| Out of the corner of his eye, Steed saw that Mrs. Peel had a small Stücke des Kuchen left on her plate. He speared it expertly with his fork, and conveyed it to his mouth before Mrs. Peel had time to protest.
She merely smiled. "That tool you wield so expertly, Steed, is die Gabel. The fork.
"Das silber Gabel," Steed said cheerfully. "How do you say "Delicious" in German?
Emma thumbed through the book. "Köstlich."
"Sehr köstlich," said Steed. "Very delicious."
"Danke," replied Mrs. Peel. |
Silverware - Tafelsilber
knife
fork
spoon
table
door
cup
saucer
glass
plate
|
das Messer
die Gabel
der Löffel
der Tisch
die Tür
die Tasse
die Untertasse
das Glas
der Teller |
|
"Not much of a choice of colors in the kitchenware department," Steed said idly, as he looked over the tray. "Black, white and silver, that's all we've got to choose from."
"Yes, well, let's examine what I've got here in the living room."
"We've already established that you've got drei Fensters." pointed out Steed.
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"Ye-es," murmured Emma. "And my phone is weiss as well.
"Das Telefon," corrected Steed.
"Das Telefon?" Emma protested. "That doesn't sound very German."
"Nevertheless."
Emma reached for Quite Quite Fantastic German. "Telefon, yes. Otherwise known as a Fernsprecher, she announced. "Fern as in "far," and sprecher as in "speaker." So, "far-speaker."
|
"That's one of the nice things about German," Steed commented. "They put their words together in a simple fashion. For example. "Fernsprecher" means "far speaker." In the same way, "Fernsehen" means "far seeing." In other words, a television set."
| "Would that all their words would be so easy," Emma commented.
"Well, what else have we got?" asked Steed. He glanced around the living room. "Not much in color here either, my dear. You do seem to live a black-and-white existence."
"Sign of the times, Steed, sign of the times. It is 1965 after all. Anyway...let's see, one leather chair."
Steed paged through the book. "Leather. That would be leder. And a chair is der Stuhl.. |
 |
"We're supposed to be learning our numbers, though," Emma commented. "Let's say I've got four Stuhl.
"Now we're moving into the realm of the plural," said Steed. "Four chairs would be fier Stuhle.
"And I've got five books stacked over there," said Emma, gesturing toward a corner.
 |
Der Buch. Fünf Buche.
"Very good," said Emma. "And, I've got six figurines."
"Easy," said Steed, paging through the book. "This seems to be one of those words that is the same in singular or plural forum. Ein Figürchen. Sechs Figürchen."
Emma nodded. "That's easy to remember. What else? Hmmm..let's say seven umbrellas." |
"Lucky number seven." Steed riffled through the book once more. "Ah, here we are. Der Regenschirm. Regen means rain and schirm means screen. So regenschirm means "rain screen.""
| "And if I have eight rooms?" said Emma.
"Der Raum," said Steed. "Plural, die Räume. Or, acht Räume."
"Oder.
"I beg your pardon?"
"It's not "or." It's oder."
"Oh, yes, of couse. Die Räume. Oder, acht Räume."
Emma nodded, then said, "I deduce that for the Germans, the plural is formed by adding an "e" to the end." |
The Furniture - Die Möbel
couch
chair
television
telephone
radio
floor
ceiling
wall
bookcase
|
der Liegesofa
der Stühl
das Fernsehen
das Fernsprecher
das Radio
der Fußboden
die Decke
das Wand
das Bücherregal |
|
Steed nodded. "Most of the time."
"Okay. Well, let's just count up to ten today, Steed. So...let's see....nine glasses."
"Another easy word. Das Glas. Die Gläser. Fünf Gläser."
"I knew it wouldn't be easy," said Emma. "So the plural for das Glas requires an "er," not just an "e." This is going to take some studying. Well, last but not least, ten. Ten plates."
"Großer Teller. Zehn ...Teller. No "e." No "er."
"Darn those Germans."
"Yes, well." Steed closed the book with a snap. "We've added a few words to our vocabulary today. Mustn't over do the brainwork."
|
"Quite."
"It's a fine evening. Shall we go for a walk in the park?"
"Wait a minute..." said Emma, taking the book from his hand and paging through it. "Ah, first off, wait a minute is, warten Sie eine Minute. Next... ah yes." She looked up at Steed with a smile. "Gern. Gladly."
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