Learn how to use the phrase "Do you speak English?"
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| Hallo, ich heiße Laura! Hi everybody! I’m Laura. | |
| Welcome to GermanPod101.com’s “Deutsch in 3 Minuten”. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn German. | |
| In the last lesson, we learned the most common forms of greetings in German. Do you remember them? | |
| In this lesson we’re going to learn a very useful phrase: “Do you speak English?” | |
| If you find yourself in a situation where you need assistance in English, this phrase can be a lifesaver. And because you’re asking it in German, you can be sure that everyone will understand what you’re saying, even if their answer is no. | |
| Here's the informal way to say it. | |
| Sprichst Du Englisch? | |
| [slowly] Sprichst Du Englisch? | |
| In German, verbs change depending on the pronoun that is used. Please notice the word “Du” in the middle of the sentence. Remember that this is the informal way to say “you?” The first word is the verb, sprichst, which means to speak. Because it is referring to “du,” it is conjugated to du sprichst. | |
| If You ask a question in German, you change the the pronoun du and the verb sprichst from du sprichst to the interrogative form sprichst du. And you probably recognize “Englisch” to be “English.” | |
| Sprichst du Englisch? | |
| To learn how to properly conjugate verbs, like sprechen, please look at our Absolute Beginner series on GermanPod101.com. You can find very detailed grammar lessons and resources there! | |
| We’re now going to make this sentence formal. First, we need to use the formal version of “you,” which is Sie. If we change the word for “you,” we will conjugate the verb differently. It becomes sprechen instead of sprichst like in the informal version. Everything else stays the same: | |
| Sprechen Sie Englisch? | |
| [slowly] Sprechen Sie Englisch? | |
| Adding Entschuldigen Sie, "excuse-me", the sentence becomes even more polite: | |
| Entschuldigen Sie, sprechen Sie Englisch? | |
| [slowly] Entschuldigen Sie, sprechen Sie Englisch? | |
| The responses you will receive could be one of these three: | |
| Ja. "Yes." | |
| [slowly] Ja. | |
| Ein bischen. "A little." | |
| [slowly] ein bischen. | |
| Nein, ich spreche nicht Englisch. "No, I don’t speak English." | |
| [slowly] Nein, ich spreche nicht Englisch. | |
| Since this last one is a negative statement, we need to say nicht after the verb sprechen. Notice also that the verb, spreche is slightly different than sprechen. Remember, the verb changes depending on the pronoun used. We are now talking about ich, German for "I," Thus “I do not speak” is: | |
| Ich spreche nicht. | |
| Now it’s time for Laura’s Insights. | |
| For those of you who are not only English speakers, you can obviously use this question with any language you need. German people study other European languages at school, so maybe you will get lucky! Just substitute Englisch with... | |
| Italienisch for Italian. | |
| Russisch for Russian. | |
| Spanisch for Spanish. | |
| Französisch for French. | |
| In this lesson we mentioned the expression Entschuldigen Sie. But did you know that this could also be used as an apology? In the next lesson we will learn this and other ways to apologize in German. It’s never too late to show your good manners with German people! | |
| I'll see you in our next Deutsch in 3 Minuten lesson. | |
| Bis bald! |
69 Comments
HideHallo Yağız,
You are very welcome. 😇
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
Good luck with your language studies.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
Levente
Team GermanPod101.com
Hello, thanks a lot for the lesson.
Can i say " können Sie Deutsch" for asking "Can you speak German"
Hello Nikolai, Tiana & Naura Cahya Marissa Dewi,
Thank you for you feedback.
Glad to hear that we are able to help and that you are are
enjoying our lessons. 😉
If you have any questions, please let us know.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
danke sehr!!
The explanations are really clear and the short videos really help to stay focussed to the topic. 😎👍
👍ich danke ihnen
Hi Mayela,
Thank you for posting.
That's a good question. In writing there is no difference, I
believe. I hope I don't step on anyone's toes when I say that
Austrian German is a dialect of the German language, just like
Bavarian, for instance. Coincidentally, some people think that
Austrian and Bavarian German sound similar.
Austrians do use words you might not find in Germany, but not many.
I personally never had the slightest problem in a conversation with Austrians in
terms of vocabulary.
If you are planning on going there and really want to show off your Austrian German,
I am sure you will find a dictionary with Austrian slang in a bookshop. 😉
If you have any further questions, please let us know.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
Hi Nasim,
Thank you for your feedback.
You are right, the "ch" is quite a challenge.
Here is a lesson explaining it a little more in detail:
https://www.germanpod101.com/lesson/pronunciation-s2-4-ich-and-ach-sounds/?lp=64
Other lessons in the same series, by the way, explain the pronunciation of other letters too.
And another hint: whenever you look for anything in particular, check out
our search function (magnifying glass) at the top of the page, if you find that easier.
You are of course welcome, to post your question here instead. Maybe one of the other
students has a better answer than I? 😉
If you have any further questions, please let us know.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
What is the difference between Austrian German and German?
hallo
entschuldigen sie , i have a problem with pronunciation of "ch" in germanwords. 😅 sometimes it sounds like "sh" and sometimes "y". does it have any rules? would you please clarify it ?
danke sehr❤️️