Chapter 3

Hallo! Pronunciation and Basic Expressions

In This Chapter

Pronouncing German

Addressing people formally or informally

Greeting others and saying goodbye

Making introductions

Greetings and introductions are your crucial first steps in establishing contact with other people and making a positive first impression. When handled correctly, that initial contact can open doors for you. To that end, this chapter helps you determine whether to use formal or informal language in various situations. Then it introduces the basic expressions of polite conversation: how to say hello and goodbye and how to ask and answer the universal question “How are you?” Finally, it shows you how to make introductions.

Of course, before you can speak German, you need to know how to pronounce German letters, many of which are not pronounced the same as they are in English. For that reason, this chapter begins with the information you need to be able to pronounce German words, if not exactly like a native speaker, at least close enough to be clearly understood. As with anything else, practice makes perfect. Read on for specifics.

Mouthing Off: Basic Pronunciation

Speaking a foreign language correctly is all about mastering the basics of pronunciation. And the key to decent pronunciation is to start small by knowing how the individual letters sound — then expand to syllables, words, and finally sentences. The rest is practice, practice, practice.

Dealing with stress in German

This type of stress doesn’t have anything to do with meeting deadlines or having a BMW tailgate you at 110 miles per hour on the Autobahn. Instead, it’s about stressed syllables in German words. In the pronunciation key that you see in parentheses following each word, the syllables you should stress are in italics.

Building the alphabet blocks

The German alphabet has all the letters that English does — 26 of ’em — plus four special letters: ä, ö, ü, and ß. The good news is that German words are generally pronounced just as they are spelled. This means there’s no confusion, as we have in English with the likes of bow (tie), (take a) bow, and tree bough. The bad news is many of the normal-looking letters are pronounced differently from their English counterparts.

Table 3-1 shows you the sound of each letter of the alphabet when it’s pronounced alone. Knowing how to say each individual letter may come in very handy, for example, if you need to spell your name when you make a table reservation at a German restaurant, tell a hotel receptionist how to spell your name, or compete in a German spelling bee with a grand prize of 500,000 euros.

Track 1 on the CD gives you the sounds of the letters in the German alphabet as shown in Table 3-1. Note that the German pronunciation of a single letter may be different from the way it’s pronounced within a German word.

Table 3-1 Pronouncing the German Alphabet
Letter	German Pronunciation	German Word
a	ah	Ahnen (ahn-en) (ancestors)
b	bey	Bild (bilt) (image, picture)
c	tsey	Café (kâ-fey) (café)
d	dey	durstig (doohrs-tiH) (thirsty)
e	ey	Ehe (ey-e) (marriage)
f	êf	Feuer (foy-er) (fire)
g	gey	geben (gey-ben) (give)
h	hah	Haus (house [as in English]) (house)
i	ee	ihn (een) (him)
j	yot	Januar (yahn-oo-âr) (January)
k	kah	Kilometer (ki-loh-mey-ter) (kilometer)
l	êl	Liebe (lee-be) (love)
m	êm	Manager (as in English) (manager)
n	ên	Name (nah-me) (name)
o	oh	ohne (oh-ne) (without)
p	pey	Pause (pou-ze) (break, intermission)
q	kooh	Quatsch (kvâch) (nonsense)
r	êr	rot (roht) (red)
s	ês	S-Bahn (es-bahn) (suburban train)
t	tey	Taxi (tâx-ee) (taxi)
u	ooh	U-Boot (ooh-boht) (submarine)
v	fou	Vogel (foh-gel) (bird)
w	veh	Wald (vâlt) (forest)
x	iks	Fax (fâx) (fax)
y	uep-si-lon	System (zers-teym) (system)
z	tset	Zeit (tsayt) (time)
ä	ah-oom-lout (Umlaut)	Bäcker (bêk-er) (baker)
ö	oh-oom-lout (Umlaut)	hören (herr-en) (hear)
ü	ooh-oom-lout (Umlaut)	Tür (tuer) (system)
ß	ês-tsêt	Straße (strah-se) (street)

Pronouncing vowels

In German, vowels (a, e, i, o, and u) can generally be pronounced in two ways — as short or long vowel sounds. The short vowel sounds are “clipped,” and they’re pronounced shorter than their English equivalents. Long vowel sounds are “steady-state” or “pure,” meaning that the sound quality doesn’t change even though it’s a long sound. Here are the general rules:

A vowel is long when it’s followed by the letter h, as in Stahl (shtahl) (steel).

