questions-2

[long whale]

Umm... How do you decide which words to enter? I mean, I just noticed there's "sich herausputzen" on that book page. It's a pretty rarely used word these days, so, it might be years until you came across it again - and if you did, I'm pretty certain it would also be in an old book. @scenic drift

[scenic drift]

that's something i'm still working on (and clearing out a lot of old stuff i added but don't need to learn 🙈 ). basically, if duden lists it as low frequency / archaic, and/or if i can't see myself having a use for it in the future, i don't learn it (ish)

[heavy stratus]

I'm no Mikey, but this itself is a relatively old book (published 1943) and I, myself, want to eventually read older books published originally in German, so, I'm gonna need all the vocab I can get!

[scenic drift]

i think re: what susana said, it's also worth noting that it's ok to not learn all the words you come across! there's some things where i've said 'well, i don't need to have an active knowledge of this, just passive recognition will work' and i don't flashcardthat, generally

[tepid swan]

I haven’t got there with German yet but studying Japanese I definitely go to a point where Anki wasn’t worth the time investment anymore

Basically when it started being mostly words that I only saw in Anki and never in the real world

[heavy stratus]

I think Matt vs Japan made a video on that, obscure Kanji that Japanese people almost never come across or something

[scenic drift]

(i'd also add a bit more context, which is that anki is the main way i revise for all my subjects, so it's fairly embedded in my workflow already)

[tepid swan]

Yeah it was like why spend an hour making all these Flashcards for word that I can’t use when i could be reading a book instead

Until that point though Anki is a great resource

[heavy stratus]

I get that, but then I'm like what if Nietzsche's making a metaphor or something with an obscure word... put it into Anki

(When I eventually read his works, that is)

[scenic drift]

you eventually get a feel for what you should / shouldn't add - and no shame in pruning old cards :^)

[i need to run now, but one other thing - anki is fantastic for grammar drills]

[heavy stratus]

Danke für deine Zeit!

[scenic drift]

feel free to ping if you've got further qs 🥰

[summer crystal]

Is Voraus correctly capitalized in both of these sentences?
"Ich danke Ihnen im Voraus für Ihre Mühe."
"Gehen Sie schon voraus."
And if yes, why?

[undone verge]

In the first sentence it is a fixed phrase that means 'in advance'
The second sentence it is a part of the verb 'vorausgehen' and thus wouldn't be capitalised.

[summer crystal]

Perfekt! Danke!

[summer crystal]

Oh, I have one! How much time per week do you spend actually making these cards? I've been using pre-made decks since the start, but once I'm finished with my current one, I want to start making my own, and I was wondering if it is too time-consuming. Not gathering vocabulary, but searching for definitions, sentence-mining, images (if you use them), exporting from excel to anki or creating on the app, and so on and so on...

[long whale]

@scenic drift Me, too. What do you do with verbs like "halten", for example? 1 flashcard per meaning would amount to almost 2 dozen flashcards (according to DWDS), while putting them all on 1 card would require more than an A4 sheet, I imagine.

I've always suspected this to be the main point of flashcards - making a good one will take so much time and effort that by the time you've made it, you'll have stored the word in your long-term memory, anyway. ;) @summer crystal

[summer crystal]

Hehe, I thought that too! But when I was making a French and Italian deck some time ago, of all the 30 or so phrases and words, I can't remember a single one of them now! :P

[long whale]

Then they obviously weren't good enough, were they? 😹

[scenic drift]

cases like this get a flashcard per meaning in context (ie. sentence <-> sentence rather than word <-> word). meanings often mined from duden, or DWDS if i can't find anything better.

[scenic drift]

re: this, my route is very well optimized at this point. the first step is finding all the words, which get written into a file like this once i've finished reading / watching

(if it's watching, they're added live; reading, added afterwards. i read and type fast so it doesn't take long)

then once i've built up enough un-translated words (200 or so) i'll sit down and add definitions - this usually doesn't take more than 30 seconds - 1 minute per entry

then those can be imported as a CSV straight into anki.

sometimes if a word is particularly 'rich', ie. there's other words related to it that i feel are worth adding, like gelieren -> das Gel above, i'll do that as well, which adds time; or if there's also good example sentences, i'll usually run those through deepL (which is 'good enough' as i usually don't need to check the english meaning of the sentence)

it is a time investment, but while i'm doing that i am learning the words (like Susana said) and i've found it worth my time 🤷‍♂️

[summer crystal]

Thanks a lot! I thought it was much more complicated, but it's quite simple! :P

[slim yew]

which is the singular
Vorname or Vornamen

or people in germany have two first names

[sly ferry]

ein Vorname
zwei Vornamen

the -n here isn't the plural -n though, it's because of the accusative declination

[slim yew]

Vorname becoems Vornamen even as singular in the accusative?

my brain

[sly ferry]

Vorname is part of the n declination yeah

[slim yew]

oh

[sly ferry]

ex weak nouns

[stoic mauve]

Weak Nouns

Weak nouns are called this way because they receive the same endings as adjectives inflected with weak endings. They take an additional ending -n in every case except nominative singular. This is also known as N-Declension and affects almost exclusively masculine nouns.

Nominativ: der Junge, die Junge__n__
Genitiv: des Junge__n__, der Junge__n__
Dativ: dem Junge__n__, den Junge__n__
Akkusativ: den Junge__n__, die Junge__n__

Some nouns end with a suffix -en to make the pronunciation easier:
der Mensch, den Mensch__en__

‼ Das Herz is the only non-masculine (neuter) noun with N-Declension❣

So how do we recognize these nouns? We can divide them into 3 big groups:

1. nouns of Greek and Latin origin,
2. nouns ending with -e (most of these refer to people or animals),
3. other random German nouns (Mensch, Herr, Student, Nachbar, Prinz etc.)

Another way to divide the groups could be:

1. nouns denoting male beings in general (der Bauer, der Knabe, der Herr, der Junge, der Kunde etc.)
2. nouns indicating nationality or religious affiliation (der Chinese, der Russe, der Türke, der Jude, der Katholik, der Protestant)
3. nouns designating male beings and ending in the foreign suffixes (-ant, -arch, -ast, -ege, -ent, -ist, -oge, -om, -oph, -ot: der Kollege, der Student, der Psychologe, der Polizist, der Philosoph)

‼ der Käse and words ending with -ee aren’t weak nouns.

Genitive of Weak Nouns
You might have noticed from the examples above that weak nouns don’t have the additional -s in genitive like other masculine nouns.
Some exceptions are das Herz and nouns of group 3 that don’t refer to people nor animals (Name, Wille, Glaube, Buchstabe etc.), which take both the -n and -s endings.
Example: der Name, des Name__ns__.

[slim yew]

🏧

is also a -n word?

[sly ferry]

what

[slim yew]

Geldautomat

atm

[sly ferry]

oh lmao

yeah

[vast spindle]

Hi all! I am looking for Projekt c1 goethe pdf! If someone happens to have, drop me a message! Thanks in advance

[eternal tiger]

Wie Himmelskräfte auf und nieder steigen
Und sich die goldnen Eimer reichen

I don't think it means literally golden buckets...

[proven sphinx]

Well, that's what it literally means, but I can't exactly come up with a possible figurative meaning without knowing the context.

I think it has something to do with how you use buckets to keep a boat from sinking if there's too much water on board?

[eternal tiger]

it's Faust line 449

[proven sphinx]

Hmm, I do think it's just what I said above after looking at the context.

After all, he talks about storms and so on.

If you're on a boat and there's a heavy storm, you might have to use buckets to throw the excess water overboard.

[eternal tiger]

so it's how the force of heaven keeps everything in balance

[proven sphinx]

Yeah, exactly.

[eternal tiger]

ok this makes more sense
thank you ❤️

[proven sphinx]

``Wie alles sich zum Ganzen webt,
Eins in dem andern wirkt und lebt!
Wie Himmelskräfte auf und nieder steigen
450
Und sich die goldnen Eimer reichen!

Mit segenduftenden Schwingen
Vom Himmel durch die Erde dringen,
Harmonisch all’ das All durchklingen!``

Yep.

It's about keeping the balance.

[eternal tiger]

pardon me if it seems out of scope. Are there any resources I can refer to regarding the meter
like it is iambic as in Shakespeare but I feel like there are more irregularities

[proven sphinx]

It's complicated, apparently.

He alternates between various forms.

[eternal tiger]

vielen dank. habe ich die website gefunden
es ist viel komplizierter und kreativer als in Shakespeare

[stiff tundra]

how would you say "get some water"

nimm etwas wasser?

[long whale]

Have you checked #resources? :)

Uh - yes. That is expensive. Well, if you're a beginner, have you checked dw.com? It's free, and I hear very good things about them. :)

Well, they do offer news (also slowly spoken news, which is good for learners), but they also offer free language courses for German. Look for Nicos Weg.

Here you go: https://www.dw.com/en/learn-german/s-2469

[heavy stratus]

Ed Swick 'German Grammar Drills' Third edition

No worries ^.^

[onyx rain]

@fervent kernel You could also check out "Basic German Grammar and Workbook" by Heiner Schenke and Karen Seago. It starts with comparing from English and eases the process a bit.

[lean canyon]

Hello everyone! I would like to ask something, is it possible to use more than 1 akkusativ object in a sentence? For example, "Ich lerne Deutsch den ganzen tag."

I don't whether that sentence has 2 akkusativ objects or not, but the idea of having "Deutsch" and "DEN ganzen tag" seems like 2 akkusativ objects for me.

i dont really sure whether...

[scenic drift]

check out schubert verlag's A-Grammatik.

[quick shore]

Hello
What does soso mean

[fervent kernel]

“soso” is kind of a middling position meaning neither very good not very bad. If I ask; How are you doing today? You could answer “soso” to indicate that you are doing okay.

[quick shore]

Thnx

[fervent kernel]

can 'vertikal' be used as a synonym for 'senkrecht'?

[slim yew]

why is the verb at the end again

[swift bough]

I‘m honestly sort of surprised that duolingo used „was“ and not „das“. That sentence basically has a relative clause in it, verbs go to the end of relative clauses.

[sly ferry]

"das" sounds super unnatural actually

[slim yew]

?

[swift bough]

Yeah it does, but that’s because pretty much everyone says „was“ in that context.

The sentence works like a relative clause though.

[slim yew]

my class is still struggling with relative clauses in english

[swift bough]

I myself would never use „das“ there either

Just to be clear

[slim yew]

i have seen die in the middle of the sentence for relative clause

[swift bough]

Does that mean you’re not an English native or wym

[slim yew]

yes

im not english native

[swift bough]

Ok

It’s way easier in English

[slim yew]

how does it work

the die relative clause

[swift bough]

The reason why it’s die is because it refers back to the plural noun there, Menschen

[slim yew]

so it depends on the noun

[swift bough]

Yes

[slim yew]

not what the word (who, what, whose, which etc.) is

[swift bough]

Right

[slim yew]

oof

[swift bough]

All of the articles can mean those words

Just depends on the noun

[slim yew]

then why it is easier in english
its simply adding der die das in the middle of the sentence

and put the verb to the end

[swift bough]

Because you can also add den, dem, der (in dative), denen, dessen, and deren to it

[fervent kernel]

Der Satz sieht gut aus

[slim yew]

?

the salt looks good?

