questions-2

[swift bough]

Exactly

Same

[swift bough]

Np

[nocturne quiver]

I was studying german, and I got stuck in something called konjunktiv 1 and 2. do you guys think that this is important?

[swift bough]

Yes

Especially 2

But 1 is still important in its own right

[solid hull]

Das Bundesverkehrsministerium bringt zum Vorschein, der Konjunktiv I sei wichtig
Daran merkt man, dass es ja wichtig ist

[onyx rain]

Oh I have never heard Es sind before, is it really correct "Es sind 70 km nach Berlin" ?

[swift bough]

Yep

[onyx rain]

@swift bough Is it a kind of exception because plural of es ist is sie sind?

[swift bough]

It’s not really an „exception“, it’s just a way you can say „there are/is“. But it’s not used the same as „es gibt“. „Es gibt“ sounds more like something is permanently somewhere.

It also wouldn’t make much sense to say „Sie sind“ in that sentence

[onyx rain]

True

[plain umbra]

Maybe the thing which helps you to understand it is: the subject is not "es", the subject is the thing you're talking about. In this case, "km".

[swift bough]

Yeah that’s true

[plain umbra]

It may be a little complicated to really understand it, but German has this thing where you can create certain sentence structures with a "dummy es", where the "es" is only there to make that sentence type possible.

You don't really have to think much about why it's like that. As long as you can recognize which thing is the subject - since the subject determines the verb form.

[swift bough]

In some cases you can replace es with das and you can think of das/es a little bit as „those“. Like if you say „Das sind zwei Hunde auf dem Bürgersteig“ „those are / there Are two dogs on the sidewalk“

[onyx rain]

and we went with plural form because of 70? (because in English, I think it is "It IS 70 kms to Berlin" ?

[swift bough]

You don’t have to think of it like that if you don’t want though you could also just recognize how the grammar works as base pointed out

But it personally used to help me

[swift bough]

Yes

You can also reverse the sentence „70km sind es“

I think it’s similar to why you say „das bist du“ and not „das ist du“

[onyx rain]

you are that?

[swift bough]

„that’s you“

[onyx rain]

that is you

[plain umbra]

You're mixing up sentence types here. Like @swift bough said, the sentence isn't like "it is", the sentence is like "there is/are". There is 1 km. There are 70 km.

You can think of the "es" as doing the same thing as the "there" in the English form.

[swift bough]

Oh I didn’t read the last part of the sentence but I was saying yes that’s why it’s sind because 70 is plural @onyx rain

[plain umbra]

It can also be translated as "it is", but the English grammar is different in that case.

[onyx rain]

@plain umbra So it will be "Es ist 1 km nach Berlin"

[plain umbra]

Yeah.

[swift bough]

Es ist noch ein Kilometer nach Berlin.

[honest shuttle]

I saw this sentence online "Dadurch wird Strom erzeugt". Why do I have to use "wird" instead of "ist"?

[swift bough]

That’s called the passive voice

Electricity is being/getting crested from it.

created*

[honest shuttle]

So ist grammatically correct if I use "ist"

is it*

[swift bough]

That would mean that the energy has already been created

Not being created

Actually it wouldn’t make sense in that sentence though because of dadurch

tbh you wouldn’t even really use that tho

You’d say

[onyx rain]

wouldn't it be hat and not ist

[swift bough]

Der Strom wurde erzeugt.

[swift bough]

Der Strom hat ____ erzeugt
That would then mean that the energy created something

[honest shuttle]

For context "Das Grundprinzip eines jeden Kraftwerks ist die elektromagnetische Induktion. Das heißt, man dreht einen Rotor in einem Magnetfeld. Dadurch wird Strom erzeugt."

[swift bough]

You would need a direct object

It just doesn’t work with „ist“

„ist“ doesn’t describe the process of the Energy being made

„Dadurch“ refers to all of what was said before it

„Through this process, energy is / gets created“

[honest shuttle]

Maybe "Dadurch ist wie Storm erzeugt "?

[swift bough]

„ist“ would be like an end product

Nope that doesn’t work either

But even then. You would just say „der Sturm wurde erzeugt“, „the Energy was created“

Which is also passive voice

The passive voice in that sentence refers to the energy going through a certain process in order to be created. The passive voice is built with „werden“ and a participle (here it’s „erzeugt“).

It may seem confusing though because in English you could build that passive with „is“, but in German you can’t.

[honest shuttle]

It's one of those things that doesn't translate directly from English yeah?

anyways I need to practice passive voice now

[swift bough]

Like I said you can replace „is“ in the English sentence with „gets“ or „is being“. Those two are kind of a better representation of what the German passive means.

Energy gets / is being created in this way.

One example that my professor used to help us understand it was just with a door.

Die Tür wird geöffnet. = The door is being / gets opened.
Die Tür wurde geöffnet. = The door got / was opened.
Die Tür ist/war geöffnet. = The door is / was open.

Notice how in the last example, it’s not translated as „opened“, just, „open“. It’s describing the state of the door, not what is happening to the door.

@honest shuttle

I guess you could technically say „is opened“ in English too, which may be more colloquial, but for the sake of the example I think it helps to just translate it as open.

[scenic drift]

i can recommend some textbooks for grammar that have exercises

[swift bough]

I sadly don’t know really because the way that I practice is I just talk to people, but you can ask others on the server and they’ll surely have suggestions.

[scenic drift]

what level are you at, roughly?

hmm

so the books i really recommend are Schubert Verlag's Grammatik: https://www.schubert-verlag.de/abc-grammatik.php which cover all the language levels

the issue is that they're all monolingual.

yes

oh waiiit

the A book has english translations!

perfect then 👀

here is an example

well, it's gonna be a mixture of english and german

the important bits being translated into english

the alternative would be to find a textbook in your language that's at A Level and use that for grammar/vocab until you're comfortable enough tackling that ^

the /r/german wiki has a good summary of books (i didn't use textbooks until B2/C1 so i can't recommend any from experience): https://old.reddit.com/r/German/wiki/textbooks

i took german in school up to B2 and we used a mixture of materials

yeah, and most of our materials were focussed on preparing for the exams we were doing, so i'd hesitate to recommend them 😅

(not that i remember them at this point, it was many years ago)

although if your school has german teachers, a good option would be to reach out to them and ask what resources they recommend

[onyx rain]

@fervent kernel you can also look at the grammar worksheets here http://www.nthuleen.com/teach/grammar.html

[lunar talon]

Hello, "Das Oktoberfest schon im September an, weil das Wetter besser im September ist. "The Oktoberfest is being held in September, because the weather is better in September".

[latent wadi]

findet...statt

[lunar talon]

I'm not sure? :))

[sly ferry]

Well you're missing a verb in the first clause

[lunar talon]

oh

hmm

[long whale]

You wanted to say "starts", right?

[lunar talon]

yes :))

[long whale]

And I think you had the right idea, only you dropped 1 part of the verb, which is...?

[lunar talon]

halten?

[long whale]

No.

[lunar talon]

ohh

Starten

[long whale]

No.

[lunar talon]

Anfänger?

[proven sphinx]

Uh, that would work, Susana, but they'd need to drop the "an" for that.

[long whale]

starten is used for cars, machines, runners. Yes, but "Anfänger" is a noun. :)

[lunar talon]

oh

[proven sphinx]

Eh, I don't see "starten" being necessarily wrong there. It's not the most elegant solution, but is it really incorrect?

https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/starten

"starten" is used for much more than just cars.

[sly ferry]

I'd say it's alright but it feels more colloquial than the other options

[proven sphinx]

Yeah, that I do agree with.

[sly ferry]

Or rather, more casual

[lunar talon]

Beginnen?

[proven sphinx]

Yeah, that would work.

[lunar talon]

ohh

[proven sphinx]

But I think Susana just wants you to use "anfangen".

That is the simplest solution.

[lunar talon]

ohh

[proven sphinx]

"beginnen" is a bit more formal than "anfangen" in most contexts.

[lunar talon]

Das Oktoberfest schon im September anfangen, weil das Wetter besser im September ist.

ohh

[proven sphinx]

Uh, that's not how you conjugate that verb.

It's a separable verb.

[lunar talon]

Das Oktoberfest fängt an September, weil das Wetter besser im September ist.

? :))

[proven sphinx]

Almost...

[lunar talon]

hmm

Das Oktoberfest fängt an im September, weil das Wetter besser im September ist.

[proven sphinx]

"Das Oktoberfest fängt im September an, weil..."

The separable verb part needs to be at the very end.

[lunar talon]

ohhhh

Thank you very much :DD

[proven sphinx]

At least you know plenty of synonyms for "to start" now. 😂

[lunar talon]

indeed

[proven sphinx]

beginnen, anfangen, starten...

[digital zodiac]

do you say "nicht" immediately after the verb or at the end of the sentence

[swift bough]

Granted, they’re not always interchangeable.

@lunar talon

[lunar talon]

oh

[swift bough]

Not that Raven doesn’t know that but I just thought it’s worthy of mention

Like if you’re talking about starting a vehicle the only one that makes sense is „starten“.

