LESSON NOTES
WO IST DAS STADTZENTRUM?
In this episode you’ll learn to use German to find your way around a
town. In addition to learning the words for a number of places in the
town, you’ll also learn how to cope with the scenario of asking for
directions using a map.
INTRODUCTION
The opening section of this lesson includes a new expression:
Mark: Hallo. Ich heiße Mark.
Thomas: Hallo. Mein Name ist Thomas, und herzlich
Willkommen zu Coffee Break German.
herzlich Willkommen zu ...
Coffee Break German
a warm welcome to ...
The word herzlich can mean “warm”, “heartfelt” or “sincere”.
Lesson 07 Following on from the last lesson, Thomas explains:
Study Notes heute lernen wir etwas über die Stadt
today we’re learning a little about the town
Note lernen in second position: the sentence begins with heute,
meaning “today”, so the verb lernen and the subject pronoun wir
swap position.
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REVIEW ich glaube
I think so (literally “I believe”)
This lesson’s review section introduced the words plus (“plus”) and
minus (“minus”), so it is possible to practise the numbers using
simple arithmetic:
TALKING ABOUT THE TOWN
vier plus vier ist acht To get someone’s attention when asking about places in the town, you
four plus four is eight can use the following expression:
vier minus zwei ist zwei können Sie mir helfen?
four minus four is two can you (formal) help me?
Thomas challenged Mark with some arithmetical translations: Consider the following conversation:
sieben plus eins ist acht Mark: Entschuldigung, bitte. Können Sie mir helfen?
seven plus one is eight Thomas: Ja, natürlich.
zwei plus vier ist sechs
two plus four is six natürlich
naturally, of course
According to Thomas, the next translation is a bit schwerer (“more
difficult”).
neun minus fünf ist vier PLACES IN THE TOWN
nine minus five is four
As with all nouns, it’s best to learn the word with the definite article
so that you learn the gender of the word at the same time.
drei plus neun minus sieben ist fünf
three plus nine minus seven is five
der Bahnhof
the station
Two additional phrases which came up in the Review section were:
der Strand
ich glaube nicht
the beach
I don’t think so
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der Supermarkt Putting all the words and phrases we’ve learned so far together, we
the supermarket could say:
die Bank Entschuldigung, bitte. Können Sie mir helfen? Wo
the bank ist das Stadtzentrum?
Excuse me, please. Can you help me? Where is the town centre?
die Apotheke
the pharmacy, chemist We will cover a range of possible answers to this question in future
lessons including complex directions like “take the third street on the
das Hotel left and go across the square”. However, for the time being, let’s
the hotel imagine that we have a map and we are asking where something is on
the map. Use this phrase:
das Stadtzentrum
the town centre
können Sie mir das bitte auf der Karte zeigen?
can you please show me it on the map?
It is interesting to note that the verb zeigen (“to show”) is pushed
ASKING “WHERE IS...?” right to the end of this sentence. For an explanation of why this
happens, we’ll consult our Grammar Guru Kirsten.
To ask the question, “where is the hotel?” you can use the phrase:
wo ist ... ?
where is ... ? GRAMMAR GURU
So, for example we can ask:
OK, it’s time for our next lesson on word
order. Do you remember we talked about the
wo ist das Hotel?
verb coming in second position in a
where is the hotel?
simple sentence? For example, at the start of
the lesson we had heute lernen wir etwas
wo ist die Bank? üuber die Stadt. There we had lernen
where is the bank? coming after the adverb heute, and
swapping places with the subject wir so that
wo ist das Stadtzentrum? it could come in second position. This really does sound a lot more
where is the town centre? complicated than it actually is, so don’t worry about it! As I
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explained previously, you’ll begin to recognise these patterns as sentence, the fact that we have the modal verb können means
you work through the course and get more exposure to the that the main verb zeigen is pushed right to the end.
German language and its strange word order! Of course, Germans This will make more sense as you see more examples of it in future
think that English speakers have strange word order too! lessons. Hopefully this little insight into the seemingly mysterious
Over the last two episodes we’ve come across a few examples wordl of German word order!
where the word order is a bit different:
Kann ich Ihnen helfen?
Können Sie mir helfen?
UNDERSTANDING POSSIBLE ANSWERS
Können Sie mir das bitte
auf der Karte zeigen? If you ask someone Können Sie mir das bitte auf der Karte
You’ll notice that these examples start with a verb. That’s because
zeigen? then you may hear responses similar to the following:
they’re questions and they are formed the same way as in English,
so we start with the simple statement Sie sind hier. Der Bahnhof ist dort.