[swift bough]

welcher

Satz means sentence

Salz is Salt

[fervent kernel]

the sentence looks good*

[slim yew]

must be sieht...aus but not simply sieht?

[edgy apex]

verb ist "aussiehen" aussiehen = to seem siehen = to see
aussiehen is a trennbares verb (separable verb), so the separable particle goes to the end (in cojugated froms) [I think that is all, I'm not native speaker, just learning]

[swift bough]

aussehen*

[edgy apex]

richtig! entschuldig den Fehler 😛 note: same for sehen, siehen existiert nicht

[fervent kernel]

Also wo kann ich helfen?

[slim yew]

what is Fehler

[swift bough]

Mistake

Kind of easy to remember if you think of how it sort of sounds like „Failure“

But it doesn’t mean failure

Just similar to mistake

[fervent kernel]

What = was

[slim yew]

i thought was = was

all the time

until now

[swift bough]

No

was = waren

Which is the simple past of „sein“

[lapis mulch]

How can i start a conversation with someone like how's ur life and stuff like that?

[fervent kernel]

Yes, (Hey wie gehts) (Alles klar?)

[slim yew]

actually what does geht’s really mean

so far i have never seen an apostrophe in german

except in wie geht’s

[ember mason]

Geht's = geht es

[rotund pawn]

it appears when you shorten words or combine them and when a name ends with s/ss/tz/z/x/ce and it's in genitive
Lauras Auto(car)
Max' Auto(car)

• If you want to highlight the basic form of a person's name for example in company names

[lapis mulch]

Danke!

[heavy stratus]

What's the difference between zum bisschen and ein bisschen ?

[ember mason]

Zum bisschen?

[heavy stratus]

I feel like I've heard people say that

[fervent kernel]

Zum ein bisschen davon weg zu kommen

Nur zum bisschen macht nicht wirklich Sinn

[scenic drift]

zu dem ein bisschen? 🤔

[long whale]

um ein bisschen... , not zum ein bisschen..., yeah. :)

[long whale]

In sloppy speaking, "um ein bisschen..." may sound like "um'm bisschen..." - maybe that's what you heard? :)

Come to think of it, it might also have been "so'n [= so ein] bisschen", I suppose. :)

[heavy stratus]

Thank you! @long whale there was the um'n sound and my brain decided to stick a z in there

[mellow viper]

What's the verb for when a horse kicks out with its hind legs? Bocken?

[white ledge]

Hi, so today i ve got to translate some sentences, so if someone could please check if i translated them well.

[runic birch]

I do not know what the verb for that is, but bocken is when a horse plants both feet on the ground and throws its hint end upwards (see: buck)

[runic birch]

I suppose you could send them over?

[white ledge]

1.I have (some) ruler.
2. Do you need dictionary.
3. Is this calculator? No, this is not calculator, these are water colours.
4. What are you looking for? I am looking for pen.
5. Thomas have scissors, but he doesnt have rubber.
6. What are you writing. I am writing email-
7.Alicia doesnt have sport shoe, but she has lipstick.
8. What do you need? I need ruler and pencil.
9. I am looking for book for German and briefcase.
10. I like German.

1.Ich habe ein Lineal.
2.Benötigen Sie ein Wörterbuch?
3.Ist das ein Taschenrechner? - Nein, es ist kein Taschenrechner, es sind Aquarelle.
4. Nach was suchst Du? - Ich suche einen Kuli.
5. Thomas hat eine Schere, aber kein Gummi.
6. Was schreibst du? - Ich schreibe eine E-Mail.
7. Alicia hat keine Sportschuhe, aber sie hat Lippenstift.
8. Was du brauchst? - Ich brauche ein Lineal und einen gewöhnlichen Bleistift.
9.
10.Ich mag Deutsch.

@runic birch sorry, I just needed to translate them to english

[runic birch]

Ok, checking them now

Okay, so... most are correct. In some cases, where you have the indefinite article ein you can translate it to "a". So for example, instead of "Do you need dictionary" it would be "Do you need a dictionary?".
Number 7, Sportschue is plural, so it's sport shoes.
Number 9, gewöhnlichen means usual, so I suppose you could add that there as well.
Number 5, Thomas has scissors, since it's third person singular.
Number 2, you could change Benötigen to Brauchen. The difference is that benötigen means to be a necessity, while brauchen means to need.

@Jesus Christus#5281

[white ledge]

k, thanks a lot

[runic birch]

You are very welcome.

[long whale]

ausschlagen would be what you're looking for, I suppose. :)

[desert olive]

Gibt es einen unterschied zwischen "schüchtern" und "scheu" ?

[long whale]

Yes. The meaning is very similar, but schüchtern is used for people who are shy (although you may see scheu used for that in old/er books). scheu is what you use for animals which are afraid of humans (you can't use schüchtern for animals). :)

[rotund eagle]

I don't entirely agree with that: schüchtern can also be used for animals, e.g. if you own a pet and want to say he‘s a little bit shy:
Meine Katze ist noch ein bisschen schüchtern.

scheu is mostly being used for animals you have no personal connection to (documentaries on tv), but the difference between both words is very small, so it often depends on the situation..

[runic birch]

According to the Wictionary: The words scheu and schüchtern both translate into English as “shy”. Although they are sometimes synonyms in German as well, there is generally a subtle distinction: scheu means “avoiding contact with others”, whereas schüchtern means “feeling uncomfortable or awkward in contact with others”. (Hence, one's being schüchtern may but need not lead to one's becoming scheu.)

[proven sphinx]

It's weird, but there doesn't seem to be a direct translation for it. The definition of both "bocken" and "buckeln" on Duden doesn't really match up with what's usually meant by "to buck" in English. I think you have to literally say that a horse hits something with its hind legs in German.

"Das Pferd schlug mich mit seinen Hinterbeinen" or something like that.

Another translation that seems to be suggested is "abwerfen", but that literally means the horse throwing someone off its back. But "to buck" doesn't require someone to be on the horse's back. It just means hitting something or someone with its hind legs.

[ripe laurel]

Hallo
ich bin neu hier

[long whale]

Hi! If you'd just like to chat -> #german-only or #general-2 or #general If you have a specific question about grammar or vocab, you can ask it here. :)

[vital basin]

Hallo, ab morgen habe ich eine mündlich prüfing (A.2.2).gibt es eine tipps?

Prüfung

[runic birch]

Als Erstes, stressen Sie sich nicht. Wenn Sie gut gelernt haben, werden Sie die Prüfung bestehen.

Schlafen Sie lange. Mindestens 7-8 Stunden.

Die mündliche Prüfung ist die leichteste. Wenn Sie gut beim Hören oder Lesen gemacht haben, dann glaube ich, dass Sie kein Problem haben werden.

[mellow viper]

Von PipBocken und Schönheitsflecken it is, I guess. XD

[vital basin]

Danke schön

[runic birch]

Bitte, gern 🙂

[proven sphinx]

Is that the title of a German MLP fanfic? 😂

[mellow viper]

The prologue of an English one that I'm attempting to translate into German

You should read it, it doesn't require much knowledge of the source materials.

[proven sphinx]

I don't think you know who you're talking to. I have all the knowledge of the source material, my friend...

[night lake]

What would be the word for someone who works in tech support?

[runic birch]

IT-Techniker, meinst du?

[night lake]

Ja, danke

[fallow ledge]

Ich suche einige Ersatzphrasen für „Meiner Meinung nach“. Wie hören sich diese Alternativen an:

Meiner Ansicht nach
Meiner Anschauung nach
Meinem Dafürhalten nach

[long whale]

Fine, except for "meiner Anschauung nach" which sounds a bit... unusual. And I suppose it's perfectly viable the way you said it, but I think we usually say "nach meinem Dafürhalten" (though god knows why, plus, other native speakers might disagree) :)

[runic birch]

Meiner Meinung nach oder Nach meiner Meinung [Verb]
Meines Erachtens, [Verb]
Ich vertrete den Standpunkt, dass
Ich bin fest davon überzeugt, dass
Ich bin der Meinung/Ansicht, dass
Ich finde/glaube/denke, dass
Aus eigener Erfahrung weiß ich, dass

I hope that those are enough 😉

[fervent kernel]

Ich sitze mein Haus um.

Außerdem habe ich eine Frage dazu,wenn jemand mich gefragt,was du machs?kann ich so antworten(Ich sitze um)

[long whale]

What are you trying to say? I'm afraid it doesn't make sense. :)

Ah - you mean: I'm sitting around at home? "to sit around" = [he]rumsitzen; "at home" = zu Hause/zuhause

[long whale]

Was machst du? - Ich sitze rum. - Yes, that works. :)

[fervent kernel]

I do not mean outside the house.

[long whale]

No, of course not.

True sentence: Ich sitze zu Hause am Schreibtisch (= I'm at home, sitting at my desk)

[heavy stratus]

I'm trying to understand nach etwas beurteilen better and have made up a couple of sentences with the verb. Would appreciate any opinions

1.Ich beurteile dich nach den Mahlzeiten, die du kochen kannst

2.Er beurteilt ihr Werk nach seinen Ergebnissen

3.Um den Wal besser zu verstehen, beurteilte er seine Ernährung nach dem Essen, das er nach seinem Schlaf isst

4. Sie findet, dass sie den Chef nicht nach seinen Reden beurteilt sollte, sondern nach seinem Tun

[long whale]

2 is rather confusing. He's judging her work according to his results?@heavy stratus

1 works.

4. You've used a modal verb. So, what form does the other verb take? If you correct that, it's fine.

3. Is quite confusing, since the first "nach" might be either temporal (after) or causal (according to).

[heavy stratus]

He's judging her work according it it's results. I used sein because I through the corresponding possessive for a neuter noun (das Werk) would be sein

[heavy stratus]

Beurteilen (Infinitiv) :)

[heavy stratus]

To better understand the whale, he judged it's diet according to the food that it ate after it's sleep.
It's the 'according to' that I was going for, but I'm not sure where else the nach would fit in that clause?

[dapper iron]

guten tag an alle
sie kaufen sehr viel Sachen
sie kaufen sehr viel
are they both having the same meaning ?

