1. Welcome
[00:00:16] Hello! Welcome to the new episode or to the new video of Better German or the Better German podcast. This one is going to be a podcast. It’s also going to be available as a video on YouTube. It’s actually one of the earliest videos in the A1.1 course. (This course has since moved, and it’s now the Self-Paced German Level 1.1 Video Course. We also have live courses, which you can also check out.)
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So, we’re going to do a Sentence Pattern for the first time. This one, as I said, was recorded originally as a video. It is now also available as a podcast episode, as just an audio file.
2. What is a Sentence Pattern?
[00:00:57] A sentence pattern in German is Satzmuster. Sentence being “Satz”, pattern being a “Muster”, meaning something that repeats itself. So, what is a Sentence Pattern? A Sentence Pattern is a sentence with a blank.
This is a sentence pattern:
“That is _______.”
And then there’s a blank. And I’m telling you what you can put in that blank.
And this is how I teach most of the grammar that is going to be taught, which you need. So instead of telling you a rule and blah, blah, blah, and this and that. I’m just giving you a sentence and a blank, and I’m telling you, okay, this is what you can put here. And this is how you can learn how to make correct sentences.
We have between 100 and 150 Sentence Patterns. We have most of the basic language of German; it’s not endless. It’s not something that cannot be learned. It’s about 100 and 150 Sentence Patterns. And I’m going to show you how you can learn it and how you can practice it, so you can really use it, and it’s going to be fun! So this is an easy one. It’s based on the words of the episode before, Episode number 6, and it’s called Wordlist Body Parts.
So if you haven’t listened to this episode yet, then go back to that one and listen to it because it’s a prerequisite for these Sentence Patterns.
3. Let’s Get Started!
[00:02:38] So let’s go through this and get started with it. I’m going to tell you every step of the way what to do. If you are at the moment on the tram or something, and you cannot speak, come back later when you’re at home and listen to it, and then actually repeat after me when I tell you. Because this is how you learn to actually say those things.
🎧 Haven’t listened to this episode yet? Catch up with Episode 7 of the Better German Podcast and follow along as you learn the names of body parts in German—fun, simple, and easy to remember!
Okay, good. So here we have this sentence pattern. I’m going to say one example, and you’re going to repeat it, okay?
Das ist der Kopf.
Good. So what does that mean? That means:
That is the head.
Das ist die Hand.
Good. And that means:
That is the hand.
Another example:
Das ist das Knie.
That is the knee.
[00:04:08] Excellent. Now, by the way, this is true for anything you ever do with me. When you’re doing this and you notice that you’re still very, very unsure about how to say just those words, then please, go back and just listen to Episode 6 again and repeat it, and say the words with me until it is easy to do, just this step. What we do is, I’ll give you steps, and every one of them will be fairly easy, or doable. And you do it until you can really do it well. And then you go to the next one, and then you go to the next one. So if something seems to be very hard, usually, you just need to go back to the last one, or maybe one or two before, and pick it up from there, and do it until it’s easy, and only then continue.
By the way, very important for this episode, there is additional material. This file HERE, with the sentence pattern and some examples, including all the words that we’re going to need, they’re sorted, so we can use them for practising. You can download this from my homepage. It’s www.bettergerman.info Slash (/), and the episode number (7). This one’s episode number 7. You go on www.bettergerman.info/7, and there you find the show notes for this episode, and you can see how you can download it.
How this works is you register once, and once you do that, you can always go back and find all the additional materials that are available for the podcast. So whenever I make a new episode, there will be a worksheet available for it. You can go there, you will find it, and you can download it.
[00:06:21] So definitely download that one. But for now, we will continue. So I’ll say it. You repeat it after me.
Das ist die Hand. That is the hand.
Das ist das Auge. That is the eye. Good.
Without Translation
As the next step, we’re going to do this whole thing without translation. And a thing that is important here is we’re saying this with the article. That also helps you to practice the correct article. I’ve made you a list of the words that we’ve learned so far. We’re going to say these sentences.
Good. So I’ll say it, you repeat it.
Das ist der Körper.
Das ist der Finger.
Das ist der Bauch.
Das ist das Kinn.
Das ist die Nase.
Das ist das Bein.
Das ist die Stirn.
Das ist die Augenbraue.
Das ist der Daumen.
Das ist der Fuß.
Das ist das Knie.
Das ist der Arm.
Das ist die Schulter.
Das ist der Bart.
Das ist die Hand.
Das ist das Kinn.
Das ist der Mund.
Das ist das Haar.
Das ist die Augenbraue.
Das ist der Arm.
Das ist der Fuß.
Das ist die Nase.
Repeat with Translation
[00:09:26] So, I’m going to say the sentence, and you’re going to repeat it every time. And we’re going to go through all of the words here.
Das ist der Körper. That is the body. Das ist der Körper.
Das ist der Kopf. That is the head. Das ist der Kopf.
Das ist der Mund. That is the mouth. Das ist der Mund.
Das ist der Arm. That is the arm. Das ist der Arm.
Das ist der Finger. That is the finger. Das ist der Finger.
That is the thumb. Das ist der Daumen.
Das ist der Bauch. That is the belly.
Das ist der Nabel. That is the belly button.
Das ist der Fuß. That is the foot.
Das ist der Hals. That is the neck.
