Day 214 of 215

Day 214: Why Coffee Is at Three Sharp

In a care home in Görlitz, Marc (A), a young volunteer from Spain, asks Gertrud Hähnel (B), one of the residents, about a habit he has noticed.

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

    Frau Hähnel, warum sind denn alle pünktlich um drei hier?

    Mrs Hähnel, why is everyone here at three on the dot?

  2. B

    Um drei wird bei uns Kaffee getrunken. Das ist eine alte Gewohnheit.

    At three, we have coffee here. It's an old habit.

  3. A

    Um drei? In Spanien wird da gerade erst zu Mittag gegessen!

    At three? In Spain, that's when people are only just having lunch!

  4. B

    Wir essen um zwölf, damit um drei Platz für Kuchen ist. Helfen Sie mir mal beim Tischdecken?

    We have lunch at twelve, so there's room for cake at three. Would you give me a hand laying the tables?

  5. A

    Gern! Aber nur, um mir das erste Stück zu sichern.

    Happy to! But only to make sure I get the first slice.

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