Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

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 42, Buying Phone Cards in Germany.
M: While most people wouldn’t or couldn’t step outside without their cell phones when visiting another country, sometimes it’s a little too far for your local courier. In recent years, you can rent a cell phone when you get to Germany and we will cover this in another lesson but the good old pay phone is still an option when you are traveling in Germany. Now in Germany, public phones don’t take coins only phone cards. You can buy 5 or 10 Euro telephone cards and today we will work on asking for them. You can purchase these cards at kiosks, newsstands or tobacco shops. Before asking for a card, you may want to find out if they have the cards. In German, do you have Telephone cards [Haben Sie Telefonkarten] Let’s break it down by syllable. [Haben Sie Telefonkarten] Now let’s hear it once more [Haben Sie Telefonkarten] The first word [Haben] means have got and it’s the third person plural form of the verb [haben] to have. The next word is the personal pronoun [Sie] which means you. Let’s hear it one more time [Sie] Together [Haben Sie] have you got is used in the formal way of speech to address the person opposite. This is followed by telephone [Telefonkarten] which in German means telephone cards. Let’s break down this word and listen to it one more time. [Telefonkarten] So altogether we have [Haben Sie Telefonkarten] Literally this means have you got telephone cards but it is translated as, do you have telephone cards. The answer to this will be yes, yeah or no [Ja oder nein] In the case that they have the cards, you want to ask for one of the denominations we talked about. Let’s start with a 5 Euro card. In German, a 5 Euro telephone card please is [Eine Telefonkarte für fünf Euro bitte] Let’s break it down by syllable [Eine Telefonkarte für fünf Euro bitte] Now let’s hear it once again [Eine Telefonkarte für fünf Euro bitte] The first word [eine] means A, indefinite article for feminine nouns. Let’s break it down and hear it one more time [eine] This is followed by [Telefonkarte] which we have just seen and in German, it’s telephone card. [Telefonkarte] This is followed by the preposition [für] for. Then we have [fünf Euro] which means 5 Euros. Let’s break it down and hear it once more [fünf Euro] And finally you have [bitte] please. Let’s break it down by syllable [bitte] And now hear it one more time. [bitte] Let’s hear the entire phrase now. [eine Telefonkarte für fünf Euro bitte] Literally this means a phone card for 5 Euros please. For a 10 Euro card, you have just changed the value in this way. [Eine Telefonkarte für zehn Euro bitte] If you are unsure about counting in German, please have a quick look at lessons 15 counting 1 to 10 and 16 counting 1 to 100. Again if you are looking for a pay phone, you will have to ask [Gibt es eine Telefonzelle in der Nähe] which means is there a pay phone near here. Let’s break this phrase down and hear it one more time. [Gibt es eine Telefonzelle in der Nähe] The first word [Gibt] means [is]. Let’s break it down and hear it one more time [Gibt] and [Gibt] This is followed by [es] it. In neutral pronoun, in third person form, that is connected to the conjugated verb [Gibt] this pronoun is a form of subject because the sentence doesn’t have any other subjects. Next is [eine] A, the indefinite article for feminine nouns. Then we have the object of the sentence [Telefonzelle] which literally means phone booth [Telefonzelle] So to recap here, we have [Gibt es eine Telefonzelle] which means is there a pay phone. Then something you have already learned in the survival phrase #30 [in der Nähe] which means near here. Let’s break it down by syllable [in der Nähe] Let’s hear it once again [in der Nähe] So altogether we have [Gibt es eine Telefonzelle in der Nähe] which literally means is there a phone booth near here. And with this phrase, we are about to close German survival phrases for today.
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.
Do you have telephone cards [Haben Sie Telefonkarten] A 5 Euro telephone card please [Eine Telefonkarte für fünf Euro bitte] A 10 Euro telephone card please [Eine Telefonkarte für fünf Euro bitte] Is there a pay phone near here [Gibt es eine Telefonzelle in der Nähe] That’s going to do it for today.

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