Coffee Break German

Lesson 14
Study Notes

Coffee Break German: Lesson 14 - Notes page 1 of 16

LESSON NOTES

ICH HABE EIN DOPPELZIMMER RESERVIERT

In this lesson you'll learn useful words and expressions for checking
into a hotel. You'll also learn to conjugate the verb haben and some
cultural information about breakfast in German-speaking countries.

INTRODUCTION
Read the following conversation which begins the lesson:

Mark: Hallo zusammen und herzlich Willkommen zu Coffee

Break German. Ich heiße Mark.
Thomas: Mein Name ist Thomas... Mark, alles klar heute?
Mark: Noch einmal, bitte? Tekrar ederm s n
ISTE
Thomas: Alles klar. Everything’s all right today?
Mark: Ja, alles in Ordnung.
Thomas: Sehr gut.

Thomas: Sollen wir anfangen?

Mark: Ja, los geht’s!

alles klar heute?

is everything ok today?

sollen wir anfangen?

should we begin?

Coffee Break German: Lesson 14 - Notes page 2 of 16

AT THE HOTEL CHECK-IN DESK
The main part of this lesson focuses on the words and phrases used
when checking into a hotel.

haben Sie reserviert?

do you have a reservation? (literally “have you reserved?”)

ich habe reserviert

I have a reservation (literally “I have reserved”)

wir haben reserviert

we have a reservation (literally “we have reserved”)

wir haben nicht reserviert

we don’t have a reservation (literally “we have not reserved”)

While ich habe reserviert is the most natural way to say “I have a
reservation”, it is also possible to use the word Reservierung:

eine/die Reservierung
a/the reservation

So it is theoretically possible to use the following construction to

mean the same thing:

ich habe eine Reservierung

I have a reservation

In this case, to say that you don’t have a reservation you would use
the word keine:

ich habe keine Reservierung

Coffee Break German: Lesson 14 - Notes page 3 of 16

 I don’t have a reservation / I have no reservation

Whether or not you have a reservation, it is likely that you will be

asked for your name:

Wie heißen Sie? Formal what's name

zar
what is your name?

In this formal situation note the use of Sie. It is also possible that you
may be asked “in/under what name is the reservation?”:

auf welchen Namen?

in what name?

unter welchen Namen?

under what name?

When giving your name, you are most likely to use “Mr” or “Mrs”,
etc.:

mein Name ist Herr Smith

my name is Mr Smith

mein Name ist Frau Smith

my name is Mrs Smith

There is also a word for “Miss”, Fräulein, which we came across in a

previous lesson. However, this is slightly old-fashioned and a young
woman is more like to use Frau these days.

DESCRIBING THE ROOM

Coffee Break German: Lesson 14 - Notes page 4 of 16
The basic word for “room” is das Zimmer. You will also hear:

das Doppelzimmer
the double room

das Einzelzimmer
the single room

So, to say “I have a reservation for a double room”, you can use:

ich habe eine Reservierung für ein Doppelzimmer

I have a reservation for a double room

If you prefer to use the more natural German-sounding expression

ich habe reserviert then something happens to the word order:

ich habe ein Doppelzimmer reserviert

I have reserved a double room / I have a reservation for a double
room

Note that reserviert goes to the end of this sentence, after the object
which it refers to, in this case the particular room which has been
reserved.

You can go on to specify a particular type of room:

ein Zimmer mit Bad

a room with a bath

ein Zimmer mit Dusche

a room with a shower

Note that there is no word for “a” in these examples: ein Zimmer
mit Bad literally translates as “a room with bath”, but this is correct

Coffee Break German: Lesson 14 - Notes page 5 of 16

in German.

Other types of rooms you may wish include:

ein Zimmer mit Balkon

a room with a balcony

ein Zimmer mit Meerblick

a room with a sea view

ein Zimmer mit Bergblick

a room with a mountain view

FOR HOW MANY NIGHTS?

