You are going to Learn: 
Common phrases, how to express facts without using articles, the first and second person singular, a lot of new vocabulary and much more.
This chapter simply deals with you and me and your first encounter with a revolutionary method! “You” appears in the role of an interviewer and “me” (Simon) giving appropriate answers. This conversation is very common, and you will learn useful expressions from it. The focus in on grammar, though. I constructed the chapters with the concept in mind that each person has a special grammatical preference. So Simon (the “I”/“Ich”), for example, dislikes articles, this means that he avoids articles and that is the highlight in chapter 3: You find “my” answers without articles!
Special verbs or the verb endings are highlighted (in bold letters), also nouns and pronouns in object cases plus the corresponding adjectives and articles (the articles are missing in this chapter, because Simon simply “does not like” them). So you will learn expressions with GENERAL NOUNS now, since for these matters the German language mainly also avoids articles. I have chosen this grammatical phenomenon in the beginning - it offers easier constructions. All in all, I want to suggest strongly that you shall learn the questions and answers by heart because they have the inherent power to guide you in the future when you are trying to build your own correct sentences!
By the way, the questions are asked in two ways: The informal way (with “du”, “dir”, “dein”…) and the formal way (with “Sie”, “Ihnen”, “Ihr”…). You address your friends, members of the family, people around your age or children in the informal way (the Germans call it “duzen”) meaning that these persons are somehow familiar to you. But there are also the more formal situations (like business meetings, job interviews, talking to authorities and older people). In these formal situations it is highly indicated to express more official respect using the “Sie”-Form (Germans call it “Siezen”). This “Sie” is always capitalized, and the connected verbs are conjugated in the form of the 3rd person plural.
“Du” (=”You”) or: “Sie” (=the formal “You”) and “Ich” (=”I”):
Question-Word… |
Subject |
Verb |
Adverbs |
Nominative-Object |
Genitive-Object |
Dative-Object („Wo/her?“ oder „Wem/Was?“) |
Accusative-Object („Wohin?“ oder „Wen/Was?“) |
2nd Adverbs |
2nd verb |
Wie heißt du? or: Wie heißen Sie? | |||||||||
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Ich |
heiße |
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Simon. |
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Was magst du? or: Was mögen Sie? |
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Ich |
mag |
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Artikel |
nicht. |
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Woher kommst du? or: Woher kommen Sie? |
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Ich |
komme |
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aus England. |
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Wo lebst du? or: Wo leben Sie? |
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Ich |
lebe |
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in Österreich. |
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Wie geht es dir? or: Wie geht es Ihnen? |
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Es |
geht |
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mir |
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gut. |
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Hast du Familie? or: Haben Sie Familie? |
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Ich |
habe |
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Familie. |
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Bist du verheiratet? or: Sind Sie verheiratet? |
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Ich |
bin |
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verheiratet. |
Wann bist du geboren? or: Wann sind Sie geboren? |
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Ich |
bin |
1980 |
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geboren. |
Was machst du? or: Was machen Sie? |
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Ich |
koche. |
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Wohin gehst du? or: Wohin gehen Sie? |
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Ich |
fahre |
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nach Deutschland. |
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Was machst du gern? or: Was machen Sie gerne? |
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Ich |
gehe |
gern |
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spazieren. |
Was kannst du? or: Was können Sie? |
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Ich |
kann |
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kochen. |
Was darfst du? or: Was dürfen Sie? |
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Ich |
darf |
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Deutsch |
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lernen. |
Was musst du? or: Was müssen Sie? |
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Ich |
muss |
morgen |
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arbeiten. |
Was sollst du? or Was sollen Sie? |
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Ich |
soll |
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aufpassen. |
Was hast du gemacht? or: Was haben Sie gemacht? |
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Ich |
habe |
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Essen |
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gekocht. |
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Welche Sprachen sprichst du? or: Welche Sprachen sprechen Sie? |
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Ich |
spreche |
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Englisch und Deutsch. |
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Wo warst du? or: Wo waren Sie? |
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Ich |
war |
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in Italien. |
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Was hattest du? or: Was hatten Sie? |
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Ich |
hatte |
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Bauchschmerzen |
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Translations of the sentences above:
What is your name?
My name is Simon.
What do you like?
I don´t like articles,
Where are you from?
I come from England.
Where do you live?
I live in Austria.
How are you?
I am fine.
Do you have family?
I have family.
Are you married?
I am married.
When were you born?
I was born in 1980.
What are you doing?
I am cooking.
Where are you going?
I am driving to Germany.
What do you like doing?
I like going for a walk.
What can you do? or: What can you do?
I can cook.
What are you allowed to do?
I may study German.
What do you have to do?
I must work tomorrow.
What shall you do?
I shall pay attention.
What did you do?
I have cooked a meal.
What languages do you speak?
I speak English and German.
Where were you?
I was in Italy.
What did you have?
I had stomach ache.