Day 173 of 185

Day 173: The Kiosk Owner Saw It Coming

At a kiosk in Essen, Emre (A), a young customer, is buying a newspaper from the owner, Pawel Nowak (B), when a headline catches his eye.

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

    Einmal die WAZ, bitte. Oh, schauen Sie mal: Das Kaufhaus in der Innenstadt schließt im Sommer.

    The WAZ, please. Oh, look at this: the department store in the town centre is closing in the summer.

  2. B

    Darauf hätte ich schon vor zehn Jahren gewettet. Damals stand oben schon mehr Personal als Kundschaft herum.

    I'd have bet on that ten years ago. Even back then there were more staff than customers standing around upstairs.

  3. A

    Die Mitarbeiter haben es erst letzte Woche erfahren. Die Eigentümer werden das aber längst entschieden haben.

    The staff only found out last week. But the owners will have decided it long ago.

  4. B

    Sicher. Hätten die rechtzeitig investiert, statt alles kaputtzusparen, würde der Laden heute noch laufen.

    No doubt. If they'd invested in time instead of cutting costs until everything fell apart, the shop would still be doing fine today.

  5. A

    Wobei, ich kaufe meine Klamotten ja auch fast nur noch online. Da bin ich wohl nicht ganz unschuldig.

    Mind you, I buy nearly all my clothes online these days too. So I suppose I'm not entirely innocent.

  6. B

    Da sind Sie nicht der Einzige. Aber ohne das Kaufhaus kommt bald auch keiner mehr an meiner Bude vorbei.

    You're not the only one. But without the department store, soon nobody will come past my kiosk either.

  7. A

    Dann kaufe ich meine Zeitung ab jetzt jeden Morgen bei Ihnen. Das bin ich der Innenstadt schuldig.

    Then I'll buy my paper from you every morning from now on. I owe the town centre that much.

Your progress is saved in this browser only, with no sign-up. The course page and the menu show where you left off. Well done! Next up: Day 174: A Unicorn Lantern for St Martin 

If this free course has helped you in your German journey, please consider supporting the project. It's a one-person effort, and even small contributions help keep it running and free for everyone.