Thomas und Julia gehen in ein Café.
Kellner: "Was wünschen Sie?"
Thomas: "Ich hätte gern eine Tasse Kaffee. Julia, möchtest du
auch einen Kaffee?
Julia: "Nein, ich trinke lieber eine heiße Schokolade."
Kellner: "Möchten Sie Ihren Kaffee mit Milch und Zucker?"
Thomas: "Nein danke, ich trinke den Kaffee schwarz. Gibt es hier auch Frühstück?"
Kellner: "Ja."
Thomas: "Was haben Sie da?"
Kellner: "Es gibt Brot, Brötchen, Butter, Marmelade, Honig, Käse,
Wurst und gekochte Eier."
Julia: "Haben Sie auch Nutella? Ich esse zuhause immer einen Toast mit
Nutella."
Kellner: "Ja, Nutella haben wir auch."
Thomas: "Okay, dann bekommen wir das Frühstück und ich möchte
zusätzlich noch ein Glas Wasser."
Kellner: "Sehr wohl."
(später)
Thomas: "Die Rechnung bitte."
Kellner: "Das macht 12 Euro 10."
Thomas: "Hier sind 13 Euro, stimmt so."
Kellner: "Danke."
| German | Explanation / Translation |
| wünschen | to desire, wish |
| ich hätte gern ... | (expression:) I would like ... literal translation: I would have willingly ... |
| die Tasse (plural: Tassen) | cup |
| der Kaffee | coffee |
| möchte -> mögen | would like. This is actually the conditional of "mögen"(to like). For now, treat it as if it was a verb with the infinitive "möchten". |
| lieber | rather (ich trinke lieber ... = I would rather drink ... / I would prefer to drink ...) |
| heiß | hot |
| die Schokolade | chocolate (heiße Schokolade = a drink made of milk and molten chocolate) |
| die Milch | milk |
| der Zucker | sugar |
| schwarz | black; in the case of coffee: without addition of anything |
| es gibt | there is, there are; here in the meaning of: you have |
| das Frühstück | breakfast |
| das Brot | bread |
| das Brötchen | roll |
| die Butter | butter |
| die Marmelade | jam |
| der Honig | honey |
| der Käse | cheese |
| die Wurst | sausage (also used to refer to peperoni or ham or any similar meat product that can be put on bread) |
| gekocht | boiled, cooked |
| das Ei (plural: Eier) | egg |
| das Nutella | a spread made of chocolate and hazelnuts; Nutella is actually a brand name for that and a more neutral (but not often-used) way of referring to this is "Nuss-Nougat-Creme" |
| zuhause | at home |
| immer | always |
| der Toast | toast |
| dann | then, in that case |
| bekommen | to receive, get |
| zusätzlich (noch) | additionally, in addition |
| das Glas | glass |
| das Wasser | water (if you don't specify otherwise, this will be carbonated water) |
| Sehr wohl | Very well (only as answer to an order) |
| die Rechnung (plural: Rechnungen) | bill |
| Das macht ... | That's ... (price) |
| stimmen | to be right |
| Stimmt so. | said when you gave more money than necessary, to indicate that you don't want any change and the additional money is a tip |
There are cases in German. Cases can show you for example whether a word is
the subject (actor) of a sentence or the object (thing that is acted upon).
