German I, Semester I: Die Grüße

Sections:

Introduction  |   Section 1  |  Section 2  |   Section 3   |  Dictionaries

Section Two:

Part A |   Part B  |  Part C

Section Two: Part B Du oder Sie? (You or you?) Click on the TV to view the presentation to review  this distinction in German. An important part of learning another language is learning to accept the differences between that language and one's own language. As you learn new concepts in German, try not to think of them as "worse" than your own. They are simply different! That doesn't seem like too difficult a concept, does it? See if you can tell which "you" you would use with the following people. Herr Schmidt Sie Alexander du Frau Tesch Sie Max du Julia du Doktor Meier Sie Professor Adler Sie Sabine du Katharina du Der Polizist Sie   Wunderbar! Wonderful! What does all of this mean for us? Well, it means, quite simply that now we have to learn the same questions again because now, the words slightly change. It will be relatively easy to pick up on these slight changes, but you have to keep in mind that they are very important in German and you will be misinterpreted if you do not make the changes as necessary. We will get into the more technical explanations later in the course, but for now, you simply need to remember that the two "you" words in German require other changes in the sentence as well. Let's see, do you remember how we asked someone in Section 1, "What is your name?" (Wie heißt du?). How about "Where do you live?" (Wo wohnst du?) And how about "Where are you from ?" (Woher kommst du?) And lastly, do you remember how to ask someone you know, "How are you ?" (Wie geht's?) Those four questions are going to be our focus in Section Two so that we can learn how to ask the same questions, but this time to a different group of people. Can you see the difference between the following and the questions we learned in Section One? Wie heißen Sie? Wo wohnen Sie? Woher kommen Sie? Wie geht es Ihnen? Check to see English equivalents. Practice asking "where do you live?" Using the names of the individuals below, ask the people, both in written and in spoken form, where they live. Write another sentence, pretending you are that person, responding. The first one is done for you. When you finish, click the link to check your work. 1. Herr Schmidt/Düsseldorf --Wo wohnen Sie, Herr Schmidt? --Ich wohne in Düsseldorf. 2. Frau Tesch/Deutschland Woher kommen Sie, Frau Tesch? --Ich komme aus Deutschland. 3. Frau Himmler/Dresden Wo wohnen Sie, Frau Himmler? --Ich wohne in Dresden. 4. Professor Grimm/München, Deutschland Woher kommen Sie, Professor Grimm. --Ich komme aus München, Deutschland. 5. Herr Meier/Österreich Wo wohnen Sie, Herr Meier? --Ich wohne in Österreich. Vocabulary Practice Practice the vocabulary you have learned so far with this fun activity. You can play this by yourself or with a partner. Match the words with their meanings. Speaking Assignment Are you remembering to repeat and practice speaking German as much as you can? In order to see how you are doing, record your voice for your teacher by doing the voice assignment. In this assignment, give your name in German and then verbally greet your teacher and ask two questions in German. Give an appropriate farewell. This assignment is worth 16 Points. Go on to Part C

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