mt german advanced (eng only)

7/28/2019 MT German Advanced (Eng Only)

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MICHEL THOMAS GERMAN (ADVANCED) COURSE, 4 CDs

TRANSCRIPT

This is an approximate transcript of the course, since Michel often changed his mind in

the middle of a sentence to be translated, or adapted his sentences for the students. The

booklet that accompanied Michel's courses was wholly inadequate, so I have written thistranscript. I have found it useful, so maybe other people will, too.

Naturally, it would be foolish to try to learn the language using this transcript, withoutbuying the recordings.

Note that English is my native language, so I don't guarantee that there are no mistakes.

Tracks and track times in the recording are shown in brackets.

Version 2, Jan 15th 2006

Transcribed by JK

CD 1 (75.02)

(1) 7.30

to stay

I am stayingHe is staying

He doesn't stay

We are staying here

They are staying hereYou are staying

(To make a distinction between "you" and "they", for "they" you can say insteaddie,which is short fordiese da, "these there".)They are not staying here

You are not staying here

How long are you staying?He will stay here

She won't stay here

How long will you stay here?

How long are you going to stay here?Will you tell me how long you are going to stay here?

I would like to know how long you can stay here

(2) 1.32(When talking to friends and family, the word for "you" is du. "You are staying" is du

bleibst- the verb ending fordu is -st.)

How long are you staying here? (to Paul)(3) 3.04

I will do it


2/25

I won't do it

We will stay here

They will stay hereYou will stay here

They will stay here (not you)

How long are you staying? (to Paul)I will stay

How long will you stay?

They will not stay herePaul, how long are you staying?

I will stay

You will stay (to Paul)

I don't know how long he will stay(4) 3.30

I can do it

I cannot do it

Can you do it?Why can't you do it?

Why can't you do it now?I cannot find it, I don't know where it is

(In speech,Ich kann es can be contracted toIch kann's.)

He cannot understand itHe cannot understand me

Why can't you understand me?

(5) 3.23

I will tell it to you laterAt what time are you going to be here?

He will come with us

Will you wait for meWhere do you want to wait for me?

Where do you want to go?

(6) 2.54to be able

He won't be able to find it

He won't be able to tell it to you because he doesn't know it

I knowHe knows

You know (to Paul)

...because he doesn't know itHe will not be able to do it

(7) 1.09

(In order to emphasise the object, for example "that", you must invert the word order.For example, "that he will not be able to do" is "that will he not be able to do".)

That he will not be able to do


3/25

He won't be able to do that

(8) 2.05

I wouldn't be able to do itHe would never be able to do it

(9) 2.07

nevertime

I have no time

I have no time to do itnewspaper

to read

I will read the newspaper

(10) 3.33Can you?

Could you?

Could you tell me?

Could you come with me?Could you come with me? (to Paul)

(In English, "could" has two meanings: "could you" means "would you be able to", but italso means the past tense meaning "were you able to". In German, the past tense is

konnten.)

Could you wait for me (now)?Could you tell me where it is?

I'm sorry but I couldn't understand you

(11) 3.33

to haveI have

we have

they haveyou have

he has

you have (Paul)You are right

to the right

to be right

You are right (Paul)to buy

Why don't you buy it?

Why don't you want to buy it?Where will you buy it?

Why won't you buy it?

(12) 4.11I have

I have bought

I have bought it


4/25

I have not bought it, I didn't buy it

still, still more

something moreI want something more

I want to eat something more

a little morenot yet

He didn't buy it yet

Why didn't you buy it yet?to make

He has made it

to laugh

He laughed(13) 8.22

to buy

to sell

(German has detachable prefixes and non-detachable prefixes.)to go

to go awayI'm going away

to come back

the backmy back

to go back

to come back

He is coming back soonHe will come back soon

to sell

I am selling it(Non-detachable verbs don't begin ge- in the past tense.)

I have sold it

He has sold itHe hasn't sold it yet

We sold it

You sold it

They sold itYou have sold it (Paul)

Why did you sell it? (Paul)

Why didn't you sell it?Why didn't you sell it yet?

Everything is sold

It is not sold yetHe has told me

Why didn't you tell me?

We have told it to you

He told me that he wouldn't do it


5/25

He didn't tell me that he will do it

(14) 2.14

to repairI am repairing it

He is repairing it

(All the -ieren verbs, which usually come from French, don't take the ge-prefix in thepast tense.)

