GermanPod101.

com
Learn German with FREE Podcasts

Absolute Beginner S1
Is Your Coffee as Strong as Your German Apologies?

1 Formal German
English
Vocabulary
Phrase Usage
2
2
2
3
Grammar Points 4
Cultural Insight 5
 GermanPod101.com
Learn German with FREE Podcasts

Formal German
(A spills his water onto the next passenger's lap)
A Oh! Entschuldigung! Entschuldigung, es tut mir wirklich leid.
D Es ist schon okay.
A Sind Sie sicher?
D Ja. Es ist okay.
A Sind Sie wirklich sicher?
D (grins) Ja. Es ist nur Wasser.
A Kein Problem?
D Nein, kein Problem.
A Ich bin Joe Cardigan, und Sie?
D Ich bin Anke Lwen.

English
(A spills his water onto the next passenger's lap)
A Oh! Excuse me! ... Excuse me, I'm really sorry.
D It's okay.
A Are you sure?
D Yes. It's okay.
A Are you really sure?
2 D (grins) Yes. It's just water.
A No problem?
D No, no problem.
A I'm Joe Cardigan, and you?
D I'm Anke Lwen.

Vocabulary
German English Notes
wirklich really adverb
sein to be verb
es it personal pronoun
schon already adverb
Sie you (formal) personal pronoun
sicher sure; safe, secure; surely adjective

LC: ABS_S1L1_010410 www.GermanPod101.com - All Rights Reserved 2010-01-11

 GermanPod101.com
Learn German with FREE Podcasts

ja yes, other
nur only adverb
Wasser water noun neuter
nein no expression Yes is "Ja"
ich I personal pronoun
und and conjunction

Vocabulary Sample Sentences

Diese Stadt ist wirklich gro. This city is really big.
Das war wirklich lecker. This was really yummy.
Ich bin Student. I am a student.
Es gibt viele Cafs hier. There are many cafs here.
Es ist schn, dass Sie da sind. Its nice that youre there.
Es ist frh am Morgen. It is early in the morning.
Es ist ein sonniger Morgen. It's a sunny morning.
Bist du schon mde? Are you tired already?
Sie sind Herr Smith You are Mr Smith.
Ich werde mir die Stadt ansehen. I will have a look at the town.
Bist du dir sicher? Are you sure?
Ich zhle auf dich, das weit du ja. I'm counting on you, you do know that.
Na schn, du hast ja recht. Fair enough, you're right. (In the sense of "I'm
giving in.")
3 Ja, das stimmt. Yes, that's right.
Ich esse nur Gemse. I only eat vegetables.
Und der Kahn soll uns wirklich heil ber das And this barge is really supposed to bring us
Wasser bringen? savely over the water?
Ein Glas Wasser ohne Kohlensure bitte! A glass of water without carbonation please!
Nein, ich bin nicht aus Kln. No, I am not from Cologne.
Ich bin Lisa. I am Lisa.
Thomas und Lisa. Thomas and Lisa.

Vocabulary Phrase Usage

Sie = you, formally. There is a notion of formality in German, just like in French, Spanish, Italian

LC: ABS_S1L1_010410 www.GermanPod101.com - All Rights Reserved 2010-01-11

 GermanPod101.com
Learn German with FREE Podcasts

and other languages. If you're addressing somebody by their family name, you should also call them
Sie and use the corresponding form of the verbs. If you're addressing somebody by their first name,
you will usually use another pronoun, du. The formal address is the default in German unless you're
talking to children or people who explicitly asked you to switch to an informal address. As a foreigner,
you'd do well to address everybody as Sie initially.

Grammar Points
The focus of this lesson is the verb "sein" (to be)
Ich bin Joe.
"I am Joe."

In this lesson we've seen three forms of the verb sein, to be. This verb is irregular in almost all
languages, and German is no exception. Here are the forms we've seen;

sein to be

ich bin I am

4 es ist it is

Sie sind you are (formally)

We've also seen that German word order corresponds to English so far. When you're asking a question,
the verb moves to the front of the sentence in German, just like in English.

Sind Sie Joe? = Are you Joe?

Sind Sie sicher? = Are you sure?

LC: ABS_S1L1_010410 www.GermanPod101.com - All Rights Reserved 2010-01-11

 GermanPod101.com
Learn German with FREE Podcasts

Cultural Insight
Apologizing and reacting

The most general word of apology in German is Entschuldigung. This literally means apology, and
it's used in most situations:

-
when you've accidentally done something bad

-
when you want somebody's attention

-
when you want people to make room

It is NOT used when somebody tells some sad news about themselves, because that is not something you
should apologize for unless you had any stake in it.

5 If you need something stronger than Entschuldigung, use Es tut mir leid (literally it does me
harm). And you can make it even stronger by adding an adverb before the leid.

Es tut mir wirklich leid. - I'm really sorry.

Es tut mir sehr leid. - I'm very sorry.

To accept an apology informally, say;

Es ist (schon) okay. - It's okay (now).

Kein Problem. - No problem.

LC: ABS_S1L1_010410 www.GermanPod101.com - All Rights Reserved 2010-01-11