Coffee Break German

Lesson 20
Study Notes

Coffee Break German: Lesson 20 - Notes page 1 of 17

LESSON NOTES

HEUTE MACHEN WIR EINEN TEST!

In this twentieth lesson you’ll be given the chance to put to the test
what you’ve learned in the course so far. Thomas tests Mark on his
translation skills from English into German, and from German into
English; Kirsten provides a useful review of the grammar points
covered in recent lessons; and Julia introduces us to the world of
German-language music.

INTRODUCTION
Mark and Thomas begin the lesson with the following dialogue:

Thomas: Herzlich Willkommen zurück zu Coffee Break German.

Mark: Ich bin Mark.
Thomas: Ich heiße Thomas.
Mark: Und wir sind hier um unser Deutsch zu verbessern.
Thomas: Stimmt genau!

Thomas: Wie geht’s dir heute, Mark?

Mark: Also, heute bin ich ein bisschen ... “nervous”?
Thomas: Nervös.
Mark: Ich bin ein bisschen nervös.
Thomas: Wir machen einen Test!

nervös
nervous

Coffee Break German: Lesson 20 - Notes page 2 of 17

wir machen einen Test
we’re doing/having a test

heute machen wir einen Test

today we have a test

TRANSLATION CHALLENGES 1
Thomas challenges Mark to a series of translations from German into
English. These take the form of a series of conversations. We would
suggest that you listen to the audio content and try to work out the
translations first. Then read through the conversations below and use
the language notes which follow to review the vocabulary covered.

CONVERSATION 1
A: Guten Morgen. Was möchten Sie trinken?
B: Für meine Frau eine heiße Schokolade mit Sahne, und
ich nehme ein Glas stilles Wasser.
A: Kommt sofort.

was möchten Sie trinken?

what would you like to drink?

eine heiße Schokolade mit Sahne

a hot chocolate with cream

ein Glas stilles Wasser

a glass of still water

Coffee Break German: Lesson 20 - Notes page 3 of 17

kommt sofort
straight away

CONVERSATION 2
A: Hast du Hunger?
B: Ja, sehr. Ich möchte eine Bockwurst mit Pommes essen.
Und du?
A: Ich nehme nur ein Schinken-Käse Sandwich und einen
kleinen Salat.

hast du Hunger?
are you hungry?

Remember that “to be hungry” in German is “to have hunger”:

hunger haben.

ja, sehr
yes, very (I’m very hungry)

ich möchte eine Bockwurst mit Pommes essen

I’d like to eat a Bockwurst with fries

Note how the modal verb ich möchte pushes the infinitive essen to
the end of the sentence.

ich nehme nur ein Schinken-Käse Sandwich

I’ll just have a ham and cheese sandwich

und einen kleinen Salat

and a small salad

Coffee Break German: Lesson 20 - Notes page 4 of 17

Remember that the adjective klein has to be both in the correct
gender for the noun Salat, and in the accusative case.

CONVERSATION 3
A: Mama, kann ich bitte ein Eis haben?
B: OK, aber nur eine kleine Portion.
A: Ich will Schokolade und Erdbeere, bitte.

kann ich bitte ein Eis haben?

can I please have an ice-cream?

Again, note the modal verb kann ich ... which sends the infinitive
haben to the end of the sentence.

nur eine kleine Portion

only a small portion

ich will Schokolade und Erdbeere, bitte

I want chocolate and strawberry

It’s important to remember the “false friend” ich will which comes
from the verb wollen, meaning “to want”. Ich will means “I want”,
not “I will”.

Coffee Break German: Lesson 20 - Notes page 5 of 17

CONVERSATION 4
A: Guten Abend.
B: Hallo. Mein Name ist Herr Müller und ich habe
reserviert.
A: Für wie viele Nächte?
B: Ein Einzelzimmer mit Bad für drei Nächte.
A: Vielen Dank, hier sind Ihre Schlüssel.

ich habe reserviert

I have a reservation; (literally) I have reserved

für wie viele Nächte?

for how many nights?

ein Einzelzimmer mit Bad für drei Nächte

a single room with a bath for three nights

hier sind Ihre Schlüssel

here are your keys

Note the word Ihre is written with a capital “I” because it is linked to
the formal Sie.

