Learn about the top five phrases chosen by the GermanPod hosts
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| Rebecca: Hi everyone, and welcome back to the All About German series. |
| Widar: Hallo. |
| Rebecca: In today’s lesson we’ll go over our Top Five Favorite Phrases! |
| Widar: Yes, these are phrases that we chose! We chose phrases that we find useful or interesting and that are used a lot in German. |
| Rebecca: That’s right. So, Widar, what’s our first phrase? |
| Widar: “Gesundheit.” |
| Rebecca: This phrase means “Bless you”. Widar, when can we use this phrase? |
| Widar: Well, this phrase is a classical request from learners of German. They want to know how to say "Bless you" when a person sneezes. |
| Rebecca: Yes. That makes a lot of sense. Can you repeat the phrase, please? |
| Widar: “Gesundheit.” |
| Rebecca: “Gesundheit.” “Bless you.” |
| Widar: Literally, “Gesundheit” means “health”, but in this context, it’s used as “Bless you”. |
| Rebecca: Can we use “Gesundheit” both, in formal and informal situations? |
| Widar: Yes. You can say “Gesundheit” to address an unknown person, superiors in a conference, or friends in a pub. |
| Rebecca: Great! But I’ve heard there is one exception… |
| Widar: Indeed. In a very formal context – for example, a college examination, or at the immigration authorities – you might want to apologize for sneezing. |
| Rebecca: Okay. |
| Widar: Just one more note for our English speakers out there |
| Rebecca: What’s our next phrase? |
| Widar: Well, if someone is talking about something that reminds you of something related, you can bring up that topic with “Wo wir gerade davon sprechen”. |
| Rebecca: It’s kind of like “speaking of which” or “that reminds me”. Let’s give an example of how we can use this phrase. Let’s say I went to a party recently. Widar, ask me about the party I went to! |
| Widar: Okay. “Rebecca, wie war die Party auf der du warst?” Rebecca, how was the party you went to! |
| Rebecca: Oh, it was great! “Es war großartig.” We’re having another party tomorrow night, do you want to come? |
| Widar: Sure! |
| Rebecca: So, Widar asking me about the first party reminded me of another party, so I can switch to that topic using “Wo wir gerade davon sprechen” like “Oh! That reminds me…” |
| Widar: That’s right! So this is a useful phrase to use when you want to bring up a new topic that you were reminded of. |
| Rebecca: Okay, what’s our next phrase? |
| Widar: Ist gut and Ist in Ordnung. |
| Rebecca: Germans use these two short sentences all the time and in every possible context. |
| Widar: Right. Grammatically speaking, gut which in English means "good" is an adjective describing someone or something, while in Ordnung is a combination of the preposition in “in” and the noun Ordnung “order”, meaning "It’s all right”. |
| Rebecca: Both phrases, Ist gut "it's good" and Ist in Ordnung “It’s all right” can refer to tasting or smelling a delicious meal or drink. |
| Widar: Yes. [ Analog dazu ], we can also use Ist gut and Ist in Ordnung to tell someone that his or her work was good. In this case, we will most likely add the demonstrative pronoun das to [ klarmachen ] our intention. We will say Das ist gut “This is okay/good” or Das ist in Ordnung “This is all right”. |
| Rebecca: Are there any other contexts where we use both phrases? |
| Widar: Ist gut and In Ordnung are also used to show that you have understood information or instructions given to you or that you will comply with what someone has told you. |
| Rebecca: Right. As an exclamation, Ist gut! or In Ordnung! are very close in meaning to “roger!” or “copy that!” in English, but in German these phrases can even be used lightly among friends. |
| Widar: Okay. Then there are contexts where we’ll just make use of the phrase Ist gut “It’s okay”. |
| Rebecca: We use Ist gut when referring to how well things are done. For example, you will say Ist gut when implying Ist gut gemacht ("It is well done"). |
| Widar and Rebecca: Anytime you can say Ist gut gemalt "It's well painted, Ist gut geschrieben “It’s well written” and Ist gut gedacht “It’s well thought” then use Ist gut. |
| Widar: Finally, you can use Ist gut! when you are tired of someone picking at you or making fun of you and you want him or her to stop. Your intonation will then sound more annoyed |
| Rebecca: Alright. What’s our next phrase? |
| Widar: In der Tat. |
| Rebecca: This phrase means “indeed”, “that’s true” or “that’s for sure” in English. In der Tat is said in response to someone who is speaking. |
| Widar: Right, it means that you agree with the point that the person just made. |
| Rebecca: Yeah, even if you don’t agree with them on other things. So if you think |
| someone has a good point, even if you don’t really want to admit it, you can acknowledge it with In der Tat. |
| Widar: Yeah, it’s often used in that way. |
| Rebecca: Okay. Let’s have a look at our last phrase for today. |
| Widar: It’s Für’s erste. |
| Rebecca: Für’s erste is a word that means “in the meantime”, or “for now”. You can use this word to talk about some action or decision you make because it’s better than doing nothing. |
| Widar: Right, like when you can’t decide what to do and you just make a quick decision, something to do “in the meantime”. |
| Rebecca: You might hear it a lot at restaurants – for example, when you don’t know what to order but you know what you want to drink to start, you can say Für’s erste nehm ich ein Bier, which is like “I’ll have a beer for now”. |
| Widar: Yes. If you’re in a situation where a decision needs to be made, this is the perfect phrase for you. |
| Rebecca: So there you have it! Five phrases that we find really useful that we have now passed on to you! |
| Widar: Try using them the next time you have a conversation in German! |
| Widar: Remember, you can leave us a feedback on this lesson. |
| Rebecca: So if you have a question, or some feedback, please leave us a comment! |
| Widar: It's very easy to do. Just stop by GermanPod101.com, |
| Rebecca: click on Comments |
| Widar: Enter your comment and name |
| Rebecca: And that’s it! |
| Widar: No excuses. We're looking forward to hearing from you! |
| Rebecca: Thanks for listening. |
| Widar: Bis zum nächsten Mal! |
| Rebecca: See you next time! |
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