questions-2

[fervent kernel]

Danke für die Erklärung. 😃 😉

[vocal kernel]

wenn wir das Verb " sein " benutzen , das Objekt und auch das Subjekt alle stehen im Nominativ

und das Präposition "als " immer plus nominativ

[fervent kernel]

ach so. Gibt es ein anderes Verb oder gilt dies nur für 'sein'?

[vocal kernel]

ja fünf genau : sein , bleiben , heißen , scheinen und werden

[analog crag]

It is better to say zu but you can also say auf, it's not very common

[fervent kernel]

Vielen Dank..Jetzt verstehe ich viel besser... 😃

[vocal kernel]

keine Sorge

[summer crystal]

Is "Ich weiß, wie das fühlt" a correct idiomatic translation of "I know how that feels"?

[grim pike]

It would be Ich weiß, wie sich das anfühlt, but basically it is a idiomatic translation

[summer crystal]

Meaning both are correct, but yours is the default option that Germans use?

[snow bone]

"als" ist keine Präposition

Und das ist auch falsch

"Als" verändert den Kasus nicht, aber das heißt nicht, dass der Kasus nach "als" immer Nominativ ist

[long whale]

No, you'd have to use Yellowfire's version. :)

[summer crystal]

I see, thanks! :)

[snow bone]

Do any word order rules apply to modal particles or can they be placed literally anywhere in the sentence?

[long whale]

Yes, word order rules do apply. There's often more than one possibility, though, and the place you put it in might change the "flavour" of the sentence. Therefore, I most warmly recommend not using them at all (most of the time, they can simply be left out; plus, nothing throws us as much as the wrong modal particle, or the right particle in the wrong place). :)

[snow bone]

I have heard many people say that, but I still want to learn them 😅

[long whale]

And why wouldn't you trust those many people? 👀 Not using modal particles will simply lead people to remark on how well somebody speaks German, whether they're a native speaker or not.

I wish I had a cent for every time a learner writes a sentence and I think "Now, this would have been a perfect German sentence - if only they'd left out the also/denn/ja/halt."

[snow bone]

Even more motivation to learn proper usage!

[long whale]

Well, then, at least trust me on this: once you've got prefixed verbs, cases, endings and Rektion, the case/s and/or prepositions required by verbs down pat, there's still going to be ample time for you to mess up your sentences with modal particles. :)

[night dagger]

Probably don’t need to learn modal particles until B1 or higher, at least that’s when I was taught them. In any case, this is my personal resource for them @snow bone

[snow bone]

I am preparing myself for my b1 exam which is in a month from now

And my teacher is really ambitious so I have been taught many things from b2

[night dagger]

Goethe?

[snow bone]

Yep

[night dagger]

Viel Glück!

[snow bone]

Danke!

And I have found that german modal particles are really similar to the ones in my mother tongue

It's as if there is literally a 1 to 1 correspondence at times

[uneven veldt]

Sorry to bother you again. Do all the dativ verbs follow this? Like, if I use the verb “fallen” does it mean “to be liked by”

[snow bone]

No

Only certain verbs

And also, the verb "to be liked by" is "gefallen"

[uneven veldt]

How do I know which verbs?? Just memorizing?

[long whale]

Yes, unfortunately. :)

[uneven veldt]

Okok thank you! My teacher gave us a list with the dative verbs. I’ll try to try to figure out which ones use the “to be ... by” form! Thank you!

[snow bone]

Lots of german is just memorizing

Like N-Deklination

Why does that thing even exist

[tender panther]

Another question you could ask is why the other declensions went away. Once upon a time feminine nouns had an n-declension too, for example

You ever look at Old High German declensions? Things were a lot more complicated back then

[summer crystal]

In "Letzten Samstag bin ich zwei Stunden gelaufen", why is "letzten" the correct declension? Shouldn't it be "letzter"?

[willow socket]

Samstag isn't the subject of the sentence, is it?

when you talk about a day/time like this without a preposition, it takes akkusativ case. z.B. 'Ich gehe diesen Samstag in den Laden.' 'Letzte Woche war ich krank.' usw.

If you use a preposition like 'an' then it would be dativ (am Samstag)

https://deutschegrammatik20.de/der-einfache-satz/temporale-ergaenzungen-zeitpunkt-wann/

[summer crystal]

Perfekt! Dankeschön! :D

[autumn condor]

"Es gibt" = there are/is
How does that work (instead of "it gives").

[swift bough]

It’s just what it means 🤷‍♂️

Yes, literally it would be „it gives“, but that is not what is meant by it, so that’s not how it is translated.

[autumn condor]

I guess a better question is how does a native mentally perceive it. Sort of like how you "have" hunger instead of feeling it like english. I could almost imagine "it gives" being similar cognitively

Translations tend to lose the context of perception of language vs meaning in the others language

And corollary, is there a situation where it does mean "it gives" or is that just not something expressed that way

[swift bough]

There‘s also at least 2 other translations for „there is“ in German that I can think of, which are not interchangeable with one another nor with „Es gibt“, they are all context dependent, and those are: „da ist/sind“ and „es/das sind“.

[swift bough]

Well, you can also say „Ich bin hungrig“, which word for word does actually mean „I am hungry“.

[autumn condor]

I guess it wouldn't since "it gives" would carry gender of whatever it is unless you used etwas which I suppose might not be valid

[swift bough]

Sure, if something gives you something 😅

[swift bough]

Right, or a neuter noun.

[autumn condor]

I just try to understand the why sometimes, if there even is one, because it helps me remember things like that

Like if there happened to be an etymological reason for something

Try to attach as much context as I can so I have more to draw on to remember via association

[swift bough]

Oh trust me, I am exactly the same way, and it drives some people a little crazy because they just want me to „just accept it“.

When it comes to German though I’ve never really cared so much about the etymology, more so about why things work the way they do, why this word works here and not there, etc

[autumn condor]

Yeah when I have worked with people who aren't great with english I try to never say "it's just how it is" and sometimes try to leverage my own perception of why it is to help explain weird englishisms

[swift bough]

I mean I have no idea about the etymology or history when it comes to „Es gibt“, this is one of those things that I’ve known since like day one and just accepted it from that point as just being what it is.

[autumn condor]

Glad I'm not alone. Only reason I remember durch half the time of because "Wandern durch dem weißen Winterwald", association is my best asset (and the more associations the stronger it gets)

[swift bough]

Not sure if that was a typo but durch always requires accusative, btw

[autumn condor]

Den*

[swift bough]

I know what you mean, the more you see a word, the better feel you get for it, because you have then seen it in multiple different contexts.

Does a way better job than just a dictionary.

[autumn condor]

It wasn't a typo, I just don't know hardly any grammar well enough

[swift bough]

Some prepositions only take accusative, and some only dative. There are also 2-way prepositions which can use both, depending on what you are trying to say.

[autumn condor]

I'm at that phase where I'm aware of some things and sentence structure but unable to use it

Like, is nebulous and not coherent yet

[swift bough]

What do you learn with?

[autumn condor]

Anki decks for some vocab, mix of my own decks for focused topics and the goethe A1 list for broader topics. I also typically do two days a week on italki with a Native just so I'm talking out loud sometimes. I've not found a good resource for grammar that has worked for me. Text books are designed around instruction and I find them difficult on my own

They have gaps and voids meant to be filled by instruction*

The italki stuff mostly focuses on describing images to her to get me using my vocabulary and extend it in a descriptive sense

Grammar has been a sticking point. I love how much information lingola has but it's hard to follow/apply to actually study

I probably do an hour a day spaced out, sometimes more. My day job has a lot of short free time (software engineer) that I fill with vocab or listening to German youtube

[swift bough]

I completely get where you’re coming from. An actual teacher is way better to have, especially if you’re actually serious about learning it. Learning a language alone requires so much motivation and most of all dedication, otherwise you won’t get very far. I sadly have no advice when it comes to this because I have learned German at Highschool, college, and in Germany via IRL conversations. I mean I did practice on my own sometimes (and still do) but I was only able to do that because A. I had had a teacher so I learned grammar and B. I loved the language.

[autumn condor]

Motivation and sticking to it isn't all issue. It's just finding resources that work for the format. I'm older and disciplined (30s so not that old lol).