TRANSLATION CHALLENGES 2
The next set of translation challenges involves translating ten
sentences from English into German. Thomas has chosen a number
of sentences which will test Mark’s understanding of the content
covered in recent lessons. Again, we would suggest that you listen to

Coffee Break German: Lesson 20 - Notes page 6 of 17

the audio section before reading the support text below.

Können Sie mir bitte sagen, um wie viel Uhr die

Bank schließt?
Can you please tell me what time the bank closes at?

Note the word order here: the verb schließt comes at the end
because it follows the expression Können Sie mir bitte sagen...

Entschuldigung, wann kommt der Bus von

Frankfurt an?
Excuse me, when does the bus from Frankfurt arrive?

The separable verb ankommen splits in this simple sentence.

Können Sie mir bitte sagen, wann der Zug nach

Dresden abfährt?
Can you please tell me when the train to Dresden leaves?

This follows the same pattern as the first example, so the separable
verb abfahren stays unseparated.

Am Mittwoch und am Freitag öffnet der Supermarkt

um 9:30 Uhr.
On Wednesday and Friday the supermarket opens at 9:30am.

The time phrase am Mittwoch und am Freitag comes first in this

sentence, and since the verb needs to stay in the second position, it
comes before the subject (der Supermarkt).

An alternative to am Mittwoch und am Freitag is Mittwochs

und Freitags:

Coffee Break German: Lesson 20 - Notes page 7 of 17

Mittwochs und Freitags öffnet der Supermarkt um
9:30 Uhr.
On Wednesdays and Fridays the supermarket opens at 9:30am.

Die Kirche ist Samstags zwischen 9 und 12 geöffnet.

The church is open between 9 and 12 on Saturdays.

An alternative to the above word order would be Samstags ist die

Kirche zwischen 9 und 12 geöffnet. However, note that in both
examples the word geöffnet comes at the end of the sentence.

Es gibt einen Park neben dem Dom.

There is a park beside the cathedral.

Remember that the accusative case einen Park follows es gibt, and
that after neben the dative is required: neben dem Dom.

fünfunddreißig plus siebzehn macht zweiundfünfzig

35 + 17 = 52

fünfhundertachtundzwanzig minus
zweihundertacht macht dreihundertzwanzig
528 - 308 = 320

drei mal dreihundertdreiunddreißig macht

neunhundertneunundneunzig
3 x 333 = 999

Note the word for “times” or “multiplied by” is mal, and this is the
same word we’ve come across in a number of situations including bis
zum nächsten Mal.

Coffee Break German: Lesson 20 - Notes page 8 of 17

Ich möchte bitte eine Hin- und Rückfahrt nach
Berlin kaufen. Wann fährt der Zug ab?
I would like to buy a return ticket to Berlin. When does the train
leave?

Again, ich möchte sends the infinitive kaufen to the end of the
sentence. Note also that abfahren separates: wann fährt der Zug
ab?

GRAMMAR GURU

Well, here we are at lesson 20, and it's time to

have a little bit of a review of what we have
covered in this section of the course. In fact
we’ve made a lot of progress with our
German grammar and I’m sure that you’re
really beginning to feel more confident in
expressing yourself now in this wonderful
language!

Let’s split up what we’ve covered into three main areas: articles
and cases, adjectives and verbs. We’ll start with articles and cases
first.

