About This Lesson
Use Talking about the teacher to practice German conversation, pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and quizzes.
Dialogue
A
Schön, dich kennenzulernen.
SHURN, dikh KEN-nen-tsoo-LAIR-nen. Nice to meet you.
B
Ist das deine erste Unterrichtsstunde hier?
Ist dahs DYE-nuh AIR-stuh OON-tuh-rikh(t)-SHTOON-duh heer? Is this your first lesson here?
A
Ich war schon einmal hier.
Ikh vahr shohn EYN-mahl heer. I came here before.
B
Ich bin schon eine Weile hier.
Ikh bin shohn EYE-nuh VYE-luh heer. I have been here for a while.
A
Wie ist der Lehrer?
Vee ist dair LAY-ruh? What is the teacher like?
B
Der Lehrer ist sehr nett.
Dair LAY-ruh ist zair net. The teacher is very kind.Word by Word
Schön
In „Schön, dich kennenzulernen.“ Schön expresses that meeting the other person is pleasant. This is a friendly greeting used when people meet for the first time.
dich
In „Schön, dich kennenzulernen.“ dich means you as the person being met or getting to know. It refers directly to the person addressed in this informal greeting.
kennenzulernen
In „Schön, dich kennenzulernen.“ kennenzulernen names the act of getting to know or meeting someone. It is useful in the pattern Schön, [person] kennenzulernen when greeting someone.
Ist
At the start of „Ist das deine erste Unterrichtsstunde hier?“ Ist asks whether something is the case. The verb comes first because this is a yes-or-no question.
das
In „Ist das deine erste Unterrichtsstunde hier?“ das means this and refers to the lesson situation being discussed. Ist das ...? is a common way to ask whether something is a particular thing or situation.
deine
In „deine erste Unterrichtsstunde“ deine means your and shows that the lesson belongs to the person being addressed. It can be used before a noun when referring to something belonging to someone informally addressed.
erste
In „deine erste Unterrichtsstunde“ erste means first and identifies this as the learner’s initial lesson here. It is useful before a noun when identifying the first occurrence of something.
Unterrichtsstunde
Unterrichtsstunde means a lesson or class session, specifically the period of instruction being discussed here. A common reuse is eine Unterrichtsstunde for one class session.
hier
In „deine erste Unterrichtsstunde hier“ hier means here and identifies this place as the location of the lesson. It is commonly used to locate a person, object, or event in the current place.
Ich
Ich means I and identifies the speaker as the person who was or is here. A common statement pattern begins with Ich followed by the verb describing the speaker’s situation or action.
war
In „Ich war schon einmal hier.“ war says that the speaker was here on an earlier occasion. It is the past form of sein and can be reused in statements such as Ich war ... when describing a past situation.
schon
In „schon einmal“ schon contributes the meaning already or before, showing that the visit happened earlier. Together with einmal, it is useful for saying that something has happened previously.
einmal
In „schon einmal“ einmal means once and refers to one earlier occasion. The expression schon einmal is a common way to talk about something that happened before.
bin
In „Ich bin schon eine Weile hier.“ bin says that the speaker is here now and has been here for some time. It is the first-person form of sein and is used after Ich to describe the speaker’s current state or location.
eine
In „eine Weile“ eine introduces the noun Weile and means a or one in this expression. Together, eine Weile means a while, a useful phrase for referring to an unspecified period of time.
Weile
In „eine Weile“ Weile means a period of time or while. This phrase is used when someone has been somewhere or done something for an unspecified amount of time.
Wie
At the start of „Wie ist der Lehrer?“ Wie asks what the teacher is like, including his qualities or manner. Wie ist ...? is a reusable question pattern for asking about a person or thing.
der
In „der Lehrer“ der means the and identifies a specific teacher. The dialogue also has „Der Lehrer“ with a capital letter because it begins a sentence; the meaning is the same.
Lehrer
Lehrer means teacher and refers here to the person teaching the class. The phrase der Lehrer is useful when referring to a specific male teacher in the conversation.
sehr
In „sehr nett“ sehr means very and strengthens the description of the teacher. It commonly comes before an adjective to make its meaning stronger.
nett
In „Der Lehrer ist sehr nett.“ nett describes the teacher as kind or nice. It can be used after ist to give a positive description of a person.
Grammar Points
kennenzulernen
Schön, dich kennenzulernen.
SHURN, dikh KEN-nen-tsoo-LAIR-nen.Nice to meet you.
With the separable verb kennenlernen, zu goes between kennen and lernen in the infinitive.
Wie ist ...?
Wie ist der Lehrer?
Vee ist dair LAY-ruh?What is the teacher like?
Wie ist ...? asks about a person or thing’s qualities, not only about identity.
German Vocabulary
dich
pron
dikh
you
erste
adj
AIR-stuh
first
hier
adv
heer
here
kennenlernen
verb
KEN-nen-LAIR-nen
to get to know; to meet
kennenzulernen
Lehrer
noun
LAY-ruh
teacher
der Lehrer
nett
adj
net
kind; nice
schön
adj
SHURN
nice
Schön
schon einmal
adv
shohn EYN-mahl
before; once already
sehr
adv
zair
very
sein
verb
zine
to be
Ist
Unterrichtsstunde
noun
OON-tuh-rikh(t)-SHTOON-duh
lesson
Weile
noun
VYE-luh
while
eine Weile
Quiz
Word Order
Arrange the words in the correct order.
Nice to meet you.
Show Answer
Schön, dich kennenzulernen.Is this your first lesson here?
Show Answer
Ist das deine erste Unterrichtsstunde hier?I came here before.
Show Answer
Ich war schon einmal hier.Spelling
Tap the letters to spell the word.
here
Show Answer
hiernice
Show Answer
Schönfirst
Show Answer
ersteyou