First day of class in Integration Course

Weather hasn't been good since last weekend. The lowest temperature since  last weekend is 9°c. in the morning. And the sky has been very cloudy too, just like this morning.

Today is my first day of class in the Integration Course which I must take part as an immigrant here in Germany. My class starts at 8:45am during Mondays. Unfortunately I missed the bus at 8:28am. And so I was late 15 minutes. Phew.... 

When I arrived in the classroom, my classmates and our woman Instructor have already started introducing themselves in Deutsch language. We are 12 students. I have the basic knowledge of Deutsch and so it was good for me to listen and understand them when they speak Deutsch. Most of my classmates are from Turkey, one from China, one from Peru, one from Netherland, from Afghanistan, from Ghana, from Portugal and Africa (Burundi). From my opinion, they have been here in Deutschland for a longer time than me. And I could see that a few are used to speaking Deutsch however, during the lesson they could not really pronounce the Deutsch words correctly or compose a correct sentence. This makes me wonder why...

Anyway, when it was my turn to introduce myself, this is what I've said...

Ich bin (name here) ..... Ich bin zweiunddreissig (32) Jahre alt. Ich bin verheiratet. Ich komme aus den Philippinen. (I am (name here) ..... I am Thirty-two (32) years old. I am married. I come from the Philippines.)

And our Instructor asked me some questions like:

Haben Sie Kinder? (Do you have children?)  and I answered, Nein. Which means No. However, a better and correct answer would be, Nein, Ich habe keine Kinder.

Was sind Sie von Beruf? (What do you do for a living? or What is your job? or What is your occupation?) and I answered, Nein. Which means No. Or a correct and better answer would be like, Ich bin Hausfrau.(I am a housewife.)

...and she asked, Ah, eine Hausfrau? (Ah, a Housewife?) and I answered, Ja. Which means Yes.

And when the Introduction part was done, our Instructor started the lesson by teaching us the correct words, sentences and grammar of questions and answers when introducing ourselves.

Questions:                             Answers:

1. Wie heißen Sie?                 Ich heiße.....

(How are you called?)            (I am called ....)

2. Wie ist Ihr Name?               Mein Name ist ....

(What is your Name?)           (My name is...)

3. Wer sind Sie?                   Ich bin....

(Who are you?)                    (I am....)

These  questions and answers above can be used interchangeably with one another.

 

Questions:                                  Answers:

4. Wo wohnen Sie?                     Ich wohne in.....

(Where do you live?)                  (I live in ....)

5. Woher kommen Sie?              Ich komme aus ....

(Where do you come from?)       (I come from...)

Answer #5 is a complicated one since deutsch Nouns has genders (i.e. Masculine, Feminine or Neutral or Plural). And so country names like China, Philippines, Deutschland or Germany, USA, Turkey or Netherland has its own gender.

Now for a country name like Deutschland (Germany), this is a Neutral noun. And so, Ich komme aus Deutschland is the correct sentence. Which means I come from Germany. 

With male countries like Irak  (Iraq) or Iran (Iran). The correct grammar is Ich komme aus dem Irak. (I come from Iraq.) Ich komme aus dem Iran. (I come from Iran)

Türkei is Turkey in English. And it has a feminine gender in Deutsch language. Therefore, Ich komme aus der Türkei (I come from Turkey) is correct.

A country name like Philippinen (Philippines) is a plural noun in Deutsch language. The correct way to use it in a sentence like in #5 is Ich komme von den Philippinen. (I come from the Philippines.) This confirms that my sentence during our Introduction part was wrong.

Niederlande or Netherlands is also a plural noun. However, it is not right to say Ich komme von den Niederlande. Like what we have used for Philippinen. Philippinen, according to my Instructor  is made of many islands surrounded by waters. And so, von should be used instead of aus. Actually, this is new to me. And I wonder if there is a new rule on  country names like Philippines. Because during my self-study and teachings from my Sweetie, and even through searchings and translatings on the Internet, Ich komme aus den Philippinen is always the correct sentence I have learned. Anyway, maybe I can discuss on this when I find the reason behind this new rule.

Notice the der and den articles in the sentences mentioned above. The grammar of the sentence Ich komme aus, is in Dative case. And for a Dative case, there are rules on which article we must use. For a male noun, the article dem must be used. For a female noun, the article der. For a neutral, the article dem is used. And for plural noun, the article den is used. The male and neutral articles for Dative case are the same. This is the same in the other type of grammar sentence which is the Genitive case. However, we will tackle on the different grammar cases later. Another thing we have observed is that, in this sentence Ich komme aus for  neutral noun, we did not use the article dem in the sentences...

Ich komme aus Deutschland.

 (Deutschland is a neutral Noun.)

I think there is a special rule for countries on the Dative case. Another subject for future discussion.

Questions:                                        Answers:

6. Was sind Sie von Beruf?               Ich bin.....

(What is your occupation?)               (I am ....)

7. Wie viele Kinder haben Sie?         Ich habe ....

(How many children do you have?)    (I have...)

Choices for answer #7 would be:

2 Kinder. (2 children)

1 Kind. (1 child.)

keine Kinder. (no children)

kein Kind. (no child)

Kind which means child in English, has a neutral gender. And the plural of Kind is Kinder, which means children in English.

Kein means none, no or not. But when it is used with nouns, it changes to Keine for plural nouns and for female nouns. Kein is maintained as is in spelling for male and neutral nouns.

Important Rules to learn and memorize for Articles such as the, none, no, and a (der, kein, und ein):

 

Gender of Nouns       Male        Female    Neutral     Plural

  

Grammar cases

Der (The)

Nominative case         der           die         das             die

Genitive case             des           der        des             der

Dative case                dem         der        dem            den

Accusative case         den          die        das              die

Kein(No, None or Not)

Nominative case       kein           keine     kein         keine

Genitive case           keines        keiner   keines      keiner

Dative case              keinem      keiner    keinem     keinen

Accusative case       keinen       keine      kein          keine

Ein(A)

Nominative case       ein           eine      ein             NONE 

Genitive case           eines       einer     eines         NONE

Dative case              einem      einer     einem        NONE

Accusative case       einen       eine      ein              NONE

Kein is just the negative of ein. And ein has no plural. (Obviously! Because ein means a in English. And the article a is only for singular nouns.)

Most of the time during our class, we have repeated the basic sentences/questions for introducing ourselves. Sorting it out, completing the sentences, speaking and pronouncing correctly the words and sentences.

Ich bin Lena. (I am Lena.)
Wie heißen Sie? (How are you called?)
Ich heiße Lukas. (I am called Lukas.)
Das ist Frau Hummel. (That is Miss/Mrs. Hummel.)
Ich bin Andreas Zilinski. (I am Andreas Zilinski.)
Enschuldigung, wie heißen Sie? (I am sorry, how are you called?)
Andreas Zilinski, und das ist Frau Kunz. (Andreas Zilinski, and that is Miss/Mrs. Kunz.)
Wer ist das? (Who is that?)
Das ist Felix. (That is Felix.)
Ich heiße Laura Weber. Und wer sind Sie? (I am called Laura Weber. And who are you?)



Tschüss  (Bye)