Day 27: The Best Man's Uninvited Aunt
In a café in Essen, Tobias (A), who is to be best man at his brother's wedding, asks his old school friend Lisa (B) for help with a family problem.
How to study this lesson 3 steps
- Read the situation under the title. It says who is talking and how they know each other, which decides how politely they speak.
- Read the dialogue line by line with its translation, until every line makes sense. Point at (or tap) a German word to see what it means.
- Spend at least 30 minutes listening to native German, for example from the Resources page. It doesn't matter if you don't understand it yet.
Dialogue
Audio recordings are on the way. For now, each lesson is the dialogue with its English translation.
Keys: E hide English · ← → previous / next day · point at a word to see its meaning
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A
Lisa, du musst mich retten. Meine halbe Familie streitet darüber, ob Tante Gudrun zur Hochzeit kommen darf.
Lisa, you've got to save me. Half my family is arguing about whether Aunt Gudrun is allowed to come to the wedding.
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B
Die Tante, mit der bei euch seit zwölf Jahren keiner redet? Worum ging's bei dem Streit eigentlich?
The aunt nobody in your family has spoken to for twelve years? What was the row actually about?
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A
Das ist ja das Absurde: Mama sagt, ums Geld, wohingegen Papa auf eine Beleidigung bei Omas Achtzigstem schwört.
That's what's so absurd: Mum says money, whereas Dad swears it was an insult at Grandma's eightieth.
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B
Und was will dein Bruder? Genau betrachtet, heiratet ja er und nicht eure Eltern.
And what does your brother want? Strictly speaking, he's the one getting married, not your parents.
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A
Von seiner Braut überredet, hat er Tante Gudrun doch eine Einladung geschickt. Jetzt droht Mama, nach der Trauung beleidigt heimzufahren.
Talked round by his bride, he sent Aunt Gudrun an invitation after all. Now Mum's threatening to go home in a huff after the ceremony.
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B
Ganz einfach: Setzt Tante Gudrun zu den Verwandten der Braut, zumal die von eurem Familiendrama nichts wissen.
Simple: put Aunt Gudrun with the bride's relatives, especially since they know nothing about your family drama.
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A
Und die Rede? Egal, was ich auf Zollverein sage, die Hälfte des Saals wirft mir hinterher Verrat vor.
And the speech? Whatever I say at Zollverein, half the room will accuse me of betrayal afterwards.
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B
Du erwähnst den Streit mit keinem Wort und erzählst stattdessen, wie dein Bruder mit zwölf zwei verfeindete Cliquen an eine Tischtennisplatte gebracht hat.
You don't mention the row at all and tell them instead how your brother got two feuding cliques round one ping-pong table when he was twelve.
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A
Das legendäre Rundlaufturnier! Dezent erzählt, wirkt so eine Geschichte wie ein Friedensangebot, ohne dass ich Partei ergreifen muss.
The legendary round-the-table ping-pong tournament! Told subtly, a story like that comes across as a peace offering without my having to take sides.
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B
Versöhnen sich deine Mutter und Tante Gudrun, war es deine Rede. Wenn nicht, war die Sitzordnung schuld, und die war natürlich nie meine Idee.
If your mum and Aunt Gudrun make up, it was your speech. If not, the seating plan was to blame, and that was never my idea, of course.
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