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COMPLETE

GERMAN THE BASICS

Written by
Helga Schier

Edited by
Suzanne McQuade
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Copyright © 2008 by Living Language, an imprint of Random House, Inc.

Living Language is a member of the Random House Information Group

Living Language and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Living Language, an imprint of Random House, Inc.

www.livinglanguage.com

Editor: Suzanne McQuade

Production Editor: Carolyn Roth
Production Manager: Tom Marshall
Interior Design: Sophie Chin

First Edition

ISBN: 978-1-4000-2411-7

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available upon request.

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COURSE OUTLINE
How to use this course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Language learning tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
German spelling and pronunciation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxvi

UNIT 1: Talking about yourself and making introductions . . . . . . 1

Lesson 1 (words) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Gender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
The definite article . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Lesson 2 (phrases) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Personal pronouns in the singular . . . . . . . 6
The verb sein (to be) in the singular . . . . . . 8

Lesson 3 (sentences) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Numbers 0–10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Numbers 11–20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Lesson 4 (conversations) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Personal pronouns in the plural . . . . . . . 15
The verb sein (to be) in the plural . . . . . . 17

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UNIT 2: Talking about family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Lesson 5 (words) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
The verb haben (to have) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Regular verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Lesson 6 (phrases) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Indefinite articles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Possessive adjectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Lesson 7 (sentences) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Negation with nicht (not) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Negation with kein (no) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Lesson 8 (conversations) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Asking questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Numbers 20–100 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

UNIT 3: Everyday life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Lesson 9 (words) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Telling time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Numbers above 100 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Lesson 10 (phrases) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
The months and seasons . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Expressing likes and dislikes with
gern + verb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Course outline v

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Lesson 11 (sentences) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
The plural of nouns 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
The plural of nouns 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Lesson 12 (conversations) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Descriptive words 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Descriptive words 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

UNIT 4: Health and the human body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Lesson 13 (words) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
The present tense of regular verbs . . . . . . 72
The present tense of stem-changing
verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Lesson 14 (phrases) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Separable verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Reflexive verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Lesson 15 (sentences) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
The accusative case of nouns 1 . . . . . . . . 82
The accusative case of nouns 2 . . . . . . . . 85

Lesson 16 (conversations) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
The accusative of kein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
The accusative of possessive
pronouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

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UNIT 5: Using the telephone and making appointments . . . . . . 97

Lesson 17 (words) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
The accusative case of personal
pronouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
N-nouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Lesson 18 (phrases) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

The accusative case of adjectives 1 . . . . 103
The accusative case of adjectives 2 . . . . 105

Lesson 19 (sentences) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Modal verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Talking about the future using the
present tense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Lesson 20 (conversations) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

The future tense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
The future tense with modal verbs . . . . 118

UNIT 6: Getting around town . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Lesson 21 (words) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

The dative case of nouns . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
The dative case of ein-words . . . . . . . . . 127

Lesson 22 (phrases) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

The dative case of adjectives 1 . . . . . . . 130
The dative case of adjectives 2 . . . . . . . 133

Course outline vii

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Lesson 23 (sentences) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

The dative case of personal pronouns . . 136
German word order in sentences with
two objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Lesson 24 (conversations) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Prepositions with the dative case . . . . . 141
Prepositions with the accusative case . . 145

UNIT 7: Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Lesson 25 (words) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Two-way prepositions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Expressing more likes and dislikes . . . . . 155

Lesson 26 (phrases) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

The present perfect with haben . . . . . . 159
The present perfect with sein . . . . . . . . 162

Lesson 27 (sentences) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

The present perfect of separable verbs . . 165
The present perfect of modal verbs . . . . 167

Lesson 28 (conversations) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

The comparative of adjectives . . . . . . . . 171
The superlative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

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UNIT 8: Let’s eat! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Lesson 29 (words) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Simple past of sein, haben, and
werden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Time expressions for the past . . . . . . . . 186

Lesson 30 (phrases) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

The simple past of regular (weak)
verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
The simple past of irregular (strong)
verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Lesson 31 (sentences) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

The simple past of modal verbs . . . . . . 194
The simple past of mixed verbs . . . . . . . 196

Lesson 32 (conversations) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Expressing possession: The genitive . . . 202
Prepositions with the genitive . . . . . . . . 206

UNIT 9: School and work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Lesson 33 (words) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

The passive voice 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
The passive voice 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Lesson 34 (phrases) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Alternatives to the passive voice . . . . . 216
Compound nouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Course outline ix