I repaired it

to organiseHe organised it

to specialise

to control

He controlled itIt is controlled

It is well organised

He organised it

Everything is well organised(15) 4.52

Everything is soldI sold it

(To say "I had sold it", "I had..." is ich hatte...)

we hadthey had

you had

I had

he hadyou had (to friend)

I had it

I didn't have itI would have it

I wouldn't have it

I wouldn't have the time to do it(Instead ofwrde haben "would have", you can use htte "would have".)

I wouldn't have the time to do it

(Actually, htte means "may have" and "might have". It is the subjective.)

I wouldn't have bought itbecause it was very expensive

(16) 2.11

was, wereWe were very busy

Where were you last night?

He was thereHe wasn't in, he wasn't there

Where were you? (to friend)


6/25

Where were you?

true

It was truereally

It was really true

It is really solike that

It is really true

(17) 1.16to believe, to think

to think

I don't believe that he is going to come with us

(18) 5.35to see

(Usegesehen notgeseht)

I saw it, I have seen it

I had seen itI would have seen it

I would have told youHe wouldn't have told me

We would have told you

("if"wenn is a weilsituation. Afterwenn, you will automatically use htten.)If you had told me

I would have bought it if I had seen it

If you had told me that you would arrive today, I would have waited for you

(19) 1.05I waited for you

How long did you wait?

He waited for me(20) 2.21

Will you wait for me

I wanthe wants

He doesn't want to do it

Why don't you want to do it?

Why don't you want to do it? (to friend)(21) 1.36

Can you do it?

Could you tell me?to look for, to seek

I looked for it

but I couldn't find it(22) 3.51


7/25

(The past participle, in other words the diving part of the verb, is the same as the

infinitive form when you are using a handle verb. So, the sentence sounds like it has two

infinitives in it. Therefore, "been able" is simply knnen.)I have not been able to find it

I want it

I don't want itI want to do it

I wanted

I have wanted to do itHe has not wanted to do it

(23) 2.58

I couldn't have done it without you / I wouldn't have done it without you / I wouldn't have

been able to do itwithout you

I wouldn't have been able to do it without you

I never could have done it without you

You could have told meYou could have told it to me

I could (the past)I could (not the past)

I could have done it


8/25

CD2 (75.29)

(1) 6.11must

we must

We must see itThey must see it

You must see it

I must buy itHe must do it

It can be

It could be

It could be possible (might be, may be)That could be possible

But it was not possible to do it

because I didn't have the time to do it

It has to be ready now, it must be ready nowalready

It can be ready alreadyIt must be ready already

It cannot be ready yet

It is going to be ready tomorrow(2) 2.52

You have to do it now

(Sharpened awareness of your own language: in English, the positive "you have to do it"

means the same as "you must do it". But, in the negative, "you don't have to do it"doesn't mean "you must not do it"; it means "you don't need to do it".)

(3) 1.00

alsome too

to smoke

He is smokingIt is smoking

It did smoke here, it has smoked here

(4) 1.34

Do you smoke?Smoke!

Are you coming?

Come with me!Are you waiting?

Are you waiting for me?

Wait for me!Stay here!

Eat!

Don't eat that!

(5) 2.09


9/25

You have to see it

You don't have to see it

(Afterbrauchen, you use the whole infinitive preceded by zu.However, Germans andAustrians often leave out thezu.)

You don't have to do it

He has to be here soon(6) 1.08

I had to

I wantedI had to

He had to stay here because he had to work

(7) 3.32

shall, shouldI shall, you shall, he shall, we shall, you shall, they shall

You shall tell me, you should tell me

You should come with us

(Another word for "should" would be sollten, ?)You should go there with us

(sollten might also be in the past tense, meaning "was supposed to".)I was supposed to go there yesterday, but I could not

because I was very busy

because I was very busy yesterdayI could not go there with you

to prepare

I was supposed to prepare it yesterday

I should do it nowI should have done it

(Remember that handle verbs are the same as the infinitive in the past participle)

(8) 6.51Could you tell me?

You shall tell me, you should tell me

You should tell meYou could have told me

You could have told it to me

You could have come with us

You could have bought itcould have, should have

You should have told me

You should have told it to me and I would have bought it for youI could have bought it for you

I would buy it for you


10/25

I would have bought it for you

(gekauftbecause there is no handle verb in the sentence.)

