questions-2

[plain umbra]

Obviously all languages are a bit different, but it helps a bit so that you understand some of the key ideas.

[fervent kernel]

Es ist halb zehn mittags

is this correct

[swift bough]

I mean...yes...but, that means it’s 9:30am „in the afternoon“, sounds kinda strange if you ask me

But, you have the correct idea of how you can say the time in that way.

[scenic drift]

what if it's nine in the afternoon / and your eyes are the size of the moon

[swift bough]

Not sure about that one

[scenic drift]

(a song by panic at the disco, for those missing the reference )

[swift bough]

I did miss that reference.

[fervent kernel]

@swift bough Should it be es ist halb zehn morgen

[swift bough]

morgens*

Yeah

[kind knoll]

Das Auto, das ich gekauft habe, ich schon kapuu

can someone tell me why ich is there?

[swift bough]

Or it could be „abends“

But it’s like for hours which are at least 11:30am probably, you probably don’t use „mittags“, since it means „in the afternoon“

[scenic drift]

i assume that last bit should be "ist schon kaput" :^)

[swift bough]

Ye

[kind knoll]

i think so too, the translation says "is" too but its ich hre

[swift bough]

Doesn’t make sense with ich

[scenic drift]

then it's a typo

where are you getting this from?

[kind knoll]

https://iwillteachyoualanguage.com/learn/german/german-tips/verb-position-in-german

[scenic drift]

yep, das a typo

[kind knoll]

thank you

[quartz plover]

Ich bin langweilig und Mir ist langweilig - Unterschied bitte

[swift bough]

Ich bin langweilig = I am boring
Mir ist langweilig = I am bored

[quartz plover]

Warum nutzen wir Mir ? Warum nicht mich?

[swift bough]

„Mir ist langweilig“ ist eine abgekürzte Form von „mir ist es langweilig“.

„Es“ ist in dem Fall das Subjekt

[quartz plover]

Ah ok.

Ich verstehe. It is boring to me

Danke sehr.

[swift bough]

Das ist auch bei so was wie „mir ist (es) kalt“ der Fall.

[quartz plover]

Okay..👌

[swift bough]

Ja, exakt

[quartz plover]

Danke sehr!!

[heavy stratus]

I understand that prepositions can't be translated 1:1 from German to English, but i've made an observation and I'd like to know if it's on the right lines. So, I've noticed that 'am' is used similer to 'by', like 'das Boot am Meer' (the boat by the sea, like it's docked just by the sea) and 'das Boot auf dem Meer (the boat on the sea, like it's sailing as one would normally imagine). Is this about right?

[long whale]

Umm... I think I'd rather say "das Boot am Steg/am Ufer/am Strand" than "am Meer". It would work with a house, though: ein Haus am Meer. So, yeah, in this case it does work. :)

[heavy stratus]

Thanks! soo, would things like ,,dieKatze an der Scheibe'' ,,Der Elephant am Fluss''Der mann am Fenster des Buros'' work?

[long whale]

*des Büros - Yes, except for "die Katze an der Scheibe" which sounds downright horrible - as if someone had squashed a cat against a window pane. So, that would be "hinter der Scheibe". :)

But "am Fenster" would work. :)

[heavy stratus]

haha okay, thank you! prepositions are looking less scary by the day

[summer crystal]

How do I know if the prefix on a verb is separable or not?

[long whale]

Oof... by learning the always-inseparable prefixes? If you're talking about special cases where there is 1 verb in 2 versions, there aren't very many of those, and the rule is: the literal meaning is usually the separable one. Or were you asking about something else altogether?

In general, for those which might be separable or inseparable, I think there is no way around learning it together with the verb.

I mean, the rule which says "separable verbs get stressed on the prefix" isn't really helpful, is it?

[summer crystal]

Oof... by learning the always-inseparable prefixes?
Yeah, good idea. I know only ver-, though.
If you're talking about special cases where there is 1 verb in 2 versions
No, I don't think I am...
Or were you asking about something else altogether?
Maybe. Like, if I see losfahren, how do I know if I write "fahren...los" or "losfahren", for example? (given that it is the single verb in the sentence, of course)

[long whale]

Here's a list of the inseparable ones: https://www.dartmouth.edu/~deutsch/Grammatik/Wortbildung/Inseparables.html

They also have a list of the - potentially - separable ones, but you may want to leave that for a later date... :) @summer crystal

[long whale]

I guess it would depend on your usual method of learning. If you do it via flashcards, I'd recommend including the conjugation: losfahren, fährt los, fuhr los, losgefahren - something like that.

[summer crystal]

Yeah, my current shared deck has them. I'll keep that when I start making my own.

Danke Susana! :)

[wanton zodiac]

Was ist der Unterschied zwischen trennbares und untrennbares "umgehen"?

[scenic drift]

wiktionary has a good summary of the two definitions: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/umgehen

(tl;dr:
untrennbares - transitive, avoid a physical / non-physical obstacle
trennbares - intransitive, deal with something, go around in circles, haunt)

[wanton zodiac]

ahh

thnk you

[lucid sluice]

Is it okay to say: weil an unserer Schule ein Sporttag hat statt gefindet?

[wise pendant]

Weil an unserer Schule ein Sporttag stattgefunden hat.

[lucid sluice]

Aha ty. Is it also correct to say: das Essen war sehr appetitlich aber das Trinken war ja okay

[wise pendant]

"ja" doesn't belong there

[long whale]

das Trinken = the act of drinking

[lucid sluice]

Does the aber fit?

[lucid sluice]

How would I say the drinks here?

[delicate tiger]

..., aber die Getränke waren nur okay

[onyx rain]

I haven often observed that natives use "ja" in between the sentence, does it still mean "yes" or is it a filler word and means something else ?

[swift bough]

It doesn't literally mean "yes" when it's like that

It is being used as a modal particle

I think there's some good resources for modal particles in general online

[onyx rain]

Okay I will look it up, thanks

[swift bough]

np

[undone verge]

In between sentences it's also not uncommon to hear it used completely without meaning in spoken german. Kinda like saying 'um' or 'yeeeaahhh' between points when speaking in english.

[fossil wolf]

I was womdering, about freerice.com, does anyone know if there is a liat of thevocavulary in the queations? I don't kbow many of them, so I thought atudying them before doing the quiz might have been a good idea

[granite spade]

"Aber mehr können sie nicht sagen, denn als sie den Mund aufmachen, fällt ihnen einen gebratenes Täubchen hinein" Can someone explain this use of als in the present tense to me? Why als here, and not a regular wenn?

[granite spade]

And moreover what is this "einen" doing here

[dapper iron]

guten tag an alle

Auf dem Wochenmarkt gibt es jedoch nicht nur Produkte zu kaufen.

question: infinitive mit zu normally has a coma before a sentence that without a subject. The above sentence is from an article, what is the grammar that is applied in here ?

[scenic drift]

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~deutsch/Grammatik/WordOrder/Infinitives.html

[long whale]

You're reading something from about 300 years ago. German has changed a little in the meantime, and "als" isn't used anymore in the sense of "as soon as". I warmly recommend trying to find some more modern reading material. :)

[long whale]

That's definitely a typo. Should be "ein". :)

[sudden cloud]

Ich entscheide, dass ich ein Hamburger essen möchte.
Ich entscheide, dass ich ein Hamburger zu essen möchte.

is there a diffenrece between these two

[pure compass]

the 2nd one is grammatically incorrect

you don't need "zu" with modal verbs

[sudden cloud]

ok thanks

[dapper iron]

guten Tag an Alle

Gemüse & Co

what is Co actually meant ?

[deep compass]

Can anyone please help me with this i don't know the answer

Q) Was ist richtig?

r Buch, -er

s Buch, - ''er

e Buch, -en

[scenic drift]

usually "X & Co" means "X & Company"

[dapper iron]

thank you

[undone verge]

with a question like this, it's going to be easier to just look it up on a dictionary (https://www.duden.de/woerterbuch), but the correct answer is das Buch, die Bücher.

[still lantern]

Yeah, but because it was used so often the meaning shifted a bit. Nowadays it can just mean "X & other things (similar to X)". It's a bit like "X etc."
"Gemüse & Co." could mean that they have vegetables and maybe fruits, herbs, spices, juices or maybe something completely different like cigarettes or newspapers.
@dapper iron

[dapper iron]

thanks a lot

[heavy stratus]

What's the difference between an Obergrenze and a Decke?

Also, das 'Schleier ist eines der Zeichen, dass...'

Why is it eines here instead of einer, if they meant 'one of the signs (plural)' here?

[swift bough]

Because it is one of them @heavy stratus

eines der Zeichen

[swift bough]

Obergrenze can be used metaphorically

[heavy stratus]

Thanks state traffic ministry

[heavy stratus]

So does this mean these would be correct?
,,eines der Autos''
,,eines der Pferden ''
,,eines der Gebäuden''

[swift bough]

Yep

you can actually have it be plural, in a way, if you use a word that is inherently plural

Like if you use the word „manche“

Manche der Zeichen

Or „einige“

Yeah true, didn‘t pay that close attention

[long whale]

Sounds as if the question arose from an article about the "Mietendeckel", so, that's also used figuratively there. ;)

[heavy stratus]

Oh curious, I thought genitive plural had an -n at the end of declined nouns

[long whale]

As to rents, there is no difference. But you'd usually use "Obergrenze" in that kind of context. "Deckel" was just chosen for its descriptive value (think pot cover), I think. ;)

[heavy stratus]

How'd you figure that out from just Obergrenze 😄

[long whale]

Reading minds is what I do to make money. ;)

[heavy stratus]

Hm, if you say so :p

Danke für die Hilfe, alle

[steel walrus]

hello hallo moin servus moin Leute, quick question y'all. wieso and warrum, both seem to mean why but how do you know when to use either one? is there a rule for it?

[long whale]

wieso is rather more colloquial. There's no difference in meaning, though. Please note it's warum (only 1 "r"). :)

[steel walrus]

Oooh really? i thought there was an actual difference haha. Well that simplifies things, thanks for the help ^^ also, haha i hadnt noticed i used 2 Rs haha i usually spell it right, i promise haha.

[granite spade]

Haha that's from the book that the reading group here was reading last night!

Also, the book is apparently from 2010 💀

[dusky pollen]

Okay, I have a dumb question for native German speakers - have "tschüs" ever meant "hello/hi"? Or has it always been used for goodbye?

