How to Ask for a Word in German

Learn how to ask for a word in German

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Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

Welcome to Can-Do German by GermanPod101.com.

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask how to say something in German.

For example, "How do you say 'book' in German?" is

Wie sagt man "book" auf Deutsch?

Anouk Ahrens is at a cafe doing a language exchange with her classmate, Karla König.

It’s the German portion of the exchange, and she points at the textbook and asks what it's called in German.

Before you hear the conversation, let's preview some of its key components.

Deutsch

"German"

Deutsch

Listen to the conversation, and focus on the question.

Ready?

Wie sagt man "book" auf Deutsch?

Man sagt "Buch."

Once more with the English translation.

Wie sagt man "book" auf Deutsch?

"How do you say 'book' in German?"

Man sagt "Buch."

"You say 'Book'."

Let's break down the conversation.

Do you remember how Anouk says,

"How do you say 'book' in German?"

Wie sagt man "book" auf Deutsch?

The standard way to ask for the meaning of a word in German follows a simple pattern.

First is wie, "how." Wie. Wie.

Next is sagt man, "One says." Sagt man.

sagt, "says." Sagt. Sagt.

Sagt is from the verb sagen, "to say." Sagen.

Next is man, roughly translating as "one," as in "one says." Man. Man.

Together, Wie sagt man, literally "How says one," but translates as, "how does one say." Wie sagt man.

After this is the English word, "book."

Last is the phrase, auf Deutsch, meaning "in German." Auf Deutsch.

First is, auf, meaning "in," in this context. Auf. Auf.

After this is Deutsch, "German," as in the language. Deutsch. Deutsch.

All together, Wie sagt man "book" auf Deutsch? literally means something like, "How says one 'book' in German?" but translates as, "How does one say 'book' in German?" and in more natural English, "How do you say 'book' in German?"

Note the rising intonation of the sentence to mark that it's a question.

Wie sagt man "book" auf Deutsch?

Let’s take a closer look at the response.

Do you remember how Karla says,

"You say 'book.'"

Man sagt "Buch."

First is the phrase, man sagt, "one says," but translates here as "you say." Man sagt.

After this is the answer to the question, Buch, "Book." Buch. Buch.

All together Man sagt "Buch," literaly means something like, "One says 'book,'" but it translates as "You say ‘book'."

Man sagt "Buch."

The pattern is:

Wie sagt man "ENGLISH WORD" auf Deutsch?

"How do you say 'ENGLISH WORD' in German?"

Wie sagt man "ENGLISH WORD" auf Deutsch?

To use this pattern, simply replace the {ENGLISH WORD} placeholder with the word you want to know.

Imagine you want to know the German word for "pen."

Say

"How do you say 'pen' in German?"

Ready?

Wie sagt man "pen" auf Deutsch?

"How do you say 'pen' in German?"

Wie sagt man "pen" auf Deutsch?

This lesson introduces a grammatically complex, but commonly used, pattern: the impersonal form with man. The man-construction is used to express what people do in general, rather than point to a specific person.

The pattern is man plus a verb in the third person. The example used in the lesson was man sagt, "one says." Let’s quickly look at a few more examples.

Man liest, "one reads," as in "one reads a book."

Man isst, "one eats," as in "one eats a lot at Christmas."

Man schläft, "one sleeps," as in "one sleeps late on Saturday."

Again, the key pattern is

Wie sagt man "ENGLISH WORD" auf Deutsch?

"How do you say 'ENGLISH WORD' in German?"

Wie sagt man "ENGLISH WORD" auf Deutsch?

Let's look at some examples.

Listen and repeat or speak along with the native speakers.

Wie sagt man "book" auf Deutsch?

"How do you say 'book' in German?"

Man sagt "Buch."

Wie sagt man "book" auf Deutsch?

Wie sagt man "pen" auf Deutsch?

"How do you say 'pen' in German?"

Man sagt "Kugelschreiber."

Wie sagt man "pen" auf Deutsch?

Wie sagt man "bag" auf Deutsch?

"How do you say 'bag' in German?"

Man sagt "Tasche."

Wie sagt man "pen" auf Deutsch?

Wie sagt man "pencil" auf Deutsch?

"How do you say 'pencil' in German?"

Man sagt "Bleistift."

Wie sagt man "pencil" auf Deutsch?