I would buy it for youI would have bought it for you

I could have bought it for you

I should have bought it for you(9) 5.20

to please

to please oneselfpleasure

It pleases me

I please myself (I enjoy)

I enjoy seeing youI am very pleased to see you

I will be very pleased to see you (I'm looking forward to seeing you)

I would be very pleased to see you

I would be very pleasedI would be very pleased to go there with you

I would have enjoyed to go there last nightI would have enjoyed very much to go there with you

(10) 4.56

I wanted...

(wollen can act as a handle, or a normal verb)I have wanted

I have wanted to do it

I would have wanted to do itI wanted to see it

but I couldn't see it

I couldn't wait because I had to leaveI could have gone there with you last night

You should have gone there with us

(11) 1.08I was there

never

nobody

but nobody was thereWho was there with you last night? Wer war da mit Ihnen gestern Abend?It was not possible to do it

(12) 2.08


11/25

to look for

to try

I am tryingto succeed

It is successful to me

I don't succeed doing itI cannot do it

I won't succeed doing it (it won't be successful to me)

(13) 3.15I had to leave

(lassen means "to leave" in the sense of leaving something behind, not going away.lassen has several meanings)

I left the key on the table(lassen also means "to let")

Let me try!

Let me work!

Leave me alone!(the) quiet

(lassen is also usedto get something done)I will get it repaired (I will let someone repair it)

I must have it washed

to cleanI will get it cleaned

(14) 7.11

He will be here soon

necessaryIt won't be necessary

(an alternative to ntigis notwendig)

It won't be necessary(es wirdexpresses two verbs; es wirdexpressing the future tense, and the present tense

werden which means "to become", "to be getting")

I am tiredI am getting tired

I will be tired

I will be getting tired

You will be too tiredYou will be getting tired soon

It is late

It is getting latedark

the darkness

It is very darkIt is too dark

It is getting dark

It will be too dark


12/25

It will be getting dark soon

It is getting dark

("it was becoming...", "it was getting..." isEs wurde...)It was getting dark

suddenly

It was suddenly getting very darkIt would be too dark

We were getting tired

(15) 4.22to know

Do you know why he cannot do it?

Do you know why he does not want to do it?

Can you tell me why he didn't want to do it?Do you know why he couldn't do it? (was not able to do it)

I knew

I didn't know

I would have knownI wouldn't have known it, if you had not told me

(16) 8.19(There are some German verbs, with which you dive not from haben but from sein.

English also used to have them; it survives in phrases like "the time is come" (not has

come), and "he is gone" (not he has gone). In German, with coming and going verbs you

dive from "to be")I went

I went there

We are goneWe went there last night

When did you go there?

(17) 2.51I was

We were

It would be possible(instead of sayinges wrde sein, you can simply use es wre for "would be")

It wouldn't be possible

(actually, es wre expresses "it might be", and became also "it would not be", says it is

simpler than sayinges wrde mglich sein...)It wouldn't be possible to do it that way

(18) 1.57

(sein is conjugated with "to be")I have been

(gewesen means "been")

We have been there last nightHow long have you been there?


13/25

How long were you there?

(19) 2.34

I would have waited for you and I would have gone there with youHe would have come with us

(20) 6.02

I have waitedI have waited for you

He has waited for me

How long have you waited?He arrived today

He would have arrived today

if he had arrived today

I have been thereI would have been there

If I had been there I would have seen it

I didn't see you because I was not there

(there is a third word meaning "because", da)because I was not there

(end of recording)


14/25

CD 3 (76.08)

(1) 7.17

(bleiben is also conjugated with "to be")We stayed

We went to Berlin

When did you go to Vienna?How long did you stay in Vienna?

How long did you stay?

I would have stayed longer if I had known you would be here(2) 2.57

When did you arrive?

early

tomorrow morningtoday morning

I would have arrived earlier if I had known that you would be here and that you have

waited for me

(3) 2.08to travel (not by foot)

I went to ViennaWe went to Vienna

We went to Vienna last week but we didn't stay long, we only stayed a couple of days

and we came back to London(4) 3.25

It would have pleased me very much

I would have liked very much to know (it would have pleased me very much to know)

that you would go thereI would be pleased (it would please me)It would have pleased me

I would be pleased (I would please myself)I would have been pleased

(5) 3.52

to hurryI am hurrying

I hurried

I will hurry

I have to hurryHurry up!

