Unlocking German With Paul Noble

by Paul Noble

  Do you remember from the previous checklist how to say “to buy”?

  kaufen

  (kowf-urn)

  So how would you say “I would like to buy the wine”?

  Ich möchte den Wein kaufen.

  (ikh murkh-ter dain vine kowf-urn)

  So, the wine is again having something done to it here, it is being bought, so the word for “the” changes from “der” to “den”. As I’ve already said, however, this change only affects “der” (masculine) words.

  Just to prove this, how would you say “I would like to buy the milk”?

  Ich möchte die Milch kaufen.

  (ikh murkh-ter dee milkh kowf-urn)

  So, the feminine word for “the” (die) doesn’t change, even when it is having something done to it.

  How would you say “I would like to buy the beer”?

  Ich möchte das Bier kaufen.

  (ikh murkh-ter das bee-er kowf-urn)

  Here again, since “beer” is a neuter word, the word for “the” (das) does not change when it is having something done to it.

  “The tea” in German is:

  der Tee

  (dair tay)

  So how would you say “I would like to drink the tea”?

  Ich möchte den Tee trinken.

  (ikh murkh-ter dain tay trink-urn)

  So, since we are again dealing with a masculine word, “der” becomes “den”, as it does whenever something is being done to it.

  This may, of course, seem somewhat odd to English speakers – particularly as it only affects masculine words and not feminine or neuter ones – but it is simply how German works.

  Anyway, let’s forget about all this for a moment – we’ll come back to it in a minute anyway – I want us to try another letter swap!

  Time to swap some letters!

  Letter Swap Number 2

  So, once again, we are going to swap some letters.

  In the previous swap, we learnt that you can swap an English letter “d” for a German “t”, giving us words like “trinken” (to drink), “tanzen” (to dance), and “betrunken” (drunk).

  In this next swap, we’re going to be changing Vs into Bs.

  So, for instance, if we swap the “v” in the English word “have” for a “b” we will get “habe” which means “have” in German. If we do this swap again with the “v” in the English word “even” we will get the word for “even” in German – “eben”. And if, for example, we try this again with “over” we will get the German “ober”.

  So, we can swap Vs for Bs and so find the German equivalent. Simple!

  Now, let’s see how we can use these to begin expanding our range of expression in German.

  What is “I would like”?

  ich möchte

  (ikh murkh-ter)

  And which part of that means “I”?

  ich

  (ikh)

  Given that you already know how to say “I” in German, and remembering to swap any “v”s for “b”s, how would you say “I have” in German?

  ich habe

  (ikh hah-ber)

  And so how would you say “I have it”?

  Ich habe es.

  (ikh hah-ber es)

  How about “I don’t have it” (literally “I have it not”)?

  Ich habe es nicht.

  (ikh hah-ber es nikht)

  “Seen” in German is:

  gesehen

  (ge-zay-urn)

  Now, just as happened with “would like” and “can”, the thing that you can or would like to do or have been doing – whether it’s drinking, dancing, or seeing something – goes right at the end of the sentence.

  So how would you say “I have not seen it” (literally “I have it not seen”)?

  Ich habe es nicht gesehen.

  (ikh hah-ber es nikht ge-zay-urn)

  “Done” in German is:

  getan

  (ge-tarn)

  So how would you say “I haven’t done it” (literally “I have it not done”)?

  Ich habe es nicht getan.

  (ikh hah-ber es nikht ge-tarn)

  And how about “I have done it”?

  Ich habe es getan.

  (ikh hah-ber es ge-tarn)

  And “I have seen it”?

  Ich habe es gesehen.

  (ikh hah-ber es ge-zay-urn)

  What is “because”?

  weil

  (vile)

  Now, try to say “because I have seen it”, keeping in mind that “because” will take the second word from “I have seen it” and will catapult it all the way to the end of the sentence.

  So, how would you say “because I have seen it”?

  weil ich es gesehen habe

  (vile ikh es ge-zay-urn hah-ber)

  How about “because I have not seen it”?

  weil ich es nicht gesehen habe

  (vile ikh es nikht ge-zay-urn hah-ber)

  What is “is” in German?

  ist

  (ist)

  “The film” in German is:

  der Film

  (dair film)

  So how would you say “the film is good”?

  Der Film ist gut.

  (dair film ist goot)

  And how would you say “the film is not good”?

  Der Film ist nicht gut.

  (dair film ist nikht goot)

  How about “the film is not very good”?

  Der Film ist nicht sehr gut.

  (dair film ist nikht zair goot)

  Now again, how would you say “I have seen it”?

  Ich habe es gesehen.

  (ikh hah-ber es ge-zay-urn)

  And again, what does the masculine word for “the” (der) become when it is having something done to it?

  den

  (dain)

  And so, with this in mind, how would you say “I have seen the film”?

