Learn things that you need to know at a hotel
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.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Judith: Hello [Ich heiße] Judith. |
| Chuck: Hi I’m Chuck. |
| Judith: [Sie hören GermanPod101.com.] |
| Chuck: You’re listening to GermanPod101.com. This is the new beginner series lesson 5. |
| Judith: [Willkommen] |
| Chuck: Welcome to the fifth lesson of the new beginners’ series on GermanPod101.com, here we cover conversation and comprehension. |
| Judith: Vocabulary and usage. |
| Chuck: And then show you how these actually apply in the German language. So [brush up on ] your German with us. All right, you did. What’s today’s topic? |
| Judith: Today we will learn how to book a room at a hotel. This conversation is going to be very useful when you come into Germany. |
| Chuck: Wait, don’t they all speak English? |
| Judith: No, not necessarily. Especially if you’re looking for a hotel that would give you a good deal. |
| Chuck: Or yes also if you’re booking a hotel in a small town. |
| Judith: Yes. |
| Chuck: Okay, Anyway, let’s just forget most of them speak English, and let’s get the dialogue. |
| Judith: Hey. |
| Chuck: Okay, So the first question you’ll ask is [Sprechen Sie Englisch?] |
| Judith: No, first question, Sie wünschen? |
| A: Sind noch Zimmer frei? |
| P: Ja, ein Doppelzimmer lässt sich wohl noch finden. |
| A: Doppelzimmer? Ich bin allein hier. |
| P: Die junge Dame reist nicht mit Ihnen? |
| A: Nein. Ich hätte gerne ein Einzelzimmer. |
| P: Natürlich. Wie lange möchten Sie bleiben? |
| A: Zwei Tage. |
| P: Wir haben noch ein Einzelzimmer in der dritten Etage. |
| A: Wie viel kostet das? |
| P: 120 Euro mit Halbpension. Frühstück gibt es von 8 bis 10. Ab halb elf macht das Zimmermädchen seine Runde. |
| A: Dann nehme ich das Zimmer. |
| P: Bitte unterschreiben Sie dann hier. Ihre Zimmernummer ist die 13. Auf Wiedersehen! |
| Judith: Now read slowly. |
| P: Sie wünschen? |
| A: Sind noch Zimmer frei? |
| P: Ja, ein Doppelzimmer lässt sich wohl noch finden. |
| A: Doppelzimmer? Ich bin allein hier. |
| P: Die junge Dame reist nicht mit Ihnen? |
| A: Nein. Ich hätte gerne ein Einzelzimmer. |
| P: Natürlich. Wie lange möchten Sie bleiben? |
| A: Zwei Tage. |
| P: Wir haben noch ein Einzelzimmer in der dritten Etage. |
| A: Wie viel kostet das? |
| P: 120 Euro mit Halbpension. Frühstück gibt es von 8 bis 10. Ab halb elf macht das Zimmermädchen seine Runde. |
| A: Dann nehme ich das Zimmer. |
| P: Bitte unterschreiben Sie dann hier. Ihre Zimmernummer ist die 13. Auf Wiedersehen! |
| Judith: Now with the translation. Sie wünschen? |
| Chuck: You wish. I guess it’s more like, what do you want? |
| Judith: Sind noch Zimmer frei? |
| Chuck: Are there still rooms free? |
| Judith: Ja, ein Doppelzimmer lässt sich wohl noch finden. |
| Chuck: Yes a double room let’s itself still be found. Wait, yes, a double room can still be found. |
| Judith: Doppelzimmer? Ich bin allein hier. |
| Chuck: A double room? I’m alone here. |
| Judith: Die junge Dame reist nicht mit Ihnen? |
| Chuck: The young lady isn’t travelling with you? |
| Judith: Nein. Ich hätte gerne ein Einzelzimmer. |
| Chuck: No I’d like a single room. |
| Judith: Natürlich. Wie lange möchten sie bleiben? |
| Chuck: Of course, how long would you like to stay? |
| Judith: Zwei Tage. |
| Chuck: Two day. |
| Judith: Wir haben noch ein Einzelzimmer in der dritten Etage. |
| Chuck: We still have a single room on the third floor. |
| Judith: Wie viel kostet das? |
| Chuck: How much does that cost? |
| Judith: 120 Euro mit Halbpension. |
| Chuck: 120 Euros with-- is this have pension here, well that’s not-- |
| Judith: Half board. |
| Chuck: Half board is the translation, just means with two meals. |
| Judith: Yes. I also said. Frühstück gibt es von 8 bis 10. |
| Chuck: Yeah, but you shouldn’t have said it. Breakfast is from 8:00 to 10:00. |
| Judith: Ab halb elf macht das Zimmermädchen seine Runde. |
| Chuck: Starting at 10:30 the cleaning lady will make her rounds. |
| Judith: Dann nehme ich das Zimmer. |
| Chuck: Then I’ll take the room. |
| Judith: Bitte unterschreiben Sie dann hier. |
| Chuck: Please sign here. |
| Judith: Ihre Zimmernummer ist die 13. Auf Wiedersehen! |