I took it in highschool but I was not disciplined then and skated through :(

[swift bough]

You’ve found a goldmine of a resource however (aka this discord server)

[autumn condor]

I'm only not doing more formal education in it because two kids under three and demanding full time job means I can't commit to scheduled things (italki I can control scheduling)

Yes this and one other I'm on

[swift bough]

Makes sense

[autumn condor]

The other one has natives giving lessons but they are Berlin time so it never aligns

[swift bough]

You can actually learn a ton from discord, you just have to find the right people who don’t mind helping you out. You probably won’t find a Professional teacher giving out free lessons though

[autumn condor]

Yeah a big problem is just how busy it gets on this one

The other is much smaller and easier to get one on one, but at the expense is time zone funnyness

I'd never expect free lessons

The whole "not a kid anymore", I even buy my media and games now

[swift bough]

I actually really like helping out here though (I’m literally studying to become a German teacher)

[autumn condor]

Well we can be friends then xD. I know we should move the convo from here so people don't feel like they can't ask questions

[swift bough]

Yea it is a bit off topic now haha

[autumn condor]

I added you just to not lose track, hope I'm not being presumptuous

[swift bough]

Not at all, you can dm me

[long whale]

@autumn condor From what you said, you might want to give https://www.languagetransfer.org/free-courses-1#german a try. You can watch the videos on youtube as well. The 1st one is mainly the guy going on about his method if I remember correctly, but the rest is really good, I think. :)

[swift bough]

Oh yeah! YouTube...that totally slipped my mind, lol

[summer crystal]

Is there a German prefix that has the same usage as the English re-? If, for example, I were to create a verb from erwerben, what prefix would I attach for it to gain the meaning of reacquire?

[fallow ledge]

You can stick wieder- at the front

Its meaning is like again

[summer crystal]

That makes total sense 🤦

Danke!

[fallow ledge]

Bitte!

[tidal dove]

I have kind of a beginner question - I’m not familiar with how syntax works with clauses yet, so I was wondering if someone could help me out

So if you want to say “after we did x, we did y,” how does that change the verb position?

[willow socket]

nachdem wir etwas gemacht hatten, haben wir etwas gemacht.

[tidal dove]

Interesting! So the auxiliary verb is the last position in the clause?

[willow socket]

yeah a ' nachdem' clause is a subordinate clause with the verb at last position. The following clause is the hauptclause with verb in pos. 2 (AKA directly after clause 1)

[tidal dove]

Ah perfekt!! Danke schön 🙌

[autumn condor]

after listening to a few, it is definitely interesting. although it seems their german stuff was abandoned (unfinished?) I'll have to go through more of it and report back if it was valuable

[long whale]

Yes, please, I'd be interested to know what you think about it. :)

[slim yew]

the time comes first, then the object?

[scenic drift]

time-manner-place

here time is 11, place is Bett, so elf then Bett

[slim yew]

what is manner

[swift bough]

Männer is the plural form of Mann

oh nvm xd

Talking about what mikey wrote

[fervent kernel]

The way in which you do something

[swift bough]

I think what he means by manner is if you use a preposition for something else? Something like "Ich gehe um 11 Uhr wegen meiner Müdigkeit ins Bett"

Yeah and a preposition could ofc help to describe how you do smth

[scenic drift]

check out this resource: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z9jfbk7/revision/3

time - when, how often
manner - how, who you were with
place - where, where to

Ich fahre um acht Uhr mit dem Bus zur Schule
-> time (acht Uhr), manner (mit dem Bus), place (zur Schule)

[slim yew]

In geman the adjective (like schnell) can be both the adjective (quick) and the adverb (quickly)?

[tender panther]

Yes

[onyx rain]

You can also check out Pimsleur, I am going through theirs, it's a bit more organized and strict and follows a similar and different at the time, immersion technique.
As always, the starting ones look easy but it's good if you do it from the beginning.

But they are paid, https://www.pimsleur.com/learn-german
As for me, I am gonna pay them back when I start a job. (Coz I personally think its worth the money, a bit too expensive still)
@autumn condor

[summer crystal]

Wait, all adjectives can be used as adverbs, no exceptions?

[sudden cloud]

what does Designerklamotten mean?

[scenic drift]

well, Klamotten is clothes, Designer is kinda self-explanatory, so designer clothes 😉

[sudden cloud]

is klamotten an old word

because it isnt in the dictionary

nvm it is

but ty mikey

[long whale]

I'd be surprised if there were any exceptions. 🤔 Can you think of any likely ones?

[summer crystal]

Tried to, but every single adjective I've plugged into Linguee came with an "adverb" section 😆

[fervent kernel]

Well, seems like the only solution left to you guys is searching every adjective there is.

[limpid stratus]

Could someone please check my book it’s a big part of my final grade I’ll dm it to you if you’d like it’s quite simple German (year 8 aka first year) it’s about a german person whom I made up it’s due on Friday the book is already done just looking for validation or a second look from someone who knows the language

[icy flax]

All die Farben, groß/klein 🤔

[long whale]

"rot sehen" vs. "ein rotes Auto"; "blau sein" vs. ein blaues Auto"; "grün im Gesicht werden", "grün und blau geschlagen worden sein" ; "klein beigeben"; "groß [herum]tönen" 🤷

And yes, "rosa" and "lila" don't get declined, but they still work both as adjectives and adverbs. 🤷

[icy flax]

The colors seem to be giving quality to nouns there, even when in combination with verbs. Would they be considered adverbs in German? I get the point of klein/groß tho.

Not only tönen, but groß tönen. I thought these kind of verbs would be written together:

Der hat sich großgemacht.

In which case, Id call them just a prefix.

[long whale]

You're right as to "rotsehen" - according to the new orthography rules, it's spelled as one word. And don't get me wrong, you may well be right and I'm wrong, but how would "Sie sind sich nicht grün" (they don't like each other) be giving a quality to a noun? Any more than "Er fuhr schnell", I mean?

[fervent kernel]

😂😂Thats funny. I didnt know. Rosa and lila dont decline 😅😅😅

[icy flax]

teacher said the "to be" is special, but I do follow your logic there, Susana. And I question the importance of categorisation

[mint ravine]

If I say I took part in something using, 'teilnehmen' do I use 'an' or 'in'? Because 'an' keeps popping up, but I've seen a couple 'in'

[willow socket]

normally an
z.B. Ich habe an einem Deutschkurs teilgenommen.

[snow bone]

teilnehmen an + D

You cannot use "in"

[heavy stratus]

Sorry for yet another question guys. There's this character that says something that sounds like 'neenah' in an 'oh really!?' kind of sense, is this something that's widely in use? I want to add it to my vocab

[long whale]

Don't. It's colloquial. It's "Nee, ne?" for "Nein, nein?" (2 different kinds of colloquial pronunciation of "nein") in the sense of "No, really?" or "Impossible!" It's good if you understand it, but I can't really recommend adopting it. :D

[scenic drift]

nee, ne? sounds like mord mit aussicht to me!

[heavy stratus]

Ach, es hört sich so süß an! Danke für die Antwort

[heavy stratus]

That's exactly what it is!

[scenic drift]

thought so 😄 it's very characteristic of her. i binge-watched all of it before i left germany. so good

[heavy stratus]

Yeah no one else seems to say it haha so I wasn't sure if it was a character thing

[scenic drift]

i do have to agree with susana though, i wouldn't incorporate this into your daily vocabulary. it's very much a "her character" thing. the "nee" and "ne?" can be nice to use on their own, though, but only in moderation 😉

[heavy stratus]

It sounds like It would be cringe if I used it 😂

Damn shame

[autumn condor]

Could you describe a bit what it's like? I'd try the free trial to check it out but would like to know about time commitment and method

[fervent kernel]

Can I use "ich frage mich" when asking someone about something

Like "..if you have this and this information"

"i'm wondering" keeps getting translated as it, but i don't know if it's automatic translating messing up or if that's actually the phrase

[unkempt chasm]

i´m wondering would translate in "ich frage mich"

[near folio]

"I'm wondering" ist die richtige Übersetzung, ja

[fervent kernel]

So "ich frage mich" doesn't sound weird here?

[unkempt chasm]

no for example you could say " Ich frage mich ob FC Bayern dieses Wochenende gewinnt."

[delicate tiger]

"..., ob der FC Bayern..." oder "..., ob Bayern..."

[fervent kernel]

I see what you mean but I was wondering more about a sentence like "ich frage mich.. if you can certify this document for me" 😅

like in that meaning

Where i'm addressing someone

[unkempt chasm]

well you could say it but it would sound a little weird at least from where I am ´. But that´s just my opinioin where I live we have an accent so. technically it´s not wrong 😅

[near folio]

du könntest es so verwenden, aber ich stimme SlowMo zu, dass es sich komisch anhört. Du würdest den Satz ein bisschen anders formulieren oder das "I was wondering" ganz weglassen.

