Booking and tidying a shared office room | Learn German in English

German lesson set in a contemporary Berlin everyday setting: In a shared office, two adults discuss booking a quiet room, adding it to the calendar, and leaving it tidy..

EN → DE / Level: A2

About This Lesson

Use Booking and tidying a shared office room to practice German conversation, pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and quizzes.

Dialogue

A

Ich brauche einen ruhigen Raum für einen Anruf.

ikh BROW-khuh EYE-nen ROO-ih-gen ROWM fyoor EYE-nen AHN-roof. I need a quiet room for a call.
B

Schau zuerst in den Kalender des gemeinsamen Büros.

show tsoo-AIRST in dayn kah-LEN-der dess guh-MINE-zah-men BYOO-rohs. Check the shared office calendar first.
A

Der kleine Raum scheint heute Nachmittag frei zu sein.

dayr KLY-nuh ROWM shynt HOY-tuh NAKH-mit-tahk fry tsoo zyn. The small room looks available this afternoon.
B

Trag die Buchung in den Kalender ein, bevor du den Raum benutzt.

trahk dee BOO-khoong in dayn kah-LEN-der ayn, beh-FOHR doo dayn ROWM beh-NOOTST. Add the booking to the calendar before you use it.
A

Soll ich nach dem Anruf etwas tun?

zoll ikh nahkh daym AHN-roof ET-vahs toon? Should I do anything after the call?
B

Räum den Schreibtisch auf und nimm deine Sachen mit.

roym dayn SHRYPT-ish owf oont nim DYE-nuh ZAH-khen mit. Clear the desk and take your things with you.
A

Ich lasse den Raum ordentlich zurück, bevor ich gehe.

ikh LAH-suh dayn ROWM OHRD-n-tlikh tsoo-ROOK, beh-FOHR ikh GAY-uh. I'll leave it tidy before I go.
B

Das hilft der nächsten Person, gut anzufangen.

dahss hilfft dair NAYKH-sten pair-ZOHN, goot an-tsoo-FAHNG-en. That helps the next person get started smoothly.