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Lesson 35 (sentences) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

The imperative 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
The imperative 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Lesson 36 (conversations) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Wenn-sentences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Dass-sentences and ob-sentences . . . . . 231

UNIT 10: Sports and hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Lesson 37 (words) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Relative clauses 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Relative clauses 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Lesson 38 (phrases) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Infinitives with zu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Weil-sentences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Lesson 39 (sentences) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Subordinate clauses with question
pronouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Polite speech: The würde-form and
the subjunctive of haben and sein . . . . 246

Lesson 40 (conversations) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

The subjunctive of modal verbs . . . . . . 251
Apologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

German in action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Supplemental vocabulary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .271
Summary of German grammar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Internet resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

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Unit 1
Talking about yourself and making introductions

Guten Tag! (Good day!) In Unit 1, you’ll learn how to introduce

yourself and others, how to say Hallo! (Hello!), how to explain
where you’re from and what you do, and how to ask other peo-
ple for basic information about themselves. Naturally, you’ll
learn greetings and other essential courtesy expressions,
along with important rules on how to put German sentences
together. But don’t worry; German grammar is not that tough.
We’ll lead you through it step-by-step, and before you know it,
you’ll be able to have simple conversations in German.

Lesson 1 (words)
WORD LIST 1
Guten Tag! (fml.) Good day!
Hallo! (infml.) Hello!
Auf Wiedersehen! (fml.) Good-bye!
Tschüss! (infml.) Bye!
Herr Schneider Mr. Schneider
Frau Schneider Ms./Mrs. Schneider
der Lehrer teacher (male)
die Lehrerin teacher (female)
der Student student (male)
die Studentin student (female)
der Rechtsanwalt lawyer (male)
die Rechtsanwältin lawyer (female)

Note
The following abbreviations will be used in this course: (m.) =
masculine, (f.) = feminine, (sg.) = singular, (pl.) = plural, (fml.) =
formal/polite, and (infml.) = informal.

Lesson 1 1

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NUTS & BOLTS 1

Gender
As you begin to acquire a vocabulary in German, you’ll notice that
all German words have gender. This applies to general vocabulary
words, as well as to words describing people. Let’s start by looking
at some words that describe people. You may have noticed in the
word list above that there is a male and a female version of the Ger-
man word for lawyer: der Rechtsanwalt and die Rechtsanwältin.
Most professions have two words, one for a man and one for a
woman, and it is quite important to use the gender-appropriate
form. Let’s take a look at a few more professions showing gender.

der Chef boss (male)

die Chefin boss (female)

der Schauspieler actor

die Schauspielerin actress

The word that comes before each profession, der for a male and
die for a female, is called an article. We’ll learn about articles next.
The female version of the profession often takes the ending -in.

There are a few words that have additional changes. The female
version may change a vowel to an umlaut—i.e., a becomes ä.

der Rechtsanwalt lawyer (male)

die Rechtsanwältin lawyer (female)

der Arzt doctor (male)

die Ärztin doctor (female)

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PRACTICE 1
Decide which vocabulary word best describes the person below.

1. Frau Schneider, lawyer 4. Marilyn Monroe, actress

2. Peter, student 5. Frau Schmidt, doctor
3. Herr Berger, teacher

WORD LIST 2
der Mann man
die Frau woman
das Kind child
das Haus house
das Büro office
der Bus bus
die Welt world
der Amerikaner American (male)
die Amerikanerin American (female)
und and
heißen to be called
arbeiten to work
bei at
aus from
in in

NUTS & BOLTS 2

The definite article
As we said above, in German every noun has a gender—either
masculine, feminine, or neuter—and this gender can be seen in
many ways, including the form that the takes: der for masculine,
die for feminine, and das for neuter words. For nouns with nat-
ural gender, this is easy—der Mann (man) and der Lehrer (male

Lesson 1 3

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teacher) are all masculine, while die Frau (woman) and die
Lehrerin (female teacher) are feminine, and das Büro (office) and
das Haus (house) are neuter.

Masculine Feminine Neuter

der Mann die Frau das Kind

man woman child

der Lehrer die Lehrerin das Haus

teacher (male) teacher ( female) house

der Bus die Haltestelle das Auto

bus stop car

der Beruf die Uhr das Büro

profession watch, clock office

der Zufall die Welt das Jahr

coincidence world year

But not all nouns have a natural gender. Just look at die Welt
(world) or der Bus (bus) or das Kind (child). There is no natural
reason for the world to be considered feminine, the bus to be
considered masculine, or the child to be considered neuter. So
the best thing to do is simply to learn the definite article—der,
die, or das (the equivalent of the English the)—along with the
word. The vocabulary lists will always list the article der, die, or
das as well. Let’s look at the genders of some of the nouns you’ve
learned so far, along with some new nouns.

