Learn about important phrases you will come across in German class
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| Introduction |
| Rebecca: Hi everyone, welcome back to the All about German series! |
| Widar: In this lesson, you will learn the top five phrases you will hear in a classroom. |
| Rebecca: These are phrases that a teacher would use often. You’ll get a head start by already knowing these phrases! Without further ado, let’s listen to the first phrase. |
| First phrase |
| Rebecca: "Please repeat after me." ("Please say it.") |
| Widar: "Sprechen Sie mir bitte nach." "Sprechen Sie mir bitte nach." [ slow ] "Sprechen Sie mir bitte nach." |
| Rebecca: "Sprechen Sie mir bitte nach." "Sprechen Sie mir bitte nach." [ slow ] "Sprechen Sie mir bitte nach." |
| Widar: "Sprechen Sie mir bitte nach." literally means "repeat you me please after," but this is translated as "Please repeat after me." |
| Rebecca: So if the teacher wants you to repeat after them, they might say "Sprechen Sie mir bitte nach." ("Can you say that phrase again?") |
| Widar: "Sprechen Sie mir bitte nach." "Sprechen Sie mir bitte nach." [ slow ] "Sprechen Sie mir bitte nach." |
| Rebecca: "Sprechen Sie mir bitte nach." “Please repeat after me.” |
| Widar: There is also an impersonal way of asking someone to repeat, "Bitte nachsprechen." ("Please repeat.") |
| Rebecca: Yes. You might hear both versions - the personal address and the impersonal form. |
| Widar: And if the teacher points to a word at a blackboard and wants you to say it, he might say, "Sagen Sie das bitte." ("Please say it.") |
| Rebecca: "Sagen Sie das bitte" literally means "Say you it please," but this means, "Please say it." |
| Rebecca: Okay. Let’s listen to the next phrase. |
| Second phrase |
| Rebecca: "Please look." |
| Widar: "Schauen Sie bitte." "Schauen Sie bitte." [ slow ] "Schauen Sie bitte." |
| Rebecca: "Schauen Sie bitte." "Schau en Sie bit te." "Schauen Sie bitte." |
| Rebecca: It sounds a lot like the phrase we just went over! |
| Widar: Well, it also includes the personal pronoun "Sie" ("you"), and "bitte" ("please"). |
| Rebecca: Can we hear it again? |
| Widar: "Schauen Sie bitte." "Schauen Sie bitte." [ slow ] "Schauen Sie bitte." |
| Rebecca: You can also put a noun or pronoun after this phrase to indicate what you want the person to look at. |
| Widar: For example, "Schauen Sie bitte zur Tafel" ("Please look at the blackboard.") or "Schauen Sie bitte zu mir." ("Please look at me.") |
| Rebecca: The next phrase is another request. |
| Third phrase |
| Rebecca: "Please read it." |
| Widar: "Lesen Sie das bitte vor." "Lesen Sie das bitte vor." [ slow ] "Lesen Sie das bitte vor." |
| Rebecca: "Lesen Sie das bitte vor." "Lesen Sie das bitte vor." [ slow ] "Lesen Sie das bitte vor." |
| Widar: "Lesen Sie das bitte vor." This literally means, "Read you it please out aloud." |
| Rebecca: Okay. Is there also an impersonal way of expressing "Please read" in German? |
| Widar: Of course, there is. It’s "Bitte vorlesen." |
| Rebecca: So if the teacher wants you to practice reading some word, phrase, or passage, you can expect to hear "Lesen Sie das bitte vor" or "Bitte vorlesen." What if the teacher wants you to write something? What will they say? |
| Widar: "Schreiben Sie das bitte auf." And this brings us to our next phrase. |
| Fourth phrase |
| Rebecca: "Please write it down." |
| Widar: "Schreiben Sie das bitte auf." "Schreiben Sie das bitte auf." [ slow ] "Schreiben Sie das bitte auf." |
| Rebecca: "Schreiben Sie das bitte auf." "Schreiben Sie das bitte auf." [ slow ] "Schreiben Sie das bitte auf." |
| Rebecca: "Schreiben Sie das bitte auf." ("Please write it down.") Is there any impersonal form that can be used here? |
| Widar: Yes. "Bitte aufschreiben." |