English only knows cases for personal pronouns (words like I, you, he, ...):
for example the word "he" changes to "him" if it is an object
in the sentence:
He asks her. (He is the one doing the asking)
She asks him. (He is the one being asked, the object of the asking)
In German, everything has a case, not just personal pronouns, and there are 4 cases total. That would be too much to review in one lesson though, so this lesson is just about the Accusative - and you already know the Nominative, the standard form of a word such as you would find in a dictionary. The Nominative is used for subjects and the Accusative is used for objects. Here are the forms of the personal pronouns for Nominative and Accusative; you have probably seen them before:
| Pronoun - Nominative | Pronoun - Accusative |
| ich (I) | mich (me) |
| du (you, singular) | dich (you) |
| er / sie / es (he / she / it) | ihn / sie / es (him / her / it) |
| wir (we) | uns (us) |
| ihr (you, plural) | euch (you) |
| sie (they) | sie (they) |
Nouns, adjectives and articles may also change for cases, but fortunately this doesn't apply much to the Accusative: for the Accusative, all Accusative forms are the same as the Nominative ones, except for masculine singular nouns:
Words with a different gender don't change at all, and the masculine plural doesn't change either. Here is a full list anyway, so that you can check whether you know the Nominative correctly:
| Nominative | Accusative |
| der alte Mann | den alten Mann |
| ein alter Mann | einen alten Mann |
| die alte Frau | die alte Frau |
| eine alte Frau | eine alte Frau |
| das alte Auto | das alte Auto |
| ein altes Auto | ein altes Auto |
| Plural: | |
| die alten Männer | die alten Männer |
| alte Männer | alte Männer |
| die alten Frauen | die alten Frauen |
| alte Frauen | alte Frauen |
| die alten Autos | die alten Autos |
| alte Autos | alte Autos |
The Accusative has three uses:
1) Reading comprehension: answer the following questions about the text in full German sentences:
2) Vocabulary: which words do you know for food and drinks in German? Try to think of as many words as possible (at least 15, but many more are possible) without looking at the list of vocabulary. Think of what you might eat for lunch or drink at a party, too, not just breakfast items. Put them in categories or make a mind map - the more vivid, the likelier it is that you will be able to remember the words effortlessly in the future. Consult this site if unclear on what a mind map is, what it might look like or how to make one.
3.1) Grammar I: fill in the correct form of the Accusative
3.2) Grammar II: revise verbs in their present tense, along with the indefinite article and the Accusative.
4) Free writing: write your own dialogue about eating at a café. What do you like to order?
When going to a café in Germany, you can always choose your own seat (whereas in good restaurants you have to wait to be seated). If all tables have been taken, you may go to a person you don't know and ask whether you can sit at their table - use "Ist hier noch frei?" or a similar question. Do not just sit down there, that is considered extremely rude.
You can spend hours at a café talking to friends, but you will be expected to at least order a drink. If the café is very crowded, you may be asked to order another drink after a while. When you're done, say "Die Rechnung bitte" or "Ich möchte gerne zahlen" in order to get the bill. In most places the waitress will wait as you gather the money. Even though the bill includes VAT (in German: MwSt) and service, giving a tip is still the rule. A tip of about 10% of the price is very good, but you should at least round up to the next full Euro. Say "Der Rest ist für Sie" or "Stimmt so" if you paid more than necessary and don't wish any money back. If you want part of the money back, say "Macht X", where X is the price you wish to pay. Bargaining the price is unacceptable in cafés and restaurants. On the market or in small shops it's acceptable, but selling something at less than the specified price or giving big discounts used to be illegal in Germany until a few years ago and now that it has been legalised, the vast majority of Germans still don't try to bargain and aren't ready to give bargains in return.
Many cafés offer cake or ice-cream in addition to popular drinks such as different kinds of coffee, tea and sodas. Some of them also offer breakfast items. However, it is usually impossible to just order "a slice of bread and cheese", you have to order a full pre-defined breakfast from the menu. There are typically a few variations, such as smaller or larger breakfast, German, European or American-style.
Germans eat bread and/or rolls, butter and a sweet spread (Nutella, jam, honey, a kind of syrup or even peanut butter) for breakfast. Some also have non-sweet stuff such as cheese, sausage or eggs, or yoghurt, cornflakes or muesli, but bread is never missing. There are several hundred types of bread in Germany and Germany has the largest per-capita consumption of bread in the world. Needless to say that German types of bread (not white bread, toast or burger-type stuff) are what Germans miss the most when going abroad.