Könntest du mir bitte das Dokument beglaubigen? Zum Beispiel

[unkempt chasm]

yep thats more natural

[fervent kernel]

I had a feeling it was weird lol, but this was a translation from DeepL which is usually quality so i wanted to double check

I see ok

[near folio]

ja, DeepL hat manchmal Schwierigkeiten mit dieser "indirekten Höflichkeit"

[fervent kernel]

"Es interessiert mich," hört sich das gut an?

[unkempt chasm]

for the same context ?

[fervent kernel]

"wenn Sie diese Beglaubigung liefern können" zB

[near folio]

dann sagst du quasi I have an interest in you delivering this certification.

was komisch klingt lol

[fervent kernel]

hahaha

Ich glaube ich werde einfach den Füller weglassen und ihnen sagen, was ich brauche

[near folio]

ja, einfach bitte irgendwo hinzufügen und du bist schon ziemlich höflich

[fervent kernel]

Stimmt

Danke leute

[autumn condor]

Because of casing, isn't

Der Hund beißt den Mann
The same as
Den Mann beißt der Hund.

[unkempt chasm]

yes it is

[autumn condor]

Aye carumba

I understand it and like it, but it's going to be so hard to... Remember/process

[unkempt chasm]

yeah german can be weird sometimes but thats with every language XD

[autumn condor]

Yeah I mean you can abuse english to the point of fracture and still be understandable to a native speaker

[unkempt chasm]

yeah exactly

[onyx rain]

So it's of around 30 mins each, it usually starts with 2 people conversing in German. Initially after a few episodes you get around 60% of what they are talking about, and then after hearing the lesson...you are like "ah that's what they were saying!" And if after a few lessons you play the old recording you can get more than 90% of the conversation.

@autumn condor Time commitment : around 30 mins/day.
If you wanna do more of that, you can space them at 12 hours, like do one in morning and one in night.
Method: They go like "Try saying to an acquaintance: Would you like to drink something?"
Then based on your learning you try without pausing: "Möchten Sie etwas trinken?" Or a close one and then they answer.

Eventually they start giving the instructions in German too "versuchen Sie zu sagen" "wiederholen Sie bitte" so your ears get used to it, so far I have liked the method

And I should stop with big wall of texts now..

[fallow ledge]

Sagt man „das gefällt mir am besten“ oder „das gefällt mir am meisten,“ um auszudrücken, dass von der ganzen Reihe der Möglichkeiten dieses eine Ding mein Lieblingsding ist?

[long whale]

Without having checked, I'd say it's "das gefällt mir am besten" in Standard German. You'll hear people say "am meisten", though. :)

[fallow ledge]

Danke! 🙏

[worn tundra]

Ich besuchte in Handelsfachtchnikum . nächster bin ich in Frisuar gearbeitet aber diese Beruf ist nicht für mich , und jetzt suche ich arbeit mit Deutschsprache und ich lerne Deutsch an einer Sprachkurs

Habe ich gut geschrieben?

[snow bone]

Nächster means "closer"

Use dann or danach

dieser Beruf

Ich habe als Friseur gearbeitet

The entire thing is a bit broken

Suche ich nach einer Arbeit

[scenic drift]

nächster can also mean "next".

i don't think it's the right choice here anyway

[onyx rain]

@autumn condor Last thing these are all recordings, I hope my way of explaining didn't give you the wrong idea of a real teacher

[scenic drift]

i'm not sure what the first sentence is meant to mean, but corrections to the rest:

Danach habe ich als Friseur[in] gearbeitet, aber dieser Beruf war nicht für mich. Jetzt suche ich Arbeit [in Deutschland?] und lerne Deutsch in einem Sprachkurs.

[snow bone]

Ich habe das Handelsfachtnikum?? abgeschlossen. Danach habe ich als Friseur gearbeitet, aber dieser Beruf war nicht für mich. Jetzt nehme ich an einem Deutschkurs teil und suche nach einer Arbeit, wo ich die deutsche Sprache verwenden kann.

That's how I will probably write it, if I understand your text correctly.

[worn tundra]

Vielen Dank!

[summer crystal]

Is it common to drop the "tausend" when saying dates in German? For example saying just "Neunhundertneunundachtzig" for 1989. Heard that in some news.

[scenic drift]

i reckon you heard 'neunzehnhundertneunundachtzig"

[willow socket]

are you sure you didn't hear neunzehnhundertneunundachtzig?

[scenic drift]

nineteen hundred nine and eighty

[summer crystal]

Yes, checking it again, I did! 😅 Sorry for the confusion.

[onyx rain]

When one says "Sagt mal <Person_name>" Is sagt in imperative form?

Or I am mis-hearing and it is just "Sag mal <person_name>"?

[scenic drift]

both sagt and sag are imperatives

du sag(e), ihr sagt

[slow granite]

hmm

[onyx rain]

Which one will be used here @scenic drift ?

[slow granite]

is it okay to say something like "ist gut" or something instead of "es ist gut" in conversational german?

and if yes, are there any rules to it

[scenic drift]

depends on if you're addressing one person or multiple people, really

[onyx rain]

We are talking directly to one single person

[scenic drift]

i'd say so, yeah

[scenic drift]

then probably sag[e] is what you want

[slow granite]

ah thank you

[onyx rain]

Alright thanks

[rain kernel]

If i wanted to say " they have become endangered" can i say" Sie sind gefährdet geworden"?

[delicate tiger]

"Sie sind vom Aussterben bedroht"

[autumn condor]

Is "Ich kenne das Gefühl." Comparable to "I know that feel" in English slang. Or is it just a normal "I know that feeling"

[swift bough]

As an English native I’ve personally never heard someone ever say „I know that feel“

But if it means the same thing as „I know that feeling“, then sure, why not.

[autumn condor]

English native and hear it often. It came from the internet but made it into the millennial lexicon

[orchid cypress]

yeah exactly

[swift bough]

New to me, I’m not even old

[orchid cypress]

feel/feeling is all the same to me

[swift bough]

It sounds strange to me

Gotta be „feeling“

[autumn condor]

It's supposed to

Really, given it came from internet lingo

[orchid cypress]

yes

[autumn condor]

I would consider it equivalent to I know that feeling, but possibly more empathetic in some situations

Don't ask why or how lol

I don't know

Actually, better way to put it how I perceive it.

"I know that feel" can relate to an entire state of being. From bad financials, to health, to general mental health.

Vs i know that feeling being more specific to a single state

[swift bough]

The only time I would ever use feel as a noun is if I said „It has a weird / cool feel to it“.

[autumn condor]

I know this must seen silly, but I've been exposed to it in this context for years

Very slang, so not like it's valid English

[swift bough]

I feel as though people here all would pretty much just say „I know how that is“ instead of „I know that feel“.

Or „I feel you / that“

[autumn condor]

Well this is no longer about the translation, I only inquired because I know memes get converted sometimes

[swift bough]

That’s common

[autumn condor]

But I promise you "I know that feel" is way more common than you think

[swift bough]

Never heard it in my life

[autumn condor]

Looks like it's made it into some idiom dictionaries, whoa

That's surprising even to me

I was equally blown away by the prevalent of "es ist Mittwoch meine Kerle" in German Pop culture

*prevalence

[swift bough]

@autumn condor I just asked my brother who‘s 15 years old if he‘s never heard of that before and he also hasn’t so

It can’t be just me 😄

[icy flax]

https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/i-know-that-feel.3155714/

[heavy stratus]

'I know that feeling' sound more natural to me

[icy flax]

@swift bough, do you know a word for dumm in english that sound close to "degener"? I heard someone in a VC earlier on.

[tender panther]

I would assume degenerate

[swift bough]

Yeah I agree with @tender panther

But I don’t know if degenerate is an adjective or not

It’s definitely a noun

[swift bough]

Also what my brother said

[night dagger]

english native; never heard or seen any native use "i know that feel", even ironically

[icy flax]

Thx!

[swift bough]

No problem bro

[fallow ledge]

@swift bough @night dagger @autumn condor i use i know that feel/the feel...

It came from tumblr, maybe, at least these kinds of internet circles

Incidentally some of my friends use it too

@heavy stratus

[night dagger]

lol https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-know-that-feel-bro i guess it came from a meme in 2010

🤷 never heard of it before

[swift bough]

It’s just something I’ve never heard someone say irl or even online for whatever reason

[night dagger]

same

"I feel you, bro", definitely said and heard way more frequently

[swift bough]

Yup same

Or „I feel that“

[night dagger]

"i feel ya"

etc.

