Learn some phrases you'll find handy when you're first starting to learn the German language
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Intro |
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| Widar: Welcome back, everyone, to Basic Bootcamp. I'm Widar. |
| Rebecca: Hallo. I'm Rebecca. |
| Widar: Today is our Basic Bootcamp series lesson #3. Today, we're learning useful phrases for learning German. |
| Rebecca: This five-part series will help you ease your way into German. We'll go over all the basics that will get you on the right track to learning German quickly. In today's lesson, you will learn several essential phrases to use in German to help you learn German. |
| Widar: Yes, you can use the phrases in this lesson when you are at a loss for words or couldn't catch what was said. |
| Rebecca: With these phrases, you can ask anyone, any time, how to say something, as well as ask someone to repeat themselves. So, don't panic if you don't know a particular vocab. Just ask the right question! |
| Widar: Right. And again, using German to learn German can help you improve much faster! |
| Rebecca: Okay. This lesson's conversation takes place at a restaurant. The first speaker is a foreigner. Benny doesn't know how to say "barbecue sauce" in German. |
| Widar: So he points to the barbecue sauce and asks the waitress a question. Ok, now let’s listen to the conversation. |
| Dialogue |
| Benny: Entschuldigung. Wie sagt man das auf Deutsch? |
| Bedienung: Grillsauce. |
| Benny: Noch einmal bitte. Langsam bitte. |
| Bedienung: Grillsauce. |
| Benny: Schreiben Sie das bitte auf. |
| Widar: Noch einmal was langsamer. |
| Rebecca: One more time, a little slower. |
| Benny: Entschuldigung. Wie sagt man das auf Deutsch? |
| Bedienung: Grillsauce. |
| Benny: Noch einmal bitte. Langsam bitte. |
| Bedienung: Grillsauce. |
| Benny: Schreiben Sie das bitte auf. |
| Widar: Noch einmal mit Englisch. |
| Rebecca: One more time, with English. |
| Benny: Entschuldigung. Wie sagt man das auf Deutsch? |
| Rebecca: Excuse me. How do you say this in German? |
| Bedienung: Grillsauce. |
| Rebecca: Barbecue sauce. |
| Benny: Noch einmal bitte. Langsam bitte. |
| Rebecca: Once again, please. Slowly, please. |
| Bedienung: Grillsauce. |
| Rebecca: Barbecue sauce. |
| Benny: Schreiben Sie das bitte auf. |
| Rebecca: Please write it down. |
| Post Conversation Banter |
| Rebecca: So "barbecue sauce" is called "Grillsauce" in German? |
| Widar: Right. "Grillsauce." And these phrases in this lesson's dialogue are very useful. |
| Rebecca: Right. These are the phrases to use when you can't find the right word or can't catch what someone has said. |
| Widar: And the first one is very polite. It will catch anyone's attention—for sure! People will be impressed if you ask them in German. |
| Rebecca: Great. And so what were all these words again? Let's break them down. |
| Vocabulary and Phrases |
| Entschuldigung. Wie sagt man das auf Deutsch? [natural native speed] |
| Excuse me. How do you say this in German? |
| Entschuldigung. Wie sagt man das auf Deutsch? [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Entschuldigung. Wie sagt man das auf Deutsch? [natural native speed] |
| Noch einmal bitte. Langsam bitte. [natural native speed] |
| Once again, please. / Slowly, please. |
| Noch einmal bitte. Langsam bitte. [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Noch einmal bitte. Langsam bitte. [natural native speed] |
| Schreiben Sie das bitte auf. [natural native speed] |
| Please write it down. |
| Schreiben Sie das bitte auf. [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Schreiben Sie das bitte auf. [natural native speed] |
| Vocabulary and Phrase Usage |
| Rebecca: Let's take a closer look into these phrases for learning German. So first, let's look at "Entschuldigung." You will hear, and use, this phrase all the time. |
| Widar: Yeah, it means "excuse me" or "I'm sorry." |
| Rebecca: It's one of the best phrases to know. When can we use this? |
| Widar: It's like the English "Excuse me." We say "Entschuldigung" when we're trying to get someone's attention. |
| Rebecca: So maybe when you want to tell or ask them something, you can use this. In this dialogue, we used it before asking a question. Can you say that phrase again? |
| Widar: "Entschuldigung." ["Ent-schul-di-gung."] "Entschuldigung." |
| Rebecca: "Entschuldigung." And after that? How's that phrase continuing? I mean, now we have the attention and can ask the question… |
| Widar: "Wie sagt man das auf Deutsch?" ["Wie sagt man das auf Deutsch?"] "Wie sagt man das auf Deutsch?" |
| Rebecca: "Wie sagt man das auf Deutsch?" ("How do you say this in German?") |
| Widar: We'll have a closer look at this phrase in the grammar section. |
| Rebecca: Okay. So you ask the question, you get your answer, but…if you're still just starting out with German, chances are you might not be able to catch the word right away. |
| Widar: I think that happens a lot! Oftentimes, when you're learning a language, your ears need to adjust to the language. So you can ask someone to repeat something if you didn't catch it. In that case, our next phrase, "Noch einmal bitte," comes in handy. |
| Rebecca: Can you say that again? |
| Widar: "Noch einmal bitte." ["Noch ein-mal bit-te."] "Noch einmal bitte." |
| Rebecca: "Noch einmal bitte." When exactly do we use it? |
| Widar: You can use this phrase when you want someone to repeat something you didn't catch in the first place. |