You will also often see the article das used to mean that in Ger-
man.

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PRACTICE 2
Insert the correct definite article—der, die, or das.

1. _____ Welt 4. _____ Büro

2. _____ Haus 5. _____ Zufall
3. _____ Rechtsanwalt 6. _____ Chefin

Tip!
There are quite a few different ways to memorize new vocabulary,
so it’s a good idea to try a few out to see what works for you. Sim-
ply reading a word in a list isn’t going to make you remember it.
Write down your new vocabulary in a notebook, and then try to
write it or say it out loud a few times so it’ll sink in. You can use the
recordings that go with this course for that, too. Make flash cards,
with the German on one side and the English on the other. Start
out translating from German into English, and once you’ve mas-
tered that, go from English into German. Label things in your home
or office with pieces of paper or sticky notes, so you’ll see the Ger-
man word every time you come into contact with an object. Exper-
iment and explore, but whatever you do, pace yourself. Ideally
you’ll spend a little bit of time on your German every day—
sometimes twenty minutes a day over the course of a week will go
much further than a two-hour sitting in one day. If you can’t find
the time to practice some German every day, don’t despair. Just
work regularly, and grab a free moment here or there to remind
yourself of what you’ve learned.

ANSWERS
PRACTICE 1: 1. die Rechtsanwältin; 2. der Student; 3. der
Lehrer; 4. die Schauspielerin; 5. die Ärztin
PRACTICE 2: 1. die; 2. das; 3. der; 4. das; 5. der; 6. die

Lesson 1 5

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Lesson 2 (phrases)
Wie geht’s? (How are you?) Are you ready to build on the words
you’ve learned so far?

PHRASE LIST 1
Wie geht’s? (infml.) How are you?
Wie geht es Ihnen? (fml.) How are you?
Gut, danke. Good, thanks.
Ich bin Amerikaner. I’m American. (male)
Ich bin Amerikanerin. I’m American. (female)
Ich bin Deutscher. I’m German. (male)
Ich bin Deutsche. I’m German. (female)
aus Dresden from Dresden
aus Chicago from Chicago
in München in Munich
in Deutschland in Germany
Ich bin Rechtsanwalt. I’m a lawyer. (male)
Ich bin Rechtsanwältin. I’m a lawyer. (female)
. . . , nicht wahr? . . . , right?

NUTS & BOLTS 1

Personal pronouns in the singular
The first words you’ll need to become familiar with in German are
the pronouns. Pronouns are used to talk about yourself and other
people without using their names: I, you, he, she, etc. In German,
the singular pronouns (pronouns referring to one person) are:

ich I

du (infml.) you

Sie (fml.) you

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er he

sie she

es it

Notice that there are two different words for you. When speaking
German, you have to distinguish between talking to strangers,
business associates, people older than you, and anyone you want
to show respect to (formal), and talking to family, friends, chil-
dren, and people you know better and are very familiar with (in-
formal). German has different forms of the pronoun you to show
this distinction: the formal form Sie, and the informal form du.

PRACTICE 1
Which German pronoun would you use in the following situa-
tions?

1. talking to your best friend Andreas

2. asking directions from an older gentleman you see on the street
3. talking about your brother
4. talking about yourself
5. talking about your boss, Frau Berger

PHRASE LIST 2
Guten Morgen. Good morning.
Guten Abend. Good evening.
Gute Nacht. Good night.
Bis bald. See you soon.
Bis morgen. See you tomorrow.
beruflich hier here on business
von Beruf by profession

Lesson 2 7

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Arzt von Beruf doctor by profession

Lehrer von Beruf teacher by profession
Wie peinlich! How embarrassing!
Ganz und gar nicht. Not at all.
pünktlich punctual, on time

NUTS & BOLTS 2

The verb sein (TO BE) in the singular
Now let’s look at one of the most important verbs in German,
sein (to be). The form sein is called the infinitive, and it corre-
sponds to the basic to-form in English, to be. When you change
the forms of a verb to match different subjects, as in the English
I speak but she speaks, it’s called conjugation. Here’s the singular
conjugation of sein (to be):

ich bin I am

du bist (infml.) you are

Sie sind (fml.) you are

er/sie/es ist he/she/it is

Ich bin Amerikaner.

