Coffee Break German

Lesson 19
Study Notes

Coffee Break German: Lesson 19 - Notes page 1 of 17

LESSON NOTES

EINE FAHRKARTE NACH MÜNCHEN, BITTE

In this lesson you’ll learn to talk about train departure and arrival
times, and you’ll also learn to deal with buying tickets for public
transport. You’ll be introduced to separable verbs and learn about the
very German concept of Pünktlichkeit.

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

Mark: Hallo zusammen und herzlich Willkommen bei Coffee

Break German. Ich heiße Mark.
Thomas: Mein Name ist Thomas.
Mark: Und wir sind hier ...
Thomas: Um unser Deutsch zu verbessern.

As we have seen before, wir sind hier um unser Deutsch zu

verbessern means “we are here (in order) to improve our German”.
Note how um and zu separates.

The conversation continues:

Thomas: Also, Mark, bist du bereit?

Mark: Ja, ich bin bereit.
Thomas: Lass uns anfangen!
Mark: Los geht’s.

Coffee Break German: Lesson 19 - Notes page 2 of 17

TALKING ABOUT WHEN THINGS HAPPEN
So far we have seen the following construction used to ask the
question “when does the train arrive?”:

können Sie mir bitte sagen, wann der Zug

ankommt?
can you please tell me when the train arrives?

The verb “to arrive” is ankommen. When you say “the train arrives
at 2 o’clock”, you use this construction:

der Zug kommt um 2 Uhr an

the train arrives at 2 o’clock

You will see here that the word ankommen splits up and the an-
part moves position. It now follows the time.

Here are some further examples:

der Bus kommt um 8 Uhr 30 an

the bus arrives at 8:30

The same happens with the verb abfahren, meaning “to depart”. So
far we have had the question:

können Sie mir bitte sagen, wann der Zug abfährt?

can you please tell me when the train departs?

A possible answer could be:

Coffee Break German: Lesson 19 - Notes page 3 of 17

der Zug fährt um 3 Uhr 20 ab
the train departs at 3:20

Here are some further examples:

der Bus kommt um 5 Uhr 13 an

the bus arrives at 5:13

der Zug fährt um 17 Uhr 43 ab

the train departs at 17:43

der Bus kommt um 20 Uhr 18 an

the bus arrives at 20:18

der Zug kommt um 12 Uhr 28 an

the train arrives at 12:28

We can also use this construction in the question, so instead of saying

können Sie mir bitte sagen, wann der Zug ankommt? you can
say:

wann kommt der Zug an?

when does the train arrive?

Likewise, you can do the same with abfahren:

wann fährt der Bus ab?

when does the bus leave?

You can also replace the wann with um wie viel Uhr, literally
meaning “at what time”:

Coffee Break German: Lesson 19 - Notes page 4 of 17

um wie viel Uhr fährt der Zug nach Köln ab?
at what time does the train to Cologne leave?

Thomas provides a possible answer to this question:

der Zug nach Köln fährt um 13 Uhr 42 ab

the train to Cologne leaves at 13:42

It’s time to hear from Kirsten, our Grammar Guru, who will explain a
bit more about this process of separating the verbs ankommen and
abfahren.

GRAMMAR GURU

Well, today I’m going to go over what Thomas has explained about
the verbs ankommen and abfahren. You’ll
recognise part of the verb ankommen
already: kommen was one of the first verbs
we looked at in Coffee Break German, and
you’ll remember it means “to come”. Now, as
you’ll have noticed with ankommen, an-
has been added to the start of the verb.
If you add something to the beginning of a
verb, it’s called a “verb prefix”.We have
something similar in English too: for example
we have the verb “to look”, but if you add the
word “up” to this, you get “to look up” which could mean “to look
upwards, towards the sky”, but it could also change the meaning
of the word completely, and you could be looking up a word in a
dictionary, for example. The same process also happens in
German, but instead of adding something after the verb, it comes
directly before the infinitive, joining on to form one word.