[long whale]

Ah. Well, you've got 2 problems here, a grammar one and a vocabulary one. The grammar one needs to be solved by using the Genitiv pronoun: "... ihr Werk nach dessen Ergebnissen". The vocabulary one is that "ein Werk" is a result. It's finished. I suggest using "Arbeit" instead - with its appropriate Genitiv pronoun. :)

[umbral finch]

It's the Same meaning, but "Sie kaufen sehr viele Sachen" would be more elegant, because it has a noun

[long whale]

*sie kaufen sehr viele Sachen = they buy a lot of things; sie kaufen sehr viel = they buy a lot. And yes, I suppose they'd mean more or less the same. :)

[dapper iron]

danke
i am having Schreiben training
instead of alway using Sachen, any other word can replace it ?

[umbral finch]

Dinge

But that would be worse

[dapper iron]

thanks a lot,
it is advised to use the sentences with a Noun right ?

[bold sapphire]

Zeugs

[umbral finch]

But then it would be viel zeugs

And not viele zeigs

*zeugs

[dapper iron]

viel is for uncountable
viele is for countable ?

[heavy stratus]

Thank you! Haven't seen dessen before, time to whip out the grammar book

[dapper iron]

danke

[dapper iron]

danke

[umbral finch]

Dessen is only used in the Genitiv

[heavy stratus]

I figured that by genitiv pronoun :p

[umbral finch]

xD

[dapper iron]

guten Tag an alle

anyone here have B1 goethe Prüfung for Hören ?

can I have it ?

[runic birch]

What do you mean?

[dapper iron]

exercises

[runic birch]

I have some b1 hören exercises but consider also doing the Modelltest on Goethe's website.

I will send them when I get back home

[dapper iron]

thank you

[runic birch]

Brauchst du den Modellsatz für Jugendliche oder Erwachsene?

@dapper iron https://www.goethe.de/ins/gr/de/m/sta/ath/prf/gzb1/ueb.html

[dapper iron]

Erwachsene

danke

actually I have done it all, do you have any other exercise ?

[long whale]

If you google something like "B1 German Listening exercises", you get tons of results. B1 doesn't differ that much from institution to institution, I can assure you. :)@dapper iron

[dapper iron]

thanks a lot

[flat frigate]

Hallo Leute

Wie geht es euch

Alles gut

[umbral finch]

Jo

[flat frigate]

Ich bin neu hier

[visual silo]

Just started DW/nicos weg. What exactly is "ihnen"? Why do you add that to be more formal?

"Wie geht's dir" compared to "Wie geht es Ihnen".

[plain umbra]

ex Formal and informal speech

[stoic mauve]

Formal and informal speech

You may have heard of du vs. Sie. What's the difference?

Du is informal speech, and you use it when talking to friends, family, children, young people, and on the internet. The verb meaning to be on du-basis with someone is duzen, and you can use it to ask whether it's ok to switch from Sie to du. While talking to multiple people on informal basis, the plural pronoun is ihr.

• Hast du Hunger?
• Du bist ein Idiot.
• Ich komme mit dir.
• Was macht ihr?

Sie (note that the capitalisation is important here) is formal speech, and it's used with strangers, older people, on the workplace (unless you've agreed to use du instead), and in other formal situations. The counterpart to duzen is siezen. This pronoun can be used both for singular and plural, so, when you're addressing multiple people formally, you use Sie. Grammatically, Sie declines like the 3rd person plural pronoun sie, even when talking to just one person.

• Haben Sie Hunger?
• Sie sind ein Idiot.
• Ich komme mit Ihnen.
• Was machen Sie?

[plain umbra]

@visual silo

[visual silo]

Thanks! And ihnen is just another form of formality?

[plain umbra]

How do you mean? @visual silo

Ihnen is the dative form of Sie. Just like dir is the dative form of du.

[visual silo]

AH. Thanks, I missed that. Also with your username having a smile , it makes it seem like you're smiling in every comment

[plain umbra]

[visual silo]

Also dative = indirect object in German as well, correct?

[swift bough]

Yes

[lethal ibex]

Ich habe so einen Hunger.
Ich habe so Durst.

I've seen these examples in book. Why there is ein in the first one? Ich habe so Hunger is okay?

[fervent kernel]

„Ich habe so einen Hunger / Ich habe so Hunger / Ich habe so einen Durst / Ich habe so Durst“ would all be okay

would also work in other contexts of course: like: Ich habe so Angst / Ich habe so ein Angst

*eine Angst (sorry)

[lethal ibex]

Thanks a lot for the explanation, I have another question 🙂

"Ich möchte gern / Ich würde gern" If there is, what is the difference in meaning?

[fervent kernel]

Well, I'm a native speaker and all I can say ad hoc is: there basically is not really a difference.

I just realised though: „Ich habe so einen Ärger" would be okay, but „Ich habe so Ärger“ is wrong. So be careful, there are exceptions to what I said before. 😉

Linguistically this could somehow be explained I guess, but I am not a linguist. ^^

[lethal ibex]

then using with ein is safer side, isn't it 😄

[fervent kernel]

Yes, I guess. Thinking about it, being able to use it without it is the exception. ;>

Its also better to learn the gender of the nouns! ^^

[lethal ibex]

painful but you are right 😛 thanks a lot for the help 😇

[fervent kernel]

👍

[night lake]

If someone asked me, "Warum bist du spät?" Would it be acceptable to answer with, "Weil ich den Zug verpasst habe", or would I need to say, "Ich bin spät, weil ich den Zug verpasst habe"?

[night dagger]

you could probably just say "den Zug verpasst" in that context i think

[night lake]

ah yeah that would make sense

[night dagger]

i mean, all of those work too i think as well

[night lake]

Danke!

[night dagger]

kein Problem

[fallow ledge]

Just as a little side thing, im not sure if you can say „ich bin spät“

[night dagger]

i've seen the omitting of certain parts of clauses and contractions of words in colloquial german.
zb: „viel Spaß beim kochen!“ is actually:
[ich wünsche dir] viel Spaß beim Kochen!
so that's why i think it's probably fine to respond with brevity

[fallow ledge]

But i don’t remember what should be there, i usually go with „Verspätung haben“ or „sich verspäten“

[night dagger]

ah yeah

ich bin spät dran

[fallow ledge]

Or „zu spät kommen“

[night dagger]

yep

[fallow ledge]

Also @night dagger @night lake your sentence sounds really nice with „weil“, full clauses are so nice.

You can drop the first bit and answer the question „warum hattest du Verspätung?“ with „weil ich den Zug verpasst habe“, that sounds quite natural.

However in the beginner stages i would recommend saying the whole clause so you can practice all the different grammar

„Ich hatte Verspätung, weil ich den Zug verpasst habe.“

[night lake]

Danke!

I did learn "Ich bin spät" from a German video on YouTube so I'm not sure about that

[fallow ledge]

It could be all good and correct grammar, i think i remember being corrected in the classroom, when i said „ich bin spät“ but its been a while and i dont quite remember

[long whale]

Native speakers sometimes disagree on that. I for one am firmly of the opinion that Ich bin spät is Denglish. All of the other options mentioned are correct, though. :)

[swift bough]

Sounds way better if you also include „hab“ at the beginning of the sentence

[night dagger]

is "Ich lade dich auf eine Party ein." the "where's my phone at?" of german?

meaning, i think einladen should only be used with "zu" and "in". but maybe people (with poor grammar or for dialectal/colloquial reasons) use "auf" with it, similar to how people say "where's my phone at?" instead of just saying "where's my phone?"

[swift bough]

What‘s wrong with adding „at“

Sounds natural

[solid hull]

there{s a difference tho between auf and zu with einladen, and theres nothing wrong with at

[swift bough]

Tbh I’ve never heard anyone use „auf“ with „einladen“ before

[night dagger]

there's no listing in any dictionary for einladen + auf

[solid hull]

for example when someone invites you over for a beer or whatever
jemanden auf ein Glas Bier einladen

[night dagger]

that i can find, anyway

[solid hull]

straight from Duden

[swift bough]

Oh yeah that’s fair

Totally slipped my mind

[night dagger]

huh

can you link me?

[solid hull]

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

just the entry for einladen

[night dagger]

there are two

i was looking at the wrong one lol

[solid hull]

oh lol

[swift bough]

One of them is probably the substantive

[solid hull]

yeah there's also einladen as in to load

[night dagger]

smmfh

well

that clears that up

thank you

[solid hull]

np

lol i just remembered ausladen is the antonym of einladen as in to invite, not only for the meaning of to load

un/disinvite

[swift bough]

Never even seen it used that way once

Makes a lot of sense though

[night dagger]

so from duden, the following prepositions are acceptable for "einladen": zu, nach, in, auf

[swift bough]

Yeah just depends on the context

Like if you invite someone to a country or city then nach

[night dagger]

yeah, i'm just trying to get into the habit of understanding which prepositions make sense for the verbs i learn/use

so there isn't a moment of uncertainty when i speak before i say the prep lol

[swift bough]

The more verbs you learn (with the prepositions they’re used with) the more of a feeling you develop for it

[night dagger]

yeah

[swift bough]

For when you learn new verbs

[night dagger]

and i guess Duden is the best source for this information?

[solid hull]

one of, yeah

def the most authoritative tho

wik is also really good. The German version, that is

the English version also does some justice

o nvm lol i misread your question

[long whale]

DWDS (which I think you were going to have a look at? How did that work out?) has way more example sentences, though. :)

[onyx rain]

"Das klingt also vertraut" ist der Satz richtig? Ich möchte sagen "That sounds so familiar" auf Deutsch

[long whale]

Uh - "Das klingt also vertraut" = "So/Therefore, that sounds familiar". In order to say "That sounds so familiar", you'd have to use "sehr/very". In spoken German, you could also say "so vertraut", emphasizing "so" (or: dermaßen vertraut). In written German, using "so vertraut" becomes a bit problematic, because to us, it begs the question "so vertraut - wie was?" (a bit like saying "[That sounds] as familiar. - As familar as what?") :)

[dull wraith]

Hey, who can transtlate this into english : abnehmen - an Körpergewicht verlieren and this umkippen - ohnmächtig werden und umfallen

[long whale]

Um... This is not a translation service. :) Have you tried deepl.com ? It's quite good and ought to give you a viable translation. :)

[mellow viper]

Are there any motivating factors behind choosing whether to use gern or gerne?

[long whale]

No. It really, really doesn't matter which you use. :)

@mellow viper

[mellow viper]

Not even, like, phonetic environments or anything?

[long whale]

Nah. 🤷

[mellow viper]

Aight

[fervent kernel]

Duden: „gern, auch, besonders süddeutsch: ger­ne“

[long whale]

Maybe, but it's not like "Ooh, s/he said gerne instead of gern, so, they must be from the South!" )

[fervent kernel]

Well, yes. :> This was only meant as additional info.

[ocean canopy]

Why is "dem Dennis seine Jacke" a mistake? Should it be "dem Dennis die Jacke"?

[night dagger]

hmmm

i think thats a weird form of Genitiv or something

[solid hull]

that construction is dialectal and it's fine how it's there

it replaces the genitiv yeah

[night dagger]

a non-standard form of Genitiv; just what we needed. lol

[solid hull]

dang ppl dont like genitiv huh

[ocean canopy]

Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod 😂

[night dagger]

nah, it was just a joke. i did actually have an aversion to it at first because i thought i can just use dativ for everything. however, once i learned how to use genitiv and the declination, i didn't find it so bad.

