Learn German Easily

Created by Lucas Kern

How old are you (in German)

Today you will learn how to say your age in German.

Listen to the audio samples until you can say how old you are in German.

The German language learning experience can be quite fascinating if you do it with the right method – try my method.

 

How old are you - Learn German Easily

How to say your age in German – Exercise A

Here is Part A of the exercise

  1. Read and listen many times.
  2. Repeat after the speaker.
  3. Make sure you try to imitate the pronunciation of the speaker.
  4. After a few repetitions go on to part B (farther below).

Tip: Always imagine the situations in your mind. It will help you to remember the words!

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Wie alt bist du?
How old are you?

A dialog between Max and Luc:

Wie alt bist du?
How old are you?

Ich bin 20 Jahre alt.
I’m 20 years old.

Wie alt sind deine Eltern?
How old are your parents?

Meine Eltern sind beide 40 Jahre alt.
My parents are both 40 years old.

Wie alt ist dein Baby?
How old is your baby?

Mein Baby ist 10 Tage alt.
My baby is 10 days old.

Wie alt ist deine Oma?
How old is your grandma?

Meine Oma ist 60 Jahre alt.
My grandmother is 60 years old.

Wie alt ist dein Opa?
How old is your grandpa?

Mein Opa ist 120 Jahre alt.
My grandfather is 120 years old.

Boah ey, dein Opa ist 60 Jahre älter als deine Oma.
Wow, your grandpa is 60 years older than your grandma.

Er ist doppelt so alt wie sie.
He is twice her age.

Ja, er ist sehr reich, weißt du.
Yeah, he is very rich, you know?

Mein Opa ist ein Millionär.
My grandpa is a millionaire.

Ach so!
Oh, I see!

mein(e) / dein(e) 

In the lesson above you’ve also practiced the two little possessive pronouns mein and dein.

I bet you wonder why they have sometimes an -e at the end, right?

Do you know why?

Please read and listen again to the sentences above and if you cannot guess why, don’t worry, I’ll explain it farther below.

Just a little hint: It has to do with the gender of the nouns they are referring to.

How old are you in German – Exercise B

How old are you - Learn German Easily

Part B 

Question and Answer Part:

  1. Read and listen to the questions.
  2. Answer the questions (you may look also at the answers).
  3. After 5 times don’t look at the answers anymore.
  4. Try to imitate the pronunciation of my voice.
  5. Repeat the unit ’til you can answer the questions easily.

Tip: If you want to formulate a question, you change the word order and you raise your voice a little at the end of the question!

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Fragen und Antworten: 

Frage:
Sind meine Eltern 40 oder 90 Jahre alt?

Antwort:
40 Jahre
Meine Eltern sind 40 Jahre alt.
Meine Eltern sind beide 40 Jahre alt.

Ist mein Baby 10 Tage oder 15 Monate (months) alt?

10 Tage
Mein Baby ist 10 Tage alt.

Wie alt ist meine Oma?

60 Jahre
Meine Oma ist 60 Jahre alt.
Aber noch sehr sportlich.
(But still very athletic.)

Ist mein Opa 30 Jahre oder 120 Jahre alt?

120 Jahre
Mein Opa ist 120 Jahre alt.
Das ist sehr alt.

Ist mein Opa älter oder jünger als meine Oma?

älter
Mein Opa ist älter als meine Oma.

Ist mein Opa doppelt so alt wie meine Oma?

Genau, mein Opa ist doppelt so alt wie meine Oma.
Er ist doppelt so alt wie sie.

Und ist mein Opa arm oder sehr reich?

reich
Mein Opa ist reich.
Er ist sehr reich.
Mein Opa ist ein Millionär.

!
Do it again! Don't stop now!

Repeat this lesson ’til you can easily answer the questions.

mein(e) / dein(e) 

Did you find out when we use the -e?

We use mein or dein (without the -e) when these words refer to a noun with a masculine or neuter article.

der Opa (der = masculine article)
das Baby (das = neuter article)

We use meine or deine when these words refer to a noun with a feminine or plural article.

die Oma (die = feminine article)
die Kinder (die = plural article, because more than one child)

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Hör zu (listen): 

das Baby
=> mein Baby, dein Baby

der Opa
=> mein Opa, dein Opa

die Oma
=> meine Oma, deine Oma

die Kinder (plural)
=> meine Kinder, deine Kinder

s
Accusative case

In the next lesson we will review the German accusative case. This lesson can seem a bit complicated, but I’ll try to make it as simple as possible.

As long as you listen to the audio samples many times, you should have no problem.

Don’t worry about technical terms! 

Don’t worry about technical terms like: possessive pronouns, possessive determiners and so on (besitzergreifende Bestimmungswörter, Possessivpronomen…).

These names are not so important.

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