Learn about changes in adjectives and articles
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: Chuck here. Beginner series, Season 2, Lesson #16. Article Changes, The News From The Spree! Hello and welcome to the Beginner series, Season 2 at germanpod101.com where we study modern German in a fun, educational format. |
| Judith: So brush up on the German that you started learning long ago or start learning today. |
| Chuck: Thanks for being here with us for this lesson. Judith, what are we looking at in this lesson? |
| Judith: In this lesson, you will learn how to recognize typical changes in adjectives and articles. |
| Chuck: This conversation takes place at home in front of the TV. |
| Judith: The conversation is between Maria and her boyfriend who are watching the news. |
| Chuck: The speakers are friends. Therefore they will be speaking informal German. If you don’t already have one |
| Judith: Stop by germanpod101.com |
| Chuck: And sign up for your free lifetime account. |
| Judith: You can sign up in less than 30 seconds. |
| Chuck: All right. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| M: Ah, die Nachrichten! |
| B: Lass uns mal reinhören. |
| N: Die Polizei warnt vor der Sonnensekte. Diese Sekte soll einen Massenselbstmord planen. |
| N: Heute war die Polizei im Haus der Sekte am Spreeufer in Berlin und stellte Gift sicher. |
| N: Und jetzt das Wetter für die nächsten Tage… |
| Judith: Now it’s slowly. |
| M: Ah, die Nachrichten! |
| B: Lass uns mal reinhören. |
| N: Die Polizei warnt vor der Sonnensekte. Diese Sekte soll einen Massenselbstmord planen. |
| N: Heute war die Polizei im Haus der Sekte am Spreeufer in Berlin und stellte Gift sicher. |
| N: Und jetzt das Wetter für die nächsten Tage… |
| Judith: Now with the translation. |
| M: Ah, die Nachrichten! |
| M: Ah, the news! |
| B: Lass uns mal reinhören. |
| B: Let's listen in. |
| N: Die Polizei warnt vor der Sonnensekte. Diese Sekte soll einen Massenselbstmord planen. |
| N: The police warns of the sun sect. This sect is said to be planning a mass suicide. |
| N: Heute war die Polizei im Haus der Sekte am Spreeufer in Berlin und stellte Gift sicher. |
| N: Today the police was in the sect's house on the shore of the Spree in Berlin and seized poison. |
| N: Und jetzt das Wetter für die nächsten Tage… |
| N: And now the weather for the next days… |
| CULTURAL SECTION |
| Chuck: So what cultural point can come up with that? Can you talk about poison? |
| Judith: No I thought I would talk about religion in Germany. As in all Western European democracies, Freedom of Religion is of course guaranteed by our constitution. You can practice any faith openly or in private and you also may not be prejudiced or favored because of your religious beliefs. |
| Chuck: In fact, the majority of Germans are non-practicing Christians. Officially, there are 32.3% protestants and 31.9% Catholics. Well they are actually higher because of the Church tax. Actually could you go into more detail about the Church tax? |
| Judith: If you are officially registered as a protestant or as a catholic, then you will have to pay a Church tax and the state will collect money, but it will go straight to your church to support them to be able to pay for the churches and the priests and stuff. |
| Chuck: And also don’t be surprised if you get a job here in Germany and you will find that they ask you when you sign up. They will say, what religion are you and it shocked me at first and only later did I find out that it is because of this church tax. |
| Judith: Yeah but you don’t have to be too worried because they are not allowed to say not employ you because of your religious beliefs. |
| Chuck: But it’s just used because of the church tax. |
| Judith: Yeah and apart from Christians, the second largest religion is Islam. 4% of Germans are Muslim and then there is Buddhism and Judaism which claim 0,25% each. That’s really going down. The majority is really protestant or catholic. Germany is not so much a country of immigrants and that’s why we don’t have much religious diversity. |
| Chuck: This maybe due to Germany’s stricter laws and such organizations. The German government doesn’t easily recognize new face and what’s more, It will actively pursue organizations who use religious indoctrination to defraud people with their money. |
| Judith: Yeah like small sects or independent churches or basically anybody who is trying to make money of the followers or really brainwashes them. |
| Chuck: But one way in which Germany is more Christian than the USA is that religious education classes are in most states. |
| Judith: Yes it is part of public school. If you go to public school, then you either have to take religious education classes or philosophy classes that is Ethics. |
| Chuck: But now I think it’d be very ethical of us to teach the vocabulary and phrases. So let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Judith: First word [Nachricht] |
| Chuck: Message or news. |
