Learn how to ask about someone's favorite things and how to make small talk in Germany
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| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi everyone, and welcome back to GermanPod101.com. This is Business German for Beginners Season 1 Lesson 24 - Making Small Talk. John Here. |
| Jennifer: Guten Tag! I'm Jennifer. |
| John: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask about someone's favorites, or how to make small talk in Germany. The conversation takes place in the office. |
| Jennifer: It's between Linda Müller and Stefan Herzog. |
| John: The speakers are colleagues, therefore, they will speak informal German. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Linda Müller: Was ist deine Lieblingsspeise? |
| Stefan Herzog: Ich esse gerne Pizza. |
| Linda Müller: Und magst du auch deutsches Essen? |
| Stefan Herzog: Ja, am liebsten esse ich Schnitzel. |
| Linda Müller: Kannst du das zubereiten? |
| Stefan Herzog: ...nein, ich koche nicht so gern. |
| John: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Linda Müller: Was ist deine Lieblingsspeise? |
| Stefan Herzog: Ich esse gerne Pizza. |
| Linda Müller: Und magst du auch deutsches Essen? |
| Stefan Herzog: Ja, am liebsten esse ich Schnitzel. |
| Linda Müller: Kannst du das zubereiten? |
| Stefan Herzog: ...nein, ich koche nicht so gern. |
| John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation |
| Linda Müller: What is your favorite dish? |
| Stefan Herzog: I like to eat pizza. |
| Linda Müller: And do you also like German food? |
| Stefan Herzog: Yes, I like schnitzel the most. |
| Linda Müller: Can you make it? |
| Stefan Herzog: ...no, I don’t like to cook at all. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: All of this food talk is making me hungry. |
| Jennifer: Me too. Do you cook, John? |
| John: Ah, not really. I’m more of an eater than a cook. |
| Jennifer: I love to cook! |
| John: I wish I could! It’s really easy to talk about food, so it’s a good topic for small talk. |
| Jennifer: Yes, but small talk is not really welcome in Germany. Germans usually don't like superficial conversations |
| John: What kind of things do Germans like to talk about? |
| Jennifer: Hobbies, sports, and things like that. |
| John: Are there any topics that should be avoided? |
| Jennifer: News and politics can be tricky with people that you don’t know very well. |
| John: Yes, it can lead to arguments and confrontations if you’re not careful. |
| Jennifer: It’s best avoided in business situations. |
| John: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| John: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Jennifer: Lieblingsspeise [natural native speed] |
| John: favorite food |
| Jennifer: Lieblingsspeise[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: Lieblingsspeise [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: mögen [natural native speed] |
| John: to like |
| Jennifer: mögen[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: mögen [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: auch [natural native speed] |
| John: also, too |
| Jennifer: auch[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: auch [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: deutsches Essen [natural native speed] |
| John: German food |
| Jennifer: deutsches Essen[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: deutsches Essen [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: Schnitzel [natural native speed] |
| John: escalope, breaded steak |
| Jennifer: Schnitzel[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: Schnitzel [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: zubereiten [natural native speed] |
| John: to prepare |
| Jennifer: zubereiten[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: zubereiten [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Jennifer: nein [natural native speed] |
| John: no |
| Jennifer: nein[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: nein [natural native speed] |
| John: And last... |
| Jennifer: nicht so gern [natural native speed] |
| John: not so much |
| Jennifer: nicht so gern[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jennifer: nicht so gern [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| John: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Jennifer: zubereiten |
| John: meaning "to prepare." What can you tell us about this verb? |
| Jennifer: This is often used when talking about making food. |
| John: How is it used? |
| Jennifer: A common phrase is Essen zubereiten |
| John: “To prepare food.” |
| Jennifer: Be careful though, we only use this for cooking something. |
| John: So, we shouldn’t use it when baking a cake, for example. Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Jennifer: Sure. For example, you can say, Ich bereite ein Schnitzel vor. |
| John: ...which means "I prepare a schnitzel." |
| John: Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Jennifer: nicht so gern |
| John: meaning "not so much." When should we use this expression? |
| Jennifer: This is used for expressing dislikes and attitudes towards something. |
| John: Is it a formal expression? |
| Jennifer: It’s a mild and modest rejection that we use in casual situations. |
| John: What phrase should we use in a business situation? |
| Jennifer: You can use something more clear and direct, like Ich mag die Idee nicht. |
| John: “I don’t like this idea.” Can you give us an example using “not so much?” |
| Jennifer: Sure. For example, you can say, Ich mag das Essen nicht so gern. |
| John: ...which means "I don't like this food so much." |
| John: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn how to ask about someone's favorite things and how to make small talk in Germany. If we’re going to make small talk, then asking about likes and dislikes is a pretty safe topic. |
| Jennifer: If you want to know about someone’s favorite things, you use the noun Lieblings- and then add another noun. |
| John: The noun you add is the thing you’re asking about. Can we hear an example? |
| Jennifer: Was ist deine Lieblingssportart? |
| John: “What is your favorite sport?” |
| Jennifer: Was ist dein Lieblingstier? |
| John: “What is your favorite animal?” |
| Jennifer: You should use the question word was, meaning “what,” then ist, which is “is,” and then the appropriate possessive pronoun. |
| John: The pronoun used in the previous two examples was “your.” |
| Jennifer: Yes, dein. This is the singular informal “you.” |
| John: Let’s check a couple more possessive pronouns. How do we say “my” in German? |
| Jennifer: mein. |
| John: And how about “his” or “her.” |
| Jennifer: sein and ihr, respectively. You can also use sein for “its.” |
| John: As well as asking about favorites, we can ask about likes. How do we say “I like?” |
| Jennifer: Ich mag. It’s a conjugation of the verb mögen. |
| John: Which means “to like.” |
| Jennifer: The basic sentence structure is subject, followed by a conjugation of mögen, and then the thing you like. |
| John: How do we say “I like dogs?” |
| Jennifer: Ich mag Hunde. |
| John: Another good thing to ask about is someone’s abilities. How might we say “can you?” |
| Jennifer: We use the modal verb können to express if something is possible or if someone is capable of doing something. It comes as a set with a second verb. For example you can say, Kannst du schwimmen? |
| John: “Can you swim?” |
| Jennifer: Here is another example Können Sie Autofahren? |
| John: “Can you drive?” (polite) |
| Jennifer: The verb können is always used with an infinitive verb. In German, this infinitive verb comes at the very end of the sentence, and können is in second place. |
| John: There are more examples of how to conjugate this expression in the lesson notes. |
Outro |
| John: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Jennifer: Auf Wiedersehen! |
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