MICHEL THOMAS GERMAN (ADVANCED) COURSE, 4 CDs
TRANSCRIPT

This is an approximate transcript of the course, since Michel often changed his mind in the middle of a sentence to be translated, or adapted his sentences for the students. The booklet that accompanied Michel's courses was wholly inadequate, so I have written this transcript. I have found it useful, so maybe other people will, too. 

Naturally, it would be foolish to try to learn the language using this transcript, without buying the recordings.

Note that English is my native language, so I don't guarantee that there are no mistakes. Tracks and track times in the recording are shown in brackets. 

Version 2, Jan 15th 2006
Transcribed by JK

CD 1 (75.02)

(1) 7.30
to stay
I am staying
He is staying
He doesn't stay
We are staying here
They are staying here
You are staying 
(To make a distinction between "you" and "they", for "they" you can say instead die, which is short for diese da, "these there".)
They are not staying here
You are not staying here
How long are you staying?
He will stay here
She won't stay here
How long will you stay here?
How long are you going to stay here?
Will you tell me how long you are going to stay here?
I would like to know how long you can stay here
(2) 1.32
(When talking to friends and family, the word for "you" is du. "You are staying" is du bleibst - the verb ending for du is -st.)  
How long are you staying here?  (to Paul)
(3) 3.04
I will do it
I won't do it
We will stay here
They will stay here
You will stay here
They will stay here (not you)
How long are you staying?  (to Paul)
I will stay
How long will you stay?
They will not stay here
Paul, how long are you staying?
I will stay
You will stay (to Paul)
I don't know how long he will stay
(4) 3.30
I can do it
I cannot do it
Can you do it?
Why can't you do it?
Why can't you do it now?
I cannot find it, I don't know where it is
(In speech, Ich kann es can be contracted to Ich kann's.)
He cannot understand it
He cannot understand me
Why can't you understand me?
(5) 3.23
I will tell it to you later
At what time are you going to be here?
He will come with us
Will you wait for me
Where do you want to wait for me?
Where do you want to go?
(6) 2.54
to be able
He won't be able to find it
He won't be able to tell it to you because he doesn't know it
I know
He knows
You know (to Paul)
...because he doesn't know it
He will not be able to do it
(7) 1.09
(In order to emphasise the object, for example "that", you must invert the word order.  For example, "that he will not be able to do" is "that will he not be able to do".)
That he will not be able to do
He won't be able to do that
(8) 2.05
I wouldn't be able to do it
He would never be able to do it
(9) 2.07
never
time
I have no time
I have no time to do it
newspaper
to read
I will read the newspaper
(10) 3.33
Can you?
Could you?
Could you tell me?
Could you come with me?
Could you come with me? (to Paul)
(In English, "could" has two meanings: "could you" means "would you be able to", but it also means the past tense meaning "were you able to". In German, the past tense is konnten.)
Could you wait for me (now)?
Could you tell me where it is?
I'm sorry but I couldn't understand you
(11) 3.33
to have
I have
we have
they have
you have
he has
you have (Paul)
You are right
to the right
to be right
You are right (Paul)
to buy
Why don't you buy it?
Why don't you want to buy it?
Where will you buy it?
Why won't you buy it?
(12) 4.11
I have