Wie heißt das auf Deutsch?

"What is this called in German?"

Das ist ein "Buch."

Wie heißt das auf Deutsch?

Did you notice how the native speaker used a different sentence pattern?

Wie heißt das auf Deutsch?

"What is this called in German?"

To create this pattern,

Simply replace sagt man, "one says," with heißt das, “this is called." Heißt das.

First is Heißt, "calls." Heißt. Heißt.

Heißt is from the verb heißen, "to be called." Heißen.

Next is das, meaning "this." Das. Das.

Together, heißt das, literally, "calls this," but translates as "this is called." Heißt das

This pattern is:

Wie heißt das auf Deutsch?

"What is this called in German?"

This is a very useful pattern for using German to learn German.

Do you remember the response,

"This is a 'book'."

Das ist ein "Buch."

Let's start with the word, Buch, "book." Buch. Buch.

In German, all nouns have grammatical gender and are either singular or plural. Buch is neuter and singular — a fact which will determine the form of other words in the sentence.

Before Buch is ein, something like "a," as in "a book," in this context. Ein. Ein.

Ein is neuter and singular to agree with Buch.

Let's move to the start of the sentence, das, "this." Das. Das.

Next is ist, "is." Ist. Ist.

Ist is from the verb sein, "to be." Sein.

Together it's Das ist ein "Buch." "This is a 'book'."

Das ist ein "Buch."

Let’s review the key vocabulary.

Tasche

"Bag"

Tasche

Kugelschreiber

"pen"

Kugelschreiber

Bleistift

"pencil"

Bleistift.

das

"this"

das

Let's review.

Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then repeat after the native speaker, focusing on pronunciation.

Ready?

Do you remember how to say "German," as in the language?

Deutsch

And how to say

"in German."

auf Deutsch

Do you remember how to say "how?"

wie

Do you remember how Anouk asks,

"How do you say 'book' in German?"

Wie sagt man "book" auf Deutsch?

Do you remember how to say "book?"

Buch

And do you remember how Karla says,

"You say 'book'."

Man sagt "Buch."

Do you remember how to say "this?"

das

And how to say

"What you call this in German?"

Wie heißt das auf Deutsch?

Let's practice.

Imagine you're Aylin Ahrens, and you’re having a language-exchange lunch with Beathe Bauer.

You point to the pen and ask, "How do you say 'pen' in German?"

Ready?

Wie sagt man "pen" auf Deutsch?

Man sagt "Kugelschreiber."

Listen again and repeat.

Wie sagt man "pen" auf Deutsch?

Now you want to know the word for “bag.”

Ready?

Wie sagt man "bag?" auf Deutsch?

Man sagt "Tasche."

Listen again and repeat.

Wie sagt man "bag?" auf Deutsch?

Let’s try one more.

Imagine you’re Aron Ahrens , and you’re studying with your classmate. Point at a pencil and ask "What do you call this?"

Ready?

Wie heißt das auf Deutsch?

Das ist ein "Bleistift."

Listen again and repeat.

Wie heißt das auf Deutsch?

In this lesson, you learned how to ask how to say something in German. This plays an essential role in the larger skill of asking for clarification. Let’s review.

Do you remember the how to say

"Excuse me."

Entschuldigung.

And how to say “repeat?”

Wiederholen.

Do you remember how to say "repeat that?"

Das wiederholen.

Do you remember how to say,

"Excuse me, can you repeat that" in informal German?

Entschuldigung, kannst du das wiederholen?

Imagine you're Jack Jones , and you're meeting your fellow student Karla König for the first time. She introduces herself, but you can't catch her name.

Respond to her introduction, and ask her to repeat it one more time, and slowly.

Ready?

Freut mich. Ich heiße Karla.

Entschuldigung, kannst du das wiederholen?

Listen again, and repeat.

Entschuldigung, kannst du das wiederholen?

On a different occasion you're doing a language exchange. In the German portion of it you want to know how to say pencil in German.

Ask Karla König how to say "pencil" in German.

Wie sagt man "pencil" auf Deutsch?

Man sagt "Bleistift."

Listen again, and repeat.

Wie sagt man "pencil" auf Deutsch?

Well done! This is the end of the lesson and the Can Ask for Clarification unit of this course.

Remember, these Can Do lessons are about learning practical language skills.

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