Learn how to say many common phrases that people use every day to introduce themselves
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
Intro |
|---|
| Widar: Hey, everybody! Welcome to Basic Bootcamp German. I'm Widar. |
| Rebecca: Hi, I'm Rebecca. |
| Widar: Bootcamp is a five-part series that will help you ease your way into German. |
| Rebecca: Bootcamp makes it sound kind of scary! |
| Widar: I'm sure it does have that image, but we promise you it's not! We'll have fun going over all of the basics that will really help you understand German in a quick and easy way. |
| Rebecca: Today's lesson is Basic Bootcamp #1. We're going to learn the very basics of German. This is going to be the "Self-Introduction and Basic Greetings in German." |
| Widar: Right. In this lesson, you will learn how to introduce yourself to anybody and make a lot of friends this way. This will get you speaking right from your first lesson. |
| Rebecca: Yeah, this is exactly what the bootcamp series is for. It'll help you ease your way into German. We'll go over all the basics that will really help you understand German much quicker and easier. Don't worry—you'll manage it! |
| Widar: Okay, this is what we're going to to now. We'll be listening to a conversation between two people meeting for the first time. This is really basic stuff, and you'll probably hear this conversation a few hundred times when traveling in Germany. |
| Rebecca: All right. Let's listen to the conversation. |
| Dialogue |
| A: Hallo. Ich heiße Paul. Freut mich, Sie kennenzulernen. |
| B: Hallo. Ich heiße Maria. Freut mich, Sie kennenzulernen. |
| Widar: Noch einmal was langsamer. |
| Rebecca: One more time, a little slower. |
| A: Hallo. Ich heiße Paul. Freut mich, Sie kennenzulernen. |
| B: Hallo. Ich heiße Maria. Freut mich, Sie kennenzulernen. |
| Widar: Noch einmal mit Englisch. |
| Rebecca: One more time, with English. |
| A: Hallo. Ich heiße Paul. Freut mich, Sie kennenzulernen. |
| Rebecca: Hello. My name is Paul. Nice to meet you. |
| B: Hallo. Ich heiße Maria. Freut mich, Sie kennenzulernen. |
| Rebecca: Hello. My name is Maria. Nice to meet you. |
| Post Conversation Banter |
| Rebecca: So Widar, what do people do in Germany when they first meet? Is there any sort of custom that would go along with this kind of a conversation? |
| Widar: German people almost always shake hands when they first meet each other. |
| Rebecca: How about giving a hug or kissing each other's cheeks? |
| Widar: Oh no! German people never do that when meeting for the first time. Well, not in most situations. It might be different if they're going on a first date. Then you might see them hugging briefly. But in general, Germans tend to be a bit reserved. |
| Rebecca: So, it's best to just shake hands. |
| Widar: Yeah, definitely. It's polite and very common. |
| Rebecca: Okay, now let's take a closer look into these phrases for learning German. |
| Vocabulary and Phrase Usage |
| Rebecca: Okay, what's the word for "hello"? |
| Widar: "Hello" is "hallo." |
| Rebecca: That sounds almost the same. The only difference I noticed is the first vowel sound, "-a" instead of "-e." Can you say that again? |
| Widar: Sure. "Hallo." [Hal–lo.] "Hallo." |
| Rebecca: "Hallo." When can we use this phrase? |
| Widar: It's like "hello." We use it mainly in the daytime, but you can use it anytime if you want. |
| Rebecca: This phrase is polite enough for use in formal situations, isn't it? |
| Widar: Right. |
| Rebecca: Let's look at the next phrase. After saying hello, he gave his name. |
| Widar: Yeah, his name is Paul; and he said, "Ich heiße Paul." |
| Rebecca: "My name is Paul." And the girl gave her name, too. |
| Widar: "Ich heiße Maria." |
| Rebecca: "My name is Maria." We'll look into this grammar in the grammar section later. But what does "Ich heiße…" mean? |
| Widar: "Ich heiße…" literally means "I'm called…," but in common English, you would translate it as "My name is…." |
