video 008: explanations :: grammar :: vocabulary

Willkommen in Rheinland-Pfalz! = Welcome to Rheinland - Pfalz!

willkommen = welcome

Aus Rheinland - Pfalz kommt ein sehr berühmter Mann. = From Rheinland - Pfalz came a very famous man.

kommen - kommt = to come - comes

Er heißt Helmut Kohl und er war 16 Jahre lang der Bundeskanzler von Deutschland. = He is called Helmuth Kohl and he was for sixty years the chancellor of Germany.

heißen = to call
lang = here: during, normally the meaning ist long

Grammar: There is a little difference between english and german concerning the 'He is called'. In German a reflexive form is used, if you translate 'Er nennt sich' literally you get 'He calls himself'. If you translate 'He is called' literally to German you get 'Er wird gerufen'. In other words. In english the passive form is used in this case, but in german a reflexive pronoun.

Da warst du aber noch nicht auf der Welt. = But at that time you were not born already.

sein - warst = to be - you were
noch = still
noch nicht = not yet
Welt = world

The literal translation would be 'You were not yet in the world'.

Du auch nicht! = nor you!

auch = as well
auch nicht = nor

Sag mal, ist dir nicht ein bißchen kalt in dem dünnen Ding? = Tell me, you don' t have cold in this thin thing?

bißchen = little
ein bißchen = a little
sagen - sag = to tell - tell me (Imperativo, second person singular)
kalt = cold
Ding = thing

In this region, Nordrhein - Westfalen, everything unknown (or if the speaker is to lazy to find the correct word) ist called Teil (part). The use of Ding (thing) in this context is more recent. In any case she refers to the dress of her sister.

Nö, mir ist voll heiß! = No, I have really hot

nö = no (slang of children and youngsters)
heiß = hot
We have already talked about the different words used to form an elative (very nice). Voll is one of them. The 'normal' word would be 'sehr'.


Egal. Hier fließt der Rhein lang und er trifft sich hier mit der Mosel, = Doesn' t matter. That' s here where the Rhein passes and join the Mosel,

egal = doesn' t matter
fließen - fließt = flow - flows
treffen - trifft = to join - joins
hier = here

deshalb gibt es hier ganz viele Weinberge. = that' s why there are a lot of vine here.

Weinberge = vineyard
viele = a lot of
ganz viele = (really a lot)
deshalb = that' s why

Grammar: We have already talked about 'deshalb'. 'Deshalb' is a conjunction and a pronoun as well, it refers to something, in this case to the fact that there are two riverse, who joined at Rheinland - Pfalz. This kind of words in general have two be translated with two words.

Weintrauben sind lecker, aber Wein schmeckt doof. = Vids are delicious, but vine smells bad.

Weintrauben = vids
lecker = delicious
doof = silly

To use the word doof, silly, in this context may appear a little bit strange, actually vine can' t have any intellectual properties. But the use can be explained. Silly in can be used in the meaning of weired, complicated, embarrasing in other contexts. The girl just expanded this use to a new context, where it is normally not used, but nevertheless inside the german system it is possible.

Cola schmeckt gut! = Cola is delicious!

schmecken - schmeckt = to taste - taste
sabe bien = tastes well

Cola wächst aber woanders glaube ich. = But Cola crows somewhere else.

woanders = somewhere else
wachsen - wächst = to crow - crows
glauben - glaube = to believe - believes

Und Gummibärchen? = and gummy bears?

Gummibärchen = gummy bears

Die wachsen auch woanders. = They crow somewhere else as well

wachsen - wachsen = to crow - they crow

Was gibt es sonst noch Wichtiges in Rheinland - Pfalz? = What other important things are in Rheinland - Pfalz?


Die Mainzer Fassenacht! = The carnival of Mainz!

Was ist das denn ? = What is that?

Das ist so eine Art Karneval. = It' s certain type of Shrove Tuesday

War' s das? = It' s finished?

Das war' s! = It' s finished!

Wo sind wir beim nächsten Mal? = Where we are going to be next time?

In Thüringen! = In Thüringen!

Ok! = ¡Ok!

Auf Wiedersehen! = See you soon!