Coffee Break German

Season 2, Lesson 1

Lesson notes

Introduction

Willkommen bei Coffee Break German - welcome to Coffee Break German! You can use

these lesson notes to help you as you listen to the audio lesson. The lesson notes also

include material linked to the Review episode.

In this episode we’ll be reviewing some key points from Season 1 and taking a closer

look at the formation of regular verbs.

K Lesson notes

In Season 1 of Coffee Break German we covered a huge amount of language and

before we get started on new material it will be useful to review this language. We’ll also

be taking a closer look at some of the points of grammar you need to keep in mind

while talking about yourself.

Saying where you’re from

You will remember that the easiest way to say “I come from “ in German is:

Ich komme aus…

I come from…

Coffee Break German, Season 2, Lesson 1 - Notes page 1 of 11

Andrea asks Mark where he is from:

Andrea: Woher kommst du?

Mark: Ich komme aus Schottland.

ich komme aus Schottland

I come from Scotland

Most countries use this format: ich komme aus [country], e.g. ich komme aus

Deutschland, ich komme aus Frankreich, ich komme aus Kanada.

In Andrea’s case, things are a bit different because she is from Switzerland. Andrea

reminds us that Switzerland is one of the countries which requires the definite article:

die Schweiz

Switzerland

As we have seen, when you say “I come from (a country)”, the preposition used, meaning

“from” in this context, is aus. You will remember that certain words involve a change in

case and aus is one of these words. As a result, the feminine definite article die becomes

der in the dative, so Andrea must say:

ich komme aus der Schweiz

I come from Switzerland.

The same applies to other feminine countries:

Coffee Break German, Season 2, Lesson 1 - Notes page 2 of 11

ich komme aus der Türkei

I come from Turkey

There are also some masculine countries, and a similar rule applies: the masculine

definite article der becomes dem in the dative:

ich komme aus dem Iran

I come from Iran

ich komme aus dem Sudan

I come from Sudan

With plural countries die becomes den in the dative:

ich komme aus den Vereinigten Staaten

I come from the USA

Talking about your job

To say “I am a teacher” Andrea says:

ich bin Lehrerin

I am a teacher

There are two important things to note here. In German, the word for “a” is not used

before the job. Secondly, this is the feminine form of the word for “teacher”, obviously

because Andrea is female. The masculine form is Lehrer. Many jobs have masculine and

feminine forms in German.

Saying where you live

To say where you live in German is quite straightforward:

Coffee Break German, Season 2, Lesson 1 - Notes page 3 of 11

ich wohne in Schottland, genauer gesagt, in der Stadt Glasgow

I live in Scotland, more precisely, in Glasgow

One of the key points of Coffee Break German Season 2 is to help you increase your

range of expression and this is exactly where phrases like genauer gesagt come in.

Using such phrases will help you to sound more German!

genauer gesagt

more specifically (lit. “more accurately said”)

Talking about your nationality

When talking about nationality there are often masculine and feminine forms:

ich bin Schotte/Schottin

I am Scottish

Literally, this would translate as “ am a Scots man” or “I am a Scots woman”. Note that

schottisch would only be used to describe products coming from Scotland, not people.

Let’s look at some further examples:

ich bin Schweizerin

I am Swiss (this literally means “I am a Swiss woman”)

ich bin Schweizer

I am Swiss (I am a Swiss man)

ich bin Amerikaner/Amerikanerin

I am American

ich bin Österreicher/Österreicherin

I am Austrian

ich bin Spanier/Spanierin

I am Spanish

Coffee Break German, Season 2, Lesson 1 - Notes page 4 of 11

ich bin Engländer/Engländerin

I am English

ich bin Ire/Irin

I am Irish

ich bin Waliser/Waliserin

I am Welsh

ich bin Kanadier/Kanadierin

I am Canadian

ich bin Deutscher/Deutsche

I am German

Note the difference here for the female form of “I am German”. It ends in -e rather than

-in.

w Kulturbeitrag: transcript

Hi Mark, hallo Andrea - wie schön dich kennenzulernen, und willkommen zurück meine

lieben Zuhörer! I’m so pleased to be back with you for another season of Coffee Break

German and, as you know, ich bin eure Kulturreporterin. It’s my job to bring you some

insights into the cultural aspects of German-speaking areas - all those little things that

make us Germans, Austrians and Swiss so loveable!

Last season we learned about so many things! Can you remember any of them? There

was the famous Ampelmann, we talked about that typical Germanic trait of

Pünktlichkeit, I introduced some towns and cities across the German-speaking world,

and we spoke about different times of year and festivities such as Karneval and

Einschulung. We covered everything from Kaffee und Kuchen to Kartoffelsalat, from

Strandkörbe to Schrebergärten, and from Tatort to Pfand!

