Gömmer eis go zieh
let's go drinking/ let's go get a drink/ shall we get some drinks? (either a request or a question, depending on the intonation)
['gœmr aɪs gɔ 'tsiæ]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...VxLpK2k#t=106s

Props to Maryangel24. Check out her YT-channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Maryangel24

she does a very helpful outline of SG verb tenses and sentence structure, as well. I struggle enough with German sentence structures, let alone SG, very difficult when you're old and your only frame of reference is English and Spanish.

A useful phrase I learnt today:

Gruesseuch, ich bin nur am luege, merci! (Luege pronounced Loo-egg-eux, I think rather than Loo-geux)
Hello, I'm just looking, thank you!

Tried it out in some shops today and I got the shopkeep to say "Lu...ege..... okay", and then walk away. So it's field tested for your benefit.


I really hope that's what it means.....

"Lootzern" is however not the pronounciation of Luzern. Luzern is the name of the town in Standart German, and is prounounced as it is written.

What you have in mind is actually the Swiss German name of the town. Which is not written as Luzern, but rather as Lozärn or Lozern.

ich bin am gaa
i am going

ich bin ganga
i went (also when leaving, as in "I'm out of here")

ich bin niid choena cho
i could not come

ich bin d heim ganga
i went home

ich mues d heim cho
i have to go home

some favorites around the house (I have 3 kids):

duura bi roet
you are crazy (you have passed the red)

hoep d bassa
hurry up

schoena chrampfa
nice work

You mean a" Baaaaasler"

What might be better would be the (Swiss-)German equivalent of:

"I understand if you don't speak English, but please forgive my poor German."

This will keep you guys quiet, for a wile http://de.wiktionary.org/wiki/Verzei...chweizer_Armee

Really? Dialect uses sein here and not haben?
I am eager to learn... no problem.

Do dialect speakers here prefer:

A- ich bi niit chönne choo
B - ich ha niit chönne choo

Thank you for your help with this mini-study.'

It's 'ha' because it doesn't 'relate' to 'kommen' but to 'können'

I couldn't come - i ha nit chönne cho
I didn't come - i bi nit cho

and now I should make some lunch so
i bi gange

I still have a particular blind spot for which verbs take "sein" versus "haben".

It was my way of telling you that it's wrong. I try to be nice to people
It's a double infinitive structure, it has to be haben.

SEIN:
- the verb mean that you are actually changing place or state (bin gegangen, sind aufs andere Ufer geschwommen, ist gefroren...)
- the verb sein and bleiben (no explaination for it, in Northergermany, we say bin angefangen/begonnen but that's officially wrong in high German even if google gives many example of this)

HABEN:
- the verb is transitive (has a direct object, even if it is a verb of movement: habe den Weg begangen)
- the verb is an action as such with no complement of direction (er hat drei Stunden geschwommen)
- double infinitiv structure because the verb in perfect is actually the modal verb, and they take haben.

learning a new language is always a very humbling way to remind yourself just how little of your own native language you actually know.

the good news is that folks figure it out almost immediately.



I was taught a new word - lösä (to listen). apparently my gringo roots make clear enunciation of the difference between "hoere" and "huura" nearly impossible, so this was suggested as a staging ground for my language integration.

lösä it is for me for now.

I once had to ask for our company password at the library and some wiseass had used Huura. The librarian announced it to me very loudly and then blushed and started laughing. I busily wrote down hoere, and thought jeez what the hell is wrong with her?
Needless to say I fgured it out when I had to go back and ask her to spell it, which she did, very loudly and clearly

"löse" actually means to loosen. To listen is "lose".

Ich bin Uusländer verstah nurd

Ich verstehe nicht. I dont understand.
Leider spreche lich nicht Deutsch. I dont speak German!
Können Sie Englisch sprechen? Can u speak English?
Ich schätze es sehr! I appreciate it very much!

I always encourage foreigners here to concentrate on Standard German and gradually pick up the local Swiss-German dialect. What I however support is them using the terms in actual use also in Standard German here like Trottoir (not Gehsteig), Velo (not Fahrrad), Auto (not Kraftwagen), Perron (not Fahrsteig), Billet [spoken as 'billlleett' not as biye as in French] (instead of Fahrkarte), Helikopter (not Hubschrauber), parkieren (not parken), Parterre (not Erdgeschoss) ... etc .

NO, they most likely WERE asked "sind Si bedient ? " The question most likely was NOT "wärded Si ..."