[swift bough]

Also „I know how it is“ @night dagger

That’s honestly what I always say

[fallow ledge]

Anyway all are valid, i wouldnt correct someone for i know that feel cause id say it too

[swift bough]

Nobody corrected anyone

[fallow ledge]

I was emphasising that i feel like its valid

Not that there was a correction or anything

[night dagger]

i think if i met someone that was learning english, and they said "i know that feel", i would probably correct them lol

[swift bough]

Someone just asked if „I know that feel“ can be used as a translation for „Ich kenne das Gefühl“ instead of „I know that feeling“, to which I replied, I’ve never heard „I know that feel“.

[swift bough]

If someone asked which one was better than yeah I’d say feeling

Like a learner

Better off that way for a written or spoken test at the least

[autumn condor]

More I didn't know if it was a german adoption of the meme

Or normal phrasing

[swift bough]

It’s normal phrasing @autumn condor

[naive kettle]

faq beginner

[stoic mauve]

How to get started

The simplest way to learn German is to find topics you don’t understand yet and search for explanations of them. This list provides you with a guide for which topics to learn if you are completely new to German. Type the topic into Google (or YouTube) and start learning!

Introduction

1: Alphabet (especially ä, ü, ö and ß)
2: Basic greetings (hello, goodbye, etc.)

Part 1 - Simple Sentence

1: Noun gender & plurals
2: Nominative case (What are cases?)
3: Nominative pronouns (I, you, he, she, etc.)
4: Verbs in present tense
5: Definite/indefinite articles
6: Accusative case (for nouns)
7: Accusative pronouns
8: Word order of simple sentences
9: How to ask questions

See Part 2 on the next page.

Tips

• Always learn the gender of a noun when you learn a new noun
• Learn to use a translation dictionary (e.g. dict.cc, leo.org)
• Use >faq resources to see our list of German learning resources
• For listening and pronunciation practice, try watching movies or videos (incl. YouTube)
• You can listen to pronunciation for words on websites like dict.cc, forvo.com, and others
• Practice writing sentences every day (and asking people to correct them)
• Ask as many questions as possible
• Don’t be scared to make mistakes!!!! If you don’t let yourself make mistakes, you will never be able to learn German

Page 1/2

[naive kettle]

resources

faq resources

[stoic mauve]

Resources

https://bit.ly/gladresources

[proven sphinx]

You must not know much about memes. “I know that feel” has been used for more than a decade at this point. It’s not really grammatically correct though.

[solid hull]

How is it not grammatically correct? 🤔

[solid hull]

Except that it is

[night dagger]

@proven sphinx my knowledge of my memes is a completely different conversation, but we can go there in another channel if you want some point lol. In any case, i never said it wasn’t grammatically correct because it is technically grammatically correct; it’s just not something I’ve heard, or remembered hearing for that matter. however, apparently people do say it. 🤷

[plain umbra]

It's definitely also a noun, lol.

[night dagger]

It’s a verb and a noun

4 @harsh berry

again, just saying „I know that feel“, isn’t as common. I suppose this is like in German, where one can say something and it’s technically grammatically correct, but it’s just not as commonly said (or is depending on the group of people)

[solid hull]

When feel is used as a noun in its emotional sense, you’re right that “feeling” is “more correct” but feel is just as valid. Slang basically

[night dagger]

lol i hate it

[solid hull]

[night dagger]

but yeah, don’t say it in an English exam or something

[solid hull]

But do say it in informal conversations as much as you can

[fervent kernel]

hii

"Was ich so an einem Tag esse" is there a reason for the "so"? what does it mean without it?

[night dagger]

if i'm not mistaken, it's simply functioning as a particle there which is creating focus around what is ate daily

[fervent kernel]

i see, thanks!!

[celest frost]

it's a casual form of inquiry of someone's eating habits
"Er fragte mich, was ich so an einem Tag esse" -> this sounds like he's asking how much the addressed is eating. It can also mean that he's just looking for culinary advice

[fervent kernel]

I got that 😅 i just wasn't sure about the "so"

[celest frost]

the "so" is vital to make the question casual

if you leave it out, it can sound interrogative

[fervent kernel]

Ohh ok

[celest frost]

if you're talking about your visit at the doctor's, you can omit "so", because you are in a professional relationship

but vice versa if it was a friend

[fervent kernel]

And what does it sound like to you as a title of a youtube video, just"was ich an einem Tag esse'

(Cause this is the title of a vid, that's how i stumbled upon it)

I mean the title has the "so"

[celest frost]

it sounds like the person is on a diet and wants to share exactly what they are eating and for what reason

[fervent kernel]

I see, interesting

[celest frost]

"so" just makes it softer and more casual

so if they are making a professional video, they'd omit it

we call it "Floskel" in German

[fervent kernel]

Is it used just in this type of construction or in any kind of sentence?

[celest frost]

it sees frequent use when you're asking about habits

"Was machst du denn so am Wochenende?" -> What do you usually do at the weekend?

"Wie viel Geld gibst du im Urlaub so aus?" -> How much money do you usually spend when on vacation?

[fervent kernel]

Oo ok

Could i say "Was isst du so an einem Alltag"?

[celest frost]

yes, but it sounds a bit weird, because "Alltag" is a formal word

"Was isst du denn so jeden Tag?"

"Was isst du denn so am Tag?"

[fervent kernel]

Oops i meant "an einem Tag"

[celest frost]

"so" is a filler word, so it's best used with other casual words

your idea is definitely not wrong though

and your mileage may vary even among natives

[fervent kernel]

I seee

Tyvm!

[swift bough]

You know I’ve never actually thought about this before per se, the way I learned it (so) was actually just by copying the way natives speak, haha, but when I actually think about it now, that is definitely what it feels like (makes it more casual/soft). Interesting.

[frail marten]

Verb on the last line, verzieht euch, what does "verziehen sich" mean?

[sly ferry]

sich verziehen means to fuck off here, it's not as aggressive though

[summer crystal]

What's the German word for prompt, in the sense of "a suggestion for inspiration given to an author"? Please ping me when responding.

[long whale]

Hard to say without more context - might be "das Stichwort" :)

[steep sandal]

What does "desto" and "umso" mean and how are they used ?

[long whale]

https://www.dwds.de/wb/desto ;)

[steep sandal]

you know, when i write here, i hope for a human to human translation/explanation

not a link to a dictionary

;)

[sly ferry]

well it pretty much sums it up though
umso is a synonym for desto

taking the example from the website: je eher wir fertig sind, desto/umso früher können wir nach Hause gehen (the sooner we're done, the earlier we'll be able to go home)

[soft moss]

Was ist der Unterscheid zwischen 'schauen' und 'blicken', Ich verstehe nicht, seit sie sind beide 'look' in Englisch.

[proven sphinx]

“blicken“ is rarely used. It’s closer to “glance” as in “glance at something”.

[soft moss]

ok thank you

so schauen is the literal translate of 'to look', while blicken is a glance

to glance

so I look at you would be 'Ich schau am sie'

[sly ferry]

ex seeing verbs

[stoic mauve]

seeing verbs

In German, there are a few different verbs describing the act of seeing. The most important ones are sehen, schauen, zuschauen, anschauen, zusehen and ansehen.

🔸 sehen (sieht, sah, hat gesehen) is the closest translation to “see”. It indicates an ability to see something.
(1) Ich sehe dich. (I can see you.)
(2) Siehst du das Auto? (Can you see the car?)

🔸 schauen (schaut, schaute, hat geschaut) is similar to English “look”. It indicates that you are actively trying to see something or looking in a particular direction. You usually use it together with some prepositional phrase that indicates the target. Schauen does not take a direct object! The verb gucken means the same as schauen, which one is used is mostly regional.
(3) Ich schaue aus dem Fenster. (I am looking out of the window.)
(4) Sie schaute unter den Tisch. (She looked under the table.)
‼ There are a lot of idioms with schauen, such as nach jmdm. schauen “to look after someone” and auf etw. schauen “to guard sth.”

🔸 anschauen means “to look at sth”. You use it when indicating that you are looking at an object. zuschauen on the other hand indicates you’re looking at an action.
‼ anschauen requires an accusative object, but zuschauen requires dative.
(5) Ich schaue die Landschaft an. (I am looking at the landscape.)
(6) Ich schaue den Kindern zu. (I am watching the children (doing sth).)

🔸 ansehen and zusehen mean the same thing as anschauen and zuschauen respectively.
(7) Sie sehen uns an. (They are looking at us.)