MASCULINE FEMININE NEUTER

NOMINATIVE der die das

ACCUSATIVE den die das

DATIVE dem der dem

Coffee Break German: Lesson 20 - Notes page 9 of 17

 We now know the definite articles in the nominative, accusative
and dative cases. Let’s go through these now. In the nominative we
have der, die and das for the singular of masculine, feminine and
neuter nouns. So we can say:
der Zug kommt um 11 Uhr an
the train arrives at 11
or
das Schwimmbad ist dort
the swimming pool is there.
We also know the definite articles in the accusative case: they are
den, die and das. So, gehen Sie über den Platz means “go
over the square” and the accusative case here is triggered by the
preposition über. Finally, we’ve learned the dative case of the
singular definite articles: masculine is dem, feminine der and
neuter dem, giving us some wonderful sentences like:
die Kirche ist zwischen dem Schwimmbad und der Schule
the church is between the swimming pool and the school
So far so good. But we’ve also learned the indefinite articles and
I’m just going to go through the nominative and accusative forms
now: ein, eine, ein for nominative and einen, eine, ein for
accusative. I am quite certain that Mark is listening to this and
wondering if there are dative forms of the indefinite articles...
You’ve guessed it, there are indeed! But that’s for another lesson.
When we looked at indefinite articles in the context of ordering
drinks and snacks we also learned that adjective endings change
depending on the noun they describe, and the case they’re in. So
you may be talking about a large coffee, a small portion of chips,
or a large slice of cake. In the nominative, we would have:
ein großer Kaffee
a large coffee
eine kleine Portion Pommes
a small portion of chips / fries

Coffee Break German: Lesson 20 - Notes page 10 of 17

 ein großes Stück Kuchen
a large piece of cake
Can you hear the endings there? -er for masc, -e for feminine, and
-es for neuter. And again, it's only the masculine forms that
change in the accusative, so we could say:
ich nehme einen großen Kaffee
I’ll take / have a large coffee
ich möchte eine kleine Portion Pommes
I would like a small portion of chips / fries
ich hätte gern ein großes Stück Kuchen
I would like a large piece of cake.

The other area we’ve covered in this block of lessons is verbs. We

started off by learning the full conjugation of the verb “kommen” -
let’s run through this quickly:

KOMMEN SINGULAR PLURAL

1ST ich komme wir kommen

2ND du kommst ihr kommt

3RD er/sie/es kommt sie kommen

We also learned a couple of irregular verbs: haben and sein. Let’s

go through these conjugations too:

HABEN SINGULAR PLURAL

1ST ich habe wir haben

2ND du hast ihr habt

3RD er/sie/es hat sie haben

Coffee Break German: Lesson 20 - Notes page 11 of 17

 SEIN SINGULAR PLURAL

1ST ich bin wir sind

2ND du bist ihr seid

3RD er/sie/es ist sie sind

We have also learned about modal verbs - both their conjugation

and the fact that they always send the other verb in the sentence to
the end, for example:
ich möchte Briefmarken kaufen
I would like to buy stamps
können Sie mir die Rechnung bringen?
can you bring me the bill please?
And finally we learned about separable verbs, so we now know
that you say der Zug kommt um 9 Uhr an, but können Sie
mir sagen wann der Zug ankommt? It’s all quite tricky stuff,
but I’m sure you’re making fantastic progress.
As we move forward with Coffee Break German, we’re sure that
you’ll build your confidence in using the language and you’ll
recognise these patterns - and all the new ones coming in future
lessons! Well done for reaching lesson 20!

CULTURAL CORRESPONDENT
In the Cultural segment of this week’s lesson,
Julia teaches us about music from German-
speaking countries.

Hi Mark, hi Thomas und hallo an alle

unsere Coffee Break German Zuhörer.
Ich bin’s wieder, Julia, eure
Kulturkorrespondentin.

Coffee Break German: Lesson 20 - Notes page 12 of 17

 So far on our Culture Correspondent segments, we’ve been talking
lots about the different places you can visit while travelling in the
German-speaking world, but today I’m going to change the subject
a bit and talk about some other aspects of German culture. Today,
we’re focusing on music!

Now, there are many German bands who sing in English, but it’s
perhaps more interesting for you if I introduce you to some bands
who sing in German. I’ve chosen quite different styles so that
there’s something for everyone! We’ll also put some YouTube links
in the show notes for this episode so that you can check out some of
these artists for yourself!

I’m sure you have all heard of world famous German artists like
Nena with her hit song 99 Luftballons or Rammstein who
have become famous with hits like or Du hast or Amerika. A few
years ago another German band made teenagers worldwide go
crazy with their hit Durch den Monsun. And that band’s name
was Tokio Hotel. Have a listen on YouTube and see what you
think (links at the end of the lesson). If you prefer R&B or soul
music a singer called Xavier Naidoo might interest you. His
lyrics are actually very poetic – and religious.

Turning to Austria, perhaps you’ve have heard of Falco, the

famous rock and pop export of the 1980s. His many international
hits such as Rock Me Amadeus, Jeanny and Out of the Dark
made him the best selling Austrian singer of all time.

