Weak declension of nouns in German

Lesson 15: Travelling. Activity 1

From this activity you will know how to:

• ask when the train leaves
• find out how long it takes to get to somewhere
• buy a ticket on the train
• find out what platform and line the train departs from

Learn the words and expressions for the dialogue

Pay attention to the form and the usage of the words

1. The noun die Eisenbahn is often used in the colloquial speech in its short form as die Bahn:

   Fahren Sie mit der Bahn? — Ja, wie immer.
   Are you going by train (by rail)? — Yes, as always.

   The word die Bahn is also used in compound nouns: die Bahnfahrt «rail journey» («by train»), die Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR) ex-«State Railways of the GDR», die Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) «State Railways of the FRG».

2. The noun der Wagen is not only a «car» but also a «wagon», although it can still be translated as a train car:

   Wo kann ich den Wagen parken? — Where can I park the car?
   Wo ist der Speisewagen? — Hinter unserem Wagen.
   Where is the restaurant car? — Behind our wagon.

3. The noun der Schalter «counter», «ticket window» is also used for booking offices at the railway station: der Fahrkartenschalter «booking/ticket office», die Schalterhalle «booking/ticket hall»:

   Am Fahrkartenschalter keine Auskunft. No information at the ticket office.

Remember the following way of word-formation (3)

abfahren = die Abfahrt departure
ankommen = die Ankunft arrival

Practise in reading the words

Mit der Eisenbahn nach Wien

Grammar points

1. You already know that a number of masculine nouns, for example: der Herr, der Student etc., take the ending -еn in all cases except for the nominative case:

   Die Arbeit des Studenten gefällt mir sehr gut.
   I like the work of the student very much.

2. The following masculine nouns get the same weak declension:

   a) nouns on -е (especially nationalities): der Deutsche «the German», der Russe «the Russian» etc.;

   b) nouns der Herr «Mister», der Mensch «person», der Bauer «farmer»;

   c) nouns of foreign origin with suffixes -ent, -ist and -ant: der Student «student», der Polizist «policeman» etc.

3. The transition group is formed by the nouns der Name «name», der Gedanke «thought», the neuter noun das Herz «heart» and some others. They take the ending -(е)n in all cases except for the genitive case singular, where they get the ending -s: des Namens, des Gedankens, des Herzens etc.

4. The question word wie in a combination with the adjectives lang «long», lange «long» (time), hoch «high» and others form questions which are translated accordingly: «how long?», «how long? how far? how soon?», «how much? how high?» etc.:

   Wie lang ist der Weg? — Der Weg ist 3 km lang.
   How long is the road? — The road is 3 km long.
   Wie hoch ist der Zuschlag? — 5% vom Fahrkartenpreis.
   How much (lit.: how high) is the supplement? — 5% of the ticket price.

Weak declension of nouns

1. You need to go to another city. Ask if you need to change the train. What answer would you give if you were the interlocutor?

2. You want to know how long the train stop in Prague lasts. Ask a question. What answer would you give if you were the interlocutor?

3. You do not know when the train departs. Ask at the information office. How would you answer this question?

4. You want to know what platform the train departs from. Ask a question. What answer would you give if you were the interlocutor?

5. Fill in the gaps with the appropriate words from the dialogue.

1. Von welchem fahren die Züge nach Wien? 2. Wo fährt der D-248 ? 3. Bitte, einmal Wien mit ! 4. Wie lange fährt man bis Wien? — elf Stunden. 5. Sehen Sie sich bitte den an!

6. Reconstruct the dialogue by filling in the gaps with the appropriate words.

7. Try to reproduce the dialogue “Mit der Eisenbahn nach Wien” by memory.

Check yourself!

What expressions will you use if you want to:

ask when the train leaves
find out how long it takes to get to somewhere
buy a ticket on the train
find out what platform and line the train departs from