[ocean canopy]

I actually wasn't really scared off by Genitiv when I learned it. It even seemed simpler then accusative and dative to me

[lean canyon]

Hello Ihr lieben! It's been a while and I'm back with a question 😄

I don't understand why do we have to use a dativ personal pronoun in this particular sentence which is "Verzeih mir.."

With my basic understanding, does it mean more like "give your forgiveness to me"??

[fervent kernel]

That understanding is correct.

[solid hull]

verzeihen is a dative verb

like danken, gratulieren, helfen

[lean canyon]

Ah thank you! Do you know the best source to maybe get the list of the dative verbs?

[solid hull]

http://deutsch.ie/german-grammar/german-verbs/german-verbs-dative-verbs/

theres quite a few there

ive heard people call sagen one as well but imo thats like a false dative verb, yes the object most of the time is in the dative because you tell someone something, but you can still use akk with it

[lean canyon]

Thank you for the source @solid hull 🙂

[solid hull]

np

[autumn condor]

Two grammar questions (trying to wrap my head around some basics)

Wir möchten Sie kennenlernen.

In this example. Wir is the actor/effector, möchten is the finite verb (is there another name for this?), Sie is the subject, and kennenlernen is ??? I'm struggling with verbs after the subject and what they are

As a corollary (second question)

Ich will Deutsche lernen.

How is lernen conjugated here, is it as if the subject is Präsens=>Sie ? The only thing I can find is "infinite verb" which I don't understand if this counts as that.

[tepid swan]

Möchten and will in this case are what’s called modal verbs

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/german/german-modal-verbs/

[autumn condor]

oh wait, so it's an attached infinitv

and there is ~~only one infinitv ~~ Präsens/Perfekt/zu conjugation for most words, yeah?

I feel like I'm on the verge of taking a step forward on sentence structure

[tepid swan]

If I’m understanding your question correctly I think every word just has one

Except sein is (I think) the only one that has a different form for 1st person plural (sind) and the infinitive (sein/ zu sein)

[autumn condor]

I may be misinterpreting the conjugation page I'm reading

Ich muss mein Hund beruhigen

^ trying to apply modal usage

[tepid swan]

That’s correct

*meinen though

[autumn condor]

argh, es tut mir leid can you explain why or give me something to search for to explain. I thought I did mein right here (singular possessive)

[tepid swan]

Mein Hund is correct for the singular possessive in the nominative case (when it’s the subject) but when it’s in the accusative case (direct object of the verb, in this case) then it needs to be meinen because Hund is masculine

[autumn condor]

hmm, big gap in my knowledge here

I've been trying to work on cases and not entirely wrapping around it yet.

Thanks so much tho. I just realized recently I have a larger vocabulary than I realize but had no way to really use it and wanted to understand sentence structure a bit, but I think cases will hold me back unless I spend some time on them too

snake eating its own tail

[tepid swan]

It’s a lot to take in haha

[autumn condor]

no, it really is

[tepid swan]

Everyone learns differently but I like just going through textbooks chapter by chapter to learn grammar

[autumn condor]

I haven't gotten any yet, and I find digital ones hard to study with

[tepid swan]

They’re usually structured in a way that teaches things in a logical order that builds on itself

But I know some people hate textbooks and can’t learn from them

[autumn condor]

I couldn't 15 years ago when I was taking german in HS

but i'm older and more disciplined now

I just want to actually study the grammar so I can use it to help me practice my vocab - lots of people told me to worry about grammar later but then I find I can't exercise the vocab I'm learning with 3 word sentences

which led me to modals, it's hard to express almost anything without them it seems

sorry, just rambling now

[tepid swan]

Yeah Modals are extremely important

I think most courses teach those really early because they’re really fundamental

[autumn condor]

Yeah, my approach has been to try and understand the framework - at least enough to help the other parts until I can bring them closer together (if that makes sense)

in the past I always just crammed vocab or phrases

this time I want to build more ground up like a foundation

[fervent kernel]

Den Kurs kommt 30.4.21 zustande.Ist das richtig?

[scenic drift]

was willst du eigentlich sagen?

[fervent kernel]

The short comes about 04/30/21.

[scenic drift]

i'm afraid i don't understand the english sentence either

[fervent kernel]

Der kurs findet 4.30.21 statt.

[scenic drift]

ah, that a course happens on 04.30.2021?

"Der Kurs findet am 30.04.2021 statt"

[fervent kernel]

Ja,genau,kann man das mit zustande kommen sagen?

[scenic drift]

hmm

"zustande kommen" wäre mehr im Sinne von "trotz Schwierigkeiten haben wir etwas gelungen" 🤔

[long whale]

*ist uns etwas gelungen @scenic drift

[scenic drift]

ach, ja, danke 😅

[fervent kernel]

Kann man sagen?Der Kurs kommt trotzt Corona zustande.

[long whale]

*trotz (no -t at the end)

Yes, you can.

[fervent kernel]

Danke.

[ember mason]

Werde eine Email schreiben mit dem Titel: "Interesse, am Projekt zu helfen". Klingt mir irgendwie komisch, ist das richtig?

Oder vielleicht "Ich würde gerne mitmachen", das hört sich besser an

[long whale]

Would have to be "beim Projekt", if anything (jemandem bei etwas helfen). How about "Interesse an Mitarbeit bei Projekt [XY]"? Of course, "Ich würde gerne bei Projekt [XY] mitmachen/helfen/mitarbeiten" would also be fine. :)

[ember mason]

Die Email wird schon dieses spezifischen Projekt geschickt, also wäre der Name (meines Erachtens) ein bisschen zu viel 🤔

[long whale]

Well, then just say "beim"/"bei Ihrem"/"bei eurem"/"bei diesem" and leave out the [XY] :)

[ember mason]

Dankeee

[heady arrow]

"Berlin ist einer der wichtigsten Hauptstädte Europas und überall sind ihre Zeugen zu sehen."

what does "überall sind ihre Zeugen zu sehen." mean?

[scenic drift]

hm. do you have more context? 🤔

[heady arrow]

https://gyazo.com/d851e2d17d57a15b84823fe265c42b19

learning answers for my oral exam

the bold text is the question

[scenic drift]

so did you not write these answers yourself? 😅

i assume it's a fancy way of referring to tourists - the "Zeugen" are the tourists who come to witness Berlin's status as the central town of europe

[fallow ledge]

It might mean that „everywhere in Berlin, one can see the evidence of events the city has witnessed“ but i havent encountered this phrasing before before

Oh i had a different interpretation

[heady arrow]

its a sample answer i got from my german teacher

il ask her what it means to make sure

[long whale]

"ihre Zeugen" refers to "Geschichte".

Tantamount to saying there are historical monuments/traces of history everywhere in Berlin. ;)

@heady arrow @scenic drift

[heady arrow]

Ahh thanks!

[halcyon forge]

hello guys

is the following sentence correct? in partizip ii form

Ich bin letztes Wochende um neun Uhr aufgewacht. Denn ich habe eine kalte geduschet.

[scenic drift]

i think you mean "dann", not "denn", but regardless the second sentence is wrong, both in terms of word order and grammar generally.

[halcyon forge]

oh.

would be grateful if u can elaborate on the mistake plis

[fervent kernel]

Gibt es eine grosse Unterschied zwischen 'ich kamm von allein' und 'alleine'?

[scenic drift]

• "denn" -> "dann"
• verb needs to be in the second place in the clause (you've currently got it in the third)
• double check if "geduschet" is the right past participle
• "eine kalte geduschet" i think you mean just "kalt [past tense of duschen]"

[plain umbra]

If you said "ich habe eine kalte geduscht", it sounds like "I showered a cold one" or something, lol.

[halcyon forge]

Oh lolol.

[halcyon forge]

Thank you @scenic drift . I'll check the first point, as for the third point im actually trying to make sentences using present perfect tense.

[scenic drift]

well, yes, but the perfect of "duschen" is not "geduschet" :)

[halcyon forge]

It is geduscht, right? :3

with no "e"

Thank you!

[old belfry]

can anyone translate these sentences into german for me?

the apple is red
it is john's apple
we give him the apple
he gives it to john
she gives it to john
is the apple red ?
the apples are red ?
i must give it to him ?
i want to give it to him ?
i want to give it to her
i'm going to know tommorow
i can't eat the apple
i have eaten the apple

[night dagger]

this is not a translating service, but rather a place to come ask questions about german 🙂 you can use deepl or google translate for this task, or you can try to write each in german and we can help you

[fervent kernel]

it sounds like a monologue running in the head of a person suffering from multiple personality disorder.

[fervent kernel]

Anyone? 😦

[night dagger]

nein

"alleine" ist einfach umgangssprachlich

[clever matrix]

Ist das richtig?
"Paul, wusstest du mal, dass du bald Meeting hast?"

[swift bough]

Doesn’t really make sense to use „mal“ there

And you need to say „ein“ Meeting

[clever matrix]

ok, is weißt better in this context?

[swift bough]

I think both are ok

[clever matrix]

I thought wusstest perhaps made it more polite

[swift bough]

It’s like the difference in English between

Did you know

Do you know

Like both make sense when you think about it

[swift bough]

Nope

wussten is actually just the simple past

Präteritum

[clever matrix]

Oh ok. I guess I mean "less agressive"

by using past

[swift bough]

It’s not aggressive just because you use the present tense

[clever matrix]

understandable.

Okie dokie. Thank you. I am still wrapping my head around "mal" but time will help.

[swift bough]

The Konjunktiv II can make things more polite but it depends on the verb and situation, „wüssten“ is literally like „would know“, it would sound kind of off to say „Would you know you have a meeting soon?“ @clever matrix

[clever matrix]

Ah yes, I see what you mean.

[solid hull]

how would yall describe the difference between drauflosfahren and rumfahren?

[long whale]

I'd say there's a difference in emphasis: "drauflosfahren" implies heedless/thoughtless (apart from aimless), perhaps even reckless, and/or speeding (the "just getting going", "just putting your foot down"). "rumfahren" emphasizes aimlessness ("just driving around"), whether intentionally or whether you got lost. For example, you couldn't say wir sind stundenlang drauflosgefahren. Does that help?

[solid hull]

Oooh that makes a lot of sense, danke schön! Hilfreich wie immer

Is drauflos- as a prefix common? It’s definitely not as common as rum- from my exp

[long whale]

Correct - wiktionary only lists 2: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:German_words_prefixed_with_drauflos- ;)

[blazing sandal]

hallo

ich bin rusija

[onyx rain]

Perhaps I misheard, the sentence said "Ich gehe morgen Abend in die Stadt" I was expecting a "der Stadt" here?

