Day 15 of 20

Day 15: Haggling Over a Biedermeier Chest

In an antiques shop in Bamberg, Monika Seidl (A), an older woman, offers her grandmother's Biedermeier chest of drawers to Philipp (B), a young antiques dealer.

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

    Das ist die um 1830 in Bamberg gefertigte Kommode meiner Großmutter. Was ist sie Ihnen wert?

    This is my grandmother's chest of drawers, made in Bamberg around 1830. What's it worth to you?

  2. B

    Ein schönes Stück, aber Biedermeier ist kaum noch gefragt. Mehr als 600 Euro sind nicht drin.

    A lovely piece, but there's hardly any demand for Biedermeier these days. I can't go above 600 euros.

  3. A

    Sechshundert? Das Kirschbaumfurnier ist in einem Zustand, wie man ihn heute kaum noch findet.

    Six hundred? You hardly ever find cherry veneer in this condition nowadays.

  4. B

    Das bestreite ich gar nicht, aber für so etwas zahlen heute fast nur noch Sammler.

    I don't dispute that, but these days it's almost only collectors who pay for that sort of thing.

  5. A

    Sammler? Gut, dann nehme ich Ihre 600 Euro, allerdings unter einer Bedingung.

    Collectors? All right, I'll take your 600 euros, but on one condition.

  6. B

    Da bin ich gespannt. Hoffentlich läuft es nicht darauf hinaus, dass ich noch was drauflege.

    Now I'm curious. I hope it doesn't come down to me paying a bit more.

  7. A

    Ich bestehe darauf, dass sie bei jemandem landet, der seine Pullover hineinlegt, statt sie nur anzuschauen.

    I insist that it ends up with someone who'll keep their jumpers in it rather than just look at it.

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