A1 

9 | Wo arbeitest du?

Where do you work?

Learn:

Talk about professions, spell names, alphabet part 3
The yes/no-question sentence & demonstrative pronouns

Talk about professions; German lessons: 9 | Wo arbeitest du? / Where do you work?: Paul and Anna are still sitting in the café, and they're talking about jobs. Paul was late for work the other day, and he was in trouble with his boss. Will he lose his job? Topic: talk about professions, spell names, alphabet part 3 Grammar: sentence type 3 (main clause): yes/no-question sentence / demonstrative pronouns (Fritz’ Auto? Das ist hier.)
Translations

Anna:Anna (name)
noun (f.)
Paul Paul (name)
noun (m.)
, wo where
adverb
arbeitest work
verb
du you
personal pronoun
jetzt now; currently
adverb
eigentlich actual(ly); anyways; by the way
particle
?

Anna: Paul, by the way, where do you work now?

Paul:Paul (name)
noun (m.)
Ich I
personal pronoun
arbeite work
verb
jetzt now; currently
adverb
in in; into
preposition
der the (masculine)
article
Bibliothek library
noun (f.)
.

Paul: I work in the library now.

Anna:Anna (name)
noun (f.)
Und and
conjunction
?

Anna: And?

Paul:Paul (name)
noun (m.)
Na well…; so…
interjection
ja yes
particle
... Ich I
personal pronoun
habe have
verb
viel much; a lot
pronoun
Stress stress
noun (m.)
...

Paul: Well ... I have a lot of stress ...

Anna:Anna (name)
noun (f.)
Oh oh
interjection
. Peter Peter (name)
noun (m.)
hat has
verb
auch also, too, as well
adverb
viel much; a lot
pronoun
Stress stress
noun (m.)
. Er he
personal pronoun
ist is
verb
Arzt (medical) doctor
noun (m.)
. Christina Christina (name)
noun (f.)
ist is
verb
Lehrerin (female) teacher
noun (f.)
, die here: that girl
article
hat has
verb
viel much; a lot
pronoun
Freizeit free time; leisure time; spare time
noun (f.)
.

Anna: Oh. Peter also has a lot of stress. He is a doctor. Christina is a teacher, that girl has a lot of free time.

Paul:Paul (name)
noun (m.)
Ja yes
particle
, und and
conjunction
Fritz Fritz (name)
noun (m.)
ist is
verb
Polizist policeman
noun (m.)
. Der here: that guy
article
hat has
verb
viel much; a lot
pronoun
Arbeit work; job; labor
noun (f.)
!

Paul: Yes, and Fritz is a policeman. That guy has a lot of work!

Anna:Anna (name)
noun (f.)
Ja yes
particle
, wir we
personal pronoun
arbeiten to work
verb
viel much; a lot
pronoun
.

Anna: Yes, we work a lot.

Paul:Paul (name)
noun (m.)
Nur only; just; merely
adverb
du you
personal pronoun
nicht not
particle
, du you
personal pronoun
bist are
verb
arbeitslos jobless; unemployed
adjective
. Haha.

Paul: Only you don’t, you’re unemployed. Haha.

Anna:Anna (name)
noun (f.)
Hey hey
interjection
, ich I
personal pronoun
bin am
verb
Studentin (female) student (university)
noun (f.)
und and
conjunction
Kellnerin waitress
noun (f.)
.

Anna: Hey, I’m a student and a waitress.

Paul:Paul (name)
noun (m.)
Ja yes
particle
, du you
personal pronoun
arbeitest work
verb
im in the
preposition
Café café; coffee shop
noun (n.)
. … Macht makes; does
verb
Sabine Sabine (name)
noun (f.)
eigentlich actual(ly); anyways; by the way
particle
noch still; yet; else
adverb
das the (neuter); that
article
Praktikum internship
noun (n.)
?

Paul: Yes, you work in the café. ... is Sabine still doing the internship?

Anna:Anna (name)
noun (f.)
Nein no
particle
, sie she; they
personal pronoun
ist is
verb
jetzt now; currently
adverb
Verkäuferin (female) shop assistant; saleswoman; seller
noun (f.)
. Sabines Sabine's
noun
Mann man; husband / Man! (wow!)
noun (m.)
ist is
verb
Informatiker computer specialist
noun (m.)
.

Anna: No, she is now a saleswoman. Sabine‘s husband is a computer scientist.

Paul:Paul (name)
noun (m.)
Ist is
verb
sie she; they
personal pronoun
verheiratet married
adjective
? Und and
conjunction
wie how / like; as (comparison)
adverb
heißt is called
verb
er he
personal pronoun
?

Paul: Is she married? And what ‘s his name?

Anna:Anna (name)
noun (f.)
Michail Michail (name)
noun (m.)
Kudrjawzew Kudrjawzew (last name)
noun
.

Anna: Michail Kudrjawzew.

Paul:Paul (name)
noun (m.)
Kannst can
verb
du you
personal pronoun
das the (neuter); that
article
bitte please; you're welcome
particle
buchstabieren to spell
verb
?

Paul: Can you please spell that?

Anna:Anna (name)
noun (f.)
M m
alphabet
i i
alphabet
c c
alphabet
h h
alphabet
a a
alphabet
i i
alphabet
l l
alphabet
    K k
alphabet
u u
alphabet
d d
alphabet
r r
alphabet
j j
alphabet
a a
alphabet
w w
alphabet
z z
alphabet
e e
alphabet
w w
alphabet

Anna: M i c h a i l   K u d r j a w z e w

Paul:Paul (name)
noun (m.)
Wow wow
interjection
! Das the (neuter); that
article
ist is
verb
ein a
article
Name name
noun (m.)
!