| Chuck: Your room number is 13, goodbye. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: That room number is 13, I’m not surprised it wasn’t taken yet. |
| Chuck: You actually believe in that stuff? |
| Judith: Not me of course, but, there are quite a few Germans who believe in that, I think in average of like 51% even. |
| Chuck: So you mean about superstitious believes, right? |
| Judith: Yes, believes like unlucky numbers, unlucky events, unlucky symbols. Like black cats coming from a certain direction, or that you’re not supposed to walk under a ladder. |
| Chuck: Don’t you know that Halloween was last week. |
| Judith: Come on, that’s nothing to do with Halloween. You know we don’t celebrate Halloween in Germany. This is just simple superstition. |
| Chuck: All right, I think so much just [inaudible] making her lessons. |
| Judith: No, there are also good superstations, for example the four leaf clover is a sign of luck. Or the chimneysweeper. |
| Chuck: In another way, do you want to say that you have all the superstitions here that we do in the states. |
| Judith: There’re also a lot of people here believing in horoscopes here, like every newspaper, every magazine has to have horoscopes. |
| Chuck: And people here also don’t believe that electric fireplaces exist. |
| Judith: It’s hard to imagine, but I’ll tell you what, people over there don’t believe that castles exist. It’s like I already had two Americans tell me, castles, isn’t that something that Walt Disney invented? |
| Chuck: Yeah, it’s really cool actually here you find some castles even transformed to youth hostels. |
| Judith: Yes. |
| Chuck: You imagine staying for a few nights in a youth hostel in a castle. |
| Judith: You know, you don’t have to be young to stay at these. So I looked into this for a friend actually recently and I found 14 different youth hostels that are actually castles. So you even have a choice of where you want to go. |
| Chuck: Yeah, and I hear that if you’ve a really big group, like say like 50 people I guess, you can even rent an entire castle. I remember there was a chapter in-- I think was that awful German for dummies book that had a chapter, can I please rent a castle? |
| Judith: I don’t think you’ve been renting the whole castle, just the youth hostel part of it. |
| Chuck: I’m thinking of our business listeners, who want to take their entire company overseas. |
| Judith: Yeah, you know, there’re also hotels in castles of course, or conference rooms that you can book there. It might be an interesting location. |
| Chuck: Yeah, I think your employees will thank you. Yeah, the largest castle’s actually in Heidelberg. |
| Judith: Yeah, but there you can’t stay, it’s just for visiting. |
| Chuck: Yeah, but these are mostly American listeners, so you have to tell them the biggest, you know, it’s the American way. |
| Judith: Even it’s like ruins it’s not complete anymore. There are other castles where you can still like walk around and see the different rooms and the old furniture and the knights armor and stuff. I enjoy the small things where you don’t share your space with so many tourists. |
| Chuck: But in Heidelberg castle, you can buy ice-wine. |
| Judith: Okay, you’ll stay in Heidelberg, I’ll visit the rest of Germany. |
| Chuck: Yeah, I’ll be in the biggest castle, I’ll be in the biggest castle. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Judith: Okay, let’s look at vocabulary, if you want to book a room you need some vocabulary. The first word-- |
| Chuck: I think my first need’s a room, word for room. Don’t you? |
| Judith: Yeah, that was-- for I was-- I want to teach you. The word is [Zimmer] |
| Chuck: Yeah sure if I had her manager, okay [Zimmer] is room. |
| Judith: [Zimmer, Zimmer] |
| Chuck: Room. |
| Judith: The word is neuter [Das Zimmer] and the plural is the same [Doppel] |
| Chuck: double. |
| Judith: This is a prefix, you don’t use it on its own. [Doppel] like [Doppelzimmer] |
| Chuck: Double room, you might also notice from science fiction movies like doppelganger. |
| Judith: Yes, or psychology. Next word [Einzel] |
| Chuck: Single. |
| Judith: [Einzel, einzel] |
| Chuck: Single. |
| Judith: As in [Einzelzimmer] |
| Chuck: Single room. Don’t you also use [Einzel] with train tickets? |
| Judith: Yeah, [Einzelfahrschein] single ticket. |
| Chuck: Yeah, all right. |