[sly ferry]

@soft moss ^

[heavy stratus]

I'm trying out some structures for relative clauses that I'm not yet comfortable with and would appreciate feedback on these examples. (1) Ich habe eine Doku angeguckt, in der es um einen bekannten Betrüger geht. (2) Wolfgang lebt bei seiner Schwester, auf die er noch aufgewiesen geblieben ist. (3) Die Süßigkeiten, die vor der jungen Anja auf dem Tisch gestehen waren, von denen es eine Vielfalt an Auswahlen gab, haben dem Kind gefallen.

I'm not sure if (1) should actually be 'in der es um einen bekannten Betrüger gegangen war' 🤔

[night dagger]

i would probably just say "ich sah eine Doku, die über einen bekannten Betrüger war" @heavy stratus

[willow socket]

I think the way you have it written is correct. although you watched the Doku in the past, in the docu 'es geht um X' in the present tense.

and it's a very common construction 👍 so a good way to say it

[heavy stratus]

Thanks for your responses! @night dagger @willow socket

[willow socket]

@heavy stratus 'Wolfgang lebt bei seiner Schwester, auf die er noch aufgewiesen geblieben ist.'
I'm not sure what you're trying to say here, but I assume it should be 'auf die er noch angewiesen ist'?

[heavy stratus]

Yes, I leart 'angewiesen bleiben' as a pair but misremembered the prexif as 'auf'

[willow socket]

'Die Süßigkeiten, die vor der jungen Anja auf dem Tisch gestehen waren, von denen es eine Vielfalt an Auswahlen gab, haben dem Kind gefallen.'
gestehen waren-->gestanden haben(?)
von denen es eine Vielfalt an Auswahlen gab-->von denen es eine große Auswahl gab

otherwise your use of relative pronouns seems to be pretty good!

[heavy stratus]

Danke schön für deine Hilfe, Grau!

[twin bane]

Ich grüße euch kameraden! Ich hab da eine Frage in meinem hinterkopf, wisst ihr zufällig was "pragmatisch" bedeutet?

[heavy stratus]

pragmatic / practical

[twin bane]

Englisch ist nicht do meine nativsprache

So*

Jedenfalls, trotzdem danke

[heavy stratus]

Es wäre pragmatisch, nen Schraubenzieher mitzunehmen, wenn du dein Auto zerlegen möchtest - Ich hoffe, dass das ein gutes Beispiel ist. Wenn etwas pragmatisch ist, heißt das, dass es die Lage gut anpasst (wenn ich nen Fehler gemacht habe, bitte korrigiert mich)

[twin bane]

Ah, also ist das wie "praktisch"?

[heavy stratus]

Ja, ich glaube so

[twin bane]

Danke für die Info

[willow socket]

Pragmatisch ist etwa eine gute Orientierung an der Wirklichkeit und der Effizienz bzw. Einfachheit...ein bestimmtes maß von Realismus und Lösungsfähigkeit?

[twin bane]

Es hat wohl auch mit Wahrnehmung zu tun?

[willow socket]

Pragmatisch kann z.B. eine Haltung sein, ja.

[twin bane]

Ah, gut zu wissen

[proven sphinx]

There's also an expression with "blicken" that's "sich blicken lassen", which means "to show up somewhere". It's usually used in the negative "sich nicht blicken lassen", which means that someone is highly undesired at some place.

"Nachdem was er ihr gesagt hat, darf er sich dort nie mehr blicken lassen." = After what he said to her, he can no longer show his face there anymore.

[heavy stratus]

What did he say to her? don't leave us hanging like that, Raven 🍿

[proven sphinx]

LOL

[twin bane]

Was soll unterjochen heißen? Ich bin mir ziemlich sicher es ist ein altes deutsches Wort

[icy flax]

Und glotzen? Serien/YouTube Videos glotzen.

[sly ferry]

Well it's incredibly colloquial

[scenic drift]

laut duden:

unter seine Herrschaft, Gewalt bringen und unterdrücken

also... subjugate?

[twin bane]

Oder

Diktatur?

[willow socket]

unterwerfen ähnlich, etwas intensiver
a 'yoke' is a thing put on livestock animals in english, idk if there's any connection, but there's a common turn of speech: 'under the yoke'

[twin bane]

Unterwerfen is like "I claim that you..."

Did done something

[willow socket]

huh? no. I think you're thinking of unterstellen??

unterwerfen is like subjugating something.
and sich unterwerfen = subordinating/subjugating yourself to something

[twin bane]

Oh wait yeah you're right

I was just a little unfocused

Sorry about that

I got this lol

Military violence

[willow socket]

no it's all good! no need to apologise

[twin bane]

Ah alright

[willow socket]

German verbs with 15 different prefix options get confusing af 😂 I do the same all the time

[twin bane]

Yeah
, you just forget there's another meaning

[nocturne cairn]

kannst du etwas für dich behalten?

i think its right-

nice okay

[fervent kernel]

Hello everyone. Its been a long time I came back here and wanted to resume with some exercises, but with so many exercises being put up in the writing and practice rooms I'm not sure how or where to start. Can someone help me or suggest me on how I should start practicing again using the rooms? It would be very helpful😄
Thanks!

[plain umbra]

Can you explain a bit more what you mean? Are you looking for exercises to do? Or something else?

[fervent kernel]

Sorry for the late reply. Yes, I'd been occupied with a lot of study work and assignments in the recent past so its been a while since I returned. Now that I have come back I want to start with the exercises once again, but I don't know how to or where to start from since there are a lot of them in the rooms. So could you advise or suggest me on where I could start practicing from?

[onyx rain]

There is the study-tasks channel and it has active to passive exercise and pronunciation exercise

You can get started there @fervent kernel I think they are posted about every month. For reading there is the #lessons channel and you can subscribe yourself to advancedreading and reading using the #botchannel and trying out commands

[fervent kernel]

Thank you for clarifying it to me, appreciate it. I wanted to try out the lessons channel and I see the bot posting some schedules as well but I don't know how to attend those lessons. Are they live lessons? And do I have to subscribe using the bot in order to attend those lessons?

[sly ferry]

ex sessions

[stoic mauve]

lessons

Lessons
The lessons held on the server don’t have a consistent schedule, because we allow lesson hosts to choose their own times and days. Lessons are held in the Lessons voice channel along with the #lessons text channel. Everyone is welcome to listen to the lessons even if they don’t wish to participate.

You can subscribe to a specific group to get pings whenever a session is announced. The current lesson groups are:

• Reading: Read and translate German texts together.
• AdvancedReading: Like Reading but aimed at B2+ speakers.
• Grammar: Lesson about a specific grammar topic.
• Activities: Speaking practice, learning games, or things that don’t fit in the other categories.

Subscribe by typing >sub Reading (for example) in #botchannel.

Lesson Hosting
Lesson hosting is a voluntary role and we welcome any members who are interested to host their own sessions. If you’re interested in running a session, feel free to DM one of the moderators to discuss the process.

Even if you feel inexperienced or have no idea what to run a session about, we’re always happy to provide guidance and teach people how they can hold learning sessions.

[fervent kernel]

Ah thank you so much. I will subscribe to all of them since it would be a good way to practice my German.

Okay it seems that I was subscribed to reading, activities, writing and pronunciation. So in order for me to attend the lessons I should join the lessons room at the given time then am I right?

[light ivy]

Zahlen vs Bezahlen? What’s the difference?

[sly ferry]

yup

[fervent kernel]

Thank you!

[fervent kernel]

As far as I know, Zahlen as a noun means counting or numbers and as a verb could mean both to count or to pay. But bezahlen usually means to pay financially in most situations. This is my understanding of the difference between the two.

[light ivy]

Okay

Thanks

[fervent kernel]

Anytime

[little dock]

"zählen" would be to count.

[fervent kernel]

Ah right, my bad. Maybe you can clarify it once again to Leon.

[little dock]

"(be)zahlen" means to pay (both financially and metaphorically) and "zählen" means to count.

[onyx rain]

What is the general rule of formal writing in German? Should one stick to only simple past tense or using present perfect in between here and there is allowed? Or is it considered unprofessional ?

[little dock]

I'm not sure if people will mind the difference between the two. What you should do though is use formal forms when addressing someone. So use "Sie" instead of "du"

[arctic cosmos]

Welche drei modalpartikeln werden in Deutschland häufig verwendet?
Das brauche ich für meine Bachelorarbeit und muss darüber ausfrühlich schreiben

[heady sorrel]

Hi, I'm a bit confused about how to say things like "shouldn't have done that" or "couldn't have said that" etc. Especially in embedded clauses.
From what I've been able to piece together, "He said that I shouldn't have done that" would be "Er sagte, dass ich das nicht hätte tun sollen." Intuitively I would put hätte last because it's an embedded clause, but it seems the order is always hätte + infinitive + modal infinitive. Is that correct?

