Talking about the teacher | Learn German in English

Sentence explanations

1. Schön, dich kennenzulernen.

   Nice to meet you.

   Schön

   nice; pleasant

   dich

   you

   kennenzulernen

   to meet; to get to know

   More detail

   Schön means “nice” or “pleasant” here. It is the adjective schön; in this utterance it appears in a shortened evaluation such as “It is nice …”. The same adjective can describe things or experiences: ein schöner Tag means “a nice day.” dich is the accusative singular informal form of the personal pronoun “you.” The basic form is du (“you” as the subject); dich is used when the person is the object of the action. For example, Ich sehe dich means “I see you.” kennenzulernen is the zu-infinitive of kennenlernen, meaning “to meet” or “to get to know.” The verb is written as kennenzulernen in this form: zu is inserted into the separable verb kennenlernen. For example, Ich freue mich, dich kennenzulernen means “I’m pleased to meet you.” Together, dich kennenzulernen means “to meet you,” with dich marking the person being met or got to know. The complete utterance Schön, dich kennenzulernen. is a concise, friendly way to say “Nice to meet you.”

2. Ist das deine erste Unterrichtsstunde hier?

   Is this your first lesson here?

   Ist das

   Is this

   deine

   your

   erste

   first

   Unterrichtsstunde

   lesson

   hier

   here

   More detail

   Ist das combines ist, the third-person singular present form of sein (“to be”), with das, a demonstrative meaning “this” here. German yes/no questions commonly place the finite verb first: Ist das ...? means “Is this ...?” Compare the statement Das ist ... (“This is ...”). deine is the informal singular “your” used before a feminine singular noun in this sentence. Its base possessive form is dein; the form changes to agree with the possessed noun, not with the person who possesses it. Here deine has the feminine singular nominative form required for Unterrichtsstunde in the nominative predicate after sein. Example: Das ist deine Tasche. — “That is your bag.” erste is the feminine singular nominative form of the ordinal adjective erst, meaning “first.” It identifies the lesson as number one in the relevant sequence. The ordinal sequence continues with zweite (“second”), dritte (“third”), and so on; these are ordinal forms, not comparison forms. Example: Heute ist mein erster Tag. — “Today is my first day.” Unterrichtsstunde is a feminine noun meaning “lesson” or “class session” here. Its plural is Unterrichtsstunden. The compound contains Unterricht (“instruction” or “teaching”) and Stunde (“hour” or, in this kind of compound, a lesson period), but the complete word is the useful noun for the class session. Example: Meine Unterrichtsstunde beginnt jetzt. — “My lesson starts now.” hier is an adverb meaning “here,” referring to the place relevant in the utterance. It does not change for person, number, or gender. Example: Ich lerne hier. — “I study here.” Together, the question pattern Ist das + possessive determiner + ordinal adjective + noun + place adverb? asks whether the indicated lesson or class session is the addressee’s first lesson in this place. Thus the complete meaning is “Is this your first lesson here?”

3. Ich war schon einmal hier.

   I came here before.

   Ich

   I

   war

   was

   schon einmal

   before / once before

   hier

   here

   More detail

   Ich is the first-person singular pronoun: “I.” It identifies the speaker as the subject. The corresponding plural form is wir (“we”), but Ich refers only to the speaker here. war is the past-tense form of sein (“to be”) for ich: ich bin = “I am,” ich war = “I was.” Here, war places the speaker’s being here in the past. The form war is not a past form of kommen (“to come”); the fixed translation expresses the same event naturally as “I came here before.” schon einmal is a reusable time expression meaning “before” or “once before.” schon contributes the idea that something has already happened, while einmal here means “once” as part of this expression, not necessarily a precise numerical count being emphasized. For example: Ich war schon einmal in Berlin. — “I have been to Berlin before.” hier means “here,” referring to the relevant place. Its opposite is dort (“there”) when the place is viewed as elsewhere. Together, Ich war schon einmal hier. means “I came here before.” More literally, it says “I was here once before,” using the past form of sein and the time expression schon einmal to state that the speaker had been at this place on an earlier occasion. This is different from Ich bin schon eine Weile hier. (“I have been here for a while”), which describes an ongoing stay rather than a previous visit.

4. Ich bin schon eine Weile hier.

   I have been here for a while.

   Ich bin

   I am

   schon

   already

   eine Weile

   a while

   hier

   here

   More detail

   Ich bin uses sein (“to be”) in the first-person singular present form: ich bin. In this sentence, the present form describes the speaker’s current state, while the duration phrase that follows shows that this state began earlier and continues now. Compare Ich bin hier (“I am here”) with Ich war hier (“I was here”); war is the first-person singular past form of sein. schon means “already” here. With a duration expression, it emphasizes that the situation has been true for some time by the present moment. Its meaning is not the same as noch (“still”): Ich bin schon hier says “I am already here,” whereas Ich bin noch hier says “I am still here.” eine Weile is a reusable time expression meaning “a while” or “some time.” Weile is a feminine noun, so this expression uses the feminine indefinite article eine. It does not state an exact length. Example: Ich warte eine Weile. — “I’ll wait for a while.” hier means “here,” referring to the speaker’s current location in this utterance. The word itself does not identify a particular place; the place is supplied by the situation. Together, Ich bin identifies the speaker’s present state, schon eine Weile marks that this state has lasted for some time, and hier gives the location. The whole utterance therefore means: “I have been here for a while.”

5. Wie ist der Lehrer?

   What is the teacher like?

   Wie

   how; what … like

   ist

   is

   Lehrer

   teacher

   More detail

   Wie means “how” here, but in the pattern Wie ist ...? it asks about a person’s or thing’s qualities: “What is ... like?” This is different from asking what someone is doing, such as Was macht ...? Example: Wie ist das Hotel? — “What is the hotel like?” ist is the present-tense third-person singular form of sein (“to be”). The useful present-tense chain is ich bin, du bist, er/sie/es ist. In this sentence, ist agrees with the singular subject der Lehrer. Lehrer means “teacher.” Its base noun form is Lehrer; the plural has the same spelling, Lehrer, while the article distinguishes the forms: der Lehrer (“the teacher”) and die Lehrer (“the teachers”). Here, der marks the masculine singular noun phrase as the subject of ist. Together, Wie ist der Lehrer? literally uses “how” with “is,” but the complete German pattern Wie ist + person or thing? asks for a description or evaluation of that person or thing. Thus the utterance means “What is the teacher like?”

6. Der Lehrer ist sehr nett.

   The teacher is very kind.

   Lehrer

   teacher

   ist

   is

   sehr

   very

   nett

   kind

   More detail

   Lehrer means “teacher” here. Its base form is Lehrer; with the definite article der, it is a singular masculine noun: der Lehrer. The plural is die Lehrer. A specifically female teacher can be die Lehrerin. ist is the present-tense third-person singular form of sein, “to be.” The useful pattern is er/sie/es ist (“he/she/it is”). For example, Der Lehrer ist hier. means “The teacher is here.” sehr means “very” and intensifies the adjective that follows it. It does not mean “good” by itself. For example, sehr groß means “very tall” or “very big,” depending on the noun or context. nett means “kind” here, describing the teacher. It is an adjective in a predicate after sein, so it appears as nett without an adjective ending in this sentence. A reusable pattern is Das ist nett. — “That is kind.” Together, Der Lehrer is the subject, ist links that subject to the description, and sehr nett means “very kind.” Thus Der Lehrer ist sehr nett. means “The teacher is very kind.” This answers the preceding question Wie ist der Lehrer? (“What is the teacher like?”).