8.1 Dialogue
Read and listen to the following dialogue between two students: Franz and Greta. You
don't have to understand anything! You should rather try to find out how each word is
pronounced.
Franz Hallo, ich bin Franz. Wie heißt du?
Greta Hallo, Franz. Ich heiße Greta. Wie geht's?
Franz Es geht mir gut. Kennst du den Lehrer?
Greta Ja, er heißt Herr Weiß.
Franz Oh, danke, Greta. Bis dann!
Greta Wiedersehen!
German/Exercise
Listen carefully! The German pronunciation of many letters is similar to the English pronunciation, but there are also many differences. Try to answer the following question by
listening carefully. Write your answers on a piece of paper or in a text file before you check
them.
1. How is the "a" in "Hallo", "Franz", "Greta", "ja", "danke", and "dann" pronounced?
2. How is the "i" in "ich" and "bis" pronounced?
3. How is the "ch" in "ich" pronounced?
4. How is the "z" in "Franz" pronounced?
5. How is the "w" in "wie", "Weiß" and "wiedersehen" pronounced?
6. How is the "ie" in "wie" and "Wiedersehen" pronounced?
7. How is the "ei" in "heißt", "heiße" and "Weiß" pronounced?
8. How is the "ß" in "heißt", "heiße" and "Weiß" pronounced?
9. How is the "e" in "es", "kennst", "er" and "Herr" pronounced?
10. How is the first "e" in "gehen", "Greta", and "geht" pronounced?
1. Similar to the "a" in "hard".
2. Similar to the "i" in "hit".
3. Similar to, but not entirely like, the "ch" in the Scottish word "Loch". The sound
does not exist in English.
4. "z" is pronounced like "ts".
5. Similar to the "v" in "vat".
6. Similar to the "ee" in "meet".
7. "ei" is pronounced like "ai" in German or like the "i" in the English word "time".
8. "ß" is pronounced like "s".
9. Similar to "e" in "pet".
10. This is a long German "e"; the sound doesn't exist in English. It is between the "i"
in "hit" and the "e" in "pet".
Now try to understand the dialogue with the help of the following list of vocabulary. (A
complete translation is given in the answers to the next problems.
English /German
Hello! -Hallo!
I -ich
I am... -Ich bin ...
how- wie
you- du
Your name is... -Du heißt ...
What is your name? -Wie heißt du?
My name is... -Ich heiße ...
it -es
it goes -es geht
How is it going? -Wie geht's?(Longer: Wie geht es?)
me -mir
good -gut
I'm good. -Es geht mir gut. (Shorter: Mir geht's gut. Even shorter:
Gut.)
you know -du kennst
Do you know...? -Kennst du ...?
teacher -Lehrer
yes- ja
he -er
His name is... -Er heißt ...
Mr. -Herr
oh -oh
thanks -danke
until- bis
then -dann
See you! -Bis dann!
on -auf
again -wieder
(to)
see -sehen
Goodbye! -(Auf) Wiedersehen!
German/Exercise
Working with the dialogue
1. Translate the dialogue to English with the help of the list of vocabulary. Write your
translation on a piece of paper before you check it.
2. Listen to the recording without reading and try to understand the meaning of the
words. If you cannot remember some words, look them up and start again.
3. Read the dialogue aloud. Compare your pronunciation with the pronunciation of the
recording.
4. Listen to the recording without reading and write down the dialogue in German.
Pause the playback after each sentence to write down what you have heard. Repeat
this exercise until you know the spelling of the German words.
1. Translation to English:
Franz: Hello, I am Franz. What is your name?
Greta: Hello, Franz. My name is Greta. How is it going?
Franz: I'm good. Do you know the teacher?
Greta: Yes, his name is Mr. Weiß.
Franz: Oh, thanks, Greta. See you!
Greta: Goodbye!
2. ----
3. —
4. See the dialogue.
8.2 Hellos and Goodbyes
There are many ways of saying hello and goodbye in German; some of them are:
English German
Hello!
Hallo!*
Servus! (used in southern Germany and eastern Austria, informal)
Moin! (used in northern Germany)
Good morning!
Moin Moin! (used in northern Germany)
Guten Morgen!*
Morgen! (shorter)
Good day! Guten Tag!*
Tag! (used in Germany, shorter)
Good evening! Guten Abend!*
Hello! Grüß Gott! (used in southern Germany, Austria and South Tyrol)
Goodbye! Auf Wiedersehen!*
Wiedersehen! (shorter)
Bye!
Tschüss!*
Ciao! (pronounced as in Italian)
Servus! (used in southern Germany and eastern Austria, informal)
See you later! Bis später!*
See you! Bis dann!*
Bis bald!*
See you soon! Bis gleich!
Good night! Gute Nacht!*
*You will need to know each expression with an asterisk (*) after it. The others, of course,
would be useful to know if you are traveling to regions where they are used. (As you can
see, the different German-speaking regions often have their own ways of saying hello and
goodbye. However, you will not be required to know any of these less common phrases for
any problems or tests.)
The more formal phrases are guten Morgen, guten Tag, and auf Wiedersehen. The less
formal ones are tschüss, Tag, servus, and ciao. The others are somewhat neutral on the
formal-informal scale.
German/Exercise
Hellos and goodbyes How would you say hello and goodbye in these situations:
1. You meet a friend in the morning.
2. You meet a teacher in the classroom in the afternoon.
3. You meet a classmate in the evening.
4. You talk to a shop assistant in the morning.
Avoiding local variants, these are some options:
1. Hello: Hallo!/(Guten) Morgen!/(Guten) Tag! Goodbye: Tschüss!/Bis später!/Bis
dann!/Bis bald!
