MICHEL THOMAS GERMAN (ADVANCED) COURSE, 4 CDs
TRANSCRIPT
This is an approximate transcript of the course, since Michel often changed his mind in the middle of a sentence to be translated, or adapted his sentences for the students. The booklet that accompanied Michel's courses was wholly inadequate, so I have written this transcript. I have found it useful, so maybe other people will, too.
Naturally, it would be foolish to try to learn the language using this transcript, without buying the recordings.
Note that English is my native language, so I don't guarantee that there are no mistakes. Tracks and track times in the recording are shown in brackets.
Version 2, Jan 15th 2006
Transcribed by JK
CD 1 (75.02)
(1) 7.30
to stay
I am staying
He is staying
He doesn't stay
We are staying here
They are staying here
You are staying
(To make a distinction between "you" and "they", for "they" you can say instead die, which is short for diese da, "these there".)
They are not staying here
You are not staying here
How long are you staying?
He will stay here
She won't stay here
How long will you stay here?
How long are you going to stay here?
Will you tell me how long you are going to stay here?
I would like to know how long you can stay here
(2) 1.32
(When talking to friends and family, the word for "you" is du. "You are staying" is du bleibst - the verb ending for du is -st.)
How long are you staying here? (to Paul)
(3) 3.04
I will do it
I won't do it
We will stay here
They will stay here
You will stay here
They will stay here (not you)
How long are you staying? (to Paul)
I will stay
How long will you stay?
They will not stay here
Paul, how long are you staying?
I will stay
You will stay (to Paul)
I don't know how long he will stay
(4) 3.30
I can do it
I cannot do it
Can you do it?
Why can't you do it?
Why can't you do it now?
I cannot find it, I don't know where it is
(In speech, Ich kann es can be contracted to Ich kann's.)
He cannot understand it
He cannot understand me
Why can't you understand me?
(5) 3.23
I will tell it to you later
At what time are you going to be here?
He will come with us
Will you wait for me
Where do you want to wait for me?
Where do you want to go?
(6) 2.54
to be able
He won't be able to find it
He won't be able to tell it to you because he doesn't know it
I know
He knows
You know (to Paul)
...because he doesn't know it
He will not be able to do it
(7) 1.09
(In order to emphasise the object, for example "that", you must invert the word order. For example, "that he will not be able to do" is "that will he not be able to do".)
That he will not be able to do
He won't be able to do that
(8) 2.05
I wouldn't be able to do it
He would never be able to do it
(9) 2.07
never
time
I have no time
I have no time to do it
newspaper
to read
I will read the newspaper
(10) 3.33
Can you?
Could you?
Could you tell me?
Could you come with me?
Could you come with me? (to Paul)
(In English, "could" has two meanings: "could you" means "would you be able to", but it also means the past tense meaning "were you able to". In German, the past tense is konnten.)
Could you wait for me (now)?
Could you tell me where it is?
I'm sorry but I couldn't understand you
(11) 3.33
to have
I have
we have
they have
you have
he has
you have (Paul)
You are right
to the right
to be right
You are right (Paul)
to buy
Why don't you buy it?
Why don't you want to buy it?
Where will you buy it?
Why won't you buy it?
(12) 4.11
I have
I have bought
I have bought it
I have not bought it, I didn't buy it
still, still more
something more
I want something more
I want to eat something more
a little more
not yet
He didn't buy it yet
Why didn't you buy it yet?
to make
He has made it
to laugh
He laughed
(13) 8.22
to buy
to sell
(German has detachable prefixes and non-detachable prefixes.)
to go
to go away
I'm going away
to come back
the back
my back
to go back
to come back
He is coming back soon
He will come back soon
to sell
I am selling it
(Non-detachable verbs don't begin ge- in the past tense.)
I have sold it
He has sold it
He hasn't sold it yet
We sold it
You sold it
They sold it
You have sold it (Paul)
Why did you sell it? (Paul)
Why didn't you sell it?
Why didn't you sell it yet?
Everything is sold
It is not sold yet
He has told me
Why didn't you tell me?
We have told it to you
He told me that he wouldn't do it
He didn't tell me that he will do it
(14) 2.14
to repair
I am repairing it
He is repairing it
(All the -ieren verbs, which usually come from French, don't take the ge- prefix in the past tense.)