I looked up 'in' it uses both akk/dat I am not sure whether city here is akkusativ oder dativ?

[scenic drift]

accusative -> movement
dative -> no movement
in this case there is movement, so it's accusative, so "die Stadt" is correct

an example of the dative would be "Ich bin in der Stadt" (because you're there, not moving between places)

more info: https://coerll.utexas.edu/gg/gr/cas_09.html

[onyx rain]

I forgot about the movement, thanks

[long whale]

Not just movement per se, but movement towards a specific place -> Akkusativ. That's why it's "ich gehe/fahre in die Stadt", but "ich gehe in der Stadt spazieren" (I'm taking a walk in [the] town) :)

[worn edge]

Spiegelkleiderschrank oder Kleiderspiegelschrank?

idk, my wardrobe has a mirror

[summer crystal]

What's the difference between "ob" and "wenn"? (When "wenn" is used in the sense of "if")

[night dagger]

yeah this is why Hammer says to think about a direction to/from something.

movement can be too vague.

[worn edge]

hmm or can you just say either Spiegelschrank or Kleiderschrank?

[delicate tiger]

Spiegelschrank makes me think of a bathroom wall cupboard, not something to put clothes in

[worn edge]

ohhhhhhhhh

boggling

danke schön

[fervent kernel]

Wobei das halt ein Badezimmerschrank wäre; oder ein Allibert.

[onyx rain]

Wer ist Hammer ?

[night dagger]

Der Autor von meiner Bibel, lol
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hammers-german-grammar-and-usage-martin-durrell/1126361677

es ist wahrscheinlich online verfügbar

🤷

[onyx rain]

Hehe verstehe

[urban ether]

Hello, I have a question!
Why I cannot say "im Bad es gibt eine Badewanne?" instead "im Bad gibt es eine Badeanne"?

[sly ferry]

because German is a V2 language, the verb has to go second in a main clause

[urban ether]

So can I say Es gibt eine Badewanne im Bad???

[heavy stratus]

Funktioniert ,,du lässt Lydia dem Vampyr allein kämpft?''

Oder, ,,du lässt, dass Lydia den Vampyr allein kämpft?''
Der erste Satz klingt ein bisschen mehr intuitiv, aber ich bin nicht sicher

[long whale]

Neither works. In German, it's "to fight with OR against someone". :)

[heavy stratus]

Du lässt Lydia allein gegen den Vampyr kämpfen?

[long whale]

Nice. 💐

[heavy stratus]

Dankeschön ☺️

[long whale]

BTW, unless it's a monster called "Vampyr", in German, the word is "Vampir" ;) @heavy stratus

[dapper iron]

guten Tag an alle

Nowadays lots of student are addicted to video games, they should control themselves, so that they won't waste time in it.

Frage: wie sagt man das "control" auf deutsch ?

[kind knoll]

"dort" "da"
what's the difference?

[swift bough]

I would say you can almost always replace „dort“ with „da“, but not the other way around.

[dusky topaz]

I believe Dort refers to longer distances

Correct me if I’m wrong though

[swift bough]

„Dort“ is usually something which you can’t see, and „da“ is something which you could see and point at with your finger

[swift bough]

That’s right

But you can still use „da“ instead of „dort“

[kind knoll]

thank you both

[cyan sail]

Question: Es war einmal, or Es ist einmal gewesen?

[swift bough]

I’ve never heard of the second one before

As in never at the beginning of a story

[dusky topaz]

Yeah same here. I’ve always seen/heard it as es war einmal

[latent wadi]

Es war einst, es war einmal

[dapper iron]

guten Tag an alle

Nowadays lots of student are addicted to video games, they should control themselves, so that they won't waste time in it.

Frage: wie sagt man das "control" auf deutsch ?

[scenic drift]

"sich selbst kontrollieren" perhaps?

[celest frost]

depends a bit on how formal you want to sound.
"Heutzutage sind viele Schüler von Computerspielen abhängig; sie sollten sich zusammenreißen, damit sie keine Zeit damit verschwenden."

this is a bit informal due to "sich zusammenreißen". It suggests that giving up on computer games is "not that hard", so it sounds like something a parent would say

Heutzutage sind viele Schüler von Computerspielen abhängig; sie sollten sich beherrschen, damit sie keine (wertvolle) Zeit damit verschwenden."

alternatively you can also look at "sich im Griff haben", "sich im Zaum halten" or "sich mäßigen"

those all sound more formal @dapper iron

[dapper iron]

super, that helps a lot

danke danke danke

[untold gazelle]

Hallo

[dense briar]

Hallo

[rich robin]

Hallo! Ich habe eine Frage:
I'm trying to say: "My way to not forget what I have learnt is to talk with native people"
My attempt at saying it is: "Meine Art für was ich habe gelernt nicht zu vergessen, mit nativen Personnen zu sprechen ist". But I don't feel totally sure on it. Thanks a lot for your answers!

[wintry geode]

You would probably say: "Mein Weg, nicht zu vergessen, was ich gelernt habe, ist mit Einheimischen zu sprechen"

[rich robin]

Thanks a lot!

[tulip star]

Hey gibt's noch andere Gruppen mit deutschen?

[urban ether]

Hey guys! What is the difference between "obwohl" and "trotzdem"?

[night dagger]

@urban ether
obwohl - even though/although
trotzdem - never the less/yet

[urban ether]

thanks a lot c:

[kind knoll]

Warum ist “Foto” im Ende?

[solid hull]

Ihm/ihr gefällt ein Foto, das von dir gesendet wurde/das du gesendet hast

It’s called extended modifier. It’s a relative clause turned into an adjectival clause if that makes sense

[kind knoll]

Nicht, bis ich fertig bin mit dem, was ich zu sagen habe

Why is fertig before bin here

[solid hull]

"bis" here is a subordinating conjunction, which pushes the verb all the way to the end of the clause

[dapper iron]

guten Tag an alle

"wenn die Jugendlichen allein wohnen, werden sie zu Verfügung stehen, abhängig zu sein"

I am trying to use the phrase-- stehen zu Verfügung

ist das richtig ?

[kind knoll]

but bin isnt pushed to the end of the clause here no?

[solid hull]

It is, the end of the clause there is where it’s at

[swift bough]

Firstly it’s „zur Verfügung stehen“. Secondly what are you trying to say with „abhängig zu sein“?

Or what is the whole sentence you’re trying to say

[dapper iron]

have the ability to be independent

[swift bough]

Maybe something along the lines of „jemandem steht zur Verfügung, unabhängig zu sein“

[solid hull]

Maybe “wird ihnen die Möglichkeit zur Verfügung stehen, unabhängig zu sein”?

Or “werden in der Lage sein...”

[swift bough]

Tbh I wouldn’t even use that because I’m not confident that it works

I would use use „die Möglichkeit haben“

just use*

But maybe it works, not sure honestly

[solid hull]

Yeah i think you’re right, it might sound more idiomatic to say die Möglichkeit haben

[swift bough]

As in „Ich habe die Möglichkeit, unabhängig zu sein“ @dapper iron

[solid hull]

But they did say they wanted to use zur Verfügung stehen

[swift bough]

zur Verfügung stehen is more like „to be available“ though and then when you use it with „jemandem“ it’s „to be available to oneself“ or „to have at ones disposal / command“

So I would’ve just not used it personally

But you don’t really say that a person „steht zur Verfügung“

It’s rather what is available to people

Or someone

[solid hull]

True, you say sth is available to them / is at one’s disposal though (etwas steht jemandem zur Verfügung)

Jemand verfügt über etwas 😎

[dapper iron]

verstanden , danke @solid hull @swift bough

[latent wadi]

http://loc.llas.ac.uk/lob/1025/standalone/index.html

Partizipialkonstruktionen

[somber sequoia]

Hallo zusammen, ich möchte eine Frage stellen.
Als ich einen Nachricht von Wissenschaft.de gelesen habe, habe ich auf den Überschrift "Exoplanet im zweiten Gewand" gestoßen. Könnten sie mir kurz erklären, ob was sie unter diesem Überschrift verstehen? ( Ich habe keine Ahnung, was ein Gewand hier bedeutet.)
Hier ist der Link (falls sie mehr wissen möchte)
https://www.wissenschaft.de/astronomie-physik/exoplanet-im-zweiten-gewand/

[long whale]

"Gewand" is just an old/obsolete synonym for "dress" (in the sense of "clothes/clothing"). The explanation is right there: "... hüllt sich vermutlich in eine ... Zweit-Atmosphäre" (is probably covered by a ... secondary/second atmosphere) :)

Literally: "has probably covered itself with..."

[somber sequoia]

Viel Danke 😊

[long whale]

*Vielen Dank (no -e) - Bitte, gern. :)

[dapper iron]

guten Tag an alle
ich bin mit den Prüfungen fertig

ist das richtig ?

[long whale]

Yes, it's fine. :)

[dapper iron]

danke @long whale

guten Tag an alle

Beim Jugendzentrum machen wie alles ehrenamtlich, deshalb wäre es besser, wenn Sie (eine Lehrerin) auch das freiwillig machen.

question is the usage of Beim

ist das richtig ?

das Thema der Übung ist, gibt es ein Garten, den in Jugendzentrum steht und neue Pflanzen sowieso richtige Pflege braucht.

[long whale]

I'd have used "im", but "beim" is also possible, I'd say. However, wie wir. Word order: "das auch/ebenfalls". And it's either "deshalb ist es besser, wenn Sie... machen" OR "deshalb wäre es besser, wenn Sie... machen würden" :)

*sowieso sowie/und

@dapper iron

[dapper iron]

Beim Jugendzentrum machen wir alles ehrenamtlich, deshalb wäre es besser, wenn Sie das freiwillig auch machen würden
correct ?

[long whale]

"das auch/ebenfalls freiwillig machen" :)

[dapper iron]

sehr klar, vielen Dank @long whale

[long whale]

Yes, apart from the position of "auch", everything was correct. :)

[sudden cloud]

Why is it wären and not sind, and its not a test, just an old test used as an example

[scenic drift]

well, there's only three options, and the only one that would make sense is a conjugation of 'sind'...

[sudden cloud]

I know but I still dont know why it isnt sind

[long whale]

Mm. And I'd say "sind" would be also possible here. Although, if you did use it, you'd drop the second "sind". 🤷

[sudden cloud]

why

would you drop the second

[long whale]

Because it wouldn't be necessary anymore.

[sudden cloud]

so you would jst say ...., aber dennoch arbeitslos

or

?

[long whale]

... sind [zwar] hochqualifiziert, aber dennoch/trotzdem arbeitslos

Yeah.

[scenic drift]

yeah that was what i was thinking as well

like, both options work, it's just that they want you to use wären (and hence the subjunctive mood) here 🤷‍♂️

[sudden cloud]

what is [zwar]?

[long whale]

even though... still/yet...

