Follow German parcel drop-off instructions

01Build a permission map

Divide a sheet into allowed, not allowed and if impossible. This is more useful than a list of household nouns. A speaker may mention the most visible doorway only to forbid leaving a parcel there. Your map must preserve that negative instruction. Leave room for a condition, such as whether a gate is open.

Find a real delivery explanation, home tour or practical conversation with a spoken placement request. The visual scene should support location words without replacing them. Do not use this worksheet to grant real delivery permission. Actual access instructions, building rules and carrier procedures need checking by the responsible person.

02Read the condition before placing the box

Wenn das Gartentor offen ist, stellen Sie das Paket bitte unter die überdachte Treppe. Nicht vor die Haustür, dort wird es nass. Falls das Tor zu ist, geben Sie es bitte bei Frau Yilmaz im Erdgeschoss ab.

Translation: If the garden gate is open, please put the parcel under the covered staircase. Not in front of the front door; it gets wet there. If the gate is closed, please leave it with Ms Yilmaz on the ground floor.

Offen and zu create different branches. Dort refers to the front-door location. Erdgeschoss is the ground floor here. It does not identify a flat number or prove that the neighbour is available.

03Test both branches

Draw two arrows from garden gate. Label one open and the other closed. Put the destination after each arrow. Cross out the place that is never authorised in the written example. Then ask what happens if the gate is closed and Ms Yilmaz is absent. Is a third location supplied? Write unknown if not.

In your chosen video, pause after the complete instruction. First sketch the branch structure from memory. Then check condition words in the captions. If the speaker revises a location, retain the final authorised instruction and note the revision. Do not turn a visible shelter into permission merely because it appears dry.

04Answer key: do not invent a fallback

With an open gate, the stated location is under the covered staircase. With a closed gate, the fallback is Ms Yilmaz on the ground floor. The front door is explicitly excluded. If neither stated option works, the text gives no further permission. A real delivery needs another confirmed procedure.

A wrong answer is under the stairs regardless of gate status. That drops the first condition. Another is front door when the neighbour is absent. That contradicts the negative instruction and invents a new branch. Check your diagram for both errors. Correct location vocabulary is useful only when attached to the right condition and permission.

05Take the map into listening

We make Jibber Jabber. Interactive captions and word lookup can help you inspect a place phrase in a German video. A lookup may clarify überdacht, but the full sentence determines whether that place is permitted. Use the app as a language aid, not a delivery-authorisation system.

Repeat with a collection instruction instead of drop-off permission. You may need fields for person, item and collection window. Change the worksheet to match what the actual speaker asks. Keep the underlying habit: separate a location, condition and fallback. Leave missing instructions visibly missing. This is better than a fluent summary that supplies a plan nobody authorised.

See our video-player guide ↗