Das ist das Auge. That is the eye.
Das ist das Kinn. That is the chin.
Das ist das Knie. That is the knee.
Das ist das Ohr. That is the ear.
Das ist das Haar. That is the hair.
Das ist das Gesicht. That is the face.
Das ist das Bein. That is the leg.
Das ist die Stirn. That is the forehead.
Das ist die Nase. That is the nose.
Das ist die Zunge. That is the tongue.
Das ist die Hand. That is the hand.
Das ist die Zehe. That is the toe.
Das ist die Schulter. That is the shoulder.
Das ist die Augenbraue. That is the eyebrow.
Touch the Body Part
[00:13:22] The next step, I’m going to say the sentence, and I’m going to touch the body part. I want you to touch them with me. This is excellent practice, okay? I’ll touch it and say it, and you touch it and you repeat it.
Das ist der Körper.
Das ist der Kopf.
Das ist der Mund.
Das ist der Arm.
Das ist der Finger.
Das ist der Daumen.
Das ist der Bauch.
Das ist der Fuß. I’m not gonna show you my foot right now.
Das ist der Hals.
Das ist der Rücken.
Das ist der Bart. That’s for all the gentlemen out there who have a beard. It would be here if I had one.
Das ist das Auge.
Das ist das Kinn.
Das ist das Knie.
Das ist das Ohr.
Das ist das Haar.
Das ist das Gesicht.
Das ist das Bein.
Das ist die Stirn.
Das ist die Nase.
Das ist die Zunge.
Das ist die Hand.
Das ist die Zehe.
Das ist die Schulter.
Das ist die Augenbraue.
If you’re on the podcast, you obviously cannot see what I’m doing, so I have a way for you to practise this. I’m saying every sentence in German and then in English and then in German again. And you can listen to this. You can also go to the YouTube video and watch it there. And then you can see things, and it’s maybe easier for you. In any case, go to www.bettergerman.info/7 and download the additional material. It’s the written-up sentence pattern with a few examples. It’s all the words that we are using in this one, sorted by article for you to practice very handily with a translation. And it’s the five steps that you should be doing to practice this.
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4. Five Steps
[00:17:10] I’m going to go through these five steps. This is what you should do to practice. The very first step is to…
- Repeat it after me when I tell you. And you do this until this step is easy for you. very good. You just repeat this step until it is easy for you.
- The next step is you practice this sentence pattern all by yourself without me telling you to. You just say it with these words or any other words you know already, and you do this until it’s easy.
- If you notice you have a hard time saying these words or remembering how to say the words, go back to the video before, or to the episode before, the episode of Wordlist Body Parts. I have linked it. Listen to it again and practice, and repeat these words until you can say the words. It’s okay if you don’t know them verbatim yet because we’re still practising them, but do this until you feel good about it. Don’t worry if it’s perfect, but do this until you feel good about it. When you’re not sure if you’re saying it right, listen to how I say it and repeat it after me until you feel good about it, okay? You go back and then you practice these sentence patterns. This is all written up in that PDF you’re going to download, by the way.
- And now, you do what we just did, you say these words again, while touching the different body parts. That’s your fourth step here. You practice these sentences again, you touch the body parts, and you say the sentence. Ideally, you do this with a partner. If you don’t have a partner, you do it by yourself; that’s no problem.
- And then, the fifth step – now you sit down and you write it. In the file, you find free spaces if you want to print it out and write it by hand. I prefer writing by hand. When I want to learn, I feel I remember it better. However, if you prefer writing with a computer, then obviously you can do it. Do not copy-paste. That’s useless. You need to write it letter by letter. That’s why I suggest it’s better to do it by hand, but whatever works best for you, okay? And you write all of these sentences. You write,
“Das ist der Körper. Das ist der Kopf. Das ist der Mund.”
and so on. Okay?
So that’s your exercise for this particular sentence pattern. In the future, it’s similar. Now, every sentence pattern you learn… You exercise it. You exercise it by first saying the words with me, then doing it yourself or with a partner, and then writing it.
[00:20:38] In my courses, of course, you get all the sentence patterns you need. And, you will also get detailed instructions on how to practice them.
5. Courses Coming Up
The first course that is coming up, which will start at the beginning of 2024, is an A1.1 course (This course has since moved, and it’s now the Self-Paced German Level 1.1 Video Course.) That’s a total beginner’s course. If you’ve never learned any German, or you feel that you didn’t understand pretty much anything, or it’s been a very long time ago that you started learning German, then this course is for you. It’s starting at the beginning of 2024. You can already buy it now, and then you will get early access to the beta group, so you can buy it and then you will get early access to it later this year, before everybody else.
6. In Closing
[00:21:54] Good! This episode was about this first sentence pattern, the sentence pattern “That is ________.” and we were also practising body parts. It was a pleasure to do this, and I hope to see you in the next episode, Episode 8. This next episode is actually about how much grammar we need when we learn German.
Thank you for listening to this episode. You can find a transcript of this episode at www.bettergerman.info and slash (/) and then the number of the episode (7).
So, you can actually already see this on YouTube as a podcast episode; it’s out. And then, the next episode after Episode 8 is going to be about Introducing Yourself in German.
See you soon, have a great time.
Hang in there, and bye-bye!
Tschüss!
