Learn how to talk to random strangers on the subway
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: Chuck here. Upper Beginner Season 1, Lesson #18. Can You Chat Up People in German? |
| Judith: Hi my name is Judith and I am joined here by Chuck. |
| Chuck: Hello everyone and welcome back to germanpod101.com |
| Judith: What are we learning today? |
| Chuck: In this lesson, you learn how to talk to random strangers on the subway. |
| Judith: This conversation takes place on the Munich subway. |
| Chuck: The conversation is between Joe and an unknown woman. |
| Judith: The speakers are strangers. Therefore they will be speaking formal German. |
| Chuck: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Joe: Entschuldigung…ist das Ihre? |
| Frau: Wie bitte? Nein, natürlich ist das nicht meine… |
| Joe: Okay…. |
| …. |
| Frau: Hey, was machen Sie denn da?! |
| Joe: Äh, ich nehme mir die Zeitung…? |
| Frau: Aber das ist meine! Die können Sie sich doch nicht einfach so nehmen! |
| Joe: Wie bitte? Jetzt verstehe ich gar nichts mehr! Ich denke, das ist nicht Ihre?! |
| Frau: Hä? Ach sooo….Nein, die Bierflasche dort ist nicht meine, aber die Zeitung gehört mir schon! |
| Joe: Ach soo…Entschuldigung… |
| …. |
| Frau: Ach wissen Sie, ich fahre noch 5 Stationen. Möchten Sie die Zeitung kurz lesen? |
| Joe: Oh ja, danke. Das ist sehr nett von Ihnen. |
| Frau: Ja, ich denke, …meins, deins, seins….So wichtig ist die Zeitung ja nun nicht für mich. Die kann ich auch mit jemandem teilen. |
| Joe: Vielen Dank. Ich möchte auch nur kurz den Sportteil lesen…. |
| Frau: Bitte schön… |
| Joe: Danke. |
| …. |
| Joe: Oh nein! So ein Mist! |
| Frau: Ist alles in Ordnung? |
| Joe: Hmm, ja. Es ist nur, meine Lieblings-Basketballmannschaft spielt in der letzten Zeit so schlecht… Das hasse ich…. |
| Frau: Ach so, das kann ich verstehen…Oh ich muss aussteigen…. |
| Joe: Ihre Zeitung! |
| Frau: Das ist jetzt Ihre! Viel Spaß damit! |
| Joe: Danke! |
| Joe: Excuse me, is that yours? |
| Woman: Sorry? No, of course it's not mine. |
| Joe: Okay. |
| ... |
| Woman: Hey, what are you doing? |
| Joe: Uh, I'm taking the newspaper...? |
| Woman: But that's mine! You can't just take it like that! |
| Joe: Sorry? I don't understand at all! I think that's not yours?! |
| Woman: Huh? Ohhh...No, the beer bottle there is not mine, but the newspaper actually belongs to me. |
| Joe: Ohhh...sorry... |
| ... |
| Woman: Oh, you know, I'm going another 5 stations. Would you like to read the newspaper? |
| Joe: Oh yes, thanks. That's very nice of you. |
| Woman: yes...mine, yours, his...The newspaper isn't actually that important to me. I can also share it with someone. |
| Joe: Thanks. I'd just like to take a quick look at the Sports section. |
| Woman: Here you go. |
| Joe: Thanks. |
| ... |
| Joe: Oh shoot, no! |
| Woman: Is everything ok? |
| Joe: Oh yeah, It's just that my favorite basketball team is playing really badly lately. I hate that. |
| Woman: Ahh, I can understand...Oh, I have to get off here |
| Joe: Your newspaper! |
| Woman: It's yours now! Enjoy! |
| Joe: Thanks! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: All right maybe let’s talk a little bit about sports in Germany. |
| Chuck: Everyone plays basketball here. |
| Judith: No. |
| Chuck: All right. |
| Judith: Soccer is of course the most popular professional sport. |
| Chuck: Actually not even sure if Germans would know the rules to basketball. |
| Judith: There is some basketball playing in high school but the big leagues are just not popular. |
| Chuck: Probably just know something like you shoot through the hoop to get points but nothing more than that right? |
| Judith: Not much more no. |
| Chuck: The racing is second most popular. |
| Judith: Yes and boxing was also quite popular for as long as there were big German names in boxing. |
| Chuck: There is also ice hockey, basketball, volleyball, handball and various Asian martial arts. |
| Judith: Yes but if you are looking for American sports like baseball or American football, racket ball, even no one has heard of that. |
| Chuck: Yeah I think the only racket ball courts I could find were in Heidelberg and that’s like not even in Berlin. |
| Judith: On an army base or something. |
| Chuck: Yeah. |
| Judith: But even if Germany is doing well in the sport, it doesn’t automatically mean that people will be interested in it. For example, when the German women soccer team became world champion, hardly anyone seemed to notice. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Chuck: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word is |
| Judith: Zeitung. |
| Chuck: Newspaper. |
| Judith: Zeitung. Zeitung. Die Zeitung and the plural is Zeitungen. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Gar. |
| Chuck: Cooked or no, not at all. |
| Judith: Gar. Gar. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Denken. |
| Chuck: To think |
| Judith: Denken. Denken. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Flasche. |
| Chuck: Bottle. |
| Judith: Flasche. Flasche. Die Flasche and the plural is Flaschen. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Gehören. |
| Chuck: To belong |
| Judith: Gehören. Gehören. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Kurz. |
| Chuck: Short, brief or briefly. |
| Judith: Kurz. Kurz. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Wichtig. |