| Rebecca: I see. But is there any other way to say "My name is…" in German? |
| Widar: Good that you ask. Sometimes people will introduce themselves with "Mein Name ist…," [Mein Na-me ist…] "Mein Name ist…." That's a direct translation of "My name is…" |
| Rebecca: So, instead of "Ich heiße Paul," I can also say "Mein Name ist Paul." |
| Widar: Absolutely. |
| Rebecca: Great. Now, let's focus on the last part of the introduction. What did they say again? |
| Widar: "Freut mich, Sie kennenzulernen." |
| Rebecca: "Nice to meet you." Can you say that again? |
| Widar: "Freut mich, Sie kennenzulernen." [Freut mich, Sie ken-nen-zu-ler-nen.] "Freut mich, Sie kennenzulernen." |
| Rebecca: "Freut mich, Sie kennenzulernen?" |
| Widar: Right. It literally means "It pleases me you to meet." or "Pleased to meet you." But that sounds a bit too formal in English. So I would rather translate it as "Nice to meet you." |
| Rebecca: It's a very good phrase to use when you are meeting someone for the first time. |
| Widar: Yes. Now let's take a look at the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Rebecca: Okay. In this grammar section, you'll learn how to say your name in German. In the dialogue, Paul said… |
| Widar: "Ich heiße Paul." |
| Rebecca: "My name is Paul." Let's break down this phrase. The first word is… |
| Widar: "Ich." It means "I" and is the personal pronoun used when talking about yourself. |
| Rebecca: After "ich" comes "heiße." |
| Widar: "heiße." It corresponds with the English "called," and it's the inflected verb form of the verb "heißen," ("to be called"); first singular person form, again indicating that Paul is talking about himself. |
| Rebecca: Right. And then we finally have the name? |
| Widar: Sure. The sentence ends with the name. |
| Rebecca: So, altogether we have… |
| Widar: "Ich heiße Paul." ("My name is Paul.") Literally meaning, "I'm called Paul." So, in my case, my name is Widar so, "Ich heiße Widar." |
| Rebecca: Right after "heiße" comes your name. So, you end the sentence with your name. In my case, it should be, "Ich heiße Rebecca" ("My name is Rebecca"). |
| Rebecca: So, to say your name, say… |
| Widar: "Ich heiße…" |
| Rebecca: then add your name—and that's it. "Ich heiße…such and such." |
| Widar : Let's get back to the dialogue. In the conversation, Paul said... |
| Widar: "Ich heiße Paul." |
| Rebecca: "I'm Paul." "My name is Paul." And Maria said? |
| Widar: "Ich heiße Maria." |
| Rebecca: Let's take a closer look at the latter part of the dialogue. "Freut mich, Sie kennenzulernen." ("Nice to meet you.") Let's break down this phrase. |
| Widar: "Freut mich" is "nice to" or "pleased to" in English. It consists of the inflected verb "freut" ("pleased to"), and the inflected possessive pronoun "mich" ("me"). Then we have "Sie," which in English is "you," in the formal level of speech. Mark that it's written with a capital "-S," ("Sie"). Finally, "kennenzulernen," the present participle of the verb "kennenlernen" ("to meet"). |
| Rebecca: So, literally translated, "Freut mich, Sie kennenzulernen" is… |
| Widar: "It pleases me you to meet." And we translate it as "Nice to meet you" or "Pleased to meet you." |
| Rebecca: Sure. "Sie kennenzulernen" is the formal level of speech. What about the informal? |
| Widar: If you want to talk informal, you can say "Freut mich, dich kennenzulernen." [Freut mich, dich ken-nen-zu-ler-nen.] "Freut mich, dich kennenzulernen." |
| Rebecca: In English, we don't distinguish between "Sie" and "du." It's all "you," but in German we have to be careful to choose the one that's appropriate if we don't want to put ourselves in a spot! |
| Widar: Yeah, you better remember this! |
| Rebecca: Now, if we look back at the dialogue, Paul and Maria are first names. So, even though they don't know each other, they seem to talk very casually with each other, introducing themselves with their first names. |