A vowel is generally long when it’s followed by a single consonant, as in Tag (tahk) (day).

A vowel is long when it’s doubled, as in Teer (teyr) (tar) or Aal (ahl) (eel).

In general, a vowel is short when followed by two or more consonants, as in Tanne (tân-e) (fir tree).

Table 3-2 shows you how to pronounce German vowels by providing you with examples and a kind of phonetic script, the letter combinations that serve as the English equivalent of the German letter’s pronunciation.

In this book’s phonetic script, two short vowel sounds have a little “hat” over the letter, so they look like this: â and ê. Note that the phonetic spelling of ê in Table 3-2 is the same as that of the German short umlaut sound ä in Table 3-3. Go to Track 2 on the CD to hear how to pronounce these German vowels.

Pronouncing ä, ö, and ü

German has three extra vowels: ä, ö, and ü. The German word for those curious double dots over the vowels is Umlaut (oom-lout) (umlaut). Umlauts slightly alter the sound of the vowels a, o, and u, as outlined in Table 3-3. These sounds have no equivalent in English, so try listening to them on Track 3, which demonstrates how to pronounce the German umlauts.

To make your German vowels ä, ö, and ü sound a bit more authentic, try progressing through the ä, ö, and ü sounds, pronouncing the vowels as though you’re getting ready to kiss someone — in other words, round your lips and pucker up, baby! The ü sound is pronounced with very pursed lips.

Pronouncing diphthongs

Diphthongs, which you can hear on Track 4 of the CD, are combinations of two vowels in one syllable (as in the English “lie”), and German has a few of them, as shown in Table 3-4.

Both the long German vowel i and the German vowel combination ie are pronounced like the English letter e in see, but the German ei, ai, and ay are pronounced like the English letter y in cry.

Pronouncing consonants

Ahh, relief! The sounds of German consonants are easier to master than the German vowel sounds. In fact, they’re pronounced either almost the same as their English equivalents or like other English consonants. Okay, you will find a couple of oddities and exceptions, which we show you later.

Pronouncing “f,” “h,” “k,” “m,” “n,” “p,” “t,” “x,” and “ß”

As part of a word, the letters f, h, k, m, n, p, t, and x are pronounced the same in German as they are in English. The letter ß, on the other hand, doesn’t exist in English. It’s kind of cool looking, though, don’t you think? But even if you don’t care about looks, you’ll be glad to know that you pronounce it just like ss or s.

As far as the written language goes, whether a given German word is spelled with ss or ß depends on a couple of rules. Here’s the scoop:

After a long vowel or a diphthong, the s sound is spelled ß — for example, Fuß (foohs) (foot).

After a short vowel, the s sound is spelled ss — for example, Fass (fâs) (barrel).

Note: In Switzerland, the ß is not used at all. Instead, the Swiss always spell words with the double ss.

Table 3-5 tells you how to pronounce the rest of the German consonants by providing you with examples and a phonetic script. To hear them all, listen to Track 5.

Pronouncing the German “r” and “l”

The letters r and l are pronounced differently in German than they are in English. To replicate the “gargled” pronunciation of the German r, try making a gargling sound before saying aahh, so that you’re saying ra. Also, don’t roll the tip of your tongue or use it to pronounce the German r. To correctly pronounce the German letter l, you have to position your tongue differently than you do when you pronounce the English letter l. In English, you pronounce the l with your tongue in a spoon shape, hollowed out in the middle. To make the German l, you press the tip of your tongue against your gum ridge (just as you do in English), but you keep it flat instead of spoon-shaped. The German l sound is clipped, not drawled. On Track 6 of the CD, you can hear how to pronounce these letters. Here are some sample words:

l as in Bild (bilt) (picture)

r as in richtig (riH-tiH) (correct)

Pronouncing combinations of consonants

The German language has a few consonant sounds that are either different or don’t occur in English. Most of them are easy to pronounce, except for the ch, which is unfamiliar to the English tongue.

Pronouncing “ch,” “ck,” “sch,” “sp,” “st,” and “tsch”

The German letter combination ch is the trickiest one for English speakers to pronounce. There’s absolutely no equivalent for it in English (that’s why it’s represented by a capital H in this book’s phonetic script), and you actually have to learn a new sound — a kind of gentle “dry” gargling sound — in order to say it. The sound is a bit like trying to pronounce “hch,” and not a “k” sound. The sound is similar to the guttural “ch” in Scottish, like in Loch Ness.