You have to hurry

Will you hurry pleaseI hurried

We hurried


15/25

If I had hurried I would have arrived earlier

I would have seen it and I would have bought it

(6) 1.28to get up

I got up

We got upAt what time do you get up?

I would have got up earlier if I had known it

(7) 1.06Why didn't you tell it to me?

I would have told it to you if I had known it

(8) 6.52

It is not possible to do it that wayIt was not possible to do it that way

It won't be possible to do it that way

It wouldn't be possible to do it that way

It would not be possible to do it that wayIt has not been possible to do it

We triedand it has not been possible to do it

I think it would have been possible to do it if we had tried

if we had tried to do it(9) 0.49

I would have gotten up earlier

(10) 4.22

to lie down(there are three ways to say "to put")

to put down (in a lying position)

to put (in a standing position, e.g. a bottle)I am putting the bottle on the table

I am putting the book on the table

It is lying on the tableto put (in a sitting position)

to sit

I am seating myself

I am sitting down (there)Sit (yourself) down (here)

Take a seat

I sat downI lay down

(11) 6.26


16/25

quiet, silence

Silence, please!

It is very quietto take a rest (to quiet oneself out)

I will take a rest

You should take a restI had a good rest (I rested myself out well)

You have to take a rest

One must...One has to take a rest

sometimes

One has to take a rest sometimes

Sometimes one has to take a restDid you sleep well?

I slept very well

One can understand it sometimes

but sometimes one cannot understand itI did not understand what you have said

to meanI don't understand what you mean

What do you mean?

What does it mean?(12) 4.05

to send

I will send it to you

He has sent it to meto receive

I have not received it yet

to holdto hold on, stop

Will you stop (Will you stay standing)

Will you stopto receive

I haven't received it yet

to keep

You can keep itto hear

I cannot hear it

to belongIt belongs to me

It doesn't belong to me

It belongs to youDoes it belong to you?

(13) 6.54

to answer


17/25

the word

the answer

He didn't answer yetto call

He called

to call (on the phone)He called me on the phone

at your place

I called you this morning in order to tell you that I will arrive tonight and that I will be atyour house at 10 o'clock

I would have arrived earlier if I had known it

(14) 2.27

(sentences like "I want you to tell me" can't be translated step-by-step into German. Forexample, "I want you to tell him" must be translated "I want, that you should tell him")

I want you to tell him

Will you tell him to call me

I told him to call me(15) 2.51

to rememberI remember

I don't remember

I cannot rememberto remember something

(to talk about remembering it, you have to talk about recalling "at it"an das, which

contracts to daran. Similarly, "on it"auf das becomes darauf. "into it" would be darein.

"under it" would be darunter. "over it" would be darber.)I cannot remember it

(recording skips here)

(16) 2.45(in German, to get used to something is to "habituate oneself" sich gewhnen)

the apartment

to rent, let (an apartment) mietenI will rent the apartment

I will rent the house

to live, reside

to liveWe live here

We are here now but we don't live here

Where do you live?(17) 1.02

(you can turn infinitives into nouns)

to liveliving, life


18/25

to eat

the food

The food is good here(18) 9.11

(in German, whenever you want to use "have been +ing", simply use the present tense)

sinceI have been doing it for a long time

(schon is often thrown in in this situation)

I have been doing it for a long time(you can put emphasis on das by starting the sentence with it)

That I have been doing for a long time

I have been living in Vienna (emphasised) for three months

(to ask someone how long they have been living here, you must stay "since how long...")How long have you been living here?

How long have you been working here?

How long have you been working here? (with schon)

He has been working here for three years alreadyYou are going to Germany

after; to, towardsYou are going to Austria

You are going to Vienna

for example, for instanceto play

to play the piano

How long have you been in Vienna?

have you beenI have been

We have been

Where have you been?Where were you?

How long have you been here in Vienna?

I have been here for three weeks already(19) 3.53

habit

(to say "not used to", you can say "don't have the habit")

I don't have the habit to do itopportunity

the beauty

(-heitand-keitcorresponds to the Anglo-Saxon English "-hood")possibility

I don't have the possibility to do it

It is not possible to do it that way


19/25

(20) 2.08

to try

to look forI am looking for it

I looked for it

but I could not find itto try

to arrive

I am arriving

(end of recording)


20/25

CD 4 (76.12)

(1) 5.05

to come backHe is coming back soon

to try

I am tryingI am trying to do it

I tried to do it

to catchto start

We are starting

At what time do you start?

usually, habituallyAt what time do usually start?