  Ich habe den Film gesehen.

  (ikh hah-ber dain Film ge-zay-urn)

  So, once again, we have here a masculine word which, when something is done to it (in this case someone is seeing the film) the word for “the” changes from “der” to “den”.

  As stated previously, however, if you simply want to describe the thing then you don’t need to worry about making any changes to “der”. So, once more, how would you say “the film is good”?

  Der Film ist gut.

  (dair film ist goot)

  So the “der” does not need to change this time because we’re not doing anything to the film – we’re not watching it or renting it or buying it. All we’ve done is said it is good, so we’ve described how it is but we haven’t done anything to it.

  “The baby” in German is:

  das Baby

  (das bay-bee)

  So, how would you say “I have seen the baby”?

  Ich habe das Baby gesehen.

  (ikh hah-ber das bay-bee ge-zay-urn)

  So, as baby is a “das” / neuter word, the word for “the” does not change, even when it is having something done to it (in this case, it is being seen).

  Let’s just make this even clearer by giving a still better example. Let’s give the baby a kiss!

  “Kissed” in German is:

  geküsst

  (ge-koost)

  So how would you say “I have kissed the baby”?

  Ich habe das Baby geküsst.

  (ikh hah-ber das bay-bee ge-koost)

  So, even though the baby is having something done to it (it’s being kissed), the word for “the” does not change because it’s a “das” / neuter word.

  “The mother” in German is:

  die Mutter

  (dee moo-ter)

  So how would you say “I have kissed the mother”?

  Ich habe die Mutter geküsst.

  (ikh hah-ber dee moo-ter ge-koost)

  Again, the mother is on the receiving end of what is happening here – she is the one being kissed – so the word for “the” (die) does not chang
e because it’s a “die” / feminine word.

  “The father” in German is:

  der Vater

  (dair far-ter)

  So how would you say “I have kissed the father”?

  Ich habe den Vater geküsst.

  (ikh hah-ber dain far-ter ge-koost)

  Now we have a masculine word, “the father”, on the receiving end of what is happening and so the word for “the” does change, from “der” to “den”.

  Hopefully this change from “der” to “den” is beginning to feel somewhat familiar.

  Of course, in addition to learning how “der” changes to “den”, we’re also starting to learn how to talk about things in the past in German, to talk about things we have seen and done, and even to say who we have kissed!

  And actually one of the rather wonderful things about German is that talking about things that have happened in the past is much easier than it is in English. I’ll show you what I mean. Again, how would you say “I have kissed”?

  Ich habe geküsst.

  (ikh hah-ber ge-koost)

  Well, that’s great, you now know how to say “I have kissed” but actually “Ich habe geküsst” doesn’t only mean “I have kissed”. No! It also means “I kissed” and “I did kiss”. So what you are actually getting here is three English past tenses for the price of one German one.

  I’ll show you another example of this. Again, how would you say “I have seen”?

  Ich habe gesehen.

  (ikh hah-ber ge-zay-urn)

  That’s good. Now keeping in mind that you get three English past tenses for the price of one German one, how do you think you would say “I saw” in German?

  Ich habe gesehen.

  (ikh hah-ber ge-zay-urn)

  And “I did see”?

  Ich habe gesehen.

  (ikh hah-ber ge-zay-urn)

  So, it’s easy: “I have seen”, “I saw”, and “I did see” can all be expressed by saying “I have seen” (ich habe gesehen) in German. It can count for all three!

  Do you remember how to say “I have done”?

  Ich habe getan.

  (ikh hah-ber ge-tarn)

  So, what would be “I did”?

  Ich habe getan.

  (ikh hah-ber ge-tarn)

  And how about “I did do”?

  Ich habe getan.

  (ikh hah-ber ge-tarn)

  And so how would you say “I did do it”?

  Ich habe es getan.

  (ikh hah-ber es ge-tarn)

  And “I did it”?

  Ich habe es getan.

  (ikh hah-ber es ge-tarn)

  And “I have done it”?

  Ich habe es getan.

  (ikh hah-ber es ge-tarn)

  So, there you have it: three English tenses for the price of one German one. Awesome!

  Now how would you say “I have seen the baby”?

  Ich habe das Baby gesehen.

  (ikh hah-ber das bay-bee ge-zay-urn)

  And so how would you say “I did see the baby”?

  Ich habe das Baby gesehen.

  (ikh hah-ber das bay-bee ge-zay-urn)

  And “I saw the baby”?

  Ich habe das Baby gesehen.

  (ikh hah-ber das bay-bee ge-zay-urn)

  How about “I saw the mother”?

  Ich habe die Mutter gesehen.

  (ikh hah-ber dee moo-ter ge-zay-urn)

  And “I saw the father”?

  Ich habe den Vater gesehen.