The good news is that in a few words, the ch is simply pronounced as an x sound, for example in Wachs (vâks) (wax) or Fuchs (fooks) (fox). And in a few other words, generally foreign words, the ch is pronounced like the sound “sh” in English, for example in Champignon (shâm-peen-yon) (mushroom) or Champagner (shâm-pân-yer) (champagne).

Table 3-6 shows you how to pronounce these common consonant combinations. Listen to Track 7 to hear how to pronounce these combinations.

The English “th” sound doesn’t exist in the German language. The th combination is pronounced one of two ways in German:

The h is silent, as in the words Theorie (tey-oh-ree) (theory) and Theologie (tey-oh-loh-gee) (theology).

The t and h are pronounced separately, because they actually belong to different components of a compound noun, as in the words Gasthaus (gâst-hous) (inn), which is a combination of the German words for guest and house, or Basthut (bâst-hooht) (straw hat), a combo of the German for raffia and hat.

Getting Formal or Informal

German speakers generally place great value on showing respect toward each other and strangers. The language itself allows the speaker to make a clear distinction between formal and informal ways of saying you. (English used to do this too, but long ago the thee and thou forms were dropped.) In German, you use either the formal Sie (zee) (you) or one of the two informal forms: du (dooh) (you), if you’re talking to one person, or ihr (eer) (you), if you’re addressing two or more people.

Making the distinction between the informal and formal you forms is definitely important. Why? People are very likely to consider you impolite and disrespectful if you use the informal way of addressing them in a situation that calls for more formality.

In general, you use the formal Sie for everyday communication with people outside your circle of family and friends. Even among people who are in regular contact with one another, for example, neighbors or co-workers, Sie is often used as a means of showing respect. As you get to know somebody better, you may switch to du.

However, no hard and fast rules apply when it comes to using du or Sie. In fact, many exceptions exist. For example, suppose a German friend takes you to a party. Even though you and the other guests are complete strangers, the other guests may just address you with du — especially if they’re easy-going — so you may address them with du as well.

If you’re the least bit unsure of whether to use du or Sie, use Sie until the person you’re addressing asks you to use du or addresses you with du.

Saying “Hello,” “Goodbye,” and “How Are You?”

The first part of your greeting is a basic hello. How you say hello depends on what time of day it is. Check out this list:

Guten Morgen! (gooh-ten mor-gen!) (Good morning!) This is the greeting you use in the morning (until about noon).

Guten Tag! (gooh-ten tahk!) (Hello!) This is the most common greeting you use, except early in the morning and late in the day.

Guten Abend! (gooh-ten ah-bent!) (Good evening!) Obviously, this is the greeting of choice in the evening.

Hallo! (hâ-loh!) (Hello!) You should be pretty comfortable with this informal greeting, because it’s obviously very similar to English’s hello.

When the time comes to part, you can say:

Auf Wiedersehen! (ouf vee-der-zey-en!) (Goodbye!) This is the standard, formal goodbye.

Gute Nacht! (gooh-te nâHt!) (Good night!) You use this farewell when you say goodbye late at night.

War nett, Sie kennenzulernen. (vahr nêt, zee kên-en-tsoo-lêrn-en.) (It was nice meeting you.) You use this phrase to tell people that you enjoyed meeting them for the first time.

Tschüs! (chues!) (Bye!) This is the informal way of saying goodbye.

Asking “How are you?”

The next step after greeting someone in German is, of course, asking the question How are you? Whether you use the formal or the informal version of the question depends on whom you’re talking to. Sound complicated? Well, figuring out which form to use is easier than you may think.

The following three versions of How are you? use three dative-case pronouns that represent you. Ihnen (een-en) is the dative equivalent of Sie, dir (deer) represents du, and euch (oyH) stands in for ihr. (See Chapter 2 for more information on personal pronouns in the dative case.) Here’s a breakdown of what to use when:

Wie geht es Ihnen? (vee geyt ês een-en?) (How are you?) This is the formal version.

Wie geht es dir? (vee geyt ês deer?) (How are you?) This is the informal, singular version.

Wie geht’s? (vee geyts?) (How’s it going?) When you know someone really well, you can use this casual question.

Wie geht es euch? (vee geyt ês oyH?) (How are you?) Use this when talking to several people informally.

Replying to “How are you?”

In English, the question How are you? is often just a way of saying hello, and no one will raise an eyebrow if you don’t answer. In German, however, a reply is customary. The following are acceptable answers to the question How are you?

