Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

Eric: Welcome to 3-Minute German Season 1, Lesson 4 - How are you? In this lesson, you’ll learn to ask how somebody is in German.
Body
Eric: Here's the informal way to ask 'How are you?' in German.
Albert: [Normal] Wie geht es dir?
Eric: First is a word meaning 'how'
Albert: [Normal] wie [Slow] wie
Eric: Next is the word meaning 'to go'
Albert: [Normal] geht [Slow] geht
Eric: Next is the word meaning 'it'
Albert: [Normal] es [Slow] es
Eric: Last is the word meaning 'you’ (informal)
Albert: [Normal] dir [Slow] dir
Eric: Note the rising intonation. Listen again to the informal question meaning 'How are you?'
Albert: [Slow] Wie geht es dir? [Normal] Wie geht es dir?
Eric: Now, imagine that you're speaking to a stranger. Here's the formal way to ask, 'How are you?'
Albert: [Normal] Wie geht es Ihnen?
Eric: First is a word meaning 'how'
Albert: [Normal] wie [Slow] wie
Eric: Next is the word meaning 'to go'
Albert: [Normal] geht [Slow] geht
Eric: Next is the word meaning 'it'
Albert: [Normal] es [Slow] es
Eric: Last is the word meaning 'you (formal)'
Albert: [Normal] Ihnen [Slow] Ihnen
Eric: Note again the rising intonation here. Listen again to the formal question meaning 'How are you?'
Albert: [Slow] Wie geht es Ihnen? [Normal] Wie geht es Ihnen?
Eric: Here's a response meaning 'I'm fine.'
Albert: [Normal] Mir geht es gut.
Eric: First is a word meaning 'I'
Albert: [Normal] Mir [Slow] Mir
Eric: Next is the word meaning 'to go'
Albert: [Normal] geht [Slow] geht
Eric: Next is the word meaning 'it'
Albert: [Normal] es [Slow] es
Eric: Last is the word meaning 'good'
Albert: [Normal] gut [Slow] gut
Eric: Listen again to the response meaning 'I'm fine.'
Albert: [Slow] Mir geht es gut. [Normal] Mir geht es gut.
Eric: Here's a response meaning, 'I'm not well.'
Albert: [Normal] Mir geht es nicht gut.
Eric: First is a word meaning 'I'
Albert: [Normal] Mir [Slow] Mir
Eric: Next is the word meaning 'to go'
Albert: [Normal] geht [Slow] geht
Eric: Next is the word meaning 'it'
Albert: [Normal] es [Slow] es
Eric: Next is the word meaning 'not'
Albert: [Normal] nicht [Slow] nicht
Eric: Last is the word meaning 'good'
Albert: [Normal] gut [Slow] gut
Eric: Listen again to the response meaning 'I'm not well.'
Albert: [Slow] Mir geht es nicht gut. [Normal] Mir geht es nicht gut.
Cultural Insight
Eric: Now it's time for a quick cultural insight.
Albert: To ask somebody about their well-being, we usually use the expression Wie geht es dir? which is "How are you?". A more polite way is Wie geht es Ihnen? Ihnen is the formal version of Dir. When you're talking to friends the shorter version Wie geht's? is mostly used.

Outro

Eric: And that’s all for this lesson. Don’t forget to check out the lesson notes, and we’ll see you in the next lesson!

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