  (ikh hah-ber dain far-ter ge-zay-urn)

  Again, notice that, since “the father” is masculine and is having something done to him (in this case he is being seen), the “der” has become “den”.

  Let’s practise the same change again with “the film”.What is “the film” in German?

  der Film

  (dair film)

  And so how would you say “I have seen the film”?

  Ich habe den Film gesehen.

  (ikh hah-ber dain film ge-zay-urn)

  How about “I saw the film”?

  Ich habe den Film gesehen.

  (ikh hah-ber dain film ge-zay-urn)

  And “I did see the film”?

  Ich habe den Film gesehen.

  (ikh hah-ber dain film ge-zay-urn)

  “I have bought”, “I bought” and “I did buy” in German are all:

  Ich habe gekauft.

  (ikh hah-ber ge-kowft)

  So how would you say “I bought the milk”?

  Ich habe die Milch gekauft.

  (ikh hah-ber dee milkh ge-kowft)

  And what about “I bought the beer”?

  Ich habe das Bier gekauft.

  (ikh hah-ber das bee-er ge-kowft)

  Finally, “I bought the tea”?

  Ich habe den Tee gekauft.

  (ikh hah-ber dain tay ge-kowft)

  “The ticket” in German is:

  die Eintrittskarte

  (dee ine-trits-kart-er)

  This literally means “the entry card”.

  So how would you say “I have bought the ticket”, “I bought the ticket”, “I did buy the ticket”?

  Ich habe die Eintrittskarte gekauft.

  (ikh hah-ber dee ine-trits-kart-er ge-kowft)

  Now to say “I did not buy the ticket”, “I have not bought the ticket”, you will literally say “I have the ticket not bought”. How would you say that?

  Ich habe die Eintrittskarte nicht gekauft.

  (ikh hah-ber dee ine-trits-kart-er nikht ge-kowft)

  And again, how would you say “I have seen the film”, “I saw the film”, “I did see the film”?

  Ich habe den Film gesehen.

  (ikh hah-ber dain film ge-zay-urn)

  And so how would you say “I haven’t seen the film”, “I didn’t see the film” (literally “I have the film not seen”)?

  Ich habe den Film nicht gesehen.

  (ikh hah-ber dain film nikht ge-zay-urn)

  What is “but” in German?

  aber

  (ah-ber)

  So how would you say “…but I didn’t see the film”?

  …aber ich habe den Film nicht gesehen.

  (ah-ber ikh hah-ber dain film nikht ge-zay-urn)

  And again, how would you say “I bought the ticket”?

  Ich habe die Eintrittskarte gekauft.

  (ikh hah-ber dee ine-trits-kart-er ge-kowft)

  Finally, let’s put all this together and express that sentence we started the chapter with. Say “I bought the ticket but I didn’t see the film”:

  Ich habe die Eintrittskarte gekauft, aber ich habe den Film nicht gesehen.

  (ikh hah-ber dee ine-trits-kart-er ge-kowft ah-ber ikh hah-ber dain film nikht ge-zay-urn)

  Well done! As you can see, you need to understand a number of different factors that are at work if you want to put together a German sentence correctly. Fortunately, you’ve already learnt several of the most crucial ones. Please enjoy a much deserved break now before going on to learn more tomorrow.

  Building Blocks 3

  It’s time again to add some new building blocks. Here they are:

  So, you’ve got your new building blocks. Make as many sentences as you can!

  Checklist 3

  You know what to do with the checklist now, so you don’t need any reminding about that.

  Do bear one thing in mind though. The checklists don’t need to be done in one sitting. So, if you get through a page or two and feel that’s enough, then simply leave the rest until the next day. Always work at your own pace and don’t do so much that you end up feeling overwhelmed. “Steady as she goes” should be your mantra!

  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 (brin
g-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)

  Can you?

  heute Nacht (hoy-ter nahkht)

  tonight

  vorbeikommen (for-by-kom-urn)

  come over / to come over / to come by

  Kannst du heute Nacht vorbeikommen? (kanst doo hoy-ter nahkht for-by-kom-urn)

  Can you come over tonight?

  Kann ich? (kan ikh)

  Can I?

  heute Morgen (hoy-ter mor-gurn)

  this morning

  Kann ich heute Morgen vorbeikommen? (kan ikh hoy-ter mor-gurn for-by-kom-urn)

  Can I come over this morning?

  Können wir? (kurn-urn veer)

  Can we?

  heute Nachmittag (hoy-ter nahkh-mit-arg)

  this afternoon

  gehen (gay-urn)

  go / to go

  Können wir heute Nachmittag gehen? (kurn-urn veer hoy-ter nahkh-mit-arg gay-urn)

  Can we go this afternoon?

  arbeiten (ar-bite-urn)

  work / to work