LESSON NOTES

Absolute Beginner S3 #15

Who are You Making Plans with in
German?

CONTENTS

Dialogue - German
Main
English
Vocabulary
Sample sentences
Vocabulary phrase usage
Grammar
Cultural insight

# 15
GERMANPOD101.COM ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S3 #15 1
DIALOGUE - GERMAN
MAIN

1. Kate : So, Jens, was machst du jetzt?

2. Jens : Ich fahre nach Hause und esse etwas. Ich habe Hunger.

3. Kate : Ich auch. Hast du heute Abend schon etwas vor?

4. Jens : Ich? Lernen.

5. Kate : Bäh! Langweilig! Ich werde heute Abend ausgehen. Kommst du mit?

6. Jens : Wohin gehst du?

7. Kate : Ein Freund von mir, Simon, wird heute im "International Pub" Jazz spielen. Danach werden
wir zusammen etwas trinken.

8. Jens : Klingt gut. Ich komme mit.

ENGLISH

1. Kate : So, Jens, what are you doing now?

2. Jens : I'm going home and eating something. I'm hungry.

3. Kate : Me too. Do you have plans for tonight?

4. Jens : Me? Studying.

5. Kate : Bah! Boring! I'm going out tonight. Are you coming?

6. Jens : Where are you going?

7. Kate : A friend of mine, Simon, will play at the International Pub tonight. We'll have a drink
together.

8. Jens : Sounds good. I'm coming.

VOCABULARY

GERMANPOD101.COM ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S3 #15 2

German English Class Gender

fahren to drive, to ride a vehicle as a passenger, to go (but not by verb

foot)

machen to make, to do verb

spielen to play verb

jetzt now adverb

heute today adverb

Freund friend noun masculine

(der)

Haus house noun neutral (das)

wohin where to interrogative

vorhaben to plan, to intend verb

klingen to sound verb

SAMPLE SENTENCES

Lass uns nach Berlin fahren. Wir fahren nach Deutschland.

Let’s drive to Berlin. We go to Germany.

Du musst auf der rechten Seite fahren. Ich mache Kaffee.

You have to drive on the right side. I am making coffee.

Lass uns im Garten spielen. Du solltest nie mit den Gefühlen von Menschen
spielen.
Let’s play in the garden.
You should never play with people's feelings.

Mein Hund will immer spielen. Musst du wieder Gitarre spielen?

My dog always wants to play. Do you have to play the guitar again?

Ich möchte jetzt gehen. Heute ist Samstag, der 10. September.

I want to go now. Today is Saturday, September 10th.

die Hausaufgaben von heute Ich habe heute viel zu tun.

today's homework I have a lot to do today.

heute um 6:15 Uhr Sie sieht heute wirklich traurig aus.

today at 6:15 She looks really sad today.

Heute ist die Parade. Heute war ein außergewöhnlich heißer

Sommertag.
The parade is today.
Today was an extraordinarily hot summer day.

GERMANPOD101.COM ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S3 #15 3

 Der Junge kann seinen Freund hören. bester Freund

The boy can hear his friend. best friend

wahrer Freund Ich schätze meine Zeit mit Freunden.

true friend I treasure my time with friends.

Das braunhaarige Mädchen muntert ihren Ein guter Freund ist wie Familie.
Freund auf.
A good friend is like family.
The brown haired girl is cheering up her friend.

Wie heißen deine Freunde und Freundinnen? ein warmes Haus

What are your male and female friends called? a warm house

großes Haus zweistöckiges Haus

big house two-story house

Ich besitze das Haus, in dem ich wohne. Wo ist das Haus?

I own the house I live in. Where is the house?

drinnen im Haus Mein Haus ist nicht groß.

inside of the house My house isn't big.

Wohin fährst du? Hast du morgen schon was vor?

Where are you going (travelling) to? Do you already plan something for tomorrow?

Das klingt gut.

Sounds good.

VOCABULARY PHRASE USAGE

Nach Hause

This expression is frequently used when someone is going home to say Ich fahre nach Hause.
The Hause here implies your own home and is unique in spelling compared to the standard Haus. The
Hause with -e at the end of the word is for Haus in old German, from times when certain prepositions
required words to add an -e. This is no longer done today. So, nach Hause is an expression originating
from old German.

GERMANPOD101.COM ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S3 #15 4

Klingt gut

This expression literally means "rings good," as the verb klingen means "to ring." The whole phrase,
klingt gut, is equivalent to "sounds good." Conversely, das klingt nicht gut means "that doesn't sound
good." The difference between these two usages is that klingt gut can be used to agree to something,
especially in colloquial speech between friends arranging a meeting, for example.

The use of das klingt nicht gut is more of a sympathetic reaction or reply to bad news than an
expression to disagree with a plan being made.

Vorhaben

Vorhaben is a verb meaning "to plan," "to have a plan," "to have in mind," or "to intend." To break the
verb down, vor means "forward," "ahead," or "in front of," so, literally, it is "to have in front of." The verb
is used with the noun Pläne—hence, Pläne haben. It is frequently used in the question Hast du Pläne? or
Habt ihr Pläne? meaning, "Do you have plans?" (singular and plural second person pronouns,
respectively).