The word for “night” is die Nacht and the plural form is Nächte, so
you could say:

für eine Nacht

for one night

für zwei Nächte

for two nights

This pattern of forming the plural by placing an umlaut (¨) over the
vowel is quite common in German. Consider these examples:

ein Bruder > zwei Brüder

one brother > two brothers

eine Mutter > zwei Mütter

Coffee Break German: Lesson 14 - Notes page 6 of 16

 one mother > two mothers

If you are staying longer you may need to use eine Woche:

für eine Woche

for one week

Note that Woche forms its plural in a different way:

für zwei Wochen

for two weeks

Other words which form their plural in this way include:

eine Dusche > zwei Duschen

one shower > two showers

Just as in English, plurals are formed in a number of ways in

German, and there are some patterns which you will begin to
recognise. For now it is best to learn the plural of a word along with
its gender when you learn the word itself.

ein Bad > zwei Bäde

one bath > two baths

ein Zimmer > zwei Zimmer

one room > two rooms

You may also want to ask if breakfast is included, and we have come
across das Frühstück in a previous lesson. You can ask:

ist das Frühstück inklusive?

is breakfast included?

Coffee Break German: Lesson 14 - Notes page 7 of 16

CULTURAL CORRESPONDENT
In this lesson’s Cultural Correspondent feature, Julia tells us about
breakfast traditions in German-speaking
areas.

Hallo ihr beiden, und alle Coffee Break

German Zuhörer. Alles in Ordnung? Ich bin’s
wieder, Julia, eure Kulturreporterin. I hear
you’ve been learning about hotels in this
lesson, and that all-important question:

ist das Frühstück inklusive?

is breakfast included?

How about I tell you about what we actually eat for breakfast?
And it all begins with bread.

I’ve heard that in some languages spoken in the far north there are
hundreds of words for “snow”. Here in Germany it sometimes
seems as if we have hundreds of different words to describe bread
rolls. So you may hear Semmel, Schrippe, Weck, Rundstück
and many more, but as soon as you know the word Brötchen,
literally meaning “little bread loaf”, then you’ll know what to ask
for in any bakery.

Now, what do you put on your Brötchen? Well, that really depends
on whether you are a savoury or sweet type. It’s very common to
have butter, cheese, ham, sausage, and together these are often
referred to as Aufschnitt. This literally means “cut up” because
these items would be cut in slices. If you have more of a sweet
tooth you can spread jam, honey or chocolate spread on your
Brötchen.

Do you remember when we mentioned that lunch these days often

consists of a quick sandwich on the go and that people tend to have
more time to cook in the evening? However, traditionally, it
actually was the other way round: lunch was a hot meal, whereas

Coffee Break German: Lesson 14 - Notes page 8 of 16

 at night you had slices of dark bread with cheese or meat, and this
is why one word for the evening meal in German-speaking areas
is Abendbrot, or “evening bread”. You may also hear
Abendessen or in the south of Germany, Austria and Switzerland
people may well use Vesper.

So there you have it, another cultural tip from me, and I’m going
to hand you back to Thomas and Mark in the studio. Bis bald!

COMPLETING THE CHECK-IN

You may also want to ask how much the room costs. We have already
covered the expression:

wie viel kostet das?

how much does it cost?

However you can also use the following phrases:

wie viel kostet das Zimmer pro Nacht?

how much does the room cost per night?

wie viel kostet das Zimmer pro Person?

how much does the room cos per person?

One final word which is important for checking into a hotel is the
word for “a key”:

der Schlüssel
the key

die Schlüssel (pl)

the keys

Coffee Break German: Lesson 14 - Notes page 9 of 16

Note that the word Schlüssel does not change in the plural form.

Given that der Schlüssel is masculine if you wanted to say “I have

the key” you would have to use the accusative form as follows:

ich habe den Schlüssel

I have the key

One final phrase which you may hear on checking into the hotel is the
following phrase:

ich wünsche Ihnen einen angenehmen Aufenthalt

I wish you a pleasant stay

Note the accusative forms in this phrase.

GRAMMAR GURU
In recent lessons we have come across the verb haben in a number
of situations. In the Grammar Guru section for this lesson, we’ll take
a closer look at this verb and conjugate it fully in the present tense.

