Learn how to speak in the German passive voice in present tense
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: Chuck here, intermediate series season three lesson thirteen. All is well in Germany |
| Judith: Hi my name is Judith and I'm joined here by Chuck. |
| Chuck: Hello everyone and welcome back to germanpod101. |
| Judith: What are we learning today? |
| Chuck: In this lesson, you'll learn how to talk about your work. |
| Judith: This conversation takes place at a German restaurant. |
| Chuck: The conversation is between Herr. Mueller and Mr. Jones. |
| Judith: The speakers are in a business relationship, therefore they will be speaking in formal German. |
| Chuck: Let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Müller: Herr Jones, lassen Sie uns etwas über die Arbeit sprechen. |
| Jones: Ja, gerne. |
| Müller: Wie gefällt es Ihnen bisher? |
| Jones: Also, ich bin eigentlich zufrieden. Ich habe mich gut eingewöhnt. |
| Müller: Das freut mich. Und wie finden Sie Ihre Aufgaben? |
| Jones: Nun, bisher habe ich ja nur allgemeine Aufgaben erledigt. |
| Müller: Ja, das stimmt, aber nicht mehr lange. Sie werden natürlich in Zukunft von mir mit neuen Tätigkeiten beauftragt. |
| Jones: Ah, sehr gut. |
| Müller: Frau Bayer wird ebenfalls mit den neuen Arbeiten beauftragt, sodass sie beide weiterhin zusammenarbeiten. |
| Jones: Ah, das freut mich. Ich finde, ich werde von Frau Bayer sehr gut betreut und wir verstehen uns super. |
| Müller: Das ist gut, denn es ist mir sehr wichtig, dass die Stimmung im Team stimmt. Ich habe die Erfahrung gemacht, dass bei einer schlechten Atmosphäre im Büro die Arbeit nicht ordentlich erledigt wird. Aber Sie passen zu uns wie die Faust aufs Auge! |
| Jones: Ähm, ist das etwas Gutes? |
| Müller: Oh, ja, das heißt, Sie passen gut zu uns! |
| Jones: Ah, danke sehr. Es freut mich, dass Sie mit mir zufrieden sind. |
| Müller: Ja, ich denke, dass wir als Firma durch Sie bereichert werden und dass Sie bereit sind für mehr Verantwortung. |
| Jones: Ich gebe mein Bestes! |
| Müller: Mr Jones, let's talk a little about work. |
| Jones: Yes, gladly. |
| Müller: How do you like it so far? |
| Jones: Well, I'm quite content. I have gotten accustomed to things well. |
| Müller: I'm glad. And how do you like your tasks? |
| Jones: Well, so far I only did the general tasks. |
| Müller: Yes, that's right, but not for long anymore. You will of course be charged by me with new tasks in the future. |
| Jones: Ah, very good. |
| Müller: Ms Bayer will also be tasked with new work, so that you both will continue to work together. |
| Jones: Ah, I'm glad. I find that I am coached very well by Ms Bayer and we understand each other super. |
| Müller: That's good, because it is important to me that the team spirit is good. I have made the experience that the work doesn't get done in an orderly way when there's a bad atmosphere in the office. But you fit to us like a fist on the eye! |
| Jones: Ehm, is that a good thing? |
| Müller: Oh, yes, it means that you fit in well. |
| Jones: Ah, thank you very much. I am glad that you're happy with me. |
| Müller: Yes, I think that we as a company are enriched by you, and that you're ready to take on more responsibility. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: Okay, now I actually disagree with the way that the boss defined this [Faust aufs Auge] it's an ironic German saying and it used to mean and I still understand it such that something doesn't fit together at all. For example if you're wearing sneakers with a fancy suit or dress, that's the idea that you get [Passt wie die faust aufs Auge] it's a feast on the eye as in it doesn't quite fit or at least it doesn't have a good effect. |
| Chuck: So then why is it like that. Why do you say that? |
| Judith: Well there have been more and more Germans that use this incorrectly or let's say with double ironic meaning and now you can use the same saying to mean that something does fit. |
| Chuck: Wait, don't you have something like [Passt wie der Topf zum Deckel]? |
| Judith: Yes, if it's like a pot and lid, that's a traditional way to say that it does fit [Passt wie der Topf zum Deckel] yeah. There are also other sayings but some of these [Passt wie die Faust aufs Auge] also acquired this meaning and that's a matter of evolution. All living languages evolve like this. |
| Chuck: That's just bad. |
| Judith: Why? |
| Chuck: Bad as in good. |
| Judith: Okay. I guess I wasn't aware of that piece of evolution. |
| Chuck: That's a little thing that Michael Jackson left us. |
