Unlocking German With Paul Noble

by Paul Noble

  Now, we can see that there’s a letter “d” at the beginning of “drink”. So, let’s swap that for a “t”.

  Do that now and tell me – what do you get?

  trink

  Good, now let’s add an “en” onto the end of this and, by doing so, create the word that means “drink” / “to drink” in German.

  So, what will “drink” / “to drink” be in German?

  trinken

  (trink-urn)

  And what is “I can”?

  ich kann

  (ikh kan)

  So how would you say “I can drink”?

  Ich kann trinken.

  (ikh kan trink-urn)

  Turn it into a question now and ask “can I drink?”

  Kann ich trinken?

  (kan ikh trink-urn)

  How about “Can I drink here?”

  Kann ich hier trinken?

  (kan ikh hear trink-urn)

  Converting “drink” into “trinken” has worked out well, so let’s try this swapping Ds for Ts trick again. This time, we’ll do it with the English word “dance”.

  So, first of all, let’s swap the “d” in “dance” for a “t”.What does that give us?

  tance

  And, as before, to make this into “dance” / “to dance” in German, we will want to add an “en” onto the end.

  So, how do you think you would say “dance” / “to dance” in German?

  tancen

  Good, that’s very nearly correct, except that there is just one more thing: German uses a “z” in “dance” instead of a “c”. So, change the “c” in “dance” to a “z” and tell me, finally, what is “dance” / “to dance” in German?

  tanzen

  (tants-urn)

  Excellent. So, how would you say “I can dance”?

  Ich kann tanzen.

  (ikh kan tants-urn)

  And “I can dance here”?

  Ich kann hier tanzen.

  (ikh kan hear tants-urn)

  What about “can I dance here?”

  Kann ich hier tanzen?

  (kan ikh hear tants-urn)

  “I would like” in German is:

  ich möchte

  (ikh murkh-ter)

  So how would you say “I would like to dance”?

  Ich möchte tanzen.

  (ikh murkh-ter tants-urn)

  How about “I would like to dance here”?

  Ich möchte hier tanzen.

  (ikh murkh-ter hear tants-urn)

  So, just as before when you were using “can”, the thing you’re saying that you can or would like to do, whether it’s to drink, to dance, or whatever, goes right at the end of the sentence.

  What is “today”?

  heute

  (hoy-ter)

  So how would you say “I would like to dance today”?

  Ich möchte heute tanzen.

  (ikh murkh-ter hoy-ter tants-urn)

  “It” in German is:

  es

  (es)

  Now again, what is “I would like”?

  ich möchte

  (ikh murkh-ter)

  So, how would you say “I would like it”?

  Ich möchte es.

  (ikh murkh-ter es)

  What is “to drink”?

  trinken

  (trink-urn)

  So, how would you say “I would like to drink it”, keeping in mind that the word meaning “to drink” will still go at the very end?

  Ich möchte es trinken.

  (ikh murkh-ter es trink-urn)

  What is “to bring”?

  bringen

  (bring-urn)

  So how would you say “I would like to bring it”?

  Ich möchte es bringen.

  (ikh murkh-ter es bring-urn)

  And how would you say simply “I would like it”?

  Ich möchte es.

  (ikh murkh-ter es)

  What is “not” in German?

  nicht

  (nikht)

  Now, if you want to say “I wouldn’t like it” in German, you will literally say “I would like it not”. How would you say that?

  Ich möchte es nicht.

  (ikh murkh-ter es nikht)

  And so how would you say “I wouldn’t like to bring it”, again keeping in mind that the word meaning “to bring” will still go at the very end of the sentence?

  Ich möchte es nicht bringen.

  (ikh murkh-ter es nikht bring-urn)

  So, literally, this is “I would like it not to bring”.

  How would you say “I wouldn’t like to drink it”?

  Ich möchte es nicht trinken.

  (ikh murkh-ter es nikht trink-urn)

  “To do” in German is:

  tun

  (toon)

  So now say “I wouldn’t like to do it”.

  Ich möchte es nicht tun.

  (ikh murkh-ter es nikht toon)

  Again, what is “I can”?

  ich kann

  (ikh kan)

  And what is “she can”?

  sie kann

  (zee kan)

  So what is the German word that means “she”?

  sie

  (zee)

  And so how would you say “she would like”?

  sie möchte

  (zee murkh-ter)

  How about “she would like it”?

  Sie möchte es.

  (zee murkh-ter es)

  And “she wouldn’t like it”?

  Sie möchte es nicht.

  (zee murkh-ter es nikht)

  And again, what was “to do”?

  tun

  (toon)

  So how would you say “she wouldn’t like to do it”?

  Sie möchte es nicht tun.

  (zee murkh-ter es nikht toon)

  And “she wouldn’t like to bring it”?

  Sie möchte es nicht bringen.

  (zee murkh-ter es nikht bring-urn)

  How about “she wouldn’t like to drink it”?

  Sie möchte es nicht trinken.

  (zee murkh-ter es nikht trink-urn)

  And going back, how would you simply say “she would like it”?

  Sie möchte es.

  (zee murkh-ter es)

  And how would you say “I would like it”?

