Chapter 1 Hallo! - Der Conneaut Adler

Chapter 1 Hallo!
Willkommen in Deutsch 1! If the first few words of this book look familiar to you, that’s
good. English and German have several words that look similar to one another. The
pronunciations may be different, but the languages have quite a bit in common. In this
chapter of the book, we will examine these related words called cognates. Some are true
cognates, such as: hotel, taxi, and jeans. Others are false cognates; the words may look
and even sound similar, but they have completely different meanings. For example,
giving a gift to an American can be a wonderful surprise. Giving gift to a German can
have deadly results. (Gift is the German word for poison.)
In this chapter, we will also consider how to say hello, good-bye, introduce ourselves to
one another, the alphabet, counting up to 100, and common personal names in German
speaking countries. At the end of this, and every subsequent chapter, you will find a
vocabulary list that brings together the culture and vocab topic for the unit. Although
sometimes we will submit assignments through My Big Campus, we will routinely submit
answers to homework assignments on paper.
 Greetings and Introductions
As the title of the chapter indicates, “Hallo!” is German for “hello.” It is one of many
forms of greeting that we will discuss in this book. Take a look at some other ways
people greet one another and say good-bye in German.
Guten Morgen! Good morning!
Hallo!
Hello!
Guten Tag!
Good day!
Auf Wiedersehen
Goodbye
Guten Abend!
Good evening!
Tschüs!
See you later!
Gute Nacht!
Good night!
Bis später!
Until later
Practice saying these out loud with the teacher’s help. You will begin using these
expressions when you come into class each day. You will also find it useful to create
flashcards based on each of the vocabulary terms you learn. Review these flashcards on
a nightly basis to improve your speaking ability.
Some other expressions that will be useful to you include:
Ich bin Michael.
I am Michael.
Ich heiße Stefan.
I am called Stefan.
Mein Name ist Claudia.
My name is Claudia.
Wie heißt du?
How are you called?
(What is your name?)
Wie heißen Sie?
How are you called?
Was ist dein Name?
What is your name?
Consider a few key points from this chart. We have already examined two different
question words: wie (how?) and was (what?). We will add more question words to our
vocabulary soon. Also consider that, like English, German has multiple ways to ask for
and receive the same information. Do not be afraid to make mistakes as you practice
these expressions.

Mini Assignment 1
How would you say the following in German?
1.
Good day
2.
Good evening
3.
My name is (fill in your name here).
4.
I am called (fill in your name here).
5.
What is your name? (informal)
 Commonly used polite expressions
Now that you know some basic phrases, let’s put these expressions together with a few
others to form some basic conversations.
Wie geht es Ihnen?
Wie geht es dir?
How goes it with you?
Wie geht’s?
How goes it?
Es geht mir gut! (Mir geht’s gut!)
It’s going well.
Danke (sehr, schön)
Thank you (very much)
Bitte (sehr, schön)
You’re welcome
Bitte
Please
Ja
Yes
Nein
No
Wo wohnst du?
Where do you live?
Ich wohne in Amerika.
I live in America.
We can combine these expressions into a simple conversation like this:
Lehrer
Guten Tag!
Schüler
Guten Tag!
Lehrer
Wie geht es dir?
Schüler
Es geht mir gut, danke.
Lehrer
Wie heißt du?
Schüler
Ich heiße Paul.
Lehrer
Ich heiße Herr Schmidt. Wo wohnst du?
Schüler
Ich wohne in Amerika.
Working with a partner, take turns reciting the script. Feel free to change the names to
you and your partner’s name.

Mini Assignment 2
Translate the conversation as shown into English.
Some other expressions that are used on a frequent basis include:
Ich verstehe das.
I understand that.
Ich verstehe das nicht.
I don’t understand that.
Langsamer, bitte.
Slower, please.
Sprechen Sie deutsch?
Sprichst du deutsch?

