1. Welcome
Hello! Welcome to this episode!
This is episode number nine of the Better German podcast. And it’s called Greeting and Introducing Yourself. Obviously, when you want to speak with someone, one of the very first things you probably need is ways of saying hello and ways of introducing yourself. And this is what this episode is about. This is in no way, obviously a complete list of possible ways of saying hello or possible ways of introducing yourself. I’m just trying to give you a few things. There is a PDF you can download.
[00:01:00] You find the show notes and all the information and a transcript to download on bettergerman.info/9, because this is Episode 9. You can find the link where you can register and get access to all the additional material for the podcast.
For every sentence I’m going to give you, we’re going to go through a few words first. So repeat it after me. Whenever I say a word that is new, I will just leave a blank afterwards, and you’ll say it after me. If you cannot speak right now, you can try to silently say it or repeat it in your head. But come back, and when you can actually speak and say it out loudly and proudly. That helps you to learn.
If you’ve felt lost trying to learn German, you’re not alone. In the Better German Community, we skip the unnecessary rules and help you truly get the language—step by step, no stress. In there, you will find the PDF worksheet for this episode and other episodes, all with translation and some information on what to do to practice them.
2. Introducing Yourself in German
Okay. “Der Name,” that’s “The name.”
[00:02:00] “mein” That means my.
“ist. ist” means “is.”
So the sentence is: “Mein Name ist Susi.”
That means: “My name is Susi.”
So, when I say the sentence again, I want you to repeat the sentence, but with your name. Maybe you already did that. So I’ll say my name, you’ll say your name.
“Mein Name ist Susi.”
You can use the very same pattern with the full name; in this case, I just said my first name. This is “Vorname,” by the way.
[00:03:00] Okay. In this case, I said, “My name is Susi. My name is Susi.” I just used my first name. “Der Vorname” is the first name, but you can also use your full name, and then in that case, this would be, “My name is Susanne Blumel.”
You just say the same thing with your full name or however full you want to say.
“Mein Name ist Susanne Blumel.”
Good.
Another way of saying the same thing, what your name is, the word is,
“heißen”.
And that’s a word that means to have a name. You can say instead of,
“Mein Name ist Susi,” which means “My name is Susi.” You can say,
“Ich heiße Susi.”
“I am called Susi”, would be the most direct translation. You will hear it a lot.
[00:04:00] “heißen” means “called.”
Then, one of the next words that is good for introducing is: “bin.” It means “am” like “I am.”
“Ich bin.”
So another word is: “das Jahr.”
That’s “The year.”
What we’re heading at is to say an age.
“alt” is “old.”
The sentence “I am 40 years old” would be “Ich bin 40 Jahre alt.”
There will be an episode coming soon for numbers (Episode 43: German Numbers Made Easy)
3. Where You’re From & Where You Live
And then the next sentence. Or the next word you need for the next sentence is,
[00:05:00] “aus” that means “from.”
Where you are coming from.
“Ich bin aus Wien”
Means “I am from Vienna.”
So I want you to say when I repeat that again, where you’re from.
“Ich bin aus Wien.”
Next sentence is, “Ich bin aus Österreich”.
“I am from Austria.”
“Österreich” is Austria in German. So, “I am from Austria.”
I’m going to also include Germany in here.
“Deutschland..”
So maybe somebody, you hear somebody say,
“Ich bin aus Deutschland” and that would mean “I am from Germany.”
[00:06:00] I’m going to say it, and you are saying where are you from.
“Ich bin aus Österreich.”
Good. So the next word is:
“leben.” That means to “live.”
By the way, really, I highly encourage you to go and get that PDF that you can download, and it has all of these words and it has all of the sentences and their translation.
If you’ve felt lost trying to learn German, you’re not alone. In the Better German Community, we skip the unnecessary rules and help you truly get the language—step by step, no stress. In there, you will find the PDF worksheet for this episode, all with translation and some information on what to do to practice them.
So “leben” is to live.
“Ich leben in Wien” (I live in Vienna).
You say it
Good. If you live somewhere else, then you just say now “Ich lebe _____” and then you say wherever you live
“Ich lebe in _____”
4. Asking for Names: Formal and Informal
Very good. So, now the next word we have is,
“wie” “wie”.
[00:07:00] In this case “what”. So the sentence I’m telling you is,
“Wie ist dein Name?”
And that is: “What is your name?”
“Wie ist dein Name?” That’s: “What is your name?” So say that after me.
“Wie ist dein Name?“
Okay. Remember I can say “Mein Name ist Susi,” and I can say also “Ich heiße Susi”.
It means the same thing. So when you ask, you can do the same thing, basically, you can either say
“Wie ist dein Name?” Or you can say “Wie heißt du?”
That means the same thing. So repeat that after me.
“Wie ist dein Name?”
“Wie heißt du?”
[00:08:00] Good. So now, in German, we have two different forms of speaking. We can speak like the way you would speak to a friend, or to a family member. And you can have a formal way of addressing someone.
Are you going to have a formal way of addressing someone? Formal means that’s a way how you would speak to your boss. Or to someone you don’t know, maybe on the street.
