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have to
go to the music room" instead of
must
. The
German translation "Wir haben in den Musikraum zu gehen" would be understood, but is quite formal.
Additionally, there is a connotation that the speaker distances himself from the order he is being given.
Au ja, darauf freue ich mich schon!
Oh yes, on this look forward I myself already!
Whew, what was that?
Let's start at the beginning. "Au ja" ist an exclamation meaning "cool", "that's great". It has nothing to
do with the German equivalent of "ouch!", which is "au(a)!" ;-)
"Sich freuen" means "being happy". It is
reflexive
such as in "I help myself", because the subject and
the object are the same. Some phrases simply are constructed like this, even if there seems to be no real
reason to this, and many languages know this phenomenon. The "sich" here is technically the
accusative of "he, she, it" and is being changed depending on the person:
ich freue mich I am happy
du freust dich (thou art happy)
er, sie, es freut sich he, she, it is happy
wir freuen uns we are happy
ihr freut euch you are happy
Sie/sie freuen sich they are happy
Note that "to be happy" actually would be rather translated by "glücklich sein", but it is the closest
English equivalent to "sich freuen".
"Sich
über etwas
freuen" means "to be happy
about something
". This is kind of self-explanatory. But
"sich
auf etwas
freuen", literally "to be happy
on something
" means "to look forward to". This is a
common phrase that uses the
on
in the same wide sense as in "
on
drugs", or "living
on
something" -
there is no spatial relation here...
In "darauf" you recognize the "auf". The "da" is a demonstrative prounoun such as in "
that
place".
"Darauf" actually is another contraction which developped a long time ago from "da-herauf". The
"darauf" is referencing the word "Musik" from Silke's sentence.
So "Au ja, darauf freue ich mich schon" or "on-this look-forward I myself already" just means "Great,
I'm already looking forward to that"
Maybe it comforts you a little that the English phrase in a word-by-word translation to German would
be just as inintelligeable...
Weißt du denn, was wir heute machen?
Know you then what we today make?
"Then do you know what we (are going to) do today?" Note again, that "machen" often does not
translate to "make", but to "do"!
Wir wollten doch heute ein Lied von Grönemeyer singen!
We wanted (but) today a song of Grönemeyer sing!
"But we wanted to sing a song by Grönemeyer today!"
The "doch" doesn't literally mean "but", but is a very common phrase to reinforce and emphasize. Its
most common use is probably in "Ja! - Nein! - DOCH!" - "Yes! - No" - SO!" It is a stronger yes, in
spite of the "no", and especially little kids like the word ;-)
Ach ja? Welches denn?
Oh yes? Which then?
"Alkohol", glaube ich...
"Alcohol", believe I...
Note that adding a "glaube ich" is another common phrase, exacly as "I think" or "I believe" can be
added to an English phrase. Never mind the word order, this is because technically the subordinate
clause of the sentence is put to the beginning... "Ich glaube, dass "Alkohol" das Lied ist" <-> "Dass
"Alkohol" das Lied ist, glaube ich" "I believe that "Alcohol" is the song" <-> "That "Alcohol" is the
song, I believe"
Herbert Grönemeyer
is a very popular German rock singer from the Ruhr region. His most famous
songs include "Männer", "Bochum" (a city in the Ruhr region), "Mensch" and also "Alkohol".
"Lache, wenn es nicht zum Weinen reicht!" - song title on the album "Mensch", 2002
Nach dem Musikunterricht:
After the music class:
"Unterricht" comes from "unterrichten" "to teach", and means simply "class". Better not think about
"under" and "right" here, which you might have correctly recognized as the word's components ;-)
"richten" literally means "to correct".
Schau noch mal auf den Stundenplan!
Look still once on the hour-plan!
"Have a look at the schedule once again!"
"noch einmal" or short "noch mal" - "(once) again" - both words you have met before. "mal" is the
same as in "drei mal" - "three times", and since "one time" in English is replaced by "once" this is only
logical ;-) "noch" is more difficult, but with the literal translation of "noch einmal" - "still once" you
can maybe get the idea ...
Jetzt haben wir nur noch Geschichte...
Now have we only still history...
"Now we have only history left" - Again a "noch"!
Komm, wir schwänzen und gehen ins Bistro.
Come, we skip and go in the bistro.
"Come on, let's skip class and go to the bistro instead". As in English, "Komm" can be used to motivate
others.
There is yet another contraction here "ins" is derived from "in das", meaning "in the". "das" is the
neutral article in accusative case here.
Schon wieder!
Already again!
Aufgabe
•
Some of the words in the dialogues above are "fillers", that are commonly used to make spoken
language flow. They are not carrying any necessary information, strictly speaking, but they help
make the phrases sound "real". You certainly know such words in English, such as "well",
"like", "kinda", "y'know"... Try to spot those words and reduce the phrases. Then try to spot all
the words that give additional information. You should end up with phrases that contain only
Subject and Verb and maybe an Object.
•
Make a list of all the contractions used in this chapter. Can you determine the full tables?
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