Day 149: No Abitur Class This Summer
Over the garden fence in Paderborn, Gerd Wiemers (A), a retired teacher, chats to his neighbour Sylvia Hüttemann (B), whose son goes to the local Gymnasium, a grammar school.
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
Morgen, Frau Hüttemann! Ihr Großer macht doch diesen Sommer Abitur, oder?
Morning, Mrs Hüttemann! Your eldest is doing his Abitur this summer, isn't he?
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B
Eben nicht! Wegen der Umstellung auf G9 gibt es an seinem Gymnasium dieses Jahr gar kein Abitur.
That's just it, he isn't! Because of the switch back to nine years at grammar school, there's no Abitur at all at his school this year.
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A
Ach ja, richtig. Während meiner Dienstzeit wurde das System dreimal reformiert, für mich ist das ein alter Hut.
Oh yes, of course. The system was reformed three times during my career, so that's old news to me.
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B
Dreimal? Da hatten Sie doch irgendwann bestimmt die Nase voll.
Three times? You must have been fed up with it at some point.
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A
Und wie! Erst kam G8, dann das Zentralabitur, und kaum hatte man sich daran gewöhnt, hieß es wieder G9.
And how! First came G8, then the centralised Abitur, and no sooner had you got used to it than it was back to G9.
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B
Mein Sohn freut sich über das zusätzliche Jahr. Nur meine Mutter hat schon ein Kleid für seinen Abiball gekauft.
My son's pleased about the extra year. It's just my mother who's already bought a dress for his Abitur ball.
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A
Das Kleid läuft ja nicht weg. Und bis Ihre Enkel aufs Gymnasium kommen, wird ohnehin wieder alles umgestellt.
Well, the dress isn't going anywhere. And by the time your grandchildren go to grammar school, it'll all be changed again anyway.
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