Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

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 how to count in German. I hope you spent some time practicing the numbers, because they will come in handy today. We’re going to learn how to go shopping in Germany!
Before we go, you need to know how to say “How much is it?”
Wie viel kostet das?
[slowly] Wie viel kostet das?
Are you ready to go shopping in Germany? Let’s go!
You see something you like and want to ask the shop clerk how much it costs. The first thing to say to a shop clerk is… Entschuldigung, do you remember what that means? "Excuse me!"
Entschuldigung, wie viel kostet das?
[slowly] Entschuldigung, wie viel kostet das?
If we want to be more specific when asking "how much is this?" and refer to a certain type of object, we first need to drop the word das. Next, we need to know if the object is a masculine, feminine or neuter object. If it is masculine add dieser when referring to it, or diese for a feminine object and dieses for a neuter one. And then say the noun
For example, "hat" is a masculine noun. Der Hut.
Entschuldigung, wie viel kostet dieser Hut? "Excuse me, how much is this hat?"
[slowly] Entschuldigung, wie viel kostet dieser Hut?
And “pants” is a feminine noun. Die Hose.
Entschuldigung, wie viel kostet diese Hose? "Excuse me, how much is this pair of pants?"
[slowly] Entschuldigung, wie viel kostet diese Hose?
Finally “book” is a neuter noun . Das Buch.
So You would say:
Entschuldigung, wie viel kostet dieses Buch? “Excuse me, how much is this book?”
[slowly]“Entschuldigung, wie viel kostet dieses Buch?”
At this point the shop clerk can answer by saying:
Das kostet …
Das macht…
or
Das sind…
And then the number, followed by “Euro.”
For example:
Das kostet neununddreißig Euro!
Das macht neununddreißig Euro!
or
Das sind neununddreißig Euro!
What number is neununddreißig? I’m not telling you! Okay, okay, it’s "thirty-nine"! "It costs thirty-nine euros."
Now it’s time for Laura’s Insights.
A quicker way to ask “How much?” is Wie viel? Which literally means “How much?” Even when you ask for a beer at the counter of a bar, you can ask the cashier Ein Bier ist wie viel bitte? “How much is one beer, please?”
At this point, can you count euros in German? We are going to learn how to do this and much more in the next lesson!
I’ll be waiting for you in our next Deutsch in 3 Minuten lesson.
Bis bald!

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