Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

Let's take a closer look at the conversation.
Do you remember how the civil servant says,
"Your phone number, please."
Ihre Telefonnummer, bitte.
Let’s start with Telefonnummer, "phone number." Telefonnummer.
Note, in German words can sometimes be joined together to create a new word.Telefonnummer is Telefon, "phone," and nummer, "number," together.
Together it's Telefonnummer. "Phone number." Telefonnummer.
In German, all nouns have grammatical gender and are either singular or plural. Telefonnummer is feminine and singular — a fact that determines the form of other words in the sentence.
Before Telefonnummer is Ihre. A formal way to say "your." Ihre. Ihre
Note Ihre fundamentally means "their," but it’s also a formal way to say "your" when speaking to someone directly using formal German. Ihre. Ihre.
Ihre is feminine singular to agree with Telefonnummer.
Together, it’s Ihre Telefonnummer, a formal way to say "Your phone number." Ihre Telefonnummer.
Last is, bitte, meaning "please." Bitte. Bitte.
All together, it’s Ihre Telefonnummer, bitte. "Your phone number, please."
Ihre Telefonnummer, bitte.
Remember this request. You’ll hear it again later.
Let's take a closer look at the response.
Do you remember how Mark says,
"My phone number is 0176 19283746."
Meine Telefonnummer ist 0176 19283746 (Null eins sieben sechs eins neun zwei acht drei sieben vier sechs).
Do you remember how to say "phone number?"
Telefonnummer. "Phone number." Telefonnummer.
Before this is meine, "my." Meine.
In this sentence, meine is feminine singular to agree with Telefonnummer.
Together, it’s Meine Telefonnummer. "My phone number." Meine Telefonnummer.
Next is ist, "is," as in "my phone number is." Ist. Ist.
Ist is from the verb sein, meaning "to be." Sein.
Together, it’s Meine Telefonnummer ist… "My phone number is.…" Meine Telefonnummer ist…
Next is Mark’s phone number, 0176 19283746 (Null eins sieben sechs eins neun zwei acht drei sieben vier sechs). 0176 19283746 (Null eins sieben sechs eins neun zwei acht drei sieben vier sechs).
Note how Mark says his phone number.
When giving your phone number in German, say each digit separately. After the group of first four numbers, include a short pause in place of the space.
For example,
0176 19283746 (Null eins sieben sechs eins neun zwei acht drei sieben vier sechs)
All together, it’s Meine Telefonnummer ist 0176 19283746 (Null eins sieben sechs eins neun zwei acht drei sieben vier sechs).
"My phone number is 0176 19283746."
Meine Telefonnummer ist 0176 19283746 (Null eins sieben sechs eins neun zwei acht drei sieben vier sechs).
The pattern is
Meine Telefonnummer ist NUMBER.
"My phone number is NUMBER."
Meine Telefonnummer ist NUMBER.
To use this pattern, simply replace the NUMBER placeholder with your phone number.
Note: this pattern requires a sequence of digits. Each should be said separately.
Imagine your phone number is 0175 12345678 (null eins sieben fünf eins zwei drei vier fünf sechs sieben acht). (null eins sieben fünf eins zwei drei vier fünf sechs sieben acht).
Say
"My phone number is 0175 12345678."
Ready?
Meine Telefonnummer ist 0175 12345678 (null eins sieben fünf eins zwei drei vier fünf sechs sieben acht).
"My phone number is 0175 12345678."
Meine Telefonnummer ist 0175 12345678 (null eins sieben fünf eins zwei drei vier fünf sechs sieben acht).
In this lesson the phone numbers are given digit by digit. In Germany, however, it's also common to contract the digits. For example, Ben Lee's number could also be read as follows:
0176 13431313 (null, eins, sieben, sechs, dreizehn, dreiundvierzig, dreizehn, dreizehn).
However, as a beginner, the easiest way to say your phone number is digit-by-digit as in the dialog.

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