I repaired it
to organise
He organised it
to specialise
to control
He controlled it
It is controlled
It is well organised
He organised it
Everything is well organised
(15) 4.52
Everything is sold
I sold it
(To say "I had sold it", "I had..." is ich hatte...)
we had
they had
you had
I had
he had
you had (to friend)
I had it
I didn't have it
I would have it
I wouldn't have it
I wouldn't have the time to do it
(Instead of würde haben "would have", you can use hätte "would have".)
I wouldn't have the time to do it
(Actually, hätte means "may have" and "might have". It is the subjective.)
I wouldn't have bought it
because it was very expensive
(16) 2.11
was, were
We were very busy
Where were you last night?
He was there
He wasn't in, he wasn't there
Where were you? (to friend)
Where were you?
true
It was true
really
It was really true
It is really so
like that
It is really true
(17) 1.16
to believe, to think
to think
I don't believe that he is going to come with us
(18) 5.35
to see
(Use gesehen not geseht)
I saw it, I have seen it
I had seen it
I would have seen it
I would have told you
He wouldn't have told me
We would have told you
("if" wenn is a weil situation. After wenn, you will automatically use hätten.)
If you had told me
I would have bought it if I had seen it
If you had told me that you would arrive today, I would have waited for you
(19) 1.05
I waited for you
How long did you wait?
He waited for me
(20) 2.21
Will you wait for me
I want
he wants
He doesn't want to do it
Why don't you want to do it?
Why don't you want to do it? (to friend)
(21) 1.36
Can you do it?
Could you tell me?
to look for, to seek
I looked for it
but I couldn't find it
(22) 3.51
(The past participle, in other words the diving part of the verb, is the same as the infinitive form when you are using a handle verb. So, the sentence sounds like it has two infinitives in it. Therefore, "been able" is simply können.)
I have not been able to find it
I want it
I don't want it
I want to do it
I wanted
I have wanted to do it
He has not wanted to do it
(23) 2.58
I couldn't have done it without you / I wouldn't have done it without you / I wouldn't have been able to do it
without you
I wouldn't have been able to do it without you
I never could have done it without you
You could have told me
You could have told it to me
I could (the past)
I could (not the past)
I could have done it
CD2 (75.29)
(1) 6.11
must
we must
We must see it
They must see it
You must see it
I must buy it
He must do it
It can be
It could be
It could be possible (might be, may be)
That could be possible
But it was not possible to do it
because I didn't have the time to do it
It has to be ready now, it must be ready now
already
It can be ready already
It must be ready already
It cannot be ready yet
It is going to be ready tomorrow
(2) 2.52
You have to do it now
(Sharpened awareness of your own language: in English, the positive "you have to do it" means the same as "you must do it". But, in the negative, "you don't have to do it" doesn't mean "you must not do it"; it means "you don't need to do it".)
(3) 1.00
also
me too
to smoke
He is smoking
It is smoking
It did smoke here, it has smoked here
(4) 1.34
Do you smoke?
Smoke!
Are you coming?
Come with me!
Are you waiting?
Are you waiting for me?
Wait for me!
Stay here!
Eat!
Don't eat that!
(5) 2.09
You have to see it
You don't have to see it
(After brauchen, you use the whole infinitive preceded by zu. However, Germans and Austrians often leave out the zu.)
You don't have to do it
He has to be here soon
(6) 1.08
I had to
I wanted
I had to
He had to stay here because he had to work
(7) 3.32
shall, should
I shall, you shall, he shall, we shall, you shall, they shall
You shall tell me, you should tell me
You should come with us
(Another word for "should" would be sollten, ?)
You should go there with us
(sollten might also be in the past tense, meaning "was supposed to".)
I was supposed to go there yesterday, but I could not
because I was very busy
because I was very busy yesterday
I could not go there with you
to prepare
I was supposed to prepare it yesterday
I should do it now
I should have done it
(Remember that handle verbs are the same as the infinitive in the past participle)
(8) 6.51
Could you tell me?
You shall tell me, you should tell me
You should tell me
You could have told me
You could have told it to me
You could have come with us
You could have bought it
could have, should have
You should have told me
You should have told it to me and I would have bought it for you
I could have bought it for you
I would buy it for you
I would have bought it for you
(gekauft because there is no handle verb in the sentence.)