Do you speak German?
Ich spreche (kein) deutsch.
I speak German. (I don’t speak German.)
Wer ist das?
Who is that?
Wo ist das?
Where is that?
Angenehm!
Pleasure to meet you.
Alles Gute!
All is well!
Toll!
Great!
Ausgezeichnet!
Excellent!
Mini Assignment 3
Write an appropriate response to each expression in this conversation.
Lehrer
Guten Tag!
Schüler
Lehrer
Wie geht’s?
Schüler
Lehrer
Wo wohnst du?
Schüler
Lehrer
Schüler
Sprichst du deutsch?
 Alphabet & Pronunciation
The German and English alphabets are based on the Latin letter system. English has 26
characters in its alphabet, but German has a 27th character, and some vowels will
sometimes have an umlaut added that changes the pronunciation of the vowel. First,
let’s review the German alphabet and practice saying it.
Letter
Name
German Word
English Meaning
Aa
ah
Vater
father
Bb
bay
Boot
boat
Cc
tsay
Computer
computer
Dd
day
Dialekt
dialect
Ee
ay
lesen
To read
Ff
eff
fliegen
To fly
Gg
gay
gehen
To go
Hh
hah
Hand
hand
Ii
ee
Igel
groundhog
Jj
yawt
Junge
boy (youth)
Kk
kah
kaufen
To buy
Ll
ell
laufen
To run
Mm
emm
malen
To paint
Nn
enn
nehmen
To take
Oo
oh
Ofen
oven
Pp
pay
Platz
Seat (place, plaza)
Qq
coo
bequem
comfortable
Rr
air
fahren
To travel
Ss
ess
segeln
To sail
Tt
tay
Teil
part
Uu
oo
Schule
school
Vv
fau
Volk
people
Ww
vay
Wagen
car
Letter
Name
German Word
English Meaning
Xx
icks
Taxi
taxi
Yy
uepsilon
Physiker
Physicist
Zz
tset
zeigen
To point
ß
ess tset*
Schloß
castle
Ää
A-umlaut
Mädchen
girl
Öö
O-umlaut
schön
beautiful
Üü
U-umlaut
Lügen
To tell a lie
*The ß is dying out in written German. Switzerland has abandoned its use in modern
printing, and often a double s is substituted in place of the ß. We will discuss these rules
in greater detail in class.

Mini Assignment 4
Practice pronouncing these words in class. Repeat the list as needed until you have
mastered these words. Focus on the pronunciation, not the spelling.

langsam
slow
folgen
To follow
brennen
To burn
gesamt
whole
Computer
computer
heißen
To be named
drücken
To press
isolieren
To isolate
empfehlen
To recommend
Junge
boy
Single vowel sounds
Most German words are stressed on the first syllable. Both English and German have
long and short vowel sounds. Let’s examine some examples of both the long and short
vowel sounds in German.
Long a is pronounced as in the word “water” or ah.
Plan
Glas
Jahr
Kam
Ja
plan
glass
year
came
yes
Short a is pronounced as in the word “appeal” or uh.
Mann
Ball
alt
kalt
das
man
ball
old
cold
that
Long e (sometimes spelled ee) is pronounced as in the word “day” or ay.
der
wer
er
Tee
See
the
who
he
tea
lake, sea
Short e is pronounced as in the word “bet.”
Bett
Welt
wenn
es
jetzt
bed
world
when
it
now
Long i is pronounced as in the word “greet” or ee.
wir
mir
ich
dich
sich
we
me
I
you
himself
Short i is pronounced as in the word “finish.”
sing
Ring
finster
Winter
mischen
sing
ring
dark
winter
mix
Long o is pronounced as in the word “rose” or oh.
Brot
Rose
Zone
schon
wohnen
bread
rose
zone
already
reside
Short o is pronounced as in the word “mother” or uh.
Onkel
Stock
kommst
voll
dort
uncle
stick, piece
come
full
there
Long u is pronounced as in the word “boot” or oo.
Bruder
Schule
Hut
Stuhl
Fuss/Fuß
brother
school
hat
chair
foot
Short u is pronounced as in the word “soot.”

und
unter
Butter
Mutter
Suppe
and
under
butter
mother
soup
Vowel combinations
These pairings are important to consider when speaking in German. You have already
seen several such as the ie vowel pairing. What follows are basic rules to follow
regarding pronunciation of words in each combination. Note that words borrowed from
other languages are often pronounced as they are in their native language.
1.
Aa is pronounced as a long ah sound. For example: Paar is pronounced “pahr” and it
means “pair.”
2.
Ai is pronounced as a long i sound. For example, Aicher is the name of a famous
pictographer who designed a number of posters for the 1972 Olympic games in
Munich.
3.
Au is pronounced as an ow sound. For example, Frau is pronounced “frow” and
means “woman” or “Mrs.”
4.
Äu is pronounced as an oy sound. For example, Fräulein is pronounced “froy-line”
and means “Miss.”
5.
Ee is pronounced as a long ay sound. For example, Seele is pronounced “say-luh”
and means “soul.”
6.
Ei is pronounced as a long i sound. For example, Nein is pronounced “nine” and
means “no.”
7.
Eu is also pronounced as an oy sound. For example, Eule is pronounced “oy-luh” and
means “owl.”
8.
Ie is pronounced as a long e sound. For example, nieseln is pronounced “nee-zeln”
and it means “drizzle.”
9.
Oo is pronounced as a long oh sound. For example, Boot is pronounced “bote” and
means “boat.”
American keyboards lack the umlauted vowels, however, they can be made in one of two
ways. Either include a letter -e after the vowel that requires an umlaut, or type them on
the keyboard using the following character codes. (Note: these codes are NOT required
when using a tablet or iPad. We will discuss the iPad version in class.)
On a standard QWERTY keyboard, hold the ALT key and using the numeric keypad, type:
Upper Case