2. Hello: Guten Tag! Goodbye: Auf Wiedersehen.
3. Hello: Hallo!/Guten Abend! Goodbye: Tschüss!/Bis dann!/Bis bald!
4. Hello: Guten Morgen!/Guten Tag! Goodbye: (Auf) Wiedersehen!
8.3 Mr. and Mrs.
In German, Herr and Frau are used instead of Mr. and Mrs. before a last name; e.g., Mr.
Schwarz – Herr Schwarz.
English German
Mr. Herr
Mrs. Frau
Frau is used for married and unmarried women. Some people still use Miss – Fräulein
in spoken German but it is no longer used in written German since it is considered an
inappropriate discrimination of unmarried women. Literally, der Herr means the gentleman and die Frau means the woman. If you use these
words without a last name after them, you have to use an article before them; e.g., der Herr
or die Frau. This is actually just like in English.
For example:
• The woman's name is Mrs. Weiß – Die Frau heißt Frau Weiß.
Note also that the German translation of the man is der Mann and the lady should be
translated to die Dame.
Thus, without last names you would rather use these pairs:
• man and woman – Mann und Frau
• men and women – Männer und Frauen
• lady and gentleman – Dame und Herr
• ladies and gentlemen – Damen und Herren
German/Exercise
Mr. & Mrs.
Translate the following words and phrases to German:
1. Mr. Schwarz
2. the man
3.
The man's name is Mr. Schwarz.
4. the woman
5. The woman's name is Mrs. Schwarz.
6. ladies and gentlemen
1.Herr Schwarz
2. der Mann
3. Der Mann heißt Herr Schwarz.
4. die Frau
5. Die Frau heißt Frau Schwarz.
6. Damen und Herren
8.4 Replies to Wie geht's?
There are many ways to reply to the question Wie geht's? Here are some of them:
English German
How are you? Wie geht's? (longer: Wie geht es dir?)*
great prima
good gut
very good sehr gut
miserable miserabel
bad schlecht
not (so) good nicht (so) gut
O.K. ganz gut
all right Es geht so. (Or shorter: Geht so.)
*The more formal form is Wie geht es Ihnen?
After replying to the question, you could continue with:
• And how are you? — Und wie geht es dir? (formal: Und wie geht es Ihnen?)
Or shorter:
• And you? — Und dir? (or: Und selbst?; or formal: Und Ihnen?)
German/Exercise
Wie geht's?
Fill in the blanks:
1. _______ geht's?
2. Prima. _______ dir?
3. Es _______ so.
4. Wie geht _______ Ihnen?
5. Sehr _______. _______ selbst?
6. Ganz _______, danke.
1. Wie geht's?
2. Prima. Und dir?
3. Es geht so.
4. Wie geht es Ihnen?
5. Sehr gut. Und selbst?
6. Ganz gut, danke.
8.5 Test
The test consists of three parts: pronunciation, vocabulary, and translation. As always, you
should write down your answers before you check them. (Writing the German words is in
28
Test
fact a great way to practice the spelling of German words.) The vocabulary and translation
problems are all from English to German because this is what you have to learn if you
want to communicate in German. Once you are able to translate an English word to the
corresponding German word, it won't be any problem to translate the German word back
to English.
German/Exercise
Pronunciation
1. How do you pronounce "Ich heiße ..."?
2. How do you pronounce "Franz"?
3. How do you pronounce "Wiedersehen"?
1. "i" as in "hit", "ch" as in "Loch", "h" as in "hotel", "ei" as the "i" in "times", "ß"
is pronounced just like a "s", last "e" as in "pet"
2. "f", "r", "n" similar to the English pronunciation of these letters, "a" as in "hard",
"z" like "ts".
3. "w" as the "v" in "vat", "ie" as the "ee" in "meet", "eh" is the long German "e"
(between "i" in "hit" and a "e" in "pet"), the other letters are pronounced similarly
in English.
German/Exercise
Vocabulary
Translate from English to German:
1. Mr.
2. Good evening!
3. how
4. Good morning!
5. teacher
6. (the) man
7. Good night!
8. you
9. (the) woman
10. Bye!
11. How are you?
12. thanks
13. bad
14. Good day!
15. I
16. Goodbye!
17. he
18. See you later!
19. Hello!
20. very good
21. Mrs.
22. yes
23. not (so) good
1. Herr
2. Guten Abend!
3. wie
4. Guten Morgen!
5. Lehrer
6. (der) Mann
7. Gute Nacht!
8. du
9. (die) Frau
10. Tschüss!
11. Wie geht's?
12. danke
13. schlecht
14. Guten Tag!
15. ich
16. Auf Wiedersehen!
17. er
18. Bis später!
19. Hallo!
20. sehr gut
21. (die) Frau
22. ja
23. nicht (so) gut
German/Exercise Translation
Translate from English to German:
1. Hello! I'm Susanne. What's your name?
2. Good morning, Susanne. My name is Andreas.
3. Good day, Andreas. How are you?
4. Very good. Thanks, Susanne. And you? How are you?
5. Great, thanks. See you later, Andreas!
6. Goodbye!
1. Hallo! Ich bin Susanne. Wie heißt du?
2. Guten Morgen, Susanne. Ich heiße Andreas.
3. Guten Tag, Andreas. Wie geht's?
4. Sehr gut. Danke, Susanne. Und dir? Wie geht's dir?
5. Prima, danke. Bis später, Andreas!
6. Wiedersehen
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