I would buy it for you
I would have bought it for you
I could have bought it for you
I should have bought it for you
(9) 5.20
to please
to please oneself
pleasure
It pleases me
I please myself (I enjoy)
I enjoy seeing you
I am very pleased to see you
I will be very pleased to see you (I'm looking forward to seeing you)
I would be very pleased to see you
I would be very pleased
I would be very pleased to go there with you
I would have enjoyed to go there last night
I would have enjoyed very much to go there with you
(10) 4.56
I wanted...
(wollen can act as a handle, or a normal verb)
I have wanted
I have wanted to do it
I would have wanted to do it
I wanted to see it
but I couldn't see it
I couldn't wait because I had to leave
I could have gone there with you last night
You should have gone there with us
(11) 1.08
I was there
never
nobody
but nobody was there
Who was there with you last night? Wer war da mit Ihnen gestern Abend?
It was not possible to do it
(12) 2.08
to look for
to try
I am trying
to succeed
It is successful to me
I don't succeed doing it
I cannot do it
I won't succeed doing it (it won't be successful to me)
(13) 3.15
I had to leave
(lassen means "to leave" in the sense of leaving something behind, not going away. lassen has several meanings)
I left the key on the table
(lassen also means "to let")
Let me try!
Let me work!
Leave me alone!
(the) quiet
(lassen is also used to get something done)
I will get it repaired (I will let someone repair it)
I must have it washed
to clean
I will get it cleaned
(14) 7.11
He will be here soon
necessary
It won't be necessary
(an alternative to nötig is notwendig)
It won't be necessary
(es wird expresses two verbs; es wird expressing the future tense, and the present tense werden which means "to become", "to be getting")
I am tired
I am getting tired
I will be tired
I will be getting tired
You will be too tired
You will be getting tired soon
It is late
It is getting late
dark
the darkness
It is very dark
It is too dark
It is getting dark
It will be too dark
It will be getting dark soon
It is getting dark
("it was becoming...", "it was getting..." is Es wurde...)
It was getting dark
suddenly
It was suddenly getting very dark
It would be too dark
We were getting tired
(15) 4.22
to know
Do you know why he cannot do it?
Do you know why he does not want to do it?
Can you tell me why he didn't want to do it?
Do you know why he couldn't do it? (was not able to do it)
I knew
I didn't know
I would have known
I wouldn't have known it, if you had not told me
(16) 8.19
(There are some German verbs, with which you dive not from haben but from sein. English also used to have them; it survives in phrases like "the time is come" (not has come), and "he is gone" (not he has gone). In German, with coming and going verbs you dive from "to be")
I went
I went there
We are gone
We went there last night
When did you go there?
(17) 2.51
I was
We were
It would be possible
(instead of saying es würde sein, you can simply use es wäre for "would be")
It wouldn't be possible
(actually, es wäre expresses "it might be", and became also "it would not be", says it is simpler than saying es würde möglich sein...)
It wouldn't be possible to do it that way
(18) 1.57
(sein is conjugated with "to be")
I have been
(gewesen means "been")
We have been there last night
How long have you been there?
How long were you there?
(19) 2.34
I would have waited for you and I would have gone there with you
He would have come with us
(20) 6.02
I have waited
I have waited for you
He has waited for me
How long have you waited?
He arrived today
He would have arrived today
if he had arrived today
I have been there
I would have been there
If I had been there I would have seen it
I didn't see you because I was not there
(there is a third word meaning "because", da)
because I was not there
(end of recording)
CD 3 (76.08)
(1) 7.17
(bleiben is also conjugated with "to be")
We stayed
We went to Berlin
When did you go to Vienna?
How long did you stay in Vienna?
How long did you stay?
I would have stayed longer if I had known you would be here
(2) 2.57
When did you arrive?
early
tomorrow morning
today morning
I would have arrived earlier if I had known that you would be here and that you have waited for me
(3) 2.08
to travel (not by foot)
I went to Vienna
We went to Vienna
We went to Vienna last week but we didn't stay long, we only stayed a couple of days and we came back to London
(4) 3.25
It would have pleased me very much
I would have liked very much to know (it would have pleased me very much to know)
that you would go there
I would be pleased (it would please me)
It would have pleased me
I would be pleased (I would please myself)
I would have been pleased
(5) 3.52
to hurry
I am hurrying
I hurried
I will hurry
I have to hurry
Hurry up!
