030_b8_060508_gpod101

LESSON NOTES

Beginner #8Breakfast Time! 2

CONTENTS

2 Formal German2 English3 Informal German3 English4 Vocabulary5 Sample Sentences5 Grammar6 Cultural Insight

# 8

COPYRIGHT © 2013 INNOVATIVE LANGUAGE LEARNING. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

GERMANPOD101.COM BEGI NNER #8 - BREAKFAS T TI ME! 2 2

FORMAL GERMAN

1. 1: Herr Williams, trinken Sie Kaffee zum Frühstück? Oder lieber Tee?

2. #2: Kaffee ist gut.

3. #1: Hier ist Ihr Kaffee.

4. #2: Danke.

5. #1: Herr Williams, geben Sie mir bitte den Honig.

6. #2: Bitte.

7. #1: Danke.

8. #2: Ich nehme mir noch zwei Würstchen, ist das okay?

9. #1: Okay.

ENGLISH

1. #1: Mr Williams, do you drink coffee for breakfast? Or [would you] rather [have] tea?

2. #2: Coffee is good.

3. #1: Here’s your coffee.

4. #2: Thanks.

5. #1: John, please give me the honey.

CONT'D OVER


6. #2: Here you are.

7. #1: Thanks.

8. #2: I’m taking two more sausages, okay?

9. #1: Okay.

INFORMAL GERMAN

1. #1: John, trinkst du Kaffee zum Frühstück? Oder lieber Tee?

2. #2: Kaffee ist gut.

3. #1: Hier ist dein Kaffee.

4. #2: Danke.

5. #1: John, gib mir bitte den Honig.

6. #2: Bitte.

7. #1: Danke.

8. #2: Ich nehme mir noch zwei Würstchen, okay?

9. #1: Okay.

ENGLISH

CONT'D OVER


1. #1: John, do you drink coffee for breakfast? Or [would you] rather [have] tea?

2. #2: Coffee is good.

3. #1: Here’s your coffee.

4. #2: Thanks.

5. #1: John, please give me the honey.

6. #2: Here you are.

7. #1: Thanks.

8. #2: I’m taking two more sausages, okay?

9. #1: Okay.

VOCABULARY

German English Class Gender

trinken to drink verb

noch still; yet; another adverb

nehmen to take verb

vowel-changing verb: ich nehme, du nimmst, er nimmt,

wir nehmen…

Honig honey noun, masculine, der masculine; no plural

mir to mepersonal pronoun;

Dative Dative


geben to give verb

vowel-changing verb: ich gebe, du gibst, er gibt, wir

geben…

dein your (informal) possessive pronoun

Tee tea noun masculine; no plural

lieber rather adverb

zwei two (2) numeral

SAMPLE SENTENCES

Ich tr inke im m er Kaffee, wenn ich

arbe i te .

I always drink coffee when I work.

Ich tr inke ke in Bier.

I don't drink any beer.

Es ist noch Winter.

It's still winter.

Nim m di r noch e in Stück Fle isch!

Take another piece of meat!

Ich tr inke gerne Mi lch m i t Honig.

I like drinking milk with honey.

Bi tte g ib m ir e twas z u trinken!

Please give me something to drink!

Bi tte g ib m ir e twas z u trinken!

Please give me something to drink!

Dein Haus ist sehr groß.

Your house is very big.

Kom m st du a l le in oder kom m t dein

Mann auch?

Are you coming alone or is your husband coming, too?

Möchtest du e inen grünen Tee?

Would you like some green tea?

Isst du l ieber Steak oder Schni tz e l?

Do you prefer eating steak or schnitzel?

Möchtest du e in oder z wei

Brötchen?

Do you want one or two rolls?

GRAMMAR


Remember cases from the 6th beginner lesson? You already saw the Nominative case, the default case for which “der”, “die” and “das” don’t change. In the 6th lesson, you also saw the Dative case, which turns the articles into “dem”, “der” and “dem”. The Dative case is usually used after prepositions, or also for people when they are the object of a sentence. For example, we met “dir” in the last lesson’s dialog, and “mir” in this lesson’s dialog, and they are the Dative equivalents of “du” and “ich”.

Now in today’s lesson, we’ll have a glance at another case, the Accusative. As the name suggests, this case would be used in the sentence “You accuse me of…” – the “me” in there is the Accusative of “I”. However, the Accusative is not limited to that sentence. In German, it’s used whenever a thing is an object of a sentence (as opposed to the Dative case, which is for people), and sometimes it’s even used for people as well! We’ll dive more into those irregularities later, for now it’s enough if you remember that: - Nominative is used for the subject of a sentence, for dictionary entries and the like - Dative is used after most prepositions and it is often used when people are the object of a sentence - Accusative is used when things or people are the object of a sentence

Just like the other cases, Accusative does not require any change to the noun, only the article changes. Instead of “der”, “die” and “das” you get “den”, “die”, “das” – so actually you only need to pay attention to masculine nouns. And for plural, the article doesn’t change either, it’s still “die”. Here’s a little overview of the forms of “der”, “die” and “das” in the forms that we’ve encountered so far. You can find an absolutely complete list of forms in the Grammar Bank.

Singular Nominative: der, die, das Dative: dem, der, dem Accusative: den, die, das Plural Nominative: die, die, die Accusative: die, die, die

CULTURAL INSIGHT

There are some things you should know about having meals in Germany. First is, that people generally try to have meals together, as a family or as a group of friends, and people are adverse to eating regular meals “on the side”, that is, while watching TV, while standing or anything that does not involve sitting down at a table together with others and eating leisurely.

Once everybody has sat down, somebody will say “Guten Appetit” (to wish people a good appetite or enjoyment of the meal), others will respond the same or “Danke, gleichfalls” (thanks, to you too) or the like and then everybody can start eating. It’s impolite to


start before everybody has sat down or before wishing people a good appetite. Some families will also pray before the meal, and if you’re with a big party, somebody may want to make a speech before people start eating. In order not to commit a faux pas, just assume things are going to be this way. If really people want you to start without them, they will tell you. Once you’re done, don’t just get up but wait until everybody else is done, too, so that you don’t ruin the calm atmosphere… people don’t like feeling hurried during their meal. Again, if it’s different, people will tell you that you can already leave.

People like to drink beer with simple dishes and wine with more fancy dishes. Very often, especially when it’s for lunch, people will just have water or Apfelschorle instead though. Apfelschorle is apple juice mixed with carbonated mineral water. It’s refreshing and quite healthy. Note that some households will not have any soda, lemonade or non-carbonated water. Restaurants and cafés always have soda (though the selection is different in Germany than in the states), but still no lemonade or non-carbonated water.

030_b8_060508_gpod101

Documents