Deutsch - German
Joe: Entschuldigung…
Frau: Ja?
Joe: Können Sie mir vielleicht helfen? Ich möchte gerne zum Rathaus…
Frau: Ja, natürlich…Zuerst müssen Sie zur Haltestelle Tivolistraße. gehen und dort steigen Sie in die Tram Nummer 17 ein.
Joe: Oh und wo ist die Haltestelle?
Frau: Die Haltestelle ist gleich dort vorne an der großen Kreuzung auf der linken Seite….
Joe: Ah, okay.
Frau: Also, nehmen Sie die 17 Richtung Amalienburgstraße. und fahren Sie bis zum Isartor…
Joe: Die 17 in Richtung Isartor..
Frau: Nein, die 17 BIS zum Isartor. Dort steigen Sie aus und gehen
zur U-Bahn.
Joe: Ah okay. Ich fahre bis zum Isartor und steige dort in die U-Bahn um.
Frau: Genau. Am Isartor nehmen Sie eine U-Bahn und fahren eine Station bis zum Marienplatz. Dort ist das Rathaus.
Joe: Und welche U-Bahn nehme ich?
Frau: Das ist egal, Hauptsache der nächste Halt ist Marienplatz. Das können Sie an der Anzeigetafel sehen….
Joe: Ach so. Gut, also ich steige dort vorne in die Tram 17 ein, fahre bis zum Isartor und steige dort um. Dann fahre ich eine Station mit der U-Bahn bis Marienplatz und dort ist das Rathaus…
Frau: Ja, genau!
Joe: Super, danke!
Frau: Keine Ursache!
Englisch - English
Joe: Excuse me...
Woman: Yes?
Joe: Could you help me out? I'd like to go to the city hall.
Woman: Of course. First you have to go to the stop called "Tivolistraße", and there you get on the number 17 Tram.
Joe: Oh, and where is the stop?
Woman: It's just in front of us at that large intersection, on the left side.
Joe: Ah, okay.
Woman: So, take the number 17 in the direction of Amalienburgstraße and travel up to the Isartor stop.
Joe: The 17 in the direction of Isartor...
Woman: No, the 17 UP TO the Isartor stop, and then change to the subway.
Joe: Ah, okay. I go to Isartor, and then I change to the subway.
Woman: Exactly. At Isartor you take a subway one station to Marienplatz. That's where the city hall is.
Joe: And which subway do I take?
Woman: It doesn't matter which one. The important thing is that the next stop is Marienplatz. You'll see it on the display panel.
Joe: Ahh. Good, so I get on Tram 17 over there, then travel to Isartor and transfer. Then I travel one station on the subway to Marienplatz, and that's where the city hall is.
Woman: Yes, precisely!
Joe: Great, thanks!
Woman: No problem!
Wortschatz- und Satzgebrauch - Vocabulary Phrase Usage
1. vielleicht. Normally this means „perhaps“. In the phrase „Können Sie mir vielleicht helfen?“, it's used to make the phrase more polite, to indicate that you can understand if they can't help.
Without the „vielleicht“ in that phrase, I might add „bitte“, or I might swap the „können“ (can) for „könnten“ (could)... there are a number of ways to make requests more polite in German.
2. gleich. So far we've seen this used as „immediately“ or „really soon“. In the phrase „Die Haltestelle ist gleich dort vorne“ however, „gleich“ means „right“, like „right there“.
3. „Keine Ursache“ is a common reply when someone is thanking you. You could say „Bitte“, but if you say „Keine Ursache“ that means that it was no big deal.
Grammatik - Grammar
The focus of this lesson is Dative after prepositions
Fahren Sie bis zum Isartor.
"Go up to the Isar Gate."
In lessons 10 and 26 we already looked at different forms that personal pronouns can take, depending on whether they are the subject, the direct object or the indirect object of a sentence. You probably already noticed that it's not just the personal pronouns that change; noun phrases, especially the articles, also change.
So far we said that the Accusative case is for direct objects and the Dative case is for indirect objects.
In the sentence „Ich gebe ihm ein Geschenk“ (I give a present to him), „ihm“ or „to him“ is the indirect object because it comes after „to“, while „ein Geschenk“ (a present) is the direct object.
The Dative is also used after a whole lot of preposition though, and that's something we should look at today. First, you need to know the articles that show you that something is Dative. For feminine words, the Dative article is „der“ - so it's almost like feminine words are pretending to be masculine here. For masculine and also neuter words, the Dative article is „dem“. Let's see these in action! Here are the examples from today's dialog.
Ich möchte gerne zum Rathaus. (zum = zu dem) = I would like to go to the city hall.
bis zum Isartor = up to the Isar Gate
bis zum Marienplatz = up to the Marienplatz
zur Haltestelle Tivolistraße (zur = zu der) = to the stop Tivolistraße
zur U-Bahn = to the subway
an der großen Kreuzung = at the big intersection
an der Anzeigetafel = on the screen
am Isartor (am = an dem) = at the Isar Gate
auf der linken Seite = on the left side
Careful, „in die Tram“ and „in die U-Bahn“ are NOT Dative, they are Accusative. Otherwise it would have to be „in der Tram“ and „in der U-Bahn“. It's actually possible to say both, but with a vastly different meaning.
in der Tram = in the tram (not surprising)
in die Tram = INTO the tram (wth?)
in der U-Bahn = in the subway
in die U-Bahn = INTO the subway
In German, the entire difference between „in“ and „into“ is the case that follows. We shall investigate this more later.
Kultureller Einblick - Cultural Insight
To take a subway or lightrail in Germany, you first have to figure out where to get the tickets. This is confusing because it's different in different cities. In Berlin, the ticket machines for the subway are on the track itself, while the ticket machines for the lightrail are inside the cars themselves. So in the one case you have to buy and stamp your ticket before getting on, and in the other case you can only buy tickets when you're already in motion... Well, you could also buy a subway or bus ticket and then hop
onto the lightrail with that, because the same tickets are valid for all public transport within a city.
If you're relying on being able to buy a ticket from a machine, then you should make sure that you have enough Euros in change. The machines are intelligent enough to give you correct change if you pay too much, but there is no person or machine that will break up bills for you if you only have bills.
You have to be lucky and find a machine that takes bills, or find a machine that accepts your credit card or bank card. So this is something to take into account.
Once you have your ticket, don't forget to stamp it in the little machine that should be mounted on a pole near the ticket machine. Without the stamp it's not valid, because it would be impossible to distinguish between a ticket that you buy for now as opposed to a ticket that you intend to use later that week.
There are no systems that automatically devalue your ticket or that note where you got on and off.
German subways operate on an honor-based system. That means that you can access the tracks and even get on a subway car without having a ticket. There are just random controls when people in civilian clothes will board the car, proffer identification and demand to see everyone's tickets. If you can't show them a valid ticket then, they'll fine you 40 Euros, so you probably want to get a valid ticket, which is much cheaper than that.
DANKE
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