I’m American.
Er ist aus Dresden.
He is from Dresden.
Martina, du bist Rechtsanwältin, nicht wahr?
Martina, you are a lawyer, right?
Sind Sie aus Chicago?
Are you from Chicago?

Note in the last example that the first two words in the sen-
tence are inverted to form a question, just as you would do in

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English. We’ll discuss question formation a bit more in a later

unit.

PRACTICE 2
Follow the instructions below.

1. Tell us that Klaus is from Munich.

2. Tell us that Susanne is from Dresden.
3. Talk to your best friend Horst and ask if he is a lawyer.
4. Ask your boss, Frau Schneider, if she is from Chicago.
5. Tell us which city you are from.

Language link
Who’d have thought that you can surf the web and learn German
at the same time? It’s important to keep in contact with the cul-
ture of the language you’re learning, so why not check out a few
websites? For the official and independent portal to all things
German, visit www.deutschland.de. For information on Switzer-
land, visit www.schweiz.ch. You can learn more about Austria at
www.oesterreich.at, and www.dw-world.de offers news and gen-
eral information on all three countries in English.

ANSWERS
PRACTICE 1: 1. du; 2. Sie; 3. er; 4. ich; 5. sie
PRACTICE 2: 1. Klaus ist aus München. 2. Susanne ist aus
Dresden. 3. Horst, du bist Rechtsanwalt, nicht wahr? 4. Frau
Schneider, Sie sind aus Chicago, nicht wahr? 5. Ich bin aus . . .

Lesson 3 (sentences)
You already began to learn a few sentences in German in the last
lesson; let’s expand on those phrases you learned in Lesson 2
with sentences such as Wie heißen Sie? (What’s your name?)

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SENTENCE LIST 1
Wie heißen Sie? (fml.) What’s your name?
Wie heißt du? (infml.) What’s your name?
Ich heiße . . . My name is . . .
Wie war Ihr Name? (fml.) What was your name again?
Wie war dein Name? (infml.) What was your name again?
Mein Name ist . . . My name is . . .
Woher kommen Sie? (fml.) Where are you from?
Woher kommst du? (infml.) Where are you from?
Ich bin aus Los Angeles. I’m from Los Angeles.
Ich bin aus Chicago. I am from Chicago.
Ich bin Amerikaner. I’m American. (male)
Ich bin Amerikanerin. I’m American. (female)

NUTS & BOLTS 1

Numbers 0–10
Let’s look at the numbers 0 through 10 in German.

null zero

eins one

zwei two

drei three

vier four

fünf five

sechs six

sieben seven

acht eight

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neun nine

zehn ten

Eins und eins ist zwei.

One and one is two.
Fünf und drei ist acht.
Five and three is eight.
Sechs und vier ist zehn.
Six and four is ten.

PRACTICE 1
Complete the sentences.

1. Zwei und zwei ist . . . ? 4. Drei und sieben ist . . . ?

2. Zwei und fünf ist . . . ? 5. Neun und eins ist . . . ?
3. Fünf und vier ist . . . ?

SENTENCE LIST 2
Wie spät ist es? What time is it?
Es ist sieben Uhr. It’s seven A.M.
Wir sind pünktlich um We are here at ten A.M. sharp.
zehn Uhr hier.
Ich bin um neun Uhr I’ll be in the office at nine A.M.
im Büro.
Wie lange sind Sie schon How long have you been with InterCorp?
bei InterCorp?
Seit fünf Jahren. For five years.
Das ist mein Bus. That’s my bus.
Das ist meine Haltestelle. That’s my stop.
Das ist unglaublich. That’s unbelievable.
Das ist ja geradezu That’s truly uncanny.
unheimlich.

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NUTS & BOLTS 2

Numbers 11–20
Now let’s look at the numbers 11 through 20 in German.

elf eleven

zwölf twelve

dreizehn thirteen

vierzehn fourteen

fünfzehn fifteen

sechzehn sixteen

siebzehn seventeen

achtzehn eighteen

neunzehn nineteen

zwanzig twenty

Note that sechs loses the -s and sieben looses the -en when com-
bined with zehn.

PRACTICE 2
Answer in German.

1. How many months are in a year?

2. How much is a baker’s dozen?
3. At what age are you allowed to vote in the USA?
4. How many fingers are there on your hands?
5. Now add up all your fingers and toes.

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Discovery activity
Learning the numbers in German can be a lot of fun. Memorize
your telephone number in German. Go through your dresser and
count all your socks in German—not the pairs, but the individual
socks. Go through your kitchen drawers and count all your spoons,
knives, and forks. How many chairs do you have in your house?
And what about windows? How many people are in your immedi-
ate family, including spouses and children? How many in your fam-
ily of origin, including parents and siblings? How many in your
extended family, including grandparents, aunts, and uncles? How
many years did you go to school, including college? The things you
could count are endless—trees on your street, tables in your fa-
vorite restaurant, cups of coffee you drink every day. Make a point
to find at least drei things to count per day for the next sieben
days. Enjoy!

ANSWERS
PRACTICE 1: 1. vier; 2. sieben; 3. neun; 4. zehn; 5. zehn
PRACTICE 2: 1. zwölf; 2. dreizehn; 3. achtzehn; 4. zehn;
5. zwanzig

Lesson 4 (conversations)
Words, phrases, and sentences put together make up a conversa-
tion. Let’s listen in.

CONVERSATION 1
Sabine Schmidt and Klaus Huber are waiting for the bus. Klaus is bored,
so he decides to speak to the woman sitting next to him.

Klaus: Guten Abend. Ich heiße Klaus Huber.

Sabine: Guten Abend.
Sabine is reluctant to continue the conversation. After all, it is late at
night, and Klaus is a stranger.

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Klaus: Ich bin aus Dresden. Ich bin beruflich in

München. Ich arbeite bei InterCorp.
Sabine: Na so was! Ich auch.
Klaus: Sie sind auch aus Dresden?
Sabine: Nein, ich arbeite auch bei InterCorp.
Klaus: Das ist ja ein Zufall.
Sabine: Ja, ich bin dort Rechtsanwältin. Ich heiße
Sabine Schmidt.
Now Klaus is a bit reluctant to continue the conversation.
Sabine: Wie war noch Ihr Name? Klaus . . . ?
Klaus: . . . Huber. Ich bin auch . . .
Suddenly Sabine remembers.
Sabine: Moment mal . . . Sie sind auch Rechtsanwalt,
nicht wahr?
Klaus: Ja.
Sabine: Dann bin ich ja . . .
Klaus: . . . meine Chefin. Ja.

Klaus: Good evening. My name is Klaus Huber.

Sabine: Good evening.
Klaus: I am from Dresden. I am in Munich on business. I
work for InterCorp.
Sabine: Really? Me, too.
Klaus: You are from Dresden as well?
Sabine: No, I also work for InterCorp.
Klaus: What a coincidence.
Sabine: Yes, I am a lawyer there. My name is Sabine Schmidt.
Sabine: What was your name again? Klaus . . . ?
Klaus: . . . Huber. I am . . .
Sabine: Wait a minute . . . You are also a lawyer, right?
Klaus: Yes.
Sabine: Well, that means I am . . .
Klaus: . . . my boss. Yes.

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Notes
Note that Klaus and Sabine are using the formal form Sie when
addressing each other. From this we can gather that they are prob-
ably over twenty years old and don’t know each other, at least not
very well. Also note that they introduce themselves with their
first and last names. Generally, adults won’t be on a first-name
basis until they’ve known each other for a little while.

NUTS & BOLTS 1

Personal pronouns in the plural
Now let’s look at the personal pronouns that refer to more than
one person.

wir we

ihr (infml.) you, you all

Sie (fml.) you, you all

sie they

Even in the plural, German distinguishes between the informal

ihr and the formal Sie. Please note that formal forms are always
capitalized.

PRACTICE 1
In this exercise, replace each of the following nouns with the cor-
rect pronoun.

1. Heinz und Isabella (they)

2. die Chefin und ihr Mann (you)
3. ich, Peter, und Michael
4. der Chef
5. Susanne und Claudia (you)

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CONVERSATION 2
Remember Sabine and Klaus? In the brief conversation they had
while waiting for the bus, we discovered that Sabine is Klaus’s
boss. Let’s see what happens next.

Klaus: Wie peinlich!