Coffee Break German: Lesson 19 - Notes page 5 of 17

 In this case if you add the prefix an- to the verb kommen
(meaning “to come”), the resulting verb is ankommen, which has
the new meaning “to arrive”. Likewise, if you add ab- to fahren
(meaning “to drive”), then you get abfahren, meaning “to
depart”, or more literally “to drive off”.
The two prefixes an- and ab- are a bit special: they belong to a
group of prefixes called “separable prefixes” and adding them onto
the infinitive of the verb creates what we call a “separable verb”.
As you heard in some of the earlier examples, the prefix and the
verb can be separated from each other. The trick is to know where
to put the prefix and the rest of the verb once you’ve separated
them!
Let’s take ankommen and say that the train arrives at 10 o’clock.
First of all, we separate the prefix from the verb:
an kommen
Then we have to conjugate the verb to fit the subject of the
sentence, the train, der Zug. This requires the third person
singular form. You’ll remember the conjugation of kommen:

KOMMEN SINGULAR PLURAL

1ST ich komme wir kommen

2ND du kommst ihr kommt

3RD er/sie/es kommt sie kommen

We now have:
an kommt
In an earlier lesson we learned the “second position” rule which
stated that the verb has to come in the second position in the
sentence:
der Zug kommt

Coffee Break German: Lesson 19 - Notes page 6 of 17

 We then follow this with the time - um zehn Uhr - and finally we
add the prefix that we took off the verb to the end of the sentence:
der Zug kommt um zehn Uhr an

The same applies with abfahren:

der Zug fährt um zehn Uhr ab

Now, Thomas also gave you some examples where the prefix and
the verb came together:
Können Sie mir bitte sagen,
wann der Zug ankommt
can you please tell me when the train arrives?

In this situation, the modal verb können makes any other verbs
dependent on the modal (in this sentence sagen) stay in their
infinitive forms and go to the end of the clause:
Können Sie mir bitte SAGEN,
can you please tell me ...

Then the final part of the sentence can be added in:

wann der Zug ankommt?
when the train arrives?

I hope that this has helped to explain things and that it doesn’t
seem quite as difficult now!

PRACTICE
Thomas tests Mark with some translations. You can find the
sentences used below:

Coffee Break German: Lesson 19 - Notes page 7 of 17

Q: Wann fährt der Zug nach München ab?
When does the train to Munich leave?

A: Der Zug nach München fährt um 15:35 ab.

The train to Munich leaves at 15:35.

Q: Können Sie mir bitte sagen, um wie viel Uhr der

Bus von Hamburg ankommt?
Can you please tell me at what time the bus from Hamburg arrives?

A: Der Bus von Hamburg kommt um 16:40 an.

The bus from Hamburg arrives at 16:40.

Q: Um wie viel Uhr fährt der Zug nach Kassel ab?

At what time does the train to Kassel leave?

A: Der Zug nach Kassel fährt um 20:19 ab.

The train to Kassel leaves at 20:19.

Q: Können Sie mir bitte sagen, wann der Bus von

Luzern ankommt?
Can you please tell me when the bus from Lucerne arrives?

A: Der Bus von Luzern kommt um 16:17 an.

The bus from Lucerne arrives at 16:17.

BUYING TICKETS
There are two commonly-used words for “ticket”:

Coffee Break German: Lesson 19 - Notes page 8 of 17

das Ticket (n)
the ticket

die Fahrkarte (f)

the ticket

Reusing previously learned constructions, we can ask:

wo kann ich ein Ticket / eine Fahrkarte kaufen?

where can I buy a ticket?

A possible reply to this question could be:

Sie können eine Fahrkarte an dem Schalter kaufen.

You can buy a ticket at the ticket counter.

der Schalter
the ticket counter

Note that der Schalter is masculine but in this sentence the dative
form is used: an dem Schalter is a dative construction. You should
be aware that the preposition an doesn’t always take the dative, but
we will cover this in more detail in a later lesson.

