Rocket German Newsletter Series
Guten Tag! Welcome to the Rocket German Newsletter Series!
In this lesson, you’re going to look at how to answer personal questions, like how old you are, and whether you’re married or single. You’re going to learn how to say how many siblings you have, if you have children, and what your address and phone number are.
Being able to give personal details will be very useful for filling out forms or sharing your contact details.
You’ll have to know some numbers to be able to complete this lesson. Fortunately, you can answer most questions in this chapter (with the exception of your age) with the basic numbers from one to ten.
Listen to the link below to hear the numbers from one to ten…
» Audio 1 Click Play To Hear Audio
| 1. | eins | 6. | sechs |
| 2. | zwei | 7. | sieben |
| 3. | drei | 8. | acht |
| 4. | vier | 9. | neun |
| 5. | fünf | 10. | zehn |
Let’s go through some of the most common questions you might be asked, whether you’re filling out a registration form in a hotel or at the consulate getting a new passport. In these situations, you’ll be addressed with ”Sie” the formal form of “you.” So, though you have seen some of these questions before, all the questions below are expressed formally.
» Audio 2 Click Play To Hear Audio
| What’s your name? | Wie heißen Sie? |
| Where are you from? | Woher kommen Sie? |
| What’s your nationality? | Welche Nationalität haben Sie? |
| How old are you? | Wie alt sind Sie? |
| What is your date of birth? | Was ist ihr Geburtsdatum? |
| Do you have siblings? | Haben Sie Geschwister? |
| How many siblings do you have? | Wieviele Geschwister haben Sie? |
| Do you have children? | Haben Sie Kinder? |
| How many children do you have? | Wieviele Kinder haben Sie? |
| Do you have a spouse? | Haben Sie einen Partner/ eine Partnerin? |
| Are you married? | Sind Sie verheiratet? |
| What is your address? | Wie ist Ihre Adresse? |
| What is your telephone number? | Wie ist Ihre Telefonnummer? |
| What is your cell phone number? | Wie ist Ihre Handynummer? |
| What is your passport number? | Wie ist Ihre Passnummer? |
| What is your email address? | Wie ist Ihre E-mail-Adresse? |
Answers
When you’re responding, you can follow one of the simple formats below. Just insert the appropriate information in the brackets. When you talk about your date of birth you have to add the ending –ten to the number. For example: “Mein Geburtstag ist am fünften vierten 1984.” (05.04.1984). There are only two exceptions where the whole number changes: “ersten” (first) and “dritten” (third).
» Audio 3 Click Play To Hear Audio
| My name is [your name]. | Ich heiße [your name]. |
| I’m from [country name]. | Ich komme aus [country name]. |
| I’m [nationality]. | Ich bin [nationality]. |
| I am [number] years old. | Ich bin [number] Jahre alt. |
| My birthday is on the [day] of [month] [year]. | Mein Geburtstag ist am [day] [month] [year]. |
| Yes, I have siblings / No, I have no siblings. | Ja, ich habe Geschwister / Nein, ich habe keine Geschwister. |
| I have [number] siblings. | Ich habe [number] Geschwister. |
| Yes, I have [number] children / No, I have no children. | Ja, ich habe [number] Kinder / Nein, ich habe keine Kinder. |
| I have [number] children. | Ich habe [number] Kinder. |
| Yes, I have a spouse / No, I haven’t got a spouse. | Ja, ich habe einen Partner/ eine Partnerin / Nein, ich habe keinen Partner/ keine Partnerin |
| Yes, I’m married / No, I’m not married. | Ja, ich bin verheiratet / Nein, ich bin nicht verheiratet |
| My address is [your address]. | Meine Adresse ist [your address]. |
| My telephone number is [your number]. | Meine Telefonnummer ist [your number]. |
| My cell phone number is [your number]. | Meine Handynummer ist [your number]. |
| My passport number is [your number]. | Meine Passnummer ist [your number]. |
Filling out Forms
If you find yourself being asked to fill out forms with your personal details, you won’t get the complete questions that you’ve studied above. Instead, you’ll get short words or phrases.
» Audio 4 Click Play To Hear Audio
Example |
||
| Name | Name | Paul Weber |
| Nationality | Nationalität | deutsch (german) |
| Gender | Geschlecht | männlich (male) |
| Age | Alter | 24 |
| Date of birth | Geburtsdatum | 06.07. 1982 |
| Address | Adresse | Bergstraße 10 |
| Telephone number | Telefonnummer | 0049-555-555 |
| Passport number | Passnummer | 1111111 |
That’s it for today’s lesson.
Bis bald!
Paul Weber
Rocket German
P.S. Do you want to speak German like Germans do? Find out more about the complete Rocket German Package at http://www.rocketlanguages.com/german/premium
P.P.S. If you’d like to practice what you’ve learned in this lesson, just read on!
Exercise 1. Match the German word with its English translation
| Receptionist: Wie heißen Sie? |
| You: _________________________________________________ |
| Receptionist: Woher kommen Sie? |
| You: _________________________________________________ |
| Receptionist: Wie ist Ihre Adresse? |
| You: _________________________________________________ |
Exercise 2. Read the following conversation and translate it into English below.
| Host: Sind Sie verheiratet? |
| Guest : Ja, ich bin verheiratet. |
| Host: Haben Sie Kinder? |
| Guest : Ja, ich habe drei Kinder. |
| Host: _________________________________________________ |
| Guest : _______________________________________________ |
| Host: _________________________________________________ |
| Guest : _______________________________________________ |
|
P.S. Don't forget to check out my special bonus offer only available for
6 Day Course subscribers: http://www.rocketlanguages.com/german/6day_special.php |
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