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German/Level I/Wie heit du? (2. Teil)

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Lesson I.2: Wie heit du? (2. Teil)

The dialogue of this lesson is a conversation between two persons: Franz and Mr. Schwarz. While Franz uses the formal Sie to address Mr. Schwarz, the latter uses the informal du to address Franz. We also discuss some grammar: subject pronouns and some important verbs in the present tense.

Contents [hide] 1 Dialogue 2 Sie and du 3 Subject Pronouns 4 Names 5 Important Verbs 6 Test

Dialogue

[edit]

In this short dialogue Mr. Schwarz uses the informal form you du. while Franz uses the formal translation of you Sie. When listening to the dialogue, try to find out how the word Sie is pronounced. Dialogue: What's your name? (2nd Part) Wie heit du? (2. Teil)

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Languages Sister projects Print/export

disabled or does not have any supported player. You can download the clip or download a player to play the clip in your browser. Franz Guten Morgen. Sind Sie Herr Wei?

Herr Schwarz Nein, ich bin Herr Schwarz. Wie heit du? Franz Ich heie Franz. Danke, Herr Schwarz. Ich bin spt dran.

Herr Schwarz Bitte, Franz. Ich bin auch spt dran. Bis spter! Franz Auf Wiedersehen!

Problems: Listen carefully!

Vocabulary:

What's your name? (2nd Part)

Wie heit du? (2. Teil)

(m issing file: File:Germ an Vocabulary - What's your nam e? (2nd Part).ogg, how to upload audio)

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English Good morning. you (formal) You are... (formal) Are you...? (formal) no late I am late. You're welcome. also later See you later. Problems: Working with the dialogue Guten Morgen. Sie Sie sind ... Sind Sie ...? nein spt

German

Ich bin spt dran. Bitte. auch spter Bis spter.

Sie and du

[edit]

Why is Franz using the formal form of you Sie while Mr. Schwarz is using the informal of you du? First of all you should realize that Franz addresses Mr. Schwarz with his last name while Mr. Schwarz addresses Franz with his first name. This is probably the most important rule: if you (would) address someone with his or her last name, you should use the formal Sie. On the other hand, if you are using the first name, you should use du. Anything else would sound funny. Sie is the polite form. It is used to foreign people, and in order to testify respect against the interlocutor, for people you would address with Mr and Mrs. So, when do Germans address other people with their first name and say du?
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Some cases are very clear: children, relatives, and friends are always addressed with du. (Mr. Schwarz uses du because Franz is still a child. Otherwise Mr. Schwarz would either use Sie or Franz would also use du.) Students (at universities etc.) usually say du to other students and everyone else who is of their age or younger. The situation is not so clear for colleagues in companies. Fortunately, there is another rule for grownups: any two grown-ups address each other in the same way, either with du or Sie, but never does only one of them use du and the other Sie. Thus, if in doubt, you can just copy how the other person addresses you. In all other situations you should use Sie. If a German thinks that it would be more appropriate to say du, he or she will be happy to suggest to use du. On the other hand, it is almost always considered impolite to go from du to Sie; thus, you shouldn't put someone in a position where he or she wants to suggest to use Sie instead of du. Note that mostly the polite form is easier to use. You just have to learn a few forms of auxiliary and modal verbs. The main verb is usually the infinitive. With the familiar address you unfortunately have to consider many more irregular verbs.

Subject Pronouns

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A noun is a word that describes a thing or being, e.g. "apple", "woman", "man", etc. Pronouns are the little words that refer to previously mentioned nouns, e.g. "it", "she", "he", or even "we", "him", etc. The subject of a sentence is the noun or pronoun that the sentence is about. Usually it is the most active thing or being of the sentence. For example, in the sentence "The woman ate an apple.", both "woman" and "apple" are nouns, but "woman" is the subject of the sentence because the sentence is about the action performed by the woman. (If you are curious: "apple" is the direct object of the sentence.) If we replace the nouns of the example by pronouns, the sentence becomes: "She ate it." In this example, "she" and "it" are pronouns. The subject of this sentence is the pronoun "she" and therefore this kind of pronoun is called a subject pronoun. Now that you know about the English subject pronouns, here is a table of them with their German
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counterparts. Note that you corresponds to three different words in German, depending on whether you address one or more persons and whether you are using a more formal or more familiar way of addressing them. Grammar: Sorry, your browser either has JavaScript disabled or does not have any supported player. You can download the clip or download a player to play the clip in your browser. English 1st person
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Subject Pronouns

Subjekt-Pronomina

German ich
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singular

2nd person 3rd person 1st person

you he, she, it we you they

du, Sie* er, sie, es wir ihr, Sie* sie

plural

2nd person 3rd person

*Sie is the formal (polite) version of du and ihr.