[night dagger]

not a native obvs, but i don't think tschüss ever works like that. it's not like "ciao" in italian where it can be used as "hello" or "goodbye"

[dusky pollen]

That's why I'm asking the natives, so they have the opportunity for instance to ask their parents if they heard something like this

[long whale]

Very interesting. What book is it?

[delicate tiger]

no, tschau/tschüss is "goodbye" only

[granite spade]

"Der Kommunismus" 3. Übersrbeitete(!) Auflage, by Bini Adamczak

[long whale]

Thank you. It's strange though, isn't it? Because from the way "als" was used, it looked like a sentence from a fairy tale as written down by the Brothers Grimm.

[granite spade]

That's why I had to ask, I don't think I had ever come across als used like that before. Hammer's German Grammar and Usage doesn't list that use of als

[night dagger]

ist "er weiß mit Sprache umzugehen" auf deutsch idiomatisch wie "he has a way with words" auf english?

[granite spade]

I believe so yes

[night dagger]

okely dokely

aber du klingst nicht sicher lol

[ember mason]

Er kann mit Sprachen gut umgehen

Klingt auf Deutsch besser

[night dagger]

danke Babsi

[lime crater]

bin means "am" right? as in ich bin name

[ember mason]

Ja

Ich bin
Du bist
Er ist
Wir sind
Ihr seid
Sie sind

[long whale]

Yup, it is. ;)

[long whale]

That's fine, but it doesn't quite mean the same thing, particularly as you used "Sprachen", plural. ;)

[ember mason]

Ah, I did that because they didn't use articles in his original text

Well observed

[summer crystal]

What's the grammatical difference between "von" and "davon"?

[dapper epoch]

Niemand spricht davon.(no one speaks of that). Or Niemand spricht von dem Problem.(Nobody speaks about the problem)

[summer crystal]

So davon refers to an already spoken thing, and von is simply "from the"? Did I get that right?

[lime crater]

ß is pronounced "sh" or?

[dapper epoch]

its pronounced as a simple S. Like Hiss and a single s in german is usually spoken as a Z.

[granite spade]

@summer crystal This "da-compound" is called the prepositional adverb, if you want to study it more. The "da" points you either forward or back in the text to where the relevant information is.

[summer crystal]

Toll! Danke ihr zwei! :)

[lime crater]

Danke!

[dapper epoch]

kein problem!

[granite spade]

It also has an interrogative counterpart: "Wovon redest du denn?"

[lime crater]

Im assuinf kein is "no" but i thoufht nein was no?

assuming*

[dapper epoch]

That's right! see how interaction helps with language more than anything else?

[lime crater]

Yeah!

[dapper epoch]

Oh i forgot to mention the other part

[lime crater]

?

[dapper epoch]

no is said as an answer. Nein, i don't want to go to the party

[lime crater]

Ohh

[dapper epoch]

but kein is used when you want to say, I have no money. In german you don't say, i don't have money, you say "i have no money" as in "Ich habe kein geld"

[lime crater]

Oh, thank you!

[dapper epoch]

No problem!

[lime crater]

Would ja still be the same in each context?

[dapper epoch]

Ja would just be yes. Yes, I am well. (Ja, Ich bin gut).

[long whale]

"ja" has a few other uses/meanings, apart from "yes", but I'd say they aren't really important at the beginning. :)

[long whale]

"ich bin gut" either means "I'm a good person", or "Hey, I'm a genius". ;)

You were looking for "Ja, es geht mir gut" ;)

[dapper epoch]

Sorry i wrote that trying to think of an alternative to "Es geht mir gut"

but yea, ^ they're right, you don't need to learn all the meanings of a word in all contexts. You'll get the subtleties from input.

[lime crater]

Ohh, danke !

[dapper epoch]

If you don't mind me asking, are you looking to learn Deutsch as a personal goal or a professional one?

[plain umbra]

Here is a good starting point for you: https://resources.german.lsa.umich.edu/grammatik/da/

[lime crater]

Personal, i plan on going there one day after corona

[dapper epoch]

Boy.. where were you when the rest of us were starting out????

[dapper epoch]

Good choice... Germany is a pleasant country. I first went there when i was little, i still remember the experiences

[lime crater]

Oh really? dope

[plain umbra]

Right here waiting for you all to join the server. 😌

But just as a note, try to keep off-topic conversations out of #questions / #questions-2 so that people can keep asking questions here.

[summer crystal]

Oh, I've learned about the da-compounds recently; just failed miserably to realise that literally "da+von" was one. 😅 Need to get more used to them, I suppose.

[dapper epoch]

In der Jugendsprache was bedeutet "Krass"...

[long whale]

"cool" or "awesome" (or whatever equivalent of those is used these days ;) )

[dapper epoch]

Danke!

[long whale]

Come to think of it, this definition is probably more to the point: "Krass" as a slang term can mean many different things from "cool" over "that's odd" to "what a pity". It depends on the situation. Colloquially it's an all purpose adjective, mainly used by young people. For emphasizing you can use it together with "voll". From: https://german.stackexchange.com/questions/3457/what-does-krass-mean

[lime crater]

What are some sites/apps/anything to help with learning the currency is germany?

[swift bough]

You mean Euros?

[slim yew]

the two choices are the same

whhich is correct

[latent wadi]

`mit s

[fallow ledge]

„Das ist ja wohl ein Witz, für eine sowas von durchschnittliche Wohnung ....“

Ist dieser Einsatz von „sowas von“ als Adjektiv gebräuchlich?

[lime crater]

yea

[swift bough]

Do you mean like a conversion rate? You can just google that, there’s also calculators for it. One euro is slightly stronger than a US dollar. I think it’s close to 1.15$ or so just off the top of my head. What else do you need to know?

[ember mason]

Hmmmmmmmmm würde nicht sagen dass diese Redewendung als Adjektiv betrachtet werden sollte. Sie bedeutet eher "besonders" (besonders ist ein Adverb). Ist aber sehr umgangssprachlich bzw nicht grammatikalisch begründet.

Letztens schreibt man "so was" getrennt laut korrekturen.de

[lime crater]

Uh yea, what id aunt in german

[swift bough]

I meant what else do you need to know in regards of the currency?

But aunt is „die Tante“

[scenic drift]

yeah i'm really not sure what it is you're asking for here 😅

[lime crater]

Oh uh, i think thats about it, Is there a certian caculator for that you suggest

[swift bough]

Google has one xD

[ember mason]

I always just google the conversion

X dollars in euros for example

[swift bough]

You can literally just type „1 Euro in Dollars“

[fallow ledge]

Danke für die gründliche Antwort. Ich merke, dass Muttersprachler es oft zusammenschreiben aber es ist schon gut zu wissen dass es in Wirklichkeit getrennt geschrieben werden sollte 💖 nochmals danke!

[ember mason]

Ja das sehe ich auch oft 🙂

[fallow ledge]

Erinnert mich an Dankeschön

Was man oft ohne Leerzeichen dazwischen sieht, aber was eigentlich (in der geläufigsten Situationen) getrennt geschrieben werden sollte

Mensch diese Verbphrase ist zu lang, wäre es möglich „getrennt geschrieben werden sollte“ kürzer zu formulieren?

[ember mason]

oh mein Gott mein Leben ist eine Lüge

[dapper iron]

guten Tag an alle

haben beide "verkaufen und anbringen" die gleicher Bedeutung ?

[ember mason]

Not at all.

Verkaufen - to sell
Anbringen - to take home OR to install (there are other meanings but mostly these)

[swift bough]

I’ve only ever heard/used anbringen for installing something

Interesting, Duden has it as a colloquial one, the „bring home“ one, and it’s actually the very first one listed

[fervent kernel]

The word in German for manual/rulebook? But like the one that a university publishes, and has like Article 1, 2 etc..

[ember mason]

Handbuch?

[fervent kernel]

(has like the obligations and rights of a student)

[fervent kernel]

I dont think so?

This is like an official document

[ember mason]

Satzung

[fervent kernel]

That's it, ty!!

[swift bough]

Jahren would only happen if it’s dative plural.

Well sometimes, there are nouns which get -en on their own already in their plural forms, regardless of what case they’re in.

Like „Jungen“

there are also words that belong to something calling „n-declension“ and they will get an -n ending in their singular forms in accusative, dative, and genitive

den Menschen
dem Menschen
des Menschen

[long whale]

faq N-Deklination

[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__.

[long whale]

Maybe this will help? ^ :)

[swift bough]

Good question. If the Plural ends in -s then this rule does not apply.

There is no such thing as „Autosn“

[long whale]

No. As you can see, weak nouns get -n added in every case except Nom. sg. :)

While the plural of "Jahr" is "Jahre" :)

[swift bough]

I forgot that weak nouns were even a thing tbh

[long whale]

Um, that's not quite to the point. German plurals are pretty irregular (although there are patterns). It's best to learn a noun with a) its gender and b) its plural. :)

No, in Dativ plural, there's regularly an -n added (except for nouns whose plural ends in -s). It's the Nominativ plural which often can't be deduced from Nominativ singular. :)

Therefore, as soon as you know a words plural (because you learnt it to start with), you can deduce the rest of the case endings. :)

For Dativ plural, yes. :)

Uh - no. "Spielzeug" is rarely used in plural (although it isn't impossible). Yes, gehören requires Dativ, but the person/s something belongs to is in Dativ, and "gehören" can not be used with a prepositon. :)

@harsh berry

If you do use it with "zu", it's like saying "is/are a part of". :)

Das Spielzeug gehört den Kindern. :)

[quartz plover]

Ich steh blöd mit meinem Wagen (meaning please)

[undone verge]

wenn es buchstäblich übersetzt werden kann bzw. kein Sprichwort ist, dann grob geschätzt: I stand stupidly with my car//I stand like an idiot with my car.

[quartz plover]

Okay danke sehr.

Es war praktisch umsonst ( meaning please)

[undone verge]

it was practically for nothing

[plucky loom]

how do i say
that Mozart died in 5th December 1791
Mozart am 5. Dezember 1791 gestorben?

[undone verge]

actually here I'm not sure if there's an ambiguity. I think it could mean either 'it was practically free' or 'it was for nothing (as in 'in vain')'

probably with context easier

[plucky loom]

pls help

[undone verge]

you're missing 1 word. gestorben is a past participle and as such, needs a verb before it to make sense

'Ich bin gestorben'

[plucky loom]

but how do i say

that mozart died on 5th december 1791

[undone verge]

Mozart ___ am 5. Dezember 1791 gestorben?