I have bought
I have bought it
I have not bought it, I didn't buy it
still, still more
something more
I want something more
I want to eat something more
a little more
not yet
He didn't buy it yet
Why didn't you buy it yet?
to make
He has made it
to laugh
He laughed
(13) 8.22
to buy
to sell
(German has detachable prefixes and non-detachable prefixes.)
to go
to go away
I'm going away
to come back
the back
my back
to go back
to come back
He is coming back soon
He will come back soon
to sell
I am selling it
(Non-detachable verbs don't begin ge- in the past tense.)
I have sold it
He has sold it
He hasn't sold it yet
We sold it
You sold it
They sold it
You have sold it (Paul)
Why did you sell it? (Paul)
Why didn't you sell it?
Why didn't you sell it yet?
Everything is sold
It is not sold yet
He has told me
Why didn't you tell me?
We have told it to you
He told me that he wouldn't do it
He didn't tell me that he will do it
(14) 2.14
to repair
I am repairing it
He is repairing it
(All the -ieren verbs, which usually come from French, don't take the ge- prefix in the past tense.)
I repaired it
to organise
He organised it
to specialise
to control
He controlled it
It is controlled
It is well organised
He organised it
Everything is well organised
(15) 4.52
Everything is sold
I sold it
(To say "I had sold it", "I had..." is ich hatte...)
we had
they had
you had
I had
he had
you had (to friend)
I had it
I didn't have it
I would have it
I wouldn't have it
I wouldn't have the time to do it
(Instead of würde haben "would have", you can use hätte "would have".)
I wouldn't have the time to do it
(Actually, hätte means "may have" and "might have". It is the subjective.)
I wouldn't have bought it
because it was very expensive
(16) 2.11
was, were
We were very busy
Where were you last night?
He was there
He wasn't in, he wasn't there
Where were you?  (to friend)
Where were you?
true
It was true
really
It was really true
It is really so
like that
It is really true
(17) 1.16
to believe, to think
to think
I don't believe that he is going to come with us
(18) 5.35
to see
(Use gesehen not geseht)
I saw it, I have seen it
I had seen it
I would have seen it
I would have told you
He wouldn't have told me
We would have told you
("if" wenn is a weil situation.  After wenn, you will automatically use hätten.)
If you had told me
I would have bought it if I had seen it
If you had told me that you would arrive today, I would have waited for you
(19) 1.05
I waited for you
How long did you wait?
He waited for me
(20) 2.21
Will you wait for me
I want
he wants
He doesn't want to do it
Why don't you want to do it?
Why don't you want to do it? (to friend)
(21) 1.36
Can you do it?
Could you tell me?
to look for, to seek
I looked for it
but I couldn't find it
(22) 3.51
(The past participle, in other words the diving part of the verb, is the same as the infinitive form when you are using a handle verb.  So, the sentence sounds like it has two infinitives in it.  Therefore, "been able" is simply können.)
I have not been able to find it
I want it
I don't want it
I want to do it
I wanted
I have wanted to do it
He has not wanted to do it
(23) 2.58
I couldn't have done it without you / I wouldn't have done it without you / I wouldn't have been able to do it
without you
I wouldn't have been able to do it without you
I never could have done it without you
You could have told me
You could have told it to me
I could (the past)
I could (not the past)
I could have done it

