Reading · A2 · Text 17

Schloss

85 words1 min read80% known at A2

Es ist teuer, in einem Schloss zu wohnen: Man muss es heizen und öfter etwas reparieren.
Living in a castle is expensive: you have to heat it and repair things frequently.
In vielen Schlössern wird gar nicht mehr gewohnt.
Many castles are no longer lived in at all.
Es sind Museen geworden, oder Restaurants, oder man kann das Schloss für eine Feier mieten.
They have become museums, or restaurants, or you can rent the castle for a party.
Ein Schloss kann man gut abschließen und sogar verteidigen.
You can lock a castle well and even defend it.
Das Verb „schließen“ heißt in der Vergangenheitsform „schloss“, zum Beispiel: Ich schloss die Tür ab.
The verb 'schließen' has the past tense form 'schloss', for example: I locked the door.
Deshalb nennt man heute das Ding aus Metall an vielen Türen eben auch „Schloss“.
That is why the metal thing on many doors is also called 'Schloss' today.
Um es zu öffnen, braucht es einen Schlüssel.
To open it, you need a key.

13 words above A2

abschließen

to lock separable and strong verb: schließt ab, schloss ab, hat abgeschlossen to end, to finish or complete (one's studies, a task); to shut off; to lock; to seal off C1/ˈʔapʃliːsn̩/

heizen

to heat regular verb: heizt, heizte, hat geheizt

reparieren

to repair regular verb: repariert, reparierte, hat repariert B1/ʁepaˈʁiːʁən/

verteidigen

to defend regular verb: verteidigt, verteidigte, hat verteidigt

Schlössern← das Schloss

castle plural: Schlösser; here dative plural

Ding

thing plural: Dinge

Verb

verb plural: Verben

Beispiel

example plural: Beispiele; in the phrase "zum Beispiel" = for example B1/ˈbaɪ̯ʃpiːl/

Metall

metal plural: Metalle

Vergangenheitsform

past tense form plural: Vergangenheitsformen

off separable prefix of abschließen; in the text it is separated and stands at the end of the clause (schloss ... ab)

gar

at all intensifies "nicht" (gar nicht = not at all) cooked, done (of food such as meat or vegetables: ready for consumption); refined B1/ɡaːr/

eben

just, simply modal particle, often untranslatable; here it adds a sense of "simply"

Grammar in this text

um ... zu + infinitive (purpose clause)

Um es zu öffnen, braucht es einen Schlüssel.

This structure expresses the purpose of an action ('in order to'). The subordinating conjunction 'um' begins the clause, and the infinitive with 'zu' stands at the end. The clause has no subject of its own.

Separable verbs (trennbare Verben)

Ich schloss die Tür ab.

In verb conjugation, the prefix of a separable verb is separated from the base verb and placed at the end of the main clause in the present and simple past tenses. Here 'abschließen' is split into 'schloss ... ab'.

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Same text, graded forB1 version

Text from Schloss — Klexikon, used under CC BY-SA 4.0. See sources.

Translation, glossary and grammar notes are machine-generated and inherit the same licence.