It started

It has started already

to goHe has gone

to go awayHe went away

We went away

(2) 3.34to come

He came

to come back

At what time are you coming back?He will come back soon

He will be back soon

He will be here again soon(3) 1.53

to listen

to listen to somethingI listened to it

to belong

It belonged to me

I heard itIt belongs to me

It doesn't belong to me

(4) 8.23apartment

the habithabitually, usuallyto get used to it

I will get used to it

I have to get used to it

easy, light


21/25

simple

difficult

It is not very heavyeasiness

difficulty

no difficultyI cannot get used to it, it's very difficult for me

One has to get used to it

finallyI finally got used to it

to remember

I remember

I rememberedto remember it

I don't remember it

I cannot remember it

I couldn't remember(5) 4.27

to openthe window

Will you open the window?

I opened the windowIt is open

It is being opened

(es wird... because werden refers to "getting" or "becoming")

It was openedIt was being opened

to open (make open)

to close (make close)I opened the door

He closed the door

The door is closedThe door is being closed

It will be closed

It will be getting closed

(6) 4.04It is getting cold

It was getting cold

It has gotten coldIt is late

It is getting late

It will be lateIt will be too late soon

It will be getting late

dark


22/25

It will be getting dark soon

It was dark

It was too darkIt was getting dark

It has been getting very dark

It has gotten very dark(7) 8.21

to build

I built itIt is built

It is being built

It was built

It was being builtIt has been built

(in the above sentence, where there are two past participles, you use worden and notgeworden)

light (not dark)It is very light here

It is getting lightIt has become light

It was getting light

It will be getting lightIt would be getting too dark

It would be too dark

It would have been too dark

It would have gotten too darkIt was too dark

It was getting too dark

It has been too darkIt has gotten too dark

(8) 5.33

He is selling itIt is sold

It is being sold

Everything is being sold

It was being soldEverything was being sold

Everything was sold

Everything has been soldEverything has gotten sold

Everything would be sold

(the difference between es wrde mglich sein "it would be possible" andes wre

mglich "it might be possible" is hardly noticeable in modern German)

(9) 7.32

(let's see how many tenses we can handle now)

He is selling the house


23/25

He has been selling houses for a long time

The house is sold

The house is being soldHe sold the house

The house was getting sold

The house has gotten soldHe will sell the house

The house will be sold

The house will be getting soldHe would sell the house

The house would be getting sold

He had sold the house

if he had sold the house (if he would have...)The house would have (might have) been sold

He will have sold the house

He would have sold the house

The house would have been sold(10) 3.18

I am very happy, I enjoy myselfI'm very happy to be with you

It pleases me

It pleases me to be with youI did enjoy very much being here with you

I'm looking forward to seeing you again soon (I will enjoy seeing you...)

I'm looking forward to seeing you again soon (It will please me...)

to interestinteresting

It is very interesting

It interests me very muchI interest myself

It did interest me very much

(11) 1.37(tun dives intogetan)

He told me that he wouldn't have done it if he had known it

(12) 2.01

to come alongDo you want to come along?

I will come along

I'm sorry but I cannot come alongHe came along

He arrived

to get, to receive


24/25

He received it

(13) 4.47

to tearto travel

to tear something off

I tore it off (the wall)It is torn off

It got torn off

to tear into piecesHe tore it into pieces

It is torn into pieces

It is entirely torn into pieces

He tore it into piecesIt was being torn into pieces yesterday

I could see it

I saw it

to breakIt is broken

He broke it into pieces(14) 2.39

to fall

It fellIt fell down

(the r- gives the movement)

It fell out

It fell overIt fell in

He fell in, he got caught

(15) 2.06(here are the participles of some verbs)

to make

to laughto work

to say

to ask

He asked meWhy didn't you ask me?

Why didn't you tell it to me?

to play(16) 3.28

to open

the storebusy

The store is open

to close

closed


25/25

The door is closed

The door is locked

The door is opened (with a key)to try

to try on

May I try it on?(17) 3.56

to cover

It coversto discover

He discovers

He discovered it

It is discoveredIt was being discovered

He has discovered it

I slept

to go (not on foot)to step

to step into step on (the stage)

to step off

(18) 3.22

(end of recording)

mt german advanced (eng only)

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