Learn about accusative singular endings and German working conditions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: Chuck here. Intermediate Season 4, Lesson 6 โ โLetโs Have an Exciting German DiscussionโฆAbout Workโ Hello and welcome back to GermanPod101.com, the fastest, easiest and most fun way to learn German. Iโm joined in the studio by? |
| Judith: Hello everyone, Judith here. |
| Chuck: In this lesson, youโll learn how to talk about your job. |
| Judith: This conversation takes place at the Cuban restaurants in Berlin. |
| Chuck: The conversation is between Joe and Anke. |
| Judith: The speakers are friends therefore theyโll be speaking informal German. |
| Chuck: Letโs listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A: Ein Tisch fรผr zwei bitte. |
| Kellner: Da oben vielleicht? |
| J: Ja, da ist gut. |
| Kellner: Kann ich Ihnen schon etwas zu trinken bringen? |
| A: Ja, ich hรคtte gern ein kubanisches Bier. |
| J: Kubanisches Bier? Das klingt interessant, aber heute Abend mรถchte ich keinen Alkohol. Fรผr mich bitte eine groรe Cola. |
| A: Bist du sicher? Wenn du jetzt eine Cola trinkst, kannst du bestimmt nicht vor 2 Uhr schlafen. |
| J: Egal, ich brauche jetzt etwas, das mich aufweckt. Ansonsten schlafe ich ein, bevor das Essen da ist. |
| A: Mach, was du willst. |
| J: Wie lรคuft deine Arbeit? |
| A: Ach, so wie immer. |
| J: Was meinst du? |
| A: Es ist jeden Tag das Gleiche. Egal wie viel langweiligen Papierkram ich erledige, es gibt immer noch mehr. Aber es ist eine sichere Arbeitsstelle und es gibt kaum Stress, ziemlich angenehm. |
| J: Klingt nicht spannend. |
| A: Es ist nicht spannend. |
| J: Wie findest du den Chef? |
| A: Er ist okay. Er ist kaum im Bรผro, also ist es meistens ruhig. |
| A: A table for two, please. |
| Waiter: Up there perhaps? |
| J: Yes, that's good. |
| Waiter: Can I bring you something to drink? |
| A: Yes, I'd like a Cuban beer. |
| J: Cuban beer? That sounds interesting, but tonight I don't want any alcohol. A large cola for me, please. |
| A: Are you sure? If you drink a cola now, then you certainly won't be able to sleep before 2am. |
| J: Whatever, right now I need something that'll wake me up. Otherwise I'll fall asleep before the food is here. |
| A: Do what you like. |
| J: How's your job going? |
| A: Oh, same as always. |
| J: What do you mean? |
| : It's the same every day. No matter how much boring paper work I take care of, there's always more. But it's a secure job and there's barely any stress, quite pleasant. |
| J: Doesn't sound exciting. |
| A: It's not exciting. |
| J: What do you think of the boss? |
| A: He's okay. He's barely in the office, so it's mostly quiet. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: All right. Maybe itโs time to talk a bit about German working conditions. |
| Chuck: With a lot of guarantee itโs four weeks of movable holidays. So that translates to 20 days of a five day work week or 24 days if you have a six day work week. This is really the minimum here. |
| Judith: Yes. Once you work a few years you get more. |
| Chuck: I think itโs quite common even when youโre about the age of retirement you get eight weeks of movable holidays, isnโt it? |
| Judith: I donโt know, I havenโt looked at the statistics, but yeah itโs a minimum here. And also keep in mind that if youโre young, up to 18 years old you also get more, but you also need to work all the same jobs, you choice of work and your month of weekly work hours are restricted. |
| Chuck: That prevents child labor. Additionally, there are 9 to 13 non-movable holidays, the exact amount depends on which federal state union, because some recognize different religious holidays than others, depends on the stateโs prevalent confession, Catholic or Protestant. |
| Judith: You typically donโt have to worry about running out of paid sick days or your job because of sickness, unless youโre missing for more than a few months. However, to prevent abuse, you need to see a doctor and have him certify that youโre actually sick. |
| Chuck: Itโs impossible to get all the health insurances unless youโre filthy rich. You can choose your health insurance company, but you have to be insured, itโs illegal not to have health insurance. The money for the insurance goes straight out of your salary and your employer contributes half. If youโre not employed, your health insurance is covered by the state. |
| Judith: Either way, non-working family members are covered by the working parentโs health insurance and if youโre an un-employee itโs also impossible to opt out of the national pension system. As a freelancer, youโre responsible for that yourself. |
| Chuck: Letโs take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Chuck: The first word we shall look at is? |
| Judith: [Alkohol] |
| Chuck: โAlcoholโ. |
| Judith: [Alkohol, der Alkohol] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [schlafen] |
| Chuck: โTo sleepโ. |
| Judith: [schlafen, schlafen] and this is a vowel changing verb. |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [aufwecken] |
| Chuck: โTo wake upโ. |
| Judith: [aufwecken, aufwecken] and the [auf] splits off. |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [ansonsten] |
| Chuck: โOtherwiseโ. |
| Judith: [ansonsten, ansonsten] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [Papier] |
| Chuck: โPaperโ. |