| Judith: [Nachricht, Nachricht, die Nachricht] This is feminine and the plural [Nachrichten]. In fact you always hear the plural [Nachrichten] when you are talking about the news. [Reinhören] |
| Chuck: To listen in. |
| Judith: [Reinhören, reinhören] The [Rein] splits off. [Warnen] |
| Chuck: To warn. |
| Judith: [Warnen, warnen]. Sekte. |
| Chuck: Sect. |
| Judith: [Sekte, Sekte, die Sekte] This is feminine. [Sollen] |
| Chuck: Shall or be supposed to. |
| Judith: [Sollen, sollen]. Masse. |
| Chuck: Mass. |
| Judith: [Masse, die Masse] This is feminine. [Selbstmord]. |
| Chuck: Suicide. |
| Judith: [Selbstmord, Selbstmord, der Selbstmord] This is masculine. [Planen]. |
| Chuck: To plan. |
| Judith: [Planen, planen]. Haus. |
| Chuck: House. |
| Judith: [Haus, Haus, das Haus] This is neuter and the plural is [Häuser]. Sicherstellen. |
| Chuck: To insure or seize. |
| Judith: [Sicherstellen, sicherstellen] the [Sicher] splits off. [Gift] |
| Chuck: Poison. |
| Judith: [Gift, Gift, das Gift] This is neuter. [Nächster, nächste, nächstes] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Nächster, nächste, nächstes] |
| Chuck: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Judith: Today we should look at the various forms of the past tense here. We had [War] |
| Chuck: Was |
| Judith: This is the past tense of [Sein] to be and similarly we had [Stellte] |
| Chuck: Put. |
| Judith: Which is the past tense of [Stellen] |
| Chuck: To put. |
| Judith: Most German verbs actually work this way. They form the past tense by adding [Te] like [Stellte] but you don’t need to know all this right now. We will look at this in detail in the intermediate series. For now, it’s good if you remember [War] and you remember the [Te] ending. You will already be able to understand a lot more German text. Okay how about some grammar? |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Chuck: So you might be thinking that it’s a bit daunting that the article sometimes [Der] and sometimes [Dem] or [Den] or [Die] for the same word. And that the adjective sometimes require endings and sometimes don’t, but as a beginner you shouldn’t worry too much about these changes. It’s all part of the Declension System which allows you to identify the role of the word in the sentence just based on its form. |
| Judith: If you use incorrect forms, it won’t impede your understanding. That’s why you shouldn’t worry too much until you are at a higher level but at this stage, we will give you some general rules you can try. |
| Chuck: First note that the definite article is always D and plural and that there is no indefinite article in plural. |
| Judith: As we’ve seen in lesson #10, there are different ways of forming the plurals. So there is no one thing to look out for nouns but nouns really change if not for the plurals. So when you see a modified noun form, it’s most likely plural. |
| Chuck: Adjectives are most likely to have the ending en but if they come after the form of to be, they don’t change at all. |
| Judith: This is special in German because in Spanish and French, you would have to change the adjective when it follows after to be. |
Outro |
| Chuck: That just about does it for today. Before we go, we want to tell you about a way to drastically improve your pronunciation. |
| Judith: The voice recording tool. |
| Chuck: Yes the voice recording tool in the premium learning center. |
| Judith: Record your voice with a click of a button |
| Chuck: And then play it back just as easily. |
| Judith: So you record your voice and then you listen to it. |
| Chuck: Compare it to the native speakers. |
| Judith: And adjust your pronunciation. |
| Chuck: This will help improve your pronunciation fast. So see you next week. |
| Judith: [Bis nächste Woche]. |
Comments
HideHave you ever been approached by a religious group?
Hello Delia,
Thank you for sharing this story.❤️️
Please allow me to make a few tiny little changes in order to
aid your learning:
Manchmal klopfen Leute von der Sekte Zeugen Jehovas an der Tür. Sie sind immer höflich. Ich denke, sie müssen mit vielen Menschen sprechen um ihren Glauben zu teilen.😉
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us again.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
Manchmal, klopfen an Türen Leute von die Sekte Jehovah’s witnesses. Sie sind immer höflich. Ich denke, sie müssen mit viele Menschen sprechen um ihren Glauben zu teilen.
Danke für die Hilfe mit meinem Deutsch. Die Lektionen und ihre Kommentare sind toll.
hi ,
i did approached by religious group, but i am still searching for a purpose inlife after health issues.
robert
thank you for the dialogue & vocabulary list
robert
Hi Megan,
Thank you for posting.😉
First things first:
In den Nachrichten haben sie etwas von einem Verbrechen gesagt.
Das Verbrechen war in der Nähe meines Hauses.
Planst du einen Spaziergang zu machen?
Selbstmord ist ein großes Problem in Japan und für junge Leute.
As to your question about "Der Nächste, bitte!": You will hear this a lot when
you go to the doctor, while in the waiting room. It is short for "Der nächste Patient, bitte!"