[plucky loom]

okay thanks

[sly stump]

Was ist der Unterschied zwischen Verwenden und Benutzen?

1. Ich verwende mein Iphone
2. Ich benutze mein Iphone

[long whale]

In this context, there is no difference. :)

[slim yew]

mit means about?

i have learnt the prepositions all wrong

[swift bough]

Prepositions are probably one of the most difficult parts of German. This is because sadly you will never always have a 1-to-1 translation for an English preposition. What you have to actually do instead is learn which prepositions get used in which scenarios/situations and with which verbs. It’s a very time-consuming process that takes a lot of immersion and involvement with the language.

Like you can translate „auf“ as: on, to, at, up, in

You won’t be able to just guess which one it is. You have to learn it, by heart.

[slim yew]

😔

[swift bough]

There are some prepositions which are generally easier and more close to an English preposition, such as mit, which is typically translated with „with“, but as you see, there’s other areas where it also can function as something else.

[kind knoll]

What’s the difference between da sind and es gibt?

[undone verge]

es gibt = there is
da sind = there is but more literally locational.
example: Es gibt an dieser Uni zwei Professoren, die Mathematik lehren.
Da sind zwei Professoren in der Mensa.

[fervent kernel]

is "ich lerne dreizehn Fächer in der Schule" grammatically correct

[boreal prairie]

yes

[fervent kernel]

danke

[long whale]

What @undone verge said is correct. However, please note that "es gibt" isn't always a good translation for "there is/are", since "es gibt" is only used for things which won't quickly disappear. For example "There is a book on the table" would translate to "Auf dem Tisch liegt ein Buch" or "Ein Buch liegt auf dem Tisch", and not to Auf dem Tisch gibt es ein Buch. :)

[boreal prairie]

es gibt is pretty much a confirmation for something or someone existing

da sind is more location specific

they are essentially as far apart as you could imagine

[swift bough]

„Es gibt“ implies the permanence of where something is too. If you said „auf dem Tisch gibt es ein Buch“ then it sounds like the Book will always be on the table.

[verbal plinth]

Hallo can someone just check this grammar for me please. “Dannach mache ich much bereit fur Schule und gehen”

I’m really just wondering if I can stick und gehen on the end of it

[scenic drift]

"Danach mache ich mich für die Schule bereit und gehe"

[sage gale]

is finden akk or nominativ

[ember mason]

You don't need to post on both channels, mate

[sage gale]

sry :/

[onyx rain]

Wann benuzt man "." nach Nummer ?
(When does one use a "." after numbers in German? And when not to ?)

[proven sphinx]

It's used like "th" as in "4th" is used in English.

Der 23. April

Pronounced as "der dreiundzwanzigste April".

[onyx rain]

Oh danke. I completely misunderstood this one. So sayin "seit 2. Monaten" ist falsch ?

[proven sphinx]

Yeah, it doesn't work like that at all.

In fact, you should write out all numbers before 13.

"Seit zwei Monaten".

[fallow ledge]

Ich bin ein wenig verwirrt und kann auch nicht schlau daraus werden, ob „sein“ oder „haben“ mit stehen und sitzen verwendet werden sollte

Beispielsweise, welche Varietät sagt man

Ich habe/bin im Schaukelstuhl gesessen.

Er hat/ist auf dem Schlauch gestanden.

[swift bough]

Es geht meistens um die Region, eigentlich. @fallow ledge

[fallow ledge]

Kek

Deswegen bin ich verwirrt

[swift bough]

In Bayern sagt man „ich bin gesessen“.

In Norddeutschland nicht

[fallow ledge]

Geht das auch mit stehen?

Und übrigens erklärt das auch wieso ich verwirrt war, weil es beide gibt

[swift bough]

Ja

[fallow ledge]

Ahh interessant

[swift bough]

Sei glücklich, dass es halt regional ist, und sich nicht um eine Feinheit handelt.

[fallow ledge]

Ich kann es nachvollziehen, wieso es so mit sein gesagt wird. Es erinnert mich ein wenig an sein und bleiben, was auch sein als Hilfsverb haben

[fallow ledge]

Halt nur landschaftlich 🙌

[swift bough]

Irgendwie ergibt es schon Sinn mit „sein“, weil man sein auch als Hilfsverb bei „bleiben“ benutzt, wo es auch keine Bewegung gibt.

Was zugegebenermaßen schon ein wenig widerspruchsvoll ist, aber es ist einfach verständlicher wenn man sehr viel Kontakt mit der Sprache hatte/hat.

[fallow ledge]

Ja hab ich auch bemerkt 🤔

Ah mir fällt gerade noch eine Frage ein

Was ist eigentlich der Unterschied zwischen zwei und zwo. Beides hab ich gehört, und zwar nicht nur von Sprechern aus bestimmten Regionen, sondern aus weit Verbreiteten und verschiedenen

Wenn es einen Unterschied gibt, ich würde mich auch freuen wenn es nur eine regionale Sache wäre

[swift bough]

„Zwo“ habe ich noch nie gehört, da müsstest du dich an jemanden anderen wenden 🙃

Ich hab „zwoa“ gehört aber das ist halt das bairische Wort für zwei

[solid hull]

zwo benutzt man wenn man nicht will dass der Andere dadurch “drei” versteht

Ich glaube das wird meistens bei Lottozahlen verwendet, also wenn im Fernseher die Lottozahlen geteilt werden

Anscheined auch im militärischen Gespräch

[fallow ledge]

Ah das erklärts, ich höre es oft in diesem Wissenschaftspodcast den ich oft anhöre

[solid hull]

Zween (männlich), zwo (weiblich), zwei (sachlich) 😍 wenn es sie nur noch gäbe brudaa

Achso

[swift bough]

Ich weiß nicht wie man zwei überhaupt als drei hören könnte, es sei denn man hat schwache Ohren

[solid hull]

Naja, beide haben ja <ei>
In Telefongesprächen lässt das sich verstehen meine ich

[wanton zodiac]

what is the infinitive form of "gilt"?

[scenic drift]

gelten

[onyx rain]

I think it got answered, anyway I will tell what I know, "zwo" is used when you are telling out numbers loud (e.g. say if you were telling your phone number etc.). It is used so that one doesn't confuse "zwei" with "drei"

[near folio]

welcher denn?

[fallow ledge]

Zwo

[long whale]

@fallow ledge That's the podcast's name? "Zwo"?

[fallow ledge]

Ohh

Sorry

Er heißt Spektrum der Wissenschaft

https://open.spotify.com/show/4etoV8Si1czg0jvKYE2Uik?si=lN45b2SiQ_-tC-SodmZEDg

[near folio]

ah danke

[mint ravine]

Anyone have any German music recommendations?

Podcasts would be great too- right now I'm just using Alles Gesagt

Trying to improve my listening skills right now and somewhat quickly so I'm trying to consume as much German media as possible in the background

[plain umbra]

Check out the links in our resource list.

faq resources

[stoic mauve]

Resources

https://bit.ly/gladresources

[mint ravine]

thanks

👍

[summer crystal]

What does "jenen" means here?

Ich könnte all jenen, die unseren Planeten nicht kennen, eine falsche Vorstellung von ihm geben.

[fervent kernel]

"those", in the dative plural

I could give those who do not know our planet a false impression of it

[summer crystal]

Danke!

[onyx rain]

After a lot of trial and error, I finally got that "arbeiten" Verb is strictly used for professional work. Also, wie man sagt "I am working on my assignment" ?

[scenic drift]

i don't think it's used strictly for professional work 🧐
"Ich arbeiete an meiner Aufgabe" for example...

maybe "bearbeiten" could work here too

[fervent kernel]

Do you mean arbeiten as verb or as noun? Arbeiten as a verb is not only for professional work, but Arbeiten as a noun is different from "Job". Job is like side-job that people usually do after the real career work.

[onyx rain]

I meant as a verb. I have often been misunderstood with that. Perhaps because I said "ich arbeite jetzt" to "was machst du?" Und dann "dass ich bin nur eine Studentin, also wie kann ich arbeite" But I think I got it, it's because I didn't say what I am working at/on.

[quartz plover]

Hallo Alle.

Kaufen Sie sich ein Eis dafür - Does this mean congratulations ? Or any slang? (Meaning please)

[ember mason]

Well, literally it means "buy yourself some ice (or ice cream, depends on context) for that". I have never seen it have anything other than that literal meaning

[heavy stratus]

Die Bewegungen dieser Armee was waren so fein aufeinander abgestimmt wie die eines Opernballets

I understand this to mean 'the movements of this army were so finely tuned after one another like an (opera ballet? I'm not sure what Opernballet is). I'm confused about the 'die' inserted between 'wie' and 'eines' here?

Also, if I may slide an additional quesion in, is 'an die Reihe kommen' to enter a line or more like 'its their turn now'. Like, 'zuerst kommen die Sraßenlaternenanzünder an die Reihe'

[long whale]

"so... wie" = as [finely tuned] as

as finely tuned as those (= die)

[long whale]

ich bin [jetzt] an der Reihe = it's my turn [now]

das Opernballett is the very best and expensive kind of ballet, with extremely well-trained dancers. ;)

[heavy stratus]

,,Guck mal! Du bist an der Reihe, die Ente anzufassen!'' and ,,komm mal an die Reihe, auf das Boot zu springen''. Odd examples, but do these work gramatically?

[onyx rain]

Not literally but if the context is already applied, it could mean celebrate by buying yourself an ice-cream

[long whale]

Very odd examples. :D You can't turn it into imperative in German, therefore komm mal an die Reihe 🤷

[heavy stratus]

Thanks so much! @long whale

[fervent kernel]

Wie kann Mann sagen "experiences" zum Deutch? But like if i wanna google "___ experiences" (for some program)

[swift bough]

Erfahrungen

[fervent kernel]

Danke

[plain umbra]

@deep pine Please only ask in one channel. Not both.

[deep pine]

Tut mir leid.

[fallow ledge]

Hallo ich hatte nur eine kurze Frage zum Verb hängen.

Wird hängen regelmäßig konjugiert wenn Bewegung gemeint ist und unregelmäßig wenn nicht.
Also habe ich diese Sätze richtig geschrieben?

Ich hängt das Bild an die Wand
Ich habe das Bild an die Wand gehängt.

Das Bild hing an der Wand.
Das Bild ist/hat (welches?) an der Wand gehangen.

