German I

This is the place for the first lesson in German.

Dialogue: Two people introduce themselves
The following dialogue is between two persons who just met and introduce themselves. After reading it listen to the audio file to get a feeling for the German language (in case you wonder: the voice of Jörg is spoken by a French native):



The first thing we find in this dialogue is the conjugation of a verb. In German, all verbs are conjugated for all pronouns, different to English. Think of it as the verb "to be": I am, you are, he is, they are, etc. German has distinct conjugations for every verb. For instance, the verb "sein":


 * ich bin
 * du bist
 * er/sie/es ist
 * wir sind
 * Ihr seid
 * sie/Sie sind

You will learn more about conjugating verbs in further lessons.

The other thing we notice on the dialogue is that the age is said as in English. I am 19 years old -> Ich bin neunzehn Jahre alt. In other languages, like French or Spanish the age is said using "to have... years" instead of using "to be ... years old": "J'ai 30 ans" -> "Tengo 30 años".

next ?
For further planning, please visit the Learning German talk page.

Stay thrilled.