When you have finished this lesson you can:

• Say you did not understand

• Say you have an appointment

• Say that you speak a little German

• Ask to repetition or rephrasing

• Apologize for being late

Steve is now at to the Vienna concert hall and meets the employee at the foyer.

He asks for the conductor Mister Gruber, but the receptionist speaks too fast and Steve can't understand him. Therefore, he has to ask for clarification repeatedly. Notice the way he asks for apology.

Touch the video to start it.

Remember: If you use the courtesy form “Sie” you also use the surname of the person with “Herr” for men or “Frau” for women, e.g. “Herr Miller” or “Frau Krüger”. It’s the same when you talk about this person. Therefore you need sometimes the declinated forms of these terms.

If you arrive late, it's polite to apologize:

“Entschuldigung”, a word you often want to hear or use if:

• You accidentally enter someone or want someone to move.

• You did not hear what was said and would like to repeat it.

• You are late on it and do not reach an appointment.

• You make an error that goes beyond others.

However, if you regret something that has happened to others, like "sorry you've got bad news” or “I feel sorry for sth that happened to you” than you use the phrase “Es tut mir leid”.

It's not impolite to say that you do not understand what someone has said:

! Remember to use the courtesy form if you don’t know the person.

! Remember: Here the perfect tense is used. It’s formed with auxiliary verb and participle II of the activity verb

In German, there are many possibilities to “build” a complex sentence with main clause(s) and subordinate clause(s). To make it even more difficult the punctuation also plays a major role (but - by the way - many Germans be unsure how to put commas correctly). However, let's begin easily.

Subordinate clauses with conjunction…

                        … begin with a conjunction like “dass” (that), “weil” (because) or “wenn” (if/when)
                        … have the conjugated verb at the end

Examples:
                        Sie sagt, dass sie einen Termin hat.    
                       [She says that she has an appointment.]

                        Wir können uns nicht treffen, weil ich zu spät bin.           
                       [We can not meet because I’m late.]

                        Ich treffe Herrn Gruber, wenn er in Wien ist.
                        [I’ll meet Mr. Gruber when I’m in Vienna.]

Relative clauses with “was”…
                … begin with the relative pronoun “was” that relates to the whole main clause
                … have the conjugated verb at the end

Examples:
                        Ich habe nicht verstanden, was Sie gesagt haben.
                        [I didn’t understand what you’ve said.]

The shortest form to ask someone for repeating his/her words is like the Englisch “Pardon?”

You can also ask in a whole question. Remember that it's polite to say "Entschuldigung" first:

Sometimes, apologizing for your language let’s the listener know that you are still learning and that they should be aware of it:

Remember the verb “sprechen” (to speak) and the phrases “ein bisschen”/”ein wenig” - and you can say that you speak a little German:

It's always nice to get a compliment. Remember the positive adverb “gut” (fine/well) like in “Es geht mir gut.” (I’m fine.)

When you’ve got a compliment you answer with “Danke”.