INTRODUCTION |
Chuck: Chuck here. Beginner series, season 2, Lesson #12. Giving Orders in German, The Letter Says, “Stay At Home!” Hello and welcome to the beginner series, season 2 at germanpod101.com where we study modern German in a fun, educational format. |
Judith: So brush up on the German that you started learning long ago or start learning today. |
Chuck: Thanks for being here with us for this lesson. Judith, what are we talking about in this lesson? |
Judith: In this lesson, you will learn how to give commands in German. |
Chuck: This conversation takes place outside on the way back home from the supermarket. |
Judith: It’s not quite a conversation. Rather Maria is reading us a letter she found in the front yard. |
Chuck: She and the writer of the letter do not seem overly friendly. So this letter will feature formal German. Now before we listen to the conversation |
Judith: We want to ask |
Chuck: Do you read the lesson notes while you listen? |
Judith: We received an email about the study tip. |
Chuck: So we were wondering if you tried it and if so |
Judith: What do you think of it? |
Chuck: You can leave us feedback in the comments section of this lesson. Okay let’s listen to this conversation. |
DIALOGUE |
Sagen Sie Ihrem Freund nichts. |
Geben Sie der Polizei keinerlei Informationen. |
Gehen Sie nicht mehr an die Spree. |
Bleiben Sie zuhause, essen Sie zuhause, ziehen Sie keine Aufmerksamkeit auf sich. |
Warten Sie auf ein Zeichen. |
Judith: Now it’s slowly. |
Sagen Sie Ihrem Freund nichts. |
Geben Sie der Polizei keinerlei Informationen. |
Gehen Sie nicht mehr an die Spree. |
Bleiben Sie zuhause, essen Sie zuhause, ziehen Sie keine Aufmerksamkeit auf sich. |
Warten Sie auf ein Zeichen. |
Judith: Now with the translation. |
Sagen Sie Ihrem Freund nichts. |
Don't tell your friend anything. |
Geben Sie der Polizei keinerlei Informationen. |
Don't give the police any kind of information. |
Gehen Sie nicht mehr an die Spree. |
Don't go to the Spree anymore. |
Bleiben Sie zuhause, essen Sie zuhause, ziehen Sie keine Aufmerksamkeit auf sich. |
Stay home, eat at home, don't attract any attention to yourself. |
Warten Sie auf ein Zeichen. |
Wait for a sign. |
POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
Judith: Sounds like criminal activity to me. |
Chuck: Yeah it does. |
Judith: But generally, Germany is a lot safer than the States. Most areas are safer. |
Chuck: Yeah but what happens next. |
Judith: You want me to tell you? I don’t think so. |
Chuck: Yeah tell me, tell me. |
Judith: No. |
Chuck: Well I have to wait for the next podcast? |
Judith: Yeah or maybe the one after that. |
Chuck: Okay. |
CULTURAL SECTION |
Judith: Let’s see what do we can make of the story but I was going to talk about crime in Germany. For example, there are no schools in Germany where the students must be checked for weapons. |
Chuck: I think that’s because well there just aren’t that many weapons here. |
Judith: Yeah there are hardly any gun violence either. |
Chuck: Ah but there are more hate crimes. |
Judith: Yeah well the definition is broadly. A lot more things are prosecuted, a lot of things are crimes in terms of hatred. |
Chuck: Like what? |
Judith: Well like making racist remarks, that’s like the most common or denying the holocaust. That’s a crime. On the whole I would say, Germany is a very safe place to visit. |
Chuck: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
VOCAB LIST |
Judith: First word [Sagen] |
Chuck: To say |
Judith: [Sagen, sagen] Next [Geben] |
Chuck: To give. |
Judith: [Geben, geben] Next [Polizei] |
Chuck: Police |
Judith: [Polizei, Polizei] Next [Keinerlei] |
Chuck: No kind of, not any |
Judith: [Keinerlei, keinerlei] Next [Information] |
Chuck: Information |
Judith: [Information, Information, die Information] This is feminine. Next [Mehr] |
Chuck: More |
Judith: [Mehr, mehr] Next [Bleiben] |
Chuck: Stay |
Judith: [Bleiben, bleiben] Next [Ziehen] |
Chuck: To pull or drag. |
Judith: [Ziehen, ziehen] Next [Auf] |
Chuck: On or on to. |
Judith: [Auf, auf] Next [Warten] |
Chuck: To wait |