You have to hurry
Will you hurry please
I hurried
We hurried
If I had hurried I would have arrived earlier
I would have seen it and I would have bought it
(6) 1.28
to get up
I got up
We got up
At what time do you get up?
I would have got up earlier if I had known it
(7) 1.06
Why didn't you tell it to me?
I would have told it to you if I had known it
(8) 6.52
It is not possible to do it that way
It was not possible to do it that way
It won't be possible to do it that way
It wouldn't be possible to do it that way
It would not be possible to do it that way
It has not been possible to do it
We tried
and it has not been possible to do it
I think it would have been possible to do it if we had tried
if we had tried to do it
(9) 0.49
I would have gotten up earlier
(10) 4.22
to lie down
(there are three ways to say "to put")
to put down (in a lying position)
to put (in a standing position, e.g. a bottle)
I am putting the bottle on the table
I am putting the book on the table
It is lying on the table
to put (in a sitting position)
to sit
I am seating myself
I am sitting down (there)
Sit (yourself) down (here)
Take a seat
I sat down
I lay down
(11) 6.26
quiet, silence
Silence, please!
It is very quiet
to take a rest (to quiet oneself out)
I will take a rest
You should take a rest
I had a good rest (I rested myself out well)
You have to take a rest
One must...
One has to take a rest
sometimes
One has to take a rest sometimes
Sometimes one has to take a rest
Did you sleep well?
I slept very well
One can understand it sometimes
but sometimes one cannot understand it
I did not understand what you have said
to mean
I don't understand what you mean
What do you mean?
What does it mean?
(12) 4.05
to send
I will send it to you
He has sent it to me
to receive
I have not received it yet
to hold
to hold on, stop
Will you stop (Will you stay standing)
Will you stop
to receive
I haven't received it yet
to keep
You can keep it
to hear
I cannot hear it
to belong
It belongs to me
It doesn't belong to me
It belongs to you
Does it belong to you?
(13) 6.54
to answer
the word
the answer
He didn't answer yet
to call
He called
to call (on the phone)
He called me on the phone
at your place
I called you this morning in order to tell you that I will arrive tonight and that I will be at your house at 10 o'clock
I would have arrived earlier if I had known it
(14) 2.27
(sentences like "I want you to tell me" can't be translated step-by-step into German. For example, "I want you to tell him" must be translated "I want, that you should tell him")
I want you to tell him
Will you tell him to call me
I told him to call me
(15) 2.51
to remember
I remember
I don't remember
I cannot remember
to remember something
(to talk about remembering it, you have to talk about recalling "at it" an das, which contracts to daran. Similarly, "on it" auf das becomes darauf. "into it" would be darein. "under it" would be darunter. "over it" would be darüber.)
I cannot remember it
(recording skips here)
(16) 2.45
(in German, to get used to something is to "habituate oneself" sich gewöhnen)
the apartment
to rent, let (an apartment) mieten
I will rent the apartment
I will rent the house
to live, reside
to live
We live here
We are here now but we don't live here
Where do you live?
(17) 1.02
(you can turn infinitives into nouns)
to live
living, life
to eat
the food
The food is good here
(18) 9.11
(in German, whenever you want to use "have been +ing", simply use the present tense)
since
I have been doing it for a long time
(schon is often thrown in in this situation)
I have been doing it for a long time
(you can put emphasis on das by starting the sentence with it)
That I have been doing for a long time
I have been living in Vienna (emphasised) for three months
(to ask someone how long they have been living here, you must stay "since how long...")
How long have you been living here?
How long have you been working here?
How long have you been working here? (with schon)
He has been working here for three years already
You are going to Germany
after; to, towards
You are going to Austria
You are going to Vienna
for example, for instance
to play
to play the piano
How long have you been in Vienna?
have you been
I have been
We have been
Where have you been?
Where were you?
How long have you been here in Vienna?
I have been here for three weeks already
(19) 3.53
habit
(to say "not used to", you can say "don't have the habit")
I don't have the habit to do it
opportunity
the beauty
(-heit and -keit corresponds to the Anglo-Saxon English "-hood")
possibility
I don't have the possibility to do it
It is not possible to do it that way
(20) 2.08
to try
to look for
I am looking for it
I looked for it
but I could not find it
to try
to arrive
I am arriving
(end of recording)
CD 4 (76.12)
(1) 5.05
to come back
He is coming back soon
to try
I am trying
I am trying to do it
I tried to do it
to catch
to start
We are starting
At what time do you start?
usually, habitually
At what time do usually start?