[solid hull]

die meisten Verben die sein in der Vergangenheit haben, sind stark
hängen als starkes Verb ist intransitiv, dafür ist ein schwaches hängen transitiv

[scenic drift]

hmm. "fachgerecht zu entsorgen muss"?

[wanton zodiac]

But i thought you dont need "zu" with modal verbs?

[long whale]

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.

[long whale]

:)

[scenic drift]

well, they have had a go at it susana 😉

[long whale]

Well, but helping people with their exams... 👀

[wanton zodiac]

Its homework

But ok, ill make sure to not ask again

[nimble willow]

Hello can I please ask as to why in the sentence “ich muss den Termin absagen”, we use “den” instead of “dem” considering absagen is a dative verb

[undone verge]

its not

[proven sphinx]

I'd say that using it with an accusative object is more common.

Sure, you can say: "Ich muss dir leider absagen", but it's more common to say "Ich musste den Termin/die Veranstaltung/die Konferenz absagen".

[nimble willow]

Oh okay, I was told from a YT video that it was dative. He’s a pretty reliable youtuber too

[nimble willow]

Okay thank you very much

[proven sphinx]

That's a really weird way of saying it, even though it's technically correct because of sentences like "Ich muss dir absagen."

[nimble willow]

Yeah, his example used a dative personal pronoun too

But when I tried finding other examples the nouns were kept in accusative. So I was assuming whether absagen only acted as dative if it involved people

[proven sphinx]

Yeah, maybe you could indeed say that.

[nimble willow]

Okay, thank you for the help!

[proven sphinx]

With the dative, it basically means telling someone that you can't meet them or simply decline an invitation. With the accusative, it means cancelling some event.

[nimble willow]

Yeah that would make sense with these examples

[slim yew]

germans like to use . to split long numbers every 3 digits instead of , ?

it confuses me to think that they are using decimal points

[fervent kernel]

I think it depends on what device are you using, in Italian when we write with our hands on a paper we use . for that thing and , for decimal points, but in calculators it's the opposite thing

[scenic drift]

it's a european thing, tbh:
if i wanted to write 3x1000 + 5x100 + 7x0.1:
US/UK:
3,500.70
Europe:
3.500,70

easy enough to get used to.

[slim yew]

i usually leave a space every e digits

3

[fervent kernel]

Is there any website/app where I can try for free an exam for CEFR certifications?

[scenic drift]

you mean to estimate your level?

[fervent kernel]

Yes

[scenic drift]

goethe have a test that can be a good place to start.
https://www.goethe.de/en/spr/kup/tsd.html

[slim yew]

is it das Sandwich or der Sandwich

[slim yew]

the goethe german test is literally from their existing pratice papers

[scenic drift]

duden says either: https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Sandwich

[fervent kernel]

Thank you!

[night sun]

@slim yew Das Sandwich

[fervent kernel]

i have to correct this sentence "Das Mädchen, die er anschaute, wurde sauer."

Is "die er anschaute" the relative pronomen? So what should "die" change to?

[scenic drift]

well, what's the gender of Mädchen? :^)

[fervent kernel]

yeah das then. Thought Mädchen was feminium for a sec xD

[slim yew]

das

[gilded holly]

kann jemand das erklären .. warum nutzen sie (Dativ in dem Regisseur) in diesem Satz : Mit seinem dritten Spielfilm "gegen die Wand ", der Geschichte einer unglücklichen Scheinehe mit Biröl Ünel und Sibel Kekili in den Hauptrollen , gelingt dem Regisseur 2004 der internationale Durchbruch.

[undone verge]

gelingen is a verb that requires a dative object.
etwas ist jemandem gelingen. (they succeeded)

I shouldn't say 'requires' I suppose. You can also use it without a dativ object (der Durchbruch ist gelungen).

[gilded holly]

yea but isn't (Regisseur ) here a Subject? he did the thing so he must be in Nominativ ?

[undone verge]

no, in this case it is not the grammatical subject of that sentence. The thing (der Durchbruch) is the subject, and der Regisseur is the dativ object.
consider it something like 'the breakthrough is to the director succeeded.' Kinda like the verb gefallen. etwas gefällt mir.

[gilded holly]

yea i got you now 🙂 ty

[jagged willow]

Hallo, es gibt Kantinen in der Sekundarschule bitte?

[long whale]

In some, but by no means in all of them. :)

[jagged willow]

ok ty !

[proven sphinx]

Hierzulande nennen wir es eher "Mensa" als "Kantine".

[jagged willow]

ok !

[fervent kernel]

Is fressen always used when talking about an animal eating?

[proven sphinx]

Yeah.

[fervent kernel]

can you also use essen

[swift bough]

If you use it with a person it is usually insulting or ironic

[proven sphinx]

Yeah, most of the time you can.

[fervent kernel]

Oh interesting ty

[summer crystal]

Is there a rule for when to use -chen and when to use -lein when forming diminutives?

[night dagger]

pretty sure you can add „-chen“ to almost any noun to make it more cute or something. words like „koch“ might sound weird with that ending though because it ends with „ch“ already, so „-lein“ might be better, but I think „-lein“ might be generally dated as a diminutive as it’s inappropriate to refer to a woman as a „Fräulein“. 🤷

[long whale]

You usually add "-chen", but when a word ends in "-ch", you add "-lein". Don't forget the vowel change, though: Buch -> Büchlein; Bach -> Bächlein. ;) @night dagger

Neither Büchchen nor Buchchen will work. ;)

[jagged steppe]

halloooo, koennte jemand mir sagen ob 'Gluecksquellen' oder 'Quellen des Gluecks' sich besser anhoert?

[rugged iron]

can somebody help me with german 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]

@rugged iron ^

[rugged iron]

but what if its in a book

irl book

[scenic drift]

well, the point is that you need to have a go first, we can't do your homework for you :^)

[rugged iron]

oh ok

[woeful quail]

I am using lingq and one of the sentences is "Manchmal versuche ich ein Gourmet Menü" To which I read as Sometimes I try a Gourmet Menu/Item/Dish. Deepl says similar, but the translate button on Lingq(which uses Google) says "I usually open a bottle of wine with my meal" Is this a saying, or is the translation on lingq provided by google just wildly off?

[scenic drift]

uhm, no clue where that lingq translation is meant to come from 😅

[woeful quail]

Okay haha, thats what I thought but wanted to make sure it wasn't an idiom or something xD

[heavy stratus]

If I remember correctly lots of volunteers transcribe and upload texts along with audo to LingQ and provide translations too (maybe with some translation software)

[pallid ravine]

Hello everyone ! I was wondering whether it exists an antonym for the word "lieblings-" like in "lieblingsfarbe", but which may express the exact opposite to say a color one's hates for example. Can anyone tell me please ?

[sage wolf]

Is there one?

am wenigsten Lieblingsfarbe?

[scenic drift]

unbeliebteste Farbe?

[pallid ravine]

I don't know, I was looking at a text from a classmate of mine and I saw Hass- as the antonym of Lieblings-, so I was wondering if such a word existed 🤔

[scenic drift]

i don't think that works 🤔

[long whale]

Not to my knowledge, no. There's just X mag ich am liebsten; Y mag ich am wenigsten 🤷

[pallid ravine]

Well, I think I've got my answer :) Thank you, the three of you @sage wolf, @scenic drift and @long whale 😊

[fervent kernel]

Is there a difference between Krankenpfleger and Pflegefachmann?

Oh god there's also Krankenschwester lol

[long whale]

former names of the job: Krankenschwester = nurse; Krankenpfleger = male nurse; current names of the job: Pflegefachmann (man), Pflegefachfrau (woman)

[fervent kernel]

Thank you very muchhh

[sage wolf]

Aaah .... wann haben die Begriffe sich verändert?

[swift bough]

wann haben sich die Begriffe verändert*

[tough rock]

Was genau ist eigentlich der Unterschied zwischen diesen beiden Sätzen?
Es freut mich dich zu sehen.
Ich freue mich dich zu sehen.

[night dagger]

sie haben die gleiche Bedeutung

[solemn lichen]

Does it make sense to think of"doch" as just "though"

[night dagger]

it can have that meaning, but it also can have some other meanings as well so i would spend some time learning those. might be a good idea to focus on the various modal particles as a whole and then look into "doch" from there

[valid mulch]

It has various meanings such as though. But it can also mean yes.

[undone verge]

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~deutsch/Grammatik/WordOrder/Infinitives.html

[sage wolf]

wait til u come across words like "zuzunehmen"

[swift bough]

I mean no rule actually changes (in regards to when you use zu) when you have a separable verb, the only thing that happens is that the zu goes between the separable prefix and root verb.

[sage wolf]

Well said

[fervent kernel]

Im Englishen sagt/schreibt man (z.B.)"In 2005, the state solved the problem". Schreibt man das auch so auf Deutsch oder ohne "in" am Anfang?

"In 2005 hat der Staat das Problem gelöst"
or
"Im Jahr 2005 hat der Staat das Problem gelöst"

[sage wolf]

I have seen texts that just stated the year without a preposition.

[fervent kernel]

"2005 hat der Staat das Problem gelöst."

Like this?

If so it'll take some time to get used to 😅

[long whale]

Yup. :)

[fervent kernel]

Danke danke

[sage wolf]

Cute dog.

[fervent kernel]

Thanks

[gloomy quest]

"Es war für den Patienten wichtig, dass er an das Präparat geglaubt hat." Can I write this sentence like this: Es war für den Patienten wichtig, an das Präparat geglaubt zu haben.

[vast ridge]

One question I have is about "Rotkäppchen". I know "Rot" means "Red" and "Kap" means "Cape". But I don't know what the "Pchen" part is for or why "Kap" is written like "Käp". Is there an explanation for it, or is it just that way because it was made that way?

[long whale]

Yup.

[long whale]

"Kappe" means "cap" (as in base cap). "-chen" is added to nouns to form a diminutive, a process which often requires a vowel change: die Kappe -> das Käppchen. This works with most nouns. Please note that adding the suffix "-chen" makes the noun invariably neuter. Does this help?

[vast ridge]

Oh yeah! Thanks a lot. <3

[gloomy quest]

I understand the logic but why though? Isn't "es" the nomanitiv, hence the two parts of the sentence do not share the same subject?