Sie können mir helfen.
You are here. The station is there.
(“You can help me.”)
and then swap the subject pronoun Sie with the verb können:
Die Strand is hier, aber die Bank ist dort.
The beach is here, but the bank is there.
Können Sie mir helfen?
(“Can you help me?”) Das Hotel ist hier, aber der Bahnhof ist dort.
You’ll also notice, however, that können isn’t the only verb in this The hotel is here, but the station is there.
sentence: we also have helfen, meaning “to help”. It comes at the
end of the sentence. That’s because können is what we call a
modal verb and it sends the main verb - helfen - to the end of the
sentence. This happens both with questions and with statements: CULTURAL CORRESPONDENT
Kann ich Ihnen helfen?
In this lesson’s Cultural Correspondent
(“Can I help you?”) feature, Julia takes us on a tour of Germany
Ich kann Ihnen helfen. and introduces us to four of the biggest cities
(“I can help you.”) in Germany.
The main verb is always pushed to the end by the modal verb.
Hi Mark, hallo Thomas und hallo an alle
Think back to the tricky sentence, können Sie mir das bitte auf unsere Coffee Break German Zuhörer. Hier
der Karte zeigen? Literally this means “can you me that please bin ich wieder, Julia, your Cultural
on the map show?” Despite all the words in the middle of this Correspondent.
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In this report - and in lesson 8 - I’m going to take you on a journey carnival time every year in February. Köln is also a centre for
through some of the highlights of the German-speaking world. many TV productions.
Each place is famous for different things. Let’s start in the north
In the very middle of our country there is Frankfurt, known
and work our way south.
especially as Germany’s financial centre. Parts of the city centre
may remind you of a small version of downtown New York. The
river Main passes through the city, and because of this the city
even has the nickname Mainhattan. Frankfurt is also the place
where Germany’s national poet, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, was
born.
In the south of Germany lies the town that Thomas has already
mentioned: München (Munich), the capital of the region called
Bavaria, or Bayern in German. Many of the things which are
Hamburg
typically thought of as German come from this area, and are
perhaps less likely to be found elsewhere, such as Lederhosen
Köln (“leather trousers”) and that typical folk music featuring
accordions and tubas, much like the Coffee Break German theme
Frankfurt tune! München’s Oktoberfest is known worldwide and attracts
visitors from many different countries who enjoy discovering the
München
city and mixing with the locals in the many Biergärten (“beer
gardens”) the town has to offer.
Of course, it doesn’t stop here: there are so many beautiful areas
of Germany which are worth mentioning, but we may come back
to these at a later date. Next time we’ll have a look at interesting
cities in Switzerland and Austria.
Germany’s second largest city, Hamburg, is famous for having
Germany’s biggest seaport, although the city is not directly on the
North Sea. Hamburg is famous for where the Beatles started their hier bin ich wieder
career, and next to Berlin it can be seen as the musical centre of here I am again
Germany, a place where many new bands come from.
Further south in the west we come to Cologne, or as we call it,
Köln. As you’ve already learned, Köln is a town famous for its
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COMING UP NEXT TIME CORE VOCABULARY
schwer
In the final section of the lesson we learned one additional phrase:
difficult, heavy
vielen Dank
schwerer
thank you very much, many thanks
more difficult, more heavy
In lesson eight we will be looking further at the town and dealing
with directions and locations. ich glaube
I think (so)
DAS REICHT FÜR HEUTE ich glaube nicht
I don’t think so
Ready for more? Turn the page to continue with the
natürlich
bonus materials for this lesson. naturally, of course
wo ist ... ?
where is ... ?
der Bahnhof
the station
der Strand
the beach
der Supermarkt
the supermarket
die Bank
the bank
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die Apotheke das Rathaus
the pharmacy, chemist the town hall
das Hotel das Einkaufszentrum
the hotel the shopping centre
das Stadtzentrum das Internet Café
the town centre the internet café
können Sie mir helfen?
can you help me?
können Sie mir das bitte auf der Karte zeigen?
can you show me it on the map please?
Sie sind hier
you are here
der Bahnhof ist dort
the station is there
vielen Dank
thank you very much, many thanks
BONUS VOCABULARY
die Fußgängerzone
the pedestrian area
der Flughafen
the airport
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