Fifty sentences for building your German vocabulary – part six
Part six, and the subject of its table is asking the way and asking for help. The worth of these phrases is not felt until the moment you are lost in a town you do not know and cannot find one word to say.
The phrases here were kept short, sayable in one breath, because the long ones are forgotten in the very situation they were gathered for.
Why a store of words is built by volume, not by rule
Grammar organises what you already know; it does not produce what you do not. Someone who still cannot speak in the street after a year of study is usually short of words, not of rules. That is why this series comes in batches: fifty words at a time, heard, repeated and used, rather than analysed and explained. Anyone measuring their own progress knows that the distance between one level and the next is counted in words before it is counted in anything else.
Twenty phrases for directions and for asking help
| Deutsch | English |
|---|---|
| Wo ist der Bahnhof? | Where is the station? |
| Wie komme ich zum Rathaus? | How do I get to the town hall? |
| Ist es weit von hier? | Is it far from here? |
| Gehen Sie geradeaus. | Go straight ahead. |
| Biegen Sie links ab. | Turn left. |
| An der Ampel rechts. | Right at the traffic light. |
| Welcher Bus fährt ins Zentrum? | Which bus goes to the centre? |
| Wann fährt der nächste Zug? | When does the next train leave? |
| Wo kann ich ein Ticket kaufen? | Where can I buy a ticket? |
| Ich habe mich verlaufen. | I have lost my way. |
| Ich bin nicht von hier. | I am not from here. |
| Können Sie das aufschreiben? | Could you write that down? |
| Können Sie es mir auf der Karte zeigen? | Could you show me on the map? |
| Wie lange dauert es? | How long does it take? |
| Wie spät ist es? | What time is it? |
| Wo sind die Toiletten? | Where are the toilets? |
| Gibt es hier WLAN? | Is there Wi-Fi here? |
| Ich suche diese Adresse. | I am looking for this address. |
| Entschuldigen Sie die Störung. | Sorry to disturb you. |
| Vielen Dank für Ihre Hilfe. | Thank you for your help. |
How to fix a word so it does not slip away
- Listen to the part once through, then again while pronouncing along with it, not after it
- Split the fifty over five days, ten a day — a single large batch is forgotten whole
- Review yesterday's words before starting today's; two minutes are enough
- Write one sentence per word taken from your own life, not from a book
- Review the whole part after a week and again after a month — spacing is what moves a word into long-term memory
- Anything forgotten twice goes on a small separate list and is reviewed on its own
Frequently asked questions
What do I do if I do not understand the answer?
Say Können Sie das aufschreiben? — paper rescues the moment when hearing fails, and it is easier than asking three times over.
Do I address a passer-by with du or Sie?
Always Sie with strangers; it is safer and closer to custom.
Which is more useful: learning the questions or the answers?
Both, but start with the answers. You ask a question once; the answer comes at speed and is not repeated, and whoever has learned it understands it first time.
Will people understand me if my grammar is wrong?
Usually, yes. A grammatical error is forgiven; silence conveys nothing at all.
Watch the video
The video is on the OK+ channel on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7K1zARNExIc
Also on OK+
- Fifty sentences for building your German vocabulary – part five
- Fifty sentences for building your German vocabulary – part seven
- Learn German A1 – lesson 1
A tool that shortens the road
The OK Plus DE app gathers German administrative calculators and form templates in one place, free, ad-free, in seven languages. Android and iPhone, from the same page:
Get the OK Plus DE app
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