Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

Let's take a closer look at the conversation.
Do you remember how Karen says,
"It's hot, isn't it?"
Es ist heiß, oder?
First is es, "it." Es. Es.
After this is ist, "is." Ist. Ist.
Ist is from the verb sein, "to be." Sein.
Next is heiß, "hot." Heiß. Heiß.
All together, Es ist heiß, literally, "it is hot," or, "It’s hot."
After this is oder, literally "or," but here meaning something like "or is it?" Here it translates as "isn’t it?" Oder. Oder.
All together, it’s Es ist heiß, oder? literally "It is hot, or," but it translates as "It's hot, isn't it?"
Es ist heiß, oder?
Let's take a closer look at the response.
Do you remember how the neighbor says,
"Yes, it's hot."
Ja, es ist heiß.
First is ja, meaning "yes." Ja. Ja.
Jessica uses Ja to show agreement with the speaker.
Next is es, "it." Es.
After this is ist, "is." Ist.
Ist is from the verb sein, "to be." Sein.
Last is heiß, "hot." Heiß.
All together, Ja, es ist heiß. Literally "Yes, it is hot," or "Yes, it's hot."
Ja, es ist heiß. 　
The pattern is　
Es ist WEATHER CONDITION.
"It’s WEATHER CONDITION.”
Es ist WEATHER CONDITION.
To use this pattern, simply replace the WEATHER CONDITION placeholder with the current weather condition.
Note: This pattern requires an adjective.
Imagine it’s cold, kalt. "Cold." Kalt. Kalt.
Say
"It's cold, isn’t it?"
Ready?
Es ist kalt, oder?
"It’s cold today, isn’t it?"
Es ist kalt, oder?
Using this verbal exclamation to talk about the weather is meant to elicit a response from the listener or listeners. It’s a way to start a conversation with a German speaker. Finding and creating speaking opportunities is an important skill, and probably more important than sharing practical observations about the weather.
One way of achieving this is simply attaching the word oder, literally "or," to the end of an affirmative sentence.
It’s like a tag question in English.
For example,
Es ist einfach, oder?
"It's easy, isn't it?"
Note, oder is more common in colloquial language. For formal situations, oder is usually replaced by nicht wahr? Literally "not true,” but it acts like a tag question.
For example,
Es ist heiß, nicht wahr?
It’s hot, isn’t it?
You should be aware of nicht wahr.

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