Learn how to ask for something at a store
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| Let’s take a closer look at how Ben asks for an item without knowing its name. |
| Do you remember how Ben Lee says, |
| "This, please." |
| Das, bitte. |
| This standard way of asking for something follows a simple pattern. |
| First is das, "this," in this context. Das. Das. |
| Next is bitte, "please." Bitte. Bitte. |
| Note: bitte has multiple meanings depending on the situation. |
| In this case, the word is used to make a polite request, "Please." Bitte. |
| All together, it's Das, bitte, "This, please." |
| Das, bitte. |
| Let's take a closer look at the response. |
| Do you remember how the clerk says, |
| "Here you are." |
| Bitte. |
| Bitte, meaning "Here you are," in this situation. Bitte. Bitte. |
| Again, bitte has multiple meanings depending on the situation. |
| In this case, the word is used as an invitation to take something, as in "Here you are,” or “Go ahead." |
| Bitte, "Here you are," in this case. |
| Bitte. |
| The pattern is: |
| Das, bitte. |
| In modern German, "this" and "that" are both expressed with the pronoun das. Therefore, das, bitte can mean both "this, please," and “that, please.” |
| Imagine there is something located far from you. |
| Say |
| "That, please." |
| Ready? |
| Das, bitte. |
| "That, please." |
| Das, bitte. |
| There are actually words to differentiate between "this" and "that" in German. |
| It’s dieses, "this," for something close. |
| It’s jenes, "that," for something far. |
| However, these are rarely used in contemporary German and may sound old-fashioned to native German speakers. |
| In modern German, "this" and "that" are both expressed with the pronoun das, as in das, bitte, which can mean both "this, please," and “that, please.” |
| If you want to be precise about the location of the object, you can add the following adverbs: |
| hier, "here," as in das hier, literally, "this here," and |
| da, “there,” as in das da, literally, "this there," but translating as “that there,” or simply “that.” |
| Applied to this lesson: |
| Das hier, bitte. “This here, please.” Das hier, bitte. |
| Das da, bitte. “That there, please.” Das da, bitte. |
| Note, da can also be replaced with the dort, also meaning "there." However, in spoken language it's rarely used. |
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