[long whale]

Well, "es" is a place-holder subject here, isn't it? You could change the sentence round to the point where you could drop the "es": "An das Präparat zu glauben/geglaubt zu haben, war für den Patienten wichtig." -> the whole infinitive clause has become the subject, which it's actually been all along. :)

Here's an excellent explanation of the concept, in case you feel like reading a bit more about it: https://yourdailygerman.com/word-of-the-day-es/

[gloomy quest]

Thank you very much.

[median heron]

Ist "punkto" so sehr veraltet, dass muttersprachliche Deutschsprecher wissen es nicht? Ich glaube, das es synonymisch mit "hinsichtlich" als genitive Präposition ist.

[long whale]

In Standard German, it isn't just "punkto", it's "in puncto". No, I don't think it's obsolete (wissen kennen). If you want a German synonym, you could use "in diesem Punkt" ;)

[median heron]

Danke für die Antwort und die Korrektur 🙂

[summer crystal]

What's the idiomatic way of saying "Is everything going well?" after, for example, "Wie geht's?"?

[scenic drift]

"Alles gut?"

[summer crystal]

Yeah, good idea! But is there a more formal or perhaps personal way of saying it?

[sage wolf]

Ist alles in Ordnung bei Ihnen?

[summer crystal]

Perfect!

Danke ihr zwei! :)

[sage wolf]

euch

ihr <-- Nominativ

or did u mean .... Danke, ihr zwei?

[summer crystal]

Sorry, what I was trying to say didn't make any sense. "Danke euch beiden" was what I meant.

And it is euch in both cases because danken is a dative verb, right?

[sage wolf]

my gut instinct says yes ...

Ich danke dir.

Ich danke euch.

Ich danke ihnen.

Ich danke Ihnen.

Ich danke ihr <--- i'll be damned ... that's "her"

So .... you weren't 100% wrong .... just got the gender wrong haha

Ich danke ihm.

The experts in this room can explain things better .... I just sense when something is not quite right.

You should work out a conjugation chart for every verb .... or a conjugal visit as i call it .... hsha

[desert olive]

Was ist korrekt? „Martin geht in die Schule“ oder „Martin geht zur Schule“?

[night dagger]

if he's going to school and going inside to learn or do something else, then the first is what i would use @desert olive

[sage wolf]

in die = into the
zur = to the

[gloomy quest]

If I make a noun out of the adjective 'schön', it should be Die Schöne right? What about Das Schöne? what's that? There is also Der Schöne right.

[sage wolf]

Schönheit

[undone verge]

@gloomy quest the plain Nominalisierung of schön is das Schöne. If you're speaking specifically of a person (male, der; female, die) or a gendered object then you would use der/die/das accordingly.
z.B. Kannst du mir das Tuch/die Gabel/den Teller reichen?
welches/welche/welchen?
das Schöne/die Schöne/den Schönen.

[sage wolf]

why can't i explain like the experts? gotta learn how.

[long whale]

Both are fine for "Martin goes to school". Depends on the region in Germany which one you'll mainly hear. :)

[nocturne lichen]

"ich hätte ins Kino gehen können" - what is this tense called? I understand its meaning but i've got no clue what we call it

[long whale]

Konjunktiv II, Plusquamperfekt :)

[nocturne lichen]

oooh it has 2 names then? danke!

[long whale]

No, that is its full name. The mood is Konjunktiv II, the tense is Plusquamperfekt.

[proven sphinx]

One is the tense, the other is the mood. Those are two different things.

[long whale]

Like... ich gehe is Indikativ Präsens

@nocturne lichen

[proven sphinx]

There are only three possible moods: Indikativ, Konjunktiv I and Konjunktiv II. There are quite a few tenses, though.

[nocturne lichen]

oh ok, so any tense can go with any mood? but only the tense indicates at what timepoint?

[proven sphinx]

Yeah, pretty much.

[nocturne lichen]

neat

[fierce hawk]

ich Heisse Max

[steep sandal]

hey there, what is the difference between "falls" and "ob"?

[long whale]

falls = if; ob = whether

[steep sandal]

ah I see, thank you!

[gloomy quest]

Thank you so much! what about groß, it is Die Größe right. Why not Das?

[night dagger]

die Größe is the size. das Große is nominalisierung of "große"

[long whale]

die Größe is indeed the size. das Große could perhaps be translated as "greatness", or rather "great thing/s".

[night dagger]

oops

[night dagger]

@long whale When using Stellung der Objekte/Reihenfolge von Akkusativ und Dativ, using infinitiv mit zu changes the logic of the Reihenfolge, right?

zb:
Er erlaubt dem Hund, das Brot zu fressen
Er erlaubt dem Hund, es zu fressen

if the sentences weren't using infinitiv mit zu, then we might expect the word order to change in the second sentence. specifically, the personal pronoun to occur before the dativ object

i suppose i don't know the name of the grammar phenomenon occurring the second sentence, i just know that it's not following typical Reihenfolge von Akkusativ und Dativ

[long whale]

Yeah: Er erlaubt es dem Hund/ihm

But I'd rather think it's because you can't separate the direct object (das Brot) from the verb connected to it (fressen). 🤔

[night dagger]

yeah idk how to explain it lol

[proven sphinx]

Well, the infinitive sentence needs to come at the end, but the part after the comma does fulfill the same function as an accusative object would. Note also the difference between these two sentences:

Er erlaubt dem Hund, es zu fressen. = He allows the dog to eat it.
Er erlaubt es(,) dem Hund zu fressen. = He allows the dog to eat.

The second sentence doesn't actually have an accusative object, since the "es" is just a placeholder.

[night dagger]

Ok 🙂 but this sentence has an Akkusativ and a Dativ personal pronoun, normally we would expect to see the the Akkusativ object first instead of second in this case.
„er erlaubt ihm, es zu essen

[proven sphinx]

Er erlaubt ihm, es zu essen = Er erlaubt es ihm.

Yeah.

"Er erlaubt, es zu essen, ihm." is impossible. You can't leave the pronoun stranded like that.

Really, that rule only applies when it's a personal pronoun anyway.

[night dagger]

I see, so „es zu essen“ functions as the entire Akkusativ object or something?

[proven sphinx]

Yes, exactly.

[night dagger]

k yeah because I would say „es“ is a personal pronoun, for example if we were talking about das Brot still

[proven sphinx]

So? Those categories are not mutually exclusive.

[night dagger]

Which categories?

[proven sphinx]

Well, what is even your point?

Of course "es" is a personal pronoun if it functions as an object.

Ich sah das Tier.
Ich sah es.

das Tier = es = accusative object

[night dagger]

lol i don’t have a point, my curiosity is specific to Reihenfolge with Akkusativ and Dativ. I only know of 3 rules really and I was trying to understand why Infinitiv mit zu seems to alter it

[proven sphinx]

I've had an entire course on German grammar, and I'm still not sure. It doesn't really matter. If it's an entire sentence, it comes at the end. You can't leave the personal pronoun stranded at the end of the sentence like that.

It's a bit like how you can say "Er gab ihm das Band."

subject - verb - dative object - accusative object

Same structure.

Just without the additional sentence.

[night dagger]

The personal pronoun comes first in that situation

[proven sphinx]

It always comes first.

[night dagger]

If there’s a sentence with a personal pronoun and a noun, the personal pronoun always comes first

[proven sphinx]

Well, I'm trying to tell you that your sentence above doesn't break that rule at all.

[night dagger]

But if there are two personal pronouns, the Akkusativ is supposed to come first

[proven sphinx]

In fact, it still applies even there.

[proven sphinx]

If there are two personal pronouns in the same clause.

[night dagger]

Correct

I guess what’s happening here is a second clause

[proven sphinx]

And "es zu fressen" is a different clause, so that rule doesn't apply.

[night dagger]

I suppose that’s the answer I was looking for. I thought it might have something to do with the comma, but I couldn’t quite understand why

Thank you 🙂

[proven sphinx]

Yeah, sorry that it took so long, but I had to think pretty hard about it myself. Kek.

[night dagger]

lol ey i always appreciate it when someone is willing to help me out

[gloomy quest]

thanks!

[gloomy quest]

I think I am seeing the pattern and the meanings now. Thank you

[heavy stratus]

Is there a semantic difference between saying 'gegen sechs Uhr' and 'um sechs Uhr'?

[long whale]

Sure. gegen 6 Uhr = at about 6 o'clock; around 6 o'clock vs. um 6 Uhr = at 6 o'clock (on the dot) :)

[heavy stratus]

Thank you!

[fervent kernel]

I have a question

So the sentence "Die Schuhe sind nicht groß, sondern klein"

Would "aber" not work here under any circumstances?

[wise pendant]

I suppose you might use "aber" there in a casual conversation where you just want to get a point across, but "aber" usually introduces a full-fledged main clause.

[lucid sluice]

Don’t you always use sondern when there is nicht in the sentence too?

[torn sentinel]

Question for German infinitives is there like general conjugation?

[carmine silo]

Isnt infinitive without conjugation ? Like “to eat” is “essen”, its the word form listed in the dictionary, i think they usually end in “en” in german

[static fern]

if you're talking about forming infinitives in a sentence, the only general conjugation that I can think of is the usage of "zu" to indicate it's an infinitive

An example I have written down in my practice book exhibits this well: "Am Eingang jeder U-Bahn-Station befindet sich ein großer Plan, um Touristen zu helfen."

(I hope that sentence isn't too advanced...)

Maroo is correct that the infinitive of a verb is what's listed in a dictionary; however, certain verbs don't end in "-en" (e.g. plaudern), so it's not a perfect description

[carmine silo]

Can you translate please? I think i have the jist of it but dont get the end of the sentence. “ at the entrance of every underground station you will find a big map... and tourists to help.....?” 😩

[static fern]

you have the first part down

when you see "um...zu (verb)", it usually means "in order to"

[carmine silo]

Ah that is very useful

[static fern]

thus, "...in order to help tourists"

[carmine silo]

Dankeschön!

[static fern]

bitte

[torn sentinel]

Ah i guess I used the word wrong I mean like when verbs are not conjugated. Like Is there like a general conjugation? Like don’t verbs often end in en. So like something that replaces en. Like with i think kommen. Ich komme du kommst er kommt etc. I am still knew with German do idk

[carmine silo]

I dont think there is a general conjugation, it changes as you showed (ich komme du kommst). But standard form of any verb is the infinitive form, where it is not conjugated - in english we show the infinitive as ‘to eat’ ‘to be’. This would be kommen (to come), essen (to eat), gehen (to go)...
these (infinitive form of verbs) are also luckily the same form of the conjugated 3rd person and 2nd person plural. “Sie kommen = they come” - even in this case although kommen is spelt the same as the infinitive, it IS actually conjugated to match the subject (Sie).

