German/Level III/Gespräche Unter Geschäftsmännern

Lektion Zwei für Fortgeschrittene

Gespräch 2-3 ~ Katrin geht einkaufen

Katrin geht einkaufen. Sie braucht Wurst und Käse, aber sie findet viele leckere Lebensmittel in dem Delikatessengeschäft.

Katrin: Hallo. Ich brauche Käse.
Verkäufer: Ich habe einen leckeren Schmelzkäse. Er heißt 'Brimsen'.
Katrin: Nein. Ich suche Hartkäse. Haben Sie einen 'Jarlsberg'?
Verkäufer: Nein. Aber ich habe einen guten Schweizer Käse. Er schmeckt ähnlich.
Katrin: OK. Verkaufen Sie den stückweise?
Verkäufer: Ja. Ein Stück?
Katrin: Bitte. Und haben Sie Wurst?
Verkäufer: Ja gewiss. Wir haben viele Wurstsorten.
Katrin: Ich suche Würstchen.
Verkäufer: Ich habe 'Nürnberger Schweinswürste'.
Katrin: Das ist gut.

Vokabeln 2-3

das Delikatessengeschäft            Deli, Delicatessen       (das Geschäft = business)
der Hartkäse                        hard cheese
das Lebensmittel, die Lebensmittel  food, foods
der Schmelzkäse                     soft cheese
die Schweinswurst                   pork sausage
der Schweizerkäse                   Emmenthaler cheese, Swiss cheese
das Stück                           piece
der Verkäufer                       sales clerk
das Würstchen                       small sausage
die Wurstsorten                     types of sausage

Bitte                               If you please
Nürnberger Schweinswürste           a type of small, pork sausage (pl.)

finden                              find
heißen                              call, name
schmecken                           taste
suchen                              seek, look for
verkaufen                           sell                     (compare with einkaufen & der Verkäufer)

ähnlich                             similar
ein                                 a, an, any, one
lecker                              tasty, delicious
nicht                               not
stückweise                          piecemeal, by the piece  (compare with das Stück)

Pronunciation Guide >>

Grammatik 2-5 ~ Word Formation

As in any language, many words in German are constructed from other smaller words that provide similar meaning, although the connections can sometimes be obscured by the passage of time. Construction of new words from word combinations is especially prevalent with German nouns, and understanding word roots can therefore be helpful in learning new words. As an example, consider the phrase Auf Wiedersehen — the standard translation into English being 'Good bye', although it means literally 'upon reunion' (in essence, "until we meet again"). The noun, das Wiedersehen, consists of wieder, 'once again' (or 're-' as a prefix), and sehen or 'see'.

The noun die Geschäftsleute provides a direct example of a compounded noun: the first part of each deriving from das Geschäft ('business') and the second part from die Leute ('people'). The gender of a compound noun follows the base or last noun.

There are other examples in the this lesson, but these may not be immediately obvious unless you already have a good command of German words. However, you should train yourself to view new words in terms of the meanings of their component parts. Consider all of the various words used in this lesson to describe types of cheeses: der Hartkäse, der Schmelzkäse, der Schweizerkäse; or nouns and verbs related to buying and selling (Kaufen und Verkaufen).

Grammatik 2-6 ~ Personal Pronouns: nominative case

Here are the personal pronouns in the nominative case:

	Singular		Plural
1st person	ich	I	wir	we
2nd person	du (Sie*)	you	ihr (Sie*)	you
3rd person	er, sie, es	he, she, it	sie (all genders)	they

Polite form.

The nominative case is that of the subject of a verb. The pronoun subject of these sentences is underlined in the German and the English:

Es geht mir gut.	It goes well (for) me.
Das kann ich verstehen.	That I can understand.
Du bist ein Schwein!	You are a pig!
Und können Sie mir sagen...?	And can you tell (to) me...?

This last sentence is an example from Gespräch 2-3 using the polite form of 'you'. Whether singular or plural must be established by context. This next sentence translates with sie as 'they':

Und können sie mir sagen...?	And can they tell me...?
And this one, with sie as 'she':
Und kann sie mir sagen...?	And can she tell me...?

as evidenced by the form taken by the verb 'can' (können). Other uses of the nominative case in German will be explored in future lessons. Tables of the pronouns in all cases are summarized in the grammar appendix: Pronoun Tables.

NOTE: An intransitive verb cannot be followed by an object in English or German. A pronoun following an intransitive verb such as 'to be' is called a predicate pronoun and should be in the nominative case. In English 'It is I' is correct; 'It is me' is incorrect.

Grammatik 2-7 ~ More on verb forms

Just as English sometimes adds the verb "to be", forming the progressive, note also in Grammatik 2-2 (in both question sentence examples) that English also may insert the verb 'to do' (called the emphatic form), especially useful when forming a question. This is not done in German:

Haben Sie zu viel Arbeit?	becomes in English: .	Do you have too much work?	(Notice polite form of 'you' here)
Hast du jede Wurst?	becomes in English:	Do you have every sausage?
Hat Helena zehn Finger?	becomes in English:	Does Helena have ten fingers?

Again, in the present tense, the English sentences:

'I write a letter.'

'I do write a letter.'

are all, in German: Ich schreibe einen Brief.

'I am writing a letter.'

means: Ich schreibe gerade einen Brief.

Vokabeln 2-4

der Brief                  letter
das Einkaufen              shopping
der Finger, die Finger     finger, fingers
das Kaufen                 buying                (use of the verb form is preferred)
das Schwein                pig                   (compare with die Schweinswurst)
das Verkaufen              selling

können                     can
schreiben                  write

jede                       any
zehn                       ten

Andere Wörter 2A

Using these additional vocabulary words, you should be able to restate Gespräch 2-2 above, altering the meaning (or time of day) of the conversation.

der Abend                evening

Guten Abend!             Good Evening (greeting)
morgen früh              tomorrow morning
zu wenig                 too little

abend                    evening
abends                   evenings
falsch                   false, wrong
morgen                   tomorrow
morgens                  in the morning
schlecht                 bad

Pronunciation Guide >>

Übersetzung 2-2

Write these sentences in German. Pay attention to the additional words presented in Andere Wörter 2A:

Good evening Catherine.Where are you going?
I'm looking for a good Swiss cheese.
That is wrong! Too little is too little.

Antworten >