Coffee Break German, Season 2, Lesson 1 - Notes page 5 of 11

And what about this season? Well, we’ll be continuing to look at different places to visit

if you’re considering a trip to Germany, Austria or Switzerland. I’ll be telling you more

about our way of life including traditions such as how we celebrate weddings and

birthdays, and we’ll also be taking a closer look at other areas of culture. Aber, ich muss

euch etwas Wichtiges sagen - dieses Mal werde ich ein bisschen mehr Deutsch

sprechen! I’ll be speaking a bit more German this time round, just so you know! Aber,

keine Sorge - das wird nicht so schwer - I’ll help you out along the way. Also, jetzt

erstmal zurück zu Andrea und Mark im Studio. Und wir sehen oder besser hören uns

bald!

Vocabulary

wie schön dich kennenzulernen

how nice to meet you

willkommen zurück meine lieben Zuhörer

welcome back my “beloved” listeners

ich muss euch etwas Wichtiges sagen

I must tell you something important

dieses Mal

this time

keine Sorge

no worries

das wird nicht so schwer

it won’t be too difficult

wir sehen oder besser hören uns bald

we’ll see each other - or rather hear each other - soon

Coffee Break German, Season 2, Lesson 1 - Notes page 6 of 11

Nationalities and languages

It is important to remember there are different words in German for describing

someone’s nationality and the language they speak:

Julia ist Deutsche, aber sie spricht Deutsch.

Julia is German, but she speaks German.

It doesn’t matter if the word looks and sounds the same in English. In German the words

are different. Let’s look at some further examples:

Carlos ist Spanier, aber er spricht Spanisch.

Carlos is Spanish, but he speaks Spanish.

Pierre-Benoît ist Franzose

Pierre-Benoît is French

sie ist Französin

she is French

In this example, note the irregular formation of the female form of “French”. An umlaut is

added over the -ö, Französin. This is, in turn, different from the word for the language,

which is Französisch.

Mark and Andrea put these nationalities and languages into practice:

Mark: Pierre-Benoît ist Franzose, aber er spricht Französisch.

Andrea: Francesca von Coffee Break Italien ist Italienerin.

Mark: Und sie spricht Italienisch.

Andrea: Genau!

Coffee Break German, Season 2, Lesson 1 - Notes page 7 of 11

Note that no umlauts are used in the words for “Italian” when referring to nationality,

Italienerin, nor the language, Italienisch, unlike the word for “French”.

Translation sentences

Andrea tests Mark’s understanding so far with some translation sentences:

Thomas ist Österreicher und seine Frau ist Amerikanerin

Thomas is Austrian and his wife is American

Ben ist Amerikaner. Er spricht Englisch, Spanisch und er lernt Französisch.

Ben is American. He speaks English, Spanish and is learning French.

Conjugating verbs

Verbs are a key function of any language, and some say they’re the “skeleton” which

holds the language together. Learning verbs does not have to be difficult because the

vast majority of verbs follow regular patterns, and those which are irregular normally

have “regular irregularities”!

When verbs are discussed we’ll display them as you see in the tables below. The first

table shows the different personal pronouns used with each part of a verb.

Coffee Break German, Season 2, Lesson 1 - Notes page 8 of 11

 pronouns used with verbs

ich = I = 1st person singular wir = we = 1st person plural

du = you = 2nd person singular ihr = you = 2nd person plural

er/sie = he/she = 3rd person singular sie/Sie = they/you = 3rd person plural/
2nd person formal

lernen: to learn (present tense)

ich lerne wir lernen

du lernst ihr lernt

er/sie lernt sie/Sie lernen

sprechen: to speak (present tense)

ich spreche wir sprechen

du sprichst ihr sprecht

er/sie spricht sie/Sie sprechen

Coffee Break German, Season 2, Lesson 1 - Notes page 9 of 11

V Bonus episode: translations

1. Meine Mutter ist Schweizerin, aber mein Vater ist Deutscher.

2. Selina ist Peruanerin. Ihr Mann ist Engländer. Sie spricht Spanisch und Englisch.

3. Ist Ihre Frau Iren oder Schottin? Sie ist Waliserin, aber Ihre Großeltern sind Italiener,
deshalb spricht sie drei Sprachen.

4. Andrea speaks German fluently, but she is not German. She is Swiss.

5. French is very beautiful. François is French and he speaks French.

6. I don’t speak Welsh, but my brother lives in Wales. He is not Welsh, but he speak
Welsh fluently.

Answers can be found on the next page.

Coffee Break German, Season 2, Lesson 1 - Notes page 10 of 11

Answers
1. My mother is Swiss, but my father is German.

2. Selina is Peruvian. Her husband is English. She speaks Spanish and English.

3. Is your wife Irish of Scottish? She is Welsh, but her grandparents are Italian, therefore

she speaks three languages.

4. Andrea spricht fließend Deutsch, aber sie ist keine Deutsche. Sie ist Schweizerin.

5. Französisch ist sehr schön. François ist Franzose und er spricht Französisch.

6. Ich spreche kein Walisisch, aber mein Bruder wohnt in Wales. Er ist kein Waliser, aber

er spricht fließend Walisisch.

Gtu Join in!

Head over to http://coffeebreakgerman.com to find out how you can join in and practise

your Italian with the Coffee Break German learning community.

Coffee Break German™

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Coffee Break German, Season 2, Lesson 1 - Notes page 11 of 11