Verben

The verbs below correspond to the verbs in my last post. Please read my last post to get a better understanding of sentences!

Regular Verbs - regelmässig verben

swiss german/high german

heisse/heissen (literally means to mean or to be called, not to be confused with the word heiss for hot, which I do all the time lol.)

i - heisse

du - heissisch

är, si, äs, me - heisst

mir - heisse

dihr - heisset

si - heisse

wohne/wohnen (to live)

i - wohne

du - wohnsch

är, si, äs, me - wohnt

mir - wohne

dihr - wohnet

si - wohne

schaffe/arbeiten (to work... I have found that there are actually even more ways to say work depending on where within the berner oberland or bern region you go. This is just one of the, and the one that I am familiar with.)

i - schaffe

du - schaff(i)sch

är, si, äs, me - schaffet

mir - schaffe

dihr - schaffet

si - schaffe

rede/reden or sprechen (to talk)

i - rede

du - redsch

är, si, äs, me - redt

mir - rede

dihr - redet

si - rede

IRREGULAR VERBS / UNREGELMÄSSIG VERBEN

swiss german/high german

sy/sein (to be)

i - bi

du - bisch

är, si, äs, me - isch

mir - sy

dihr - syt

si - sy

ha/haben (to have)

i - ha

du - hesch

är, si, äs, me - het

mir - hei

dihr - heit

si - hei

cho/kommen (to come)

i - chume

du - chunsch

är, si, äs, me - chunt

mir - chöme

dihr - chömet

si - chöme

chönne/können (to be able)

i - cha

du - chasch

är, si, äs, me - cha

mir - chöi

dihr - chöit

si - chöi

U wär syt dihr?

Which translates in english into "and who are you?"

This entry is going to focus on being able to talk about yourself. I will cover some basic verbs and basic sentence structures. While this will not explain in depth how sentences are structured and that may still be a bit confusing, hopefully this may help to carry on a partial conversation in the meantime.

Here are some quick beginning of phrases to start with, and we can fill in the answers later.

To speak using a polite form you need to use the second person plural dihr. However, since this pronoun appears after the verb, it is weakened to 'er with an unstressed e. This is expressed by the third personal plural - as opposed to other High German and Swiss german dialects.

Wi heisset'er? - I heisse...

What is your name? (literally, how do you call yourself?) - My name is...

Wo wohnet'er? - I wohne...

Where do you live? - I live...

Vo wo chömet'er? - I chume...

Where do you come from? - I come (from)...

Wi redet'er? - I rede...

(This is a literal translation since I am not quite sure of the correct one...)

How do you speak? - I speak...

Was schaffet'er? - I schaffe als...

What do you do for work? - I work as...

Was isch öji Muetersprach? - My Muetersprach isch...

What is your mother tongue? - My mother tongue is...

Chöit'er (guet/rächt guet/schlächt/nid) Bärndütsch? - I cha...

(The literal translation would be something like this...)

Can you Bärndütsch (good, quite good, bad, not)? - I can...

(If you cannot understand my meaning, don't hesitate to ask me!)