The focus of this lesson is a summary of what you should know by now.
Frau Bayer wird Ihnen heute einige Ihrer Aufgaben zeigen.
"Mrs Bayer will show you some of your tasks today."

In this series we will review and expand on your knowledge of German grammar. As this is a series for intermediate students, we are assuming some basic knowledge of German grammar already though. Obviously you should know the genders of German nouns, the plural and the present tense conjugation of verbs, including some irregular ones, such as sein and haben. Other things as a quick recap:

• the future tense is formed with werden and the infinitive: ich werde gehen, du wirst gehen, er wird gehen, wir werden gehen, ihr werdet gehen, sie werden gehen

• the simple past tense of „sein“ is based on the stem „war“: ich war, du warst, er war, ... Other than this, we're not going to assume any knowledge of the past tense for now.

• there are verbs that adopt a lighter vowel for the 2^nd and 3^rd person singular: e. g. ich sehe, du siehst, er sieht, wir sehen, ihr seht, sie sehen. Similarly for geben (gibt), halten (hält) and, more irregularly, nehmen (nimmt).

• verbs can have prefixes, which alter the meaning a bit. Many of these prefixes split off for the present tense but are attached to the verb for the infinitive: e. g. mitkommen → er kommt mit

• the first verb in a sentence always comes in second position. The second and any other verb is placed at the very end of the sentence, after everything else. Split-off prefixes also typically go to the end of the sentence. In a subclause, even the first verb is at the end of the sentence.

• „möchte“ means „would like“. It's the conditional tense of „mögen“ (to like) but it's too useful to be kept until we learn the conditional tense. Similarly, „könnte“ is „could“ in polite requests.

• „can“ is „können“ in German. Ich kann, du kannst, er kann, wir können, ihr könnt, sie können

• „must“ is „müssen“ in German. Ich muss, du musst, er muss, wir müssen, ihr müsst, sie müssen

• „may“ is „dürfen“ in German. Ich darf, du darfst, er darf, wir dürfen, ihr dürft, sie dürfen

1. Arbeitsplatz is a compound noun literally meaning work-place. It can be used in an abstract sense as in „In Deutschland fehlen 4 Millionen Arbeitsplätze“ (Germany is missing 4 million jobs) or in a very concrete sense as in today's dialog, where it meant „cube“ or „workplace“.

2. To introduce somebody, say „Ich möchte Ihnen (meinen Chef / Ihren Kollegen / …) Herrn X vorstellen“.

3. Acceptable answers to an introduction are „Angenehm, Sie kennenzulernen“, „Angenehm“, „Freut mich, Sie kennenzulernen“ or, more informally, „Nett, Sie kennenzulernen“. You may just say „Angenehm“ or „Freut mich“ and the rest will be understood, as these words don't appear at the beginning of any other phrases.

4. "Guten Appetit" is what Germans say before having a meal. Literally, they are wishing each other a good appetite, but it's basically a wish that the others might enjoy their meal. At work, you may also hear "Mahlzeit" (meal) as a general greeting.

Etiquette at the job

• In all but the smallest companies, you should expect to always use formal language with your boss and for him to maintain a certain distance.

• Colleagues of roughly the same standing however tend to form tightly-knit groups, who also regularly spend free time together.

• You may have to prove yourself before you'll be part of that kind of circle. Also you should wait for older colleagues to offer you the use of informal language before you start doing so, anything else would seem disrespectful and make for a bad job climate.

• Once you have shown each other respect this way, the switch to informal language marks the beginning of a friendship.