Danke, gut. (dân-ke, gooht.) (Thanks, I’m fine.) or Gut, danke. (gooht, dân-ke.) (Fine, thanks.)

Sehr gut. (zeyr gooht.) (Very good.)

Ganz gut. (gânts gooht.) (Really good.)

Es geht. (ês geyt.) (So, so.) This German expression actually means it goes.

Nicht so gut. (niHt zoh gooht.) (Not so good.)

As in English, the reply would usually be accompanied by the question And (how are) you?, which is easy: First the formal version:

Und Ihnen? (oont een-en?) (And you?)

And here’s how you pose the question informally:

Und dir? (oont deer?) (And you?) (singular, informal you)

Und euch? (oont oyH?) (And you?) (plural, informal you)

Talkin’ the Talk

In the following dialogue, you find some phrases that are commonly used for greetings in a more formal setting. (Track 8)
Herr Schulte:	Guten Tag, Frau Berger! gooh-ten tahk, frou bêr-ger! Hello, Ms. Berger!
Frau Berger:	Herr Schulte, guten Tag! Wie geht es Ihnen? hêr shool-te, gooh-ten tahk! vee geyt ês een-en? Mr. Schulte, hello! How are you?
Herr Schulte:	Danke, gut! Und Ihnen? dân-ke, gooht! oont een-en? Thanks, I’m fine! And how are you?
Frau Berger:	Danke, gut. dân-ke, gooht. Thanks, I’m fine.

Talkin’ the Talk

Now check out this dialog between Mike and Christa, two old friends who run into each other on the street. (Track 9)
Mike:	Hallo Christa! hâ-loh christa [as in English]! Hello Christa!
Christa:	Mike, hallo! Wie geht’s? mike [as in English], hâ-loh! vee geyts? Mike, hello! How’s it going?
Mike:	Danke, mir geht’s gut! Und selbst? dân-ke, meer geyts gooht! oont zêlpst? Thanks, I’m fine! And yourself?
Christa:	Auch gut. ouH gooht. I’m fine, too.

Introducing Yourself and Your Friends

Meeting and greeting often requires introductions. Your friends may want you to meet someone they know, or you may have to introduce your significant other to your colleague at a formal occasion. This section gives you the lowdown.

Introducing your friends

Commonplace, everyday introductions are easy to make. You start with

Das ist . . . (dâs ist . . .) (This is . . .)

Then you simply add the name of the person. Or if you’re introducing a friend, begin with

Das ist meine Freundin (female)/mein Freund (male) . . . (dâs ist mayn-e froyn-din/mayn froynt . . .) (This is my friend . . .)

If you’re introduced to someone, you may want to indicate that you’re pleased to meet that person. In German, the casual, informal way of saying this is simply Hallo (hâ-loh) (hello) or Guten Tag (gooh-ten tahk) (hello).

If the introductions have been more formal, you express Nice to meet you by saying

Freut mich. (froyt miH) (Nice to meet you.)

The person you have been introduced to may then reply

Mich auch. (miH ouH) (Pleased to meet you, too.)

Introductions for special occasions

You may find yourself in a situation that calls for a very high level of formality. Here are some phrases you’d use then:

Darf ich Ihnen . . . vorstellen? (dârf iH een-en . . . fohr-shtêl-len?) (May I introduce you to. . . ?)

Freut mich, Sie kennenzulernen. (froyt miH, zee kên-en-tsoo-lêrn-en.) (I’m pleased to meet you.)

Meinerseits. (mayn-er-zayts.)/Ganz meinerseits. (gânts mayn-er-zayts.) (The pleasure is all mine. Literally, mine or all mine.)

Talkin’ the Talk

In this dialogue between the directors of two companies, listen to Herr Kramer and Herr Huber. They meet at an official function, and Herr Huber introduces his wife.
Herr Kramer:	Guten Abend, Herr Huber. gooh-ten ah-bent, hêr hooh-ber. Good evening, Mr. Huber.
Herr Huber:	Guten Abend, Herr Kramer. Darf ich Ihnen meine Frau vorstellen? gooh-ten ah-bent, hêr krah-mer. dârf iH een-en mayn-e frou fohr-shtêl-len? Good evening, Mr. Kramer. May I introduce my wife to you?
Herr Kramer:	Guten Abend, Frau Huber. Freut mich sehr, Sie kennenzulernen. gooh-ten ah-bent, frou hooh-ber. froyt miH zeyr, zee kên-en-tsoo-lêrn-en. Good evening, Mrs. Huber. Very nice to meet you.
Herr Huber:	Ganz meinerseits, Herr Kramer. gânts mayn-er-zayts, hêr krah-mer. And nice to meet you, Mr. Kramer.

