LESSON NOTES WIE VIEL KOSTET DAS? In this episode of Coffee Break German we’ll start by learning the numbers from zero to ten and then learn to deal with transactional situations involving paying for things in cafés and shops.
INTRODUCTION Mark asked the following question in the introduction: Mark:
Also, Thomas, was lernen wir heute?
Thomas: Wir lernen die Zahlen.
die Zahlen the numbers
Coffee Break German
Note the word order in the following sentence:
heute lernen wir die Zahlen
Lesson 06
today we’re learning the numbers
Study Notes
Since this sentence starts with the word heute, the verb and the subject pronoun need to change places.
REVIEW In the review section for this lesson, Thomas challenged Mark to translate some sentences from German into English: Coffee Break German: Lesson 06 - Notes
page 1 of 14
Coffee Break German: Lesson 06 - Notes
page 2 of 14
meine Mutter heißt Susanne
wie heißt dein Bruder?
my mother is called Susanne
what is your brother called? So, just as mein Bruder changed to meine Schwester, so does mein Bruder change to dein Bruder.
mein Vater heißt Stefan my father is called Stefan
This was put into practice with a conversation:
meine Schwester heißt Anna my sister is called Anna
Mark:
If you wish to ask the question, “what is your sister called?” then you can change meine Schwester to deine Schwester:
Thomas, wie heißt deine Schwester?
Thomas: Meine Schwester heißt Sylvia. Mark:
Und wie heißt dein Vater?
Thomas: Mein Vater heißt Stefan.
deine Schwester
Mark:
your sister
Und wie heißt deine Mutter?
Thomas: Meine Mutter heißt Inge. Mark:
deine Schwester heißt Anna
Und wie heißt dein Bruder?
Thomas: Mein Bruder heißt Johannes. Und Mark, wie heißt deine Tochter?
your sister is called Anna
Mark:
Meine Tochter heißt Katherine.
wie heißt deine Schwester? what is your sister called? / what is your sister’s name? This pattern of M > D for “me” to “you” (informal) is repeated with a number of words:
COUNTING FROM 0-10 The words for each number from zero to ten are listed below:
mich > dich
null
mir > dir
zero
meine > deine
eins
Take care, however, with meine > deine as this needs to change depending on the gender of the noun:
one
zwei two Coffee Break German: Lesson 06 - Notes
page 3 of 14
Coffee Break German: Lesson 06 - Notes
page 4 of 14
drei three
PAYING FOR THINGS
vier
To ask how much something costs, you use the following phrase:
four
wie viel kostet das?
fünf
how much does that cost?
five
To answer this question, use the following construction:
sechs six
das kostet fünf Euro that costs five Euros
sieben seven
You may also hear:
acht
es kostet fünf Euro
eight
it costs five Euros
neun
If you don’t understand a complex price like es kostet zweihundertneununddreißig Euro then you can ask the following question:
nine
zehn ten
können Sie das bitte aufschreiben?
We will look at larger numbers in future lessons, but learning these numbers will allow you to “spell out” larger numbers for the time being: for example if a shopkeeper were to say to you:
das kostet zweihundertneununddreißig Euro
can you write it down please? If you want to ask for the bill in a café or restaurant, you can ask for die Rechnung:
die Rechnung, bite
that costs two hundred and thirty nine Euros
the bill, please
then you would be able to understand this number if it were given as zwei - drei - neun. Coffee Break German: Lesson 06 - Notes
page 5 of 14
Coffee Break German: Lesson 06 - Notes
page 6 of 14
können Sie mir die Rechnung bringen?
entschuldigung
can you please bring me the bill?
excuse me
Read and listen to the following conversation which uses a variety of shopping vocabulary, including these phrases:
GRAMMAR GURU
kann ich Ihnen helfen? can I help you?
Hallo, and welcome once again to my Grammar Guru segment. As ever, it’s my job to help simplify things for you, when it comes to German grammar.
ich schaue nur, danke I’m just looking, thanks Mark:
Today’s segment is not so much about what we’ve been looking at in the main lesson; instead I’m going to mention something that will come in useful in future lessons - and it’s worth getting a head start on this.
Hallo, guten Tag.
Thomas: Grüß Gott. Kann ich Ihnen helfen? Mark:
Ich schaue nur, danke.
Thomas: OK. Mark:
So far we’ve looked at nouns and adjectives, but we’ve not really spoken about verbs. Now, what is a verb? Some people describe verbs as “doing words”. You can think of it in this way if you like. A verb is the action or state in a sentence, so if we think about following sentence,
Wie viel kostet das?
Thomas: Das kostet einhundertvierundzwanzig Euro. Mark:
Können Sie das bitte aufschreiben?
Thomas: Natürlich. Eins - zwei - vier (124). Mark:
Eins - zwei - vier. Danke.
“the cat ran along the roof”
Thomas: Gern geschehen. Mark:
then “ran” is the action - the verb. In the sentence,
Auf Wiedersehen.
“the cat sat on the mat”,
Thomas: Tschüss.
“sat’ is the verb.