[lunar talon]

thanks, I'll try to remember :))

oh

[proven sphinx]

Yeah, you definitely can't say "den Motor beginnen/anfangen". It just wouldn't make sense.

[lunar talon]

oh yep

[proven sphinx]

And generally, "beginnen/anfangen" is preferred for most meanings anyway.

"starten" often feels a bit like an anglicism if you use it too often.

[lunar talon]

Oh

I have a quick question

[proven sphinx]

Sure.

[lunar talon]

rebuild in german is wiederˈaufbauen

[proven sphinx]

https://www.confidentgerman.com/anfangen-vs-beginnen-vs-starten/

Here you have a page telling you the few nuances.

wiederaufbauen

Written as one word.

[lunar talon]

do I put "wiederˈaufbauen" at the end of the sentence?

[proven sphinx]

Uh, it depends?

Only if there's a modal verb before.

[lunar talon]

"Unglücklicherweise, die Kirche zerstörte wurde. Danach wurde die Kirche in 1368 baute wieder auf."

[proven sphinx]

Uh, no.

The word order is all wrong, I'm afraid.

[lunar talon]

oh no

hmm

Unglücklicherweise, die Kirche zerstörte wurde. Danach die Kirche in 1368 baute wieder auf wurde.

[proven sphinx]

V2 in main clauses. It always applies.

The verb needs to be in second position in main clauses.

[lunar talon]

oh

[proven sphinx]

There's no need for a comma either, unlike in English.

[lunar talon]

Unglücklicherweise, die Kirche wurde zerstörten. Danach wurde die Kirche in 1368 baute wieder auf.

[proven sphinx]

All right, "unglücklicherweise" is the first position. The verb needs to come in second position, so..

Also, the past participle is not conjugated. It always stays the same.

[lunar talon]

Unglücklicherweise, wurde die Kirche zerstörten. Danach wurde die Kirche in 1368 baute wieder auf.

hmm

[proven sphinx]

All right, I'll just show you the correct version. Maybe that will help you.

"Unglücklicherweise wurde die Kirche zerstört. Danach wurde die Kirche im Jahre 1368 wiederaufgebaut."

That's what I meant with V2, verb in second position.

[lunar talon]

Oh, so we remove the ,

[proven sphinx]

Yeah, and then "unglücklicherweise" fills the first position in the main clause, so the verb "wurde" needs to come second.

[lunar talon]

ohh

[proven sphinx]

Morgen komme ich nach Hause.
Heute gehe ich ins Kino.
Leider habe ich kein Geld.

The verb is always in the second position.

[lunar talon]

if there are 2 verbs, then the "2. verb" will be at the end of the sentence? :))

[proven sphinx]

Morgen muss ich nach Hause gehen.
Heute werde ich ins Kino gehen.

Yep.

That would be the infinitive, which is not conjugated.

[lunar talon]

ohh

[proven sphinx]

However, the conjugated verb is always in second position.

[lunar talon]

oh yep

[proven sphinx]

Be careful, though.

The first position can be filled by multiple words, as long as they represent a single unit.

Letztes Jahr ging ich nach Frankreich.
Am vorherigen Abend habe ich einen guten Film gesehen.

Still V2, but "letztes Jahr" or "am vorherigen Abend" form a unit here, so you can't just place the verb in the middle of that unit.

[lunar talon]

ohh

[proven sphinx]

And again, that only applies to main clauses. The conjugated verb is last in subordinate clauses.

[lunar talon]

"Mein Bruder geht ins Kino"

[proven sphinx]

Mein Bruder geht ins Kino.

But yeah, the verb order is correct.

Heute geht mein Bruder ins Kino.

Also correct.

As long as the verb is in second position.

[lunar talon]

ohh

[proven sphinx]

"mein Bruder" is an inseparable unit as well. You can't say "mein geht Bruder ins Kino". It wouldn't make any sense.

That's what I meant with the first position often also being filled by multiple words.

[lunar talon]

oh I see

[proven sphinx]

That unit is called "Satzglied" in German, in case you come across it somewhere.

Satz = sentence
Glied = part

Sentence part.

[lunar talon]

oh

Thank you so much for the explanation :DD

[proven sphinx]

No problem. I hope you now understand German word order a bit better. 😄

[solid hull]

in meinem mit Gold sehr schön versehenen und von mir mit an der Wand angebrachten Fernsehern renovierten Zimmer habe ich gestern mit meinen Freunden gespielt 😈

[proven sphinx]

LOL

You could replace literally everything before "habe" with "dort". That's what makes it a Satzglied, since you can just replace it with a single word.

So even in that sentence, V2 still applies. It's just that the first position is really long.

[solid hull]

forsooth

it correk tho?

[proven sphinx]

There are only three things you really need to know about Satzglieder:

1. inseparable
2. can be replaced with a single word without making the sentence ungrammatical
3. can be moved around the sentence

[proven sphinx]

You'd never see it IRL, but I think it's still grammatically correct, yeah.

[solid hull]

stimmt, but if you really want to make your sentence descriptive and show off a bit then Satzglieder are the way to go

[proven sphinx]

Yeah, pretty much.

[solid hull]

oh and those you can break down into Relativsätze as well

[proven sphinx]

I mean, "Satzglieder" just means "parts of a sentence", but I get what you mean. You mean constructions like the one you posted above.

[solid hull]

ah yeah, i only know them by extended modifiers

[proven sphinx]

Der Mann, der mir das gesagt hat, hatte einen schwarzen Anzug an.

Everything before "hatte" is just one Satzglied.

After all, you can replace it all with "Er".

Er hatte einen schwarzen Anzug an.

Ich weiß, dass er mich nicht sehen will.
Ich weiß das.

The entire subordinate clause is also just one Satzglied.

[solid hull]

idek how to turn that into an EM

der mir das gesagt habende Mann yeah nah

[proven sphinx]

Yeah, it doesn't work in that case.

Der einen schwarzen Anzug tragende Mann hat mir das gesagt.

It works very well for relative clauses.

You can turn basically any relative clause into an extended modifier like this one.

[dire niche]

that’s interesting, i never realized you could do that

[proven sphinx]

You should know about it. German does it relatively often.

German doesn't have a gerund, so these constructions kind of fill that void.

[dire niche]

right

[proven sphinx]

In English, it would be "The man wearing a black suit told me that".

So the "wearing" is transformed into that construction instead.

[solid hull]

Der Mann mit dem schwarzen Anzug tragend hat mir das gesagt

is that legal

[proven sphinx]

Yeah, no.

Doesn't work.

Partizip I is not used like the English gerund.

[dire niche]

could you do something like: Einen schwarzen Anzug tragend habe ich ihm gesagt.

like using it as an adverb?

[proven sphinx]

It's very typical for people familiar with the English gerund to try to force the German Partizip I into the same kinds of structures, but it usually doesn't work.

[dire niche]

ah

[proven sphinx]

Yeah, that does work.

[dire niche]

oh ok fun

[proven sphinx]

In that case, a comma is required though.

Since the "ich" (subject) comes afterwards.

[dire niche]

oh yeah german and it’s commas

[solid hull]

er hat die Pflanzen liebend gegossen? kinda forgot how to use it

[proven sphinx]

Yeah.

Exactly.

[solid hull]

i c

[proven sphinx]

I mean, that sentence wouldn't work like that. It would need something else after it, or at least "habe ich ihm das gesagt".

[solid hull]

ich habs immer nachgestellt gesehen, so hört es sich meiner meinung nach natürlicher

[proven sphinx]

Ja, stimmt.

Das Partizip 1 wird nicht allzu oft gebraucht.

Aber es hat bestimmt seinen Nutzen.

[solid hull]

Der Mann ist auf mich sich einscheißend zugerannt

[proven sphinx]

LOL

[solid hull]

ergibt Sinn

[proven sphinx]

"sich einscheißend" would sound better after "ist", though.

[solid hull]

ohhh true

[proven sphinx]

Der Mann ist sich einscheißend auf mich zugerannt.

[solid hull]

Da hol ich die Pistole raus, weil jeder Amerikaner ja eben ne Waffe dabei hat, und schieße los

[proven sphinx]

Hehe.

[dire niche]

Im Englischen kann man sagen: “Having finished my work, I went home” also kann man was Ähnliches im Deutschen sagen?

[proven sphinx]

Eh, it would sound a bit unnatural.

[solid hull]

probably would rephrase to als

als ich...

[proven sphinx]

"Nachdem ich meine Arbeit beendet hatte, ging ich nach Hause."

[solid hull]

or that

[proven sphinx]

"nachdem" tends to emphasize the temporal aspect of it better than "als".

"als" tends to go more for things that happen or are valid at the same time.

Als ich jung war, ging ich oft tanzen.

[solid hull]

right, you couldn't say nachdem ich jung war because there wasn't apoint when you weren't suddenly young anymore

[proven sphinx]

Yeah, exactly.

I mean, even then.

