Saturday 11 April 2009

Der letzter Zapfenstreich

I am talking about the post-it notes for one more time because they are a useful resource to help with vocabulary. Im Badezimmer you can label das Bad, der Heizkörper, die dusche (and the verb is duschen), und die Toilette. To go to the toilet is auf die Toilette gehen which doesn’t have quite the same charm as one of our many euphemisms in English. I would prefer to visit the smallest room in the house or even the loo. W H Auden calls it the ‘house where everyone goes’ but the German leaves nothing to the imagination. You could always say die Toilette bitte, and hope for the best.

The next stage is to put verbs with the things in the bathroom. To have a bath is ein Bad nehmen. We do say take a bath in English but you need to practice to know that is how it is said in German. Learn things like ich wasche mich or ich putze mir die Zähne but you do need to know the words for clean and teeth before you can do this. I promise not to mention post-it notes again but even if they only last a couple of weeks you should have learnt your household vocabulary.

Der letzter Zapfenstreich - das ist ein Wordspiel auf Englisch aber nicht auf Deutsch - the last post.

Bis bald

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