Introducing yourself

You can’t always rely on someone else to introduce you. In those situations, you simply introduce yourself, which is easy. Often, you can introduce yourself simply by stating your name, even in a more formal setting. Simply say

Mein Name ist. . . . (mayn nah-me ist. . . .) (My name is. . . .)

Or use the verb that expresses the same idea, heißen (hay-sen) (to be called):

Ich heiße. . . . (iH hay-se. . . .) (My name is. . . .)

Talkin’ the Talk

In the following conversation, Herr Hauser arrives at a meeting with several people he hasn’t been introduced to yet. He’s looking for a seat at the conference table.
Herr Hauser:	Guten Tag. Ist dieser Platz noch frei? gooh-ten tahk. îst dee-zer plâts noH fray? Hello. Is this seat still free?
Frau Berger:	Ja. Nehmen Sie doch bitte Platz. yah. ney-men zee doH bi-te plâts. Yes, it is. Do sit down.
Herr Hauser:	Vielen Dank. Mein Name ist Max Hauser. fee-len dânk. mayn nah-me ist mâx houz-er. Thank you very much. My name is Max Hauser.
Frau Berger:	Freut mich. Ich heiße Karin Berger. froyt miH. iH hay-se kah-rin bêr-ger. Pleased to meet you. I’m Karin Berger.
The preceding conversation would sound very different among younger people meeting in an informal setting, like a party. They’d probably introduce each other like this:
Martin:	Hallo, wie heißt du? hâ-loh, vee hayst dooh? Hello, what’s your name?
Susanne:	Ich heiße Susanne. Und du? iH hay-se zooh-zân-e. oont dooh? My name is Susanne. And you?
Martin:	Ich bin der Martin. Und wer ist das? iH bin dêr mâr-tin. oont vêr ist dâs? I’m Martin. And who is that?
Susanne:	Das ist meine Freundin Anne. dâs ist mayn-e froyn-din ân-e. This is my friend Anne.

Talkin’ the Talk

In the next two conversations, people on a train are saying goodbye as the train comes into a station. Frau Egli is getting ready to exit the train. (Track 10)
Frau Egli:	Das ist meine Station. War nett, Sie kennenzulernen, Frau Myers. dâs ist mayn-e shtâts-ee-ohn. vahr nêt, zee kên-en-tsoo-lêrn-en, frou myers [as in English]. This is my stop. It was nice to meet you, Ms. Myers.
Frau Myers:	Ganz meinerseits. Auf Wiedersehen, Frau Egli. gânts mayn-er-zayts. ouf vee-der-zey-en, frou eyg-lee. And nice to meet you. Good bye, Ms. Egli.
Frau Egli:	Auf Wiedersehen. ouf vee-der-zey-en Good bye.
Michelle and Claire are getting off the train as well.
Michelle und Claire:	Tschüs Mark. chues mark [as in English] Bye, Mark.
Mark:	Tschüs Claire, tschüs Michelle. Schöne Ferien! chues Claire [as in English], chues michelle [as in English]. shern-e fê-ree-en! Bye Claire, bye Michelle. Have a nice vacation!

Fun & Games

In each of the three conversations that follow, some words have gotten loose. See whether you can find a place for them.

1. Here’s a dialog between Frau Lempert and the Hubers.

Ihnen gut geht freut ist auch

Herr Huber: Guten Tag, Frau Lempert. Wie _____________ es Ihnen?

Frau Lempert: Danke, gut. Und _____________?

Herr Huber: Danke, auch _____________ . Frau Lempert, das _____________ meine Frau.

Frau Lempert: Guten Tag, Frau Huber! _____________ mich sehr, Sie kennenzulernen.

Frau Huber: Mich _____________.

2. In this conversation, Mike and Christa run into each other on the street.

mir auch selbst geht’s hallo

Mike: Hallo Christa!

Christa: Mike, _____________! Wie _____________?

Mike: Danke, _____________ geht’s gut! Und _____________?

Christa: _____________ gut.

3. Susanne and Martin are making introductions at a party.

du heiße meine wer bin heißt

Martin: Hallo, wie _____________ du?

Susanne: Ich _____________ Susanne. Und _____________?

Martin: Ich _____________ der Martin. Und _____________ ist das?

Susanne: Das ist _____________ Freundin Anne.