Not sure if i answered your question but oh well

[sage wolf]

aber <- might require you to form a sentence

sondern just negates your previous statement with minimal info.

[night dagger]

yeah, could also use "aber" as a modalpartikel.
zB: Die Schuhe sind aber nicht groß, sie sind klein.

[fervent kernel]

Thanks guys

Use sondern when you could say "but rather" in English

I actually realized that my language has a pair of words exactly like aber-sondern so i get it now haha

If it's Spanish -- aber: pero, sondern: sino.

[torn sentinel]

hmm idk. I ask because when I took french in school we were told that verbs were usually conjugated based on the pronoun. Some verbs are special cases and it can change depending on the tense. Like for the verb for to like.
j'aime tu aimes il aime nous aimons vous aimez ils aiment(I think). I was wondering if it's like that.

[long whale]

Mm... yes. The endings are always the same, except for irregular verbs (like "sein" = to be/être): ich liebe, du liebst, er/sie/es liebt, wir lieben, ihr liebt, sie/Sie lieben - does that help?

[hearty blaze]

what is this word "edding"?

*full context*

[mellow grove]

Edding means edding lol. It's a black thicker pen

Like this

A marker

smh

[night dagger]

like a sharpie

[proven sphinx]

I wouldn't know that "Edding" refers to that either, even though I've seen and used this type of marker a million times. I've never paid attention to the brand, though.

[hearty blaze]

ahhhh, thank you thank you!

we learn something new everyday I guess ; )

[torn sentinel]

yeah that's what i as trying to ask thx

[ruby wedge]

Hm

no pinned messages yet

Someone should pin this message

[solid hull]

würde ich ja sehr gerne machen wenn ich mod wäre
wer will mich zum mod machen?

[willow socket]

Jetzt muss ich einer Muttersprachlerin eine Frage stellen lol. Wenn ich von einem Datum bezüglich des Monats spreche, muss ich die Präposition 'im' benutzen, oder darf ich das 'im' vernachlässigen?
z.B. Er ist Dezember 1990 gestorben.
Er ist im Dezember 1990 gestorben.

[mellow grove]

Du muss die Präposition "im" benutzen 👍

[willow socket]

vielen Dank!

[mellow grove]

Kein Problem

[zinc knot]

Which sounds more natural
Haufen Aufgaben
oder
Haufen von Aufgaben

[night dagger]

you need the preposition "von" if your goal is to say "pile of tasks"

[zinc knot]

And does it sound like something a native would say

Or like a weird computer translation

[swift bough]

I‘m pretty sure it’s optional. Also sometimes not including it sounds better than including it.

[night dagger]

oh wow

[night dagger]

my bad, i had never seen it without the preposition for some reason

[swift bough]

Tbh I think it’s actually more common without it than it is with it

You can find plenty of examples of both though also on dwds

[zinc knot]

Thanks guys

[zinc knot]

Imma just use the first sentence as an example

[mellow grove]

I would suggest you to use a preposition if you aren't really safe but if you think it sounds better without one then don't use it

[zinc knot]

Good idea actually

Learn the rule first then the exceptions

[dapper epoch]

Kann ich das wort Punkt benutzen wie: "That is my point"?

[swift bough]

Ja

„Guter Punkt“ kann man sagen

[dapper epoch]

Danke!

[fervent kernel]

"Früher hatte Pippi mal einen Vater gehabt"

Was bedeutet die "mal" in die Sätze?

I'm finding it translated as "ever" but i assume that's not what it is here

Oh wait

"once"?

[swift bough]

@fervent kernel you seem to have come across a modal particle (a very common thing in German). Modal particles can not be translated literally, but they can still be understood as concepts via explanations of what their function or purpose within a sentence is.

„mal“ is indeed short for „einmal“, and sometimes people will even say einmal instead of mal

So if you literally translate it, it could mean „once“. But in most cases, that translation doesn’t work very well.

[fervent kernel]

ooo

hahah it's frustrating me that i can't translate it but interesting

[swift bough]

I‘m not sure if there’s any resources for modal particles on this server but you can definitely easily find explanations for them with a quick google search.

The interesting thing is, actually most modal particles can be literally translated, but there’s some that just can’t be.

Like for example „noch“.

Which means yet or still

[fervent kernel]

Alright

Thankss

[night dagger]

isn't "mal" just a shortened version of "einmal" here or something?

[swift bough]

That’s what I said here

[night dagger]

oh oops

[swift bough]

👀

It’s short for einmal, but that doesn’t mean it always translates literally as „once“.

[night dagger]

yeah for sure

in any case, this is my personal resource on modal particles. @fervent kernel

[swift bough]

Those are the most difficult ones as well

Like these here, these are all particles as well

Not sure if they’re „modal“ particles but they are particles

[fervent kernel]

thanks yall!! i'll definitely make use of this

[swift bough]

Not sure if it’s that important for you atm but for some of those particles you have to be a bit careful since they can be pretty context based. Especially in that list „gar“, that word is not to be used in every situation where you would say „even“ in English. It’s most commonly seen in fixed expressions or used in the exact same ways. @fervent kernel I guess what I’m saying is, if you wanna learn how to use one of these particles, ask someone about it or do some research.

I think the most common use of „gar“ is in combination with „nicht“ or „nichts“.

[fervent kernel]

sogar is like even too for example: es ist sogar warm (its even warm)

[swift bough]

There’s many different words for „even“, yes : D

Each going along with their own contexts

[fervent kernel]

yesss

[swift bough]

And also „überhaupt“ is similar to „gar“ with one of its common uses

Gar / überhaupt nicht

But then you can only say „hast du es überhaupt gesehen“ and not „gar“

[fervent kernel]

Yeahh i've not been focusing on them too much, just seeing generally what they mean

And i'm just hoping to acquire their meanings through listening and stuff

[swift bough]

I remember (a little bit) of what it was like to be a beginner. Sometimes it’s very overwhelming, because you look up a word, and then you have 15 different words, all for the same English word, and you don’t know which one is the one you’re looking for. It usually helps then a lot to just ask someone how to say something and boom you got your answer

[night dagger]

i don't think "sogar" is actually a modal particle but a focus particle

[fervent kernel]

ohhh yes probably im just saying bc its what i´d translate it to 🙈

i dont know much about rules tho haha

[swift bough]

Sogar was one of those words I never did proper research or „properly learned“, I learned how it is used mostly from seeing it used in the same kinda of ways over and over again

Are you native? @fervent kernel

[fervent kernel]

yes 😊

[swift bough]

If you want the native role, you can ping a Mod for it, probably in general chat or something is better tho

[fervent kernel]

ohh okok 😊

[stiff tundra]

Es ist 18 Grad oder Es sind 18 Grad?

[swift bough]

Es sind

[stiff tundra]

ist this correct

its an answer to a question

Ja, meine Cousine ein Haus in der Naehe von Berlin hat

[swift bough]

The verb should come after Cousine

[stiff tundra]

ah

thank you a lot xxx

[swift bough]

Np

[queen scaffold]

Can anyone else help me being able to chat in voice channels?

[stiff tundra]

if its Es sind 18 Grad would it be Es waren 18 Grad oder Es war 18 Grad?

@swift bough

[wintry flower]

Es waren 18 Grad

“Liebe is typing” ❤️

Lemme read u

[night dagger]

"wir haben 18 Grad" is also good, yeah?

[wintry flower]

Ja

[night dagger]

dachte ich mir schon

[stiff tundra]

thanks a lot guys

also how do i improve my listening skills

i can speak read write german

[wintry flower]

Watch movies

[stiff tundra]

but i dont understand anything

[night dagger]

with german subtitles

[stiff tundra]

untill i read the subtitles

ohh okay

[night dagger]

accurate ones

[stiff tundra]

any recomendations? ive already seen 4 blocks dogs of berlin dark and how to sell drugs online fast

[wintry flower]

Lol

[night dagger]

the last word (das letzte Wort) and Babylon berlin

i especially like babylon berlin

[stiff tundra]

what is it about

[night dagger]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon_Berlin 😉

[stiff tundra]

hm nice

ill give it a try

[heavy stratus]

Mort mit Aussicht is really fun. It's a series about a big time police inspector that gets sent to lead a precinct in a village in the middle of no-where. Each episode follows her and 2 other police officers solving village crime mysteries, there will be a small cast of characters that are suspects (Verdächtiger) each episode and, as a viewer, it's fun to figure out who did the crime alongside the officers (sometimes suspects will contradict themselves, give a weird alibi etc). It's good fun and quite accessible!

[stiff tundra]

is it on netflix

[heavy stratus]

I don't believe so

[tame venture]

hey guys how can I confirm?

thank's in advance

It won't let me other rooms $

[floral copper]

Ist es:
Ich meine Gegner mit Deutschsprechen besiegt.
oder
Ich meine Gegner besiegt mit Deutschsprechen.

(or am I 100% wrong?)

[proven sphinx]

Neither is correct.

You forgot a very important word...

[floral copper]

It's probably a variant of ein or der, but if that's not the case then I haven't studied the language enough..

[swift bough]

Nope, think about it again

(if you do not know someone can tell you)

[floral copper]

Am I missing a verb?

[proven sphinx]

Yes.

[floral copper]

Would that word happen to be machen?

I am at the very low novice level of speaking and this is surprisingly fun for me.

[proven sphinx]

Nope. Do you know what the Perfekt tense is?

[floral copper]

I haven't been taught the grammar rules yet, so no.

[proven sphinx]

What is your native language, by the way?

[floral copper]

English.

[proven sphinx]

Well, then it's pretty simple: the Perfekt works like the Present Perfect (e.g. have done, have seen etc.).

You're missing just one small but important word.

[swift bough]

Well, here is a hint...in English, to build the present perfect tense, what verbs do you need? For example, "I have seen"...how many verbs are there, and what are they (nudge nudge it is basically the same concept in German)

[floral copper]

So it would be haben or a form of it?

[proven sphinx]

Yes, exactly.

[floral copper]

Ich habe meine Gegner mit Deutschsprechen besiegt.?

[proven sphinx]

Exactly!

[fervent kernel]

what does gegner mean?