| Judith: Okay. |
| Chuck: He's do bad, you know? |
| Judith: Yeah, but let's get back to German and another language change you can currently observe in German is the switch from genitive to dative. Originally there used to be a couple of prepositions like for example [wegen] and these prepositions required a genitive. |
| Chuck: Thankfully they decided to drop them and use the not dative instead. |
| Judith: Yes, for example [wegen dem Feuer] |
| Chuck: Because of the fire. |
| Judith: Instead of [wegen des Feuers] |
| Chuck: The change also affected how people express possession. |
| Judith: Yeah, originally you would say [Das Haus meines Vaters] but this sounds extremely stilted in spoken German now. So people say [Das Haus von meinem Vater] so like 'the house of my father' or in the worst case [Meinem Vater sein Haus]. |
| Chuck: My father, his house? What the heck is up with that? |
| Judith: Don't ask me to explain it, it's just a modern way to say it, instead of [das Haus meines Vaters] you get [Meinem Vater sein Haus]. |
| Chuck: All right, well the genitive is getting replaced by the dative in all functions. The part of evolution has brought the public attention with a book which I think is pretty cool [Der Genitiv ist sein Dativs Tod] the dative is the genitive's death. |
| Judith: Yeah, it works like the previous examples, what they're saying is the dative is the death of the genitive. This book also covers other parts of language evolution or funny things about the German language. |
| Chuck: There's some other evidence of the continuing evolution of the German language. |
| Judith: Yes, for example nouns lose their case endings. For example we say [Im Hause] and that sounds literary now. If you say it it sounds like it's straight from a book where you would now say [Im Haus] not [Im Hause] but [Im Haus]. The nouns reduce the endings, of course another evidence of evolution is the recent spelling reform, for example you don't spell [das] with a [ß] any more, you spell it with a double s and a little french are spelled according to their pronunciation. |
| Chuck: Like you would say [Portmonnaie] spelled more the German way than the French way. |
| Judith: Yes, you used to have to spell it with a double n, a, I , e at the end that's |
| Chuck: It's so French |
| Judith: It's so illogical, and now you have this option of spelling it with an n and a double e, it's more like it. |
| Chuck: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word is |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Judith: [sich gewöhnen] |
| Chuck: To get used to, to adapt to. |
| Judith: [sich gewöhnen] and use it typically as [sich an etwas gewöhnen] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [allgemein] |
| Chuck: General, overall. |
| Judith: [allgemein] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [erledigen] |
| Chuck: To carry out or handle. |
| Judith: [erledigen] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Tätigkeit] |
| Chuck: Occupation or task. |
| Judith: [Tätigkeit, die] and the plural is [Tätigkeiten] |
| Chuck: Next, |
| Judith: [beautragen] |
| Chuck: To task someone, charge someone with doing something. |
| Judith: [beauftragen] and you typically say [jemanden mit etwas beauftragen] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [sodass] |
| Chuck: So that. |
| Judith: [sodass] and this is spelled as one word. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [weiterhin] |
| Chuck: Furthermore or still. |
| Judith: [weiterhin] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [betreuen] |
| Chuck: To look after, take care of, oversee or coach. |
| Judith: [betreuen, jemanden betreuen] with the accusative. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Stimmung] |
| Chuck: Sentiment or mood. |
| Judith: [Stimmung, die] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Atmosphäre] |
| Chuck: Atmosphere. |
| Judith: [Atmosphäre, die] and the plural is [Atmosphären] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [ordentlich] |
| Chuck: Tidy, neat or orderly. |
| Judith: [ordentlich] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Faust] |
| Chuck: Fist. |
| Judith: [Faust, die] the plural is [Fäuste] and don't confuse this with [Goethe´s] famous work |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [bereichern] |
| Chuck: To enrich. |
| Judith: [bereichern] |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: [Verantwortung] |
| Chuck: Responsibility. |
