Learn the genitive case for German nouns and some of the interesting history of Berlin
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: Chuck here. Absolute Beginner, Season 2, Lesson 24, Germany’s Historic Sites. |
| Judith: Hi, my name is Judith and I’m joined here by Chuck. |
| Chuck: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to GermanPod101.com. |
| Judith: What are we learning today? |
| Chuck: In this lesson, you will learn how to talk about sites. |
| Judith: This conversation takes place on the way from Brandenburger Tor to Siegessaule in Berlin. |
| Chuck: The conversation is between Frau Schneider and Paul Martins. |
| Judith: The speakers are not close friends yet, therefore they’ll be speaking formal German. |
| DIALOGUES |
| Chuck: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| Chuck: Warum gibt es keine Läden hier, nur eine lange, langweilige Straße und die Siegessäule? |
| Judith: Das hier ist ein Park. |
| Chuck: Ein Park? Ohne Grün? |
| Judith: Auf beiden Seiten der Straße gibt es Grün, aber die Straße ist so breit, dass man es fast nicht bemerkt. Die Straße geht gerade durch den Park. |
| Chuck: Wie heißt dieser Park? |
| Judith: Tiergarten. |
| Chuck: Tiergarten? Gibt es hier Tiere? |
| Judith: Nein, nicht mehr als sonst. Aber ursprünglich schon. Ich lese im Moment viel über Berliner Geschichte. |
| Chuck: Interessieren Sie sich auch sonst für Geschichte? |
| Judith: Ja, aber nur ein bißchen. Aber Berlin ist eine berühmte Stadt und sie ist mein Zuhause. Ich möchte einfach die Geschichte meiner Stadt kennen und die Geschichte des Stadtteils, wo ich wohne. |
| Chuck: Klar. Ich finde das richtig. |
| Judith: Now, with the translation. |
| Judith: Warum gibt es keine Läden hier, nur eine lange, langweilige Straße und die Siegessäule? |
| Chuck: Why aren’t there any shops here? It’s just a long boring road and the Victory Column. |
| Judith: Das hier ist ein Park. |
| Chuck: This is a park. |
| Judith: Ein Park? Ohne Grün? |
| Chuck: A park without greenery? |
| Judith: Auf beiden Seiten der Straße gibt es Grün, aber die Straße ist so breit, dass man es fast nicht bemerkt. |
| Chuck: On both sides of the street, there’s greenery. But the street is so wide that you almost don’t notice it. |
| Judith: Die Straße geht gerade durch den Park. |
| Chuck: The street goes straight to the park. |
| Judith: Wie heißt dieser Park? |
| Chuck: What’s this park called? |
| Judith: Tiergarten. |
| Chuck: Animal Garden. |
| Judith: Tiergarten? Gibt es hier Tiere? |
| Chuck: Animal Garden? Are there animals here? |
| Judith: Nein, nicht mehr als sonst. Aber ursprünglich schon. |
| Chuck: No, not anymore than usual. But originally, there were. |
| Judith: Ich lese im Moment viel über Berliner Geschichte. |
| Chuck: At the moment, I’m reading a lot about the history of Berlin. |
| Judith: Interessieren Sie sich auch sonst für Geschichte? |
| Chuck: Are you otherwise interested in history? |
| Judith: Ja, aber nur ein bißchen. |
| Chuck: Yes, but only a little. |
| Judith: Aber Berlin ist eine berühmte Stadt und sie ist mein Zuhause. |
| Chuck: But Berlin is a famous city. And it’s my home. |
| Judith: Ich möchte einfach die Geschichte meiner Stadt kennen und die Geschichte des Stadtteils, wo ich wohne. |
| Chuck: I simply like to know the history of my city and the history of the part of town where I live. |
| Judith: Klar. Ich finde das richtig. |
| Chuck: Of course, that makes sense. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: Okay, maybe a little bit about the history of Berlin because you’re likely to visit here. |
| Chuck: Berlin’s history only goes back to the 13th century. Well, I say only because that’s from a European perspective. |
| Judith: Yeah, other German cities go back to the 1st century or even beyond. But Berlin’s history was a really agitated history, and there are still lots of historic places in Berlin. We’ll give you a really quick summary. Originally, Berlin was a seat of the Hohenzollern family and thereby also the seat of several German kings and emperors. They left behind some beautiful buildings and parks in Berlin, and also in the surroundings. |
| Chuck: Some of these rulers were very open-minded people. They invited people from all over Europe to come to Berlin. With the people came great scientists and thinkers who would have been censored in their home countries. This way, Berlin became a center of enlightenment. |
| Judith: In the industrial revolution, Berlin also became Germany’s economic center. |
| Chuck: Berlin’s always featured a less-regulated lifestyle than the rest of Germany. It always attracted the artists and the alternative kind of people. You can easily imagine that Berlin was the place to be during the Roaring Twenties. Well, still the place to be now, I’d say. |
| Judith: Berlin was also Hitler’s seat of power. So it suffered like few other German cities in the Second World War. More than half of all houses were damaged in the bombing. |
| Chuck: After the war, Berlin was divided between the four winners: the French, British and Americans formed West Berlin; and the Soviets had East Berlin. As the Cold War set on, west and east Berlin became ever more separated. |
