Reference · module 17
Living somewhere
Everything this module explains, on one page.
The flat
Describe where you live and what is in it.
- die Wohnung, das Zimmer, die Küche, das Bad, der Balkon, der Flur. A German flat advert counts rooms without the kitchen and the bathroom.
- German builds long words by gluing short ones: Wohnzimmer, Schlafzimmer, Badezimmer, Arbeitszimmer. The gender always comes from the last piece.
- Size is in Quadratmeter: Die Wohnung hat 60 Quadratmeter. Written out, that is 60 qm on every advert you will read.
The mistake you are about to make
das Wohn Zimmer
das Wohnzimmer
English keeps the words apart — living room, bath room. German writes them as one, however long the result, and takes the gender from the last piece.
Around town
Name the places in a town and say what is near you.
- der Supermarkt, die Apotheke, die Bank, das Rathaus, der Bahnhof, die Haltestelle. Six words and most errands are covered.
- in der Nähe means nearby, and it takes von for what it is near: in der Nähe von meiner Wohnung. Learn the whole phrase in one piece.
- man means one or people in general: Hier kann man gut essen. It is not the word for a man, which is der Mann with two n.
The mistake you are about to make
Hier kann Mann gut essen.
Hier kann man gut essen.
Man and Mann sound identical and one of them means a male person. The everybody-word is man: lowercase, one n, and nothing to do with men.
Moving house
Talk about moving in, moving out and looking for a flat.
- umziehen is to move house, and it is separable: Ich ziehe nächste Woche um. einziehen is to move in, ausziehen to move out.
- die Miete is the rent and mieten is to rent. Die Miete kostet 800 Euro. A landlord is der Vermieter and a tenant der Mieter.
The mistake you are about to make
Ich vermiete eine Wohnung.
Ich miete eine Wohnung.
English "rent" does both jobs: you rent a flat and the landlord rents it out. German splits them — mieten is what you do, vermieten is what the landlord does.
Shopping
Buy something, ask the price, and say it is too expensive.
- Was kostet das? for one thing, Was kosten die? for several. The verb changes and the question word does not.
- zu before an adjective means too much of it: zu teuer, zu klein, zu spät. Do not confuse it with the preposition zu meaning to.
- At the till: Zahlen, bitte. Then Bar oder mit Karte? — cash or card. Answering Bar, bitte is enough.
The mistake you are about to make
Das ist zu viel teuer.
Das ist zu teuer.
"Too much" is two words in English and the "much" wants to come along. Zu does the whole job by itself: zu teuer, zu klein, zu spät.