Day 1 of 40

Day 1: Waiting Room Stories in Erfurt

In the waiting area of the Bürgeramt in Erfurt, Sabine (A) sits with her mother-in-law Gisela (B), who has just moved from Kassel and must register her new address.

How to study this lesson 3 steps
  1. Read the situation under the title. It says who is talking and how they know each other, which decides how politely they speak.
  2. 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.
  3. 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

  1. A

    Noch zwölf Nummern. War das früher auch so?

    Twelve more numbers to go. Was it like this back then too?

  2. B

    Ach, 1978 ging ich einfach aufs Amt und wartete drei Stunden.

    Oh, in 1978 I just turned up at the office and waited three hours.

  3. A

    Drei Stunden! Und dann hat alles geklappt?

    Three hours! And then it all worked out?

  4. B

    Von wegen! Der Beamte schickte mich weg, weil ein Formular fehlte.

    Far from it! The clerk sent me away because a form was missing.

  5. A

    Dagegen war der Online-Termin ja das Schnellste am ganzen Umzug.

    Compared with that, the online booking was the quickest part of the whole move.

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