Helpful vocabulary and writing your own complaint
Hilfsvokabeln– Helpful vocabulary
- einige (indef, pron) – some
- einmal (adv) – once
- ekelhaft (adj) – disgusting
- der Gast (die Gäste) (m) – guest (guests)
- hilfsbereit (adj) – helpful
- der Kellner (die Kellner) (m) – waiter (waiters)
- langsam (adj) – slow
- der Lärm (m) – noise
- laut (adj) – loud
- möglich (adj) – possible
- nachts (adv) – at night
- sich entspannen (v) – to relax
- sollen (v) – to have to, to be supposed to
- unhöflich (adj) – impolite, rude
- zurückgeben (v) – to give back
Question
The following text has more complaints. Pick out and write down the complaints in German. What do they mean?
Remember that the verb always has to be the second idea in the sentence, so when writing down the complaints, you have to make some changes to the word order in some sentences.
Die Rezeptionistin war ganz unhöflich und nicht hilfsbereit. Es gab oft nachts viel Lärm von der Bar und einige Gäste waren sehr laut. Es war nicht möglich, uns zu entspannen.
Zum Frühstück war das Essen gut, aber das Abendessen war ekelhaft - das Essen war oft kalt, weil die Kellner sehr langsam waren und einmal gab es ein Haar in der Suppe!
Ich glaube, Sie sollten mir mein Geld zurückgeben.
- Die Rezeptionistin war ganz unhöflich. – The (female) receptionist was quite rude.
- Die Rezeptionistin war nicht hilfsbereit. – The (female) receptionist was not helpful.
- Es gab oft nachts viel Lärm von der Bar. – There was often a lot of noise from the bar in the evenings.
- Einige Gäste waren sehr laut. – Some guests were very loud.
- Das Abendessen war ekelhaft. – The evening meal was disgusting.
- Die Bedienung war* sehr langsam. – The service was very slow.
- Es gab* ein Haar in der Suppe. – There was a hair in the soup.
*Indicates word order has changed from the original text.
Translation
The (female) receptionist was quite rude and not helpful. There was often a lot of noise from the bar in the evenings. It wasn't possible for us to relax.
For breakfast, the food was good, but the evening meal was disgusting - the food was often cold because the waiters were very slow, and one time there was a hair in the soup.
I think you should give me my money back.
Question
Now write your own complaint, making sure to include the following information:
- you stayed there from 10-17 July
- you were not happy with it
- there were beetles in the bed
- the shower was broken – the water was too hot
- the waiters were loud and rude
- breakfast was disgusting
- you would like your money back
Use this checklist to help you. Have you:
- included a range of past tense verbs?
- included verbs in other tenses, eg present, conditional?
- included linking words and intensifiers?
- checked word order?
- checked spelling?
Possible sentences:
- Ich habe vom 10. bis zum 17. Juli in Ihrem Hotel übernachtet.
- Leider war ich nicht damit zufrieden./Ich war nicht damit zufrieden.
- Es gab auch Käfer im Bett und außerdem war die Dusche kaputt, weil das Wasser zu heiß war.
- Die Kellner waren laut und ganz unhöflich.
- Das Frühstück war ekelhaft.
- Ich glaube, Sie sollten mir mein Geld zurückgeben.
Note the following:
- you could use an intensifier, like besonders or sehr before zufrieden
- you can link sentences with conjunctions such as und and außerdem
- an intensifier like ganz always makes the sentence better
- when talking about the disgusting breakfast, you could be imaginative and use weil to say why, eg weil es kalt war or weil es ein Haar im Tee gab