[sudden cloud]

oh

[long whale]

Not necessary, I just had the impulse to add it in, so I did, but in brackets. ;)

[sudden cloud]

okay, thanks

and a second question:

Why isnt it "ist" instead of war

here

[long whale]

Yeah. Makes me wonder, too. 🤷 Pretty weird, actually.

[sudden cloud]

Ok, nice im the not the only one finding these things weird

[long whale]

Maybe... I can imagine some context where I'd use "war":

Like... I'm sitting somewhere already, then you join me and ask why I didn't keep the seat on my other side for you. Then, I'd say "Tut mir leid, der war schon besetzt [als ich kam]"

@sudden cloud

[sudden cloud]

That makes sense, thank you for help 🙂

But in the sentence, I sended , I feel like its not the example you just came with, but an example where a random person wants to sit down and then you say that its already used and that the person is just at the toilet or something

[long whale]

Yeah, that's why I said I felt it was weird, because this is what first comes to mind, and I would use "ist besetzt" to stop some random person from sitting down next to me. 🤷

[sudden cloud]

Yeah

[sick tartan]

Obendrein soll er versucht haben, seine Frau umzubringen
What function does “soll” serve here?

[sly ferry]

Er soll etwas getan haben -> he is said to have done something/allegedly he did something

[split moat]

ah, an evidential marker

[sick tartan]

So soll can be used as “said to, supposed to”?

My engrish brain just reads it as a form of “should”

[split moat]

looks like it, modal verbs can have a lot of different meanings in english too

[sick tartan]

Ok true

[sinful dune]

anyone has a clue about what the last word could be? I've been thinking for a while and not even a German friend of mine could do it haha

they told me this is ahead of the lvl I am studying right now so its really hard (for me)

[near folio]

steigen?

[versed brook]

"Selbstständig" is a German word...

[sinful dune]

are you telling me or asking me..? I think I wrote it in the incorrect way but yeah, it is

[sinful dune]

and thanks

[versed brook]

oh, sorry. it seemed like you meant "ständig" 😅

[sinful dune]

yeah haha

[open thistle]

Wie kann ich sagen "not with that attitude" auf Deutsch? Ich meine, dass als eine Antwort für eine Frage.

[final furnace]

does „das was“ mean that‘s it somehow?

context: after finishing a task, like baking a cake

[open thistle]

es ist "das wars" falls ich weiss richtig es meint das war alles

[versed brook]

we mostly say "Nicht in diesem Ton!" but I'm not sure I've its used the same in every context

[versed brook]

not really, the words you looking for are "Das wars" 😉

ops, didn't see the other answer, sorry

[undone verge]

Während des ersten Jahres, dass ich in Deutschland wohnte, habe ich mich 'das war's' immer als 'das ist was' verhört (und mehrmals auch gesagt). 😂

Aber außerdem habe ich auch eine Frage:
In unserem Sprachkurs sind zwei Chinese und zwei Portugiese.
ODER In unserem Sprachkurs sind zwei Chinesen und zwei Portugiesen?

[versed brook]

das zweite 😉

[undone verge]

Ach so danke! Ich vermutete das Erste, weil es keine bestimmten Artikel gibt ('zwei') und die Nomen im Plural dementsprechend mit keinem "n" am Ende geschrieben werden sollen...?
Jetzt bin ich ein bisschen verwirrt. 😭

[versed brook]

Ich kann dir nicht genau sagen warum, nur das es richtig ist, tut mir leid..

bin halt Muttersprachler und ich mach es automatisch richtig, ohne wirklich über Regel nachzudenken, weshalb ich mir sowas nicht merke und auch eigentlich nie gelernt habe.

[long whale]

Check out the faq for N-Deklination ;)

[undone verge]

Ja also ich nehme an, dass das problem ist, dass 'Chinese' und 'Portugiese' N-deklination anstatt von nominalisierten Adjektiven sind (wie z.B. Deutscher, Deutsche, Deutsche(n)). Und dafür gelten andere Regeln?

vielen Dank. Das war eine große Hilfe.

[long whale]

tl;dr They get the -n at the end in every case except Nom. sg. That's why it's called N-Deklination. ;)

[onyx rain]

Also ich lese ein Buch und verstehe nicht dieses Satz

This is what I tried: "The child of the heaven is the language, the men too dumb and shallow"

And this one too

No matter how I translate it, it doesn't make sense to me.
Here is my try again: "That had to be well so, then more than ever she spoke nobody"

[versed brook]

Is that even German??? I have no idea what they could mean, I'm too dumb for them, sorry 😅

[onyx rain]

Don't scare me lol, here I was thinking I was reading a German book

[versed brook]

It is German, but on another level 👀

[onyx rain]

You are a native give it a try, at least the second one, I think it's not too metaphorical

[versed brook]

that one is more easy: "That must be right, 'cause more than (what she said at last), she never spoke"

[plain umbra]

@onyx rain Do you know about what wohl means here? I think that might be a key part of it.

[civic wharf]

does changing the order to Die Sprache der Menschen ist dem Kind des Himmels zu dumm und eng help?

[plain umbra]

I think it basically means something like... emphasizing that the person is making as assumption that they think must be true. Like "surely" in English, perhaps. Like "it surely must be so".

Also note "niemals". Mal = time, as in one time, two times, three times, every time. Niemals = never (basically "no times").

[scenic drift]

The language of men is too stupid and narrow for the child of heaven.
or
To the child of heaven, the language of men is too stupid and narrow.
(that "dem" means it's dative, which you can translate as "to the child...")

[onyx rain]

I think it's used as "well" like I saw it at the end of letter like a salutation "Lebe wohl" perhaps

[plain umbra]

It can mean that, but I don't think it means that here.

I'm fairly sure what I said above is what it means here. But if someone wants to correct me, feel free.

[scenic drift]

for this one,
This must have been the case, because she never spoke more than was said above.

wohl's being used here imo for as a 'probability' modal

"Er ist wohl gegangen" = "He must have left"

[plain umbra]

Yeah, that's what I was describing.

[long whale]

If it's any consolation, this kind of structure (particularly the use of modal verbs to express probability) is B2/C1 stuff. :) And if you don't mind me saying so, you might be better off reading a somewhat simpler text - not only would it be less frustrating/challenging for you, but you might even profit more. :) @onyx rain

Very mildly interesting anecdote: my first ever Spanish book was "La Casa de los Espiritús" (definitely not a beginner's book), and if I hadn't been living in Spain at the time, and if this hadn't been the only book available to me at the time, I'm sure I'd have given up on the language altogether. 🤷

[icy flax]

LOL und dabei gehts um magisches Realismus, wie beim 100 años de soledad... Sehr schwer, aber aufregend . Hast Du "Der Zauberberg" von Mann gelesen, @long whale? Ist es äquivalenter-weise schwierig?

[long whale]

Yes, I've read it. And no, I don't think those two are on a level. For one thing, Mann is famous for his often quite impenetrable German (a bit like Henry James). For another, there is no action to speak of in "Der Zauberberg". Plus, you get pages and pages of French. 🤷

[heavy stratus]

Hast du eine Lieblingssprache außer Deutsch?

Ich möchte es wissen ☺️

[onyx rain]

@long whale
I am just about to finish the book 🙂
Thanks for your advice. Do you mind if I get the level checked by you, say from a screenshot of a page of the new book I might read? Also, I honestly thought the level was A2 or nearby. There are just some sentences too weirdly phrased in the entire book. Also there is some suspense going on, so I would like to finish it!

[onyx rain]

That's an interesting Spanish learning journey : D

[crude hamlet]

Du kannst übrigens "German.net" lesen. "German.net" hat mehrere Texte auf A2 Niveau.

[long whale]

Oh, of course. :) And if you liked it and are going to finish it, good for you! :)

[long whale]

Not really, no. :)

[onyx rain]

Ich versuchte es. Es ist langweilig 😅

[raven holly]

Does anyone have any tips on how to know whether an object is masculine, feminine, or neutral. I can’t expect every German knows the gender. Is there any way to help know the gender?

[delicate tiger]

there are some rules with varying accuracy, but none are 100%. You'll have to learn the article with every word.

[gray iris]

I can't quite make out the underlined words

[proven sphinx]

bitt'res (bitteres)
Theil (Teil)
Gedeihen

[gray iris]

danke 👍

[proven sphinx]

"bitt'res" and "Theil" are outdated spellings.

[lucid sluice]

Can you say instead of mir ist kalt, ich habe es kalt?

[proven sphinx]

Nope. It's definitely "Mir ist kalt".

[lucid sluice]

It’s funny how similar dutch and german are but sometimes I’ll make huge blunders like these when I translate directly from dutch

[proven sphinx]

I guess it's "ik heb het coud" in Dutch or something similar?

[lucid sluice]

Close, it’s “koud” instead of coud

So “ik heb het koud”

[bright sable]

How do i know when to use seid, sind, or bist?

[plain umbra]

You know how in English you say like "I am" and "you are" and so on? The verb changes based on the pronoun.

Same for German.

ich bin
du bist
er/sie/es ist
wir sind
ihr seid
sie/Sie sind

[bright sable]

ahhh i understand. Danke!

[blazing plume]

how would i say "left"? (as in they just left, not the direction but the action)

[latent wadi]

uh verlassen? gegangen

[blazing plume]

thanks

[kind knoll]

"plötzlich ist es schwierig, sich an neue Wörter zu erinnern"
why is sich und an at the beginning of the second clause rather than after neue Wörter?

[plain umbra]

"an neue Wörter" has to be together because it's one prepositional phrase.

[kind knoll]

and what about sich=

?

[plain umbra]

That's a bit more difficult to explain.

Maybe this is a simple way to think of it: Ich erinnere mich an neue Wörter. Firstly, does this word order make sense to you?

[kind knoll]

yes

[plain umbra]

When you make the infinitive form of a verb phrase, it usually has the same word order as in a regular clause, like in that example. However, the verb itself goes at the end.

So "sich an neue Wörter" is the same (as in the example sentence), but erinnern goes at the end.

sich an neue Wörter erinnern

[kind knoll]

yeah that makes sense

thanks

[plain umbra]

Np. Just keep in mind I don't know if that works every time, since there could be some variation of word order in an actual sentence, but as long as you get the general idea.

[agile flume]

Hi, I have one question, what's the difference between "ausschalten" and "ausmachen"?

[swift bough]

I would say „ausmachen“ is just way more common in actual speech.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone say „ausschalten“ irl, it was always „ausmachen“ during my time there at least

There might be some scenarios where ausschalten fits better, which a native could confirm, but at least for the light or the tv, I always encountered ausmachen

[agile flume]

Nice, I understand, thanks for your answer!

[onyx rain]

A more pronunciation related question: Does German s with vowels a bit different from English z. When I hear the word sagen I don't hear it like zagen the z is a bit softer more towards the s side...is it true. Or am I just overthinking it?

