6.1 Der Zeitungskiosk

 

Having attended his conference, Herr Ken McNaught now has a little free time on his hands before catching his train home. He decides to head to Zoo Station in Berlin - or to give it its proper name "Berlin Zoologischer Garten" - so that he can see the polar bear Knut in the zoo that gave the station its name. But Ken needs directions in how to get to Zoo Station. We now find him in the Wöhlertstraße in the North-East of Berlin asking for help at "ein Zeitungskiosk" - one of the many kiosks selling newspapers and cigarettes which you will see in any major German city.

Glossary

der Zeitungskiosk---"The newspaper kiosk." This is a compound noun formed from "die Zeitung" (= newspaper) and "der Kiosk" (= kiosk). As with all compound nouns, it takes the gender of the final element in the compound noun.

der Kioskbetreiber---kiosk owner 

Tabakwaren---tobacco goods

Berliner Zeitung---"Die Zeitung" is the word for "a newspaper". "Berliner" is both the adjective formed from Berlin and the name of an inhabitant of Berlin. Click here to visit the homepage of this newspaper. 

der Stadtplan---A "map of the city". This is another compound noun coming from "die Stadt" (= the city) and "der Plan" (= map; plan).

groß ... klein---"Big ... small". It is "einen" and not "ein" because both words are implicitly still in the accusative case.

Was kostet der große...?---"What does the big one cost?". Note the word order - the question word comes first, followed by the verb and then the subject of the sentence.

den nehme ich "I'll take that one." Unlike in English, it is quite possible for the object of the clause to be the first word in a German clause. This is because the endings of German pronouns clearly tell us which is nominative and which is accusative.

Wie komme ich am besten...?---This is an alternative to "Wie komme ich..." in the previous section. A rough translation would be: "What is the best way to get to...?"

der Bahnhof---station

der Zoo---A "zoo", fairly obviously, but note that the full form of this noun - "der zoologische Garten" is also used in German.

eigentlich---in fact 

ich wollte...---"I wanted to..." This is always followed by the infinitive of the verb. It is an irregular verb (see verb tables).

die Straßenbahn---A "tram" - or quite literally "street-car". These are almost exclusively to be found in East Berlin, and are marked by red squares and numbers on our map.

mit (+ Dative)---This preposition means "with" and always takes the dative case. It never has contracted forms with the definite article.

mit der Straßenbahn fahren This means "to travel by tram" or literally "to travel with the tram". Note that the definite article is used in the German construction while we do not use it in the English construction. The verb "fahren" is also irregular - see following sections.

die Haltestelle---This means "a stop (bus, tram etc.)".

an der Haltestelle---"At the bus-stop". As with "die Ampel" (traffic-lights), the word for a "stop" takes the preposition "an (+ Dative)" to translate "at".

niemand---This means "nobody". The full meaning of the sentence is "But there is nobody standing at the bus-stop".

das Taxi---This means "taxi". The plural varies according to wher you are in the country. In most parts of the country you will see "Taxis", but in Berlin and the north of Germany the plural is "Taxen".

die U-Bahn---This means "the Underground". "Mit der U-Bahn fahren" means "to travel by underground".