[willow socket]

yes, when there is a double infinitive it changes the normal word order in a subordinate clause. The 'hätte' comes before the two infinitives. This happens in all constructions with double infinitives and a conjugated verb, not just konjunktiv II vergangenheit with modalverben

[heady sorrel]

Ah, that makes sense. Thank you for explaining!

[summer crystal]

What's the verb for "to mind" in German? In the sense of "if you don't mind".

[proven sphinx]

"ausmachen" comes closest, I suppose.

If you don't mind = Wenn es dir/Ihnen nichts ausmacht.

[summer crystal]

Thanks, I was looking exactly for this example!

[autumn condor]

Warum der Becher für Eis essen und die Tasse für trinken?

[long whale]

"die Tasse" is usually accompanied by a saucer (die Untertasse), just like an English cup. If you're drinking from a mug, it's also called "der Becher". :)

[autumn condor]

Aha

Someone in another discord said it's kind of arbitrary

Es gibt Eisbecher (aber nicht Eistasse)

Es gibt Teetasse (aber nicht Teebecher)

Also, es gibt Kaffeetasse und Kaffeebecher

[sly ferry]

I'd also argue it depends on the material it's made of
A Tasse is usually made of ceramic or china, a Becher can be made of about almost anything

[autumn condor]

Yeah they did mention that, Becher can be "to go"

I want to put ice cream in a tea cup and post "eine Tasse Eis" now as a joke to ich_iel

[summer crystal]

"Ich hoffe, dass du eine tolle Woche vor dir hast!"
Is this the correct way of saying "I hope that you have a great week ahead of you!"?

[lyric breach]

Sorry can't find the answer, but what is this channel for? Is it just in case people are already discussing in #questions so as to not interfere with someone else getting help?

[plain umbra]

Yeah, basically. It's exactly the same as #questions so you can use either.

[lyric breach]

Great, thanks!

[kindred idol]

Well I said

[hardy seal]

Yoooooo Ich have eine forage

Frage*

I’m learning imperative and I’ve seen gehen used as geh and gehe when using du

What is the correct form of du?

[fallow ledge]

@hardy seal both are fine

[hardy seal]

Really? Oh no

The thing is I have a test tomorrow jajajaja and I don’t know what the teacher prefers

[fallow ledge]

Since gehe has this extra syllable, it can be seen as a little bit more polite

In your class your teacher will probably prefer the version without the e

So geh

[hardy seal]

Ohhhhh danke

[charred brook]

https://www.tiktok.com/@laschakv/video/6932445402348195077?lang=en&is_copy_url=0&is_from_webapp=v1&sender_device=pc&sender_web_id=6960851886220297733

Schaut euch mal das an bis zum Ende

Was meint er mit: Simulant

[fallow ledge]

der Simulant, Jemand, der etwas (besonders Krankheiten oder Schmerzen) vortäuscht

es scheint aber ein relativ seltenes Wort zu sein

[charred brook]

nicht für diesen Typ 😅

[sand moth]

Kann jemand mir sagen, was für eine Tonne ist das? Wie wird das genannt?

[night dagger]

sie sind Wertstoff-Tonnen

aber es gibt wahrscheinlich ein besseres Wort, keine Ahnung

ich weiß, Müll-Tonne in Berlin für Wertstoff sind normalerweise orange und gelbe 🤷

[full cloak]

Wie benutzt man jeden im Gegensatz zu irgendwelchem?

[long whale]

Yes, that's correct. :)

[willow socket]

jede- = every
irgendwelche- = any

z.B. Jeder Mann hat braunes Haar. = Alle Männer haben braunes Haar.
Hast du irgendwelche Snacks? = hast du irgendetwas, was ich essen kann?

[full cloak]

was bedeutet dann "kann jeder mir helfen?" oder etwas ähnliches

[long whale]

Let me elaborate a little on Grays answer: jede- = [each and) every; irgendwelch- = some kind of/any kind of (can be a bit dismissive, as in: doesen't matter which kind)

[long whale]

This wouldn't work, since it would mean Can each and everybody help me? :)

[full cloak]

soll ich jemand sagen?

[long whale]

Okay, come to think of it, it would work - but only if you were asking whether your task was so simple, everybody would be able to help you. :)

[full cloak]

Dankeschön

[sand moth]

Danke sehr😀

[arctic cosmos]

"Die modalpartikeln sind immer unbetont" what is the meaning of that?

[long whale]

It means "modal particles are never stressed". Does that help? :)

[arctic cosmos]

Wenn ich modalpartikel wie Z.B ja,doch,denn..usw ausspreche,unterstriche ich keinen bestimmten teil Oder keine bestimmte silbe von der partikel,ja?

[long whale]

If "ja" is used as a modal particle, it cannnot be stressed in speaking. Compare: "ja" as stressed "yes": "Ist das blöd? - Ja! Sehr blöd!" vs. "ja" as a modal particle: "Das ist ja blöd!" :)

[wise pendant]

As for every rule there are exceptions:
"Wag es ja nicht!" <- "ja"will be stressed here

(Thats why I often want people to focus more on input and to fret less about this frankly boring and unefficient grammar rule nonsense. Exams are forcing some people to do it that way tho unfortunately.)

[swift bough]

Not this again...there is nothing wrong with knowing how the grammar works.

Learning a language by immersion only is way more difficult than by learning the rules first and then immersing yourself.

[wise pendant]

It doesn't hurt yes and if you enjoy doing that go for it, but knowing that it might not always be necessary might help people to enjoy learning languages effectively that would be put off by that.

In the start it probably helps a great deal to get to know basic grammar, but I'd say that you should keep in mind that it's only purpose should be to start understanding spoken and written input. Knowing exactly which grammatical case or type of word it is where and which nuance it might convey in which specific context is futile imo. Modal verbs do not help with comprehension so it should suffice to say that you shouldn't care about them and ignore them, until you automatically develop a feel for them upon being exposed to them often enough.

[plain umbra]

That's very easy to say as a native speaker. But I already explained to you, that's not how it works for most learners of German. Most people struggle a lot more when they don't learn grammar.

The people who do well with just input are rare.

There are languages where people learn really effectively with primarily input, like English. But people's experiences with German are different from that.

[wise pendant]

Everyone does well with input. Because even people like you that swore in learning grammar probably had so much input of german along the way, that the language acquisition processes were in place in the background of your mind.

And as I said, I am for learning grammar to achieve comprehension

[plain umbra]

Yes, my language development is based on both grammar and input. But my learning experience would have been a nightmare without the grammar. And the same goes for nearly every learner I've ever spoken to.

[wise pendant]

Then what are we arguing about

[plain umbra]

If you want to say "input is really important", that's not a problem for me. But the problem is you saying grammar is "boring" and "futile".

[wise pendant]

it is boring

and if you try to get every nuance right it also can be futile

[plain umbra]

I'm not going to argue with you here about it. If you want to talk about it more, DM me.

[fervent kernel]

then you get me who thinks German grammar is beautiful 👀

[wise pendant]

Learn grammar all you want and you probably should get a basic idea of how grammar works. But if you keep in mind that there are people like this gentleman, that do fine without it: /watch?v=gcYCT9wEUuU you might be better able to form an opinion on your own, how you want to go about learning a language yourself since in the end it's a personal preference and the only thing I'm doing is providing alternatives that might work for you the same way they worked for me and some other people.

[night dagger]

i know of that guy, and the other guy on YouTube that's similar (Poly-glot-a-lot). they say they predominantly study their target language with just vocab and comprehensible input.
i've considered their approach and i ultimately prefer to learn a language with comprehensible input and grammar because i want to have intelligent conversations with others in my target language.
as a very small example, i'm just simply not okay with saying something like "bitte, können ich habt eine Bier" to a server or something.
granted, the server would probably understand just fine, but they would also try to switch to english or whatever else in order to make the interactions easier

[wise pendant]

Grammar is fine, as I said, if you want.

But the thing is, you probably didn't have enough input yet to begin with if you only form weird sentences.
Learning grammar in that case is like trying to accelerate a natural process, that just takes a lot of time, which doesn't work. if you however continue to get input, it eventually will get better and then you contribute that success to you starting to learn grammar because we as humans like to contribute change to our active work, while actually the process just took so much time, that it would get you there without grammar in the same speed as with grammar.

You cannot shortcut the natural language learning acquisition process. If you understand but aren't able to reproduce yet, it's just a matter of time and not a matter of grammar or not.

