Learn German A1: describe a city & pronunciation Lesson 8: The Language introduced in this course is centered around realistic everyday situations. While, the emphasis is first and foremost on using German, but we also aim to give you an idea of how the language works, so that you can create sentences your own.
German Introductions and Greetings Lesson 1
Fertig? Los! (Ready? Go!)
Table of Contents
Describe a City in German
We’re going to learn how to describe a city in German Language. Then we’ll read a message from Ali, who is visiting Berlin.
Es gibt…
There is / There are …
Es gibt viele Discos in Berlin. (There are many discos in Berlin.)
The German language is very open to integrating words from other languages. So, Here are some examples:
| die Bar (the bar) |
| das Café (the café) |
| die Disco (the disco) |
| der Job (the job) |
| das Restaurant (the restaurant) |
Es gibt viele Restaurants und Cafés. (There are many restaurants and cafés.)
“Kaffee” and “Café” are pronounced the same.
“Der Kaffee” is the drink (coffee). ?
“Das Café” is the place (café). ?
To form the plural of German words that are originally from other languages, we add an -s.
| Es gibt eine Disco in Berlin. (There is a disco in Berlin.) |
| Es gibt viele Discos in Berlin. (There are many discos in Berlin.) |
Es gibt viele Restaurants und Bars. (There are many restaurants and bars.)
Es gibt wenige Jobs. (There are few jobs.)
“Es gibt viele” means “there are many“. While, “Es gibt wenige” means “there are few“.
| Es gibt viele Bars in Berlin. (There are many bars in Berlin.) |
| Es gibt wenige Bars in Augsburg. (There are few bars in Augsburg.) |
Ali is from England and thinking of moving to Berlin. He’s on a trip to explore the city, and is texting his German friend Julia about his experiences.
Let’s read what he wrote!
Hallo Julia!
Wie geht’s dir? Mir geht’s super!
Ich bin in Berlin ? Berlin ist sehr cool! Es gibt viele Restaurants, Bars, Cafés und Discos.
Berlin ist sehr international! Aber es gibt hier wenige Jobs. ?
Bis bald und schönes Wochenende!
Ali
Learn German A1 W-Questions & Basic Conversations Lesson 6
Indefinite & Definite Articles
In German, there are two kinds of articles: Definite articles (der, die, das) and indefinite articles (ein, eine, ein). So, If you need recap, Just follow the Learn German A1 Lesson 3 about genders of nouns!
We’ll revise how to use the ones we know, and learn how to refer to more than one person or thing.
We use definite articles (der, die, das) when we refer to one specific individual or thing.
For Example, The woman is asking for the price of a specific hat, as follows:
Entschuldigung, wie viel kostet der Hut? (Excuse me, how much is the hat?)
“Der” refers to masculine words.
“Die” refers to feminine words.
“Das” refers to neuter words.
| Masculine: Der Hut kostet 14€. (The hat is €14.) |
| Feminine: Die Uhr kostet 6€. (The watch is €6.) |
| Neuter: Das Handy kostet 220€. (The phone is €220.) |
In contrast to definite articles, we use indefinite articles (ein, eine, ein) to introduce something for the first time or talk about non-specific people or things.
For Example:
Wie viel kostet ein Muffin? (How much is a muffin?)
“Ein” refers to masculine and neuter words. While, “Eine” refers to feminine words.
| Masculine: Ein Kaffee kostet 3 €. (A coffee is €3.) |
| Feminine: Eine Cola kostet 4 €. (A cola is €4.) |
| Neuter: Ein Wasser kostet 2,50 €. (A water is €2.50.) |
When it comes to the plural, things get easier. The definite article in the plural is “die” for all three genders. We don’t have an indefinite article in the plural.
| Definite plural article: Ich liebe die Cafés in Berlin! (I love the cafés in Berlin!) |
| Indefinite plural article: Ich liebe ? Cafés! (I love cafés!) |
More Examples for Plural:
Die Bars in Berlin sind super. (The bars in Berlin are super.)
Die Restaurants, die Bars und die Cafés in Berlin sind schön. (The restaurants, bars and cafés in Berlin are beautiful.)
Congratulations! Now you know all the German articles.
Here is a recap of German Articles:
| Masculine | der | ein |
| feminine | die | eine |
| neuter | das | ein |
| Plural | die | — |
Pronunciation
Have you been wondering about the pronunciation of words in German?
Let’s investigate!
Words begin with sp- & st-:
If a word begins with sp- or st-, we pronounce the s like a sh. i.e.
Ich spreche Spanisch. (I speak Spanish.) We write Spanisch, but we say “Shpanisch”.
There are more same examples:
We write Straße, but we say “Shtraße”.
Sport ist Mord. (I hate sports!). We write Sport, but we say “Shport”.
Words begin with z:
The z in German is pronounced like ts. It’s important to think of this “hidden t“, or else you could get misunderstood.
We write zwei, but we say “tswei”.
While, We write zehn, but we say “tsehn”.
Any z is pronounced like ts, as in zwei, zehn, and zahlen.
pronunciation for ”ei” & ”ie”:
So, ”ei” in German is pronounced like the English letter i:
heißen , Wein
While, ” ie” is pronounced like the English letter e:
Sie, Wien
Wie geht’s? (How’s it going?)
So, How would you pronounce following sentences?
Ich trinke Wein in Wien! (I drink wine in Vienna!)
Ich liebe Wein. (I love wine.) While, In this sentence you hear the sound ‘ie‘ before the sound ‘ei‘.
Learn German A1: hunger & thurst & useful questions Lesson 7
Negation
In German we use ”nicht” when we want to negate something! While ” nicht” means ”not”.
Usually, ” nicht” is placed after the verb in German.
For Examples:
Ich wohne in London! (I live in London!)
Ali wohnt nicht in London! (Ali does not live in London!)
Wein liegt nicht in Deutschland! (Vienna is not in Germany!)
While, These Examples deal with Verb Conjugation and we have already explained Regular Verb & Irregular Verb Conjugations in respective lectures!
Hope It Helps! Weiter so! (Keep it up!)
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