What about my own musical preferences? Well, I really like rock-

pop-artists Wir sind Helden and hip-hop artist Clueso. They
have both found a very creative way of playing with the German
language that I really enjoy. There’s one other German music icon
that we shouldn’t miss out: Herbert Grönemeyer whose album
Mensch (Human) from 2002 is the best-selling German-language
record of all time. His melodies and lyrics are just beautiful,
although he is also known for being a bit hard to understand with
his special way of singing … even for Germans!

Coffee Break German: Lesson 20 - Notes page 13 of 17

 While the bands I’ve just mentioned are relatively current, we
shouldn’t forget that German-speaking countries have a long and
world-famous history of classical music. Think of German
composers Johann Sebastian Bach as well as Georg
Friedrich Händel of the Baroque period - or Richard Wagner,
primarily known for his operas. During the Romantic era Robert
Schumann was widely regarded as one of the greatest
composers working together with his wife, the pianist Clara
Schumann. Among Austrian composers we find Joseph Haydn,
and of course, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, surely the most
famous and influential composer of the Classical era. Pay close
attention to the pronunciation of those composers’ names, and
you’ll be able to impress all your cultural friends by pronouncing
them correctly!

I hope you liked this overview over German and Austrian music
and I wish you lots of fun exploring this new area Now it’s back to
Thomas and mark in the studio! Bis bald!

MUSIC LINKS
The following links should allow you to listen to some of the music
mentioned in this chapter. Please note that Radio Lingua Ltd is not
responsible for any content featured on other websites.

Nena: 99 Luftballons
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lur-SGl3uw8

Rammstein: Du hast
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gZ25MYwWpM

Tokio Hotel: Durch den Monsun

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npA2401yPyg

Coffee Break German: Lesson 20 - Notes page 14 of 17

 Xavier Naidoo: Ich kenne nichts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPN88D_HjMU

Falco: Rock Me, Amadeus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVikZ8Oe_XA

Wir sind Helden: Nur ein Wort

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5kmM98iklo

Herbert Grönemeyer: Mensch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SG5A3PYaUs

DAS REICHT FÜR HEUTE

Ready for more? Turn the page to continue with the
bonus materials for this lesson.

Coffee Break German: Lesson 20 - Notes page 15 of 17

TRANSLATION CHALLENGE
The following sentences are used in the bonus episode for this lesson.
You can work through these translations before listening to the audio
which will give a full explanation of each translation.

GERMAN TO ENGLISH
Translate the following sentences from German into English.

1. Das Eis kostet 6 Euro und der Kaffee 2 Euro 30. Das macht
zusammen 8 Euro 30.

2. Mein Name ist Pirklbauer und ich habe ein Doppelzimmer und zwei
Einzelzimmer reserviert.

3. Der Zug nach München fährt um 13:54 ab.

4.Das Kino ist zwischen der Schule und dem Schwimmbad. Nehmen
Sie die zweite Straße rechts und dann immer geradeaus.

ENGLISH TO GERMAN
Translate the following sentences from English into German.

1. I’ll have a white coffee and for my wife a hot chocolate with cream,
please.

2. Would you like a piece of pizza? Or perhaps a dessert?

3. Can you please tell me where I can buy stamps?

4.The swimming pool next to the station is open from 8am until 4pm.

Coffee Break German: Lesson 20 - Notes page 16 of 17

SUGGESTED TRANSLATIONS
German to English:

1. The ice-cream costs €6 and the coffee €2,30. All together that’s
€8,30.

2. My name is Pirklbauer and I have reserved a double room and two

single rooms.

3. The train to Munich leaves at 13:54.

4.The cinema is between the school and the swimming pool. Take the
second street on the right and then straight on.

English to German:

1. Ich nehme einen Milchkaffee und für meine Frau eine heiße
Schokolade mit Sahne, bitte.

2. Möchtest du ein Stück Pizza? Oder vielleicht einen Nachtisch?

3. Können Sie mir bitte sagen, wo ich Briefmarken kaufen kann?

4.Das Schwimmbad neben dem Bahnhof ist von 8 Uhr bis 16 Uhr
geöffnet.

Coffee Break German: Lesson 20 - Notes page 17 of 17