Lower Case
0196
Ä
0223
ß
0214
Ö
0228
ä
0220
Ü
0246
ö
0252
ü
Consonant sounds and combinations
Some of the letter combinations in this section have an English equivalent. All of the
combinations make a sound different from any individual letter in the alphabet. Let’s
examine the rules that guide how to pronounce various consonant pairings.
1.
Ch in standard German is pronounced like the ch in the Scottish word loch. One
could easily compare it to the sound a hissing cat makes.
2.
Chs in the middle of a word is pronounced like the English letter x. Consider the
word wachsen which means “to grow.”
3.
D at the end of a word or syllable in German is pronounced like an English t.
Examples include: Wind (wind), Grund (ground).
4.
G at the end of a word is pronounced like an English k. Examples include: klug
(clever), vierzig (forty).
5.
H before a vowel is pronounced like an h in the word “home.” Examples include:
Haus (house), Hut (hat).
6.
When H appears after a vowel, it is silent. Example: wohnen (to reside, live).
7.
J is pronounced like a y in the word “year.” Examples include: Jahr (year), Junge
(boy).
8.
Both letters in the Pf combination are pronounced. The word Pfeffer means
“pepper.”
9.
R is pronounced in one of two ways. It can be trilled like a Spanish r as in the word
“rose.” At the end of a word, it can also sound like a Boston-r as in the word Butter.
10. S is pronounced like a z in words like “Rose,” which means “rose.” When S appears at
the end of the word, it is pronounced like the word Glas (glass).
11. Sch is pronounced sh as in Schule, schwierig, Schwester, which mean “school,
difficult,” and “sister.”
12. Sp is pronounced shp as in the words spielen and Sport, which mean “play” and
“sport.”
13. Th does exist in German, but the h is silent. Example: Theater (theater).
14. V is pronounced like an English f. Example: von (from).
15. W is pronounced like an English v. Example: Wasser (water).
16. Z is pronounced as ts. Example: zehn (ten).

Mini Assignment 5
This is a full class activity. Practice pronouncing these words out loud.
stehen
waschen
Schwester
sehen
vier
Sport
gehen
arbeiten
ich
Theater
Zeigen
mich
Pfeffer
Klasse
Seele
Pfiff
Grund
schön
wachsen
Wind
Mädchen
 Counting to 100
The following chart lists all the numbers from 0 to 100.
0
null
23
dreiundzwanzig
46
sechsundvierzig
1
eins
24
vierundzwanzig
47
siebenundvierzig
2
zwei
25
fünfundzwanzig
48
achtundvierzig
3
drei
26
sechsundzwanzig
49
neunundvierzig
4
vier
27
siebenundzwanzig
50
fünfzig
5
fünf
28
achtundzwanzig
51
einundfünfzig
6
sechs
29
neunundzwanzig
52
zweiundfünfzig
7
sieben
30
dreißig
53
dreiundfünfzig
8
acht
31
einunddreißig
54
vierundfünfzig
9
neun
32
zweiunddreißig
55
fünfundfünfzig
10
zehn
33
dreiunddreißig
56
sechsundfünfzig
11
elf
34
vierunddreißig
57
siebenundfünfzig
12
zwölf
35
fünfunddreißig
58
achtundfünfzig
13
dreizehn
36
sechsunddreißig
59
neunundfünfzig
14
vierzehn
37
siebenunddreißig
60
sechzig
15
fünfzehn
38
achtunddreißig
70
siebzig
16
sechzehn
39
neununddreißig
80
achtzig
17
siebzehn
40
vierzig
90
neunzig
18
achtzehn
41
einundvierzig
100
hundert
19
neunzehn
42
zweiundvierzig
20
zwanzig
43
dreiundvierzig
21
einundzwanzig
44
vierundvierzig
22
zweiundzwanzig
45
fünfundvierzig
 Common German Names
The following list shows the most popular German names for boys and girls (baby
names) in Germany over a period of more than 40 years—from 1957 to 2000. This
alphabetical list reflects a summary of the 10 most popular German first names for each
year during that period. Each name in the list was at one time a top ten name for one or
more years from 1957 to 2000. The list was compiled by the German Language Society
(Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache e.V. - GfdS).
Source: http://german.about.com/library/blname_topDE.htm, Taken August 19, 2014.
German Names for Boys and Girls
Deutsche Jungen- und Mädchennamen
GERMANY 1957-2000
In alphabetical order
BOYS
Jungen
GIRLS
Mädchen
Alexander
Andreas
Benjamin
Bernd
Christian
Daniel
David
Dennis
Dieter
Dirk
Dominik
Eric, Erik
Felix
Florian
Frank
Jan
Jens
Jonas
Jörg
Jürgen
Kevin
Andrea
Angelika
Anja
Anke
Anna, Anne
Annett
Antje
Barbara
Birgit
Brigitte
Christin
Christina, Christine
Claudia
Daniela
Diana
Doreen
Franziska
Gabriele
Heike
Ines
Jana
Klaus
Kristian (Christian)
Leon
Lukas
Marcel
Marco, Marko
Mario
Markus
Martin
Mathias, Matthias
Max
Maximilian
Michael
Mike, Maik
Niklas
Patrick
Paul
Peter
Philipp, Phillipp
Ralf, Ralph
René
Robert
Sebastian
Stefan, Stephan
Steffen
Sven, Swen
Thomas
Thorsten, Torsten
Tim
Tobias
Tom
Ulrich
Uwe
Wolfgang
Janina
Jennifer
Jessica, Jessika
Julia
Juliane
Karin
Karolin
Katharina
Kathrin, Katrin
Katja
Kerstin
Klaudia (Claudia)
Kristin (Christin)
Laura
Lea
Lena
Lisa
Mandy
Manuela
Maria
Marie
Marina
Martina
Melanie
Monika
Nadine
Nicole
Petra
Sabine
Sabrina
Sandra
Sara, Sarah
Silke
Simone
Sophia, Sophie
Stefanie, Stephanie
Susanne
Tanja
Ulrike
Ursula
Uta, Ute
Vanessa
Yvonne
When addressing an adult male, use the word Herr, which in English is “mister.” When
addressing an adult female, use the word Frau, which means “missus. (Mrs.)” The
outdated term Fräulein is still sometimes used and means “Miss.” If an adult happens to
be a doctor, the formal way to address that person is “Herr Doktor” or “Frau Doktorin.”

Mini Assignment 6
Say the following expressions in German:
1.
Good morning, Dr. Schmidt!
2.
Thank you, Sabine.
3.
You’re very welcome, Reinhardt.
4.
How are you, Mr. Mueller?
5.
Goodbye, Mrs. Meier.
6.
I am Mr. Braun.
7.
My name is Mrs. Schneider.
8.
Where do you live, Mr. Klingshirn?
 Cognates: True and False
A cognate is a word in one language that is similar in spelling and pronunciation to a
word in another language. Some words are true cognates, which means that the words
have the same meaning in both languages. Some examples of true cognates include:
der Hotel
der Clown
die Dame
der Pilot
der Student
Hotel
Clown
Lady (dame)
Pilot
Student
A "false cognate" is a word in one language that is identical or similar to a word in
another language, but does not mean the same thing. For instance, both German and
English have the word fast, but the German word means "almost."
The glossary shown on About.com shows the many German-English "false friends" and
other words that can be confusing. But don't forget that there are also many genuine
cognates shared by German and English. (Note: Technically and linguistically, cognate
words have the same root or "ancestor," but for our purposes we mean any "false
friend" that can confuse people learning a second language because of its close
resemblance to a word in their own language.)
Source: http://german.about.com/library/blfalsef.htm

Assignment 1
Working in groups of three, create an introductory conversation in which two students
introduce themselves to a new student at school.
 Chapter 1 Vocabulary
bitte
Please, you’re welcome
ich
I
danke
Thank you
Ja
yes
Frau
Mrs.
Jahr (das)
year
Guten Abend!
Good evening!
Junge (der)
boy
Guten Morgen!
Good morning!
langsam
slow
Gute Nacht!
Good night!
Mädchen (das)
girl
Guten Tag!
Good day!
nein
no
Hallo!
Hello!
sehr
very
heiße
To be named
viel
much
Herr
Mr.
Wer ist das?
Who is that?
Wo ist das?
Where is that?