Note the expression gern geschehen or gerne which means something along the lines of “you’re welcome”.
Verbs sometimes change form, depending on who is doing the action, or when the action is being done. Think of “the cat sits...”; “the cat is sitting”; “the cat will be sitting”. In each case we’re talking about sitting in some way or another.
Another phrase which may come in useful in a shopping scenario is where you’re trying to capture the attention of the shop assistant or waiter / waitress:
Equally, “the car ran”, “the cat is running”, and “the cat will run” are all referring to running in some way. Just as verbs change form in English, they also change form in German.
Coffee Break German: Lesson 06 - Notes
page 7 of 14
Coffee Break German: Lesson 06 - Notes
page 8 of 14
The starting point for all of this is the form you’d find in the dictionary. If you look up “ran” or “running” in the dictionary, you’d be probably directed to “run”. This dictionary form has a special name: it’s called the infinitive. In German, most infinitives end in -en, so when you look up a verb in the dictionary, you’ll find the infinitive form ending in -en, for example, “to run” laufen, and “to sit” will be sitzen. The infinitive form is often translated as “to do something”, so laufen, “to run” and sitzen, “to sit”. That’s really all I wanted to share with you today. This will come in useful in future lessons as we develop our understanding of verbs further.
CULTURAL CORRESPONDENT In this lesson’s Cultural Correspondent feature, Julia talks about the city where she lives: Berlin. Hallo Mark, hallo Thomas, und guten Tag an alle unsere Coffee Break German Zuhörer! Ich bin’s, Julia, your Cultural Correspondent, and today I’m going to take you on a trip. In fact, I’ll take you to my home town, Berlin, and I’ll tell you what you really shouldn’t miss while visiting this amazing town.
Only a few parts of the original wall still exist. Very popular among tourists is the so-called East Side Gallery, the longest and most permanent open-air gallery world wide. It shows paintings by international artists commenting on the political changes around 1990. When you walk through Berlin today you may come across a double line of cobblestones running through the streets. This line indicates the original route of the wall to the people nowadays. I still find it very moving that I’m easily able to pass this line on my walks through town. Life was not that simple for my parents’ generation. In this episode I’ve focused on only one aspect of Berlin and there’s lots more to see and do. However this aspect of our recent history is so important for Berliners, as well as for visitors, I think it’s important not to miss it out. I’ll tell you more about Berlin another time! Tschüss und bis zum nächsten Mal.
Berlin is a city of contrasts: it can be very old, and young; it can be beautiful, and ugly; very modern and also very historical; and it can also be very rich and poor; and very traditional, as well as very international and multicultural. All these contrasts make it a kind of magnet for people from all over the world who enjoy living. and working, or just spending their holidays here.
Coffee Break German: Lesson 06 - Notes
The appearance of the city has been very much affected by its recent history. Berlin was divided into West and East Berlin by a wall for more than 28 years. This Berliner Mauer, the Berlin Wall, actually consisted of two different walls which were 155km long, and the space between them about 70m wide. As a result, when the wall came down in 1989, there suddenly was a lot of free space in the middle of Berlin. Nowadays this space has been filled with several buildings and parks. One of the parks is called Mauerpark, “Wall Park”, where you will find a famous flea market every weekend as well as concerts during the summertime.
page 9 of 14
COMING UP NEXT TIME In the final section of the lesson Mark asked the question:
Coffee Break German: Lesson 06 - Notes
page 10 of 14
CORE VOCABULARY
was lernen wir nächstes Mal? what are we going to be learning about...
die Zahlen
Thomas answered by explaining,
the numbers
nächstes Mal lernen wir etwas über die Stadt
null
next time we’re learning about the town
zero
Note the inversion of the subject pronoun wir and the verb lernen. You can compare this to heute lernen wir ..., “today we’re learning...”
eins one
zwei two
DAS REICHT FÜR HEUTE
drei three
Ready for more? Turn the page to continue with the bonus materials for this lesson.
vier four
fünf five
sechs six
sieben seven
acht eight
Coffee Break German: Lesson 06 - Notes
page 11 of 14
Coffee Break German: Lesson 06 - Notes
page 12 of 14
neun nine
BONUS VOCABULARY
zehn
es kostet zehn Franken
ten
it costs ten (Swiss) francs
wie viel kostet das? es kostet fünf Dollar
how much does that cost?
it costs five dollars
das kostet fünf Euro es kostet acht Pfund
that costs five Euros
it costs eight pounds
es kostet fünf Euro das trinkgeld
it costs five Euros
tip
können Sie das bitte aufschreiben? kann ich mit Karte zahlen?
can you write it down please?
can I pay by card?
die Rechnung, bitte die Kreditkarte
the bill, please
credit card
können Sie mir die Rechnung bringen? der Bankomat /der Geldautomat
can you bring me the bill?
ATM, cash machine
kann ich Ihnen helfen? can I help you?
ich schaue nur, danke I’m just looking, thanks
entschuldigung excuse me
Coffee Break German: Lesson 06 - Notes
page 13 of 14
Coffee Break German: Lesson 06 - Notes
page 14 of 14