GRAMMAR
The Focus of this Lesson Is the Future Tense
Wohin wirst du gehen?
"To where will you go?"

There are, in fact, various ways of forming the future tense in German. German often uses the present
tense in contexts where the future tense would be needed in English. This applies whether English uses
the future tense with "will/shall" or "be going to." In English terms, this may not make much sense;
however, this is the easiest way to form the future tense as it simply requires using the present tense
conjugation of the verb.

Please note, however, this is typically used for the immediate future tense, when you are about to do
something. If you are talking about a holiday in the more distant future—for example, next year—then
stipulating the future time as is done here with a time adverbial phrase nächstes Jahr is the surest way
to indicate that this otherwise present tense construction is meant for the future.

For example:

1. Ich fahre nächstes Jahr in den Urlaub.

"I'm going on holiday next year."

In practice, though, the present tense is much more common than the future in German to refer to the
future, especially if there is an adverbial in the sentence pointing to the future:

1. Ich schreibe den Brief heute Abend

"I'll write the letter tonight."
2. Ich bin in drei Stunden wieder da.
"I'll be there again in three hours."

GERMANPOD101.COM ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S3 #15 5

Other examples in which a future tense is obvious from the context include:

1. Ich erwarte, dass er kommt.

"I expect he'll come."

2. Johann holt uns von der Bahn ab.

"Johann is going to collect us from the station."

"The future tense" (die Zukunft) can also be formed using a form of the auxiliary werden and the
infinitive of the verb that you mean to use. In some ways, this is a more official form of the future tense,
since it is very obviously conjugated. Werden is conjugated similarly to a vowel-changing verb, as was
covered in our previous lesson.

As a verb, werden is defined as "to become." As we are about to use it as an auxiliary verb to form the
future tense, however, no substantive translation can be provided for these conjugations other than
"will," though the forms cannot stand alone to mean "I will," etc. They need to be accompanied by the
actual future activity verb in order to make sense.

Below are the various forms of werden, conjugated with their pronouns:

ich werde - "I (will)..."

du wirst - "you (will)..." (singular) pronoun

er wird - "he (will)..."

sie wird - "she (will)..."

es wird - "it (will)..."

wir werden - "we (will)..."

ihr werdet - "you (will)..." (plural)

sie werden - "they (will)..."

The rule for the future tense using werden is:

[Subject] + werden (conjugated) + [object /adverbial] + [infinitive verb]

GERMANPOD101.COM ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S3 #15 6

Forming the future tense is technically easier than forming the present tense because all verbs are
regular in the future tense; also, separable verbs do not separate in the future tense—they remain
together as an infinitive. However, there is one thing you will need to get used to. Whenever there is
more than one verb in a sentence, the second verb has to go to the very end of the sentence, after
everything else. This is the case here as well. If the phrase is, "He will only understand it later because he
is that stupid," then Germans will say the equivalent of "He will it, because he is that stupid, only later
understand." We'll work with simpler phrases for now, though. Germans rarely use these complex
phrases in everyday speech.

Just remember that after using the form of werden, the verb goes to the end of the sentence. The forms
of werden are: ich werde, du wirst, er wird, wir werden, ihr werdet, and sie werden.

Some example sentences using the future tense with werden are detailed below.

1. Er wird es verstehen.
"He will understand (it)."

2. Was wirst du in Deutschland machen?

"What will you do in Germany?"

3. Ich werde viel Bier trinken.

"I will drink a lot of beer."

4. Er wird wieder in der Bank arbeiten.

"He's going to work for the bank again."
5. Wirst du ihr helfen?
"Will you help her?"
6. Werden sie dieses Wochenende mitreisen?
"Will they travel with (us) this weekend?"

The weather forecast is one situation when the present tense is used for a forecast made both for today
and for a future day. For example, if you say es regnet, it can only mean that it is raining now. However,
time adverbials for the future are added to talk about upcoming forecasts.

1. Morgen regnet es.

"Tomorrow, it will rain."

A clear-cut future tense for the weather is used in official circumstances, such as weather reports in
broadcasts of any kind.

Notice the difference between today's weather:

1. Heute ist es meist bewölkt, teils auch neblig trüb.

"Today, it will be mostly cloudy, partially dull, and foggy as well."

And tomorrow's forecast:

1. Ab Samstag bleibt es warm.

"From Saturday, it will remain warm."

GERMANPOD101.COM ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S3 #15 7

CULTURAL INSIGHT
What to Expect of the German Weather

Germany has a mixed climate. It enjoys all four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. In
Germany, you can only really go out (in the sense of going outside to enjoy the sun) when the weather
agrees to that. However, if the sun is shining and the weather is hot, all cafés and restaurants will bring
out their folding chairs and tables so that people can enjoy their drinks and meals in the sun. Parts of
Germany enjoy hot summers, and Sommer Terrasse is a popular pastime where people enjoy the
outdoors with an ice cold beer. Several months of the year, however, it will be simply too cold to sit
outside. During these months, you can enjoy the Weihnachtsmärkte, Germany's Christmas markets.
But as the weather is rather inconsistent in Germany, your safest bet is to make appointments and
arrangements to meet inside—for example, at somebody's place; at a restaurant, café, or ins Kino; or at
the cinema or a theater.

GERMANPOD101.COM ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S3 #15 8