61.6 Making acquaintances
(a) The verb kennen*lernen can be used in almost all contexts:Ich habe sie schon vor Jahren kennengelernt.
I met them (several) years ago.Sie hatten sich in London kennengelernt.
They had met in London.(b) The word bekannt can be used to express existing acquaintance or, with machen,
the act of introducing someone else:
Sie sind schon lange miteinander bekannt.
They have known each other for a long time. See 34.2d (p. 71) for this use of the present tense.
Ich werde ihn mit meinem Vetter bekannt machen.
I’ll introduce him to my cousin.(c) A rather more formal way to express acquaintance is with the noun Bekanntschaft:Wo haben Sie seine Bekanntschaft gemacht?
Where did you make his acquaintance?(d) Alternatively, the less formal begegnen can be used:Wir sind ihm zum ersten Mal in München begegnet.
We first met him in Munich.61.7 Introductions on the telephone
jmdn. sprechen ‘to speak to sb.’
mit jmdm. sprechen ‘to speak to sb.’
jmdn. melden ‘to announce (a caller)’
mit jmdm. verbunden sein ‘to be connected/through to sb.’
jmdn. (mit jmdm.) verbinden ‘to put sb. through (to sb.)’(a) When answering the telephone a simple Hallo! or Ja, bitte, ‘Yes, how can I help
you?’ will suffice. To identify oneself, it is usual to give one’s surname or, less
commonly, both first name and surname. Children may also give both first name
and surname:
Erschens/Neumann/Heinz Meyer
Hello, Erschens/Neumann/Heinz Meyer (speaking).Alternatively, one of the following could be used:Ich bin’s, der Manfred (Schulz).
It’s me, Manfred (Schulz).Hallo, hier ist Horst (Kaiser).
Hello, Horst (Kaiser) speaking.Hier (ist) Birgit.
Birgit (speaking).61
Introductions