Learn how to shorten subclauses
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: Chuck here. Beginner series, Season 2, Lesson #17. How Stupid Would We Have to Be to Not Know These German Clauses? |
| Judith: Hello everyone. I am Judith and welcome to germanpod101. |
| Chuck: With us, you will learn to speak German with fun and effective lessons. |
| Judith: We also provide you with cultural insights. |
| Chuck: And tips you won’t find in a textbook. |
| Judith: This is in fact the last lesson. |
| Chuck: The last germanpod101 lesson? |
| Judith: No of course not. |
| Chuck: Well the last beginner lesson? |
| Judith: Not that either but this is the last lesson of this particular story. Next week, we will take a short break and the week after, we are starting a new kind of beginner lesson. |
| Chuck: Yeah we get a break. I mean don’t worry. You can just continue to study every new beginner lesson that comes out and improve your German that way. The new series will be easy too. All right, so what do we learn in this lesson, this final important lesson? |
| Judith: In this lesson, you will learn how to shorten subclauses in German. |
| Chuck: This conversation takes place at a German home. The conversation is between Maria and her boyfriend. The speakers are friends. Therefore they will be speaking informal German. Before we listen to the conversation |
| Judith: We want to ask |
| Chuck: Do you read the lesson notes while you listen? |
| Judith: We received an email about the study tip. |
| Chuck: So we are wondering if you tried it and if so |
| Judith: What do you think of it? |
| Chuck: Leave us feedback in the comments section of this lesson. All right let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| B: Sag mal... du warst doch auch oft an der Spree... Warst du in dieser Sekte? |
| M: Nein, wie kommst du denn darauf! Ich in einer Sekte?? |
| M: Denkst du, ich bin so dumm?? |
| B: Nein… |
| M: Oder denkst du, ich möchte Selbstmord begehen? |
| B: Nein, ich hoffe nicht. |
| M: Na also! |
| B: Kennst du das Sektenhaus? |
| M: Ich war mal da, ja. Es ist ein schönes Haus. |
| B: Und die Polizei? |
| M: Die Polizei war nie da. |
| Judith: Now it’s slowly. |
| B: Sag mal... du warst doch auch oft an der Spree... Warst du in dieser Sekte? |
| M: Nein, wie kommst du denn darauf! Ich in einer Sekte?? |
| M: Denkst du, ich bin so dumm?? |
| B: Nein… |
| M: Oder denkst du, ich möchte Selbstmord begehen? |
| B: Nein, ich hoffe nicht. |
| M: Na also! |
| B: Kennst du das Sektenhaus? |
| M: Ich war mal da, ja. Es ist ein schönes Haus. |
| B: Und die Polizei? |
| M: Die Polizei war nie da. |
| Judith: Now with the translation. |
| B: Sag mal... du warst doch auch oft an der Spree... Warst du in dieser Sekte? |
| B: So tell me... you've been to the Spree often too... Were you in this sect? |
| M: Nein, wie kommst du denn darauf! Ich in einer Sekte?? |
| M: No, how did you get that idea! Me in a sect?? |
| M: Denkst du, ich bin so dumm?? |
| M: Do you think I am so stupid?? |
| B: Nein… |
| B: No… |
| M: Oder denkst du, ich möchte Selbstmord begehen? |
| M: Or do you think I want to commit suicide? |
| B: Nein, ich hoffe nicht. |
| B: No, I hope not. |
| M: Na also! |
| M: So there! |
| B: Kennst du das Sektenhaus? |
| B: Do you know the sect's house? |
| M: Ich war mal da, ja. Es ist ein schönes Haus. |
| M: I was there before, yes. It's a nice house. |
| B: Und die Polizei? |
| B: And the police? |
| M: Die Polizei war nie da. |
| M: The police was never there. |
| CULTURAL SECTION |
| Judith: Chuck, I just noticed we had all these serious dealing directly or indirectly with the police and we never ever talked about the German police. |
| Chuck: Oh no! [Eins, Zwei, Drei, Polizei] |
| Judith: Let’s talk a bit about it. First of all, you probably want to know what color they are so you can avoid them. I mean… |
| Chuck: Who do you hang out with generally Judith? |
| Judith: So you don’t unintentionally disrespect them. |
| Chuck: Uhoo. |