| Judith: [Papier, das Papier] and the plural is [Papiere] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [Kram] |
| Chuck: โStuffโ or [unintelligible 00:03:29] |
| Judith: [Kram, der Kram] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [erledigen] |
| Chuck: โTo carry outโ or โhandleโ. |
| Judith: [erledigen, erledigen] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [Arbeitsstelle] |
| Chuck: โPositionโ or โworkplaceโ. |
| Judith: [Arbeitsstelle, die Arbeitsstelle] and the plural is [Arbeitsstellen] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [Stress] |
| Chuck: โStressโ. |
| Judith: [Stress, der Stress] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [angenehm] |
| Chuck: โPleasantโ. |
| Judith: [angenehm, angenehm] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [spannend] |
| Chuck: โThrillingโ. |
| Judith: [spannend, spannend] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [Chef] |
| Chuck: โBossโ. |
| Judith: [Chef, der Chef] and the plural is [Chefs] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [Bรผro] |
| Chuck: โOfficeโ. |
| Judith: [Bรผro, das Bรผro] and the plural is [Bรผros] |
| Chuck: Next? |
| Judith: [meistens] |
| Chuck: โMostlyโ or โmost of the timeโ. |
| Judith: [meistens, meistens] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Chuck: Letโs have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Judith: The first word weโll look at is [einschlafen] this is related to [schlafen] as you can guess. The difference is that [schlafen] means โto be sleepingโ while [einschlafen] is โto fall asleepโ. The separable [ein] prefix is for the transition into sleep. |
| Chuck: [Wie lรคuft es?] means โHowโs something doingโ. The literal meaning of [laufen] is to โto jogโ. |
| Judith: Then the expression [so wie immer], it means โat alwaysโ or โas usualโ. [wie] can mean โhowโ but it can also mean โasโ. |
| Chuck: [Das Gleiche] is a fixed expression meaning โthe sameโ or โmore the sameโ. It doesnโt mean that thereโs a noun [gleiche] with a capital โgโ. Itโs only this one expression. |
| Judith: Finally, the word [Papierkram] itโs a compound German noun. It means โpaperworkโ but in a negative kind of way, [Kram] has always a negative connotation. [Papierkram] is paperwork that you really shouldnโt have to do. Someone coined an English word for it. โBumfโ. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Chuck: The focus of this lesson is accusative singular. Today weโre looking at the accusative endings since the dialogue contained lots of them. |
| Judith: For masculine nouns such as [der Mann] or [der Anzug]. |
| Chuck: โSuitโ. |
| Judith: The key ending is the โenโ for the accusative. |
| Chuck: The key ending always has to be present. |
| Judith: Yes, so the masculine accusative singular form of โtheโ is [den] and the equivalent form of โaโ is [einen]. |
| Chuck: Also, any adjectives will get the ending โenโ as well. Could you give us some examples of this? |
| Judith: Of course. [Ich mag den Anzug, ich mag den grauen Anzug, ich mag einen Anzug.] |
| Chuck: Thereโre also a few masculine nouns such as [der Mensch], they will also adopt the โenโ ending for the accusative. |
| Judith: Yes, only some masculine words to that like [der Mensch, den Menschen] with โenโ. |
| Chuck: For feminine nouns such as [die Frau], the key ending is โeโ. Actually, feminine nouns are exactly the same in the nominative and the accusative so this is easy. |
| Judith: Always chose the form that ends in โeโ. So, the forms would be [die], [eine], and [andere]. [Ich mag die Groฬรe, ich mag die andere Groฬรe, ich mag eine Groฬรe.] |
| Chuck: Finally, for neutral nouns such as [das Kind] or [das Kleid]. |
| Judith: โA dressโ. |
| Chuck: The key ending is โsโ. Neutral nouns are also exactly the same in accusative as in the nominative. So again, youโre saving yourself some work. |
| Judith: The correct form of [der, die, das] for accusative singular is obviously [das]. |
| Chuck: Here you have the issue that [ein] does not carry this key ending โsโ. This cannot be helped when youโre just saying [ein Kleid] or something like that. But, once you add an adjective, the adjective has to end in โsโ or โesโ for pronunciation reasons. |
| Judith: If the article is [das], then the adjective does not need the additional โsโ, it would just end in โeโ. So, this is just something to think about when youโre using [ein]. |
| Chuck: Can you give us some examples? |
| Judith: Yeah. [Ich mag das Kleid, ich mag das schwarze Kleid, ich mag ein Kleid, ich mag ein schwarzes Kleid.] |
| Chuck: Memorize these forms as well and have another look at the dialogue to identify all the accusative forms. |
Outro |
| Judith: Good idea! Make sure you figure out now where they have the endings that they have. Post your results in the comments. Listeners, have you ever dreamed of starring in one of our lessons? |
| Chuck: If your answer is yes, use the voice recording tool on the lessonโs page. |
| Judith: Record your voice with a click of a button. |
| Chuck: Then play it back just as easily. |
| Judith: Then, compare it with the native speakers in the lesson. |
| Chuck: And adjust your pronunciation. |
| Judith: After a few tries, youโll be speaking a better German that Chuck here. |
| Chuck: Hey! |
| Judith: Go to GermanPod101.com and rapidly improve your German pronunciation. |
| Chuck: So, see you next week! |
| Judith: [Also bis nรคchste Woche!] |
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