Paul: Wow! That’s a name!

Anna:Anna (name)
noun (f.)
Paul Paul (name)
noun (m.)
, warum why
adverb
hast have
verb
du you
personal pronoun
in in; into
preposition
der the (masculine)
article
Bibliothek library
noun (f.)
eigentlich actual(ly); anyways; by the way
particle
viel much; a lot
pronoun
Stress stress
noun (m.)
?

Anna: Paul, why do you have a lot of stress in the library anyways?

Paul:Paul (name)
noun (m.)
Der the (masculine)
article
Chef boss
noun (m.)
macht makes; does
verb
Stress stress
noun (m.)
.

Paul: The boss causes stress.

Anna:Anna (name)
noun (f.)
Und and
conjunction
warum why
adverb
macht makes; does
verb
er he
personal pronoun
Stress stress
noun (m.)
?

Anna: And why is he stressing?

Paul:Paul (name)
noun (m.)
Ich I
personal pronoun
war was
verb
nicht not
particle
pünktlich punctual; on time
adjective
.

Paul: I wasn’t on time.

Anna:Anna (name)
noun (f.)
Oh oh
interjection
Paul Paul (name)
noun (m.)
!

Anna: Oh Paul!

New words

 

arbeiten
to work

du arbeitest
you work

arbeitslos
jobless; unemployed

der Arzt
the doctor

die Bibliothek
the library

du bist
you are

buchstabieren
to spell

der Chef
the boss

Christina
Christina (name)

die Freizeit
the free time

er, sie, es hat
he, she, it has

im
in the

der Informatiker
the computer specialist

jetzt
now; currently

die Kellnerin
the waitress

die Lehrerin
the teacher (female)

der Mann
the man; husband

Michail Kudrjawzew
Michail Kudrjawzew (first and last name)

na ja…
well…

der Name
the name

Peter
Peter (name)

der Polizist
the policeman

das Praktikum
the internship

pünktlich
punctual; on time

Sabine
Sabine (name)

der Stress
the stress

die Studentin
the student (female)

die Verkäuferin
the 
saleswoman

  1   Comprehension quiz

Paul forgets that Anna helps out in the student office and apparently also works as a waitress.
One of their friend’s husband’s name is so unusual that Paul needs Anna to spell it for him.
Paul tells Anna he works in a library now.
Paul’s reputation at his workplace is good.

 

 💬  Alphabet part 3

Learn how to pronounce the letters of the alphabet.

Speak along: v  w  x  y  z  ä  ö  ü  ß

11 Responses

  1. Hi Christian, I am reviewing all lessons. And something that works for me is to rewrite each lesson. At this moment I realised that I would make a mistake if you ask me to write the sentences above:
    … Christina ist Lehrerin. Die hat viel Freizeit.
    … Fritz ist Polizist. Der hat viel Arbeit.

    In these two situation I would write: Sie hat viel Freizeit/Er hat viel Arbeit.

    Is this the case of dative, accusative, or something else? I can not recognise or tell why it used “die” and “der”

    1. Hi Flavio!
      This is explanied in the grammar of this lesson: https://german-stories.com/exercise-4-for-lesson-9/
      You could write “he has a lot of work” = “er hat viel Arbeit” (using substitute pronouns from lesson 8) instead of “that guy has a lot of work” = “der hat viel Arbeit” (using demonstrative pronouns from this lesson). It would not be inherently wrong but it would have a different connotation. The difference between the 2 versions is pretty small.
      Kind regards
      Christian

    1. Hi!
      This is called “dative”. It’s a bit advanced (from lesson 54 onwards). But using the dative here was unavoidable. So for now I wouldn’t worry too much about it. The quick explanation is: Here, the difference between “die” and “der” is like the difference between “he” and “him” in English.
      Hope that helps.
      Christian

  2. Hi! The wording for the comprehension quiz “Anna helps out in the student office” confused me because in the dialogue she said “Ich bin Studentin”. Would it make more sense for the quiz to say “Anna is a student”? Thanks for your help! I have been loving this method of learning so far!

    1. Hi Arianna!
      I’m glad to hear that you love our method. I added some context to the explanation. Now it says: “He thinks Anna has no job and makes fun of it. But she reminds him that she works as a waitress. And in lesson 4 we’ve learned that she works in the student office. She was the person Meili needed to talk to when she wanted to start studying in the University of Munich.”

  3. Hallo Christian!

    “Macht Sabine noch das Praktikum?” Is written in text. However, your voice of Paul in the story part hears as “Macht Sabine eingelich (sp?) noch das Paraktikum?”

    Am I missing something?

    Thank you!

    Steve

    1. Hi Steve!
      Thank you for telling us. Can’t believe nobody ever noticed this before 🙂
      We added the word “eigentlich” in the line where it was missing.
      Kind regards
      Christian

  4. Thank you so much for the response and clarification!

    Enjoying this program immensely! And I am learning so much!

    Thanks again, Christian!!

    Steve
    Arizona USA

Ask/answer an important question. Or report a bug:

7-day free trial

Cancel at any time

Ad and worry-free

Because one more awesome learning tool is waiting for you: