there will be other drinks and snacks, but your hosts won’t serve dinner. This is a very
common form of invitation in Germany.zum Abendessen ‘for dinner’ means that there will be a meal, but not necessarily a
hot one.
zum Kaffee ‘for coffee’ means that you should come between 3 and 4 o’clock in the
afternoon. There will be coffee, tea and cakes. You will probably be expected to
leave around 6 o’clock at the latest.
zum Geburtstag ‘for a birthday’ is probably a bigger occasion with food and drinks
served.
zu einer Party ‘for a party’ is probably an occasion for the younger generation,
including music and a larger number of guests but probably not much food.
zu einer Disco ‘for a disco’ is a party given by hosts as young as 10 or 11 years old,
probably with quite a number of friends and including music.For all other occasions of a more personal nature the invitation will give some
indications of what to expect.(c) PresentsAmong student friends, simply bringing along a bottle to a party may be in order. For all
other occasions you might bring a bottle – this needs to be wrapped. If bringing flowers,
you should give them to the ‘lady of the house’, having first partially taken the paper
off (but not the transparent foil!). Cards are not very common.When presenting the present or flowers, you might say:Hier ist eine Kleinigkeit für Sie.
Here is a little gift for you.Darf ich dir/Ihnen diesen Strauß geben.
May I give you this bunch of flowers.Hier ist etwas für die Kinder.
Here is something for the children.
Bitte schön!
Here you are.Appreciative replies can be phrased in the following way:Vielen Dank, aber das war doch wirklich nicht nötig.
Many thanks, but that was really not necessary.Danke, das ist sehr nett von dir/Ihnen.
Thank you, that is very kind of you.To which very polite people might reply:
Gern geschehen.
You are welcome.
Nichts zu danken!
Not at all.See^67 (pp. 201–3) on giving and receiving thanks.
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