Learn how to say where you're from
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| Let’s take a closer look at the conversation. |
| Do you remember how Marvin Maas asks, |
| "Where are you from?" |
| Woher kommst du? |
| First is woher, meaning "where from." Woher. Woher. |
| Next is kommst. "Come," as in "you come from." Kommst. Kommst. |
| Kommst is from the verb kommen, meaning "to come,” as in “to come from” in this context. Kommen. |
| Last is du. "You." Du. Du. |
| Note, in German du is used when addressing someone in a casual conversation. |
| All together, Woher kommst du? literally, "Where from come you?" but it translates as "Where are you from?" |
| Woher kommst du? |
| Remember this question. You’ll hear it again later in this lesson. |
| Now, let’s take a closer look at the response. |
| Do you remember how Mark Lee says, |
| "I am from New York." |
| Ich komme aus New York. |
| First is ich, "I." Ich. Ich. |
| Next is komme, "come," as in "I come from..." Komme. Komme. |
| Komme is from the verb, kommen, "to come.” Kommen. |
| Next is aus, meaning "from" in this context. Aus. Aus. |
| Last is the city, New York. "New York." New York. New York. |
| All together, Ich komme aus New York. This literally means, "I come from New York," but it translates as "I'm from New York." |
| Ich komme aus New York. |
| The pattern is |
| Ich komme aus LOCATION. |
| "I am from LOCATION LOCATION." |
| Ich komme aus LOCATIONLOCATION. |
| To use this pattern, you can simply replace the LOCATION placeholder with the name of your hometown. |
| Note: This pattern requires a proper noun, and works with the names of cities, villages, towns or countries. |
| Imagine you’re from Sydney. In German, Sydney. Sydney. Sydney. |
| Say |
| "I am from Sydney." |
| Ready? |
| Ich komme aus Sydney. |
| "I am from Sydney." |
| Ich komme aus Sydney. |
| Note on German language formality: |
| Mark and Marvin are using informal language in this conversation. So Marvin asks, |
| “Woher kommst du?” Where are you from? |
| To make the question formal replace kommst du with the kommen Sie. |
| Therefore in a formal setting, |
| Woher kommen Sie? Where are you from? Woher kommen Sie? |
| Please be aware of this, as you will see it again later in the lesson. |
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