While the process is ongoing it often feels like there is no progress over several months, but that's actually just an illusion the same way we cannot observe hair growth directly, because the process is just so slow and gradual. Over the course of a week, you might be totally convinced that your hair did not grow in that time, even though it did, albeit not that much or course.
It's like putting pink extensions in your hair and hoping that in the end your hair will grow longer.

If you like pink extensions go for it, but be aware, that it's just that. And no wonder weapon for hair growth.

[past juniper]

The hair argument might be a tiny bit over the top. To me it reads like you're saying that learning grammar has absolutely no impact on language learning whatsoever, which whether you like grammar or not, you have to admit is simply not true. I've mostly stayed out of these grammar arguments with you or other people in the past, but still, essentially claiming that grammar is worthless in language acquisition on a learning server seems pretty harmful to me.

[strange sedge]

If i remember correctly, können requires a verb in infinite form in the end of the sentence, is that correct? Können ich eine Bier haben (?) Im not sure 😭

[snow bone]

Yes

But ein Bier

[night dagger]

all modal verbs (such as können) require a verb in infinitiv 🙂

[strange sedge]

Ill remember it from now on

[snow bone]

it's das Bier

[night dagger]

also, just for clarity: "könnte ich bitte ein Bier haben?" oder "kann ich bitte ein Bier haben?" is how one might ask for a beer

[snow bone]

You can use "darf" if you want to be polite iirc

[strange sedge]

Yeah i was wondering if it was a word i didnt know, so what is können ?

[snow bone]

Können means can

Dürfen when used to express politeness means may

[strange sedge]

Oh its in the infinitiv form

Sollen ?

[fervent kernel]

i prefer the first one

[snow bone]

Sollen means should

[night dagger]

someone else might simply prefer "hey, 'n Bier bitte" lol

[snow bone]

It's closest to this meaning anyway

[strange sedge]

Sollen is a modal verb right?

[snow bone]

Yes

[night dagger]

https://www.clozemaster.com/blog/german-modal-verbs/ good resource for this

[snow bone]

The modals are: müssen, sollen, können, wollen, dürfen, ah there was a sixth one which I just forgot

Werden isn't modal

[summer crystal]

But do you think this would sound too unfriendly or impolite, even In the context of asking for a beer in a bar? 🤔

[snow bone]

Mögen is the 6th

[strange sedge]

Thanks ill pin it and read later

[snow bone]

Add a mal and a doch to the bitte and it gets polite 😅

/s ofc

[fervent kernel]

it's not really polite but if you know the bartender it should be okay

[summer crystal]

Ich verstehe, vielen Dank!

[night dagger]

yeah idk, i usually sit at the bar and strike up a conversation with the bartender when i'm in a bar unless they are super busy

[strange sedge]

It was so easy to use my tablet, to be more immersive i put Deutsch language, now everything seems complicated 😭 sometimes i need to remember which i used to click

[night dagger]

would probably only say "hey, 'n Bier bitte" if there were like 20 people behind me waiting for a drink

actually, the first time i was in Berlin my friend Anna instructed me to ask for drinks like that lol

"ein Bier bitte", but yeah we were in busy clubs

[floral copper]

I need to translate several paragraphs of text, here's to hoping I can do most of it through dictionary searches and putting questions here for grammar help.

[floral copper]

Would Nintendo of Europe stay Nintendo of Europe or would it be Nintendo von Europe

Is there a word for constructed language in Deutsch?

[night dagger]

Ich denke, das Unternehmen heißt „Die Nintendo of Europe“ oder einfach „Nintendo of Europe“

[floral copper]

Ah, I see.

I have to create a presentation that's three minutes long, in simple Deutsch.
That's a problem when the way I write in English is convoluted and can easily stretch to three minutes with some clever wordplay. That becomes an issue when it has to be in German because I don't have the vocabulary to support those longer sentence structures.
Below is a Pastebin link to a copy of my original draft, pardon the weird concept, along with the DeepL translation.
I hate using translators, it's basically cheating language, I was going to use it as a base, but some of the sentences in there are way too complicated for my limited vocabulary to understand and I'm running low on time and sleep.
If you have any suggestions on how to simplify my script anything is appreciated.
https://pastebin.com/NM2FS1Qs

(to clarify, I'm working on a simplified script now)

?!
Ich weiß schon is what the translator spit out, unless weiß is know and white..
In which case there's something I'll need to come back to, learning German expressions and idioms.

[plain umbra]

I hate using translators, it's basically cheating language, I was going to use it as a base, but some of the sentences in there are way too complicated for my limited vocabulary to understand and I'm running low on time and sleep.
There's almost always a way to simplify a complicated sentence into something more basic.

[floral copper]

??
I will isn't really a statement you can make in German (as far as I've gotten), so would the sentence I know I will go here be translated as I know I go here?

[plain umbra]

It is something you can say in German. It's called future tense.

Let me give you an example of simplification though, because I think it will be the most helpful thing for you here.

I already know that I want to go to Nintendo of Europe headquarters and Crytek headquarters which are surprisingly both located in Frankfort.

I would simplify this by breaking up and rearranging the clauses:
I want to go to Nintendo of Europe headquarters and Crytek headquarters. I already know that. Surprisingly, they are both located in Frankfurt.

Even just doing something as simple as that makes it a lot easier to write grammatically.

[plain umbra]

And yes. Weiß as an adjective means "white", but weiß is also a conjugation of wissen (to know).

[floral copper]

I'm doing big thonk right now, thanks much!

[plain umbra]

No problem.

[floral copper]

Is there any reason you'd put the words ich meine in a sentence together or is that the translation going wonky?

[swift bough]

„Meinen“ is a verb, not just a pronoun.

„Meinen“ = to mean (in the sense of „what do you mean“, „I mean,...“)

It also means „to think“ in the sense of „what do you think of that“

[floral copper]

Language is great.

How would you say something like 7.2 litre tank?
Would it be seiben punkt zwei or is there a special term for things in automobiles?

Komma is what the machine suggested.

[swift bough]

First of all in Germany, decimals and commas are flipped. In Germany 7.2 is 7,2

And that means that 1,000 in Germany is 1.000

[floral copper]

Logical. So the term would be seiben Komma zwei?

[swift bough]

You could literally just say „Ich habe einen 7,2-Liter-Tank“ but if the other person already knew you’re talking about a tank you could just say „Ich habe einen 7,2“

[swift bough]

Yes

It’s kinda like how in English with cars you usually say „My car has a 3 liter“ and just omit „engine“.

Though you can still say it

[floral copper]

The presentation is given orally and is, unfortunately, not about engines or cars.

:(

[swift bough]

Ah ok

Well you would be perfectly fine with „Ich habe einen 7,2-Liter-Tank“

[jade mauve]

I got a question

Do I post my German here to be corrected

?

[plain umbra]

What is it?

Like a sentence? Or a whole page?

[jade mauve]

It’s just one Hauptsatz and Nebensatz

[jade mauve]

Möchtest du ein Essen Liste zu haben,
bevor fährst du für das Lebensmittel zum Lebensmittelgeschäft?

[plain umbra]

Okay, np. Posting here is fine and someone will correct it when they're here (a lot of people are asleep still at this time of day).

[scenic drift]

• "Essen Liste" doesn't work (you can't generally have two nouns right next to each other) - maybe "Lebensmittelliste" or "Einkaufsliste"?
• bevor should send fährst to the end of the clause

[willow socket]

also, with a modal verb like 'möchten,' you do not need a 'zu' before the second verb. Just 'möchtest du etwas haben'.

[jade mauve]

Ahh thank you,
I speak English and Japanese and both sometimes compound nouns together.
So sometimes it’s confusing trying to structure a sentence.

[static charm]

If i had a sentence like: Er steigt im Zentrum aus und geht ein bisschen spazieren, and I wanted it to convert it to perfekt time, how would i do it with the geht and spazieren in the same part of the sentence?

Something like: Er ist im Zentrum aus gestiegen und ist ein bisschen spazieren gegangen. ?

[proven sphinx]

Almost. "ausgestiegen" is written as one word, like all past participles.

[static charm]

alright, thanks

one more question: If i have a sentence like for example: Unterwegs isst er ein Eis. In perfekt would it be Unterwegs er hat ein Eis gegessen? or the er stays after the hat?

[proven sphinx]

V2 word order. The verb always comes second.

[static charm]

alright, thanks

[proven sphinx]

So it would be "Unterwegs hat er ein Eis gegessen."