| Judith: [Verantwortung, die] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Chuck: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some and the word and phrases from this lesson. |
| Judith: The first phrase is [sich eingewöhnen] this means [sich daran gewöhnen, gewöhnt darin zu sein] to get used to being in something. For example in this dialogue we had Mr. Jones getting used to being in this German company [sich eingewöhnen] then we have [Tätigkeit], [Tätigkeit] is just a more high level term for [Arbeit] and by the same token [erledigen] is a more high level term for [tun] so if you want to sound very well educated you say [Tätigkeit] and [erledigen] especially if you're the manager of a company. |
| But if you're not so educated you can just say [Arbeit tun] or [tun]. finally [Passt wie die Faust aufs Auge], this is an expression. |
| Chuck: Fits like a fist on the eye. |
| Judith: Yeah, and as we said before it can mean it doesn't go well together or nowadays it can mean it does go well together. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Chuck: The focus for this lesson is the passive voice for the present tense. |
| Judith: The passive is a kind of verb form that's useful when you don't know who did something or when it's irrelevant who did it. Or when you don't want to reveal it. |
| Chuck: You'll often hear a lot of passive sentences from sightseeing, for example the Brandenburg gate was completed in 1791 and you may want to use the passive a lot yourself when you show friends the sights in your cities and you never bothered to learn the names of the architects. |
| Judith: Yes, in German the passive is formed using the verb [werden] this verb usually means to become and it's also used for the future tense, but for the future tense it's used with the infinitive and for the passive voice it's used with the past participle so you can distinguish the two. So [Er wird sehen] |
| Chuck: You will see. |
| Judith: But [Er wird gesehen] |
| Chuck: He is seen. |
| Judith: And that's the passive, [Er wird gesehen] he is seen. You can also say [Er wird gesehen werden] |
| Chuck: He will be seen. |
| Judith: But we'll keep that to another lesson that will be the future tense of the passive voice because all the tenses that we had before are possible active and passive just like in English. For now we just look at the present tense. |
| Chuck: Could you give us an example for the passive from the text? |
| Judith: Yes, for example [Ich werde von Frau Bayer sehr gut betreut] |
| Chuck: I am coached very well by Mrs. Bayer. |
| Judith: As in Mrs. Bayer is coaching me very well but here we have the passive sentence 'I am coached' [Frau Bayer wird ebenfalls mit den neuen Arbeiten beauftragt] |
| Chuck: Mrs. Bayer will also be tasked with the new work. |
| Judith: Yes and here we don't know who is doing the tasking, we can assume the boss so we could say 'the boss is tasking Frau. Bayer with new word' but again we have this passive sentence which is all turned around. 'Mrs. Bayer will be tasked with the new word' |
| Chuck: And now can you find more examples? |
| Judith: Yes. I would like to invite you to look at the dialogue again or look at it in the transcript and try to spot all the forms of the passive. |
Outro |
| Chuck: That just about does it for today, remember you leave us a comment on this lesson. |
| Judith: So if you have a question or some feedback please leave us a comment. |
| Chuck: It's very easy to do, just stop by germanpod101.com |
| Judith: Click on comments. |
| Chuck: Enter your comment and name. |
| Judith: And that's it. |
| Chuck: So no excuses, we're looking forward to hearing from you. See you next time. |
| Judith: [Also bis nächstes Mal]! |
Comments
HideWie interpretiert ihr "Sie passen zu uns wie die Faust aufs Auge"? Gibt es eine ähnliche Redewendung in eurer Muttersprache?
Hallo robert groulx,
Danke schön for taking the time to leave us a comment. 😇
Let us know if you have any questions.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
Levente
Team GermanPod101.com
thanks for the lesson
my favorite word is lassen Sie uns etwas über die Arbeit sprechen.
robert
Hi Yuan,
This is a question of casual versus polite.
Because the exchange takes place in a working
environment, the polite/formal version "sie" is used.
Thank you.
If you have any further questions, please let us know.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
This sentence:"Frau Bayer wird ebenfalls mit den neuen Arbeiten beauftragt, sodass sie beide weiterhin zusammenarbeiten." I can not understand, why not instead of "sodass sie" "sodass ihr" ? Maybe I am wrong.
