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2: Können Sie mir helfen? | Can you help me? – Transcript
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Guten Tag! Hello! Welcome to German Stories. This is Episode 2. Can you help me? Konan Sie mir helfen. I am your host Christian. In our last episode, Paul met Mely for the first time.
Let's see how our story continues today. This is where we will also be learning how to ask for help as well as the personal pronouns du, sie, es and wir.
Entschuldigung? Können Sie mir helfen? Sind Sie neu in München?
Ja. Und was machen Sie hier? Ich will hier studieren. Und Sie? Wir können du sagen. Okay. Und was machst du hier? Ich arbeite hier. Kannst du mir helfen? Ich suche ein Büro.
Ja. Wie heißt das Büro? Ich weiß es nicht. Es ist Frau Maiwalds Büro. Hm, Frau Maiwalds Büro. Wo ist das?
And now let's repeat the dialogue. Please speak after me.
Entschuldigung? Können Sie mir helfen? Excuse me? Can you help me? Sind Sie neu in München? Are you new in Munich?
Ja. Yes. Und was machen Sie hier? And what are you doing here? Ich will hier studieren. Und Sie? I want to study here. And you?
There are two things to observe here. The first thing is she is speaking formally here, using sie. And also will is a false friend. It does not mean will. It means want. So keep this in mind.
The next thing Paul says is wir können du sagen. We can say you. He means we don't have to address each other formally with the word sie. We learned in the last episode.
Mely says okay. Und was machst du hier? Okay. And what are you doing here? That's the same question as before, but not formal.
Ich arbeite hier. I work here. Kannst du mir helfen? Ich suche ein Büro. Can you help me? I am looking for an office. Ja, wie heißt das Büro? Yes, what's the name of the office?
What he says word for word here is how is the office called? Wie heißt das Büro? Mely says ich weiß es nicht. Es ist Frau Maiwald's Büro.
I don't know it. It's Mrs. Maiwald's office. Hmm, Frau Maiwald's Büro. Wo ist das? Hmm, Mrs. Maiwald's office. Where is that?
Got it? Then you're awesome. We highly recommend you to go back to the beginning and listen again to Mely asking Paul for help.
Let's look at today's little piece of grammar. Here are all the personal pronouns we had so far, including the new ones from today. Ich, which is I from last episode.
Du, which means you. This is a new one. This is not formal, like sie. And we heard it in was machst du hier? Er means he. This is not a new word. Sie means she. But wait a minute. Sie also means you, formal.
Well, this Sie has a small S, not a capital one. And the verb looks different with the Sie, that means she, than with the Sie, that means you, formal. Don't worry, we will get to that later. The next personal pronoun is S, written ES, and it means it.
Let's take a quick look on how to use these new personal pronouns so far. Sie kommt aus Russland. She comes from Russia. And if it was the Sie, that means you, formal, it would be Sie kommen aus Russland.
You, formal, come from Russia. Es kommt aus Russland. It comes from Russia. Maybe you're talking about a car, so it's S or it. The next personal pronoun on our list is wir, which means we. We heard it in wir können du sagen.
We can say you. And the last one is an old one, Sie, with a capital S, and it means, of course, you, formal. We hope you understood what happened in today's part of the story.
In any case, let me summarize it for you. Paul and Millie got to know each other better. She has to find Anna Maywald's office in the university. Can Paul help her? We will soon find out. Thank you so much for listening.
Today's episode was written, directed, and produced by me, Christian Leuchner, the main man behind German stories. The role of Millie was played by Lin Fan. The role of Paul was played by me. German stories theme song by Esteban Del Pino.
If you enjoyed today's episode, please consider supporting us on our website. Show supporters have access to really helpful dialogue transcripts for all episodes. Visit our website at germanminusstories.com to get all the extras you need to speed up your German learning.