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Frau Hilde and the history of her building

C1 · 20 words

Frau Hilde and the history of her building

Otti's building is more than a hundred years old, Frau Hilde has lived in it for sixty years, and now scaffolding is going up for a careful restoration. Learn to talk about architecture - the old building, the façade, the stucco, the listed building - and about what should change and what should stay.

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Dialogue

A short conversation with the words of this scenario. Tap "Translation" under a line to see what it means.

  1. Otti

    Frau Hilde, haben Sie das Gerüst gesehen? Ich bin heute früh richtig erschrocken!

    Translation

    Frau Hilde, have you seen the scaffolding? I got a real fright this morning!

  2. Frau Hilde

    Keine Sorge, Otti. Endlich wird das Haus saniert. Die Fassade hat es bitter nötig.

    Translation

    Don't worry, Otti. At last the building is being refurbished. The façade badly needs it.

  3. Otti

    Wird der Altbau nach der Sanierung ganz modern? Mit viel Glas?

    Translation

    Will the old building be all modern after the refurbishment? With lots of glass?

  4. Frau Hilde

    Bloß nicht! Häuser wie dieses, die unter Denkmalschutz stehen, werden behutsam restauriert, nicht abgerissen.

    Translation

    Certainly not! Listed buildings like this one are carefully restored, not torn down.

  5. Otti

    Auch der Stuck? Der bröckelt doch überall.

    Translation

    The stucco too? It's crumbling everywhere.

  6. Frau Hilde

    Der wird ausgebessert. Als ich vor sechzig Jahren einzog, war das Haus übrigens fast baufällig - Baujahr 1908!

    Translation

    It's being repaired. When I moved in sixty years ago, by the way, the building was almost falling down - built in 1908!

  7. Otti

    Wirklich? So ein schönes Haus?

    Translation

    Really? Such a beautiful building?

  8. Frau Hilde

    Das Geländer war kaputt, und viele wollten die alten Häuser damals einfach verfallen lassen.

    Translation

    The banister was broken, and back then many people wanted to simply let the old buildings decay.

  9. Otti

    Zum Glück nicht! Die Dielenböden, der Erker - so eine Architektur baut heute doch keiner mehr.

    Translation

    Luckily not! The wooden floorboards, the bay window - nobody builds architecture like that any more.

  10. Frau Hilde

    Eben. Und die Bausubstanz ist gut, man muss sie nur pflegen.

    Translation

    Exactly. And the building fabric is sound, it just needs looking after.

  11. Otti

    Und wie lange dauert die Renovierung? Ich schlafe morgens ja so gern lange…

    Translation

    And how long will the renovation take? I do like to sleep in in the mornings…

  12. Frau Hilde

    Bis zum Herbst, Otti. Die Geschichte dieses Hauses ist das bisschen Lärm wert.

    Translation

    Until the autumn, Otti. The history of this building is worth a bit of noise.

Words and Phrases

Grammar in This Scenario

Participles as adjectives: die schlafende Katze, das reparierte Fahrrad Although and even if: obgleich, selbst wenn, so … auch

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