| Judith: Next [Dritter] |
| Chuck: Third. |
| Judith: [Dritter, dritter] |
| Chuck: Third. |
| Judith: Next [Frei] |
| Chuck: Free. |
| Judith: [Frei, frei] |
| Chuck: Free. |
| Judith: Next [Lassen] |
| Chuck: To let. |
| Judith: [Lassen, lassen]. |
| Chuck: To let. |
| Judith: This is a vowel changing verb, so the second and third person singular actually use the vowel [Ä] instead of [A] |
| Chuck: [Ä]. |
| Judith: With an umlaut. [Ich lasse, du lässt, er lässt, wir lassen, ihr lasst, sie lassen] Next [Hätte, hätte gern] |
| Chuck: Would like. |
| Judith: This is actually the [Konjunktiv] of [Haben, hätte] would have, would have gladly [Gern] but it means would like and it’s extremely common, that’s why I’m teaching it as a phrase, because you just need it to order just about anything, you say [Ich hätte gerne einen Kaffee, Ich hätte gern eine Postkarte] whatever [Ich hätte gern]. |
| Chuck: What’s different between that and [Möchte] |
| Chuck: It’s not as common to say [Ich möchte einen Kaffee] and [Möchte] you can use with another verb, for example [Ich möchte verreisen] or something. |
| Judith: But [Ich hätte gern] you can’t say [Ich hätte gern reisen] doesn’t work. [Hätte gern] is really very specific for things that you’d like to have to buy or drink or eat or whatever. |
| Judith: So, wait, that would be like [Ich hätte gern ein] premium membership bei GermanPod101, right? |
| Chuck: Yeah, that works. |
| Judith: Next [Etage] |
| Chuck: Floor. |
| Judith: [Etage, Etage] |
| Chuck: Floor. And this will be familiar for those of you who’ve studied French I believe. |
| Judith: Yes, except German massacres a bit of it. And it’s only means floor in the sense of like first floor, second floor, third floor. |
| Chuck: So when Americans pronounce this, and they’re massacring the German massacring of the French word? |
| Judith: Don’t get me started. [Etage] that’s how you pronounce it in German. Next [Kosten] |
| Chuck: To cost, or to try a taste. |
| Judith: [Kosten, kosten] |
| Chuck: You normally say this to cost. |
| Judith: Yes, but it also means to try taste, as in [Darf ich mal kosten?] May I try a bit? Cost is like an elevated word for food. |
| Chuck: Okay. |
| Judith: Next [Halbpension] |
| Chuck: Half board, basically means you’re getting two meals. |
| Judith: [Halbpension] |
| Chuck: Half board. |
| Judith: This word is feminine. |
| Chuck: And also know there’s also [Vollpension] even it’s not on the vocabulary, which means all three meals. |
| Judith: Yes, [Voll] V O Double L, means full, and [Vollpension] full board. |
| Chuck: So I guess this is sort of with the rooming board for collages comes in. |
| Judith: Maybe. |
| Chuck: Interesting. |
| Judith: Okay. Next [Frühstück.] |
| Chuck: Early piece. Oh, if you’re eating an early piece you’ll be eating breakfast, right? Eat early piece makes as much sense as breakfast, doesn’t it? |
| Judith: [Frühstück] |
| Chuck: Breakfast. |
| Judith: This word is neuter, [Das Frühstück] there’s also a verb called [Frühstücken] |
| Chuck: Yup, let’s breakfast. |
| Judith: No, to have breakfast. |
| Chuck: Right. |
| Judith: Next [Ab] |
| Chuck: From or starting at. |
| Judith: [Ab] |
| Chuck: From or starting at. |
| Judith: Next [Zimmermädchen] |
| Chuck: Chambermaid. Where do you find that? |
| Judith: That’s the normal word for this kind of person. |
| Chuck: Sounds like it’s from medieval story. I think, how do I translate it in the dialogue. The cleaning lady I think I said. |
| Judith: Yeah, except it’s only applies to hotels and she may do more than just cleaning you know, arrange everything for the new guests. It’s neuter [Das Zimmermädchen, Zimmer, Zimmer] the room [Mädchen, Mädchen] the girl [Zimmmermädchen] |
| Chuck: Chambermaid or the cleaning lady. |
| Judith: Next, [Runde] |
| Chuck: Round or tour. |
| Judith: [Runde] |
| Chuck: Round or tour. |
| Judith: It’s feminine and the plural is [Runden]. |
| Chuck: Rounds or tours. |
| Judith: Next word is [Unterschreiben] |
| Chuck: To sign. |
| Judith: [Unterschreiben] |
| Chuck: To sign. |
| Judith: Literally. |
| Chuck: Underwrite. |
| Judith: Next [Nummer] |
| Chuck: Number. |
| Judith: [Nummer, Nummer] |
| Chuck: Number. |
| Judith: This word is feminine and the plural is [Nummern] |
| Chuck: Numbers. |
| Judith: For example, you might see those in [Telefonnummer.] |
| Chuck: Telephone number. |
| Judith: Or [Zimmernummer]. |
| Chuck: Room number [Flugnummer] was also right? |
| Judith: Yes [Flugnummer] anything. |
| Chuck: All right, so let’s go. |
| Judith: No. |
| Chuck: Have a nice week and-- |
| Judith: We haven’t done much yet, this was on the vocabulary. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Judith: Now what follows is word usage. |
| Chuck: Why don’t you leave me alone? |
| Judith: I’m not the one keeping you here. You’re delaying us. Always talking about new words that I wasn’t going to teach yet. Now don’t bout, give me words to analyze, give you example sentences. |
| Chuck: How about [Lassen] |
| Judith: [Lassen?] for example, [Lass mich in Ruhe?] |
| Chuck: I thought I’ve just said that. |
| Judith: You like making jokes, don’t you. |
| Chuck: Leave me in peace. |
| Judith: Or [Ich lasse dich jetzt arbeiten.] |
| Chuck: That sounds good, I’ll leave you here to work. |
| Judith: No, as in I won’t interrupt your work anymore. |
| Chuck: Oh. |
| Judith: Next, what can you give me. |
| Chuck: [Hätte gern.] |
| Judith: [Was hätten sie gern?] |
| Chuck: What would you like? |
| Judith: [Ich hätte gern ein Stück Kuchen.] |
| Chuck: You always want the sweet stuff. I would like a piece of cake. I guess for getting a piece of cake how much is that going to cost? How about [Kosten] |
| Judith: [Kosten, was kostet das?] |
| Chuck: What does that cost? |
| Judith: Or as I explained before, [Möchten sie einmal kosten?] |
| Chuck: Would you like to try it once? All right, how about [Ab] |
| Judith: [Ab 8 Uhr ist es hier immer laut.] |
| Chuck: Starting at 8:00 it is always loud here. |
| Judith: Or [Ab Köln ist immer Stau.] |
| Chuck: Starting at Cologne is always a traffic jam. |
| Judith: Yeah, so you can see that [Ab] can be used with times or with locations. |
| Chuck: If you’re renting a car in Germany you should know the word [Stau.] |
| Judith: Traffic jam. |
| Chuck: I thought you were saying I was the one introducing new words here. |
| Judith: Hey, it’s just an example that came to mind. |
| Chuck: All right. Being tired of all those word usage, how about we just go for the dialogue and finish up? |
| Judith: Okay. |
| P: Sie wünschen? |
| A: Sind noch Zimmer frei? |
| P: Ja, ein Doppelzimmer lässt sich wohl noch finden. |
| A: Doppelzimmer? Ich bin allein hier. |
| P: Die junge Dame reist nicht mit Ihnen? |
| A: Nein. Ich hätte gerne ein Einzelzimmer. |
| P: Natürlich. Wie lange möchten sie bleiben? |
| A: Zwei Tage. |
| P: Wir haben noch ein Einzelzimmer in der dritten Etage. |
| A: Wie viel kostet das? |
| P: 120 Euro mit Halbpension. Frühstück gibt es von 8 bis 10. Ab halb elf macht das Zimmermädchen seine Runde. |
| A: Dann nehme ich das Zimmer. |
| P: Bitte unterschreiben Sie dann hier. Ihre Zimmernummer ist die 13. Auf Wiedersehen! |
| Chuck: Wait a minute, I think I caught something there. She said a room is only 120 Euros. |
| Judith: Yeah, I saw that. |
| Chuck: Wait a minute, That guy is supposedly staying in the Adlon, right? That the Adlon is the finest hotel in Berlin. |
| Judith: Yeah, it really makes me wonder where the Turkish taxi driver dropped him off, I’m sure that at the Adlon you pay like 300 Euros for the, even the simplest room. |
| Chuck: Yeah, I saw that their best room is 10,000 Euros for the presidential security suite. |
| Judith: Can you imagine that per night? |
| Chuck: Yeah, 10,000 Euros. Can you imagine how long you can have a premium membership to GermanPod with that money? Tell that guy to listen to our podcast. Well, anyway I hope you all enjoy the lesson, and be sure to tell or of your extremely rich friends to check out GermanPod101, well, okay, any of your friends actually. |
| Judith: You don’t need to be rich for that, our subscriptions are like one night at the hotel, really affordable. |
| Chuck: Remember you deserve the very best, and with the very best, you find lots of extra materials and a community of fellow German students. |
| Judith: The community is there for anybody, even non-subscribers. |
Outro |
|---|
| Chuck: Yeah, but subscribe anyway, it’s cool. Then you’ll support us too, and make us very happy. |
| Judith: Yup. |
| Chuck: All right, I’ll see you soon. |
| Judith: [Bis bald]. |
Comments
Hide