Problems: Subject pronouns

Names

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To say the name of someone or something you can use to be called heien. You have already seen some forms of the verb heien. Here is a more systematic table with all the forms in the present tense. Note that the subject pronouns are capitalized because they start the sentences. Grammar: Sorry, your browser either has JavaScript disabled or does not have any supported
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Names

Namen

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player. You can download the clip or download a player to play the clip in your browser. English My name is... His/Her/Its name is... Their names are... Our names are... Your name is... Your names are... What is your name? German Ich heie ... Er/Sie/Es heit ... Sie heien ... Wir heien ... Du heit ... Ihr heit ... Wie heit du?*

What are your names? Wie heit ihr?* *Remember, the formal way to ask someone's name is to ask Wie heien Sie? Note: There are possessive pronouns (e.g. "my", "your", "his", her", ...) in German, they just don't apply here. For instance, native speakers usually don't say Mein Name ist ... (My name is...).

Problems: Names
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Important Verbs

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Verbs are the words that describe the action of a sentence, e.g. (to) run, (to) call, (to) be, etc. Conjugation refers to changing the form of a verb depending on the subject of a sentence. For example, the verb to be sein has several different forms: (I) am..., (you) are..., (he) is..., etc. Most English verbs, however, have only two forms in the present tense, e.g., (I/you/we/they) run and (he/she/it) runs . German verbs, on the other hand, have usually several forms in the present tense. You have already learned the forms of one German verb: to be called heien. Verb: Sorry, your browser either has JavaScript disabled or does not have any supported player. You can download the clip or download a player to play
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to be called

heien

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the clip in your browser. English 1st person I am called singular 2nd person you are called German ich heie du heit

3rd person he/she/it is called er/sie/es heit 1st person we are called plural 2nd person you are called 3rd person they are called wir heien ihr heit sie heien*

*The form of verbs for you (polite) Sie is exactly the same as for the plural, 3rd person pronoun they sie. Two extremely common verbs are to be sein and to have haben. They are conjugated like this: Verb: Sorry, your browser either has JavaScript disabled or does not have any
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to be

sein

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supported player. You can download the clip or download a player to play the clip in your browser. English 1st person I am singular 2nd person you are German ich bin du bist

3rd person he/she/it is er/sie/es ist 1st person we are plural 2nd person you are 3rd person they are wir sind ihr seid sie sind*

*Don't forget that the form for you (polite) Sie is the same as for the plural, 3rd person pronoun they sie.

Verb: Sorry, your

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to have

haben

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browser either has JavaScript disabled or does not have any supported player. You can download the clip or download a player to play the clip in your browser. English 1st person I have singular 2nd person you have German ich habe du hast

3rd person he/she/it has er/sie/es hat 1st person we have plural 2nd person you have 3rd person they have
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wir haben ihr habt sie haben*

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*This is also the form for you (polite) Sie.

Problems: Verbs

Test

[edit]

The test consists of three parts: grammar, vocabulary, and translation. The grammar part is about conjugation; i.e., different forms of verbs for different subject pronouns. The vocabulary and translation problems are all from English to German because this is what you have to learn if you want to communicate in German.

Problems: Grammar

Problems: Vocabulary

Problems: Translation

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Level I Lessons

(discussion)

I.0 Introduction Section I.A: I.1 Wie heit du? (1. Teil) Review Section I.A Section I.B:
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I.2 Wie heit du? (2. Teil)

I.3 Bitte buchstabieren Sie

I.4 Freizeit

I.5 Geburtstag

I.6 Essen

Review Section I.B

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Section I.C: Section I.D: Section I.E:

I.7 Kleidung I.10 Das Fest

I.8 Familie und Nationalitt

I.9 Schule

Review Section I.C Review Section I.D

I.11 Privileg und Verantwortung I.14 Filme

I.12 Wetter

I.13 Zu Hause essen

I.15 Das Haus

Review Section I.E

Category: German

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