| video 001: explanations :: grammar :: vocabulary |
(
The two girl are going to describe the16 federal states of Germany. As is can already be deduced from the name, Federal Republic of Germany, Germany is a confederation of 16 states, called Länder. What does that mean in practice? That' s means that in some areas the Länder, the federal states, are independent from the
central goverment, for instance in education, where every Land has it' s own policies. In other fields, like foreign policy, dominates obviously the central goverment. It useful as well to know that Germany has two Parlaments. One of them is the Bundesrat, the presentation of the Länder, the other one the Bundestag, the presentation of Germany as a whole. For certain laws both parlaments have to agree in order to get a law accepted. Three of the Länder, the two girls will talk about that, are only cities: Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen.)
Hallo! Das ist meine Schwester. = Hi! This is my sister!
mein = my
Schwester = sister
ist = is
Und das ist meine Schwester! = And that' s my sister!
Normalerweise gehen wir ja selber in die Schule, aber heute sind wir mal die Lehrer und erzählen Euch was über die deutschen Bundsländer = Normaly we got to school ourselves, but today we are the teachers and we are going to tell you something about the federal states of Germany. .
selber = ourself
Ich mache es selber = I do it myself
gehen = to go
Schule = school
aber = but
heute = today
Lehrer = teacher
erzählen = to tell
Hier direkt über uns könnt Ihr alles mitlesen, was wir sagen. = There, right upon of us you can read what we says
über = upon, above
über uns = upon of us
können = can
was = here it is a relative pronoun which corresponds to that in english
sagen = to say
Und wenn Ihr da ganz oben klickt, dann könnt Ihr auch die Übersetzung sehen. = And if you clic on top you can read the translation as well. .
Können wir jetzt anfangen? = Can we start?
jetzt = ahora
Ja klar, Deutschland hat 16 Bundesländer. = Of course. Germany has 16 federal states
Das schönste Bundesland heißt Nordrhein-Westfalen, = and the prettiest one of them Nordrhein-Westfalen
schön = pretty
der schönste = the prettiest one ( superlative)
denn da wohnen wir! = because that' s where we live
denn = because
wohnen = to live
wir = we
Genau, aber du sitzt gerade genau davor, Moment mal gerade... = That' s it, but you sit just in front of it, wait a moment...
genau = exactly, here: That's it
sitzen = to sit
davor = in front of
davor sitzen = to sit in front of
besser ! = better!
gut - besser => good - better (comparative)
Nordrhein-Westfalen ist auch das Bundesland mit den meisten Einwohnern. = Nordrhein - Westfalen is as well the federal state with the biggest number of inhabitants.
meisten = here: the biggest number
Einwohner = inhabitants
Hier gibt es viele große Städte wie Köln, Düsseldorf, Essen, Duisburg und noch viel mehr. = Here there are a lot of big citie like Colone, Dusseldorf, Essen, Duisburg and many others.
Hier = here
Es gibt = there are
Hier gibt es = here are
Grammar: 'Es' is an abstract subject and is used more or less the same way as 'it' in english. (It rains <=> Es regnet). We see in that little sentence, that the subject is put after the verb if the sentence starts with an adverb.
Es gibt Äpfel. = There are apples here.
but
Hier gibt es Äpfel. = Here are apples.
Ah, da bist du ja wieder ! = Ah, you are back!
wieder = once again
ja = normally the meaning is 'yes', but here it is just an interjection.
sein - bist => to be - you are
du = you (only used in german in an informal situation)
Das war wirklich sehr witzig ! = That was really funny!
witzig = funny (in this case the meaning is obviously ironic. She didn' t find it very funny that her sister made her disappear.
Kann ich mal kurz die Fernbedienung haben? = Can you give me the remote control?
können - kann => can - you can
Fernbedienung = remote control
haben = to have (as in english to have / haben is an auxiliary verb as well)
kurz = brevemente
Und es gibt hier auch noch ganz viele kleine Dörfer und ganz viele Wiesen und Felder und Kühe und sowas. = Y aquí también hay muchos pequeños pueblos, prados, campos y vacas y cosas de este tipo.
und = and
auch = also
klein = little
Dorf - Dörfer = village - villages
Wiese - Wiesen = meadow - meadows
Feld - Felder = field - fields
Kuh - Kühe = cow - cows
sowas = something like that (in this context slang)
Nächstes Mal erzählen wir Euch alles, was Ihr über Berlin wissen müsst. = Next time we are going to tell you all you must know about Berlin.
nächstes mal = next time
erzählen = to tell
alles = all
ihr = you (the second form singular and plural can be written with capital letters, it' s more respectful)
wissen = to know
müssen - müsst = must - you must
Berlin ist die größte Stadt Deutschland und gleichzeitig ein eigenes Bundesland. = Berlin is the biggest city in Germany and at the same time a federal state itself.
groß - die größte Stadt = big - the biggest city (superlativo)
gleichzeitig = at the same time
eigen = here: itself
Toll, was du alles weißt! = Marvellous, all the things you know!
toll = estupendo
wissen - weißt = saber - sabes
Ich freue mich, wenn Du Dich freust! = I am happy if you are happy!
freuen = here: to be happy
dich = you (reflexive pronoun)
Bis später = see you later
spät - später = late - later
Bis bald! = see you later (literally: till later)
bald = soon
and 20 others with a similar approach.