Judith: [Warten, warten] |
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
Chuck: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
Judith: The first word we look at is the preposition [Auf]. This one is used in a variety of cases. |
Chuck: The direct English translation is [on] but as you know, prepositions don’t always translate exactly. |
Judith: Yeah for example, [Auf] is also used in [Warten auf] |
Chuck: To wait for |
Judith: And [Aufmerksamkeit ziehen auf] |
Chuck: To draw attention to. |
Judith: The second word we look at is [Mehr] |
Chuck: More |
Judith: Just on its own, it means more but in combination with [Nicht] it means not any more. So [Nicht mehr] is not any more. |
Chuck: Or just like no more. |
Judith: Yes okay now how about some grammar? |
Lesson focus
|
Chuck: This lesson’s sentences are not in the present tense. They are in the imperative form. The imperative is used to give commands or also polite requests if you add bitte. |
Judith: In German, the formal imperative is just the same as the formal present tense except that the verb comes first and the [Sie] comes second. So for example, if you say [Gehen Sie] |
Chuck: Go as in formally. |
Judith: Or [Kommen Sie] |
Chuck: Come but Judith, the informal is used more often. Isn’t it? |
Judith: Depends on what kind of people you interact with. If you are 50 years old, you probably use the formal imperative more often. |
Chuck: Umm okay. |
Judith: If you are a parent, use informal imperative more often because you have to tell your kid to do so many things or not to do. |
Chuck: And I guess if you are a boss, then you’d also use the formal imperative right? |
Judith: Yes of course. It would be very impolite to do it otherwise even with the bitte. |
Chuck: Yes unless you get really mad at your employees. |
Judith: No even then, it’s not. So the informal imperative is the kind that you’d use with friends and it’s more interesting. This one corresponds to just the word stem without any ending and the pronoun is not used either. So you just have a word like [Geh] |
Chuck: Go. |
Judith: Or [Komm] |
Outro
|
Chuck: Come. That just about does it for today. Okay some of our listeners already know about the most powerful tool in germanpod101.com |
Judith: Line by line audio. |
Chuck: The perfect tool for rapidly improving listening comprehension. |
Judith: By listening to lines of the conversation again and again. |
Chuck: Listen until every word and syllable becomes clear. Basically we break down the dialogue into comprehensible bite size sentences. |
Judith: You can try the line by line audio in the premium learning center at germanpod101.com |
Chuck: See you next time. |
Judith: [Bis nächstes Mal!] |
Comments
HideWhat are you doing to practise your German these days?
Hi Delia,
Thank you for getting back to us.
If you are doing all this besides studying our lessons on
a regular basis, your German will be perfect soon. In order to find a native speaker to talk to,
try your local paper or the internet for language exchange in your area. 😉
By the way, here are a few tiny little changes to
your sentences below:
Um Deutsch zu lernen, höre ich Podcasts und schreibe Nachrichten an meine neue “Hello Talk” Freundin. Leider, habe ich keine Gelegenheit Deutsch zu sprechen.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us again.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
Um Deutsch zu lernen, ich höre Podcasts und ich schreibe Nachrichtem mit meiner neuer “Hello Talk” freundin. Leider, habe ich keine Gelegenheit um Deutsch zu sprechen.
Hallo @robert groulx und @Mouad,
Danke schön for posting and studying with us. If you have any questions, please let us know.😄
Kind regards,
Levente
Team GermanPod101.com
I enjoyed this lesson
Danke schöne
i gorto you tube to preactice onlearning german .
words, verbs, adjectives
i am less confident on germn conversation
robert
thank you for the dialogue & vocabulary list
robert
Hi Marie,
These are difficult times we live in and people should, like you,
take the time to think about the issues you mention.
