Learn how to use the sentence pattern to express what you want
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| INTRODUCTION | |
| Sydney: Hi everyone, I'm Sydney. | |
| Albert: And I'm Albert. | |
| Sydney: And welcome to Must-Know German Sentence Structures, Season 1, Lesson 3. Expressing what you want. | |
| Sydney: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use a sentence pattern for expressing what you want. | |
| PATTERN | |
| Sydney: For example, | |
| Sydney: "I want a new television." | |
| Albert: Ich will einen neuen Fernseher. | |
| Albert: [slow] Ich will einen neuen Fernseher. | |
| Sydney: The pattern for expressing what you want has two elements. First, the phrase meaning "I want." | |
| Albert: Ich will. | |
| Sydney: Second, the complement describing what you want, in this case "a new television." | |
| Albert: einen neuen Fernseher. | |
| Sydney: Altogether, we have... "I want a new television." | |
| Albert: Ich will einen neuen Fernseher. [slow] Ich will einen neuen Fernseher. [normal] Ich will einen neuen Fernseher. | |
| Sydney: First you have the phrase "I want." Right afterward comes the complement, which is expressing what you want to do. In the case of a noun, an article is needed before it. The article is modified according to the gender and number of the noun. You can also use an adjective between the article and the noun. If it is an activity which is expressed by a verb, it should be in the infinitive form. | |
| Albert: Ich will einen neuen Fernseher. | |
| Sydney: So remember, to express what you or someone else wants, use a pronoun followed by the verb "to want", and a complement. Be aware of the changing article according to the number and gender of the noun. | |
| Sydney: Here is another example meaning, "I want something to eat." First, the phrase meaning "I want." | |
| Albert: Ich will. | |
| Sydney: Second, the complement describing what you want, here it means "something to eat." | |
| Albert: etwas zu essen. | |
| Sydney: Altogether we have... | |
| Albert: Ich will etwas zu essen. [slow] Ich will etwas zu essen. [normal] Ich will etwas zu essen. | |
| Sydney: "I want something to eat." | |
| [pause] | |
| Albert: Ich will etwas zu essen. | |
| Sydney: How do you say - "I want to play chess." To give you a hint, "to play chess." is... | |
| Albert: Schach spielen. [slow] Schach spielen. [normal] Schach spielen. | |
| Sydney: "I want to play chess." | |
| [pause] | |
| Albert: Ich will Schach spielen. [slow] Ich will Schach spielen. [normal] Ich will Schach spielen. | |
| [pause] | |
| Albert: Ich will Schach spielen. | |
| REVIEW | |
| Sydney: Let's review the sentences from this lesson. I will give you the English equivalent of the phrase and you are responsible for shouting it out loud in German. Here we go. | |
| Sydney: "I want a new television." | |
| [pause] | |
| Albert: Ich will einen neuen Fernseher. | |
| [pause] | |
| Albert: Ich will einen neuen Fernseher. | |
| Sydney: "I want something to eat." | |
| [pause] | |
| Albert: Ich will etwas zu essen. | |
| [pause] | |
| Albert: Ich will etwas zu essen. | |
| Sydney: "I want to play chess." | |
| [pause] | |
| Albert: Ich will Schach spielen. | |
| [pause] | |
| Albert: Ich will Schach spielen. | |
Outro |
|
|---|---|
| Sydney: Okay. That's all for this lesson. You learned a pattern for expressing what you want, as in... | |
| Albert: Ich will einen neuen Fernseher. | |
| Sydney: meaning "I want a new television." | |
| Sydney: You can find more vocab or phrases that go with this sentence pattern in the lesson notes. So please be sure to check them out on GermanPod101.com. Thanks everyone, see you next time! | |
| Albert: Bis zum nächsten Mal! |
7 Comments
HideListeners, what do you want?
Hallo robert groulx,
Danke schön for posting and studying with us. If you have any questions, please let us know.😄
Kind regards,
Levente
Team GermanPod101.com
thank you for the lesson transcript
my favorite activity is Ich will etwas zu essen.
i amateur chess player
robert
Hello Yvette,
Nice summary!😉
I think it will help all our users, and of course it will
help you to recap.
Thank you.
If you have any questions, please let us know.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
In expressing what you want using "wollen" - to want.
Ich will + Komplement and if you want to use another verb, that verb is always in the infinitive form.
Using adjectives also requires the gender of the noun you are describing to know what form of the adjective to use.
Hi Darrell,
Good question! 😉
"will" is used like "want to" in English whereas "möchte" is more like
"I would like to". So, it's a question of how polite you would like to be.
If you have any further questions, please let us know.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
When do I use "Ich will...", and when "Ich möchte..."
Thanks!