Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Gina: Hello and welcome back to GermanPod101.com. I’m Gina, and this is Absolute Beginner Season 3, Lesson 10 - It’s Imperative You Learn to Ride a German Bus!
Frank: Hi everyone, I’m Frank. Thanks for being here with us again.
Gina: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to give commands in German.
Frank: This conversation takes place during breakfast at the Kirsch family home.
Gina: The conversation is between Kate and Frau Kirsch.
Frank: The speakers don’t know each other very well, so they’ll be using formal German.
DIALOGUE
Frau Kirsch: Guten Morgen!
Kate: Üaaahh... Guten Morgen! Entschuldigung, ich bin noch müde.
Frau Kirsch: Es gibt Frühstück. Möchten Sie Kaffee? Wir haben auch Tee.
Kate: Kaffee ist gut.
Frau Kirsch: Und essen Sie auch etwas!
Kate : Ich habe eine Frage - wie komme ich zur Goethe-Schule?
Frau Kirsch: Nehmen Sie den Bus Nummer 48.
Gina: Let's hear the conversation one time slowly.
Frau Kirsch: Guten Morgen!
Kate: Üaaahh... Guten Morgen! Entschuldigung, ich bin noch müde.
Frau Kirsch: Es gibt Frühstück. Möchten Sie Kaffee? Wir haben auch Tee.
Kate: Kaffee ist gut.
Frau Kirsch: Und essen Sie auch etwas!
Kate : Ich habe eine Frage - wie komme ich zur Goethe-Schule?
Frau Kirsch: Nehmen Sie den Bus Nummer 48.
Gina: Now, let's hear it with English translation.
Frau Kirsch: Guten Morgen!
Gina: Good morning!
Kate: Üaaahh... Guten Morgen! Entschuldigung, ich bin noch müde.
Gina: Wahhh...Good morning! Sorry, I'm still tired...
Frau Kirsch: Es gibt Frühstück. Möchten Sie Kaffee? Wir haben auch Tee.
Gina: There's breakfast. Would you like a coffee? We have tea, too.
Kate: Kaffee ist gut.
Gina: Coffee is good.
Frau Kirsch: Und essen Sie auch etwas!
Gina: And eat something, too!
Kate : Ich habe eine Frage - wie komme ich zur Goethe-Schule?
Gina: I have a question–how do I get to the Goethe School?
Frau Kirsch: Nehmen Sie den Bus Nummer 48.
Gina: Take bus number 48.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Gina: Bus travel in Germany has a system of its own.
Frank: That’s right! First, you need to know the bus stops. You can identify bus stops in Germany by tall metal posts, or columns bearing a flag-like white sign. And this sign should have the letter H in green on a yellow background, inside a green rimmed circle.
Gina: Even though there are a lot of independent bus companies in Germany, they all use that sign. Does H stand for something?
Frank: It stands for Haltestelle, the German word for “bus stop”.
Gina: Okay. You’ll also notice at the bus stop one or more timetables that show departure times, buses, and routes.
Frank: Yes. Once the bus is there, get on through the front door and buy a ticket there. If you already have a ticket, give it to the bus driver, because some areas are very strict about that.
Gina: You can buy single pass tickets, which are available within a certain zone. You can also buy reduced fare tickets, multi-pass tickets, or day tickets.
Frank: Just hand the money directly to the bus driver and he'll give you change. But if you have some very large bills, he might not accept them.
Gina: Be alert and hit the button labeled “Halt” or “Stop” as the bus draws closer to your desired stop. The bus won’t automatically stop, so keep this in mind.
Frank: This can be tricky if you don’t know the area. Modern buses have an electronic display that shows what the next stop is.
Gina: Otherwise, you’ll have to ask a local.
Frank: And as the bus comes to a stop, go out the back door. If the driver doesn't open the door right away, look for another button near the door that will open it for you.
Gina: Those are some good tips. Now, let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson.
VOCAB LIST
Gina: The first word we shall see is...
Frank: Morgen [natural native speed]
Gina: morning
Frank: Morgen [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Frank: Morgen [natural native speed]
Frank: Bus [natural native speed]
Gina: bus
Frank: Bus [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Frank: Bus [natural native speed]
Frank: nehmen [natural native speed]
Gina: to take
Frank: nehmen [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Frank: nehmen [natural native speed]
Frank: einfach [natural native speed]
Gina: easy, simply
Frank: einfach [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Frank: einfach [natural native speed]
Frank: Tee [natural native speed]
Gina: tea
Frank: Tee [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Frank: Tee [natural native speed]
Frank: Kaffee [natural native speed]
Gina: coffee
Frank: Kaffee [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Frank: Kaffee [natural native speed]
Frank: Frühstück [natural native speed]
Gina: breakfast
Frank: Frühstück [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Frank: Frühstück [natural native speed]
Frank: noch [natural native speed]
Gina: still, yet, another
Frank: noch [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Frank: noch [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Gina: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson.
Frank: The first word we'll take a look at is einfach
Gina: It means “easy” or “simple”, and it also means “simply” or “just”. In German, adjectives and adverbs always look the same.
Frank: That’s why gut can mean “good” or “well” and müde can mean “tired” or “in a tired way” as in the adverb formation.
Gina: What’s next?
Frank: Next we have Frühstück .
Gina: Meaning “breakfast”. The word class can also be changed to a verb that literally means “to breakfast”, in other words “to have breakfast”.
Frank: So the verb is frühstücken.
Gina: It follows the typical rule of the -en ending at the end of an infinitive form. Let’s hear an example.
Frank: Wann frühstücken wir?
Gina: “When are we having breakfast?”
Frank: Also, the breakdown of the noun Frühstück is quite interesting too, because früh means “early”, while Stück means “piece”.
Gina: The logic behind this is to have an early piece of food, and that means breakfast!
Frank: Right! The last word is Noch, which means “still”, “yet”, or “else”.
Gina: The position of this word in the sentence is quite flexible. Can you give us an example?
Frank: sure! Hast du noch Zeit?
Gina: “Do you still have time?”
Frank: Or Gibt es noch Milch?
Gina: “Is there still milk?” Okay, now onto the grammar.