CD2 (75.29)

(1) 6.11
must
we must
We must see it
They must see it
You must see it
I must buy it
He must do it
It can be
It could be
It could be possible (might be, may be)
That could be possible
But it was not possible to do it
because I didn't have the time to do it
It has to be ready now, it must be ready now
already
It can be ready already
It must be ready already
It cannot be ready yet
It is going to be ready tomorrow
(2) 2.52
You have to do it now
(Sharpened awareness of your own language: in English, the positive "you have to do it" means the same as "you must do it".  But, in the negative, "you don't have to do it" doesn't mean "you must not do it"; it means "you don't need to do it".)
(3) 1.00
also
me too
to smoke
He is smoking
It is smoking
It did smoke here, it has smoked here
(4) 1.34
Do you smoke?
Smoke!
Are you coming?
Come with me!
Are you waiting?
Are you waiting for me?
Wait for me!
Stay here!
Eat!
Don't eat that!
(5) 2.09
You have to see it
You don't have to see it
(After brauchen, you use the whole infinitive preceded by zu. However, Germans and Austrians often leave out the zu.)
You don't have to do it
He has to be here soon
(6) 1.08
I had to
I wanted
I had to
He had to stay here because he had to work
(7) 3.32
shall, should
I shall, you shall, he shall, we shall, you shall, they shall
You shall tell me, you should tell me
You should come with us
(Another word for "should" would be sollten, ?)
You should go there with us
(sollten might also be in the past tense, meaning "was supposed to".)
I was supposed to go there yesterday, but I could not
because I was very busy
because I was very busy yesterday
I could not go there with you
to prepare
I was supposed to prepare it yesterday
I should do it now
I should have done it
(Remember that handle verbs are the same as the infinitive in the past participle)
(8) 6.51
Could you tell me?
You shall tell me, you should tell me
You should tell me
You could have told me
You could have told it to me
You could have come with us
You could have bought it
could have, should have
You should have told me
You should have told it to me and I would have bought it for you
I could have bought it for you
I would buy it for you
I would have bought it for you
(gekauft because there is no handle verb in the sentence.)
I would buy it for you
I would have bought it for you
I could have bought it for you
I should have bought it for you
(9) 5.20
to please
to please oneself
pleasure
It pleases me
I please myself (I enjoy)
I enjoy seeing you
I am very pleased to see you
I will be very pleased to see you (I'm looking forward to seeing you)
I would be very pleased to see you
I would be very pleased
I would be very pleased to go there with you
I would have enjoyed to go there last night
I would have enjoyed very much to go there with you
(10) 4.56
I wanted... 
(wollen can act as a handle, or a normal verb)
I have wanted 
I have wanted to do it 
I would have wanted to do it 
I wanted to see it 
but I couldn't see it 
I couldn't wait because I had to leave 
I could have gone there with you last night 
You should have gone there with us 
(11) 1.08
I was there 
never 
nobody 
but nobody was there 
Who was there with you last night? Wer war da mit Ihnen gestern Abend?
It was not possible to do it 
(12) 2.08
to look for 
to try 
I am trying 
to succeed 
It is successful to me 
I don't succeed doing it 
I cannot do it 
I won't succeed doing it (it won't be successful to me) 
(13) 3.15
I had to leave 
(lassen means "to leave" in the sense of leaving something behind, not going away.  lassen has several meanings)
I left the key on the table 
(lassen also means "to let")
Let me try! 
Let me work! 
Leave me alone! 
(the) quiet 
(lassen is also used to get something done)
I will get it repaired (I will let someone repair it) 
I must have it washed 
to clean 
I will get it cleaned 
(14) 7.11
He will be here soon 
necessary 
It won't be necessary 
(an alternative to nötig is notwendig)
It won't be necessary 
(es wird expresses two verbs; es wird expressing the future tense, and the present tense werden which means "to become", "to be getting")
I am tired 
I am getting tired 
I will be tired 
I will be getting tired 
You will be too tired 
You will be getting tired soon 
It is late 
It is getting late 
dark 
the darkness 
It is very dark 
It is too dark
It is getting dark 
It will be too dark 
It will be getting dark soon 
It is getting dark 
("it was becoming...", "it was getting..." is Es wurde...)
It was getting dark 
suddenly
It was suddenly getting very dark 
It would be too dark 
We were getting tired 
(15) 4.22
to know
Do you know why he cannot do it? 
Do you know why he does not want to do it? 
Can you tell me why he didn't want to do it? 
Do you know why he couldn't do it?  (was not able to do it) 
I knew 
I didn't know 
I would have known 
I wouldn't have known it, if you had not told me 
(16) 8.19
(There are some German verbs, with which you dive not from haben but from sein.  English also used to have them; it survives in phrases like "the time is come" (not has come), and "he is gone" (not he has gone). In German, with coming and going verbs you dive from "to be")
I went 
I went there 
We are gone 
We went there last night 
When did you go there? 
(17) 2.51
I was 
We were 
It would be possible 
(instead of saying es würde sein, you can simply use es wäre for "would be")
It wouldn't be possible 
(actually, es wäre expresses "it might be", and became also "it would not be", says it is simpler than saying es würde möglich sein...)
It wouldn't be possible to do it that way 
(18) 1.57
(sein is conjugated with "to be")
I have been 
(gewesen means "been")
We have been there last night 
How long have you been there? 
How long were you there? 
(19) 2.34
I would have waited for you and I would have gone there with you 
He would have come with us 
(20) 6.02
I have waited 
I have waited for you 
He has waited for me 
How long have you waited? 
He arrived today 
He would have arrived today 
if he had arrived today 
I have been there 
I would have been there 
If I had been there I would have seen it 
I didn't see you because I was not there 
(there is a third word meaning "because", da)
because I was not there 

(end of recording)

CD 3 (76.08)

