KAPITEL 1
The basic primary colors in German are called “die Farben”. Many of them are English cognates, meaning they stem from or sound similar to the color’s translation in English.
For example, the translations for the colors “gold” and “orange” are the same in both languages, while the translations in German for the colors “silber” [silver], “grün” [green], and “blau” [blue] sound very similar to their English meanings.
In German, if you want to say a color is “light” or “dark”, you simply adjoin the word “hell” or “dunkel” at the beginning of the color similarly to how you would in English.
For example, in English you have “light blue” or “dark red.” However, in German, you would have “hellblau” or “dunkelrot.”
Übung 1
Was ist deine Liebelingsfarbe? What is your favorite color? Work in a group and Take turns asking and answering the question above.
Modell:
Q- Was ist deine Lieblingsfarbe?
A- Meine Lieblingsfarbe ist blau.
Übung 2
Describe your belongings using the colors you learned in the lesson. Work in a group.
Modell:
Q- Welche Farbe hat dein Hemd? (What color is your shirt?)
A- Mein Hemd ist blau. (My shirt is blue.)
–dein Fahrrad –deine Lampe
–dein Buch –dein Telefon
–dein Kugelschreiber –dein Segelboat
–dein Schreibtisch –dein Heft
–dein Haus –dein Apfel
Übung 3
What color do you associate with each of the following words?
–froh –traurig –das Buch –der Ozean
–die Schule –Tennisspielen –die Welt –das Klavier
–das Geld –Kartenspielen –das Papier -der Basketball
–die Blume –der Flamingo –der Haifisch –die Pflaume
Gegenteile
alt – old fleissig – industrious
jung – young faul – lazy
amerikanisch – American sauber – clean
deutsch – German schmutzig – dirty
böse – bad/evil süss – sweet
nett – nice (person) sauer – sour
groß – big,tall glücklich – lucky/happy
klein – little,small,short unglücklich – unlucky
häßlich – ugly froh – happy
hübsch – pretty traurig – sad
teuer – expensive leicht – easy / light
billig – cheap/inexpensive schwer – difficult / heavy
reich – rich normal – normal
arm – poor fremd – strange
heiss – hot gesund – healthy
kalt – cold krank – ill
schnell – fast intelligent – intelligent
langsam – slow blöd – dumb/stupid
voll – full schön – beautiful
leer – empty häßlich – ugly
nah – near ernst – serious
weit – far lustig – funny
dick – fat/heavy dünn – skinny/thin
Übung 1
Use an adjective to fill the blank in the following sentences.
Modell: Die Frau ist krank.
1. Die Frau ist ________.
2. Der Hund ist _______.
3. Das Kind ist ________.
Übung 2
Make up as many sentences as you can using the format from Übung 1. Describe everything you have and see. Work with a partner if you have one.
Modell:
Du: Beschreib dein Auto.
Partner(in): Mein Auto ist klein und rot.
Übung 3
Translate from German to English.
Modell: Die Katze ist klein.
-The cat is small.
1. Das Auto is rot.
_____________________________________________________________________
2. Meine Hausafgabe ist schwer.
_____________________________________________________________________
3. Meine GroBmutter ist alt.
_____________________________________________________________________
Greetings and Farewells
In Germany, most people do not ask, “How are you?” when passing someone on the street. It is much more formal and should be used when greeting an old friend who has been away for quite some time, or during similar circumstances. It is much more common to say the following greetings:
In the morning, one could say Guten Morgen, good morning. Or Morgen is fine too.
The following greetings could be used any time of the day.
Hallo – Hello
Hi – Hi
Tag – Hi (lit. “day”)
Guten Tag – Good Day (formal)
Hey – Hey
In the afternoon, it is common to say Guten Nachmittag, Good Afternoon. In the evening, one could say Guten Abend, good evening.
Between friends, one can also ask, it is very polite and common to shake hands with people you meet.
It is also good to know Es freut mich. It’s a pleasure to meet you; it is quite polite.
Übung 1
Michael is talking to his teacher, what form of greeting should he use?
Formal / Informal
How should Michael greet his Teacher?
___________________
Michael is meeting a friend for lunch, which greeting should he use?
Tag! Hallo! Was gibt's? Morgen!
Michael is talking to his parents later in the day, what should he say?
Tag! Guten Abend. Was gibt's? Hey.
Translate from English to German.
What’s up? _______________
Hello! _______________\
Good Morning! _______________
Farewells
Auf Wiedersehen – Goodbye. (formal) Wiedersehen – Bye. (Informal)
TschüB – Bye. Tschau – Bye
Wiederschauen – See ya later Bis später – See you later.
Bis bald– See you soon. Bis dann– ‘till then
Mach's gut! – Have a good one. (literal Translation: make it good/do it well.)
Guten nach– Good night
Most farewells can be used anytime of the day, or in any place. Usually, when talking to an adult, teacher, elder, family member, official, or generally anyone respected, one should use formal greetings and farewells.
Below is a list of more common greetings, use them to fill in the blanks below.
Hallo – Hello
Hi – Hi Guten Tag – Good day (Formal hello)
Tag – Hi Hey – Hey
Guten Morgen! – Good Morning Guten Nachmittag! – Good Afternoon
Übung 2
Fill in the blank with the proper greeting.
1) Morning Greetings
Hans starts a conversation in the morning.
Hans: _________!
Michael: ___________!
2) What would he say when he leaves?
Hans: ___________!
Michael: __________!
3) In the Middle of the day, they could say…
Hans: _____________!
Michael: _____________!
4) And in the evening?
Hans: _____________!
Michael: _____________!
5) And right before bed?
Hans: _____________!
Michael: _____________!
How are you?
In America and other English speaking countries it is common to ask, “How are you”; However, In Germany this is not the case. If you ask someone in Germany how they are doing, they might tell you their life story, and frankly, you probably don’t care. Germans only ask this if someone is not doing well, or they have not seen them in awhile. The two phrases for this are as follows:
Wie geht’s? How are you?
Wie geht es dir? How are you?
Wie geht es Ihnen? How are you? (formal)