Radio D Series 2 | Learning German | Deutsche Welle

“Use your head to save your legs”, goes the expression. But sometimes that’s not enough. Eulalia tells listeners an interesting story, because she too knows of an unusual race. Story time on Radio D: like in Grünheide, it went similarly for the hedgehog who challenged the hare with much bigger legs to a race. Together with his wife he wanted to teach the hare a lesson about what such pride leads to. Most of the story is told in the preterit form. For the professor it therefore offers another good reason to investigate the past tense forms of verbs -- this time also the irregular verbs which present a few hazards.

In Grünheide strange things are happening. How can it be that the Trabbi reached its goal before the fast Porsche? In Jan, Paula has a quick-minded companion who knows where the mystery’s solution lies. Thanks to Jan Backer, Paula makes an interesting discovery on the way to Möllensee. Something doesn’t quite seem right about this race. Paula is on the trace of the Trabant driver’s trick. And what does Philipp know? He seems to have fallen for the Trabant driver Günther’s trick. Only the professor can never be fooled. This time there are more preterit forms on the program and the irregular verbs “haben” and “sein” are no problem for him either.

In the bar in Grünheide a young man suddenly appears who Paula takes along to the finishing line of the race in Möllensee. What does the stranger know about the unusual race and what links him to Radio D? As Philipp’s car won’t start, Jan Becker, who Paula met shortly before in the bar, comes unexpectedly to their aid. While Philipp stays in Grünheide, Paula drives with Jan to Möllensee. That is where the race is supposed to finish. On the way Paula learns something about the stranger that she really should have known already … The Professor also looks to the past and examines the preterit forms of the modal verbs “müssen” and “wollen”.

In the bar in Grünheide Paula and Philipp begin to ask around. The villagers are all convinced that the Trabbi will win the race against the Porsche. But Philipp sees it very differently. In order to find out what is going on with the race in Grünheide, Paula and Philipp take to the local bar. There they hope to get some useful information from the regulars’ table. But they keep on hearing the same stories. After a couple of beers, Philipp gets himself into a risky bet with the locals. The professor is still concentrating on the comparative and superlative forms of adjectives, especially with the umlaut accents on some of the adjectives and the different forms of the superlative.

Paula and Philipp’s next assignment takes them to a small village in Brandenburg. A very special kind of race is supposed to take place here. Of course the two reporters from Radio D could not miss out on that. An unusual race draws Paula and Philipp to the countryside. Initially it doesn’t seem like much is going on. But once they arrive in Grünheide in Brandenburg it becomes very interesting. Lots of people are bustling towards the local bar. The driver of a Trabant, a popular East German car, claims his car goes faster than a Porsche. For the professor the race is a good opportunity to take another close look at comparative and superlative forms of adjectives. Which car is fast, which is faster than the other, and which is the fastest altogether?

All listeners who are joining in for the second part of Radio D still have the opportunity in this first lesson to get to know the completely normal chaos of the office. There is some excitement in the Radio D editorial office: The editors Philipp and Paula, the cleaner Josefine, the owl Eulalia and the computer Compu receive an email from their former colleague Ayhan. Since Ayhan left Berlin to look after his father, Paula has had the blues. Philipp, on the other hand, seems to be in a very good mood. And the professor, who’s always willing to listen to the listeners’ questions, also gives some important tips for listening comprehension for newcomers in Part 2 of the series.