[long whale]

Nah... German "s" as in "sagen" sounds the same as English "z" as in "zipper". :)

[slim yew]

what is the difference beteeen wieso and warum

[scenic drift]

pretty much interchangeable

[proven sphinx]

Just pronounce it as an English Z, since it's more standard. Just don't be surprised if a German pronounced it more like an S either, since it's pretty common in Southern Germany.

[sudden cloud]

What is the difference between these two:

[proven sphinx]

The same as in "mine" vs "my" for English.

Ist das euer Auto?
Ist das eures?

[sudden cloud]

but euer is in both of the tables

[proven sphinx]

Well, in this case it's genitive, so it's more like "Ist das das Auto eures Sohnes?" or something like that.

[sudden cloud]

ok

[proven sphinx]

Not exactly something you'd hear in casual conversation, but it's correct.

And the rest depends on the gender or on whether it's in the plural, of course.

[sudden cloud]

But if you tale the whole table from the second picture

I cant see where you would use this genetive:

because wouldnt it always have to do with gender or plural?

[proven sphinx]

Hmm, if I myself don't know about it, then I'm sure you can just ignore it. I do wonder what they mean, though...

[sudden cloud]

I think the second picture is for persons

and the first for things

[proven sphinx]

Hmm...

[sudden cloud]

but how would you use euer with persons

[proven sphinx]

I looked it up.

It's something very outdated.

"Er erbarmt sich euer."

Like this.

Nobody uses it anymore.

[sudden cloud]

which one of them is outdated

the one for perons?

persons*

[proven sphinx]

The one I just mentioned.

[sudden cloud]

so this?

[proven sphinx]

What is this? A picture for ants? 😂

[sudden cloud]

its the same picture as aboe

above

xd

[proven sphinx]

Yeah, this one.

[sudden cloud]

ok

and what does Er erbarmt sich euer mean?

[proven sphinx]

He has mercy on you (plural).

Or it can also be one person in antiquated speech.

A few centuries ago, the polite form was "Ihr" instead of "Sie".

[sudden cloud]

but how is "he has mercy on you" genetie

genitive

[proven sphinx]

English doesn't have cases.

It is genitive in German in this particular case, though.

It sounds Biblical.

[sudden cloud]

and the ihr you just mentioned is the nominative right

[proven sphinx]

"Was wollen Sie?" (modern polite address)
"Was wollt Ihr?" (antiquated polite address)

You still often hear it in fantasy or works set in the medieval period.

[sudden cloud]

ok, thanks for help 🙂

[wild salmon]

what is the difference between Besonderes with a capital B and besonderes?

[scenic drift]

well, one's an adjective and one's a noun :^)

to be precise, Besonderes would be an adjectival noun from besondere: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~deutsch/Grammatik/AdjectivalNouns/AdjectivalNouns.html

[wild salmon]

how about this sentence

[steep sandal]

Does the word order change after "dann" ?

[wild salmon]

"Ich suche etwas besonderes/Besonderes für meine Tante"

[sly ferry]

#questions message

[scenic drift]

it's coordinating, so word order isn't affected.

Dann ist er gegangen.

[steep sandal]

lol, i had no clue what v2 is nor that it was addressed to me

[sly ferry]

Adjectives after etwas should be capitalised, I think there are some exceptions though

[scenic drift]

v2 = verb in second position

[sly ferry]

German is a V2 language, meaning the verb must go second in a main clause

[steep sandal]

ah I see, thanks

[steep sandal]

understood now, thanks for the info

[open thistle]

Danke sehr

[dapper iron]

guten Tag an alle
Ich mache jeden Tag Hausaufgaben, um eine Eins einzuschlagen
ist das richtig?

[versed brook]

einzuschlagen wird verwendet wenn etwas irgendwo auftrifft zum Beispiel: Der Meteorit ist eingeschlagen.
Versuch ein anderes Verb zu finden 😉

[dapper iron]

ich mache jeden Tag Hausaufgaben, um eine Eins zu verflogen ?

[versed brook]

leider auch nicht richtig 😔

[dapper iron]

können Sie bitte mir vorschlagen ?

[tidal mesa]

Ich mache jeden Tag Hausaufgaben, um eine Eins zu bekommen / zu erhalten

[dapper iron]

danke schon

[lucid sluice]

What is correct here: Noch nicht gehört, aber/sondern ich weiße dass...

[charred brook]

Ich habe das noch nicht gehört, aber ich weiß das trotzdem

[gaunt harbor]

hey, does anyone know of any good youtubers that teach german with an immersion-based approach, with videos for beginners if possible? i had a look at the resources document and couldn't really find anything

[night dagger]

immersion-based videos? i think i've come across some videos that teach solely in german for B1 and up but my preference was to leverage my native language (english) to help me reach B1 first. after reaching that point, i can now mostly make out what is being said. i may have to pause here and there but i find it more constructive to have that base knowledge first before trying to understand german without having a base understanding.

[charred brook]

Check out Nicos Weg! They're full length movies, 1 for each level from A1-B1

Very easy to understand

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-eDoThe6qo

Hier ist der erste Film, aber es wird schwieriger

[charred brook]

*the films do follow a storyline though, so I recommend starting with A1, it’s starts a little boring, but it get way more interesting

[plain umbra]

Yeah, and also note that Nicos Weg is actually a full online course with grammar exercises and everything, and for most people, it's better to do the course than just watch the movie.

faq nicos

[stoic mauve]

nicos

Nicos Weg is a free online program aimed at helping people learn German. It includes video, audio, text, grammar explanations, notes, vocabulary, and exercises. It also includes very useful cultural and bureaucratic information, such as how to open a bank account, while teaching you the relevant grammar and vocabulary.

It’s fairly popular and well-recommended, but keep in mind that you can’t learn a language with only one resource, even if it’s a good one!

You can find the courses here: https://learngerman.dw.com/en/overview/

You can also see various other courses for learners by dw.com here: https://www.dw.com/en/learn-german/s-2469/

[onyx rain]

What are the rules for combining nous? and where can I read up more about it?

[autumn condor]

The one that I'm aware of is that it takes on the gender of the last word

possibly bad example:

das Fenster (window)
der Rahmen (frame)

der Fensterrahmen (window frame)

[plain umbra]

That's correct.

There are two things you can search to learn more about it. These nouns are called "compound nouns" and then you can also search "German word formation" or something similar for resources which cover all types of word formation.

Here's a basic overview: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~deutsch/Grammatik/Wortbildung/Komposita.html

[autumn condor]

I've noticed sometimes people capitalize the beginning of each noun, but a lot of official texts like signs/books don't

[latent wadi]

um

which books?

[autumn condor]

I mean in a compound noun specifically < I figured context was still live from that just being discussed but I guess not

[plain umbra]

It's grammatically correct to capitalize nouns in German. If they're not capitalized, that's grammatically incorrect.

[latent wadi]

its technically incorrect Rechtschreibung to not capitalize

[plain umbra]

Do you mean like FensterRahmen? @autumn condor

[autumn condor]

That would be one example, I see for example "ArbeitsComputer" capitalizes both

[plain umbra]

That's not correct then.

Maybe you saw it with a hyphen?

[autumn condor]

I just assumed people did it for legibility because I didn't think about it until I saw your link above and noticed they all only capitalized the first letter in a compound

I don't have any examples handy, just know I've seen it a few times enough to remember it as something to ask about

[plain umbra]

If you hyphenate it (not common, but people sometimes do it to make it easier for beginners or people with reading difficulty), then each part will be capitalized.

[autumn condor]

excellent link btw

[plain umbra]

Or specific words sometimes (not common, but just certain specific words) may be hyphenated. Though I can't think of a specific example off the top of my head.

That link has these examples:
"Berlin-Kenner" (someone who knows Berlin); "der Balkon-Raucher" (a man who goes out onto the balcony to smoke); "der Cyber-Diebstahl" (cyber-theft), "die E-Mail" (e-mail), "der Jeans-Bügler" (a man who irons his jeans).

[autumn condor]

"der Balkon-Raucher" I was in this paragraph up until a few years ago

[latent wadi]

lel

[autumn condor]

Danke for your answers 🙂

[plain umbra]

If you read a website like Nachrichtenleicht, you will also see it there. That's an example of doing it for people with reading difficulties. Example: https://www.nachrichtenleicht.de/theater-im-saarland-wieder-geoeffnet.2045.de.html?dram:article_id=495394

[autumn condor]

I will bet you that's where I saw it then

I know a lot of compound nouns are noise to me still, I'm getting a bit better at sight-reading German but it is a mind muscle that requires a lot of work

[white ledge]

Hi, could anyone help with this

i have been sick lately, so i missed school and I need help for homework

[scenic drift]

faq homework

[stoic mauve]

How to ask a question

If you want something corrected, you can put it in a Google Doc and share a link with permission level »can suggest« in #writing .

Don't ask us to translate something for you outright: that takes professional time and effort and we're not here for that. You can try your luck with deepl.com.
For single words, use dict.cc or another dictionary, it'll be quicker.

If you want to know if/how a word can be used, provide some context to help us understand the situation.

Don't ask us to do your homework or exams for you! Show us your best attempt at something and try to pinpoint what exactly you don't understand.

[scenic drift]

@white ledge see ^ - have a go at it yourself first.

[long whale]

Hint: watch a youtube video about separable verbs or look up the relevant section in your book. :)

It'll really help you to solve this exercise. :)

[white ledge]

i kinda got it right

if just someone can tell me how to say ice cream

it should be word with 3 letters

[long whale]

It's as if we just say "ice", we don't need the "cream" part. ;)

[white ledge]

oh thanks

[onyx rain]

Thanks I went through this but if I want to combine two known words I don't know which connector to use.
The one I wanted to do was water bottle, so that would be Wasserflasche oder ?

[long whale]

Yes, very good. :)

[plain umbra]

The connectors tend to be consistent so if you know another word with the same noun used, use the same connector. That would be my approach anyway. There may be exceptions though.

[onyx rain]

That's a great tip, thanks!

[median harbor]

hallo!

"Ich bin plötzlich aus meinem Traum geweckt."

ist das Satz Present Perfekt?

[long whale]

The sentence is incomplete. What are you trying to practise? Perfekt? Then choose a different verb, preferably "aufwachen". :)

And if you use the past participle of "aufwachen", instead of geweckt, the sentence would a) be correct and b) in Perfekt, yes. :)

The problem is the transitive verb "wecken", it's "jemanden wecken", i.e. it requires a direct object. "aufwachen", on the other hand, is intransitive (-> no direct object). That's why "ich wache auf" is a complete sentence, but "ich wecke" isn't. :)

[fervent kernel]

Can someone plssss correct my text

[onyx rain]

@fervent kernel can put your text on #corrections channel

[ember mason]

#writing . Correction is to post corrections to texts posted in writing

[lucid sluice]

Do you always say: Wir können uns treffen?

Is the uns necessary?

