German A1.1 Listening Practice: First Spine
Listen to a A1 German dialogue about first spine, with audio, transcript, and grammar notes for language learning.
Podcast listening pages are in beta while chapter audio, transcripts, and discussion flows are still being completed.
Level
A1.1
Audio
1m 24s
Transcript
14 segments
A short German listening chapter with transcript.
A1: Start with one dependable sentence, then move one piece at a time while the verb stays easy to hear.
Read while you listen.
1. Native Speaker 1
Hallo! Ich bin hier.
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2. Native Speaker 2
Ah, hallo! Du bist hier.
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3. Native Speaker 1
Ja, ich bin hier.
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4. Native Speaker 2
Schön! Heute bin ich hier.
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5. Native Speaker 1
Super, heute bist du hier!
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6. Teacher
Welcome! Let's break down that short conversation. First, we heard: 'Ich bin hier.' This means 'I am here.' The word 'bin' is the verb, meaning 'am', and it sits firmly in the second position of the sentence.
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7. Student
Does the person 'ich' always have to come first in German?
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8. Teacher
No, not always! But the verb 'bin' must almost always stay in that second slot. We will see how that works in a moment.
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9. Teacher
Next, we heard: 'Du bist hier.' This means 'You are here.' 'Du' is 'you', and 'bist' is the verb 'are'.
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10. Student
So 'bist' is just the 'you' form of the verb 'to be'?
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11. Teacher
Exactly. Just like 'bin', 'bist' acts as the anchor in the second position of this simple statement.
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12. Teacher
Finally, we heard: 'Heute bin ich hier.' This means 'Today I am here.' 'Heute' means 'today'. Notice how the verb 'bin' is still the second element, which pushes 'ich' to the third spot.
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13. Student
Oh, so even if we start with 'today', the verb refuses to move from that second position?
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14. Teacher
Spot on! That is the golden rule of German word order: the finite verb is the anchor in position two, no matter what starts the sentence.
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