Hallo allerseits!

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

Wiederholung

In the previous lesson, you learned how to ask for someone’s name, say “nice to meet you”, and say “goodbye”. Let’s review what you have learned.

Lektionsüberblick

In this lesson, we will learn a frequent next step of an introductory conversation. In the end, you will be able to 1) say the numbers 0-12 and your age, 2) say how old you are, 3) ask someone’s age, and 4) use a two-word “magical question” that can keep a conversation going.

1) How to say the numbers

Learning the numbers (die Zahlen) is a practical skill in any language. In German, die Zahlen means the numbers. Below is a video showing the numbers 1-100. Watch the video with a focus on learning the first ten numbers and how to say your age.

Die Zahlen (null bis fünfundzwanzig) – To review, here are the numbers 0-25.

Let’s try some exercises to become more familiar with the German numbers.

Zahlen üben Practice numbers 1-12 by rolling dice and adding them up. If you do not have any dice, click here!

drei + sechs = neun (“drei plus sechs ist neun”)

🎬Even spies have to learn the hard way. Watch this tense scene from Inglourius Bastards. What gave him away?

2) How to say how old you are

Look at the introductions below. How do they say their ages?

Grüß Gott, ich heiße Emilia. Ich bin 21 Jahre alt und komme aus Wien.	Hallo, ich heiße Julian. Ich bin 18 Jahre alt. Ich komme aus Graz.	Servus, ich heiße Lara und ich bin 34 Jahre alt. Ich komme aus San Diego, aber ich wohne jetzt in Salzburg.	Guten Tag, ich heiße Noah und komme aus Linz. Ich bin 30 Jahre alt.

3) How to ask someone’s age

Now, it’s time to take the focus off of us and ask a fellow student’s age. Look at Frida’s introduction  below. Can you tell how she asks for your age?

You can watch this video from EasyGerman to hear German native speakers answer the question “Wie alt bist du?” or the more formal “Wie alt sind Sie?”. Do they all answer the same way? At the beginning of the video, the host says that asking someone’s age is a complicated topic. Do you agree?

You’ve already learned a number of questions & answers, statements & responses that belong to a introduction. Do you remember which ones belong together?

4) Die magische Frage

Do you remember what questions you have to ask to get the response “Ich heiße Sofia” or “Ich bin 19 Jahre alt“? You will now be introduced to a two-word “magical question” that is almost universal. The question can help you out, when you can’t remember the right question, but you want to keep the conversation going.

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

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

• 0-12 numbers practice (memory and speaking)
• Numbers writing practice

Media Attributions

• Deutsch Zahlen von 1 bis 100 Video by Deutsch lernen in Deutschland, licensed under CC BY International License.
• Dice exercise and image adapted from Willkommen: Deutsch für alle, licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 International License
• German Counting Image adapted from Willkommen: Deutsch für alle, licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 International License
• Introductions text and images adapted from Grenzenlos Deutsch, licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 International License.
• Und du? text adapted from Grenzenlos Deutsch, licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 International License.