Als ich ein Schüler war, ...

It just means that something is valid at the same time as what the "als" is describing.

[solid hull]

Yeah, that makes sense

nachdem - after...
als - when...
in my head how i differentiate them

[proven sphinx]

Yeah, pretty much.

But then there's also "wenn", which complicates things a bit.

It means "immer wenn", so that a condition always applied.

[solid hull]

oh wenn is more for repeated actions in the past iirc

habitualness

[proven sphinx]

Yep.

[solid hull]

usually accompanied by a time adverb if im not mistaken

like "immer" or "jeden Tag"

etc

[proven sphinx]

Yep.

Immer wenn ich ihn sah, hatte er ein Geschenk für mich bereit.

So as you said before, it indicates a repeated action or a habit.

[solid hull]

gesehen habe, no? cant remember well but i thought that use of would (like used to) wasnt something würde could also express

[proven sphinx]

Eh, maybe it does sound better with Präteritum or Perfekt, yeah.

Or "Jedes Mal, wenn ich ihn sah, ..."

[solid hull]

Right

if you had the chance to overhaul the German verb tense system to one with aspect, would you

[dire niche]

i mean i would

just make the rheinische verlaufsform or whatever its called accepted as the standard

[solid hull]

German verbs are for the most part really cool imo, but the tenses are eh and then don't get me started on the lack of aspect ufff

yessss

[dire niche]

yeah the lack of aspect in german is upsetting lol

[solid hull]

tbh ever since i started learning GErman i found it somewhat annoying not to be able to say "I was sleeping" for example

then over time i learned but still

adverbs basically seal the deal

[dire niche]

i mean its annoying because you cant use gerade in the past tense because then it means you just did something

“just” as in it happened very shortly before conversation about it happened

[solid hull]

sometimes the Präteritum feels like it can express that sorta thing more than the Perfect can

at least to me

but when it comes to translating "was + verbing" you'd just have to restructure the sentence in German

[winter hamlet]

i think Präteritum is more poetic

most German fiction is in präturbitum

[solid hull]

yeah more literary, that as well

[swift bough]

ich war am Schnarchen

[solid hull]

Ich habe immer gedacht, dass ich nicht schnarche, bis jemand es mir gesagt hat..

[swift bough]

Wtf you mean lack of aspect btw

[solid hull]

oh like "I am walking, I will be walking"

continuous/progressive

or the difference between I have walked vs I walked

which both in German don't exist

[dire niche]

from wikipedia:
“Aspect is a grammatical category that expresses how an action, event, or state, denoted by a verb, extends over time.”

[solid hull]

jap, there's perfective "I have walked/walked" and imperfective (which doesn't exist in English afaik)

but does in Spanish

[dire niche]

imo aspect tells more about an event than tense does which is why german is kinda annoying

[swift bough]

Well „Ich laufe/gehe“ is equivalent enough to „I‘m walking“, is it not? Or what was your point?

Does Spanish have a continuous tense too

[solid hull]

well yes, only because that{s how it can be translated into English, depending on the context. German can still express those things ofc, albeit with other words and more contxt

yeah

like "ich esse gerade" for "I am eating"

you need the adverb

[swift bough]

I hate how albeit is pronounced

It looks like it should be pronounced albite

[solid hull]

lmao i used to pronounce it like "all bite"

bruhhh

fax

[swift bough]

It just feels awkward asf to say all be it

So I just don’t say it

[solid hull]

albeit is just a literary form of although imo, doesn't occur as much in speech

in my exp at least

[dire niche]

seems like it

[swift bough]

I seem to see it on the internet a lot tbh

[solid hull]

leute versuchend zu sein cool vielleicht

[swift bough]

But when I think about it I’ve never heard someone say it irl

[solid hull]

same

[swift bough]

Actually I think the lack of that tense in German is sort of charming

[solid hull]

i like the theory that we talked about in col a long time ago where like english's progressive came from something similar to german's

I am on the walking
then the onthe kept disappearing

inshallah it happen in german too

[solid hull]

👀

eh yeah, at least it doesn't feel like you're literally translating

[dire niche]

ngl id rather just say something incorrect than knowingly translate something literally

[solid hull]

i stim thee to

[swift bough]

[solid hull]

lol

[dire niche]

forseeking to speak how this makes fun

[solid hull]

yeawell!

[swift bough]

🤨

[solid hull]

have yall ever heard the word "to" be used like "zu" to mean closed?

push the door to
for ex

[tender panther]

can't say I have

[swift bough]

Guys, let once a picture ontaking

[swift bough]

You can literally say „das Geschäft hat heute zu“

[solid hull]

I mean in English

[swift bough]

Oh

[solid hull]

apparently it's a thing

[swift bough]

Nope

[dire niche]

this is basically just anglish lol

[swift bough]

Haha what

Would sound like broken English to me

[solid hull]

regionalism found in some parts of the US and UK

sehr kuhl

[swift bough]

hast du nen Beispielssatz

[solid hull]

Push the door to

[swift bough]

If someone said that my reaction would literally be this: push it to where?

[solid hull]

zu/offen haben can only be used for places tho iirc, can't be used for doors for example, or am i trippin

[solid hull]

hm true

[swift bough]

Yeah that’s true

You don’t say „die Tür hat zu“ it’s just „ist zu“

[solid hull]

die auffe Tür

right

thats a thing too btw

[swift bough]

Die zue Tür

[solid hull]

bru

[swift bough]

[solid hull]

ok zue ive never seen

[swift bough]

Probably because it doesn’t exist

It would logically make sense but idk never came across that before

[solid hull]

right yeah, if theres auffe there could be zue

die auffen Türen

[slim yew]

why it is “I strong am” at the end

subject object verb?

[tender panther]

Clauses beginning with dass are subordinate, which means the verb moves to the end

[scenic drift]

"Ich schreibe, ich bin stark" <- verb in normal position
"Ich schreibe, dass ich stark bin" <- verb moves to the end of the clause

[slim yew]

from now on i will use denn for because only

because it is the only one which doesnt have weird word order

[scenic drift]

plenty of other constructions in german that cause 'weird' order 😅

[slim yew]

:(

[scenic drift]

it's just something you need to learn :)

[tepid swan]

It’ll become second nature, don’t worry

Eventually sentences with the wrong verb placement will just FEEL wrong. Just gotta keep at it, and keep listing to/reading native speech.

[slim yew]

wait does this mean when geramns learn english they will make the same kind of mistake

[tepid swan]

Hmm I’m not sure I’ve heard a German make that kind of mistake in English. A common English mistake I hear Germans make is they’ll say something like “I’ve been living here since three years” because they try to use the word “since” like “seit” is used in German

[dapper iron]

guten Tag an alle

"...und das Thema davon ist..."

richtig ?

[gloomy quest]

'geht um'. also, heutiges Thema geht um ...

oder das Thema geht um ...

oder meinst du etwas anders?

[gloomy quest]

ich denke, das geht auch

aber in welchem Zusammenhang benutzt du das?

[dapper iron]

beispielsatz
Die Ausstellung fand in dem Stadtzentrum statt und das Thema davon ist,, Gebäude '' .

[gloomy quest]

Die Ausstellung, die in dem Stadtzentrum stattfand, ging um (das Thema) "Gebäude".

oder vielleicht sprach über ..., idk a lot of alternatives, but i hope this helps

[long whale]

Uh... awkward. "... und ihr (its) Thema ist/lautet "Gebäude". :)

@dapper iron

[dapper iron]

danke schön

@gloomy quest @long whale

[long whale]

You'd say "in der Ausstellung geht es um...". An exhibition is not a very active thing, therefore, it wouldn't speak about anything, either. ;)

[gloomy quest]

i had my doubts about that as well when i constructed the sentence... thanks for the clarification

[dapper iron]

danke hahaahah @long whale @gloomy quest

[gloomy quest]

😄

[dapper iron]

grammatik check

das Gehirn eines mehrsprachig Kindes ?
oder
das Gehirn eines mehrsprachiges Kindes ?

which is the correct one ?

[gloomy quest]

Do you know the rule to adjektiv deklination?

[dapper iron]

das Gehirn eines mehrsprachigen Kindes
right ?

[gloomy quest]

yep!

[dapper iron]

hahaahah thank you

[slim yew]

my head

[ember mason]

Wie sage ich "I came out as" auf Deutsch? Z. B. "I didn't think before speaking and came out as very rude"

[silver iris]

this may sound silly, is there a conlang german based (like basic english from english, ido from romlangs) to regularize and simplify the language?

[still lantern]

Ich habe vor dem Sprechen nicht nachgedacht und es kam sehr unhöflich rüber.

Or just:

[...] es klang sehr unhöflich

But rüberkommen is the better translation.

[ember mason]

Danke!!

[heavy stratus]

Am fünften Tag enthüllte sich mir ein weiteres Geheimnis aus dem Leben des kleinen Prinzen

I'm not sure about the combination of a reflexive verb that uses 'sich' with a 'mir' right next to it. Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of it being reflexive?