| Judith: Most of the policemen that you see nowadays are still based on the color green. I mean the uniforms are based on the color green. The cars are also green. The cars can be either completely green or green white and the uniforms are green-yellow or green-beige. |
| Chuck: And you will also notice that new uniforms and cars are blue and silver in an effort to standardize the appearance of the police across Europe. |
| Judith: Yeah but they are still quite uncommon. And supposedly, the police should have the attitude of being [Dein Freund und Helfer] |
| Chuck: Your friend and helper. |
| Judith: But typically they are very serious. They never joke and they are not all too volunteering to help. |
| Chuck: And be very careful especially all of you English speakers out there is you get fines if you address them as [Du] or call them bad names of course. |
| Judith: Yeah you don’t want to accidentally do that. Always call them [Sie] |
| Chuck: Yes. |
| Judith: One curious tidbit is that in Germany, the police are not responsible for incorrectly parked cars. So if you have your car parked in a bad spot and after that you see the typical Green of the police car or police man, then you don’t need to be too worried. There is a different authority for anything that doesn’t move. |
| Chuck: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Judith: First word [Dieser, diese, dieses] |
| Chuck: This |
| Judith: [Dieser, diese, dieses, dieser, diese, dieses]. Denn. |
| Chuck: Because or adds emphasis. |
| Judith: [Denn, denn]. Darauf. |
| Chuck: On that. |
| Judith: [Darauf, darauf]. Dumm. |
| Chuck: Stupid. |
| Judith: [Dumm, dumm]. Möchte. |
| Chuck: I would like |
| Judith: [Möchte, möchte]. Begehen. |
| Chuck: To commit or to walk around. |
| Judith: [Begehen, begehen]. Hoffen. |
| Chuck: To hope. |
| Judith: [Hoffen, hoffen]. Nie. |
| Chuck: Never |
| Judith: [Nie, nie]. |
| 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: The first phrase we will look at is [Wie kommst du denn darauf?] |
| Chuck: How did you get that idea? |
| Judith: This is a very common German expression especially when somebody just proposed something really, really silly that you have no idea. [Wie kommst du denn darauf?] and the second thing for today is [Na also]. |
| Chuck: So there or you see. |
| Judith: You can’t actually translate this one literally but it’s also very common thing to say when you’ve just made somebody see a reason and the intonation is quite important. You have to say [Na also]. Okay now for some grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Judith: In the third lesson, we encountered German subclauses. For example, the subclause with [Dass] following [Denken Sie]. |
| Chuck: Do you think. At that time, we learned it in German. You have to place the verb at the very end of these subclauses. In this lesson, however we saw a shortened, very colloquial way of saying the same thing. |
| Judith: Just look at the phrase [Denkst du ich möchte Selbstmord begehen] This came up in the dialogue. As you can see, we do not have the mandatory [Dass] in there nor does the main verb move to the end. This kind of shortened subclause is colloquial. You shouldn’t use it in writing. |
| Chuck: And remember, if you leave out the [Dass], you also have to keep your main verb in second position and vice versa. These changes always go hand in hand. Anything else would sound weird. That just about does it for today. Before we go, we want to tell you about a way to drastically improve your pronunciation. |
Outro |
| Judith: The voice recording tool. |
| Chuck: Yes the voice recording tool and the premium learning center. |
| Judith: Record your voice with the 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 you improve your pronunciation fast. Of course, you can also listen to our accent improvement series. New lessons will come out in July. |
| Judith: Don’t forget we are taking a break next week. [Bis nächstes Mal]. |
Comments
Hide