I will be very grateful if you can help me
Yuan Zoufall
Hello Scott,
Thank you for the feedback ??!
Sincerely
Anne
Team GermanPod101.com
Hi Anne,
Thank you, makes perfect sense ?
Hi Scott,
Thank you for your comment.
You are right. You could say: "Frau Bayer wird ebenfalls mit den neuen Arbeiten beauftragt werden....".
In this case anyhow present tense is used because they are talking about the close future and the context leaves no doubt that they are talking about the future. Using present tense for future happens quite frequently in German (E.g. Morgen gehe ich ins Kino.)
Sincerely,
Anne
Team GermanPod101.com
Hi Albert,
Patiently waiting for an answer below :)
Regards, Scott
Hello Yash,
Thank you very much for your comment! :)
Basically "sodass" and "damit" have the same meaning, but the use cases differ a little bit.
If a situation happens and triggers a sonsequence (without an intention behind it), you can use "sodass" but not "damit".
For example:
Der Zug war nicht pünktlich, sodass ich zu spät zum Unterricht gekommen bin.
(for "the train wasn´t on time", the consequence: I was late for classes.)
It would not be: Der Zug war nicht pünktlich, damit ich zu spät zum Unterricht gekommen bin.
(here it sounds like the train did it intentionally)
I hope this helps. Please let us know if you have any questions.
Kind regards,
Albert
Team GermanPod101.com
What's the difference between 'sodass' and 'damit'? In what context would you use them?
Thank you for this lesson!
What's the difference between sodass and damit?
Hi Chuck and Judith,
Firstly love the lessons, my commute to work would not be complete without you two!
I have a question about the passive as I have not studied it til now. In the text Herr Müller says to Mr Jones that he will be (future) tasked with new work. He then says Frau Bayer will also be tasked with new work. My question is why isn’t the infinitive “werden” used after beauftragt to indicate the future when he says “Frau Bayer wird ebenfalls mit den neuen Arbeiten beauftragt sodass....”
Is that because Herr Müller already established he is talking about the future when he says to Mr Jones “sie werden natürlich in Zukunft von mir mit neuen Tätigkeiten beauftragt”?
Cheers, Scott
Hi Jim,
We're sorry for the inconvenience. We've fixed the issue, so now you can check the line by line.
Thank you,
Jae / GermanPod101.com
Hello
I couldn't find the line by line audio for Intermmediate 3 lesson 13. Please advise. Thank You
Jim
Hi Stefania :)
thanks a lot for your detailed answer!! It helps a lot, as always! :cool:
I appreciate that you put a lot of examples, so that the explanation is so obvious!
Thanks a lot,
cheers,
Nevena
Hi Nevena,
as for your first question, I will give you a similar example in English:
Hello Mr. ...(boss), I processed important tasks today
OR
Hello Mr. ...(boss), I did important work today.
Which one would make you sound smarter?
I would say it's not about what's more common, but what kind of impression you want to give to the people you work with. You want to make the best right? Me personally, I'd say "Ich habe wichtige Tätigkeiten erledigt".
As for the second question:
"Ich freue mich" is correct
"Ich freut mich" is wrong. It should be er/sie/es freut mich.
It can mean "It`s my pleasure" or to be happy about something.
Examples:
"Ich freue mich für dich" = "I'm happy for you."
"Es freut mich, wenn ich helfen kann." = "It`s my pleasure to help."
"Es freut mich, dich kennenzulernen." or "Ich freue mich, dich kennenzulernen." = "It is a pleasure/I am pleased to meet you."
I hope this helps!
Stefania/GermanPod101.com
Hi Dave,
thank you for the comment! I am sure she appreciates the compliment!
Stefania/GermanPod101.com
Judith has such a cute voice!
Ich habe auch eine Frage :) ...Is it equally polite/important to say in front of your boss: " Ich habe wichtige Tätigkeiten erledigt" und "ich habe wichtige Dinge/Arbeit gemacht" (as you mentioned that the first phase might mark you as better educated). What is more common in Germany?
Ähm, was ist der Unterschied zwischen: Ich freue mich... und Ich freut mich :???:
I couldn?t agree more, thanks for writing.