[scenic drift]

well, you can think of the verb as "sich enthüllen" and the "mir" as being "to me". does that help?

[heavy stratus]

It feels weird because I thought if it a verb is reflexive, then the subject is doing that thing to itself

Like it would be strange if I read 'sie kauft sich mir ein Glas Wein'

[scenic drift]

ok, but consider the following:

Er zeigt sich mir.

there's a reflexive (sich) with a dative (mir)

("He shows himself to me")

[heavy stratus]

Hm yes, that does work. So the original sentence is like 'a further secret about the little Prince's life exposed itself to me'?

Er erzählt sich mir, was er getan hat. Would this work?

[still lantern]

No, that sounds wrong.

Er erzählt sich und mir [...] would work, but it makes little sense.
You mustn't use two here.

[scenic drift]

doesn't really work in english either - "he told himself to me, what he did"

Er erzählt sich, was er getan hat might work, though - he tells himself what he had done

[heavy stratus]

You're right, I mixed it up with erklären

I was more aiming for he explained himself to me

[scenic drift]

yes, i think "Er hat sich mir erklärt" would work there.

[still lantern]

Sounds odd. It's a mix between erklären and sich erklären, which don't necessarily have to have the same meaning. Er hat sich erklärt is right and Er hat mir erklärt is also right (right =/= the same!), but both of them together is wrong.

[heavy stratus]

Oh interesting. I'll keep an eye out for more examples of this grammatical pattern. Thanks!@still lantern @scenic drift

[hardy crystal]

Hallo!
So I've been watching Dark. In the show, the characters sometimes use the preterite (sah, kam, wollte). It has confused me a little, because I thought the preterite was reserved for writing. Is that wrong? Does it sound weird to hear someone using this form when speaking?

[sly ferry]

For some verbs it's actually preferred

¯_(ツ)_/¯

[plain umbra]

Using Präteritum for modal verbs is definitely more common. For sah and kam I think it's contextual? Like some verbs just have specific contexts where Präteritum may be used, but it depends. I don't know enough about it to say exactly.

[proven sphinx]

Yep, a few verbs like "sehen", "sein", "haben", "kommen" or "wollen" are often used in the Präteritum.

[plain umbra]

faq past tense

[stoic mauve]

Past Tense

German has two basic past tenses: Perfekt and Präteritum.

What’s the difference? Which one should I use?

To put it simply: Perfekt is used for spoken and casual German, and Präteritum is used for formal writing such as novels. For anything in between or if you’re unsure, it’s best to simply ask a native speaker. But most of the time, you will be using Perfekt, so it’s recommended that you learn that first!

However, even when you are using the Perfekt tense, a few verbs are often still used in Präteritum. This varies by region! Some native speakers use 100% Perfekt tense when they speak, but most people use at least a few words with Präteritum in their speech.

The main verbs commonly used in Präteritum form even when using Perfekt are:
• haben (e.g. ich hatte instead of ich habe gehabt)
• sein (e.g. ich war instead of ich bin gewesen)
• modal verbs
• wissen, denken (e.g. ich wusste, ich dachte)

The following are sometimes also used in Präteritum form but not as pervasively:
• bleiben, brauchen, finden, geben, gehen, laufen, liegen, rufen, sehen, sitzen, stehen, tun

Page 1/2

[proven sphinx]

Yep, that FAQ is always useful.

[plain umbra]

This faq has a list at the bottom with verbs that can sometimes be seen with Präteritum.

I guess I should add kommen there.

[proven sphinx]

"kommen" is not on that list, though.

Yeah, I think you should.

[plain umbra]

But anyway, you can see it's only a fairly small amount. So maybe that helps to clear up the confusion.

[hardy crystal]

Ah perfect!

[sly ferry]

no preterite

[proven sphinx]

Also, I should add that for the verbs listed below as only occasionally being used in the Präteritum, the 2nd person plural (e.g. ihr lieft) sounds especially pretentious in casual speech.

Avoid using the 2nd person plural in the Präteritum except for the main verbs listed above.

"Rieft ihr mich?"
"Rieft? Was zur Hölle ist denn mit dir los, Alter?"

[hardy crystal]

Ihr halft mir

[proven sphinx]

LOL

Yeah, no. Just use the Perfekt.

You can get away with it in stories and such, but not in casual everyday speech.

[long whale]

@heavy stratus @scenic drift In case nobody else has pointed it out - you need to look at the construction required by the verb, which is "jemandem etwas enthüllen". That's why the mir cannot be left out, because "es enthüllte sich" without "mir" would be missing the person it's unveiling itself unto. ;)

[heavy stratus]

Dankeschön

[long whale]

@heavy stratus If you google something like "Rektion Verben deutsch Liste", you'll get lists of how to handle verbs. Rektion being the construction required by a verb. ;) Pferd also has an extensive list, I'm sure they'd give it to you if you asked them nicely. :)

And you're welcome, of course.

[pine jewel]

Hi, I hope I'm allowed to ask for a very small translation (if not just let me know and I'll remove it) but I need the German version of this question for a bot function:

Thanks in advance :D

I already found the word "Gegenteile" that may be useful

Was ist xxxx

[cobalt thistle]

"Was ist das Antonym (das Gegenteil) von $1?"

also the russian one sounds cringy

[pine jewel]

why?

what sounds cringy about it?

@cobalt thistle

[cobalt thistle]

it's not how a native would speak

[pine jewel]

if you want to discuss alternatives you can send them to me in PM <:

don't wanna clog up the chat

& another question about the German one: in this case, "$1" doesn't need to be in a special case? Acc/Gen/Dat?

[cobalt thistle]

i'm not really sure about that, my german isn't ideal

[pine jewel]

np, I'll wait around to see if someone else can chime in

[icy flax]

opposite of $1? what is that suppose to mean?

[pine jewel]

$1 is a placeholder for "any word"

[icy flax]

gotcha

[pine jewel]

in the next column you can see for instance it could be

Was ist das Antonym (das Gegenteil) von für?

and then people would write gegen

[icy flax]

so, from what I could gather in my past years, germans do not usually know the technical terms in Latin. All of them will understand "Gegenteil", but not all will know what an antonym is.

[icy flax]

tl dr -> No, I don't think so. I guess only adverbs and adjectives have opposites.

Was ist das Gegenteil von reich? (rich)
Was ist das Gegenteil von schön? (beautiful)
Was ist das Gegenteil von allmählich? (gradually)

The only moment I think you might decline there would be by "Was ist das Gegenteil von 'der größten Rose'?" (the Feminine + biggest + Rose)
Unfortunately, I never saw such a thing written. I wouldn't decline that if I were to ask it someone. I would keep the bare "die größte Rose".
I guess we need an actual German that is really aware about orthography here ):

[pine jewel]

@icy flax verbs & nouns can have opposites too, ex.
to open - to close
back - front
knowledge - ignorance

(sorry for the slow response btw I'm multitasking!)

and don't adjectives have grammatical cases too?

or don't they have separate forms in German?

[icy flax]

true that!
Was ist das Gegenteil von öffnen?
Was ist das Gegenteil von hinter?
Was ist das Gegenteil von Kenntnis?

Adjectives just carry a case when either nominalized or accompained by a noun.

[pine jewel]

I know in other languages with cases (Russian, Latin, ...) adj. change form too, but German cases are growing less salient overtime so they might've lost it in adjectives

back = the back side, in this case I meant

like the back or the front of an object

[scenic drift]

German cases are growing less salient overtime
what do you mean by this? 😅

[pine jewel]

@scenic drift do you guys have a linguistics channel where we could move?

cause the answer could be quite long depending

or another channel where I wouldn't interrupt any existing convos o u o

[topaz pewter]

How is Linglot goin

U decided to learn German?

[pine jewel]

@topaz pewter o:

hi

[topaz pewter]

Hi too

[pine jewel]

I'm afraid of clogging this channel up by offtopic things but

[long whale]

#languages perhaps?

[pine jewel]

oh yeah good idea

[dapper iron]

guten Tag an alle

die Ausstellung wird mir gelangweilt
ich empfinde, dass die Ausstellung ist langweilig

is both correct ?

[fallow ledge]

For the sentence, the exhibition is boring
Die Ausstellung ist langweilig.
Works quite well.

Some other options are :

The exhibition will be boring.
Die Ausstellung wird langweilig sein.

The exhibition seems boring
die Ausstellung wirkt langweilig

I think the exhibition is boring
ich denke, dass die Ausstellung langweilig ist

[dapper iron]

ich empfinde, dass die Ausstellung ist langweilig
is that wrong ?

[solid hull]

Yes, just two things: the prefix of the verb and the placement of the ist

[worn edge]

why is it "isst man" and not "man isst"??

[plain umbra]

In German, in a basic sentence, the conjugated verb must go in the second position.

[scenic drift]

verb takes the second place in the sentence.

base got there ahead of me 🧁

[worn edge]

i don't understand conjugated

[plain umbra]

You can use "man isst" but then it will have to change to "Man isst Pizza in Italien."

