LESSON NOTES

Newbie S1 #2
Introductions

CONTENTS

Dialogue - Formal German

Main
English
Dialogue - Informal German
Main
English
Vocabulary
Sample sentences
Grammar
Cultural insight

# 2
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DIALOGUE - FORMAL GERMAN
MAIN

1. #1 : Guten Tag! Ich heiße Judith Meyer. Ich komme aus Deutschland und ich arbeite hier, bei
Germanpod101.com.

2. #2 : Guten Tag! Ich heiße Chuck Smith. Ich komme nicht aus Deutschland, aber ich wohne in
Deutschland. Ich arbeite auch bei Germanpod101.com.

ENGLISH

1. #1 : Hello! I am called Judith Meyer. I come from Germany and I work here, at
Germanpod101.com

2. #2 : Hello! I am called Chuck Smith. I don’t come from Germany, but I live in Germany. I also work
at Germanpod101.com.

DIALOGUE - INFORMAL GERMAN

MAIN

1. #1 : Hallo! Ich heiße Judith Meyer. Ich komme aus Deutschland und ich arbeite hier, bei
Germanpod101.com.

2. #2 : Hallo! Ich heiße Chuck Smith. Ich komme nicht aus Deutschland, aber ich wohne in
Deutschland. Ich arbeite auch bei Germanpod101.com.

ENGLISH

1. #1 : Hello! I am called Judith Meyer. I come from Germany and I work here, at
Germanpod101.com

2. #2 : Hello! I am called Chuck Smith. I don’t come from Germany, but I live in Germany. I also work
at Germanpod101.com.

VOCABULARY

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German English Class Gender

ich I personal pronoun

heißen to be called verb

kommen (aus) to come (from) verb

Deutschland Germany proper noun neutral (das)

arbeiten to work verb

hier here adverb

aber but conjunction

wohnen to live, to inhabit verb

SAMPLE SENTENCES

Ich bin Mark. Sie heißt Erika.

I am Mark. She’s called Erika.

Ich komme aus Australien. Deutschland ist in Europa.

I come from Australia. Germany is in Europe.

Ich arbeite als Lehrer. Bis wann arbeitest du heute?

I work as a teacher. Till when are you working today?

Ich trinke immer Kaffee, wenn ich arbeite. Sie sind hier.

I always drink coffee when I work. You are here./They are here.

Ich weiß, du bist beschäftigt. Aber kannst du Aber ich wollte doch fernsehen!
meinen Anwalt anrufen?
But I wanted to watch TV!
I know you are busy. But can you call my lawyer?

Ich wohne nicht in Berlin.

I don't live in Berlin.

GRAMMAR
SELF-INTRODUCTION

In order to introduce yourself, you need to know one thing about verbs (words describing actions). In
German, they typically end in –en when you find them in a dictionary or also in the vocabulary list. That
form is called infinitive. In English, the infinitive of a verb is something like “to be”, not “am” or “are”.
When you add the word “I” however, you no longer say “I be”, you say “I am”. This is no longer the
infinitive. In German, whenever you want to go from the infinitive to the form used with ich (I), just take
away the final –n . For example:

kommen "to come" becomes ich komme "I come"

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 wohnen "to live" becomes ich wohne "I live"
arbeiten "to work" becomes ich arbeite "I work"

Easy, isn’t it? And here’s some more good news: in German, there is no difference between “I work” and
“I am working”, it’s ich arbeite in any case – and despite the stereotype, people don’t actually work that
much over here. Law guarantees a minimum of 24 paid vacation days for employees, in addition to sick
time and national or regional holidays, and typically your contract will give you more.

MAKING NEGATION

Chuck said that he doesn’t come from Germany. In English, making a negative statement can give
students quite a headache, but in German it’s as easy as adding nicht to the phrase. Some examples just
for practice:

Ich komme aus Deutschland. – Ich komme nicht aus Deutschland.

Ich arbeite hier. – Ich arbeite nicht hier.
Ich heiße Judith. – Ich heiße nicht Judith.

CULTURAL INSIGHT
There is a somewhat different etiquette on conversation topics in Germany.
For one thing, questions about health (Wie geht es Ihnen?) are typically sincere, unless they are used to
bridge a lack of topic. So it is not absolutely required to ask people this when you meet them, much less
is it required to also inquire about their family, but when you do, you should not be disappointed if you
get a detailed answer – particularly from old people, that like to complain about their various illnesses.
Germans like to complain about things anyway; it’s a kind of national sport that unfortunately
sometimes masks to foreigners how great things are in truth.
Another thing is that you may easily ask people about their name (but not explicitly ask for their first
name), origin, hobbies and job, but not their income. Even though you can probably guess somebody’s
wealth by their appearance and style of language, talk about money is taboo for most, just like talk
about religion or age. Talk about politics is fine though, and you will find that even the uneducated have
firm opinions on political issues or what the German government ought to be doing. Respectful
disagreement can foster a relationship just as much as agreement can; partisanship is low. What
everybody can agree on though is that politicians are no good. Their reputation is comparable to that of
lawyers in the USA.

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