You can see another example of the dative in the alternative answer:

Sie können ein Ticket an der Ticketmaschine kaufen

you can buy a ticket at the ticket machine

die Ticketmaschine (f)

the ticket machine

Since die Ticketmaschine is feminine, we need to use the dative

Coffee Break German: Lesson 19 - Notes page 9 of 17

form of the feminine definite article in this sentence. Remember the
example we saw in a previous lesson:

das Museum ist zwischen der Kirche und der Schule

the museum is between the church and the school

So we use der in this example: an der Ticketmaschine.

To ask for a ticket, you can use:

eine Fahrkarte nach München, bitte

a ticket to Munich, please

ich möchte eine Fahrkarte nach München

I would like a ticket to Munich

ich möchte eine Fahrkarte nach München kaufen

I would like to buy a ticket to Munich

You may also want to ask for a single (one-way) or return (round-
trip) ticket:

eine einfache Fahrt (nach München)

a single ticket (to Munich)

eine Hin- und Rückfahrt (nach Köln)

a return ticket (to Cologne)

You may also hear:

Hin- und Zurück

return / round-trip (literally “there and back”)

Coffee Break German: Lesson 19 - Notes page 10 of 17

You may be buying tickets for more than one person. Here are some
useful phrases:

für zwei Erwachsene und ein Kind

for two adults and one child

für einen Erwachsenen und zwei Kinder

for one adult and two children

Note the change in the word for “adult” when using the single form:
für einen Erwachsenen.

A possible request then could be:

ich möchte eine Hin- und Rückfahrt nach München

für einen Erwachsenen und zwei Kinder
I would like a return ticket to Munich for one adult and two
children

CULTURAL CORRESPONDENT
Following on from our travel topic, Julia has some interesting
information about time-keeping in German-speaking parts of the
world.

Hi Mark, hi Thomas, und hallo an alle

unsere Coffee Break German Zuhörer.
Ich bin’s wieder, Julia, eure
Kulturreporterin. Well, if we are learning
about trains and bus timetables, there’s one
particularly German idiosyncrasy that we
cannot avoid: die Pünktlichkeit, or
“punctuality” in English. This Pünktlichkeit

Coffee Break German: Lesson 19 - Notes page 11 of 17

 extends both to public transport, and indeed to the German
psyche. Let me tell you a bit more about this.

Of course there are a few exceptions, but you can be pretty sure
that if your train is due to arrive at 16:32, then it will arrive at
16:32. If you’re running late and you’re hoping that your bus, due
to depart at 9:16, is also running late, then you’re probably out of
luck. It will depart at 9:16! We are lucky to have a very efficient
transport system, and if you do ever hear the word Verspätung -
that’s a “delay” - on public transport, generally this is likely to
mean that the train is perhaps five minutes late. As I said, there
are exceptions, and particularly in times of bad weather, things
can go wrong. For the most part, however, you can rely on the
German transport system to maintain high standards of
Pünktlichkeit.

And it’s not just trains and buses! We Germans are very punctual
people too. If we have a meeting at 9:30 then we are likely to
arrive on time for our meeting to start. I know that in other parts
of the world “9:30” can mean “at some point after 9:30”; and in
some places 9:30 is when you meet for coffee before the meeting
may begin at 10:00 or even later. At least in Germany, if your
appointment is at 9:30, then you’re expected to be there at 9:30.

Getting back to transport, there is another topic I’d like to tell you
about which is particularly German although, again, I know that
this idea is becoming popular in other parts of the world too. I’m
talking about Mitfahrgelegenheit, or MFG for short. This
literally means “chance to ride along”, but that probably doesn’t
help you work out what it means. MFG is a sort of social travel
system. Let’s imagine I’m in Berlin and I want to go to Leipzig.
There are plenty of public transport options, for example I can
take the train for around €40. However, if I go to
mitfahrgelegenheit.de, I can see if anyone else is travelling from
Berlin to Leipzig. I enter my location and my destination and I get
a list of people who are planning to travel from Berlin to Leipzig
at particular times. I contact someone on the list, arrange a pick-
up time, and I agree to pay them their MGF fee, which is likely to