(1) 7.17
(bleiben is also conjugated with "to be")
We stayed 
We went to Berlin 
When did you go to Vienna? 
How long did you stay in Vienna? 
How long did you stay?
I would have stayed longer if I had known you would be here 
(2) 2.57
When did you arrive? 
early
tomorrow morning 
today morning 
I would have arrived earlier if I had known that you would be here and that you have waited for me
(3) 2.08
to travel (not by foot) 
I went to Vienna 
We went to Vienna 
We went to Vienna last week but we didn't stay long, we only stayed a couple of days and we came back to London
(4) 3.25
It would have pleased me very much
I would have liked very much to know (it would have pleased me very much to know) 
that you would go there 
I would be pleased (it would please me) 
It would have pleased me 
I would be pleased (I would please myself) 
I would have been pleased 
(5) 3.52
to hurry 
I am hurrying 
I hurried 
I will hurry 
I have to hurry 
Hurry up! 
You have to hurry 
Will you hurry please 
I hurried
We hurried 
If I had hurried I would have arrived earlier 
I would have seen it and I would have bought it 
(6) 1.28
to get up 
I got up
We got up 
At what time do you get up? 
I would have got up earlier if I had known it 
(7) 1.06
Why didn't you tell it to me?
I would have told it to you if I had known it 
(8) 6.52
It is not possible to do it that way 
It was not possible to do it that way 
It won't be possible to do it that way 
It wouldn't be possible to do it that way 
It would not be possible to do it that way 
It has not been possible to do it 
We tried 
and it has not been possible to do it 
I think it would have been possible to do it if we had tried 
if we had tried to do it 
(9) 0.49
I would have gotten up earlier 
(10) 4.22
to lie down
(there are three ways to say "to put")
to put down (in a lying position) 
to put (in a standing position, e.g. a bottle) 
I am putting the bottle on the table 
I am putting the book on the table 
It is lying on the table 
to put (in a sitting position) 
to sit 
I am seating myself 
I am sitting down (there) 
Sit (yourself) down (here) 
Take a seat 
I sat down 
I lay down
(11) 6.26
quiet, silence 
Silence, please! 
It is very quiet 
to take a rest (to quiet oneself out) 
I will take a rest 
You should take a rest 
I had a good rest (I rested myself out well)
You have to take a rest 
One must... 
One has to take a rest 
sometimes 
One has to take a rest sometimes 
Sometimes one has to take a rest 
Did you sleep well?
I slept very well 
One can understand it sometimes 
but sometimes one cannot understand it 
I did not understand what you have said 
to mean 
I don't understand what you mean 
What do you mean? 
What does it mean? 
(12) 4.05
to send 
I will send it to you
He has sent it to me 
to receive 
I have not received it yet 
to hold 
to hold on, stop 
Will you stop (Will you stay standing) 
Will you stop 
to receive 
I haven't received it yet 
to keep 
You can keep it 
to hear
I cannot hear it
to belong 
It belongs to me 
It doesn't belong to me 
It belongs to you 
Does it belong to you? 
(13) 6.54
to answer 
the word 
the answer 
He didn't answer yet 
to call 
He called
to call (on the phone) 
He called me on the phone 
at your place
I called you this morning in order to tell you that I will arrive tonight and that I will be at your house at 10 o'clock
I would have arrived earlier if I had known it
(14) 2.27
(sentences like "I want you to tell me" can't be translated step-by-step into German.  For example, "I want you to tell him" must be translated "I want, that you should tell him")
I want you to tell him
Will you tell him to call me 
I told him to call me 
(15) 2.51
to remember 
I remember
I don't remember 
I cannot remember
to remember something 
(to talk about remembering it, you have to talk about recalling "at it" an das, which contracts to daran. Similarly, "on it" auf das becomes darauf. "into it" would be darein. "under it" would be darunter. "over it" would be darüber.)
I cannot remember it 
(recording skips here)
(16) 2.45
(in German, to get used to something is to "habituate oneself" sich gewöhnen)
the apartment
to rent, let (an apartment) mieten
I will rent the apartment 
I will rent the house 
to live, reside 
to live 
We live here 
We are here now but we don't live here 
Where do you live? 
(17) 1.02
(you can turn infinitives into nouns)
to live 
living, life
to eat
the food 
The food is good here 
(18) 9.11
(in German, whenever you want to use "have been +ing", simply use the present tense)
since 
I have been doing it for a long time 
(schon is often thrown in in this situation)
I have been doing it for a long time 
(you can put emphasis on das by starting the sentence with it)
That I have been doing for a long time 
I have been living in Vienna (emphasised) for three months 
(to ask someone how long they have been living here, you must stay "since how long...")
How long have you been living here? 
How long have you been working here?
How long have you been working here? (with schon) 
He has been working here for three years already 
You are going to Germany 
after; to, towards 
You are going to Austria 
You are going to Vienna 
for example, for instance 
to play 
to play the piano 
How long have you been in Vienna? 
have you been
I have been 
We have been
Where have you been? 
Where were you? 
How long have you been here in Vienna? 
I have been here for three weeks already
(19) 3.53
habit 
(to say "not used to", you can say "don't have the habit")
I don't have the habit to do it 
opportunity 
the beauty 
(-heit and -keit corresponds to the Anglo-Saxon English "-hood")
possibility
I don't have the possibility to do it 
It is not possible to do it that way 
(20) 2.08
to try 
to look for
I am looking for it 
I looked for it 
but I could not find it 
to try 
to arrive 
I am arriving 

(end of recording)

CD 4 (76.12)

