How to Give Your Phone Number

Learn how to give your phone number

Dialogue

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Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

Welcome to Can Do German by GermanPod101.com.

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to give your phone number in German.

For example, "My phone number is 0176 00005656." is

Meine Telefonnummer ist 0176 00005656.

Aylin Ahrens is at the city hall registering her address.

A civil servant is asking for her phone number.

Before you hear their conversation, let’s preview some of its key components.

Telefonnummer

"phone number"

Telefonnummer

Listen to the conversation, and focus on the response.

Note: the civil servant in this conversation uses formal German.

Ready?

Ihre Telefonnummer, bitte.

Meine Telefonnummer ist 0176 00005656.

Once more with the English translation.

Ihre Telefonnummer, bitte.

"Your phone number, please."

Meine Telefonnummer ist 0176 00005656.

"My phone number is 0176 00005656."

Let's break down the conversation.

Do you remember how the civil servant says,

"Your phone number, please."

Ihre Telefonnummer, bitte.

Let’s start with Telefonnummer, "phone number." Telefonnummer.

Note, in German words can sometimes be joined together to create a new word.Telefonnummer is Telefon, "phone," and nummer, "number," together.

Together it's Telefonnummer. "Phone number." Telefonnummer.

In German, all nouns have grammatical gender and are either singular or plural. Telefonnummer is feminine and singular — a fact that determines the form of other words in the sentence.

Before Telefonnummer is Ihre. A formal way to say "your." Ihre. Ihre

Note Ihre fundamentally means "their," but it’s also a formal way to say "your" when speaking to someone directly using formal German. Ihre. Ihre.

Ihre is feminine singular to agree with Telefonnummer.

Together, it’s Ihre Telefonnummer, a formal way to say "Your phone number." Ihre Telefonnummer.

Last is, bitte, meaning "please." Bitte. Bitte.

All together, it’s Ihre Telefonnummer, bitte. "Your phone number, please."

Ihre Telefonnummer, bitte.

Remember this request. You’ll hear it again later.

Let’s take a closer look at the response.

Do you remember how Aylin says,

"My phone number is 0176 00005656."

Meine Telefonnummer ist 0176 00005656.

Do you remember how to say "phone number?"

Telefonnummer. "Phone number." Telefonnummer.

Before this is meine, "my." Meine.

In this sentence, meine is feminine singular to agree with Telefonnummer.

Together, it’s Meine Telefonnummer. "My phone number." Meine Telefonnummer.

Next is ist, "is," as in "my phone number is." Ist. Ist.

Ist is from the verb sein, meaning "to be." Sein.

Together, it’s Meine Telefonnummer ist… "My phone number is.…" Meine Telefonnummer ist…

Next is Aylin’s phone number, 0176 00005656. 0176 00005656.

Note how Aylin says hers phone number.

When giving your phone number in German, say each digit separately. After the first group offour numbers, include a short pause in place of the space.

For example,

0176 00005656

All together, it’s Meine Telefonnummer ist 0176 00005656.

"My phone number is 0176 00005656."

Meine Telefonnummer ist 0176 00005656.

The pattern is

Meine Telefonnummer ist NUMBERr.

"My phone number is NUMBER."

Meine Telefonnummer ist NUMBER.

To use this pattern, simply replace the NUMBER placeholder with your phone number.

Note: this pattern requires a sequence of digits. Each should be said separately.

Imagine your phone number is 0175 12345678..

Say

"My phone number is 0175 12345678."

Ready?

Meine Telefonnummer ist 0175 12345678.

"My phone number is 0175 12345678."

Meine Telefonnummer ist 0175 12345678.

In this lesson the phone numbers are given digit by digit. In Germany, however, it's also common to contract the digits. For example, this number could also be read as follows:

0176 13431313.

However, as a beginner, the easiest way to say your phone number is digit-by-digit as in the dialog.

Again, the key pattern is

Meine Telefonnummer ist NUMBER.

"My phone number is NUMBER."

Meine Telefonnummer ist NUMBER.

Let's look at some examples.

Listen and repeat or speak along with the native speakers.

Meine Telefonnummer ist 0176 00005656.

"My phone number is 0176 00005656."

Meine Telefonnummer ist 0176 00005656.

Meine Telefonnummer ist 0175 12345678.

"My phone number is 0175 12345678."

Meine Telefonnummer ist 0175 12345678.

Meine Handynummer ist 0157 51425364.

"My mobile phone number is 0157 51425364."

Meine Handynummer ist 0157 51425364.

Meine Telefonnummer ist 01520 98761234.

"My phone number is 0152 98761234."

Meine Telefonnummer ist 01520 98761234.

0170 34125687.

"0170 34125687."

0170 34125687.

Did you notice how the native speaker omitted Meine Telefonnummer ist?

0170 34125687.

When directly responding to a request, it’s often possible to omit part of the response.

Here by simply giving your phone number, there’s no need to say Meine Telefonnummer ist, "My phone number is."

The pattern is

NUMBER.

You should be aware of this shortcut, but for this lesson, we’ll use the pattern

Meine Telefonnummer ist NUMBER.

"My phone number is NUMBER."

Handynummer.

"Mobile phone number."

Handynummer.

Let's review.

Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then repeat after the native speaker, focusing on pronunciation.

Ready?

Do you remember how to say "phone number?"

Telefonnummer.

And how to say "my phone number?"

Meine Telefonnummer.

Do you remember how to say

"My phone number is.…"

Meine Telefonnummer ist.

Do you remember how Aylin says,

"My phone number is 0176 00005656."

Meine Telefonnummer ist 0176 00005656.

Do you remember the formal way to say

"your phone number."

Ihre Telefonnummer.

Do you remember how the civil servant says,

"Your phone number, please."

Ihre Telefonnummer, bitte.

Let's practice.

Imagine you're Arnold Ahrens , and your phone number is 0176 22347899.

Respond to the civil servant’s request.

Ready?

Ihre Telefonnummer, bitte.

Meine Telefonnummer ist 0176 22347899.

Listen again and repeat.

Meine Telefonnummer ist 0176 22347899.

Let’s try another.

Imagine you're Aron Ahrens , and your phone number is 0176 64581352.

Ready?

Ihre Telefonnummer, bitte.

Meine Telefonnummer ist 0176 64581352.

Listen again and repeat.

Meine Telefonnummer ist 0176 64581352.

Let’s try one more.

Imagine you're Karla König , and your phone number is 0157 51425364.

Ready?

Ihre Telefonnummer, bitte.

Meine Telefonnummer ist 0157 51425364.

Listen again and repeat.

Meine Telefonnummer ist 0157 51425364.

This is the end of this lesson.

In this lesson, you learned how to give your phone number in German. This plays an essential role in the larger skill of sharing your contact information.

Remember, these Can Do lessons are about learning practical language skills.

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Keep practicing — and move on to the next lesson!

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