Since "isst" has to be second.

By "conjugated verb" I mean the verb that gets changed to match the subject.

So here, essen becomes isst, because it gets conjugated to match man.

[worn edge]

ohhh

[worn edge]

that's how i thought it is

[plain umbra]

Yes. Both ways are fine.

The important thing is having "isst" second.

[dapper iron]

guten tag an alle
if I want to say , one should be aktiv.. for example, do more exercise so that he will be healthy

man soll dynamisch sein, zum Beispiel soll man regelmalzig Sport treiben, sodass er gesund wird

Hauptsache, ist das wort dynamisch richtig verwendet wird ?

Hauptsache, ist das wort dynamisch richtig verwendet?

[scenic drift]

you would sooner use "aktiv" there, i don't think "dynamisch" works

[dapper iron]

danke

[dapper iron]

Ich finde, dass sie sehr hübsch ist.
Ich finde, sie ist sehr hübsch

ist das richtig ?

can i use the second in my schreiben ?

[delicate tiger]

both work

[slim yew]

what is the difference between man and Mann

[mint ravine]

man is like, 'Person' and Mann is just 'man', as in a male iirc.

[plain umbra]

"Man" is like the generic pronoun "one/you" in English.

[mint ravine]

yea

if you know about the usage of 'one' in english anyway

Not sure how common it is outside of the anglosphere

[plain umbra]

You can read about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_(pronoun)

Or here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_you

[worn edge]

Hmmm, okay. So the conjugated verb is always the second word. But why is it "Pizza isst man..." and not "Man isst Pizza..."?

[plain umbra]

Both are correct.

[worn edge]

oh wow

i guess you can tell by context

which is eating who

lol

[plain umbra]

The only difference is basically the emphasis. Putting Pizza first puts more emphasis on Pizza, which may sound better for a certain context.

[scenic drift]

if it were the pizza eating you, the case would be different:

Man isst die Pizza.
Die Pizza isst einen.

another classic set of examples where the case helps to disambiguate:

Der Hund beißt den Mann.
Der Mann beißt den Hund.

[worn edge]

whoaa, cool. so in german you could just swap the words to emphasize and not just emphasize by stressing the words

[worn edge]

does "den Hund beißt der Mann" still work?

[scenic drift]

sure!

[worn edge]

cool!

Thank you!

[fervent kernel]

What's the difference between sprechen and reden ?

[ember mason]

Sprechen - to speak
Reden - to talk, to chat, indicates a conversation is happening

[topaz pewter]

Yeah mostly ^

[desert olive]

Du bist jünger als (ich oder mich oder mir)?

[topaz pewter]

ich

[desert olive]

Danke

[topaz pewter]

Kd

[gloomy quest]

what does this really mean: Die Aneignung einer Sprache ist Forschungsgegenstand.

[onyx rain]

@gloomy quest I used the dictionary here
The adoption of a language is an object of research

(you are typing for so long, guess I messed up, did you want to look at it from a grammatical point of view?)

[gloomy quest]

i had a little of difficulty understanding Die Aneignung, cuz there was like 'appropriation, assimilation'

[onyx rain]

oh yea, there were

[gloomy quest]

nono i was just a bit confused at the meaning

what does the appropriationof a language mean, was a bit confusing

[onyx rain]

adoption suits better here imho

[gloomy quest]

i just decided to check the verb, sich aneignen, which means something like 'pick up'or acquire

[onyx rain]

I see

[gloomy quest]

so now i understand the nomen from that

thanks tho

🙂

[onyx rain]

🙂

[scenic drift]

the acquisition of language is an object of research
ie. there is research into the acquisition of language

[gloomy quest]

yep thank you

[desert olive]

Was ist der unterschied zwischen zu und so,wenn beide vor den adjektiven kommen?

Z.B vielleicht fühlst du dich auf dem land sehr schnell zu allein

-du bist so süß

[night dagger]

@desert olive
"du bist so süß" - you are so sweet
"du bist zu süß" - you are too sweet

ein kleiner Unterschied 🤷

[desert olive]

Achso! danke😄

[void rapids]

I have a quick question. If you wanted to make the verb “zurückfahren” infinitiv/the infinitiv form of the verb would you say zurückzufahren? It just doesn’t sound right to me even tho I did a little bit of research and that’s what came up. Like the sentence is supposed to be “the taxi driver didn’t have time to drive back” so I’m not sure

[solid hull]

yeah, zurückfahren is a separable prefix verb, so the zu has to go in between

in an infinitive clause

likewise in the perfect, the "ge-" prefix is placed between the prefix and the verb

zurückgefahren

[void rapids]

Oh so you would use that if you were saying the taxi driver drove back right

As in past tense

Like they didn’t have time to drive back

[swift bough]

Yes it has to be zurückzufahren

Like Fornoughting said

[void rapids]

Would that be the case for a verb like anrufen too

[solid hull]

yes

applies to every separable prefix verb

[void rapids]

Ok I’m kinda stupid LOL thank you so much

[solid hull]

you're good, the more you learn the better

[tulip tiger]

"Kleine Geister lassen sich von flüchtigen Einfällen hierhin und dorthin treiben." Treiben lassen is a synonym for jdn davon abbringen, etwas zu tun?

[long whale]

No, no. "sich [hierhin und dorthin] treiben lassen" = to let the current take you [here and there]; or perhaps: to go wherever the current/flow will take you. Does that help?

[tulip tiger]

yes, thank you! it 's clear now

[fervent kernel]

guten tag

can someone check my work

Danke!

[near folio]

c, d, j sind falsch

[scenic drift]

or we could tell them which ones they got wrong without saying the right answers 👀

[near folio]

das zweite Blatt verstehe ich nicht

[scenic drift]

it's a gap-fill exercise, they've filled in the lines marked a through f

in the 2nd sheet.

[near folio]

aha okay

[scenic drift]

i would take another look at b and c from that sheet

[near folio]

d ist außerdem nicht falsch, aber so würde es nicht ausgedrückt

@fervent kernel bitte sehr

[fervent kernel]

ok

danke schon

how about 2nd sheet, are the questions formed at least understandable?

i'll check on c,d,j in the 1st sheet

[scenic drift]

take another look at b and c, and reconsider your phrasing in d

[fervent kernel]

ok

hast,seit,totet

c,d,j

[near folio]

hast ✅
seit ❌
totet ❌

nutze diese Website: https://www.verbformen.de/konjugation/?w=sein

[fervent kernel]

Mein gott

[onyx rain]

1. erzählt
2. spricht, fragt or sagt
3. erklärt, fragt
4. sage, einen Vorschlag.

Are they correct?

[near folio]

1. ✅
2. spricht ✅ fragt or sagt (was meinst du ist richtig?)
3. erklärt ✅ fragt (nicht falsch, aber ich hätte "sagt" erwartet)
4. ❌ . das ganze Verb ist einen Vorschlag machen

[mint ravine]

'Ich finde es sehr spaßig, wenn ich mit meinen Freunden ein Käffchen trinken.'

is this correct, is spaßig suitably used here? also, is 'ein' before Käffchen correct here? I feel like it's akkusativ, so that'd be right. But I'm a bit worried

[ember mason]

Yeah. Check out "trinken" again, though

[mint ravine]

oh yeah, sorry

keep on getting confused between using plural verb when I use the manner

forgot to say, thanks

[summer crystal]

"Haben dieses Foto Sie gemacht?"
Is this a natural way to emphasize that you're asking if the person took the picture? Or does it sounds unnatural?

[gloomy quest]

it sounds weird to me. I am pretty sure it's wrong word order.
'dieses' already emphasises the photo. If it's spoken german, just emphasise the way you say SIE or something.

[summer crystal]

Verstehen, danke!

[velvet otter]

If i were to say a sum of something, such as rooms in an apartment, would "die Summe von..." work?

Or maybe if there is a way to say "the total number of---" would work too

[near folio]

Die Gesamtzahl der Zimmer in der Wohnung ist ...

[gloomy quest]

Die Gesamtzahl + Genetiv

[near folio]

Die Summe von ist eher das Ergebnis einer Addition oder irgendeiner Berechnung

[velvet otter]

Ah okay, danke!

[gloomy quest]

Wie kannst du "Die Summe von" in einen schwarzen Kasten legen?

[near folio]

´´so´´

aber nur eins an jeder Seite

[gloomy quest]

Die Summe von/aus i think both work. Die Summe aus 4 und 1 ist 5.

[gloomy quest]

Danke

hi

🙂

[velvet otter]

cool

[long whale]

It's certainly possible, just not very common. I think we'd rather say "Haben Sie dieses Foto wirklich selbst gemacht?" or "Sind Sie derjenige, der dieses Foto gemacht hat?" :)

[summer crystal]

Dankeschön! :D

[velvet otter]

Whats the difference between Bissel and Bissen

[ember mason]

Bissel is regional, mostly heard in the south of Germany and Austria

[velvet otter]

Oh okay. But in context theyre generally interchangeable?

