Borrowing and caring for a large pan | Learn German in English

German lesson set in a contemporary Berlin everyday setting: In a shared kitchen, one person borrows a large pan and checks how to use, wash, and return it safely..

EN → DE / Level: A2

About This Lesson

Use Borrowing and caring for a large pan to practice German conversation, pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and quizzes.

Dialogue

A

Kann ich mir heute deine große Pfanne ausleihen?

kahn ikh meer HOY-tuh DYE-nuh GROH-suh PFAH-nuh OWS-lye-en Can I borrow your large pan today?
B

Ja, aber pass auf den Griff auf, denn er wird heiß.

YAH, AH-ber pahss owf den GRIF owf, den air veert HIGHSS You can, but watch the handle because it gets hot.
A

Ist sie auf diesem Herd in Ordnung?

ist zee owf DEE-zem HAIRT in ORT-noong Will it be all right on this stove?
B

Sie sollte in Ordnung sein, wenn du die Hitze niedrig hältst.

zee SHOL-tuh in ORT-noong zine, ven doo dee HIT-suh NEE-drihkh heltst It should be fine if you keep the heat low.
A

Ich werde sie direkt nach dem Abendessen abwaschen.

ikh VAIR-duh zee deh-REKT nahkh dem AH-bent-ESS-en AHP-vah-shen I will wash it right after dinner.
B

Bitte trockne sie gut ab, bevor du sie zurückbringst.

BIT-tuh TROCK-nuh zee goot AHP, beh-FOHR doo zee tsoo-ROOK-bringkst Please dry it well before bringing it back.
A

Brauchst du sie morgen wieder?

BROWKHST doo zee MOR-gen VEE-der Do you need it again tomorrow?
B

Nach dem Abendessen ist es in Ordnung.

nahkh dem AH-bent-ESS-en ist ess in ORT-noong After dinner is fine.
B

Ich brauche sie erst später in dieser Woche.

ikh BROW-khuh zee airrst SHPAY-ter in DEE-zer VO-khuh I will not need it until later this week.

Word by Word

Kann In ‘Kann ich mir heute deine große Pfanne ausleihen?’ Kann asks whether the speaker may borrow something. It commonly begins a request followed by an infinitive.
ich ich means ‘I’ and identifies the speaker. In ‘Ich werde sie direkt nach dem Abendessen abwaschen’, it is the subject; in a question such as ‘Kann ich ...?’, it follows the verb.
mir mir means ‘to me’ here and shows that the speaker borrows the pan for themself. It appears in ‘mir heute deine große Pfanne ausleihen’ as part of the borrowing construction.
heute heute means ‘today’ and gives the time of the borrowing. It can be placed near the beginning of a sentence to specify when something happens.
deine deine means ‘your’ and shows that the pan belongs to the person being addressed. It appears directly before ‘große Pfanne’.
große große means ‘large’ and describes the pan in ‘große Pfanne’. An adjective like this appears before the noun it describes.
Pfanne Pfanne means ‘pan’ and names the item being borrowed. In ‘deine große Pfanne’, it is the noun after the possessive and adjective.
ausleihen ausleihen means ‘to borrow’ in this dialogue. It appears at the end of ‘Kann ich mir heute deine große Pfanne ausleihen?’ after Kann.
Ja Ja means ‘yes’ and confirms the request. It can stand alone as an answer before an additional condition or warning.
aber aber means ‘but’ and introduces a qualification to the positive answer. ‘Ja, aber’ is a common way to agree while adding a warning or condition.
pass pass means ‘watch out’ or ‘take care’ in this direct command. In ‘pass auf den Griff auf’, the warning concerns the handle.
auf Here auf is the separable part that completes the warning verb in ‘pass auf den Griff auf’. The object den Griff comes between pass auf and the final auf.
den den is the definite article used before Griff in ‘den Griff’. It helps identify the specific handle that needs attention.
Griff Griff means ‘handle’ and names the part of the pan being discussed. In ‘pass auf den Griff auf’, it is the object of the warning.
denn denn means ‘because’ and introduces the reason for the warning. It links the warning to ‘denn er wird heiß’.
er er means ‘it’ here and refers back to Griff, the handle. It is the subject in ‘er wird heiß’, avoiding repetition of the noun.
wird wird means ‘gets’ or ‘becomes’ in ‘er wird heiß’. It describes a change into the state expressed by heiß and is used with that adjective here.
heiß heiß means ‘hot’ and describes the handle’s resulting temperature. The reusable pattern ‘wird heiß’ expresses that something becomes hot.
Ist Ist means ‘is’ at the beginning of the question ‘Ist sie auf diesem Herd in Ordnung?’. Its position first marks this as a yes-or-no question.
sie sie means ‘it’ here and refers to the pan, Pfanne. It is the subject in ‘Ist sie ...?’ and ‘Sie sollte ...’, and the object in ‘werde sie ... abwaschen’.
diesem diesem means ‘this’ and identifies the particular stove being discussed. It appears directly before Herd in ‘diesem Herd’.
Herd Herd means ‘stove’ and names where the pan will be used. The phrase ‘auf diesem Herd’ specifies the stove in question.
in Ordnung The whole expression ‘in Ordnung’ means ‘all right’ or ‘fine’ here. In contributes the preposition and Ordnung contributes the idea of order; together they express that something is acceptable, as in ‘Ist sie auf diesem Herd in Ordnung?’.
sollte sollte means ‘should’ and gives a qualified expectation that the pan will be fine. It is followed by sein in ‘Sie sollte in Ordnung sein’.
sein sein means ‘be’ and completes the expression after sollte in ‘Sie sollte in Ordnung sein’. It is the infinitive used to describe the expected condition.
wenn wenn means ‘if’ and introduces the condition ‘wenn du die Hitze niedrig hältst’. In this subordinate clause, hältst comes at the end.
du du means ‘you’ and addresses one person directly. It is the subject of hältst in ‘wenn du die Hitze niedrig hältst’.
die die is the definite article in ‘die Hitze’. It identifies the particular heat level being discussed.
Hitze Hitze means ‘heat’ and names what should be kept low. In ‘die Hitze niedrig hältst’, it is the thing whose level is controlled.
niedrig niedrig means ‘low’ and describes the desired heat level. It appears with ‘die Hitze ... hältst’ to say that the heat should remain low.
hältst hältst means ‘keep’ in ‘du die Hitze niedrig hältst’. This is the form used with du, and it appears at the end of the wenn-clause.
werde werde means ‘will’ in ‘Ich werde sie direkt nach dem Abendessen abwaschen’. It is used with the infinitive abwaschen to state a future action.
direkt direkt means ‘directly’ or ‘right’ and emphasizes that the washing will happen immediately after dinner. It appears before the time phrase ‘nach dem Abendessen’.
nach nach means ‘after’ and places the action in time relative to dinner. It is used in the time phrase ‘nach dem Abendessen’.
dem dem is the definite article in ‘dem Abendessen’. It belongs to the time phrase introduced by nach and comes directly before Abendessen.
Abendessen Abendessen means ‘dinner’ and provides the time reference for washing the pan. ‘Nach dem Abendessen’ means after dinner.
abwaschen abwaschen means ‘wash’ or ‘wash up’ in this dialogue. It appears at the end of ‘Ich werde sie direkt nach dem Abendessen abwaschen’ as the action planned for the pan.
Bitte Bitte means ‘please’ and makes the request polite. It appears at the beginning of ‘Bitte trockne sie gut ab’.
trockne trockne means ‘dry’ in this direct request to one person. In ‘trockne sie gut ab’, it tells the listener to dry the pan thoroughly.
gut gut means ‘well’ here and describes how thoroughly the pan should be dried. It appears between sie and the separable particle ab in ‘trockne sie gut ab’.
ab Here ab is the separable part that completes the drying verb in ‘trockne sie gut ab’. The object sie and the adverb gut come before this final particle.
bevor bevor means ‘before’ and introduces the action that must happen first. In ‘bevor du sie zurückbringst’, it introduces the return of the pan.
zurückbringst zurückbringst means ‘bring back’ or ‘return’ in ‘bevor du sie zurückbringst’. It is the form used with du and stands at the end of the subordinate clause.
Brauchst Brauchst means ‘need’ in the question ‘Brauchst du sie morgen wieder?’. It asks whether the other person needs the pan again.
morgen morgen means ‘tomorrow’ and specifies when the pan might be needed. It appears in ‘Brauchst du sie morgen wieder?’ after the object sie.
wieder wieder means ‘again’ and shows that the need would happen another time. The phrase ‘morgen wieder’ means again tomorrow.
es es is the pronoun used in ‘Nach dem Abendessen ist es in Ordnung’ for the situation or arrangement being judged acceptable. It completes the sentence with ist in Ordnung.
brauche brauche means ‘need’ in ‘Ich brauche sie erst später in dieser Woche’. It is the form of brauchen used with ich and takes sie as its object.
erst erst means ‘only’ or ‘not until’ in ‘erst später in dieser Woche’. It postpones the need until the later time mentioned.
später später means ‘later’ and identifies a time after the present point. Together with erst, ‘erst später’ means not until later.
in in means ‘in’ or ‘within’ in the time phrase ‘in dieser Woche’. Here it places the later time within the current week.
dieser dieser means ‘this’ and identifies the week being discussed. It appears directly before Woche in ‘dieser Woche’.
Woche Woche means ‘week’ and names the time period in ‘in dieser Woche’. The phrase specifies when the pan will next be needed.

Grammar Points

Trennbare Verben: aufpassen → pass ... auf

Pass auf!

pahss OWF

Watch out!

Bei trennbaren Verben steht die Vorsilbe im Hauptsatz am Satzende.

Adjektivendung vor einem Nomen: große Pfanne

große Pfanne

GROH-suh PFAH-nuh

large pan

Das Adjektiv groß bekommt vor dem femininen Nomen Pfanne die Endung -e.

German Vocabulary

abwaschen verb
AHP-vah-shen to wash
aufpassen verb
OWS-pah-sen to watch out pass ... auf

Pass auf den Griff auf.

Griff noun
GRIF handle
groß adj
GROHSS large große
heiß adj
HIGHSS hot
Herd noun
HAIRT stove
heute adv
HOY-tuh today
Hitze noun
HIT-suh heat
in Ordnung phrase
in ORT-noong all right; fine
niedrig adj
NEE-drihkh low
Pfanne noun
PFAH-nuh pan
sich ausleihen verb
zikh OWS-lye-en to borrow ausleihen

sich etwas ausleihen

Quiz

Word Order

Arrange the words in the correct order.

Do you need it again tomorrow?

Show AnswerBrauchst du sie morgen wieder?

Spelling

Tap the letters to spell the word.

to borrow

Show Answerausleihen

hot

Show Answerheiß

large

Show Answergroße

stove

Show AnswerHerd