"Patient" is dropped in this case and "nächste" becomes the noun here. That's why it's
spelled with a capital "N".
If you have any further questions, please let us know.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
Hallo,
Machen Sie meine Deutsch richtig bitte.
in Das Nachricht, haben Sie etwas von einen Verbrechen gestagt. Der Verbrechen war in der Nähe meinen Haus.
Planst du einen Spaziergang machen?
Selbstmord ist ein großes problem in Japan und vor junge Leute.
Why in the example is it "der nächte" but der is masculine and the ending of nacte seems like the feminine adjective ending?
Danke schön!
Hi Mike,
I am not sure if this will be of any help to you but
I got an answer yesterday from the tech team:
"You can't loop Flashcards. But you can use the Vocabulary Slideshow feature which
is available on Vocabulary Lists and Lesson Vocabulary and which has a loop feature."😉
If you have any further questions, please let us know.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
Reinhard,
Thanks for looking into it. I understand.
Best regards,
Hi Mike,
Thank you for your patience.
From what I understand, we cannot offer this
functionality on our website at this stage, but I believe
they are working on something. I can't give you any definite
date though as to when it will be available.
If you have any further questions, please let us know.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
Hi Mike,
Thanks again for following up on this.
I will talk to someone to find out more about this and then
try to give you a satisfactory answer.
Bear with me for a few days, please.
Thank you.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
Hi there,
What I understood, in a recent discussion (with Peter G. and an associate
on line), was that a great way to use flashcards was to loop them to repeat.
I may have misunderstood .
I am aware that there is a great option regarding the slideshow of each lesson
to have the material loop (repeat).
Is there such an option to loop the flashcard categories to have them repeat ?
Best regards,
Hi Mike,
You are welcome. That's my job.😎
About the "looping" of flashcards, could you elaborate a bit, please?
Thank you.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
Reinhard,
Thanks for getting back to me. All has been working
fine since last Friday morning.
No...I saw no error messages.
I didn't mention previously .. when I experienced the
trouble all I saw on the flashcard page was the
quick jump option ( which didn't work ). All the other icons like
My work bank, Study all, etc. were not visible.
Related question...how may I loop Flashcards ???
Best Regards,
Hi Mike,
Sorry for all your troubles.😞
Could you tell me whether you are still experiencing difficulties now and
what kind of error messages you get when trying to access your flashcards?
Thank you in advance.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
A follow up to my last message below.
At 10:00 AM EDST on Friday all of my Flashcard
functions worked properly including my wordbank,
new core 100,my beginner1,2,& 3, etc,
Since then no problems.
Any ideas as to what caused my issues ? Was it
something I could have reset on my end ?
Mike
I can't seem to access my Flashcards decks on the My Flashcards screen.
I created three Decks ( Beginner 1 - lessons 1-10 ), Beginner 2 - lessons
11-15 ) and Beginner 3 ( Lessons 16 - 20 ). As I am now studying lesson
16 that deck would have few words at this point in time.
When I go to "My Decks " screen the "My decks" icon in the upper left of the
screen is red, none of my decks show up when I click on the "pick a deck " and
none show up as deleted. ????? Up until now this flashcard function has
been working fine.
I have signed off the dashboard and back on several times...but no change in
this Flashcard situation.
Help !
Hi Mike,
The fact that you are able to leave a comment here
tells me that you might already have an account with
GermanPod101, in which case the best course of action might
be to log out and then log in again. If you don't remember the password
you have set, there should be a link "I have forgotten my password." or something
to that effect. Just click on that and follow the instructions.
If, on the other hand, you would like to sign up for one of our premium
services, go to the top of this page and click on "Dashboard". There you
can benefit from our special offer at the moment: 31% off. The banner is right
at the top of the dashboard.
Thank you.
If you have any further questions, please let us know.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
It has been mentioned several times including Lesson #8 about signing up for the free
lifetime account.
Judith: Stop by germanpod101.com
Chuck: And sign up for your free lifetime account.
More info Please.
I went to germanpod101.com and the sign in screen says that my
email address is in use. Does that mean I have already signed up ?
If not...how do I sign up ? Regardless, what comes with the free
lifetime account ?
Hi Jonas,
Great effort! You are a hard worker.
Let me suggest a few little changes:
"In Brasilien sind die meisten Menschen Christen, aber es gibt auch viele andere Religionen. Brasilien war ein katholisches Land, aber jetzt ist es evangelisch. Als ich ein Kind war, war ich auch katholisch, aber jetzt habe ich keine Religion mehr."
Thank you.
If you have any further questions, please let us know.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
In Brasilien ist die Volk christians, aber es viele anderen Religionen gibt. Brasilien war ein cathilic Land, aber jetzt eine protestant Land ist. Wenn war ich a kind, ich war catholic, aber heute ich religion nicht habe.