These are the two versions that we have to speak to someone. This exists in many other languages. I know that it exists in the Slavic languages. For example. It exists in French. It does not exist in English. So if English is your native language, it may take some getting used to. If you are trying to get a job, and you introduce yourself, then you should definitely use the formal version.
[00:09:00] Other than that, I think overall German is becoming less formal. So if you meet someone on the street or in a restaurant, and they’re around your age, then it’s a good chance that they will not expect you to speak with them formally. But on the other hand, you’re never on the wrong side if there’s someone you don’t know and you address them formally. So anyway. Going back to that question.
“What is your name?” We already had “Wie ist dein Name?
And then if you say it in a formal way, “Wie ist Ihr Name?”
So “Wie ist Ihr Name?”
You repeat it. That’s also, what is your name? But formal.
🎧 Missed the episode? Listen to Episode 9 of the Better German Podcast and follow along as you learn how to greet people and introduce yourself in German!
[00:10:00] And then the other version we had, “Wie heißt Du?”
That’s informal “Wie heißt du?”
And formal “Wie heißen Sie?”
That’s the formal way. So I’ll say you repeat it.
First informal, “Wie ist dein Name?” “Wie heißt du?”
So you say either of them, you don’t say both of them.
And then the formal one again, repeat after me,
“Wie ist Ihr Name?”
“Wie heißen Sie?”
Good.
5. Nice to Meet You!
The next word is “schön”.
That’s “nice” in this case could be also “beautiful,” but in this case, it’s “nice.”
[00:11:00] And another word, the next word is to meet someone, to get to know them, to meet them for the first time,
“kennenlernen.”
I’ll say it a little slower, “kennenlernen,” that’s one word.
“kennenlernen” I’ll say it again, “kennenlernen”
Okay. So what can we do with this word?
“Dich” It’s another word.
“dich” That means “you” in this case.
And then we have another word, and that’s “Sie”
That’s the same thing as “dich” but formal.
So, don’t worry about grammar too much at this point; we’ll just do the sentences. Okay.
So we had the words “schön”, meaning “nice,”
“kennenlernen”, to get to know someone, to meet someone, and “dich”, that means “you.” So, what do we do with this?
[00:12:00] We can say “Schön, dich kennenzulernen.”
And that means “nice to meet you”.
“Schön, dich kennenzulernen.”
“Schön, dich kennenzulernen.”
Good. And then the same thing, in the formal version.
“Schön, Sie kennen zu lernen.” (Nice to meet you.)
“Schön, Sie kennen zu lernen”. (Nice to meet you.)
“Schön, Sie kennen zu lernen.” (Nice to meet you.)
[00:13:00] By the way, for all of this, you can just listen to it again and again, don’t worry, try to say it. Obviously, if you were in a class with me, I would help you out if I saw that there are specific things difficult for you. But you can just keep listening to it and try to say it, listen to it, try to say it, until you feel good about it. You’ll be fine. That’s how kids learn as well.
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“Schön, dich kennen zu lernen.” – informal.
“Schön, Sie kennen zu lernen.”
Another way of saying that you’re happy to meet someone – we need a word first.
It’s “freuen”: that means to be happy about something.
“Ich freue mich” means “I’m happy.
So “Freut mich, dich kennen zu lernen.”
[00:14:00] That means literally. “I’m happy to meet you,” basically. It’s one way of saying that we’re glad to see someone.
So “Freut mich, dich kennen zu lernen” that’s “Nice to meet you, I’m happy to meet you,” and it’s informal.
And then the same thing, with the formal way is: “Freut mich, Sie kennen zu lernen”
Again, that means “I’m happy to meet you,” but it’s formal communication. So, if you meet a person you want to maybe work for, then it’s a better idea to say “Freut mich, Sie kennen zu lernen.”
So, now maybe you think this “kennenlernen” – it’s so long, and I understand it’s a little long for a beginner. So good news is, if someone tells you.
“My name is Susi.” “Mein Name ist Susi.” And you don’t want to say:
[00:15:00] “Freut mich, Sie kennen zu lernen” oder (or) “Freut mich, dich kennen zu lernen,” you can just say:
“Freut mich” (I’m happy, short for “happy to see you”.) That’s the short version of saying it: “Freut mich.”
So maybe the whole conversation could be, you start saying:
“Mein Name ist Nadia.”
And then I will say:
“Mein Name ist Susi,” and then you can say “Freut mich.”
That’s the short version of “I’m happy to meet you,” basically just means “I’m happy”, but we mean I’m happy to meet you.
6. Closing & Next Steps
Thank you for listening to this episode. You can find a transcript of this episode at www. www.bettergerman.info and slash and then the number of the episode. You can also sign up for a newsletter there, and then you will be informed when there is a new episode coming or any other important events going on, new articles, new freebies, or… things like that.
[00:16:00] If you liked it and it was helpful for you, please share it with other people and let them know that this exists. And if you are looking for a course and you want to learn German online, then you can, of course, find all the infos as well on www.bettergerman.info.
So, see you there and see you in the next episode.
Bye-bye!