[floral copper]

YAY!! :)

[proven sphinx]

enemies, opponents

[fervent kernel]

ah

[swift bough]

The main 2 different things to note about the German past tense in general: the past tense does not get used the same as in English anymore, and also German can use another helping verb in addition to "haben", which is "sein". But these are not random, instead you have to memorise which verbs use which of the two possible helping verbs in German, haben and sein. @floral copper

[floral copper]

Did I just do a happy dance like a four-year-old? Yeah.

I love language.

[proven sphinx]

And there are also very few verbs that use "sein", but they're also very common verbs.

[swift bough]

True

[proven sphinx]

ich bin gegangen, ich bin gekommen, ich bin gewesen, ich bin gelaufen etc.

Often, they have something to do with movement.

Or a change of state, such as "ich bin gestorben"

Not a sentence you're ever likely to hear, but still. 😂

[swift bough]

I was gonna say maybe in video games....but eh, even then, I feel like there are better choices somehow xD

[proven sphinx]

Nah, I do think you're right in that case.

[swift bough]

Why do I feel like most people would just say "Ich bin tot" tho

Lol

[proven sphinx]

Yeah, maybe they'd rather use "gestorben" to say how many times they've died.

"Ich bin schon 10 mal an dieser verdammten Stelle gestorben!"

[swift bough]

Ah, yeah that makes a lot more sense

Idk tho in English they are definitely equally as common "I'm dead" and "I died"

I have not played video games with German speakers for quite a while

[proven sphinx]

Neither have I, to be fair.

But I did play video games with German speakers for many, many years.

[hollow kraken]

@swift bough are you available ?

[swift bough]

@hollow kraken ?

[hollow kraken]

One moment, apologies.

[fervent kernel]

Montag : in die Schule gehen, Fotos machen

How do i form a sentence, describing what my brother is doing in the weekday

[swift bough]

You have to conjugate the verbs to „Bruder“ and then change the word order so that you have either one coherent sentence with both things he’s doing in it or two separate sentences.

And make sure it’s a statement and not a question

[fervent kernel]

can you form me an example

[swift bough]

For statements you have the subject first and then the verb which is conjugated to it.

Generally speaking, anyway

Not always

Ok

Donnerstag: einkaufen gehen, schlafen gehen

Meine Schwester geht einkaufen. Meine Schwester geht schlafen.

Meine Schwester geht einkaufen, und dann geht sie schlafen.

[fervent kernel]

ok, thank you i am learning

[swift bough]

So how would you make a sentence or separate sentences with the keywords you provided?

[fervent kernel]

Meine Bruder geht in die Schule und macht Fotos

😆

[fervent kernel]

close right

[swift bough]

Almost perfect

[fervent kernel]

how to put monday

[swift bough]

Mein Bruder

[fervent kernel]

oh ya

[swift bough]

The most natural way to say this will change up the word order but I’m not sure how to explain why or how

Montag geht mein Bruder in die Schule und macht Fotos.

You could also say „Mein Bruder geht Montag in die Schule und macht Fotos“

[fervent kernel]

Ok boss

thank you sir

[swift bough]

Anytime

[long whale]

I'm a bit hesitant about this, because I'm sometimes unaware of changed usage, but to my knowledge (!), saying just "Montag" is regional/dialectal. In Standard German, you'd need to say "am Montag" (depending on whether it's habitual: montags, jeden Montag). :)

[brazen gulch]

Is there a difference between wahrscheinlich and vermutlich in practice, or are they completely interchangeable?

[wise pendant]

In casual conversations they are often used completely interchangeably. However wahrscheinlich is whats more probable and vermutlich is what we would expect to happen.

[brazen gulch]

That makes sense. Thank you

[wise pendant]

yw

[delicate imp]

Is it correct of me to use darüber here?: "Dann hörte ich zwei Krankenpfleger über mich reden, und einer von ihnen wunderte sich darüber, was so lange dauerte."

It's a translation of the following sentence, if it matters: "then I heard two nurses talking about me, and one of them was wondering what was taking so long"

[wise pendant]

Seems fine to me

But "darüber" should actually be dropped without replacement, because you are stating the thing she wonders about "was so lange dauert", while "darüber" "damit" "davon" etc are actually substitutions for when you don't say what exactly it is

Somewhat like "They were wondering about that, why it took so long"

[delicate imp]

Wooow that actually makes a lot of sense, thanks!

[wise pendant]

But in a casual conversation you might hear that, given that the person speaking says "darüber" but adds the actual topic as an afterthought

Perhaps also connected with a filler word like
"... wunderten sich darüber, [pause] also was so lange gedauert hat"

[delicate imp]

interesting, maybe that's where I've heard it

[summer crystal]

Can you just omit the subject and auxiliary verb of a subordinate clause if the main clause already has both of them? For example in "Ich hab einmal geküsst, und schwer gebüßt". It's from a song, but would it be correct in spoken, informal German? For example: "Ich habe meine Oma besucht, und ein Streuselkuchen mitgebracht"

[solid hull]

definitely

imo id avoid repeating them, especially when writing. Obviously they have to be the same, can't use "habe..." for another verb which uses sein

[summer crystal]

Of course, danke!

[swift bough]

No you’re 100% right hahaha, I think it’s just habitual. I probably should have used „am Montag“ especially for someone asking for help 🤦‍♂️

[long whale]

Um... you've mixed up 2 different verbs: "sich über etwas wundern" = to be amazed at/[slightly] surprised at something, vs. "sich etwas fragen" = to wonder about something. Therefore the translation of your original sentence would be: einer von ihnen fragte sich, was so lange dauerte. With "sich wundern", the sentence would be: einer von ihnen wunderte sich darüber, dass es so lange dauerte :)

[dapper iron]

guten tag an alle

lesen part: ... ich sah sofort hinunter auf die Straße...

the writter said she was at appartment...

question: does that means she went downstairs to see...
or
she look at downstairs....

[long whale]

The 2nd. She looked down.

Präteritum of "sehen" (to see/look) = "sah"

[dapper iron]

danke

[dapper iron]

another question , rundreise and reise are the same ?

[long whale]

More or less: https://de.pons.com/übersetzung/deutsch-englisch/Rundreise

[jagged willow]

In Sekundarsschule and in Gymnasium, We learn 2 language and we can choose a third or it's 3 language for all ?

[long whale]

Depends on the individual school, as far as I know. In some, 3 languages are obligatory.

[jagged willow]

Ok ty

[vital goblet]

she loves me that's why it's impossible for her to do this to me
how can i say that auf Deutsch
sentence is just example
no one loves me

[scenic drift]

you should have a go at translating this first

we're not a translation service, you know

[vital goblet]

Sie liebt mich, deshalb ist es ihm unmöglich, mir das anzutun

ist das richtig?

Er hat mir eine Gitarre gekauft, deshalb ist es unmöglich, sie nicht zu mich unterstützen

I mean he bought me a guitar that's why its impossible not to support me

I'm not sure for english version ist same with what i want thats why i want to try explain it basicly

i mean my father bought me a gitarre and we understand that "He supports me"

[vital goblet]

but i want to say he bought me a guitar thats why negative of this sentence is impossible

[fervent kernel]

I dont understand the logic here in the sentence. So your father bought you a guitar. That proves that he's financially supporting you?

[vital goblet]

he bought me a guitar so he supports me

question is what your parents thinking about your hobby

[fervent kernel]

Er hat mir eine Gitarre gekauft. Er sollte mich bei meinem Hobby unterstützen.

I think

[vital goblet]

true but i want to use different grammar

Sie liebt mich, deshalb ist es ihm unmöglich, mir das anzutun like this

[fervent kernel]

Which

What do you mean different grammar

Sentence with many commas and conplicated structure?

Mein großzügiger Vater hat mir eine funkelnagelneue Gitarre geschenkt, was ein Indiz für seine bodenfeste Unterstützung zu meinem bescheidenen Hobby ist

[vital goblet]

i want many commas but not complicated structure

I want to learn this structure because this structure can work in different sentences

[fervent kernel]

I don't think there's such thing as "many commas" grammar

And if possible, anyone would rather write simple easy to understand sentence.

[scenic drift]

i'm also really not sure what you mean by "this structure"

[thorn zodiac]

"Mama, Mama, morgen ist ja schon Nikolaustag."

I came across this and I was wondering why "ja" is in it? Doesnt make the most sense to me

[gray crypt]

ich bin neu zu deutsch

is right?

[long whale]

Wouldn't worry about it too much at this point. ;) Modal particles are often quite unnecessary, and this "ja" is one of them. :)

[long whale]

If "I'm new to German" is what you're thinking of, unfortunately, there is no good translation. You can be new somewhere (Ich bin neu bei discord; Ich bin neu hier auf dem Server), but for a language, you'd say the equivalent of "I've only just started [learning] German": Ich habe gerade erst mit Deutsch angefangen. :)

[gray crypt]

Okay, danke :)

[mental oxide]

Hello where can i get this book online for free? https://www.kulturkaufhaus.de/de/detail/ISBN-9783065205900/Funk-Hermann/Studio-21---Grundstufe---A2-Teilband-2

[swift bough]

„Neu in etwas sein“, would that not work?

[onyx rain]

Oh nein, ich dachte, dass mache ich viel "spelling" Fehler.
The spelling of schreiben changes to geschrieben in past participle? (a change in position of e and i)
Are there more of those?

[dapper epoch]

yea those are called starke Verben.

[long whale]

"Neu in der Firma", sure. But "Neu in Deutsch"? Unless you were talking about teaching material, I feel it wouldn't make much sense. Other native speakers may disagree, of course. :)

[scenic drift]

lots of verbs (the strong verbs, as above) change their form depending on the tense. there's a list here: https://resources.german.lsa.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/irreg_verbs_DNutting.pdf

(you just need to learn all these verbs and their conjugations)

[fervent kernel]

If "Ihr geht es gut" is "she is doing good" than what is "you (plural) are doing good"?

[jagged willow]

Hello,
Die Grundschule dauert ist länger in die neuen System als im traditionnelle Schule
Sekundarschule dauert ist länger als die traditionelle Schule

"dauert" is required ?

[willow socket]

euch geht es gut

[fervent kernel]

Oh cases

Thank you 👍

[willow socket]

This doesn't appear to make sense. 'dauert' is the conjugation of the verb dauern (to last). Die Dauer is the noun version of that...
so either Die Grundschule dauert länger.. (The elementary school lasts longer)
or 'Die Dauer der Grundschule ist länger.'? (The duration of the elementary school is longer)

there are other problems with these sentences, mainly check articles and adjective endings.

[jagged willow]

ok thanks !

[heavy stratus]

What does ''allerdings'' mean? I keep seeing it everywhere, is it a modal particle like 'mal' that I don't have to worry about yet?

[long whale]

Depending on how it's used, it may mean as much as "however" or "[al]though". If that doesn't make any sense in the context, it is If it's used as a one-word reply, it means as much as "indeed/sure". :)

[heavy stratus]

If one were to use it as a 'however', would this work?

Randy: Leben auf dem Land ist günstig. Man muss allerdings berücksichtigen, ob man das Geld hat, aus der Stadt auszuziehen

[long whale]

Das Leben; auszuziehen wegzuziehen - Yes, exactly. :)

[heavy stratus]

Thank you!

[onyx rain]

Ich möchte sagen "They are still recovering' (from sickness) auf Deutsch.
Ist das richtig? "Sie sind noch Erholung"

[long whale]

No, "die Erholung" is a noun, so, your sentence would translate to "They are still recovery". Best try to find the verb - think you can manage? :)

[onyx rain]

Oh right, my bad. "Sie gesunden noch". Ist das besser ?

[long whale]

Grammar-wise, it's perfect. :) Depending on what you need this sentence for (exercise? real life?) I think you should know the verb "gesunden" is very rarely used. We'd usually use "sich erholen" (always reflexive). :)

[onyx rain]

Danke, I am gonna use " Sie erholen sich noch"

[fervent kernel]

Can "Ich frage mich" be used as "I'm wondering"?

[willow socket]

yes

[fervent kernel]

Wäre es auch korrekt, wenn ich "Sie sind noch in Erholung" schreiben würde oder klingt es nach Denglish?

Wo starben die Juden?

[willow socket]

Konzentrationslager? (assuming you're asking for a vocab word about WWII??)

[long whale]

Rather sounds as if they've gone somewhere. You could say "in Rekonvaleszenz", I suppose, although that word is rarely used. 🤷

[uneven veldt]

Hey guys! So I just learned the dativ and I’m having some issues with it! I have a question about it:
Imagine the phrase:
The daughter missed her mom.
In german it would be:
Die Mutter hat ihrer Tochter gefehlt.
Can someone explain to me why this inversion occurs?? I see this happen sometimes, not always. How do I know when this happens and why?

[fervent kernel]

You can invert the order in German to stress the meaning, this would highlight specially that the mother is what the daughter missed

[fervent kernel]

The order is also understandable from the deklination

You can say den Mann beißt der Hund

[plain umbra]

Which inversion do you mean? The verb going at the end?

[fervent kernel]

The sentence is understandable from the Deklination

[fervent kernel]

I think he's talking about the mother and the daughter

[plain umbra]

Oh wait, I see the issue.

It's because "to miss" and "fehlen" are actually different verbs that mean different things.

In this sentence "fehlen" doesn't mean "to miss", but rather "to be missed by".

So the "literal" translation of the second sentence is "The mother was missed by her daughter."

[plain umbra]

As you can see, there's not actually any "inversion" of subject/object, since the subject is in the first position in both sentences.

The only reason they seem swapped is because it's a different verb that works differently.

[tranquil elbow]

Is there a significant difference between the following expressions? Are any of them considered incorrect?

• ich fernsehe
• ich sehe fern
• ich fernschaue
• ich schaue fern
• ich ferngucke
• ich gucke fern
• ich sehe Fernsehen
• ich schaue Fernsehen
• ich gucke Fernsehen

I'm used to the 'ich sehe fern' form but I keep seeing different forms and I'm a bit confused about which ones are common and which ones are regional peculiarities.

[dire niche]

the ones where the prefix is still attached to the front of the verb would only appear in subordinate clauses (dass, weil, da, etc.)

[tranquil elbow]

Ah, that makes sense.

[plain umbra]

Subordinate clauses (Nebensätze).

[dire niche]

yeah

[plain umbra]

Because "non-main clauses" could include question clauses, where it would still be separated.

[dire niche]

thats a fair point

[fallow ledge]

Im not sure if i can use k2 here.

I want to say: ah the tram i didnt know it came this way.

Ach die Straßenbahn, ich wusste nicht dass sie hierher käme?

Or would something more like this be better

Ich wusste nicht, dass sie hierher fährt/kommt?

[snow bone]

You shouldn't use k2 here

There is no reason to

Ich wusste nicht, dass sie hierher kommt

[fallow ledge]

thanks!

[uneven veldt]

Idk why my teacher is teaching us these things in A1 but ok. Thank you!! I think I understand it... @fervent kernel @plain umbra

[summer crystal]

I'm a bit confused, how does "dem" translates as "to the" here? "[...], sagte Latuschka dem Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland."

[fallow ledge]

Netzwerk is a neuter word and here its in the dative case, so its article is dem

When you say something to someone in German you use the dative case to express that relationship

Mein Freund hat mir gesagt, ...

Or
Ich sagte dem Hund: „Braver Hund!“

Since dem is also a definite article, the „the“ is also built into it

[summer crystal]

So the use of the dative by itself already serves the purpose of the English "to the"? Cool!

Danke!

[fervent kernel]

What is a good greeting to put at the beginning of an official e-mail

I assume "Hallo" isn't very appropriate

[grim pike]

At the beginning of an official email you usually use “Sehr geehrter Herr.../ Sehr geehrte Frau....”or “Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren”. That’s the most formal way of greeting unknown people

Kann ich haben is correct. If you want to say ,can I have the cup?’ it’s ,Kann ich den Becher haben?’

[snow bone]

Because it's "the cup"

Pretty much

"der Becher" means "the cup"

You don't?

The question is "Kann ich den Becher haben?"

[wanton saddle]

so guys im having a small issue with the verb werden, like in the sentence: "Früher wurde nur mit dem Telefon telefoniert." which should translate to something like:" In the past, people only had telephones to make calls". and just looking at both sentences it seems very confusing like did wurde replace a 6-7 word phrase in English? or is the german version of the sentence has a "phrasal meaning" rather than a normal sentence meaning

[snow bone]

That's one way to translate the sentence

Here werden is used to construct Passiv

A more direct translation would be "Earlier it was only telephoned with phones"

But because it sounds weird this way

You translate it differently

[wanton saddle]

i see i got your point there, so its a matter of thats how its said in German

[snow bone]

Yes

[wanton saddle]

thank you very much kind sir

[willow socket]

fun fact: It's one of the few ways to construct a german sentence without a subject.

[fervent kernel]

If i' writing to just one person, but don't know their gender, is "Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren" good or does it sound like i'm addressing multiple people?

[grim pike]

Ya, you’re addressing multiple people by using this phrase

[fervent kernel]

Ok, thank you

But is there something like "Greetings", if i don't know their gender?

Nvm

[scenic drift]

if you do know their gender you can use:
Sehr geehrte Frau ...,
Sehr geehrter Herr ...,

[long whale]

It doesn't matter if you're writing to 1 person or multiple people - if you don't know their name/s and it's a formal letter, you have no choice: you write "Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren" :)

[heavy stratus]

Or ,,sehr geehrte Menschen'' 😁

[fervent kernel]

Kk, thanks yall

[scenic drift]

i am... not sure if this would be ok in a formal email 😉

[willow socket]

sehr geehrter Digga
was läuft ab?

this is my brain on wie läuft's/was geht ab lmfao I'm dying

[dire niche]

lmao

[rain galleon]

Do people usually say "auf die Post/Bank" or "zur Post/Bank"? My textbook says auf but my partner (native speaker) says zu.

[snow bone]

Auf implies you have work to do there

[delicate tiger]

it's regional https://www.atlas-alltagssprache.de/runde-3/f10a-b/

[rain galleon]

Thank you, I thought that it might be

[uneven veldt]

“Ich bin nicht gern weit wen von meinen Freunde!” Is this sentence correct? I wanted to say “I don’t like being far away from my friends”

[bright glacier]

*weg

[granite spade]

"Im Ringdiagramm sieht man die Meinungen der Befragten zur Frage, ob die Jugend heutzutage später erwachsen würden als vor 30 Jahren." Honestly this sentence seems ugly to me, can someone help me tidy it up

Is würden correct for werden in Konjunktiv 1 Indirekte Rede?

[ruby wedge]

remove "zur Frage" ?

[granite spade]

Vielen Dank, Frau Kanzlerlin

[long whale]

"Jugend" is singular, doesn't fit in with "würden". And honestly, I'd much rather use Indikativ here. :)

Reason: I don't really see this as indirect speech. The question was indeed asked, and there is no reason whatsoever to show it was asked by somebody else. 🤷

[granite spade]

Danke

[hollow vapor]

was ist der Unterschied zwischen "ändern" und "verändern"?

[night dagger]

das frage ich mich auch aber ich denke "verändern" ist manchmal fast stärker oder so

[hollow vapor]

und was bedeutet die Linie, die du als profibild hast?

[night dagger]

es ist eigentlich nur eine dumme Linie lol

es hat keine Bedeutung

[hollow vapor]

lol

[fervent kernel]

can someone explain the difference between stellen and stecken?

pls @ me in the reply

[swift bough]

Stecken is when you stick something somewhere. Stellen is when you put something somewhere. However, they’re not interchangeable. „Stecken“ is when you put something into something else, or even someone into something. Stellen is when you put something down, but it also has to be standing upright for it to be stellen (like with a water bottle or a flower pot). If it’s laying on the table, then you use liegen (like with a book or a phone). @fervent kernel

Well, but the action of laying a book down would be used with „hinlegen“.

Ich lege das Buch hin.
Das Buch liegt auf dem Tisch.

Die Gefängniswärter haben den Verbrecher in den Knast (rein)gesteckt.

Der Verbrecher ist im Knast.

Ich habe die Flasche auf den Tisch gestellt. Die Flasche steht (jetzt) auf dem Tisch.

Ich stelle die Flasche hin.

[onyx rain]

Kannst du bitte mir helfen um welche Niveau zu das kennen? @long whale

[wise pendant]

Sieht für mich aus wie A-Niveau

[scenic drift]

that looks very much around A1/A2

[dapper coyote]

Can someone help me

[fervent kernel]

Ich habe eine Frage...

Er ist größer als sie --- sie in this context is nominativ or akkusativ?

[willow socket]

nominativ

[fervent kernel]

danke schön 😃

[snow bone]

Als and wie don't change the case

The noun remains with the case it's supposed to be in