Word by Word

Ich Ich means “I” and is the speaker who needs the room. It is the subject at the beginning of the sentence; use it when referring to yourself as the person doing something.
brauche brauche means “need” here: the speaker needs a room. It is the first-person form of brauchen, used with the thing that is needed, such as the room in this dialogue.
einen einen means “a” in front of Raum and marks the masculine object being needed. Use this form before a masculine singular object in this kind of sentence.
ruhigen ruhigen means “quiet” and describes the room needed for the call. It is the form of ruhig used before Raum after einen; adjectives like this come directly before the noun they describe.
Raum Raum means “room,” specifically the quiet room needed for the call. It is the object of brauche and can refer to a physical space in a shared office.
für für means “for” and introduces the purpose of the room in für einen Anruf. Use für before the intended purpose or recipient of something.
Anruf Anruf means “call,” referring here to the call for which the room is needed. It appears after für in für einen Anruf, a useful way to express a purpose.
Schau Schau means “check” or “look” as an informal instruction to one person. It is the imperative form of schauen and is used here to tell someone to check the calendar.
zuerst zuerst means “first” and tells the listener to check the calendar before doing anything else. It is useful for putting an action at the beginning of an order or sequence.
in in introduces the calendar being checked in in den Kalender. Here it directs attention into or toward a resource; it can be used with a place or resource that someone checks.
den den means “the” before Kalender in in den Kalender. This form is used here with the masculine object of the checking action.
Kalender Kalender means “calendar,” the shared office resource that should be checked. It is the object after in and can refer to a schedule used for appointments or bookings.
des des means “of the” and connects Kalender with the office in des gemeinsamen Büros. It marks the office as the one associated with or belonging to the calendar.
gemeinsamen gemeinsamen means “shared” or “common” and describes the office in des gemeinsamen Büros. It is used before a noun when the resource is used by more than one person.
Büros Büros means “office” in the phrase des gemeinsamen Büros. The citation form is Büro; Büros is the form used here after des to identify which office the calendar belongs to.
Der Der means “the” and introduces the small room in Der kleine Raum. It identifies Raum as the subject being described as available.
kleine kleine means “small” and describes the room in Der kleine Raum. It is the form of klein used before Raum after Der.
scheint scheint means “seems” or “appears,” showing that the room appears to be available rather than stating this as a confirmed fact. It is the form of scheinen used with the following description frei zu sein.
heute heute means “today” and places the possible availability on the current day. It combines with a time noun in heute Nachmittag to specify when something happens.
Nachmittag Nachmittag means “afternoon” in heute Nachmittag. Together, these words identify the time of day when the room seems to be free.
frei frei means “available” here, describing a room with no conflicting booking. It appears in frei zu sein after scheint and can be used to describe whether a room or other resource is available.
zu zu marks the infinitive in frei zu sein; it is not expressing a destination here. The pattern adjective plus zu plus infinitive completes the description after scheint.
sein sein means “be” and completes the description frei zu sein, meaning “to be available.” It is the infinitive form used after zu and can follow scheint in this construction.
Trag Trag is an informal singular instruction meaning “enter” or “add” as part of the separable verb eintragen. It tells one person to record the booking, while the particle ein appears at the end of the sentence.
die die means “the” before Buchung in die Buchung. It identifies the specific booking that should be entered in the calendar.
Buchung Buchung means “booking” or “reservation,” the item to be entered in the calendar. It is the object of the instruction and is used for a scheduled reservation.
ein ein is the separable particle completing eintragen in this sentence. Together with Trag, it expresses entering or adding something to a record, and it appears at the end because the verb is separable.
bevor bevor means “before” and introduces the action that must happen first: entering the booking before using the room. It is commonly followed by a clause describing the later action.
du du means “you” and refers to the person being instructed. Here it is the subject of the clause that begins with bevor.
benutzt benutzt means “use” in the clause du den Raum benutzt. It is the form of benutzen used with du and refers here to using the room.
Soll Soll begins a question asking whether the speaker should do something after the call. It is the form of sollen used in the pattern Soll ich plus an infinitive when asking what one is expected or advised to do.
nach nach means “after” and places one action after the call in nach dem Anruf. Use nach before an event or time reference to say that something happens later.
dem dem means “the” before Anruf in nach dem Anruf. This is the article form used in this time expression with the specific call.
etwas etwas means “something” or “anything” and leaves the action unspecified in etwas tun. It is useful when asking or speaking about an unspecified thing to do.
tun tun means “do” and is the infinitive after Soll in Soll ich nach dem Anruf etwas tun? It is used with etwas when the exact action has not been specified.
Räum Räum is an informal singular instruction meaning “clear” or “tidy up” as part of aufräumen. The particle auf appears later in the sentence and completes the instruction.
Schreibtisch Schreibtisch means “desk,” the surface that should be cleared. It is the object of the tidying instruction and is a common office item.
auf auf is the separable particle completing aufräumen in Räum den Schreibtisch auf. Here it indicates that the desk should be put in order, and it moves to the end of the command.
und und means “and” and connects the instruction to clear the desk with the instruction to take personal things along. It links actions or statements of equal importance.
nimm nimm means “take” as an informal singular instruction to one person. It is the imperative form of nehmen and is completed by mit in nimm deine Sachen mit.
deine deine means “your” and identifies the things as belonging to the person being addressed. It comes directly before Sachen to form a possessive noun phrase.
Sachen Sachen means “things” or “belongings,” referring here to the person’s personal items. It is the object of nimm and appears in deine Sachen with a possessive word.
mit mit is the separable particle completing mitnehmen in nimm deine Sachen mit. It adds the meaning of taking something along with you and appears at the end of the command.
lasse lasse means “leave” in the speaker’s promise to leave the room tidy. It is the first-person form of lassen and works with ordentlich zurück to describe the state in which the room is left.
ordentlich ordentlich means “tidy” or “neat” and describes the condition in which the room will be left. It is used here as a description of the room’s state after the speaker leaves.
zurück zurück means “back” or “behind” as the separable particle in zurücklassen. In Ich lasse den Raum ordentlich zurück, it shows that the room is left behind in that tidy condition.
gehe gehe means “go” in bevor ich gehe, referring to the speaker leaving. It is the first-person form of gehen and appears in the clause introduced by bevor.
Das Das means “that” and refers to the previous action of leaving the room tidy. It is the subject of the following statement about helping the next person.
hilft hilft means “helps” and says that the tidy room benefits the next person. It is the form of helfen used with Das as the subject and can introduce the person who benefits.
nächsten nächsten means “next” and describes the person who will use the room after the current user. It appears before Person in der nächsten Person to identify the following user.
Person Person means “person,” here the next person who will use the shared room. It is the person who benefits from the room being left tidy.
gut gut means “well” or “smoothly” in gut anzufangen. It describes the next person’s successful start rather than describing the room itself.
anzufangen anzufangen means “to get started” or “to begin” in gut anzufangen. It is the infinitive of anfangen with zu inserted, used after hilft to explain what the next person is helped to do.

Grammar Points

Trag ... ein

Trag die Buchung zuerst ein.

trahk dee BOO-khoong tsoo-AIRST ayn.

Enter the booking first.

Bei trennbaren Verben steht der Präfix im Imperativ am Satzende: eintragen → Trag ... ein.

bevor + Verb am Ende

Bevor du gehst, räum den Schreibtisch auf.

beh-FOHR doo gayst, roym dayn SHRYPT-ish owf.

Before you leave, tidy up the desk.

Nach „bevor“ steht das konjugierte Verb am Ende des Nebensatzes.

German Vocabulary

Anruf noun
AHN-roof call

für einen Anruf

brauchen verb
BROW-khen need brauche

Ich brauche einen ruhigen Raum.

Büro noun
BYOO-roh office Büros

des gemeinsamen Büros

für prep
fyoor for

für einen Anruf

gemeinsam adj
guh-MINE-zahm shared; common gemeinsamen

des gemeinsamen Büros

Kalender noun
kah-LEN-der calendar

in den Kalender

klein adj
KLYN small kleine

Der kleine Raum

Raum noun
ROWM room

einen ruhigen Raum

ruhig adj
ROO-ikh quiet ruhigen

einen ruhigen Raum

schauen verb
SHOW-en check; look Schau

Schau zuerst in den Kalender.

scheinen verb
SHY-nen seem scheint

Der kleine Raum scheint frei zu sein.

zuerst adv
tsoo-AIRST first

Schau zuerst in den Kalender.

Quiz

Spelling

Tap the letters to spell the word.

quiet

Show Answerruhigen

calendar

Show AnswerKalender

shared; common

Show Answergemeinsamen

need

Show Answerbrauche