5.1 where is the Hotel Ravenna? (1)

Having arrived in Berlin for his conference, Ken McNaught now needs to find his way around in the big city. He knows that his hotel - the "Hotel Ravenna" (marked by an "X" in our diagram) - is in the road called Harbigstrasse which in the Charlottenburg region of Berlin, but he is having trouble finding it.

 

Whilst in Position 1 on our diagram, standing on the corner of two roads called Waldschulallee and Messedamm, he meets a passer-by (ein Passant) and asks for directions.

 

Listen to his conversation with the passer-by by clicking either here or on the sound icon at the top of the previous paragraph. You can also click here to find the location of Ken McNaught on a map of Berlin.

 der Passant---the passer-by

wo ist...?---wher is...? 

das Hotel---the hotel

entschuldigen Sie bitte---Excuse me please? 

Ja, bitte---Another nuance of "bitte"! This time it approximates to "Yes, how may I help?"

wo finde ich...?---"wher can I find...?" The word for "can" is omitted in the German construction.

das Hotel Ravenna---The names of most German hotels follow the word for "hotel".

ach ja, ich weiß oh yes, I know

da gehen Sie bitte...---"You go...". Our old friend "bitte" is added for an extra touch of politeness.

fünfhundert Meter---five hundred metres

geradeaus---"Straight on." Later in the conversation the passer-by will say "immer geradeaus", which equates to "keep straight on" - (literally "always straight on").

die Straße---street; road 

rechts---on the right

die nächste Straße rechts---the next road on the right

dann finden Sie...---"Then you will find..." There is no word here for "will" - the present tense can be used in German to translate the immediate future.

auf der rechten Seite "on the right-hand side". In practice this is interchangeable with "rechts".

Wie bitte?---This means "Pardon me?". Never be embarrassed about asking somebody to repeat directions, particularly when you are new to a language!

die nächste rechts---The passer-by does not repeat "Straße" here. As we saw in the previous section, it is clear that the adjective refers back to the feminine noun "street".

viel Spaß---"Enjoy yourself!". The literal meaning is "Much fun!"