| Judith: In 1948, the Soviets tried to cut off all of West Berlin’s access to the outside world in an attempt to force the allies to handover the city. However, in an incredible operation known as the Berlin Airlift, the allies managed to supply the city by air alone for almost an entire year even during winter. The Soviets were forced to back down. Germans still fondly remember this. |
| Chuck: Berlin started construction of the wall enclosing West Berlin in all sides. Can you imagine that, living in a place and being completely surrounded by a wall? Berlin was also the historic place for the Wall Fall leading to the reunification of Germany. |
| Judith: Berlin has been in the spotlight of global history for a long time. You cannot say you’re interested in history and not visit Berlin. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Chuck: Let’s look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is. |
| Judith: langweilig |
| Chuck: Boring. |
| Judith: langweilig |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: ohne |
| Chuck: Without. |
| Judith: ohne |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: beide |
| Chuck: Both. |
| Judith: beide |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Seite |
| Chuck: Side or page. |
| Judith: Seite and the plural is Seiten |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: breit |
| Chuck: Broad or wide. |
| Judith: breit |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: fast |
| Chuck: Almost. |
| Judith: fast |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: bemerken |
| Chuck: To notice or remark. |
| Judith: bemerken |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: gerade |
| Chuck: Straight, just, just now or right now. |
| Judith: gerade |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: durch |
| Chuck: Through or because of. |
| Judith: durch |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Tier |
| Chuck: Animal. |
| Judith: Tier and the plural is Tiere |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: ursprünglich |
| Chuck: Originally or initially. |
| Judith: ursprünglich |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: über |
| Chuck: About. |
| Judith: über |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Geschichte |
| Chuck: History or story. |
| Judith: Geschichte and the plural is Geschichten |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: ein bisschen |
| Chuck: A little bit. |
| Judith: ein bisschen |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Chuck: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Judith: The first word we’d look at is „grün“. |
| Chuck: Green. |
| Judith: It’s an adjective, but it can also be used as a noun. Then it means greenery, plants and trees, anything that makes something look green. Then there is „gerade“. „gerade“ is a word of two distinct meanings. On the one hand, it can mean straight, like „gerade durch den Park“ |
| Chuck: Straight to the park. |
| Judith: On the other hand, it can mean just “now” or “right now,” „Ich sehe sie gerade nicht“. |
| Chuck: I don’t see her right now. |
| Judith: We’ve already learned that „schon“ means “already”. However, it can also simply be |
| affirmative in incomplete sentences. For example, if Frau Schneider says, „ursprünglich schon“ in this dialog, she means, originally “yes, there were animals.” „ursprünglich schon“ Okay, finally, the expression „zu Hause“ |
| Chuck: At home. |
| Judith: „zu Hause“ means at home. However, „Zuhause“ as one word simply means home. Like „mein Zuhause“. |
| Chuck: My home. The focus for this lesson is the genitive case. |
| Judith: This lesson’s dialog contained a few glimpses of the genitive. One of the German noun cases. We’ll cover this case in more detail later. But right now, it’s important to understand its basic usage. Have a look at the following examples. die Geschichte des Stadtteils. |
| Chuck: The history of the quarter. |
| Judith: die Geschichte der Stadt |
| Chuck: The history of the city. |
| Judith: die Geschichte der Frau |
| Chuck: The woman’s history. |
| Judith: die Geschichte der Männer |
| Chuck: The men’s history. |
| Judith: das Spiel des Jahres |
| Chuck: The game of the year. Basically, the genitive replaces the English of the or the apostrophe s. |
| Judith: The most obvious genitive article in German is des. Des is only ever used for genitive. |
| Chuck: However, for feminine words and for plural, the article is der. Also quite noticeable considering you’d expect to hear a Die Frau and not Der Frau. |
| Judith: For masculine or neutral words, the genitive usually also involves adding an s to the end of the noun, as in „die Geschichte des Stadtteils“ or „das Spiel des Jahres“. |
Outro |
|---|
| Chuck: Well, that just about does it for the today. |
| Judith: Dear listeners, ever pressed for time? |
| Chuck: Listen to the dialog lesson recap. |
| Judith: This audio tracks only contain the target lesson dialog. |
| Chuck: So you can quickly recap a lesson. |
| Judith: Spend a few minutes learning on days when you don’t have a time to study a full lesson. |
| Chuck: The other tracks are just a few minutes long. |
| Judith: But you still pick up key German phrases along the way. |
| Chuck: Go to GermanPod101.com. |
| Judith: And listen to this lesson’s dialog only audio track. |
| Chuck: We hope you enjoyed this lesson. |
| Chuck:We hope you enjoyed this lesson. See you next week! |
| Judith:Wir hoffen, euch hat diese Lektion gefallen. Bis nächste Woche! |
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