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1 Tee oder Kaffee?
A first taste of German
Language activities
- 'hello' and 'please'
- choosing and paying
- 'goodbye'and'thank you'
Language focus
- patterns and phrases
- nouns and verbs
- 'I' and 'you'
- numbers 1 to 10, 20 to 90, and prices
Learning strategies
- spotting patterns
- guessing meanings
- listening efficiently
- using a glossary
Text 1A Tee . . . (Audio 1; 18)
Montagvormittag1
The setting You decide on impulse to take a five-day, non-package, do-it-yourself break in Berlin, leaving home on a Sunday and arriving on Monday morning at the Hauptbahnhof, the main railway station. Your first objective is the KurfĂŒrstendamm, a broad boulevard, with its irresistible cafĂ©s. You enter the most spacious and comfortable cafĂ© you have ever encountered and take a seat. The waitress approaches. . .
The dialogue The waitress greets you with the words âGood dayâ and you simply repeat. She asks you what you want. You choose tea â and you donât want it with lemon but with milk. The waitress then asks you something which you surmise might imply âCan I get you a thick slice of gateau covered in cream?â, so to be on the safe side you politely say ânoâ. The tea you hope you have ordered actually does arrive! You now even feel confident enough to ask for the bill and, like a native, to round up the price stated (= 2,60) to the nearest whole euro. You give the waitress a ten euro note and get seven euros change. You finish your tea, saying goodbye as you leave.
KELLNERIN:2 Guten Tag!
SIE:3 Guten Tag!
KELLNERIN: Bitte schön?
SIE: Tee, bitte.4
KELLNERIN: Mit5 Zitrone?
SIE: Nein, mit Milch, bitte.
KELLNERIN: Ja. Möchten Sie sonst noch etwas?6
SIE: Nein, danke.
KELLNERIN: Bitte7 schön! Tee mit Milch.
SIE: Danke schon! Ich möchte bitte zahlen.8
KELLNERIN: Zwei Euro sechzig,9 bitte.
SIE: Drei Euro. [you hand over a ten-euro note]
KELLNERIN: Danke sehr! Und sieben Euro zurĂŒck.10
SIE: Danke schön!11
SIE: Auf Wiedersehen!
KELLNERIN: Auf Wiedersehen!
A full English version of Text 1A is provided in the Translations section at the back of the book, but itâs best to do Ăbung 1A before you go there.
Ăbung 1A
Once you feel fairly familiar with Text 1A, try writing down â from memory â the German equivalents from the Text of the following English phrases. In many cases, the equivalents are not word-for-word translations. When you have finished, check back with the Text before proceeding to the Key to exercises (see box below).
- Hello!
- Can I take your order?
- Tea, please.
- With lemon?
- With milk, please.
- Would you like anything else?
- No thank you.
- I would like to pay, please.
- Two euros sixty.
- Three euros.
- And seven euros change.
- Goodbye!
The symbol
is a TASK symbol. Whenever you reach it,
do something! Sometimes the paragraph immediately following the exercise gives answers to the questions; more often the answers are given in the Key to exercises in the back of the book. Wherever the answers are, to gain full benefit from the course, you need to
stop at every task symbol,
do the exercise following it, and only then move on.
The symbol
is the KEY symbol. Whenever it follows the task symbol it means that our answers to the exercise are printed in the Key to exercises section at the back of the book.
Numbers and prices
A firm grasp of numbers in German is one of the most useful things to take with you on a first visit to a German-speaking country. Itâs helpful to be able to say numbers, but particularly to understand them â and to understand them when spoken quickly under adverse acoustic conditions: in banks, shops, restaurants, theatres, cinemas, museums, art galleries, swimming pools, railway, bus and petrol stations, at airports, on the phone, etc.
The normal way to write a sum of money in euros, using figures, is ⏠1,60 or 1,60 âŹ. The way to say this ...
