259. Learning to Speak German - Greetings & Family
We start learning language from our parents and family members at a very early age. At first a young child will acquire individual words .... Mum, Dad, Nan, Pop, milk, ta, bye, car, dog, cat etc.
Phase 2 starts with phrases where the child starts to express not mere words but concepts ....
go home, bye bye, want milk, stand up, give chockie etc.
As language improves, children are able to start producing sentences and often by the age of 3, they can say relatively sophisticated sentences. So just like young children, let's start here with the very first basics of spoken German ..... the greetings ..
guten Morgen ... good morning
guten Tag ... good day ( used in North and Central Germany)
grüß Gott ... hello, good day (used in South Germany, Austria )
guten Abend .... good evening
guten Abend .... good evening
grüezi ... hello, good day ( used in Switzerland)
Servus ... hello ( used in South Germany, Austria )
Moin ... hello (used in North and Central Germany)
Hallo ... hello - used for telephone but increasingly as general greeting
auf Wiedersehen ... good bye
Tschüss ... bye - informal farewell
auf Wiederhören ... good bye on telephone
gute Nacht ... good night - said when going to bed or good bye late at night
There are numerous regional variations in greetings, e.g. 'habe die Ehre' used in Bavaria meaning
'(I) have the honour (of seeing you)' but the above phrases serve as the basic greetings in everyday German.
and Family Members ...
Mama / Mutti ... Mum(my)
Papa / Vati ... Dad(dy)
Oma ... Grandma / Nan
Opa ... Granddad / Pop
Tante Maria ... Aunty Maria
Onkel Franz ... Uncle Franz
Schwester ... Sister
Bruder ... Brother
Kusine / Cousine ... Cousin (f)
Cousin / Vetter ... Cousin (m)
Loved learning Deutch in your class at Sylvania High. Finally found dad's family and have got to speak what I remembered. Cheers Astrid.
ReplyDeleteLoved learning Deutch in your class at Sylvania High. Finally found dad's family and have got to speak what I remembered. Cheers Astrid.
ReplyDeleteHi Astrid, sorry I hadn't seen your comment before this. I am glad you enjoyed your German at Sylvania. I remember you well and am glad you caught up with your dad's family. Makes it all very real eh? Loved my time at Sylvania. Great school, great kids!
ReplyDelete