Asking for juice in a shop | Learn German in English

Sentence explanations

1. Entschuldigung, wo ist der Saft?

   Excuse me, where is the juice?

   Entschuldigung

   Excuse me

   wo ist

   where is …?

   Saft

   juice

   More detail

   Entschuldigung is used here as a polite way to get someone’s attention: “Excuse me.” The same German noun can also mean “apology” in other contexts. For example, Entschuldigung für die Verspätung means “Apologies for the delay.” wo ist asks for the location of something. wo means “where,” and ist is the present-tense third-person singular form of sein (“to be”). In a German information question, the question word comes first and the conjugated verb follows it: Wo ist ...? means “Where is ...?” Saft means “juice.” It is a masculine noun, as shown by the article der in der Saft; Saft itself is the noun. A useful related word is Getränk (“drink” or “beverage”), as in this example: Der Saft ist ein Getränk. — “The juice is a drink.” Together, wo ist der Saft? asks where the juice is, and the opening Entschuldigung politely gets the listener’s attention: “Excuse me, where is the juice?”

2. Er ist in dieser Abteilung, neben den kalten Getränken.

   It's in this section, next to the cold drinks.

   Er

   it

   ist

   is

   dieser

   this

   Abteilung

   section

   neben

   next to

   kalten

   cold

   Getränken

   drinks

   More detail

   Er means “it” here and refers to the juice mentioned in the preceding question; German uses the masculine pronoun because Saft is masculine. In other contexts, er can refer to a male person, but that is not the reading in this utterance. Example: Er ist dort. — “It is there” when the established referent is a masculine noun. ist is the present-tense form of sein (“to be”) for er, sie, and es. The useful present-tense chain is ich bin, du bist, er/sie/es ist. Here it links the item to its location. dieser means “this” in dieser Abteilung. It is the feminine singular dative form of the demonstrative dies-; the dative is required because in describes a fixed location here, not movement into a place. Compare diese Abteilung for nominative or accusative feminine singular, but in dieser Abteilung for location. Abteilung is a feminine noun meaning “section” or “department”; its plural is Abteilungen. The phrase in dieser Abteilung therefore means “in this section.” With movement into a section, German would use the accusative: in diese Abteilung — “into this section.” neben means “next to” and expresses spatial proximity. For a stationary location, it takes the dative: neben den Getränken. With movement to a position next to something, the accusative can be used: Ich stelle es neben die Getränke. — “I put it next to the drinks.” kalten is the inflected form of the adjective kalt (“cold”). In den kalten Getränken, it has the ending -en because the adjective modifies a plural noun in the dative after den. The adjective itself is the word carrying this ending, not Getränken. Its comparison is kalt — “cold,” kälter — “colder,” am kältesten — “coldest.” Getränken means “drinks” here. The base noun is Getränk (“drink”); its plural is Getränke, and the dative plural adds -n: Getränken. The phrase den kalten Getränken means “the cold drinks.” Together, Er ist in dieser Abteilung identifies the item’s location as being in this section. neben den kalten Getränken adds its precise position: next to the cold drinks. The whole utterance therefore means, “It’s in this section, next to the cold drinks.”

3. Was empfehlen Sie?

   What do you recommend?

   Was

   what

   empfehlen

   recommend

   Sie

   you (formal)

   More detail

   Was asks for a thing or choice: “what?” It is the German question pronoun used here for the thing being recommended. Example: Was kaufen Sie? — “What are you buying?” empfehlen means “to recommend.” Its base form is empfehlen; in this question, the form is also empfehlen because it agrees with formal Sie. In less formal forms, the stem vowel changes: du empfiehlst — “you recommend,” and er/sie empfiehlt — “he/she recommends.” Example: Ich empfehle diesen Saft. — “I recommend this juice.” Sie means formal “you.” It is capitalized to distinguish it from lowercase sie, which can mean “she” or “they.” With formal Sie, the verb uses the same form as the plural: Sie empfehlen — “you recommend.” Example: Trinken Sie gern Tee? — “Do you like drinking tea?” Together, Was empfehlen Sie? forms a formal question asking which thing or option the listener recommends: “What do you recommend?”

4. Dieser Saft schmeckt frisch und ist leicht zu trinken.

   This juice has a fresh taste and is easy to drink.

   Dieser

   this

   Saft

   juice

   schmeckt

   tastes

   frisch

   fresh

   ist

   is

   leicht

   easy

   trinken

   drink

   More detail

   Dieser is the masculine singular nominative form of the demonstrative meaning “this.” It agrees with the noun it introduces: dieser Saft means “this juice.” The form changes with grammatical gender, number, and case; for example, diese Flasche means “this bottle,” with the feminine form diese. Saft means “juice.” It is a masculine noun, so its nominative singular article or demonstrative is der or dieser: der Saft, dieser Saft. The noun is the subject of both descriptions in this sentence. schmeckt is the third-person singular present form of schmecken, “to taste” or “to taste good.” Here it describes the juice’s taste: “tastes.” A reusable pattern is Das schmeckt gut — “That tastes good.” frisch means “fresh.” Here it is a predicative adjective after schmecken, so it has no adjective ending: Der Saft schmeckt frisch — “The juice tastes fresh.” ist is the third-person singular present form of sein, “to be.” It agrees with the singular subject Saft. The two present-tense predicates are coordinated: the juice schmeckt one way and ist another way. leicht means “easy” in this sentence. With sein and a zu-infinitive, the pattern etwas ist leicht zu ... describes something as easy to do: Der Text ist leicht zu lesen — “The text is easy to read.” zu trinken consists of zu plus the infinitive trinken, “to drink.” In this construction, trinken expresses the action associated with the juice: the juice is easy for someone to drink. The infinitive stays in its base form after zu; with a separable verb, zu would be inserted within the verb instead. Together, Dieser Saft establishes “this juice” as the subject. schmeckt frisch says that it tastes fresh, and ist leicht zu trinken adds that it is easy to drink. The complete meaning is: “This juice has a fresh taste and is easy to drink.”

5. Dann nehme ich diese Flasche.

   Then I'll get that bottle.

   Dann

   then

   nehme

   get

   ich

   I

   diese

   that

   Flasche

   bottle

   More detail

   Dann means “then.” It places the choice after an earlier point in time or conversation. Example: Dann gehen wir. — “Then we’ll go.” nehme is the first-person singular present form of nehmen, “to take”; in this context, the fixed translation gives the intended sense “get.” The useful form chain is nehmen → ich nehme → du nimmst → er/sie/es nimmt. German present tense can describe a decision or arrangement that English expresses with “I’ll.” Example: Ich nehme den Zug. — “I’ll take the train.” ich is the first-person singular pronoun, “I.” It identifies the speaker as the subject of nehme. Unlike English, German changes pronoun forms by grammatical role: ich is the subject form, while mich is the object form. Example: Ich sehe ihn. — “I see him.” diese is a demonstrative determiner meaning “that” here, according to the fixed translation. It agrees with Flasche: feminine singular accusative. The demonstrative pattern is dieser (masculine nominative), diese (feminine nominative or feminine accusative, and plural nominative/accusative), and dieses (neuter nominative or accusative). The exact form is determined by the noun’s gender, number, and case, not by the meaning “that” alone. Flasche means “bottle.” It is a feminine noun: die Flasche; its plural is die Flaschen. Here it is the direct object of nehmen, so it is in the accusative, although the feminine singular forms of die and diese look the same in the nominative and accusative. Example: Ich nehme eine Flasche. — “I’ll take a bottle.” Together, Dann nehme ich diese Flasche uses a German main-clause word order in which the finite verb is in the second position: Dann comes first, nehme is the finite verb, and ich follows it as the subject. diese Flasche is the object. The whole utterance therefore means “Then I’ll get that bottle.”