speed] |
| Gina: please, you're welcome |
| Frank: bitte [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Frank: bitte [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Gina: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Frank: The first phrase we’ll look at is es gibt. This is a special expression that means “there is”. For example, Es gibt eine Schule. |
| Gina: “There’s a school.” |
| Frank: Note that even for plural words, you still say Es gibt. For example, Es gibt Gäste. |
| Gina: “There are guests.” |
| Frank: Okay, the next word is Gerne. It can be translated as “gladly” or “I would like that!” |
| Gina: In German, it’s an adverb that can be used on its own or also to accompany a verb. However, it can also be used as an interjection on its own in response to a question. |
| Frank: Right. For example, möchtest du ins Kino gehen? Ja, gerne! |
| Gina: “would you like to go to the cinema?” “Yeah, gladly!” |
| Frank: So, in summary, if someone asks you if you would like something, or if you would like to do something, reply with gerne. |
| Gina: So the word has a positive enthusiastic tone to it. |
| Frank: And the last word is etwas |
| Gina: It means “something” or “anything” and can be used the same way as in English to indicate something in a vague fashion. Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Frank: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use the German modal verb möchten, and about word order after an adverbial in German. |
| Gina: Möchten is an important German word because it’s so common. |
| Frank: We use it to talk about what we want, as in Ich möchte Deutsch lernen. |
| Gina: “I’d like to learn German.” |
| Frank: And we can also use it to make suggestions, like Möchten Sie etwas essen? |
| Gina: “Would you like to eat something?” |
| Frank: Möchten is not actually a full German verb. It’s the direct equivalent of the English, “would like.” |
| Gina: Ignore this for now though because you can use möchten just like a normal verb. The only difference in conjugation is the missing “T” when talking about “he”, “she” or “it.” |
| Frank: Let’s go through the conjugation of it quickly for our listeners! |
| Gina: Okay, sounds good! |
| Frank: ich möchte |
| Gina: “I would like” |
| Frank: du möchtest |
| Gina: The informal version of “you would like”. |
| Frank: er möchte |
| Gina: “he would like”. |
| Frank: sie möchte |
| Gina: “she would like” |
| Frank: es möchte |
| Gina: “it would like”. |
| Frank: wir möchten |
| Gina: “we would like” |
| Frank: ihr möchtet. |
| Gina: “you would like” in the plural version |
| Frank: sie möchten. |
| Gina: “they would like” And finally, how would we say “you would like”, the formal version? |
| Frank: It’s the same again - Sie möchten - the only visible difference is that the “S” in Sie is capitalized for this formal version of “you”. Other than that, it is spelt exactly the same as the sie möchten form for “they would like”. |
| Gina: Great. Now, let’s look at the word order after an adverbial in German. |
| Frank: For example, in the sentence In zehn Minuten gibt es Essen, |
| Gina: which means "There will be food in 10 minutes." |
| Frank: Normally, you should expect something like Es gibt Essen. |
| Gina: However in German, the rule is that the verb must be in the second position. In this sentence, the time is the most important information. So we put it in the first position in order to stress it. |
| Frank: Then, the verb has to follow in second position and everything else is relegated to the back. |
| Gina: Can you give us another example? |
| Frank: Yeah. Ich kenne Colorado or Colorado kenne ich. |
| Gina: Both mean “I know Colorado” in English. |
| Frank: But, you cannot say: Colorado ich kenne? Since that would be wrong. You have to say Ich kenne Colorado because the verb has to be in the second position. |
Outro |
| Gina: Listeners, do you know the reason flashcards are so popular? |
| Frank: It's because they work! |
| Gina: We've taken this time-tested studying tool and modernized with My Wordbank Flashcards! |
| Frank: Learn vocabulary using your eyes and ears! |
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| Frank: Master words in your My Wordbank by practicing with Flashcards. |
| Gina: Words in My Wordbank come with audio, so you learn proper pronunciation. |
| Frank: While you learn to recognize words by sight! |
| Gina: Go to GermonPod101.com now, and try My Wordbank and Flashcards today! |
| Gina: Well, that’s all for this lesson. Don’t forget to check the lesson notes to reinforce what you’ve learned in this lesson. And leave us a post at GermanPod101.com if you have any questions or comments. Thank you for listening, and we’ll see you next time! |
| Frank: Vielen Dank! Bis zum nächsten Mal! |
| Gina: Bye-bye. |
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