Lesson 4-3 - Lektion 4-3
Declension of possessive pronouns
Lesson 4: Visit. Activity 3
From this activity you will know how to:
- invite your guest to the table
- treat your guest with something
- wish your guest to enjoy the meal
- give a toast
Learn the words and expressions for the dialogue
Take a seat!
Take a seat, Mr. Schulz!
to eat
When do you eat?
Help yourself (to food)!
Please help yourself!
Enjoy your meal! Bon appetit!
(used at the beginning of meals)
still; (only) just
He still works in Dresden.
salad
The salad is very good.
to give
Give me the forms, please!
would like
What would you like?
meat
What would you like some meat?
full (up)
I am already full.
coffee
Would you like (some) coffee?
tea
I would like some tea. (not lit.)
cup
Do you have another cup? (not lit.)
to drink
I like to drink tea. (not lit.)
friendship
How long have you been friends? (lit.: how old is your friendship)
To your health!
I’d like to drink to your health!
Pay attention to the form and the usage of the words
The verb mögen generally means “to like” and it is a modal verb, as the verb dürfen (see lesson 2, activity 3). But unlike dürfen, the verb mögen is used not only with verbs, but often also with nouns. Its most common form is: möchte(n) “would like”:
Ich möchte ein Formular. – I would like a form.
Глагол möchte(n) имеет следующие формы:
Singular
ich, er, sie, es
möchtePlural
wir, sie, Sie
möchtenGreifen Sie zu! — a set expression for an invitation to start a meal.
Auf Ihr Wohl! — a set expression; a very common toast.
You already heard about verb government in German when we talked about transitive and intransitive verbs. In this activity you need to learn the government of the verb trinken (to drink), namely:
trinken auf – to drink to (smth., smb., someone’s health).
Remember the following ways of word-formation (2 and 4)
der Freund + Schaft = die Freundschaft friendship
essen = das Essen food, meal
Practise in reading the words
Bitte, nehmen Sie Platz!
Grammar points
You already know the possessive pronouns mein and Ihr. (see lesson 2, activity 3 и lesson 3, activity 3). In this activity you came across one more possessive pronoun: 1st person plural unser “our”. As other possessive pronouns (see lesson 4, activity 2), the ending changes depending on gender and number. Its declension you will find in the table below.
Much like in English, in German, there are nouns which are substances or abstract concepts. They are usually used without an article. In order to negate these nouns we use the word kein (see lesson 4, activity 1):
Haben Sie Zeit? – Nein, ich habe keine Zeit.
Möchten Sie Fleisch? – Nein, ich möchte kein Fleisch usw.Besides the already known form of the imperative mood, for example: Entschuldigen Sie! Kommen Sie bitte! etc. (see lesson 2, activity 1 и lesson 4, activity 2), there is a narrative form that expresses commands, requests etc., which sometimes corresponds to the English “let’s” + a suitable verb:
Füllen wir das Formular aus! – Let’s fill in the form!
The verbs geben and essen, as the verbs sprechen and helfen in 3rd person singular change their root vowel е to i (see lesson 2, activity 4):
ich gebe, esse, spreche, helfe
er gibt, ißt, spricht, hilft
Declension of possessive pronouns
| Singular | Plural | ||||||
| N | Masc. | mein | sein | ihr | unser | Ihr | meine, seine, ihre, unsere |
| Neut. | mein | sein | ihr | unser | Ihr | ||
| Fem. | meine | seine | ihre | unsere | Ihre | ||
| A | Masc. | meinen | seinen | ihren | unseren | Ihren | meine, seine, ihre, unsere |
| Neut. | mein | sein | ihr | unser | Ihr | ||
| Fem. | meine | seine | ihre | unsere | Ihre | ||
| D | Masc. | meinem | seinem | ihrem | unserem | Ihrem | meinen, seinen, ihren, unseren |
| Neut. | meinem | seinem | ihrem | unserem | Ihrem | ||
| Fem. | meiner | seiner | ihrer | unserer | Ihrer | ||
1. You are asked if you would like to perform a particular action. Answer the question. Ask the same question to the interlocutor.
B. Ja, ich möchte kommen.
Continue:
studieren, rauchen, sprechen, essen, arbeiten, schreiben.
2. You and your wife (husband) are asked if that is your father (son etc.). Answer the question. Ask the same question to the interlocutor.
B. Ja, das ist unser Vater.
Continue:
die Tochter, der Freund, der Bruder, die Schwester, der Kollege, die Eltern.
3. You are treated to something. Refuse. What would you say if you were treating your guest?
B. Vielen Dank! Ich möchte keinen Salat mehr.
Continue:
das Fleisch, das Wasser, das Mineralwasser, der Saft, der Tee, der Fleischsalat, der Kaffee.
4. You are asked if your friend (son etc.) is doing something well. Answer. Ask the same question to the interlocutor.
B. Nein, mein Freund arbeitet noch nicht ganz gut.
Continue:
der Sohn (studieren), der Kollege (schreiben), der Vater (wohnen), der Bruder (sprechen), die Tochter (essen).
5. Fill in the gaps with the appropriate words from the dialogue.
1. Nehmen Sie bitte ! 2. Bitte, Sie zu! 3. Guten ! 4. Ich möchte auf unsere trinken. 5. Möchten Sie eine Kaffee? 6. Noch etwas Fleisch? — Danke, ich bin . 7. Auf Ihr !
6. Reconstruct the dialogue by filling in the gaps with the appropriate words.
Auf Sie, Frau Neumann!
!
7. Try to reproduce the dialogue “Bitte, nehmen Sie Platz!” by memory.
Check yourself!
What expressions will you use if you want to:
invite your guest to the table
treat your guest with something
wish your guest to enjoy the meal
give a toast
