📕 Lektion 16: Arbeit und Mobilität — Work and Mobility

🎬 Video

1. 🎯 New Vocabulary

German	Pronunciation	English
pendeln	[ˈpɛndln]	to commute
umziehen	[ˈʊmˌt͡siːən]	to move (to a new place)
die Fahrkarte	[ˈfaːɐ̯ˌkaʁtə]	ticket
der Aufenthaltstitel	[ˈaʊ̯fˌɛɐ̯t͡haltsˌtiːtl]	residence permit
die Genehmigung	[ɡəˈnɛːmɪɡʊŋ]	permit/approval
der Arbeitsvertrag	[ˈaʁbaɪ̯tsfɛɐ̯ˌtʁaːk]	employment contract
die Wohnungssuche	[ˈvoːnʊŋsˌzuːxə]	apartment search
die Berufserfahrung	[bəˈʁʊfsfɛɐ̯ˌfaːʁʊŋ]	work experience
das Bewerbungsgespräch	[bəˈvɛʁbʊŋsɡəˌʃprɛːç]	job interview
der Lebenslauf	[ˈleːbənsˌlaʊ̯f]	résumé / curriculum vitae

2. 📖 Reading Passage

Thomas has been working in a small town near Munich for three years. Every morning he commutes to work by train. The journey takes about forty minutes. Although he enjoys working in Munich, he is tired of the long commute.

That is why Thomas has decided to move to Munich. He has been looking for an apartment for two months, but the rents are very high. Before he makes a decision, he needs to check his employment contract. His employer says he can help him with the apartment search.

After Thomas has found an apartment, he also needs to update his residence permit. He must submit a permit application at the immigration office before he re-registers his address.

Thomas is convinced that the move will improve his life. Once he lives closer to work, he will have more time for his hobbies and friends.

Key vocabulary: - deshalb = therefore - beschlossen = decided (from beschließen) - seit = since/for - überzeugt = convinced - ummeldet = re-registers (address)

Connectors: bevor, nachdem, sobald, bis

We use these connectors to create temporal subordinate clauses:

Connector	Meaning	Example
bevor	before	Bevor er umzieht, muss er eine Wohnung finden.
nachdem	after	Nachdem er umgezogen ist, muss er sich ummelden.
sobald	as soon as	Sobald er näher wohnt, hat er mehr Zeit.
bis	until	Er sucht eine Wohnung, bis er eine passende findet.

Important notes: - bevor → present or future tense (no Perfekt!) - nachdem → requires Plusquamperfekt in the subordinate clause - sobald → similar to wenn but more precise temporally - bis → indicates continuity until a specific event

4. 🏋️ Interactive Exercises

Exercise 1: Multiple Choice

#	Question	A	B	C
1	Thomas ___ to work by train every morning.	pendelt	fährt	läuft
2	Before he moves, he must check his ___.	Lebenslauf	Arbeitsvertrag	Fahrkarte
3	After he ___ an apartment, he must re-register.	findet	gefunden	gefunden hat
4	As soon as he lives closer, he ___ more time.	hat	hatte	wird haben

✅ Solution: 1. A — pendelt: correct verb (pendeln = to commute) 2. B — Arbeitsvertrag: he must check his employment contract before moving 3. C — gefunden hat: nachdem requires Plusquamperfekt 4. A — hat: sobald with present tense in the main clause

Exercise 2: Fill in the Blanks

#	Sentence	Answer
1	Thomas möchte nach München ___.	umziehen
2	Er braucht eine ___ für den Zug.	Fahrkarte
3	Das ___ war sehr gut.	Bewerbungsgespräch
4	Er muss eine ___ bei der Behörde einreichen.	Genehmigung

✅ Solution: 1. umziehen — he wants to move to Munich 2. Fahrkarte — he needs a train ticket 3. Bewerbungsgespräch — the job interview went very well 4. Genehmigung — he must submit a permit at the government office

Exercise 3: Match

#	German	English
1	der Lebenslauf	a. apartment search
2	die Wohnungssuche	b. work experience
3	die Berufserfahrung	c. résumé / CV
4	der Aufenthaltstitel	d. residence permit
5	der Arbeitsvertrag	e. employment contract

✅ Solution: 1. c — der Lebenslauf = résumé / CV 2. a — die Wohnungssuche = apartment search 3. b — die Berufserfahrung = work experience 4. d — der Aufenthaltstitel = residence permit 5. e — der Arbeitsvertrag = employment contract

📝 Additional Grammar: wegen and innerhalb/außerhalb, and the Past Perfect with nachdem

1) wegen and inside/outside the place: innerhalb / außerhalb (+ Genitiv)

These prepositions take the Genitive case and serve two important functions in a work-and-mobility context: wegen gives the reason, and innerhalb / außerhalb define the location:

German	English
Wegen des Streiks fuhren heute keine Züge.	Because of the strike, no trains ran today.
Wegen des Umzugs hat Thomas diese Woche wenig Zeit.	Because of the move, Thomas has little time this week.
Er arbeitet innerhalb der Stadt, wohnt aber außerhalb.	He works within the city but lives outside it.
Außerhalb des Zentrums sind die Mieten deutlich niedriger.	Outside the center, rents are significantly lower.

💡 Tip: In everyday speech you often hear wegen + Dativ (wegen dem Streik) — but in formal writing Genitive remains the correct form.

The temporal use of innerhalb/außerhalb (innerhalb von drei Tagen) you saw in Lektion 6 — here it is the local use.

🔗 For more: /grammatik/praepositionen-genitiv/

2) nachdem with the Past Perfect (Plusquamperfekt)

When narrating in the past, the event that happened first goes into the subordinate clause with nachdem in the Plusquamperfekt: hatte / war + Partizip II:

Auxiliary verb	Example	Meaning
hatte	Nachdem er die Wohnung gefunden hatte, unterschrieb er den Mietvertrag.	After he had found the apartment, he signed the rental contract.
war	Nachdem ich eingezogen war, richtete ich die Zimmer ein.	After I had moved in, I furnished the rooms.

Compare talking about plans versus narrating the past:

Context	Subordinate clause	Main clause
plans / present	Nachdem ich eingezogen bin,	richte ich die Wohnung ein.
narration / past	Nachdem ich eingezogen war,	richtete ich die Wohnung ein.

⚠️ Important: After nachdem the two clauses never take the same tense — the subordinate clause is always one step earlier: Plusquamperfekt in narration, Perfekt when talking about plans.

🔗 For more: /grammatik/plusquamperfekt/

🔤 Connectors: bevor, nachdem, sobald, bis 🔙 Back to B1