Thank you for pointing out the finer details.👍
If you have any questions, please let us know.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
A small point:
"More 'hate crimes' simply because the definition is broader, a lot more things are persecuted."
This should say "prosecuted" rather than "persecuted". To prosecute is to be legally charged with a crime, but to persecute someone means to to subject them to unfair punishment or harassment.
Cheers!
Hi J,
Thank you for your comment.
Great suggestion. I will pass it on to our team.😉
If you have any further questions, please let us know.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
Could it be possible to write (i.e. in brackets) the article for each noun? I think it would be really nice to associate them the way it is done in the lesson audio.
Thank you.
Hi Adam,
Thank you for your comment and sorry for the late reply.
You pay a lot of attention and I think you will be able to speak
German well very soon.😉
You are not wrong with what you are saying but sometimes there
are little differences in the verb forms. To take your example for instance:
"Go to the store!" and "Are you going to the store?"
"Geh zum Geschäft (bitte)!" vs. "Gehst Du zum Geschäft?"
If you have any further questions, please let us know.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
Hello Kim,
Thank you for posting and the nice feedback 😄! Great that you can practice German with your friend.
Sincerely,
Anne
Team GermanPod101.com
Ich übe meinen Deutsch mit dieser lektionen und spreche mit einem Freund, dass in Deutschland liebt. Er ist der Grund, dass ich Deutch lernen will.
Ich mag diese lektionen, weil sie lassen mich zu Deutsch zuhören üben. Die andere Internetseite, dass ich benutze, ist besser für lesen als für zuhören.
Just a clarifying question, I'm probably missing something simple, but isn't inverting the verb and subject also how you form a question? So, is it just based on the context that I would tell the difference? For instance, how can I tell the between "Go to the store!" and "Are you going to the store?" auf Deutsch?
Danke!
A
Hello Catherine,
Thank you for posting. That is an intriguing observation. ?
Let us know if you find an explanation, hahaha.
Cheers,
Patricia
Team GermanPod101.com
in German, note that in "attention" the third t is pronounced "ts"
while in French, in "attention", the third t is pronounced "ss"
and in English, it is pronounced "chchch..."
in which langage is it pronounced as it is written, that is "t" ?
isn't that funny? do you have an explanation of this universal refusal to pronounce it "t"?
Hello Jack,
Thank you very much for your kind feedback! ??
We are glad to hear that you are enjoying our lessons so far and wish you lots of success with your German studies!?
Indeed, some German words or phrases should be just seen as they are because they don't really make sense in English.
Please let us know if you have any questions!
Kind regards,
Albert
Team GermanPod101.com
Hello GermanPod101,
I have been listening to the podcasts for a while now, but I am just now making use of all the tools on the website. I am finding if I spend a little more time with the lesson, and really rehearse the line by line audio, that it starts rolling off my tongue easier and I am to make better use of the language :)
I did find the expression "ziehen Sie keine Aufmerksamkeit auf sich" to be an awkward translation. In English we would usually say "to draw attention to" whereas in German it seems to translate something like "to pull, to drag attention to". That threw me off a bit at first but it makes sense now. Sometimes my comprehension is aided when I stop translating in English and just see the language for how it is.
Vielen dank!
Tschuss :)
Jack
Hi Margaret,
Thank you for your comment and for sharing your tips on how to learn German!
Vielen Dank!
Clara
Team GermanPod101.com
This is how work. I just listen to the entire lesson. Then I go to the line-by-line dialogue and repeat each phrase until I feel comfortable. Sometimes, especially if I have spent some time reviewing an earlier lesson, I just stop and come back another time. Then I listen to the dialogue. I usually miss a couple of things, so I return to the line-by-line. Then I go to the vocabulary, the part that has all the extra sentences. I listen and repeat just the sentences unless there is a particular word that troubles me, and then I do that. Then I listen to the dialogue. By now I generally have no problems, but if there is still a problem, I listen to it again, following visually the line-by-line audio. Then I usually stop and come back another time to listen to the audio. If I have no problems, I mark the lesson complete. Of course, the slower the speaking in the lesson and the dialogue, the easier all of this is!!! But when the speaking picks up speed, I usually need to spend more time.