Coffee Break German: Lesson 19 - Notes page 12 of 17

 be around €10. So they get some help with the fuel cost of getting
to Leipzig, and I get a cheaper journey, and an interesting
travelling companion too. It’s the ultimate win-win situation! I
know what you’re thinking: is it safe? Well, you can contact the
person ahead of time; you can speak to them on the phone; if you
don’t like the sound of them you can go with someone else.
Ultimately you know ahead of time who you’re going to be
travelling with. Very often there are two or three other passengers
too, so that helps the conversation and the finances. I’ve used MFG
quite a bit, and I’ve had some great experiences.

As punctually as possible, I’ll finish my Cultural Report for this

episode now!

DAS REICHT FÜR HEUTE

Ready for more? Turn the page to continue with the

bonus materials for this lesson.

Coffee Break German: Lesson 19 - Notes page 13 of 17

CORE VOCABULARY
der Bus kommt um 8 Uhr 30 an
the bus arrives at 8:30

der Zug fährt um 3 Uhr 20 ab

the train departs at 3:20

der Bus kommt um 5 Uhr 13 an

the bus arrives at 5:13

der Zug fährt um 17 Uhr 43 ab

the train departs at 17:43

der Bus kommt um 20 Uhr 18 an

the bus arrives at 20:18

der Zug kommt um 12 Uhr 28 an

the train arrives at 12:28

wann kommt der Zug an?

when does the train arrive?

wann fährt der Bus ab?

when does the bus leave?

um wie viel Uhr fährt der Zug nach Köln ab?

at what time does the train to Cologne leave?

der Zug nach Köln fährt um 13 Uhr 42 ab

the train to Cologne leaves at 13:42

Coffee Break German: Lesson 19 - Notes page 14 of 17

das Ticket (n)
the ticket

die Fahrkarte (f)

the ticket

wo kann ich ein Ticket / eine Fahrkarte kaufen?

where can I buy a ticket?

Sie können eine Fahrkarte an dem Schalter kaufen.

You can buy a ticket at the ticket counter.

der Schalter
the ticket counter

Sie können ein Ticket an der Ticketmaschine kaufen

you can buy a ticket at the ticket machine

die Ticketmaschine (f)

the ticket machine

eine Fahrkarte nach München, bitte

a ticket to Munich, please

ich möchte eine Fahrkarte nach München

I would like a ticket to Munich

ich möchte eine Fahrkarte nach München kaufen

I would like to buy a ticket to Munich

eine einfache Fahrt (nach München)

a single ticket (to Munich)

Coffee Break German: Lesson 19 - Notes page 15 of 17

eine Hin- und Rückfahrt (nach Köln)
a return ticket (to Cologne)

Hin- und Zurück

return / round-trip (literally “there and back”)

für zwei Erwachsene und ein Kind

for two adults and one child

für einen Erwachsenen und zwei Kinder

for one adult and two children

ich möchte eine Hin- und Rückfahrt nach München

für einen Erwachsenen und zwei Kinder
I would like a return ticket to Munich for one adult and two
children

die Pünktlichkeit
punctuality

BONUS VOCABULARY
The bonus vocabulary for this lesson provides further words and
phrases which you may find useful in a situation relating to transport.

die Ermäßigung
discount

U-Bahn
underground/subway

Coffee Break German: Lesson 19 - Notes page 16 of 17

das Taxi
taxi

zum Bahnhof, bitte

to the train station, please

in die Mozartstraße, bitte

to Mozartstraße, please

umsteigen
to change (train, bus)

aussteigen
to get off

Entschuldigung, wo muss ich für das Museum

aussteigen?
Excuse me, where do I have to get off for the museum?

die Haltestelle
stop (bus/tram stop)

Coffee Break German: Lesson 19 - Notes page 17 of 17