In today’s grammar lesson, we’re going to

learn about one of the verbs which has been
cropping up over the last few lessons: the
verb haben meaning “to have”.
In our previous experience with verbs, we
concentrated on kommen, which has a
regular pattern in the present tense. As you
may have guessed, haben doesn’t have this
same regular pattern. It’s what we call an
irregular verb, but don’t worry: it’s not too difficult!
As usual, we’ll start with the singular forms. You’ll recognise a few
of these already. We start off forming the first person singular just

Coffee Break German: Lesson 14 - Notes page 10 of 16

 like a regular verb, by taking the -en off the infinitive and adding
on an -e, which gives us ich habe, meaning “I have”.
However, as with many irregular verbs, the second and third
person singular forms are slightly different: the du form has its
usual -st ending, but this time the -b- disappears from the
infinitve and we end up with du hast. The -b- is also absent in the
third person singular, but it keeps its -t ending, which gives us
er / sie / es hat. You’ll remember this form from the last lesson
when we had er/sie hat Hunger.
When we get to the plural verb forms, the -b- is back, so the first
person plural, “we” form, is wir haben, looking just like the infinitive.
The second person plural adds a -t ending to the stem, giving ihr habt,
and finally we’re back to haben for the sie form, the third person
plural.

SINGULAR PLURAL

I ich habe wir haben

YOU (INFORMAL) du hast ihr habt

HE/SHE/IT er/sie/es hat sie haben

You’ll have noticed that in this conjugation we’ve not mentioned

the formal forms at all. However you can simply go to the third
person plural and use those forms for both “you singular” and
“you plural” in the formal form. Remember to use the capital S in
Sie though!
So now you know how to conjugate haben in the present tense. In
a later lesson we’ll look at another really common verb, sein,
meaning “to be”. Das reicht für heute - I’ll hand you back to
Thomas and Mark at Radio Lingua HQ.

Coffee Break German: Lesson 14 - Notes page 11 of 16

DAS REICHT FÜR HEUTE Bugünlük bu kadar

Ready for more? Turn the page to continue with the

µ
bonus materials for this lesson.

Coffee Break German: Lesson 14 - Notes page 12 of 16

CORE VOCABULARY
haben Sie reserviert?
do you have a reservation?

ich habe reserviert

I have a reservation

wir haben reserviert

we have a reservation

wir haben nicht reserviert

we don’t have a reservation

eine/die Reservierung
a/the reservation

ich habe eine Reservierung

I have a reservation

ich habe keine Reservierung

I don’t have a reservation / I have no reservation

auf welchen Namen?

in what name?

unter welchen Namen?

under what name?

mein Name ist Herr Smith

my name is Mr Smith

Coffee Break German: Lesson 14 - Notes page 13 of 16

mein Name ist Frau Smith
my name is Mrs Smith

das Doppelzimmer
the double room

das Einzelzimmer
the single room

ich habe eine Reservierung für ein Doppelzimmer

I have a reservation for a double room

ich habe ein Doppelzimmer reserviert

I have reserved a double room / I have a reservation for a double
room

ein Zimmer mit Bad

a room with a bath

ein Zimmer mit Dusche

a room with a shower

ein Zimmer mit Balkon

a room with a balcony

ein Zimmer mit Meerblick

a room with a sea view

ein Zimmer mit Bergblick

a room with a mountain view

für eine Nacht

Coffee Break German: Lesson 14 - Notes page 14 of 16

 for one night

für zwei Nächte

for two nights

für eine Woche

for one week

für zwei Wochen

for two weeks

ist das Frühstück inklusive?

is breakfast included?

wie viel kostet das?

how much does it cost?

wie viel kostet das Zimmer pro Nacht?

how much does the room cost per night?

wie viel kostet das Zimmer pro Person?

how much does the room cos per person?

der Schlüssel
the key

ich wünsche Ihnen einen angenehmen Aufenthalt

I wish you a pleasant stay

BONUS VOCABULARY

Coffee Break German: Lesson 14 - Notes page 15 of 16

der Ausweis
passport

wo können wir parken?

where can we park?

wo kann ich parken?

where can I park?

können wir das Zimmer sehen?

can we see the room?

der Nachname
surname

haben Sie einen Aufzug?

do you have an elevator / lift?

der Aufzug
lift / elevator

haben Sie ein Schwimmbad?

do you have a swimming pool?

das Schwimmbad
swimming pool

Coffee Break German: Lesson 14 - Notes page 16 of 16