Learn how to ask where somebody is
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| Hallo, ich heiße Laura. Hi everybody! I’m Laura. |
| Welcome to GermanPod101.com’s “Deutsch in 3 Minuten”. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn German. |
| In the last lesson, we learned how to talk about nationality. This is the second part of our lesson on the verb sein, which is "to be". |
| This verb is also used to talk about location, to say things like "I am in the street" or "He is in the room", so it's very useful! |
| When you want to know where something or someone is, you use the verb sein in German. |
| For example, when someone asks you on the phone Wo bist du? That means "Where are you?" in an informal way. |
| Let's break it down. |
| Wo means "Where" |
| Bist is "are.” This is the “to be” verb sein conjugated for du. |
| And du, as you know, is the informal word for "you" |
| All together it is Wo bist du? |
| [slowly] Wo bist du? |
| Answering this question is very easy! You just say Ich bin + the place where you are. |
| Ich means “I” and bin is that verb sein again. |
| Then you add the place. So for example, you can say Ich bin auf der Straße which is "I am in the street" |
| [slowly] Ich bin auf der Straße. |
| Now let’s see a few other possible answers with I: |
| "I am at the office" would be Ich bin im Büro. |
| "I am in a meeting" would be Ich bin bei einer Konferenz. |
| "I am in a store" would be Ich bin in einem Geschäft. |
| Another useful expression with the verb sein is when you introduce yourself . You can say ich bin + your name. |
| For example Ich bin Laura. |
| When You pick up the phone it’s really simple—you just say your name. |
| This verb sein changes a lot depending on the pronoun and its tense. Let’s review a few of the versions we’ve seen so far. |
| Ich bin, I am – Ich bin Amerikaner. |
| Du bist, you are – Du bist Franzose. |
| Er ist, he is ,- Er ist Grieche |
| Sie ist, she is- Sie ist Griechin |
| Es ist , it is- Es ist griechisch |
| Wir sind, we are - wir sind Engländer |
| Ihr seid, you all are - Ihr seid Japaner |
| Sie sind, you are - Sie sind Chinese |
| sie sind, they are - sie sind Chinesen |
| Now it’s time for Laura’s tips. |
| Also with the verb sein, you can use this convenient question if you are lost in the street for example: |
| Ich weiß nicht wo ich bin, können Sie mir bitte helfen? |
| That means I don’t know where I am, can you help me please? |
| [slowly] Ich weiß nicht wo ich bin, können Sie mir bitte helfen? |
| In this lesson we learned how to talk about your location thanks to verb sein. Next time we’ll learn how to ask about somebody's age in German? I’ll be waiting for you in the next Deutsch in 3 Minuten lesson. |
| Bis bald! |
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