1.3 Wie alt bist du?

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.

Jetzt bist du dran!

Write in your journal/record in audio journal, how you would ask someone’s name, say nice to meet you, and say goodbye.

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.

0 null
1 eins 11 elf 21 einundzwanzig
2 zwei 12 zwölf 22 zweiundzwanzig
3 drei 13 dreizehn 23 dreiundzwanzig
4 vier 14 vierzehn 24 vierundzwanzig
5 fünf 15 fünfzehn 25 fünfundzwanzig
6 sechs 16 sechzehn
7 sieben 17 siebzehn
8 acht 18 achtzehn
9 neun 19 neunzehn
10 zehn 20 zwanzig

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”)

Counting in German

 

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

 

Jetzt bist du dran!

Watch the counting video from above again paying special attention to how to say your age (just the number).
Now record your age in German in your audio journal. Practice saying it a couple times before recording. Or rerecord, if you are not satisfied.

2) How to say how old you are

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


Grüß Gott, ich heiße Yasmin. Ich bin 21 Jahre alt und komme aus München.
Hallo! ich heiße Johannes. Ich bin 16 Jahre alt. Ich komme aus Stuttgart.
Servus, ich heiße Max und ich bin 34 Jahre alt. Ich komme aus New York, aber ich wohne jetzt in Wien. 
Guten Tag, ich heiße Julia und komme aus Hamburg. Ich bin 28 Jahre alt. 

Jetzt bist du dran!

Write in your journal/record in audio journal, how you would say your age in a complete sentence.

 

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 Musa’s introduction  below. Can you tell how Musa asks for your age?

In this video from EasyGerman, you can 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?

Jetzt bist du dran!

Write in your journal/record in audio journal, how you would ask someone’s age.

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.

 

 

Jetzt bist du dran!

Now write out a dialogue in your journal between two people, which should start with one person asking “Wie heißt du?” Once the second person answers the question, they should then ask the “magic question” back to the first person. Then do the same with “Wie alt bist du?”

 

 

Zum Schluß

In this lesson, you learned 1) how to say the numbers 2) how to say how old you are 3) how to ask someone’s age, and the *magical* question “und du?”. If you are feeling unsure about any part of the expanded introduction, go back to Lektion 1.1 and Lektion 1.2.
Now write out how to say the numbers 0-10. Then write out a brief introduction including: a greeting, “My name is…”, “I am … years old”, and “How old are you?” Record yourself in your audio journal. If you can do it immediately without reading it, that’s great! Otherwise, practice saying it a couple times before recording. Or rerecord, if you are not satisfied.

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

 

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

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Deutsch im Alltag I (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.