[ember mason]

Hmmm I'll let a native answer that

[near folio]

meinst du "bisschen"? Bissen heißt was anderes

[velvet otter]

Oh, ja. Entschuldigung.

[near folio]

es gibt soweit ich weiß keinen Unterschied von der Bedeutung her

[long whale]

"bissel" is a dialect/non-standard form of "bisschen". "der Bissen" = a bite-sized chunk of food ;)

[random rapids]

"Du gehst zum Arzt" means u go to the doctor u r going to the doctor

Which one is right?

[random rapids]

And it can be written like "du gehst zu dem arzt" right?

[swift bough]

it means both

[random rapids]

Oh?

[swift bough]

because German does not have any continuous tense

[random rapids]

Oh

[swift bough]

but you could translate it as both

[random rapids]

Alr then

[swift bough]

yes but it has a slightly different intonation

[random rapids]

O k

Ty for ur help

[swift bough]

"Du gehst zu dem Arzt" usually you say the "dem" with a certain kind of tone and it's like "You're going to that Doctor"

but zum Arzt is more like in general

[random rapids]

Mhm

[swift bough]

that you are visiting the doctors office

if that makes sense

[random rapids]

Yup

It makes perfect sense

To me

[swift bough]

it's like this with plenty of other contexts

where you separate it as "zu dem / zu der" to mean like "to that [particular something/someone]"

[random rapids]

Oh so

Nvm i got it

Ty for ur big help

[swift bough]

np

[onyx rain]

1.zum Essen, zum, zum, zum
2.zu
3.X,X
4.X,X
5.X
6.zu

(Going with the understanding that, zu uses dative for nouns
and we don't use zu when there are modal verbs)

Can someone check it?

[undone verge]

it looks alright to me

[short violet]

"es gibt sogar eine Hoodie mit bei" is the "mit bei" can only be used in a specific context or can it be used in daily conversations like
"ich habe auch ein paar Brötchen für dein Mittagsessen mit bei" (i´ve also included some bread for your lunch)?

btw, "mit bei" means "included" right? i checked it on GT but im not sure

[delicate tiger]

...einen Hoodie dazu/dabei
...Mittagessen dabei

[long whale]

"mit bei" is extremely colloquial, best don't get into the habit of saying it - you couldn't use it in any kind of formal context. :)

[delicate tiger]

colloquial
and regional at best, would never use it

[long whale]

Wrong ping? :D

[short violet]

what region do you guys think this is from? could it be from sachsen?

and thank you for the explanation

[sage gale]

how do you say basement in german?

[past juniper]

No, it's fine in the context of a question. It's just that the word pings mods so we can deal with actual trolls.

[delicate imp]

no ww2 stuff, forgot

ohh ok

[past juniper]

I'll DM it back to you so you can repost without retyping. :^)

[delicate imp]

thank you!

Regarding the sentence „(quote)“, beschwerten sich vor wenigen Wochen Kinder und Enkel von acht Familien ehemaliger Widerstandskämpfer gegen die Besetzung Norwegens durch Hitlerdeutschland in einer gemeinsamen Erklärung:, am I correct in saying that Kinder und Enkel von acht Familien ehemaliger Widerstandskämpfer gegen die Besetzung Norwegens durch Hitlerdeutschland is one, very large noun phrase??

[delicate imp]

I'd use Untergeschoss if it's in a larger building, and Keller if it's in a house

[fallow ledge]

Yes, correct assumption, it is very very large noun phrase

[delicate imp]

Nice, thank you!

[quick owl]

Hey I was wondering if I could send an exercise I did and tell me if its correct or not? Its a new topic so its still kinda hard for me

[fallow ledge]

Yup thats all good

As long as you’ve attempted it first and its not for a test

Mostly just the not for a test part. If youre confused on how to start we can talk about that too

[stiff tundra]

do we always add EN to masculine nouns with Dativ

ZB i have seen somewhere a sentence ...mit einem Einzelzimmern

or mit den Maennern

[quick owl]

I did try and it’s not for a test dw

This is the exercise but I’m not sure its correct

[near folio]

man fügt die Endung -(e)n zu den meisten Nomina im Dativ Plural hinzu. Bei Verben, die die Endung -s im Nominativ Plural brauchen, muss diese Endung auch im Dativ Plural genutzt werden.

Im Singular ist keine besondere Endung (normalerweise) notwendig, daher ist dein erstes Beispiel falsch.

[stiff tundra]

pls english

i only understand like 70%

[near folio]

https://www.deepl.com/translator#de/en/man fügt die Endung -(e)n zu den meisten Nomina im Dativ Plural hinzu. Bei Verben%2C die die Endung -s im Nominativ Plural brauchen%2C muss diese Endung auch im Dativ Plural genutzt werden. Im Singular ist keine besondere Endung (normalerweise) notwendig%2C daher ist dein erstes Beispiel falsch.

[sinful dune]

anyone has a clue about what those missing words are? I've tried with plenty of words for each of the pictures but I just can't figure out what they are. Like its not the obvious stuff like movie or cinema, sale or plane ticket. Help please.

[stiff tundra]

how would you say To put

for example

I want to put this word in my deck

Ich will dieses Wort in mein ? ?

will oder moechte?

[violet sphinx]

Ich möchte

I will = ich werde

Ich möchte diese Karte in mein Deck integrieren.

Ich werde diese Karte in Erwägung ziehen = I might use this card

[violet sphinx]

"Ich will dieses Wort in mein Vokabular integrieren."
"Ich möchte mir diese Angewohnheit antrainieren."

there's in everyday's speak not that much of a difference^^

[stiff tundra]

integrieren means to put?

[violet sphinx]

to integrate

[stiff tundra]

oh okay

[violet sphinx]

put something into a higher order

but it's sort of sophisticated german

[stiff tundra]

okay

[violet sphinx]

feel free to ask every question^^

[delicate tiger]

2 is probably an English word also used in German
4 is a type of Karte
5 no idea
check 8

[long whale]

5 - check dictionary for "reduction [of price]" ;) @sinful dune

[long whale]

"put" is like "get" - a multi-purpose verb, so, there is no single translation. For the word in the deck, I'd suggest aufnehmen or simply schreiben. :)

[dapper iron]

guten Tag an alles

an diesem Wochenende
am diesem Wochenende
am diesen Wochenende

welche ist richtig?

[violet sphinx]

an diesem Wochenende

wann? an
bei wem? beim Wochenende

[solid hull]

Wer ist Wochenende

[ember mason]

Wo ist Wochenende

[burnt drum]

hoch die hände, wochenende!

[swift bough]

@stiff tundra often times there are words in another language which convey the same exact idea as something else in another language, despite not being a word-for-word translation. Like in English, yeah, you can say "That's what I put" to mean "That's what I wrote", but it can't be literally translated into German. Basically there's a difference between a translation and a word-for-word translation. You can translate "Das habe ich geschrieben" as "That's what I put", because in English it means the same thing (and also sounds perfectly natural), despite not being what it literally would translate to, which is "That's what I wrote". Hope that makes sense.

[tardy kestrel]

is wochende weekend?

[swift bough]

Wochenende

[tardy kestrel]

oh-

wochenende

is that weekend

[swift bough]

yes

[onyx rain]

When I am reading meanings written at the bottom of the page, sometimes it has r,s or e written before the word, what does it stand for?

z.B.

[desert olive]

Gibt es einen unterschied zwischen (in bezug auf) und (im bezug auf)?

[fallow ledge]

s is short for das
r for der
And e for die

Its a shorthand for showing the gender of a word

The letters in the brackets show the plural ending too

[swift bough]

Tbh they’re the same afaik

[onyx rain]

Thanks, I did think so but I idk why I was expecting m/f/d

[swift bough]

But I think „in Bezug auf“ is what People usually write / say

[slim yew]

what is the difference between es gibt and es sind

[swift bough]

„Es gibt“ is more like when something is permanently somewhere. So if you said „Es gibt zehn Kinder“ you might for example be talking about children in a family, but if you are just saying they’re all in the room, you don’t say „es gibt“ because it’s not like they’re confined to that space and will live the rest of their life in that room. @slim yew

Also, „es gibt“ can just express that something exists.

[spice kite]

Ist dieser Satz eine Redensart? "Ich habe eine Frage in meiner Reisetasche"? Reisetasche bedeutet "travel bag", stimmt? In Englisch hört es ein bisschen bizarr..

[long whale]

No, it isn't. Yes, it does. *Auf Englisch hört es sich ein bisschen bizarr an. I guess someone was trying (unsuccessfully) to be humorous. :)

[spice kite]

😆 Vielen Dank!

[onyx rain]

I have to find the odd one out

For 1. I think it is zufrieden, but i am not able to find a proper reasoning, is it because it is a verb as well apart from being an adverb or adjective ?

For 2. I think it is interessant (lazy, active, fluent, interesting) again I don't have much reasoning here?