(1) 5.05
to come back
He is coming back soon 
to try 
I am trying 
I am trying to do it 
I tried to do it
to catch 
to start 
We are starting 
At what time do you start? 
usually, habitually 
At what time do usually start? 
It started
It has started already 
to go 
He has gone 
to go away
He went away 
We went away 
(2) 3.34
to come
He came 
to come back 
At what time are you coming back? 
He will come back soon
He will be back soon 
He will be here again soon 
(3) 1.53
to listen 
to listen to something 
I listened to it 
to belong 
It belonged to me 
I heard it
It belongs to me 
It doesn't belong to me 
(4) 8.23
apartment 
the habit 
habitually, usually 
to get used to it 
I will get used to it 
I have to get used to it 
easy, light 
simple
difficult 
It is not very heavy
easiness 
difficulty 
no difficulty 
I cannot get used to it, it's very difficult for me 
One has to get used to it 
finally 
I finally got used to it 
to remember 
I remember
I remembered 
to remember it 
I don't remember it 
I cannot remember it 
I couldn't remember 
(5) 4.27
to open 
the window 
Will you open the window? 
I opened the window 
It is open 
It is being opened 
(es wird... because werden refers to "getting" or "becoming")
It was opened 
It was being opened 
to open (make open) 
to close (make close) 
I opened the door 
He closed the door 
The door is closed 
The door is being closed 
It will be closed 
It will be getting closed 
(6) 4.04
It is getting cold
It was getting cold 
It has gotten cold 
It is late 
It is getting late 
It will be late 
It will be too late soon 
It will be getting late 
dark 
It will be getting dark soon 
It was dark 
It was too dark
It was getting dark 
It has been getting very dark 
It has gotten very dark 
(7) 8.21
to build 
I built it 
It is built 
It is being built
It was built 
It was being built 
It has been built 
(in the above sentence, where there are two past participles, you use worden and not geworden)
light (not dark) 
It is very light here 
It is getting light 
It has become light 
It was getting light 
It will be getting light 
It would be getting too dark 
It would be too dark 
It would have been too dark 
It would have gotten too dark 
It was too dark 
It was getting too dark 
It has been too dark 
It has gotten too dark 
(8) 5.33
He is selling it 
It is sold 
It is being sold 
Everything is being sold 
It was being sold 
Everything was being sold 
Everything was sold 
Everything has been sold 
Everything has gotten sold 
Everything would be sold 
(the difference between es würde möglich sein "it would be possible" and es wäre möglich "it might be possible" is hardly noticeable in modern German)
(9) 7.32
(let's see how many tenses we can handle now)
He is selling the house
He has been selling houses for a long time 
The house is sold 
The house is being sold 
He sold the house 
The house was getting sold
The house has gotten sold 
He will sell the house 
The house will be sold 
The house will be getting sold 
He would sell the house 
The house would be getting sold 
He had sold the house 
if he had sold the house (if he would have...) 
The house would have (might have) been sold
He will have sold the house 
He would have sold the house
The house would have been sold 
(10) 3.18
I am very happy, I enjoy myself
I'm very happy to be with you 
It pleases me 
It pleases me to be with you 
I did enjoy very much being here with you 
I'm looking forward to seeing you again soon (I will enjoy seeing you...) 
I'm looking forward to seeing you again soon (It will please me...) 
to interest 
interesting 
It is very interesting 
It interests me very much 
I interest myself
It did interest me very much 
(11) 1.37
(tun dives into getan)
He told me that he wouldn't have done it if he had known it 
(12) 2.01
to come along
Do you want to come along? 
I will come along 
I'm sorry but I cannot come along 
He came along 
He arrived 
to get, to receive
He received it 
(13) 4.47
to tear 
to travel 
to tear something off 
I tore it off (the wall) 
It is torn off 
It got torn off 
to tear into pieces 
He tore it into pieces 
It is torn into pieces 
It is entirely torn into pieces 
He tore it into pieces 
It was being torn into pieces yesterday
I could see it 
I saw it
to break 
It is broken 
He broke it into pieces 
(14) 2.39
to fall 
It fell 
It fell down 
(the r- gives the movement)
It fell out 
It fell over 
It fell in 
He fell in, he got caught 
(15) 2.06
(here are the participles of some verbs)
to make 
to laugh
to work 
to say 
to ask 
He asked me 
Why didn't you ask me? 
Why didn't you tell it to me? 
to play 
(16) 3.28
to open 
the store 
busy
The store is open 
to close 
closed 
The door is closed 
The door is locked 
The door is opened (with a key) 
to try 
to try on 
May I try it on? 
(17) 3.56
to cover 
It covers 
to discover 
He discovers 
He discovered it 
It is discovered 
It was being discovered 
He has discovered it 
I slept 
to go (not on foot) 
to step 
to step in 
to step on (the stage) 
to step off 
(18) 3.22

(end of recording)