Counting floors. The article. Declension of dieser

Lesson 6: In the hotel. Activity 1

From this activity you will know how to:

• ask if there are any rooms available
• say what kind of room you need
• ask about the cost of the room per night
• ask where your room is located

Learn the words and expressions for the dialogue

Pay attention to the form and the usage of the words

1. Counting floors when learning a language is always a bit problematic, because some count from the first floor while the others count from the ground floor. In Germany, the floor counting is like in Britain. It means that there is also the ground floor (see activity 3) below the first floor, so Americans be careful: der 1. (erste), der 2. (zweite) Stock – the first, the second etc. (while in America: the second, the third etc.)

   Remember: im 1. (ersten) Stock – on the first floor (in America: on the second floor) etc.

2. The verb nehmen (take) change its form in 3^rd person singular:

    

   ich nehme
   er nimmt

   wir nehmen
   Sie nehmen

3. Глагол brauchen (need) takes an object in the accusative case. Compare:

   Ich brauche einen Dolmetscher. – I need an interpreter.

4. The preposition für is similar to the English “for” when we talk about a period of time:

   Ich komme für drei Tage. – I (will) come for three days.

5. The particle denn is often used in colloquial speech but not always can be translated into English.

6. The official currency of Germany is the euro (€) [ˈɔɪro] - abbreviated to EUR, but we will also have to use the old currency: Deutsche Mark (DM) [deː'mark], because it is used in the audio which were recorded a bit earlier before the marks were replaced by the euro. DM goes before the price, but it is read after:

   DM 30,- dreißig Mark.
   30 Euro – dreißig Euro.
   30 € – dreißig Euro.

Remember the following way of word-formation (1)

einzel(n) individual; separate; single + das Zimmer = das Einzelzimmer single room
doppel(t) double + das Zimmer = das Doppelzimmer double room

Practise in reading the words

Willkommen in unserem Hotel!

Signs you can see in a hotel

Grammar points

1. In lesson 3 (see activity 3) you learned about the article, its role in a sentence and some of its forms. Now remember all forms of the indefinite article:

   	Singular			Plural
   	Masc.	Neut.	Fem.
   N	ein	ein	eine	No indefinite article in plural
   A	einen	ein	eine
   D	einem	einem	einer
   G	eines	eines	einer

   Just like in English, the indefinite article is used when the object is one of many or we talk about it for the first time. It is often used in a combination with the link-verb sein:

   Das ist ein Formular. – This is a form.

   If we negate a phrase, we use kein (see lesson 4, activity 1):

   Haben Sie ein Formular? – Nein, ich habe kein Formular.

2. There is a difference in usage between English demonstrative pronouns ‘that’ and ‘this’ and their German equivalent ‘das’. First of all, it can mean ‘this; these; that; those’. It is used with the link-verb sein. Secondly, when it is used with nouns, it needs to be declined. This is where dieser comes in. Its forms have similarities with the definite article (see the table below).

   Das ist schön – This is nice.
   Dieses Auto ist schön. – This car is nice

3. Ordinal numerals ‘first’, ‘second’ etc. are made from cardinal numerals by adding the suffix -te till number 19, and the suffix -ste for numbers starting from 20.

    

   der 1. (erste)
   der 2. (zweite)
   der 3. (dritte)

   der 4. (vierte) etc.
   der 20. (zwanzigste)
   der 21. (einundzwanzigste) etc.

   If we use numbers when writing an ordinal numeral we always add dot after it. Like in English, ordinal numerals are often used with the definite article.

Declension of the demonstrative pronoun dieser
(in comparison with the der)

1. You are asked if your company has a certain position for a job. Answer the question. Ask the interlocutor the same thing.

2. You do not have something that you are asked about. Give a negative answer. What question would you ask if you were the interlocutor?

3. You are asked about what floor your room is located on. Answer the question. Ask the interlocutor the same thing.

4. You are looking for someone in particular. Ask where (s)he is (they are). Answer if you are asked the same question.

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

1. Ich brauche ein Einzelzimmer mit . 2. Was kostet ein Zimmer ? 3. Das Zimmer kostet 50,- Euro mit . 4. Das ist Ihr . 5. Wo das Zimmer? 6. Das Zimmer liegt im 3. .

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

7. Try to reproduce the dialogue “Willkommen in unserem Hotel!” by memory.

Check yourself!

What expressions will you use if you want to:

ask if there are any rooms available
say what kind of room you need
ask about the cost of the room per night
ask where your room is located