Day 169: Phones Off After Eight
In their living room in Oldenburg, a woman (A) and her husband Olaf (B) talk about something their son said at dinner the day before.
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
Leg mal das Handy weg, Olaf. Unser Sohn hat recht: Abends starren wir nur noch auf den Bildschirm.
Put your phone down, Olaf. Our son's right: in the evenings all we do is stare at a screen.
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B
Sagt die Richtige. Du liest doch selbst Mails, während du mit mir redest.
Look who's talking. You read emails yourself while you're talking to me.
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A
Punkt für dich. Neue Regel: Ab acht kommen beide Handys in die Schublade im Flur.
Fair point. New rule: from eight o'clock both phones go in the drawer in the hall.
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B
Und falls es einen Notfall gibt? Wenn meine Mutter anruft, muss ich das doch hören.
And what if there's an emergency? If my mother rings, I need to be able to hear it.
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A
Deine Mutter ruft jeden Abend um Viertel nach acht an, um den Wetterbericht zu besprechen. Das ist kein Notfall.
Your mother rings every evening at quarter past eight to discuss the weather forecast. That's not an emergency.
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B
Sie ist 84 und wohnt allein. Falls ihr etwas passiert und ich nicht rangehe, verzeihe ich mir das nie.
She's 84 and lives on her own. If something happens to her and I don't answer, I'll never forgive myself.
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A
Dann klingelt eben das Festnetz. Das hat keinen Bildschirm, und die Nummer kennt deine Mutter seit dreißig Jahren.
Then the landline will just have to ring. It hasn't got a screen, and your mother has known the number for thirty years.
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