  Ich möchte es.

  (ikh murkh-ter es)

  What about “I wouldn’t like it”?

  Ich möchte es nicht.

  (ikh murkh-ter es nikht)

  Now, once more, what is “today” in German?

  heute

  (hoy-ter)

  So how would you say “I wouldn’t like it today”?

  Ich möchte es nicht heute.

  (ikh murkh-ter es nikht hoy-ter)

  How about “I wouldn’t like to drink it today”?

  Ich möchte es nicht heute trinken.

  (ikh murkh-ter es nikht hoy-ter trink-urn)

  So, even when the sentence has become quite long, the thing that you can or would like to do goes at the end.

  How would you say “I wouldn’t like to bring it today”?

  Ich möchte es nicht heute bringen.

  (ikh murkh-ter es nikht hoy-ter bring-urn)

  And how about “I wouldn’t like to do it today”?

  Ich möchte es nicht heute tun.

  (ikh murkh-ter es nikht hoy-ter toon)

  “Now” in German is:

  jetzt

  (yetst)

  So how would you say “I wouldn’t like to do it now”?

  Ich möchte es nicht jetzt tun.

  (ikh murkh-ter es nikht yetst toon)

  What about “I wouldn’t like to bring it now”?

  Ich möchte es nicht jetzt bringen.

  (ikh murkh-ter es nikht yetst bring-urn)

  And “I wouldn’t like to drink it now”?

  Ich möchte es nicht jetzt trinken.

  (ikh murkh-ter es nikht yetst trink-urn)

  “I am” in German is:

&nb
sp; ich bin

  (ikh bin)

  And “drunk” in German is literally “bedrunken”, which is:

  betrunken

  (be-troon-kurn)

  Notice the “d” in the English “drunk” being swapped for a “t” in German.

  So, how would you say “I am drunk”?

  Ich bin betrunken.

  (ikh bin be-troon-kurn)

  “Very” in German is:

  sehr

  (zair)

  So how would you say “I am very drunk”?

  Ich bin sehr betrunken.

  (ikh bin zair be-troon-kurn)

  “Romantic” in German is:

  romantisch

  (roe-marn-tish)

  So how would you say “I am romantic”?

  Ich bin romantisch.

  (ikh bin roe-marn-tish)

  How about “I am very romantic”?

  Ich bin sehr romantisch.

  (ikh bin zair roe-marn-tish)

  And how would you say “I am not very romantic”?

  Ich bin nicht sehr romantisch.

  (ikh bin nikht zair roe-marn-tish)

  “Busy” in German is:

  beschäftigt

  (be-shef-tigt)

  So how would you say “I am busy”?

  Ich bin beschäftigt.

  (ikh bin be-shef-tigt)

  What about “I am very busy”?

  Ich bin sehr beschäftigt.

  (ikh bin zair be-shef-tigt)

  And “I am not very busy”?

  Ich bin nicht sehr beschäftigt.

  (ikh bin nikht zair be-shef-tigt)

  And again, how would you say “I am not very drunk”?

  Ich bin nicht sehr betrunken.

  (ikh bin nikht zair be-troon-kurn)

  Catapult Words

  You’re maybe wondering “what on earth can ‘catapult words’ possibly be?”

  Well, catapult words are words that catapult other words. And where do they catapult them to? To the end of the sentence!

  I’ll show you what I mean.

  To begin with, remind me, how would you say “I am”?

  ich bin

  (ikh bin)

  And so how would you say “I am romantic”?

  Ich bin romantisch.

  (ikh bin roe-marn-tish)

  Okay, that was pretty easy. Now, let’s introduce a catapult word and see what it does to this sentence.

  Our first catapult word is “because”, which in German is:

  weil

  (vile)

  Now again, remind me how you would say “I am romantic”?

  Ich bin romantisch.

  (ikh bin roe-marn-tish)

  And what was “because”?

  weil

  (vile)

  Now, if you want to say “because I am romantic” you will quickly discover that “because” acts as a kind of catapult. Don’t believe me?Well, watch…

  “I am romantic” in German is:

  Ich bin romantisch.

  (ikh bin roe-marn-tish)

  But “because I am romantic” in German is:

  weil ich romantisch bin

  (vile ikh roe-marn-tish bin)

  Notice how the “bin” (am) has been catapulted to the end of the sentence?Well, this is what catapult words do – they take a word and throw it all the way to the end of the sentence. But that raises an important question of course: how do we know which word it is in this sentence that should be catapulted?

  Well, it’s very simple, it’s the second one.

  So again, what is “I am romantic” in German?

  Ich bin romantisch.

  (ikh bin roe-marn-tish)

  So the second word in the sentence is “am” / “bin” and so if we want to add “because” / “weil” to this sentence, this is the word that gets catapulted to the end.

  So again, how would you say “because I am romantic”?

  weil ich romantisch bin

  (vile ikh roe-marn-tish bin)

  Now, again, how would you say “I am very romantic”?

  Ich bin sehr romantisch.

  (ikh bin zair roe-marn-tish)

  And how would you say “I am not very romantic”?

  Ich bin nicht sehr romantisch.