It started
It has started already
to go
He has gone
to go away
He went away
We went away
(2) 3.34
to come
He came
to come back
At what time are you coming back?
He will come back soon
He will be back soon
He will be here again soon
(3) 1.53
to listen
to listen to something
I listened to it
to belong
It belonged to me
I heard it
It belongs to me
It doesn't belong to me
(4) 8.23
apartment
the habit
habitually, usually
to get used to it
I will get used to it
I have to get used to it
easy, light
simple
difficult
It is not very heavy
easiness
difficulty
no difficulty
I cannot get used to it, it's very difficult for me
One has to get used to it
finally
I finally got used to it
to remember
I remember
I remembered
to remember it
I don't remember it
I cannot remember it
I couldn't remember
(5) 4.27
to open
the window
Will you open the window?
I opened the window
It is open
It is being opened
(es wird... because werden refers to "getting" or "becoming")
It was opened
It was being opened
to open (make open)
to close (make close)
I opened the door
He closed the door
The door is closed
The door is being closed
It will be closed
It will be getting closed
(6) 4.04
It is getting cold
It was getting cold
It has gotten cold
It is late
It is getting late
It will be late
It will be too late soon
It will be getting late
dark
It will be getting dark soon
It was dark
It was too dark
It was getting dark
It has been getting very dark
It has gotten very dark
(7) 8.21
to build
I built it
It is built
It is being built
It was built
It was being built
It has been built
(in the above sentence, where there are two past participles, you use worden and not geworden)
light (not dark)
It is very light here
It is getting light
It has become light
It was getting light
It will be getting light
It would be getting too dark
It would be too dark
It would have been too dark
It would have gotten too dark
It was too dark
It was getting too dark
It has been too dark
It has gotten too dark
(8) 5.33
He is selling it
It is sold
It is being sold
Everything is being sold
It was being sold
Everything was being sold
Everything was sold
Everything has been sold
Everything has gotten sold
Everything would be sold
(the difference between es würde möglich sein "it would be possible" and es wäre möglich "it might be possible" is hardly noticeable in modern German)
(9) 7.32
(let's see how many tenses we can handle now)
He is selling the house
He has been selling houses for a long time
The house is sold
The house is being sold
He sold the house
The house was getting sold
The house has gotten sold
He will sell the house
The house will be sold
The house will be getting sold
He would sell the house
The house would be getting sold
He had sold the house
if he had sold the house (if he would have...)
The house would have (might have) been sold
He will have sold the house
He would have sold the house
The house would have been sold
(10) 3.18
I am very happy, I enjoy myself
I'm very happy to be with you
It pleases me
It pleases me to be with you
I did enjoy very much being here with you
I'm looking forward to seeing you again soon (I will enjoy seeing you...)
I'm looking forward to seeing you again soon (It will please me...)
to interest
interesting
It is very interesting
It interests me very much
I interest myself
It did interest me very much
(11) 1.37
(tun dives into getan)
He told me that he wouldn't have done it if he had known it
(12) 2.01
to come along
Do you want to come along?
I will come along
I'm sorry but I cannot come along
He came along
He arrived
to get, to receive
He received it
(13) 4.47
to tear
to travel
to tear something off
I tore it off (the wall)
It is torn off
It got torn off
to tear into pieces
He tore it into pieces
It is torn into pieces
It is entirely torn into pieces
He tore it into pieces
It was being torn into pieces yesterday
I could see it
I saw it
to break
It is broken
He broke it into pieces
(14) 2.39
to fall
It fell
It fell down
(the r- gives the movement)
It fell out
It fell over
It fell in
He fell in, he got caught
(15) 2.06
(here are the participles of some verbs)
to make
to laugh
to work
to say
to ask
He asked me
Why didn't you ask me?
Why didn't you tell it to me?
to play
(16) 3.28
to open
the store
busy
The store is open
to close
closed
The door is closed
The door is locked
The door is opened (with a key)
to try
to try on
May I try it on?
(17) 3.56
to cover
It covers
to discover
He discovers
He discovered it
It is discovered
It was being discovered
He has discovered it
I slept
to go (not on foot)
to step
to step in
to step on (the stage)
to step off
(18) 3.22
(end of recording)