Formal German
#2 Hmm... Wieso haben Sie keine Lust auf Kino?
#1 Es ist zu teuer, und draußen ist es so schön...
#2 Dann lassen Sie uns in ein Café gehen. Kennen Sie das Café Antabli?
#1 Nein, das kenne ich noch nicht.
#2 Es ist toll. Die Cocktails dort sind sehr lecker und nicht teuer.
English
#2 Hmm… Why aren’t you in the mood for the movies?
#1 It is too expensive, and it [the weather] is so nice outside…
#2 Then let’s go to a café. Do you know the café Antabli?
#1 No, I don’t know it yet.
#2 It’s great. The cocktails there are very delicious and [they are] not
expensive.
Informal German
#2 Hmm... Wieso hast du keine Lust auf Kino?
#1 Es ist zu teuer, und draußen ist es so schön...
#2 Dann lass uns in ein Café gehen. Kennst du das Café Antabli?
#1 Nein, das kenne ich noch nicht.
#2 Es ist cool. Die Cocktails dort sind sehr lecker und nicht teuer.
Informal English
#2 Hmm… Why aren’t you in the mood for the movies?
#1 It is too expensive, and it [the weather] is so nice outside…
#2 Then let’s go to a café. Do you know the café Antabli?
#1 No, I don’t know it yet.
#2 It’s cool. The cocktails there are very yummy and [they are] not expensive.
Vocabulary Sample Sentences
Wieso ist der Himmel blau? Why is the sky blue?
Wieso ist das so? Why is that so?
Das ist zu teuer. That is too expensive.
Ist Bier teuer in Deutschland? Is beer expensive in Germany?
Das ist zu teuer. That is too expensive.
Es ist schön draußen. It’s nice outside.
Draußen ist es heute sehr schön. It's very nice outside today.
Draußen ist es heute sehr schön. It's very nice outside today.
Ich kenne ihn nicht. I don't know him.
Sandra ist dort drüben. Sandra is over there.
Dort ist das Kino. The cinema is (over) there.
In Deutschland gibt es richtig leckere Würstchen. In Germany there are really delicious sausages.
Grammar Points
When you don’t like or don’t want something, express your reasons using “zu” (too):
Ich möchte nicht ins Kino gehen, denn es ist zu teuer. – I don’t want to go to the movies, because it istoo expensive.
Ich habe keine Lust auf die Arbeit, denn die Arbeit ist zu langweilig. – I am not in the mood for thiswork, because the work is too boring.
Das Essen ist lecker. – The food is delicious.
Das Bier ist sehr lecker. – The beer is very delicious.
Die Teilchen sind nicht lecker. – The pastries aren’t delicious.
Die Getr?nke sind so lecker dort! – The drinks are so delicious there!
Die Mahlzeiten sind nicht lecker genug dort. – The meals are not delicious enough there.
NOTE: the definite article (“the”) in these kind of sentences can be either “der”, “die” or “das” forsingular German nouns, reflecting the noun genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. In pluralhowever, it will always be “die”. Then, the “ist” (is) has to be adapted, too; it becomes “sind” (are).
Don’t worry too much about the different forms of “the” yet at this point, just try to absorb thelanguage and keep in mind that “die” is for plural. The Beginner series will have detailed explanationsof grammar points such as this, whereas this Newbie series focusses on giving you a feel for thelanguage and allowing you to start talking in German as soon as possible.
Cultural Insight
Most German men and many of the women, too, love to drink beer. For the men, it is part of a sacredcombination: watching soccer on TV while drinking beer. German beer, that is. Foreign beer doesn'thave much of a market share, and why should it? There are well over a thousand different brands ofGerman beer, that is really a lot, considering that in the world as whole there are less than threethousands brands of beer. As it is, most cities have their own brand of beer. Some even have several.
Of course most of these brands are available locally only and sometimes there is even a kind ofantagonism associated with it: for example, I would not recommend trying to order a beer from K?ln(Cologne) in Düsseldorf. You might get thrown out of the pub, or worse.
Apart from beer, many Germans also like to drink wine. In the case of wine, there is no nationalprejudice, French or Italian wine is consumed just as often as German wine, if not more. If you add upthe numbers for the consumption of wine and beer, you get quite an astounding figure: the averageGerman consumes 140 litres of beer or wine per year!
Other alcoholic beverages are currently not consumed as often, but there is an alarming trend of youthdrinking more and more high-proof alcohol, while the age at which they start to drink decreases. Inorder to combat this development, the German government established a tax of 80 or 90 Euro cents oneach bottle of the so-called "Alcopops" - high-proof alcoholic beverages that have been mixed withsoft drinks in order to attract younger customers, drinks such as Smirnoff Ice. The drinking age inGermany, Switzerland and most parts of Austria is 16 years. That means that once you’re 16, you canbuy most types of alcohol at a store. If a parent buys the alcohol however, there is no restriction on thedrinking age.
Of course you can also use adjectives in other ways:
