Learn the phrases to use at the post office
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| M: Hello and welcome to German Survival Phrases brought to you by germanpod101.com, this course is designed to equip you with the language skills and knowledge to enable you to get the most out of your visit to Germany. You will be surprised at how far a little German will go. Now before we jump in, remember to stop by germanpod101.com and there you will find the accompanying PDF and additional info in the post. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment. |
| F: German Survival Phrases. Lesson 39, Using the Post Office in Germany Part I. |
| M: My dear listeners, today we are going to take a trip to the post office. Now the post office in Germany is [Postamt] The corporate color is yellow and outside the post office, you find the writing [Deutsche Post] This is the first part of a two-part series. So today, we are going to work on getting your postcards, letters and packages home. The expression we knew to accomplish this is, I’d like to send this to and then the desired destination. For today’s lesson, we will use Vancouver. In German, I would like to send this to Vancouver is [Ich möchte das nach Vancouver schicken] Let’s break it down by syllable [Ich möchte das nach Vancouver schicken] Now let’s hear it once again [Ich möchte das nach Vancouver schicken] The first word [ich] means I. Let’s hear it one more time [ich] This is followed by [möchte] which in English is, would like to. The first person form of the verb [möchten] Let’s break it down and treat it one more time. [möchte] and [möchte] Then you have [das] a demonstrative pronoun meaning that. Let’s recap here. So far, we have [Ich möchte das] which means I would like to that. Next is [nach] to followed by the name of the city you are sending the mail or package to and finally we have the infinitive form of the verb [schicken] to send. Let’s break it down and hear it one more time. [schicken] And now altogether we have [Ich möchte das nach Vancouver schicken] Literally this means, I would like to that to Vancouver send and it’s translated as I would like to send this to Vancouver. Now we can build this up a bit by adding in the words for what we would like to send. For example, above we mentioned, postcards, letters and packages. So let’s try to send a postcard. Postcard in German is [Postkarte] Let’s break it down by syllable [Postkarte] Now let’s hear it once again [Postkarte] I would like to send this postcard to Vancouver in German is [Ich möchte diese Postkarte nach Vancouver schicken] Let’s break it down by syllable [Ich möchte diese Postkarte nach Vancouver schicken] Now let’s hear it once again [Ich möchte diese Postkarte nach Vancouver schicken] Notice that we substitute [das] that with [diese Postkarte] this postcard [diese] in English, this, is a demonstrative pronoun, feminine singular. Now let’s try letter which in German is [Brief] I would like to send this letter to Vancouver in German is [Ich möchte diesen Brief nach Vancouver schicken] So as you can notice, we simply substitute the word for postcard [Postkarte] with the German word for letter [Brief] introduced in the previous phrase and we also have to adjust the demonstrative pronoun [Brief] is a masculine noun and so demands the declined masculine singular demonstrative pronoun [diesen] this. Now let’s go and try to send a package. In German, I would like to send this package to Vancouver is [Ich möchte dieses Paket nach Vancouver schicken] Package in German is [Paket] Let’s break it down by syllable and hear it once more [Paket] and [Paket] So altogether we have [Ich möchte diese Paket nach Vancouver schicken] Now the package requires a closer look which we do in the next lesson. If you already have your letter or your postcards ready for sending, you don’t need to look for a post office. You just need to find a mailbox or a letterbox which in Germany you can recognize by its yellow color and the corporate sign, a black post horn printed on the box. You find them throughout the neighborhoods all over the country. You can see the sign [Post] and in notice with the timetable for collection [Leerungszeiten] and then the time and the days of collection. You will come across the following phrase there [Letzte Leerung] which means final collection [Letzte] means last. Let’s break it down by syllable and hear it one more time [Letzte] while [Leerung] means collection. [Leerung] So altogether we have [Letzte Leerung] final collection. Now that you know the basics, tune in next time for part 2 of the post office series. |
| Okay to close our today’s lesson, we would like you to practice what you’ve just learned. I will provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you are responsible for shouting it out aloud. You have a few seconds before I give you the answer. So [Viel Glück] which means good luck in German. |
| I would like to send this to Vancouver [Ich möchte das nach Vancouver schicken] I would like to send this postcard to Vancouver [Ich möchte diese Postkarte nach Vancouver schicken] I would like to send this letter to Vancouver [Ich möchte diesen Brief nach Vancouver schicken] I would like to send this package to Vancouver [Ich möchte dieses Paket nach Vancouver schicken] |
| That’s going to do it for today. |
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