1.4 Zimmereinrichtung
Lektionsüberblick
So far, you have learned how to talk about where you live and what your living situation looks like. Now, you will talk more specifically about your rooms and the items in them. After this lesson, you will be able to say what the inside of your apartment or room looks like. To get there, we will first 1) learn words that point to absolute locations, 2) talk about apartment and room floor plans and features more specifically, and then 3) learn words that point to relational locations.
1) Lagewörter
This first set of location words will enable you to talk about where things are in absolute terms of right, left, top, bottom, and middle.
2) Der Wohnungsgrundriss
Jetzt bist du dran!
Taking the previous text as a model, draw your apartment Grundriss and write a description of your apartment based on your drawing, starting from the entry point (der Eingang). Be sure to use the model instead of just thinking about what you would say in English. It’s important that you use your German!
When you are done, look over the model again and check if your spelling and structures match with the model. Then record your description in your audio journal. Be sure to listen to your recording and rerecord, if you are not satisfied.
3) Die Zimmereinrichtung
In order to talk about where things are in relation to each other, we have to learn 9 prepositions. You have seen some of these in other contexts before, since, much like English prepositions, they can say something about an object’s physical location and have a less literal meaning. Also in line with English prepositions: The meaning and use of each generally cannot be explained. All of this to say, for this section – as with all sections, but here even more so – we encourage you to inhabit your German-language persona and develop a feeling for the meaning of the words, instead of thinking of how you would talk about your rooms in English. Let’s begin! You will be introduced to two at a time, and the last set will have the final three. Then you will be challenged to review all 9 at once. Viel Glück!
Let’s look at some new rooms and practice some more!
Jetzt bist du dran!
Wo ist was? Look around your room and look for which things are on top of something else (auf). In your written journal, record at least 3-4 statements. (The model for this can also be found in the third presentation above.) For example, when I look around my room, I can make the following statements:
- Mein Laptop liegt auf dem Schreibtisch.
- 3 Bücher liegen auf dem Fußboden.
- Meine Wasserflasche steht auf dem Schreibtisch.
- Ich sitze auf dem Bürostuhl.
Now that you’ve done auf, go through the other prepositions in this section and write a series of statements per preposition.
Here is the whole list: an – auf – hinter – in – neben – über – vor – unter – zwischen
Take some of those statements and practice saying them aloud. When you are ready, record them in your audio journal.
Jetzt kombinieren!
In this lesson, you learned 1) words that point to absolute locations, 2) how to talk about apartment and room floor plans and features more specifically, and 3) words that point to relational locations. Now you have all of the components to talk about the inside of your apartment or room, which will be your Themenprojekt.
For this “Jetzt kombinieren“, you should choose 3-4 pieces of furniture and/or decorative items and write about their exact locations. For example:
Mein Laptop liegt auf meinem Schreibtisch. Er liegt vor mir, zwischen mir und dem Fenster, also sitze ich hinter dem Laptop. Er liegt links neben meiner Wasserflasche. Eine Lampe hängt über meinem Laptop, also liegt der Laptop unter der Lampe. Der Schreibtisch mit meinem Laptop steht an dem Fenster in meinem Schlafzimmer.*
Use this model to write about your chose items. Then pick at least one item description and practice saying it aloud. When you are ready, record it in your audio journal. Be sure to listen to your recording and rerecord, if you are not satisfied.
*If you are unsure what these statements mean, please repeat this lesson, especially #3. That being said, the translation provided here can help confirm whether you understand the statements and they also clearly demonstrate, why it is important to write from the German you know, instead of translating word-for-word from English.
My laptop is lying on my desk. It is lying in front of me, between me and the window, thus I am sitting behind the laptop. It is lying next to my water bottle on the left. A lamp is hanging over my laptop, thus my laptop is lying under the lamp. The desk with the laptop is situated at the window in my bedroom.
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