[heavy stratus]

It's a reflexive verb so yeah, sich treffen

[lucid sluice]

Okay ty

[safe perch]

Hallo!
If I wanna say "I visited Berlin" is it correct if I write "Ich habe nach Berlin besucht" oder "Ich habe Berlin besucht"?

[proven sphinx]

The latter, without "nach".

Use "nach" only with "gehen", as in "Ich bin nach Berlin gegangen."

[safe perch]

Nach can be used also with reisen?

[proven sphinx]

Yeah.

[safe perch]

Danke!

[dapper iron]

guten Tag an alle
was ist der Unterschied zwischen eintritt und auftritt ?

[fierce idol]

Yes

[night dagger]

der Ein­tritt ist so was wie die Kosten und der Auftritt ist wie etwas auf der Bühne machen

[dapper iron]

ganz klar, danke @night dagger

[fervent kernel]

how do i know when to add an umlaut when making a profession female? z.B. Arzt, Ärztin has an umlaut. Polizist, Polizistin doesn’t have an umlaut.

[long whale]

If this didn't get answered: it's mainly 1-syllable words which get the Umlaut in Plural. However, you can't know, it's best to learn a word not just with its gender, but with its plural. :)

[sacred turtle]

hey i hope i am in the correct channel, i am wondering the differences between menschen and schritte by hueber, which one would you recommend

[ember mason]

These are books? "Menschen" and "Schritte"?

[sacred turtle]

yes, both published by hueber

[night dagger]

Schritte is the best course book/ workbook I’ve used. I would highly recommend the Schritte books 🙂

[sacred turtle]

thanks a lot! :)))

[ember mason]

Hey gibt's jemanden hier der eSports spielt und wenn schon, was ist der Artikel von "Scrim"?

Ich werde das in #archived-culture-study-visa auch schreiben glaub ich

[wintry geode]

Dadurch, dass es ein englisches Wort ist, gibt es nicht wirklich einen offiziellen Artikel dazu.

Für mich hört sich aber "das Scrim" am besten an 🙂

[woeful quail]

Would saying something simple like "Zeit für Mittagessen" work? Or do I need to throw in like "Das Zeit für das Mittagessen"?

[proven sphinx]

You can shorten it to "Zeit fürs Mittagessen".

But just saying "Zeit für Mittagessen" doesn't work.

[woeful quail]

Ahhhh, danke

[jovial drum]

I have a question regarding tag questions. I know "..., nicht wahr?" and "..., oder?" are used. Is "..., nicht?" also used?

[long whale]

Correct. :)

[jovial drum]

Thanks Susana 🙂

[summer crystal]

Are phrasal adjectives constructed the same way in German as in English? I'm asking because I found some explanations about English phrasal adjectives, but none about German ones.
So "That's a high-quality material." turns into "Das ist ein hoch-qualität Stoff."?

[scenic drift]

in this case "high-quality" would be "hochwertig[er]"

i don't think you can really do something like "hoch-qualität"

[summer crystal]

Yeah, I think that was a wrong example to begin with. 😅

@scenic drift But if there isn't a compound word, just slapping the two adjectives together with a hyphen will work, right?

[fallow ledge]

Typically you can just put the words together, the issue here is that Qualität is a noun and cant be used as an adjective

Hochwertiger Stoff or Stoff hoher/von hoher Qualität should be good options

[long whale]

It might be better if you tried to come up with a few more examples of your own invention. Because I suspect even though those slapped-together adjectives are usually quite easy to understand, you doing your own slapping-together might not always work. At any rate, I'd warmly recommend checking in a dictionary whether such a compound adjective exists or not. :)

[onyx rain]

Wenn ich sagen "Heute ist Lesenbuch Tag" möchte. Ist das richtig?

[long whale]

"das Lesebuch" is used for schoolbooks, specifically readers as used in elementary schools. And no, something like Lesenbuch Tag would never work, since in German, you can't just put nouns next to each other with a space in between. You either join them up to make a compound noun, or at least, you hyphenate them: der Lesetag or der Lese-Tag (reading day). If you want to include books, it would have to be der Bücherlesetag (book-reading day). :)

[long whale]

What about it?

[quartz radish]

Was bedeutet dieser folgende Ausdruck?

Eine Summe/ einen Wert bezeichnen

[swift bough]

To designate / denote a sum or amount

Or the worth

[onyx rain]

Wann man sagt "for you", ist es "für Sie" oder "für sie"? Ist "s" groß oder klein ?

[tender panther]

Sie when used as "you" is always capitalized

[wanton zodiac]

I read in my book that auslaufen means nicht verschlossen, but i still dont understand the meaning and how to use it

can someone give me an example

[sly ferry]

Where did you get that from ?
auslaufen has a couple of different meanings
Eine Lizenz läuft aus -> a license expires
Ein Schiff läuft aus -> a ship leaves the harbour
Das Wasser läuft aus der Flasche aus -> the water leaks from the bottle

[wanton zodiac]

its from my c1 german learning book "rueckenwind" band 2

ive been confused in the word for a while

[spare delta]

Hello Everyone , I have to deliver a huge homework tomorrow, I was wondering if anyone can help me to identify when a sentence requires akkusativ or nomativ.

[fervent kernel]

faq akkusativ

[stoic mauve]

Accusative

The accusative case (der Akkusativ) is one of the four cases of the German language. A case affects how a noun or noun phrase is inflected, and indicates the role of the noun or noun phrase in a clause.

How do I decline in the accusative case?

Feminine and neuter nouns and adjectives are the same as nominative. Masculine determiners, adjectives, and weak nouns gain an -en ending::

Ich esse den/einen/keinen kleinen Apfel.

Personal pronouns differ for:

ich --> mich
du --> dich
er --> ihn
wir --> uns
ihr --> euch

For a full explanation see >explain adjective declension

Page 1/2

[spare delta]

If I have a case of akkusativ with possesive will it be dich or deinen ? If the word is maskulin

Thank you btw

[plain umbra]

What do you mean exactly?

Like can you write an example?

[spare delta]

Ich kann (ich) meinen_____ Schlüssel nicht finden. Kann ich (du) __deinen haben?

That's the exercise , idk if my answers are right

[plain umbra]

Yep, you got it right.

[spare delta]

Vielen dank!

I just found the perfect exercise to describe my question

ich) Meine_ Mutter bringt (die Mutter) Ihr___ Enkel (Sg.) – (ich) Mein______ Sohn – jeden Tag zum Kindergarten.
This one is a bit tricky to me , How do I know if it's mein sohn or meinen sohn

[plain umbra]

Mein Sohn is nominative and meinen Sohn is accusative.

[spare delta]

Yeah but i mean , how do I know when it should be akkusativ or Nomativ

[plain umbra]

Ah, I see. In this case, I'd just match the case of the word it's replacing. Like her grandson / my son are the same thing here, doing the same thing in the sentence, so I would just make them have the same case.

Does that make sense?

But I'm not a native speaker. It might be worth double checking it just to be sure.

[spare delta]

Oh I see , I still have a bit of trouble identifying the akkusativ form

Thank you

[plain umbra]

No problem.

Do you know what case it would be here? @spare delta

[spare delta]

I guess it would be nomativ for both as you said

[plain umbra]

Why nominative?

[spare delta]

I guess is a lot harder to see how a 1 person possessive is accusative, since in English is just my

[plain umbra]

The possessive article itself isn't what determines the case.

The case describes the noun's role in the sentence.

[spare delta]

I really wouldn't know , my language skills are usually not based in grammar , which is a huge disadvantage as a beginner, so in this case to me Meine mutter just sounds more appropriate , especially because it's a simple statement and it only includes 2 people

[plain umbra]

You're only learning nominative and accusative so far, right?

[spare delta]

. Es ist (ich) meine______ Traum eines Tages (ich) meinen_____ eigenen Laden zu haben. for example here I'd say I'm just guessing because i'd put mein in both

[spare delta]

We've seen dativ mit Prepositions , but this exercise is only nomativ und akkusativ

[swift bough]

Traum is masculine

So it’s mein

[spare delta]

Ohh sorry I meant mein

But my question is regarding Mein or meinen

[plain umbra]

Okay, so basically:
Nominative = the subject of the clause, the person/thing doing the action
Accusative = the object of the clause, the person/thing the action is done to

But keep in mind, this is just a simplification of it that works if you're doing a simple nom/akk exercise. Dative is also used for objects, so you will have to learn the difference between accusative and dative later. But it's fine to start with the above definitions.

[swift bough]

Accusative happens either because something is being directly affected, or there’s a preposition which made it accusative.

[plain umbra]

Oh, and nominative is also used for the subject and object if you use the verb "sein", but that's just a special exception.

As well as werden.

These rules don't take into account prepositions. Prepositions all just have their own rules unrelated to this.

[swift bough]

If you logically consider it though it doesn’t really make sense how sein could be directly affecting something, even if it is an exception.

Which is why the object is nominative

[plain umbra]

That's a bit abstract and better suited to once the person already has an idea of what the cases do.

Like step 1 is just understanding what cases are for, what it means for something to be a subject or object, etc. If someone doesn't have a strong grammar background, that approach is more useful as a starting point.

[swift bough]

I don’t personally find it to be abstract.

Es ist ein Apfel.
It is an Apple.

How could anyone argue that something is being direct affected there

All you’re doing is saying what something is with sein

[plain umbra]

Er wird ein Arzt. How can you argue that doesn't isn't being directly affected here? Er sieht einen Hund. How can you argue that something is being directly affected here?

Trying to apply that rule to all verbs is just a recipe for confusion.

[swift bough]

I said nothing about „werden“, I only said something about „sein“.

[spare delta]

so seinen ist not used usually?

[plain umbra]

Then I fail to see why it's relevant to add to an explanation for a total beginner trying to understand cases.

[swift bough]

Because I‘m helping them understand the logic of it

[plain umbra]

Yeah, it is. "Sein" meaning "his" is different from "sein" the verb, which means "to be". They're just spelled the same.

[plain umbra]

I just explained why that logic is confusing though...

[swift bough]

There is a logic behind it

Well firstly I said nothing about „werden“. When it comes to werden, that is definitely not as black and white as to why it is the way it is.

But sein is way more black and white in that regard

[plain umbra]

I'm not going to argue with you about it.

[spare delta]

Thank you both !!!, this is still a bit confusing to me , so if you have any resource that may help me please feel free to dm me

[plain umbra]

I would check out some of the FAQs to start with.

You can type >faq cases and >faq nominative, and the same for other cases, into #botchannel any time to see them.

And also try just googling German cases or something, and check out a few of the links that come up. I think it's good to browse them a bit and see if you can find an explanation that works for you.

And if you don't know about subjects and objects in English, or maybe you forgot about it a bit, it can be good to read about the English grammar a little bit too.

[spare delta]

Oh I definitely missed out tons of grammar explanation in English

[plain umbra]

Oh I forgot to mention, if your native language isn't English, you can also just look it up in whatever your language is as well.