In our previous letter we have covered one important topic that will help us now create short (or not so short) sentences. We have learnt how to use Present Tense.

I suggest we will get a few steps back and will first try to remember how we would introduce ourselves.

Revision

Based on this table we can now prepare short introduction dialogs.

Example:

Speaker 1: Hallo, ich bin Anna. Und wie heißt du?

Speaker 2: Ich heiße Alexander.

Speaker 1: Wie geht es dir?

Speaker 2: Danke, es geht. Und dir?

Speaker 1: Danke, gut.

Now, I believe you are capable of translating this small dialog into English but I would like to give you some assistance so that you would know for sure if you did it right.

Translation:

Speaker 1: Hi, I am Anna. And what is your name?

Speaker 2: My name is Alexander.

Speaker 1: How are you??

Speaker 2: Fine, thanks. And you?

Speaker 1: Great, thanks!

Using the template prepare 2 dialogs, one formal and one informal. Write them down and read them aloud. Once done you can proceed to the next part of our lesson.

Where are you from?

‘Where are you from?’ is a common question in all new interactions.

In German it is

Formal:

‘Woher kommen Sie? (or Wo kommen Sie her?’)

Informal:

‘Woher kommst du? (or Wo kommst du her?’)

If you remember our previous lesson you will be able to give an answer to this question:

Ich komme aus =  I am from…

Ich komme aus den USA.

Ich komme aus Spanien.

Ich komme aus Russland.

Let’s now ask where is someone else from?

Woher kommt Anna?

Woher kommt Peter?

The response would be:

Anna kommt aus (Berlin, Italy, Madrid, etc).

Peter kommt aus (fill in the blanks).

Now I believe we are quite ready for our first small text. Please read the texts below and translate them into English. Use the suggested vocabulary if necessary.

Text 1.

Das ist Monika Schulz. Sie kommt aus Berlin. Aber jetzt lebt sie in Dortmund. Sie ist verheiratet und hat zwei Kinder. Frau Schulz ist 32 Jahre alt. Sie ist Lehrerin von Beruf. Aber zur Zeit ist sie Hausfrau. Monika hat zwei Hobbys: Lesen und Malen.

Vocabulary:

Leben – to live

… Jahre alt sein – to be … years old

Verheiratet – married

Kinder – children

die Lehrerin – teacher

der Beruf – profession

Zur Zeit – at the moment

die Hausfrau – housewife

Lesen – to read

Malen – to paint

Translation:

This is Monika Schulz. She is from Berlin. Bit now she lives in Dortmund. She is married and has 2 children. Missis Schulz is 32 years old. She is a teacher by profession. But at the moment she is a housewife. Monika hast wo hobbies: reading and painting.

Text 2

Marie Klein ist Ärztin in Leipzig. Sie ist 28 Jahre alt. Sie ist ledig und hat ein Kind. Marie spielt seht gut Klavier. Das ist ihr Hobby.

Vocabulary:

die Ärztin – doctor

ledig – single, not married

Klavier spielen – to play the piano

Translation:

Marie Klein is a doctor in Leipzig. She is 28 years old. She is single and has a child. Marie plays the piano very well. This is her hobby.

You can see that preparing short texts in German is not that complicated. Let’s try one more time. But now you will be the one creating the text. Please fill in the blanks.

 

Klaus Mueller Berlin 35, ledig Programmierer Tennis spielen

Das… Er… … … Sein Hobby

And finally, let’s play a bit. Some oft he words have been lost in a labyrynth. Search them and build up a text.

 

 

Start with ‘Das ist Monika.’

 

And finally, the most important task of all, create a short text about yourself. Use words and phrases you learned in today’s lesson.

 

In our next lessons we will dive into some more of German grammar so that we would have a chance to create even better texts!

Cliffette munson has availed herself of such academic writing services a resource.