| Rebecca: So, in a class setting, this impersonal form is used when the speaker doesn’t want to address you directly, yet still make sure you get his request. Can you say this phrase again? |
| Widar: "Schreiben Sie das bitte auf." or "Bitte aufschreiben." |
| Rebecca: The next two phrases we’ll introduce are questions. |
| Fifth phrase |
| Rebecca: "Do you understand?" |
| Widar: "Haben Sie das verstanden?" "Haben Sie das verstanden?" [ slow ] "Haben Sie das verstanden?" |
| Rebecca: "Haben Sie das verstanden?" "Haben Sie das verstanden?" [ slow ] "Haben Sie das verstanden?" |
| Widar: "Haben Sie das verstanden?" ("Do you understand?") This phrase literally means "Did you it understand?" |
| Rebecca: Yes, teachers want to make sure that their students are keeping up with everything, so they’ll often ask if everyone understands, right? |
| Widar: Right. And in Germany, teachers commonly ask if you did understand, not so much if you do right now. |
| Rebecca: Yeah. If you remember our All About Grammar class, we introduced you to tenses. So, "Haben Sie das verstanden?" ("Did you understand it?") is perfect tense. |
| Widar: This is very common. But some teachers might ask you in present tense, "Verstehen Sie das?" |
| Rebecca: "Do you understand it?" |
| Widar: "Verstehen Sie das?" This is the most direct translation of the English "Do you understand?" |
| Rebecca: But you might also hear other questions from teachers, like "Alles in Ordnung?" |
| Widar: This literally means "Is it okay?" or "Everything okay?" It is used pretty often as well. |
| Rebecca: In other situations it would probably be translated as "Are you okay?" but in a classroom it can be used to confirm whether or not someone understands something. |
| Widar: You could answer using the same phrase too, "Alles in Ordnung." Just make sure that you emphasize the first word "alles" ("everything"), "Alles in Ordnung." |
| Rebecca: Widar, teachers also often ask their students if they have any questions, right? How do they ask this in German? |
| Widar: "Gibt es noch Fragen?" ("Are there any questions?") |
| Rebecca: "Fragen" means "questions." Can we hear it one more time? |
| Widar: "Gibt es noch Fragen?" |
| Rebecca: If you have a question, what can you do? |
| Widar: You could raise your hand and say "Ja," which in English means "Yes." |
| Rebecca: And if you don’t have any questions, but you want to be polite and answer, what can you say? |
| Widar: Then, of course, you can answer "Nein." ("No.") |
| Rebecca: Okay, so can we hear all of those phrases again, one more time? |
| Widar: No problem. |
| Rebecca: "Please repeat after me." |
| Widar: "Sprechen Sie mir bitte nach" or "Bitte nachsprechen." |
| Rebecca: "Please say it." |
| Widar: "Sagen Sie das bitte." |
| Rebecca: "Please look." |
| Widar: "Schauen Sie bitte." |
| Rebecca: "Please read it out aloud." |
| Widar: "Lesen Sie das bitte vor" or "Bitte vorlesen." |
| Rebecca: "Please write it down." |
| Widar: "Schreiben Sie das bitte auf" or "Bitte aufschreiben." |
| Rebecca: "Do you understand?" |
| Widar: "Haben Sie das verstanden?" |
Outro |
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| Rebecca: There you have it. Those are the important phrases for the classroom! |
| Widar: So what we want to ask everyone now is "Gibt es noch Fragen?" ("Any questions?") |
| Rebecca: If you do have any questions, please leave us a comment and let us know! |
| Widar: Ready to test what you just learned? |
| Rebecca: Make this lesson's vocabulary stick by using lesson specific flashcards in the learning center. |
| Widar: There is a reason everyone uses flashcards... |
| Rebecca: They work... |
| Widar: They really do help memorization. |
| Rebecca: You can get the flashcards for this lesson at... |
| Widar: GermanPod101.com. |
| Rebecca: Ok. Thank you for listening! |
| Widar: Bis bald! |
| Rebecca: See you soon! |
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