Deutsch - German
Joe: Guten Tag.
Verkäuferin: Guten Tag, was kann ich für Sie tun?
Joe: Ich möchte eine Fahrkarte von München nach Berlin kaufen.
Verkäuferin: Ja, gerne. Wann möchten Sie denn nach Berlin fahren?
Joe: Hmm, ich möchte morgen Abend hier abfahren.
Verkäuferin: Okay, also am 11.10. 2010…
Joe: Äh, ist morgen nicht der 10. November?
Verkäuferin: Hmm, ja das stimmt. Entschuldigung….also am 10.11…. Da haben Sie mehrere Möglichkeiten….
Joe: Hmm, ich möchte so günstig wie möglich fahren und nicht so oft umsteigen, bitte.
Verkäuferin: Okay, dann sollten Sie um 19 Uhr fahren. Mit dem Zug müssen Sie nicht umsteigen und die Fahrt kostet 116 Euro.
Joe: Okay. Also am 10.11. um 19 Uhr?
Verkäuferin: Ja, Ankunft ist dann am 11.11. um…
Joe: Was, am 11.11.? Warum das denn? Ich fahre doch am 10. November und nicht am 11. November?
Verkäuferin: Ja, aber Sie fahren abends so spät los, dass Sie nachts um halb zwei ankommen. Und das ist dann schon der 11.11. 2010.
Joe: Ach so, natürlich. Entschuldigen Sie meine Unterbrechung…
Verkäuferin: Kein Problem. Also noch mal…Sie fahren am 10.11.2010 um 19 Uhr in München ab und kommen am 11.11. 2010 um 1 Uhr 30 in Berlin an.
Joe: Super.
Verkäuferin: Das macht dann 116 Euro.
Joe: Hier bitte.
Verkäuferin: Danke, hier ist Ihre Fahrkarte. Gute Fahrt!
Englisch - English
Joe: Hello.
Ticket Seller: Hello, what can I do for you?
Joe: I'd like to buy a ticket from Munich to Berlin.
Ticket Seller: Sure. When would you like to go to Berlin?
Joe: Hmm, I'd like to leave here tomorrow evening.
Ticket Seller: Okay, so on the 11th of October, 2010...
Joe: Uh, isn't tomorrow the 10th of November?
Ticket Seller: Hmm, yes, that's right. Excuse me....so, on the 10th of November. There are many possibilities on that day...
Joe: Hmm, I'd like to travel as cheaply as possible, and I don't want to change trains too often, please.
Ticket Seller: Okay, then you should go at 7pm. With that train, you won't have to change, and the trip costs 116 euros.
Joe: Okay. So on the 10th of November at 7pm?
Ticket Seller: Yes. Arrival will be on the 11th of November at ...
Joe: What? On November 11th? Why is that? I'm leaving on the 10th of November, and not on the 11th of November.
Ticket Seller: Yes, but you're leaving so late in the evening that you'll arrive at 1.30am. And that will be the morning of November 11th already.
Joe: Oh yeah, of course. Sorry for interrupting.
Ticket Seller: No problem. So, once more....You're leaving on the 10th of November at 7pm from Munich, and you'll arrive in Berlin on the 11th of November at 1.30am.
Joe: Great.
Ticket Seller: That'll be 116 euros.
Joe: Here you go.
Ticket Seller: Thanks, and here's your ticket. Have a good trip!
Wortschatz- und Satzgebrauch - Vocabulary Phrase Usage
1 . „ Was kann ich für Sie tun?“ (What can I do for you?) is a phrase that you will probably hear very, very often.
2 . „ so … wie möglich“ (as … as possible) is another really common structure. For example, you might say „so schnell wie möglich“ (as quickly as possible), „ so gut wie möglich“ (as good as possible) or „so bald wie möglich“ (as soon as possible).
3 . „ Entschuldigen Sie“ is an alternative to „ Entschuldigung“ . Instead of the noun „ Entschuldigung“
(apology) you use the verb in the imperative so „ Excuse!“ as a request. Then you can add whatever you want that person to excuse right afterwards, as an object. For example „ Entschuldigen Sie meine Verspätung“ (Excuse my being late).
Grammatik - Grammar
The focus of this lesson is Ordinal Numbers and Dates
Sie fahren am 10.11.2010 um 19 Uhr
"You're travelling on the 10th of November, 2010, at 7pm."
When writing a date in Germany, you should always put the day first, month second and year last.
Otherwise you will really confuse Germans because few people know that there are cultures that put the month first. That's just weird. Also, in between the different parts of the date we put a dot in German. So, put the day first, then a dot, then the month, then a dot, and finally the year.
When reading the date, you need the ordinal numbers, like „ first“ , „ second“ , „ third“ instead of „one“ , „ two“ , „ three“ . In German, these numbers end in -ter. „ first“ is „ erster“ and „ third“ is „dritter“ , but all the others are regular - just take the German number word and add -ter. So you get zweiter, vierter, fünfter, sechster, siebter (same shortcut as for „ siebzig“ ), achter and so on. These are also written as „ 2.“ , „ 4.“ , „ 5.“ and so on, with the dot indicating that it's an ordinal number.
So to read a date, just say the ordinal number for the day, and then you could say another ordinal
number for the month or you could say the month name. Finally, for the year, you need the numbers above 1000, but fortunately we already studied those in lesson 22 of the Absolute Beginner series.
In total you get something like:
21.5.2010 = einundzwanzigster fünfter zweitausendzehn = einundzwanzigster Mai zweitausendzehn.
For dates in a different century, everyone says the German equivalent of „ nineteen hundred“ rather than „ one thousand nine hundred“ . However, unlike in English, you can NOT leave out the „hundred“ part.
1984 = neunzehnhundert vierundachtzig
Kultureller Einblick - Cultural Insight
The German month names should not be a problem for you because they are based on the same roots as the English ones. So treat it as a lesson in how to germanize words.
January ? Januar (the letter Y is almost non-existant in German)
February ? Februar (apart from the Y, only the pronunciation is different)
March ? März (okay, different)
April ? April (just pronunciation)
May ? Mai (Y swapped for I)
June ? Juni
July ? Juli
August ? August
September ? September
October ? Oktober (hard C becomes K)
November ? November
December ? Dezember (soft C becomes Z)
DANKE
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