Lesson focus

Gina: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use the imperative.
Frank: The imperative is used to give commands and also to make polite requests if you add bitte. There's a formal imperative for people that you address as Sie, and there’s an informal imperative for family, friends, and kids.
Gina: In German, the formal imperative is just the same as the formal present tense, except the verb comes first and Sie comes second.
Frank: So for example, Gehen Sie!
Gina: “Go!”
Frank: Kommen Sie!
Gina: “Come!”
Frank: Nehmen Sie den Bus!
Gina: “Take the bus!”
Frank: If it wasn’t imperative, it would be Sie nehmen den Bus.
Gina: “You’re taking the bus.”
Frank: The informal imperative is more interesting. The conjugation matches the second person informal pronoun du.
Gina: For this formation, the verb conjugates without any ending and no pronoun, so we just have the verb.
Frank: Yeah! like Geh! instead of Komm! or “come”. You would also use this one with people you’re insulting.
Gina: Finally, if you want to make a suggestion and include yourself, as in the English “Let’s go,” you can use another type of imperative in German for the first person plural.
Frank: For this, just place wir after, rather than before, the first person plural form. For example, Gehen wir!
Gina: “Let’s go!”
Frank: Lernen wir Deutsch!.
Gina: “Let’s learn German!”
Frank: This is also a nice, friendly way of using the imperative.
Gina: Frank, let’s go through the most essential forms of the imperative in German.
Frank: Great! First, the imperative for the verb haben
Gina: “to have”
Frank: Hab! This is part of the du hab construction, only the du is omitted. Hab!
Gina: How about with the plural second person, “you”?
Frank: This one has a -t at the end. Habt, deriving from ihr habt!
Gina: Next is...
Frank: haben Sie....
Gina: which is the imperative “you” form of “have”. And finally, the “let’s have” imperative version of “we.”
Frank: haben wir
Gina: Okay, great! That’s the verb “to have” covered.
Frank: Now, let’s cover another important verb, sein, meaning “to be”
Gina: For the informal second person form meaning “you be”, it's sei.
Frank: For example, Sei positiv!
Gina: “Be positive!” How about the plural form of “you”?
Frank: ihr seid! Or just seid.
Gina: How about the polite form?
Frank: Seien Sie!
Gina: And then “let’s be” would be?
Frank: Seien wir.
Gina: The good news is that the imperative forms of sein are close to the infinitive, so they should be quite easy to remember!
Frank: Right! We have sei, seid, and seien, which all sound very close to sein!
Gina: We’ve included a lot more in the lesson notes so you can master these formations.
Frank: And use them with confidence!
Gina: So be sure to check them out!

Outro

Gina: Attention perfectionists! You're about to learn how to perfect your pronunciation.
Frank: Lesson Review Audio Tracks.
Gina: Increase fluency and vocabulary fast with these short, effective audio tracks.
Frank: Super simple to use. Listen to the German word or phrase...
Gina: then repeat it out loud in a loud clear voice.
Frank: You'll speak with confidence knowing that you're speaking German like the locals.
Gina: Go to GermanPod101.com, and download the Review Audio Tracks right on the lessons page today!
Gina: Ok, that’s all for this lesson. Thanks for listening, and see you next time!
Frank: Also, bis nächstes Mal!
Gina: Bye!

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