Sabine: Ganz und gar nicht. Die Welt ist klein. Wie
lange sind Sie schon bei InterCorp?
Klaus: Seit vier Jahren. Und Sie?
Sabine: Auch seit vier Jahren.
Klaus: Was für ein Zufall.
Sabine: Ah, da ist der Bus. Die Nummer 13.
Klaus: Noch ein Zufall. Das ist auch mein Bus.
Sabine: Das ist meine Haltestelle.
Klaus: Das ist unglaublich. Schon wieder ein Zufall.
Das ist auch meine Haltestelle.
Sabine: Ja, das ist ja geradezu unheimlich. Dann bis
morgen, Herr Huber. Ich bin um acht Uhr im
Büro.
Klaus: Ja, bis morgen, Frau Schmidt. Pünktlich um
acht Uhr. Auf Wiedersehen.
Sabine: Auf Wiedersehen.

Klaus: How embarrassing.

Sabine: Not at all. It’s a small world. (lit., The world is small.)
How long have you been with InterCorp?
Klaus: Four years. And you?
Sabine: Four years as well.
Klaus: What a coincidence.
Sabine: Ah, there’s the bus. Number 13.
Klaus: Yet another coincidence. That is my bus, too.
Sabine: That is my stop.
Klaus: This is unbelievable. Another coincidence. This is my
stop, too.
Sabine: Yes, this is uncanny. See you tomorrow, Herr Huber. I’ll
be in the office at eight A.M.

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Klaus: Yes, see you tomorrow, Frau Schmidt. At eight A.M.

sharp. Good-bye.
Sabine: Good-bye.

Notes
In most countries in Europe, parking is difficult in the city, so
people tend to take public transportation rather than a personal
car to get around town. And because people depend on public
transportation that much, buses, trains, and streetcars adhere to
their schedules and run on time. So make sure you are pünktlich
(punctual)!

NUTS & BOLTS 2

The verb sein (TO BE) in the plural
Now let’s look at the plural conjugation of sein (to be).

wir sind we are

ihr seid (infml.) you (all) are

Sie sind (fml.) you (all) are

sie sind they are

Wir sind aus Chicago.

We’re from Chicago.
Sie sind Lehrer von Beruf.
They are teachers by profession.
Herr und Frau Schneider, Sie sind beruflich hier, nicht wahr?
Mr. and Mrs. Schneider, you are here on business, right?

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PRACTICE 2
Answer the questions based on the cue in parentheses.

1. Where are you and your friend from? (New York)

2. What is Horst by profession? (doctor)
3. Who is here on business? (Herr und Frau Rosen)
4. Which greeting would you use in the evening?
5. What is your profession? (Please answer truthfully. Check your
German–English dictionary to find the German word for your
profession.)

Language link
Train travel is one of the most preferred forms of public transporta-
tion, particularly in Europe. Who wouldn’t want to take a trip on the
fast ICE (Inter City Express), connecting major cities in Germany
and the rest of continental Europe, or the convenient Regional-
express (regional express train), allowing passengers to travel be-
tween smaller cities around a particular metropolitan area? Check
out www.bahn.de to get timetables for the Deutsche Bundesbahn
(German Railway), purchase tickets, and make travel arrangements
including hotel reservations and car rentals. www.oebb.at offers
the same service for the Austrian railway, and www.rail.ch for the
Swiss railroad.

ANSWERS
PRACTICE 1: 1. sie; 2. Sie; 3. wir; 4. er; 5. ihr
PRACTICE 2: 1. Wir sind aus New York. 2. Er ist Arzt von
Beruf. 3. Herr und Frau Rosen sind beruflich hier. 4. Guten
Abend. 5. Ich bin . . . von Beruf.

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UNIT 1 ESSENTIALS
The following phrases have been introduced in Unit 1. This isn’t
a list of every sentence you learned in the first unit, but it covers
the most essential phrases. Be sure to practice these phrases as
much as possible until they become natural to you.

Guten Tag! (fml.) Good day!

Guten Morgen. Good morning.

Guten Abend. Good evening.

Gute Nacht. Good night.

Hallo! (infml.) Hello!

Wie geht’s? (infml.) How are you?

Wie geht es Ihnen? (fml.) How are you?

Gut, danke. Good, thanks.

Auf Wiedersehen! (fml.) Good-bye!

Tschüss! (infml.) Bye!

Bis bald. See you soon.

Bis morgen. See you tomorrow.

Wie heißen Sie? (fml.) What’s your name?

Wie heißt du? (infml.) What’s your name?

Ich heiße . . . My name is . . .

Wie war Ihr Name? (fml.) What was your name again?

Wie war dein Name? (infml.) What was your name again?

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Mein Name ist . . . My name is . . .

Woher kommen Sie? (fml.) Where are you from?

Woher kommst du? (infml.) Where are you from?

Ich bin aus . . . I’m from . . .

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