Where are you from? Question words: woher, wo and wie. The verb sein in the 1^st and 3^rd person

Lesson 2: Acquaintance. Activity 2

From this activity you will know how to:

• say where you are from
• say where you live
• ask your interlocutor whether he/she speaks English
• say that you understand German

Learn the words and expressions for the dialogue

* Volgograd is a city in Russia.

Pay attention to the form and the usage of the words

1. Woher, wo and wie are the question words which start interrogative sentences:

   Woher kommen Sie? Where do you come from?
   Wo wohnen Sie? Where do you live?
   Wie heißen Sie? What is your name?

2. The verb kommen is similar to the English word “come” which means that it includes different ways of approaching to the speaker: arrive, go (on foot or by vehicle), fly, etc.:

   Woher kommen Sie? Where do you come (arrive, fly) from?

3. The article die is a characteristic of feminine nouns.

4. The following expression has the same structure both in German and English and does not include prepositions:

   I speak German.

   Ich spreche Deutsch.
   I understand English.

   Ich verstehe Englisch.

5. The conjunction und is similar to English “and”:

   Peter und Rolf wohnen in Halle.

   Peter and Rolf live in Halle.
   Ich spreche Deutsch. Und Sie?

   I speak German. And you?

Remember the following way of word-formation (4)

deutsch German — Deutsch the German language
englisch English — Englisch the English language

Practise in reading the words

Woher kommen Sie?

Grammar points

1. Note the endings of the verbs in 1^st person singular (after ‘ich’) and 3^rd person plural (after ‘Sie’):

    

   ich

   -e

   heiße, komme, wohne

    

   Sie

   -en

   heißen, kommen, wohnen

2. Remember the question words and possible answers on them:

   wie? how?

   Wie heißen Sie? — Ich heiße Rolf (Schneider).
   What is your name? — My name is Rolf (Schneider).
   wo? where?

   Wo wohnen Sie? — Ich wohne in London.
   Where do you live? — I live in London.
   woher? from where?

   Woher kommen Sie? — Ich komme aus Berlin.
   Where do you come from? — I come from Berlin.

3. If a noun is used with an article after the preposition ‘aus’, then the article is used in the dative case (feminine gender in this case is der):

   Woher kommen Sie? Ich komme aus der Schweiz.
   Where do you come from? I come from Switzerland.

4. If a question contains pronoun Sie “you” (polite form), the answer will include either ich “I” or wir “we” if we are talking about several people:

   Kommen Sie aus Berlin?
   Do you come from Berlin? (to one person)
   Ja, ich komme aus Berlin.
   Yes, I come from Berlin.
   Kommen Sie aus Berlin?
   Do you come from Berlin? (to several people)
   Ja, wir kommen aus Berlin.
   Yes, we come from Berlin.

The verb endings of pronouns “ich” and “Sie”

1. You want to know if your interlocutor is from Berlin or not. Ask him a question. What would you answer if you came from Berlin?

2. You have been asked if you are from London. Give a negative answer. Ask your partner if he/she comes from London.

3. Find out whether your interlocutor speaks English/German or not. Answer that question.

4. You are telling a certain fact about yourself. Ask your partner if it is true about him/her too.

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

1. kommen Sie? 2. Ich komme Wolgograd. 3. Ich in Wolgograd. 4. Sie Russisch? 5. wohnen Sie? 6. Ich verstehe Deutsch. 7. Sie aus Russland?

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

7. Try to reproduce the dialogue “Woher kommen Sie?” by memory.

Check yourself!

What expressions will you use if you want to:

say where you are from
say where you live
ask your interlocutor whether he/she speaks English
say that you understand German