When you have finished this lesson you can:

• Accept an invitation

• Invite a person to your place

The conductor invites Steve to a dinner at his home.

Notice how Steve asks wether he should bring anything and how they settle the time.

Notice also how Bob asks where Bruno Gruber lives and what his phone number is.

Touch the video to start it.

To know if a person is busy at a certain time you can use the verb “vorhaben”:

! Note: “vor|haben” will be conjugated like “haben” with the separated prefix “vor”

        ich habe … vor

        part. II: vor-ge-habt

! Note: “an” depends the dative, but that does not change the terms for the days or the weekend.

When you invite someone you can say "Hast du Lust?" or “Haben Sie Lust?”

! Note: You can use the phrase “Lust haben” with a combination of “zu” and an infinitive verb. This construction is similar to English and it’s called “infinitive clause”. You'll learn more details soon ;-)

! Note: You can also use the phrase “Lust haben” with “auf”. This depends accusative.

ein Kaffee (nominative) - auf einen Kaffee (accusative)

Remember: The accusative only changes the articles for male nouns.

In German, there are - similar to English - infinitive clauses. It’s a kind of dependent clause in which there is no grammatical subject, only an implied one, and therefore the verb is not inflected. An infinitive clause is particularly dependent on the main clause of the sentence for its meaning. Only through it can one find the necessary context for understanding the infinitive clause.

The infinitive which is combined with “zu” stands at the end of the clause:

Er hat Lust, nach Wien zu fahren.
             He wants to go to Vienna.

Ich habe vor, einen Kaffee zu trinken.
              I plan to drink a coffee.

Wir freuen uns darauf, das Wiener Konzerthaus zu besichtigen.

             We look forward to visit the Vienna Concert Hall.

There are a lot of possibilities to form German sentences and to insert - for example - the time specification. When you are asked for your plans of the near future it’s the simplest way to begin with the time (for example the day) you are talking about.

! Remember: The time specification is formed with am (= an dem) + day/weekend

When accepting an invitation, you can say:

When declining an invitation you can say:

When declining an invitation, you usually state the reason..

When suggesting a time, you can say:

Other ways for suggesting the time is

Depending on wether the time suits you, you say:

You can say that you are looking forward to something by saying:

A reflexive verb is one that refers back to the subject with a reflexive pronoun.

Example for a sentence in perfect time:

            Sie hat sich gefreut.

Informal meetings with colleagues are not unusual in German and Austrian companies, schools or private homes. Many gatherings around Christmas or summer are based on a confusion, where everyone has something to eat and drink, each. One is thus divided on the cost and the cooking.

If you are invited to a colleague's house, it's courteous to ask if you have anything to do. Remember that many Austrians and Germans celebrations involve alcohol, and as a rule, you have to drink it yourself.

Remember, even for informal gatherings, it is important that you arrive on time.

When you are invited to someone's house, it's both polite and common to ask whether you should bring something: