1.3 Wie alt bist du?


Moin!

Let’s warm up with our daily small talk (Tagesminiplausch) and a brief review (Wiederholung).

Wiederholung

In the previous lesson, you practiced saying and understanding the spelling names  with both the standard alphabet and the Buchstabieralphabet. Let’s review what you have learned.

 

Jetzt bist du dran!

In your audio journal, spell your name and the name of a friend, family member, or classmate aloud.

Lektionsüberblick

In this lesson, we will learn how to 1) be comfortable with positive numbers. 2) understand the question “Wann hast du Geburtstag?”, 3) say your birthdate, and 4) ask how old someone is.

Was weißt du schon?

In order to complete today’s lesson, you should already know how to say numbers that could be an age or date as well as the months of the years (die Monate des Jahres). Check your skill level with the activities below. You should be able to complete these activities comfortably before moving on. A link to review is provided after the activities.

Noch nicht start klar?

Du kannst immer auf die gleiche 1010-Lektion zurückgreifen!

 Not confident about starting this lesson?

You can always review the same Lektion from 1010.

1) Be comfortable with numbers

Watch the video below to strengthen your knowledge, particularly of the numbers over 12. Pay close attention to numbers like your birthdate, your age, and the age and birthdate of someone you care about.

 

 

Kleiner Hinweis

When talking with someone on the phone in German, sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between when someone is saying the number two (zwei) or three (drei). They can sound similar. For that reason, sometimes German speakers will say zwo instead of zwei on the telephone or when someone is otherwise trying to explicitly differentiate the number zwei from drei. Can you hear the difference?

eins – zwei – drei eins – zwo – drei

2) Wann hast du Geburtstag?

Read and listen to the conversation below.

3) How to say your birthdate

Read and listen to Julia, Max, and Yasmin give their birthdays.

Julia Ich habe am 3. März 1998 Geburtstag.
Max Ich wurde am 23. Oktober geboren.
Jasmin Ich habe am fünfzehnten Januar Geburtstag.

It is important to note that Julia, Max, and Yasmin are using ordinal numbers just like we do in English (e.g. I was born on January 15th. Her birthday is on the second of April.). The same holds true for German. Below are some examples of Ordinalzahlen.

1st erste
2nd zweite
3rd dritte
4th vierte
5th fünfte
6th sechste
7th siebte
8th achte
9th neunte
10th elfte
12th zwölfte
27th siebenundzwanzigste

 

🎥 You can listen to this episode of Coffee Break German to hear how people say their birthday (or birth month).

 

Jetzt bist du dran!

Wann hast du Geburtstag? Using the examples above, write out a sentence that gives your birthdate.
Now record your birthdate in German in your audio journal. Practice saying it a couple times before recording. Or rerecord, if you are not satisfied.

 

4) How to ask how old someone is

Read the short conversation below.

Character asking how old the boy is

 

Jetzt bist du dran!

In your written journal, imagine a conversation between you and your friend talking about some Germans your friend just met (Sanda, 23, and Jürgen, 20). Write out a dialogue asking your friend about their names and ages.
Now record your dialogue in your audio journal. You can also meet with a classmate (in person or online) to record your dialogues. Rerecord, if you are not satisfied.

 

Zum Schluß

In this lesson, you learned to 1) be comfortable with positive numbers. 2) understand the question “Wann hast du Geburtstag?”, 3) say your birthdate, and 4) ask how old someone is. If you are feeling unsure about any part, review or go back to earlier lessons.
In closing, in your journal write down what you remember from your lesson. How do you say your birthdate? How do you ask someone’s age?

*As you conclude this lesson, don’t forget to check Canvas!*

Want extra practice with the numbers? Check out these additional resources:


Media Attributions

Deutsche Zahlen Von 1 Bis 100 by Deutsch lernen in Deutschland,  licensed by CC-BY International License.

Media Attributions

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Deutsch im Alltag II (DE) Copyright © by Rebecca Steele and Stephanie Schottel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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