[scenic drift]

for 2 i'd go for faul because the other 3 are 'positive' adjectives

[delicate tiger]

in both groups 3 have a common theme (meaning of the words) ||"emotions" for group 1||

[ocean canopy]

In German is it spelled "das Klischee" or "das Cliché"?

[cinder fossil]

das Klischee @ocean canopy

thr 2nd is the old spelling and does not get used anymore beside in Switzerland

[long whale]

@onyx rain If you're interested, as far as I know, this exercise is not so much about finding the right answer (if there is one), it's much more about you pointing out the reason - thereby practicing your German. ;) BTW, I'd also go for "interessant", because the others are about levels of activity. Plus, "fleißig" means "hard-working" or "industrious", not "fluent". ;)

[onyx rain]

Ah du hast recht aber ich erkläre schon meine "Reasoning" auf Englisch. Ich wird es in der Gesicht holten. Danke!
(As you can see, es ist sehr schlecht noch :stuck_out_tongue: )

[slim yew]

how do you say april fools in german

[long whale]

What, the people a prank is being played on? No special term for that, but a prank played on April 1st is called "der Aprilscherz", so, the people would be its victims -> Opfer eines Aprilscherzes :)

[slim yew]

ok

[alpine zealot]

Hallo ich bin ein Anfänger und ich habe eine Frage bitte , kann mann " er hat mir ein leckeres Essen gekocht " sagen ? Und was ist der unterschied zwischen "für mich" und "mir" ?

[cinder fossil]

Dativ
"Er hat mir ein leckeres Essen gekocht" would work, its the
Dativ = Wem hat er das leckere essen gekocht? Mir.

Difference Dativ and Akkusativ:

Akkusativ is when you can ask for it with "wen" oder "was" (mich)
Dativ is when you can ask for it with "wem" (mir)

[scenic drift]

(i'd just point out that it's been discussed on the server before that the "wen"/"was vs "wem" trick doesn't really work for learners to figure out the case, because we don't have the same intuitive sense that natives do for which is right there)

[alpine zealot]

Dankeschön für ihren Antwort ,aber warum sagt mein mein Freund das mann nur "für mich" benützen kann , ist er falsch ?

[cinder fossil]

Ich denke, man könnte beides sagen. Im einen Fall steht der Satz im Dativ und im anderen im Akkusativ

[alpine zealot]

Ahaa Danke

[cinder fossil]

"Er hat für mich das leckere Essen gekocht" = Akkusativ
Für wen hat er das leckere Essen gekocht? Für mich

[alpine zealot]

Aha also mann könnte beides sagen , Dankeschön

Sind Sie Muttersprachler?

[cinder fossil]

Ja

[alpine zealot]

Das ist super , Dankeschön für ihren Hilfe

[gleaming sun]

Was ist "erobert"?

[long whale]

Infinitive: "erobern" - that'll be in the dictionary. ;)

[gleaming sun]

Dictionary?

[cinder fossil]

to conquer/to capture

but more words possible depending on the context

[gleaming sun]

Ich verstehe

Because I was watching bf1 gameplay and heard something that sounded like "das ziel (ist?) erobert"

Objective captured?

[long whale]

For individual words, a dictionary is usually a lot more helpful - and far quicker - than asking here and waiting for an answer. Depending on your native language, there's leo.org, dicct.com or pons :)

[gleaming sun]

Oh

Okie

I got confused and starting looking through the server to see if we had one

Lel

Vielen dank :D

[delicate imp]

"Michelets Schlussfolgerungen zum Vorabwissen der Deportationsaktion und Antisemitismus als entscheidender Erklärung für mangelnde Hilfe" So I'm looking at the noun phrase above, and I'm kinda struggling to understand the "der" article before "Deportationsaktion" and the -er ending on "entscheidender"... Are they both in the dative because of zu? Or is one of them in the genitive case?

[fervent kernel]

der deportationsaktion, der here is genitiv

entscheidender Erklärung, no idea

[delicate imp]

ah ok thanks! I'll have to look closer into that -er ending, I at least don't think it's a genitive thing though

[scenic drift]

is this not "entscheidender" in the sense of "more decisive" (ie. a comparative)?

rather than a declension.

[delicate imp]

I think you might be right, I looked up the declination of "entscheidend" and it says that it is declinated as "entscheidender" in the predicative komparative

Does is function as a predicative you think?

[swift bough]

@scenic drift but usually you don’t leave out the declension just because it’s comparative

[fervent kernel]

i believe it's die erklärung. that means, with adjective, it's got to be either entscheidende erklärung or entscheidendere erklärung

[swift bough]

eine entscheidendere Erklärung

[fervent kernel]

that is, assuming it's nominative or accusative

[delicate imp]

I see here that it is "entscheidender" in both the dative and the genitive when it's modifying a feminine noun like this one, so it has to be one of those I guess

I'm just not sure why it would be either of them lol

Or the comparative, but I doubt that it functions as a Prädikativ here

[swift bough]

What the hell is predicative comparative

I punched it into DeepL, then put the English one in, and DeepL actually translated it without the R...is it a typo perhaps?

[delicate imp]

hahah probably nothing, I meant when it is in the comparative and is functioning as a predicative

[swift bough]

Oh

[delicate imp]

the Deklination on the bottom there

[swift bough]

But I don’t see what it’s even supposed to be getting compared with...what would it be more decisive than

Is that like a title of something btw?

[carmine cairn]

yeah, I don't think "entscheidender" makes sense there

[swift bough]

I knew it

Thank god

Lol

[delicate imp]

No it's just a noun phrase in a sentence, I'll send the full one

Aber Michelets Schlussfolgerungen zum Vorabwissen der Deportationsaktion und Antisemitismus als entscheidender Erklärung für mangelnde Hilfe seien von ihr nicht bewiesen worden.

[swift bough]

Yeah still doesn’t make sense as -er

[delicate imp]

I agree, it would have to function as a predicative and there is no way it can

[swift bough]

The declension at the bottom works, because there’s no noun that it’s being declined for.

[delicate imp]

Yeah It'd have to be comparing it to something in the surrounding text, but I don't see anything

[swift bough]

You scared me because for a second I thought there was some grammar concept I‘d somehow never come across before @delicate imp

[scenic drift]

(likewise, hence the guess 😅 )

[delicate imp]

Hahah ohh I see, nah just me making up words dw

[mint ravine]

This might be a bit of an odd question, but I have an oral exam in a couple weeks. I was wondering if anyone has a list of phrases or questions that I can use in general conversation? Stuff to add some fluff for when I'm thinking of an answer, or stuff that sounds impressive.

[swift bough]

I guess it depends on if you already know the stuff that people recommend

If you’re gonna use „also“ you have to use the correct word order though

Otherwise it means something different

Also [verb] [subject] - here it means like „so“ or „and so“
Also [subject] [verb] - here it means more like „well“

(Someone recommended also and then deleted it)

„Also“ can also be „therefore“ or „thus“ which is a bit more advanced imo

Compared to those other more common usages

[blazing plume]

ya

[swift bough]

I should probably add that for that first one, you don’t say that if it’s the very beginning of a sentence, that one only occurs mid-sentence, however you can also use it if someone was talking and you finish their sentence for them or you kinda confirm what they said. But it doesn’t work if you start out a sentence by yourself to mean „So“

I mean the word is very useful but pretty complex

[blazing plume]

huh

[mint ravine]

sorry, was this channel being used, oops

[blazing plume]

i didn’t now all that

[swift bough]

If you want to say „I see“ as in „makes sense“, you can say „verstehe“
@mint ravine

No it wasn’t lol

I just went on a rant when someone mentioned also

Maybe you know this one too „ach so“ but usually that one is better for when you asked someone about something and you were curious about the answer or confused about it

So like if you didn’t hear a question your teacher says you could say „Können Sie das bitte wiederholen?“ „can you repeat that please?“ and then once you understand it you can say „ach so“

[swift bough]

Tbh it took me a while to learn all of that

[blazing plume]

nice

[swift bough]

I feel like a lot of stuff tends to be nuanced in at least a few ways though and you wouldn’t randomly ask questions if they’re out of context. Unless you wanted to know something more specific?

[mint ravine]

Really just looking for filler phrases if I'm stuck. We're covering family, holidays, education, e.t.c. and I'm not a quick thinker so I might need a couple filler phrases when trying to think up an answer

[swift bough]

Well then „also“ is a perfect filler word

[proven sphinx]

"also" works just like "well" in English.

Also, machen wir weiter? = Well, shall we continue?

[mint ravine]

ok, thanks 👍

[swift bough]

And if you’re just sitting there thinking about it still you could say „Ich muss noch ein bisschen darüber nachdenken“ or „Ich muss noch ein bisschen überlegen“

[mint ravine]

thanks, that's really useful

[swift bough]

I wrote a lengthy explanation of „also“ already but it probably won’t help them for rn lol

[swift bough]

Np

[urban ether]

Can anyone... please... ANYONE tell me how is the word order in German. It's too confusing! 😿

[sly ferry]

in main clauses the verb goes second, in subordinate clauses it goes to the end
Der Mann isst einen Donut.
Der Donut, den der Mann isst, schmeckt gut.