| Chuck: Important. |
| Judith: Wichtig. Wichtig. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Teilen. |
| Chuck: To share or divide. |
| Judith: Teilen. Teilen. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Teil. |
| Chuck: Part. |
| Judith: Teil. Teil. Der Teil and the plural is Teile. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Mist. |
| Chuck: Manure, or drats |
| Judith: Mist. Mist. Der Mist. |
| Chuck: Next |
| Judith: Mannschaft |
| Chuck: Team. |
| Judith: Mannschaft. Mannschaft. Die Mannschaft and the plural is Mannschaften. |
| Chuck: Next. |
| Judith: Letzter. |
| Chuck: Last. |
| Judith: Letzter. Letzter. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Chuck: Let’s take a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Judith: Actually only one today. I want to look at Viel Spaß. |
| Chuck: The German equivalent of saying, have fun. |
| Judith: Yes and in this dialogue, we had Viel Spaß damit. |
| Chuck: Have fun with that. |
| Judith: It’s referring to the newspaper in this case. Anything that you can have fun with, Viel Spaß damit or simply Viel Spaß. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Chuck: The focus of this lesson are the noun forms of possessive pronouns. |
| Judith: We’ve already seen the possessive pronouns mein, dein, sein and so on. These are used like adjectives in that they are placed before the noun. |
| Chuck: However possessive pronouns can also be used to replace nouns entirely. In English, the equivalent words are mine, yours, his, hers and so on with an S at the end. |
| Judith: In German, these words also sometimes have an S at the end when replacing neuter nouns but they can also have all other case endings. The endings they get best resemble those of a definite article. |
| Chuck: Can we have some examples of that? |
| Judith: Sure. Ist das Ihre Zeitung? becomes Ist das Ihre? for die Zeitung. Ist das Ihr Hund? Ist das Ihrer? So in this case, there is actual change. Before we just had Ihre Zeitung becomes Ihre but Ihr Hund becomes Ihrer because it’s der Hund so you have the er from the der in there. So Ihrer and the rest is the same like Ich mag Ihren Hund, Ich mag Ihren for den Hund and Ich helfe lieber meinem Hund with dative, Ich helfe lieber meinem because it’s dem Hund. |
| Chuck: As usual, we don’t recommend learning all the endings at this point. The focus of Upper Beginner should be just to be able to communicate. In the intermediate series, we will look at endings in depth and perfect our knowledge of German. |
Outro |
| Judith: All right. That just about does it for today. |
| Chuck: Before we go, we want to tell you about a way to improve your pronunciation drastically. |
| Judith: The voice recording tool. |
| Chuck: Yes the voice recording tool. |
| Judith: Record your voice with the click of a button. |
| Chuck: Then play it back just as easily. |
| Judith: Record and listen and then |
| Chuck: Compare it to the native speakers. |
| Judith: And adjust your pronunciation. |
| Chuck: This will help you improve your pronunciation fast. So see you next week. |
| Judith: Also, bis nächste Woche. |
17 Comments
HideWas macht ihr, wenn ihr in der U-Bahn sitzt oder Bus fahrt? Lest ihr Zeitung?
What do you do when riding the subway or the bus? Do you read the newspaper?
Hi Susan,
Thank you for your comment.
The easiest way to spot the dative is if you can ask for it
with "wem". In this case: Wem möchtest du gerne helfen? Meine"m" Hund.😉
Please find some more insights into the dative in this lesson:
https://www.germanpod101.com/lesson/beginner-lesson-s2-24-im-proud-to-be-making-progress-in-german/
If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us again.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
why is Ich helfe lieber meinem Hund dative?
Hi Akshay,
Thank you for your feedback.
You have a good approach. You practice what you
learn. 😉
Please allow me to make a few little changes to your sentences, to help you learn
faster:
Es macht mir Spaß Deutsch mit Germanpod101 zu lernen. Aber es ist schwierig und dauert lange, Sätze zu formen.😉
If you have any questions, please let us know.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
Guten Tag,
Ich spaß Deutsche mit Germanpod101 gern lernen. Aber schwierig lang zeit zu Gestalt Sätze. wie gestalt weg schnell zu Sätze?
dankeschön
Hallo robert groulx,
Danke schön for taking the time to leave us a comment. 😇
We are very happy to have you here.
Let us know if you have any questions.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
Levente
Team GermanPod101.com
thank you for the lesson trasncript
favorite phrase is for die Zeitung. Ist das Ihr Hund?
robert
Hi Тарык,
Nice play with words!👍😄
"Ich möchte eine Geschichte teilen ... im Abteil der U-Bahn."
Thank you.
If you have any questions, please let us know.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
Ich möchte eine Geschichte abteilen...
Hi Ben,
Thank you for commenting! I will forward your suggestion to our content department!
Regards,
Katrin
Team GermanPod101.com
Hi Guys,
I'm starting to get really confused now between damit/dazu and when you should use which!? All these compound verbs in general are confusing, i.e., wobei, vorbei, dabei etc., We could do with a lesson mopping up these duplicate compound verbs and giving examples of when they are used and expanding a bit more.
Cheers.