Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

Let's take a closer look at the conversation.
Do you remember how Ben says,
"How do you say 'book' in German?"
Wie sagt man "book" auf Deutsch?
The standard way to ask for the meaning of a word in German follows a simple pattern.
First is wie, "how." Wie. Wie.
Next is sagt man, "One says." Sagt man.
First is sagt, "says." Sagt. Sagt.
Sagt is from the verb sagen, "to say." Sagen.
Next is man, roughly translating as "one," as in "one says." Man. Man.
Together, Wie sagt man, literally "How says one," but translates as, "how [does] one say." Wie sagt man.
After this is the English word, "book."
Last is the phrase, auf Deutsch, meaning "in German." Auf Deutsch.
First is, auf, meaning "in," in this context. Auf. Auf.
After this is Deutsch, "German," as in the language. Deutsch. Deutsch.
All together, Wie sagt man "book" auf Deutsch? literally means something like, "How says one 'book' in German?" but translates as, "How [does] one say 'book' in German?" and in more natural English, "How do you say 'book' in German?"
Note the rising intonation of the sentence to mark that it's a question.
Wie sagt man "book" auf Deutsch?
Let's take a closer look at the response.
Do you remember how Karla says,
“You say ‘book.’”
Man sagt "Buch."
First is the phrase, man sagt, "one says," but translates here as "you say." Man sagt.
After this is the answer to the question, Buch, "Book." Buch. Buch.
All together Man sagt "Buch," literaly means something like, "One says "book," but it translates as "You say ‘book'.”
Man sagt "Buch."
The pattern is
Wie sagt man "ENGLISH WORD" auf Deutsch?
"How do you say 'ENGLISH WORD' in German?"
Wie sagt man "ENGLISH WORD" auf Deutsch?
To use this pattern, simply replace the ENGLISH WORD placeholder with the word you want to know.
Imagine you want to know the German word for "pen."
Ask
"How do you say 'pen' in German?"
Ready?
Wie sagt man "pen" auf Deutsch?
"How do you say 'pen' in German?"
Wie sagt man "pen" auf Deutsch?
This lesson introduces a grammatically complex, but commonly used, pattern: the impersonal form with man. The man-construction is used to express what people do in general, rather than point to a specific person.
The pattern is man plus a verb in the third person. The example used in the lesson was man sagt, “one says.” Let’s quickly look at a few more examples.
Man liest, "one reads," as in "one reads a 'book.'"
Man isst, "one eats," as in "one eats a lot at Christmas."
Man schläft, "one sleeps," as in "one sleeps late on Saturday."

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