Day 24: Grandma's First Crime Novel
In her garden in Weimar, Gisela (B) waits to hear what her granddaughter Marie (A), a literature student, thinks of the crime novel she has secretly written.
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
Oma, ich habe deinen Krimi in einer Nacht verschlungen. Ein Mord im Goethehaus, darauf muss man erst mal kommen!
Grandma, I devoured your crime novel in one night. A murder in Goethe's house, who'd ever think of that!
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B
Und? Du darfst ruhig ehrlich sein, du studierst das ja schließlich.
Well? You can be honest, it's what you study, after all.
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A
Die Figuren sind großartig, nur ist der Täter schon ab Seite dreißig zu erraten.
The characters are great, it's just that you can guess who did it from page thirty on.
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B
Schon ab Seite dreißig? Dabei habe ich den Gärtner extra so verdächtig gemacht!
From page thirty? And I made the gardener so suspicious on purpose!
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A
Eben, den schließt jeder Leser sofort aus. Spannung erzeugst du, indem du weniger verrätst, nicht mehr.
Exactly, every reader rules him out straight away. You create suspense by giving away less, not more.
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B
Tja, das kommt ein bisschen spät: Das Manuskript liegt seit Montag bei einem Verlag in Leipzig.
Well, that's a bit late: the manuscript has been with a publisher in Leipzig since Monday.
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A
Oma, du bist unmöglich! Na ja, sollte der Verlag zusagen, lässt sich der Gärtner immer noch umschreiben.
Grandma, you're impossible! Oh well, if the publisher says yes, the gardener can always be rewritten.
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