| Rebecca: Great. Let's break down that phrase. |
| Widar: First we have "noch einmal," which literally means "even one time," but you can use it to mean "once more." "Einmal" ("one time") in this case means "more," and "noch einmal" means "once more." |
| Rebecca: I see. |
| Widar: And then we end this phrase with "bitte." |
| Rebecca: Can we hear the phrase one more time? |
| Widar: "Noch einmal bitte." |
| Rebecca: "Noch einmal bitte." ("Once more, please." "Once again, please.") Great! So the person repeats the phrase for you. However…what if they say it at the same speed, and you still can't get it? |
| Widar: Yeah, that can happen a lot. Learning German can be tough because native German speakers can speak quite fast sometimes, but we have a phrase for that, too! "Langsam bitte." |
| Rebecca: Which means? |
| Widar: "Slowly, please." "Can you say it more slowly, please?" |
| Rebecca: This one is a lifesaver too! Let's break down this phrase now. What's the first word? |
| Widar: "Langsam." "Langsam" means "slowly." |
| Rebecca: And after that, we have…? |
| Widar: "Bitte." "Please." |
| Rebecca: This is the same phrase that we saw before, in "Noch einmal bitte." |
| Rebecca: So can we hear the phrase again? |
| Widar: "Langsam bitte." |
| Rebecca: "Langsam bitte." Okay, so now we've got two ways to ask for something to be repeated. What about the last phrase from the dialogue? |
| Widar: "Schreiben Sie das bitte auf." It's a polite request. Asking someone to write the word down will really help you memorize a word. Having a record can be very helpful for you to refer to in the future. And you can always look back at it and learn. |
| Rebecca: That's a bit like cheating… (laughing) |
| Widar: Nah, well, in a good way. (laughing) It just makes it easier for you to remember German words. |
| Rebecca: So, can you repeat the phrase, please? |
| Widar: "Schreiben Sie das bitte auf." ["Schrei-ben Sie das bit-te auf."] "Schreiben Sie das bitte auf." Literally, this means "Write you this please up," but we commonly use it for "Please write it down." |
| Rebecca: Okay. First, we have "schreiben Sie." |
| Widar: The verb "schreiben" means "to write," and the plural pronoun "Sie," set in capital letter, indicates the formal way of expressing the singular "you." Next is "das," which means "this" or "it," and finally, we have "bitte" ("please"), once again, and "auf," which literally is "up," but in this case means "down." |
| Rebecca: Oh, so in German you don't write something down, you write it up? |
| Widar: Yeah, you can say it that way. |
| Rebecca: "Schreiben Sie das bitte auf." ("Please write it down.") |
| Widar: Now let's check out some more grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Rebecca: In this lesson's grammar section, you'll learn the phrase "How do you say (something) in German?" In the dialogue, the first speaker is holding the barbecue sauce and says… |
| Widar: "Wie sagt man das auf Deutsch?" |
| Rebecca: "What's this in German?" "How do you say this in German?" With this phrase, you'll be able to learn a lot of German—while practicing your German at the same time! It speeds the process up, and it gets your mind thinking in German. Let's break down this sentence. |
| Widar: "Wie sagt man das auf Deutsch?" Well, this literally means, "How say one this in German?" but in more natural English it's "How do you say this in German?" |
| Rebecca: Can we hear the phrase one more time? |
| Widar: "Wie sagt man das auf Deutsch?" |
| Rebecca: "Wie sagt man das auf Deutsch?" ("How do you say this in German?") |
| Widar: Right. "Das" means "this." But you can put the English word instead of "das." |
| Rebecca: For example? |
| Widar: "Coffee." "Wie sagt man 'coffee' auf Deutsch?" ("How do you say coffee in German?") |
| Widar: "American." "Wie sagt man 'American' auf Deutsch?" ("How do you say American in German?") |
| Rebecca: "Bootcamp." "Wie sagt man 'Bootcamp' in German?" ("How do you say Bootcamp in German?") If you get this one down, you'll both impress people AND learn that word that's been missing from your vocabulary. |
| Widar: Definitely. What's good about this sentence is that you can also use the same structure to ask what something is called in English. |
| Rebecca: For example, if someone springs an unfamiliar German word on you, and you'd like to know what it's called in English, you can say… |
| Widar: "Wie sagt man (such and such) auf Englisch?" |
| Rebecca: Say "Wie sagt man," then insert the unfamiliar German word, and then say "auf Englisch." |
| Widar: "Englisch" means "English." |
| Rebecca: Say that again…oh, I mean…"Noch einmal bitte." |
| Widar: "Englisch." |
| Rebecca: "Langsam bitte." ("Slowly please.") |
| Widar: "Eng-lisch." |
| Rebecca: "Englisch." ("English.") Okay. So, Widar, can we hear all of the phrases we went over just one more time? "Noch einmal bitte." |
| Widar and Rebecca: "Entschuldigung." ("Excuse me.") / "Wie sagt man das auf Deutsch?" ("How do you say this in German?") / "Noch einmal bitte." ("Once more, please.") / "Langsam bitte." ("Slowly, please.") / "Schreiben Sie das bitte auf." ("Please write it down.") |
| Rebecca: All right! So remember, if you get stuck, you have these phrases to help you out! There's nothing to be worried about! |
Outro |
| 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. See you next time for more Bootcamp German! Thanks for listening! Bye! |
| Rebecca: "Bis bald." ("See you!") |
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