  (ikh bin nikht zair roe-marn-tish)

  Now, the second word in this sentence is once again “am” / “bin”. So, remembering to catapult it to the end of the sentence, how would you say “because I am not very romantic”?

  weil ich nicht sehr romantisch bin

  (vile ikh nikht zair roe-marn-tish bin)

  Again, what is “drunk”?

  betrunken

  (be-troon-kurn)

  And “I am drunk”?

  Ich bin betrunken.

  (ikh bin be-troon-kurn)

  So how would you say “because I am drunk”?

  weil ich betrunken bin

  (vile ikh be-troon-kurn bin)

  And how about “because I am very drunk”?

  weil ich sehr betrunken bin

  (vile ikh zair be-troon-kurn bin)

  So, as you can see, when we’ve had a catapult word, such as “weil”, it has picked up the second word and thrown it all the way to the end of the sentence. Let’s have one more go at doing this!

  What is “busy”?

  beschäftigt

  (be-shef-tigt)

  And so how would you say “I am busy”?

  Ich bin beschäftigt.

  (ikh bin be-shef-tigt)

  And “I am very busy”?

  Ich bin sehr beschäftigt.

  (ikh bin zair be-shef-tigt)

  And so how would you say “because I am very busy”?

  weil ich sehr beschäftigt bin

  (vile ikh zair be-shef-tigt bin)

  Excellent!

  So, that’s how catapult words work. There are a number of other catapult words that exist in German but don’t worry because, whenever a catapult word is introduced in this book, I will make sure to let you know that it is one. For the moment though, you only need to know about “because” (weil).

  Now, what is “I would like”?

  ich möchte

  (ikh murkh-ter)

  And how would you say “I would like to do it”?

  Ich möchte es tun.

  (ikh murkh-ter es toon)

  How would you say “I wouldn’t like to do it”?

  Ich möchte es nicht tun.

  (ikh murkh-ter es nikht toon)

  And “I wouldn’t like to do it today”?

  Ich möchte es nicht heute tun.

  (ikh murkh-ter es nikht hoy-ter toon)

  What is “now”?

  jetzt

  (yetst)

  So how would you say “I wouldn’t like to do it now”?

  Ich möchte es nicht jetzt tun.

  (ikh murkh-ter es nikht yetst toon)

  And again, how would you say “I am very busy”?

  Ich bin sehr beschäftigt.

  (ikh bin zair be-shef-tigt)

  And, using our catapult word “weil” (because), how would you say “because I am very busy”?

  weil ich sehr beschäftigt bin

  (vile ikh zair be-shef-tigt bin)

  And so, finally, how would you say “I wouldn’t like to do it now because I am very busy”?

  Ich möchte es nicht jetzt tun, weil ich sehr beschäftigt bin.

  (ikh murkh-ter es nikht yetst toon vile ikh zair be-shef-tigt bin)

  Well, you’ve now worked your way back to the sentence we started with and, although we are only at the end of the second chapter, you are already building long, complex sentences in German and beginning to understand how the language works!

  Building Blocks 2

  As before, it’s time to add some new building blocks to the mix. Again, it will be just six new ones. Here they are:

  Once more, these new building blocks have been put into several piles below and what I want you to do is to again make sentences with them, each time using o
ne building block from the first pile, one from the second, one from the third and one from the fourth. Make as many as you can!

  Checklist 2

  You have now reached your second checklist. Remember, don’t skip anything! The checklists are essential if you want what you’ve learnt to remain in your memory for the long term.

  So again, cover up the English words on the right-hand side while you read through the list of German words on the left, trying to recall what they mean in English. If you can go through the entire list, giving the correct English meaning for each of the German words / expressions without making more than three mistakes in total, then you’re done. If not, then go through the list again. Keep doing this, either working from the top of the list to the bottom or from the bottom to the top (it doesn’t matter which) until you can do it without making more than three mistakes.

  Okay. Ready, set, go!

  ich kann (ikh kan)

  I can

  nicht (nikht)

  not

  beginnen (baig-in-urn)

  begin / to begin

  Ich kann nicht beginnen. (ikh kan nikht baig-in-urn)

  I cannot begin.

  parken (park-urn)

  park / to park

  bringen (bring-urn)

  bring / to bring

  campen (camp-urn)

  camp / to camp

  sie kann (zee kan)

  She can

  kommen (kom-urn)

  come / to come

  Sie kann kommen. (zee kan kom-urn)

  She can come.

  Sie kann nicht kommen. (zee kan nikht kom-urn)

  She cannot come.

  aber (ah-ber)

  but

  Sie kann campen aber ich kann nicht kommen. (zee kan camp-urn ah-ber ikh kan nikht kom-urn)

  She can camp but I can’t come.

  heute (hoy-ter)

  today

  Sie kann heute kommen. (zee kan hoy-ter kom-urn)

  She can come today.

  hier (hear)

  here

  Ich kann hier campen. (ikh kan hear camp-urn)

  I can camp here.

  du kannst (doo kanst)

  You can

  Du kannst hier parken. (doo kanst hear park-urn)

  You can park here.

  Kannst du? (kanst doo)