[urban ether]

Is "den der Mann isst" relative clause?

[sly ferry]

yup

there's also an faq about it I believe

ex search word order

[stoic mauve]

Search results for word order

• word order verbs
• Word Order for Verbs
• Word Order for Nouns & Pronouns
• word order of verbs

[sly ferry]

yeah check these out too ^

[heavy stratus]

Er bestand aus einem Küchen- und Speisewagen, einem Schlafwagen und zwei gewöhnlichen Reisewagen.

Er bedeutet Zug in diesem Fall. Meine Frage nach betrifft das Folgende: warum ist ,,aus einem Küchen'' hier aufgeschrieben, wenn es ,,die Küche(n)'' ist? Sollte der Satz nicht ,,aus Küchern'' stattdessen sein?

[sly ferry]

the - indicates that this word is split

aus einem Küchenwagen

to avoid mentioning wagen twice you can write it as Küchen- und Speisewagen, which is Küchenwagen und Speisewagen

[heavy stratus]

Ach so, diese Grammatikregel wusste ich nicht. Vielen Dank!

[icy flax]

Dieser Auszug kommt aus einem Buch von 2008. Wieso wird "solche" nicht im Genitiv dekliniert?

,,Darüber hinaus ich sprechen Singer und Ricard über die Langzeitwirkung solchen Trainings. (...)"

Weiter im Buch ist sowas wieder zu finden. Merkt ihr mal, wie da "mentalen" statt "mentales (oder mentaler zB, im Fall es plural wär)" steht.

,,(...) die Auswirkungen mentalen Trainings"

[dawn jackal]

was ist der Unterschied zwischen verschieben und aufschieben ?

[long whale]

In case it's still relevant, there is no typo and no comparative. :)

[icy flax]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.germanskills.com/amp/schieben

aufschieben - auf einen unbekannten Zeitpunkt verschieben

verschieben - auf einen bekanntdn Zeitpunkt verschieben, glaub ich @dawn jackal

[long whale]

verschieben = to do something at a later date; aufschieben = to procrastinate

[long whale]

But it is declined in Genitiv. 🤷 "[eines] solchen Trainings"

[icy flax]

Aber da stehts doch kein ,,eines" T.T

Ist das normal bei einem förmlichen Buch, sowas zu finden? Erwartet von mir wärs eher beim alltäglichen Reden. Weißt Du, was ich meine?

[long whale]

Yes. Okay. Scratch "eines". No article whatsoever, Genitiv neuter singular: Adjektiv: -n

Nothing to do with colloquialism. Just your usual user-friendly German grammar. 🤷

[icy flax]

No way, echt? Pfff

Aber wie steht es beim "mentalen"? Deine erste Vermutung sah so gut aus :(

[long whale]

But - it's exactly the same. Genitiv neuter singular Adjektiv without any article whatsoever: -n

[icy flax]

Oh, nein, kann es nicht, fuck... Ich hab voll viele viele Male viele Dinge falsch geschrieben. Gott.. Haha

[long whale]

Here, have a

🧁

[icy flax]

🤦‍♂️

Gott... Nein

[slim yew]

why the second position isnt a verb

i wont trust my textbook anymore

second position verb is a lie

[tepid swan]

It’s still in the second position... it’s complicated

Second position doesn’t mean the second word

[swift bough]

no, it's just that there are nearly always exceptions to rules

and you have to learn those exceptions 🤷‍♂️

conjunctions will often change the word order of a sentence

(solange is a conjunction)

[slim yew]

so for solange its in the 4th position

[ivory kestrel]

verb in second position is not a lie, it just has an asterisk

[ivory kestrel]

solange is a subordinating conjunction, so the verb goes to the end of the clause

to fit the idea of the verb in second position, you can consider this clause (which is a Nebensatz; a dependent clause aka not the main clause) to take the first position

[tepid swan]

Yeah sorry when I said the verb was in the 2nd position I was referring to “rennen”

[celest frost]

'wir rennen' is the main clause and when those are in the second position, the word order changes, putting the verb at the beginning

Wir essen Eis, weil es warm ist.
Weil es warm ist, essen wir Eis.
Wir essen Eis, denn es ist warm (construction with 'denn' / same meaning)
~~Denn es ist warm, essen wir Eis ~~ (ungrammatical / clause order cannot be altered)

[nimble willow]

Hello, may I ask if anyone has a good link to a complete set of dative verbs? The ones i am finding seem to either be missing a few or a lot. Thank you!

[plain umbra]

This is the one I usually recommend: http://germanforenglishspeakers.com/reference/dative-verbs/

It's unlikely that you need more than this list, unless you're already Level C.

Maybe even C2.

[nimble willow]

Thank you very much!

This is perfect!

[unique mortar]

How do i know what's meine and mein

So is a girl meine

Thanks

[scenic drift]

... except if you're referring to her as Mädchen, in which case it would be mein.

[blazing plume]

how to heck does that work

[scenic drift]

because it's das Mädchen

[blazing plume]

ohhhh

neutral form

[nimble willow]

May I ask as to which scenarios Schmecken (which is considered a dative verb) puts the object in dative. I’ve found some translations which seem to use it in dative but in others doesn’t

Is it crucial that schmecken should only be used in dative when asking someone else about the food?

[ember mason]

Indeed. Jemandem (dat.) schmeckt etwas (akk.) - someone enjoys something (some food)

Schmeckt dir das Gericht? - do you like the dish?

Das Brot schmeckt mir nicht - I don't like the bread

(so you see dative is not only used when asking someone about the food, but when one is talking about WHO likes or doesn't like the food)

@nimble willow

[nimble willow]

Ohh okay thank you very much this clarifies a lot of confusion

[merry plume]

you have a "solange" which means as long as. When you have solange the verb comes to the end for example : "Solange du mit deiner Hausaufgabe fertig bist, kannst du spielen"

now notice how the verb went to the end.

[worldly portal]

Hallo 🙂 Was ist der Unterschied zwischen "öffnen" und "eröffnen"? Mein buch benutzt eröffnen aber es klingt formell oder etwas.

[ember mason]

Hey!

The verb **eröffnen **can be translated not only as "to open," but also as "to establish," “to inaugurate,” or even "to disclose." It's also used in relation to abstract subjects.

2006 hat das Museum eröffnet - the museum opened (was inaugurated) in 2006

Ich möchte gern ein Bankkonto eröffnen. - I would like to open a bank account (notice how a bank account is rather abstract. Compare it to the next case)

The verb öffnen is used with objects.

Ein Geschenk öffnen. - to open a present

[worldly portal]

Thanks for the awesome answer 🙂 Makes total sense! In the context it's about an exhibition being opened ^^

[urban ether]

Sorry I didn't see your message. Thanks for your help c:

[slim yew]

so this is why i always use denn for “because” because it doesnt make weird word order

i never use weil

i hate it

[swift bough]

Actually funnily enough in colloquial speech, people use the same word order for weil as they do for denn

It honestly kinda annoyed me at first but I heard it so often and got used to it

However if you’re at like a job interview it’s best to avoid using it incorrectly

Because it’s kinda slangy

[heavy stratus]

@scenic drift when will your final Anki review be for German?

[scenic drift]

final meaning...?

like the card with the longest interval?

or when i'll stop doing anki?

[heavy stratus]

👆

[scenic drift]

never, if i can help it

as long as there's stuff to learn, there's more flashcards to make

(also, the card with the longest interval is "die Scheidungsrate", at 10.2 years)

[heavy stratus]

I thought once you got to the upper echelons of the C-level you'd get diminishing returns

[scenic drift]

maybe once i'm living / working in a german environment i'll cut down

but anki is the best way to maintain my german when i'm not actively studying it

[heavy stratus]

What do you think about consuming media/literature acting as your 'reps' instead?

[scenic drift]

it'd probably take me more time to get the same level of exposure 🤔 i only do 10 mins of anki a day, right

and anki is mostly for the 'rarer' words, anyway

[heavy stratus]

How do you find new words to add to your deck consistently? I imagine it's not too often you come across stuff you don't already know

[scenic drift]

ah, great question :^)

i set aside times in the week to read a newspaper / watch a tv show / etc

if i'm reading a newspaper, i'll use a pencil to underline the words i don't know / the phrases i think would be useful to learn

if i'm watching TV, i'll keep a .txt file open and add words to it as they come up

then once every few weeks i'll go through all those word i've added / highlighted and add them to anki!

but i'm still working through the word lists i made 5 years ago, i have roughly half a year before i run out of words

[heavy stratus]

Oh wow, that's a lot of foresight

[scenic drift]

more that i added a lot (~16k = 8k words/phrases) of cards during my course

[heavy stratus]

I'm doing that for der kleine Prinz until I understand all of it

The pencil gets rubbed off when the word enters Anki

[scenic drift]

it's a great method :)

[heavy stratus]

Stimmt! Thanks for entertaining my questions, I was wondering what Anki would be like a couple of years down the road from now (for me)