| Widar: Yes, in informal situations—think of attending a party where you introduce yourself to others—it's okay to just use your first name. In polite situations, though, you wouldn't use your first name to introduce yourself. |
| Rebecca: That's because Germans are very formal in business meetings or when talking to their superiors or even co-workers. |
| Widar: True. So, let's say—for example—you want to find work in Germany; you'd better not introduce yourself to your superior with your first name. (laughing) |
| Rebecca: (laughing) Right. That would be a crucial mistake. We just chose to use that introductory dialogue because it's easier to start with first names. So, in a polite situation it's very common to give your first and last name, and sometimes even just your last name. Other people will refer to you by your last name, too. |
| Widar: But just using your last name during the introduction is not too common if you meet eye-to-eye. You might introduce yourself only with your last name on the phone more often. |
| Rebecca: Of course. |
| Widar: Maybe we should give an example for using the first and last names. |
| Rebecca: Good. So, we need to find typical German family names. |
| Widar: How about "Schmidt" and "Meier?" |
| Rebecca: Perfect! If you take a look at a public phone book in Germany, it seems like these are almost everybody's last names. |
| Widar: Okay, so we have "Paul Schmidt" and "Maria Meier." |
| Rebecca: Let's try the introduction with first and last names then. |
| Widar: "Hallo. Ich heiße Paul Schmidt. Freut mich, Sie kennenzulernen." ("Hello. My name is Paul Schmidt. Nice to meet you.") |
| Rebecca: "Hallo. Ich heiße Maria Meier. Freut mich, Sie kennenzulernen." ("Hello. My name is Maria Meier. Nice to meet you.") |
| Widar: That's the most common way of introducing yourself to others. You can't do anything wrong if you introduce yourself this way! |
| Rebecca: Then let's do it once more. |
| Widar: "Hallo. Ich heiße Paul Schmidt. Freut mich, Sie kennenzulernen." |
| Rebecca: "Hallo. Ich heiße Maria Meier. Freut mich, Sie kennenzulernen." |
| Widar: And now let's try the phone introduction, using just the last name. |
| Widar: “Hallo. Mein Name ist Herr Schmidt." ("Hello. My name is Mr. Schmidt.") |
| Rebecca: "Hallo. Mein Name ist Frau Meier." ("Hello. My name is Ms. Meier.") |
| Widar: If we use the phone introduction, we insert the nouns "Herr" ("Mr.,") or "Frau" ("Ms.") before telling the name. And we also don't say "Ich heiße…," ("I'm called…,") in this case; instead, we use "Mein Name ist…," ("My name is…"). |
| Rebecca: Is there any reason for this? |
| Widar: Not really, you'll just hear it more often. |
| Rebecca: Okay, got it! |
| Widar: Since it's the first boot camp lesson, why don't we introduce ourselves using this lesson's vocab and grammar? |
| Rebecca: Good idea. |
| Widar: "Hallo. Ich heiße Widar Wendt. Freut mich, Sie kennenzulernen." ("Hello. I'm Widar Wendt. Nice to meet you.") |
| Rebecca: "Hallo. Ich heiße Rebecca Colleen. Freut mich, Sie kennenzulernen." ("Hello. I'm Rebecca Colleen. Nice to meet you.") |
| Widar: So, how was your first German Basic Bootcamp lesson? Hope we didn't work you too hard! Join us next time as we learn more of the basics! |
Outro |
| Widar: Before we go, we want to tell you about a way to drastically improve your pronunciation. |
| Rebecca: The voice recording tool... |
| Widar: Yes, the voice recording tool in the premium learning center. |
| Rebecca: Record your voice with a click of a button, |
| Widar: and then play it back just as easily. |
| Rebecca: So you record your voice, and then listen to it. |
| Widar: Compare it to the native speakers... |
| Rebecca: And adjust your pronunciation! |
| Widar: This will help you improve your pronunciation fast! Thanks for listening. Bye! |
| Rebecca: "Bis bald." ("See you!") |
Comments
Hide