[static charm]

ah, alright

[fierce idol]

Compounds are fine, but not like in English, more like in Japanese where it kinda becomes one word and also the 'reading' might have to be adjusted (for example, an 's' has to be added in between sometimes)

So at least in terms of 'does that word exist?' Essensliste would be fine as well, just not Essen Liste or Essens liste.

[proven sphinx]

Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft 😂

[onyx rain]

When we want to break the abruptness of a question, which word do we use? is it denn oder dann?
(I am hearing it as denn, but I think its dann)

[willow socket]

denn is common

z.B. 'verstehst du denn nicht?'

[onyx rain]

Ah, okay thanks I was using the wrong one until now

Doch jetzt verstehe ich : )

[remote sable]

Hallo Leute

ich habe ein Frage

Wenn wir plusquamperfekt benutzen

[long whale]

Did you mean: Wann benutzen wir das Plusquamperfekt? When talking about the past and mentioning something which happened before the thing we're talking about (same as Past Perfect in English): Heute war ich beim Zahnarzt. Bevor ich zum Zahnarzt ging, hatte ich mir die Zähne geputzt (Before going to the dentist's, I had cleaned my teeth) OR Nachdem ich das Haus geputzt hatte, wartete ich auf die Gäste. (After I had cleaned the house, I waited for the guests) Does that help?

[remote sable]

thanks alot Vielen Dank

[jade mauve]

I get it and thanks,
I’ll probably just refer to things in Japanese because when I do it in English it gets buggy

[summer crystal]

What is the most common plural of Wort, Worte or Wörter? And, just to check, is this a regional difference?

[willow socket]

There is a meaning difference
https://www.korrekturen.de/kurz_erklaert/worte_oder_woerter.shtml

Wörter--> more general, random multiple words
Worte-->emphasizes a collection of words with a meaning

[summer crystal]

Wie interessant! Danke!

[long whale]

What Gray says is absolutely correct. Only don't be surprised to hear native speakers using "Worte" und "Wörter" interchangeably. ;)

[summer crystal]

Oh God, I'm here worrying about the tiniest meaning differences while the natives just slap them into sentences at random 😂

Anyway... unrelated, but what's the verb for "to post" in German, in the sense of posting a status, a blog post, internet stuff in general.

[delicate tiger]

"etwas posten"

[summer crystal]

Wie einfach... xD Danke!

[jade mauve]

Does this sentence sound ok?

** Wenn Sie das Unmögliche beseitigt haben, muss alles, was noch so unwahrscheinlich ist, die Wahrheit sein.**

[long whale]

Your quotation is missing a few important bits: https://beruhmte-zitate.de/zitate/127134-arthur-conan-doyle-wenn-du-das-unmogliche-ausgeschlossen-hast-dann-i/ Plus, "beseitigen" is more like... "to eradicate", "to get rid of something (physically)", therefore, it doesn't fit here. ;)

[jade mauve]

Vielen Dank 😊

[chilly dew]

I learnt english with trial and error trying to communicate in games with help of google translate + some input from videogames, youtube, music, etc. Is it convenient to learn German this way or the language is too complex to do it?

Of course I'm not expecting to have the best German, but enough to communicate casually.

[swift bough]

Imo German definitely has more difficult grammar than English does, but I can't say you couldn't learn German by doing that. It might just be a bit more difficult.

One thing to remember is that everyone learns differently, so for one person it might be way easier to learn how you did, whereas for others it may be very difficult and they might like a more traditional approach.

[chilly dew]

Ich verstehe. Danke!

[frosty oasis]

If I say I am French-Canadian do I compound it into one word

[swift bough]

Yeah @frosty oasis

Frankokanadier

/Frankokanadierin

[summer crystal]

So "Bundesstaat" is a federated state or federation, like Germany or the USA, and "Bundesland" is the individual state, like Baden-Württemberg or California. Is that right?

[delicate tiger]

"Bundesstaat" is used for the states of the US, "Bundesland" for Germany and Austria ("Kanton" for Switzerland)

[summer crystal]

Oh, that explains it!

Danke!

And is Bundesland exclusively used for German and Austrian states? Meaning the states of other countries don't use this word?

Yeah, it appears so. Both a state in Brazil and India use "Bundesstaat".

[delicate tiger]

For most French speaking countries "Département" is used in German

[arctic cosmos]

Kann jemand mir eine gute formulierung von der definition von partikeln geben?

[swift bough]

Partikeln werden im Perfekt mithilfe eines Hilfsverbs verwendet, damit man sich auf vergangene Handlungen beziehen kann. Reicht das?

[fallow ledge]

Ich bin mir nicht sicher ob das Partikeln definiert, klingt eher nach Partizipien

Insbesondere das Partizip 2

@arctic cosmos was meinst du mit Partikeln? Die Modalpartikeln wie doch, mal, denn usw?

[arctic cosmos]

Nein,ich meine die definition von partikeln (Grad,fokus,modal,negation) in allgemein

[fallow ledge]

Achso hmm vielleicht hilft da ein Wörterbuch

Ich hab es eben gegoogelt, und in der Sprachwissenschaft hat Partikel zwei Definitionen, und zwar:

1. SPRACHWISSENSCHAFT
   unflektierbares Wort (z. B. Präposition, Konjunktion, Adverb)

2. SPRACHWISSENSCHAFT
   unflektierbares Wort, das eine Aussage oder einen Ausdruck modifiziert und selbst kein Satzglied ist (z. B. »ja« in »Ist ja unglaublich!«)

Man sollte es auch beachten, das diese hier die Definitionen von die Partikel sind. Partikel kann auch ein Synonym zu Teilchen sein, und kann auch unter Computergrafik verstanden werden.

[arctic cosmos]

Aha kapiert
Das werde ich in meine forschung schreiben
Danke schön

[fallow ledge]

Keine Ursache! ich wünsche dir viel Glück

[arctic cosmos]

Danke 💙💙

[swift bough]

@fallow ledge oof ja hab sie verwechselt

[fallow ledge]

Leicht getan, sie sehen ja ganz ähnlich aus

Particle participle

[rain galleon]

"Ich schaute mir die Erscheinung also mit großen, staunenden Augen an."

Why is the verb not reflexive in this sentence when it has "mir"

[long whale]

Uh - but it is. 🤷

[rain galleon]

I guess why is it not "I looked at my appearance"

[long whale]

But that's not what it means.

[rain galleon]

I'm confused what you mean by that

[long whale]

The verb is "sich jemanden/etwas anschauen"

So, you have a direct object (die Erscheinung) and an indirect object/reflexive pronoun (mir).

[rain galleon]

oh I see, what does that mean?

I guess what is the difference between sich etwas anschauen and just anschauen

[long whale]

When verbs exist in both versions, reflexive and non-reflexive, the reflexive version usually makes things more "personal". "Ich schaue das Bild an" is more like "my eyes are directed towards the picture". "Ich schaue mir das Bild an" means I'm not just seeing it, I'm really looking at it, perhaps judging it, perhaps trying to fit my knowledge about art around it, perhaps thinking about what's happening in the picture. :)

[rain galleon]

Thank you for the detailed explanation. I really appreciate it 🙂

[long whale]

So, would you like to try again for a translation of the original sentence? ;)

[rain galleon]

"So I looked at the appearance with big, amazed eyes"

Lol thanks, I have my partner to help me read through this book. But they don't know too much about German grammar, so they can tell me what a word or sentence means but not really much else haha.

Helps that you all are so willing to help us learners with your knowledge of the language. Thank you!!!

[stiff tundra]

omg i keep on confusing the four
Wann Wenn and Dann Denn
what do they mean

[solid hull]

wann = when
wenn = if/whenever
dann = then
denn = can mean quite a few things, but the most important one for beginners imo is "because"

[versed brook]

*"wenn" can also be "when" but like: when its like this, than..
but "wann" is always about time

@stiff tundra

[solid hull]

yeah, that's "whenever"

or what do u mean exactly

[versed brook]

oop, read it wrong, sorry

[solid hull]

alles gut bruder

[stiff tundra]

okay thanks

[steel walrus]

hi guys, i need a bit of help understanding something. I have often noticed that there are things in english that can be translated into german with just 1 word instead of 2 or more like in english. But i came across a sentence in my exercises that says "es geht um die Fans" i thought it meant "it goes around the fans" like a gate or something but no, it means "it's about the fans". can someone explain to me how that works? "around" and "about" seem very different to be the same word in another language.

[proven sphinx]

Look, I can speak six languages, and every language has constructions that don't work in any other language. That's just how it is. Every language is different.

[steel walrus]

i see, so basically it's one of those "it is what it is" type of deals? I can adapt to that but i thought there would a deeper grammatical reason for it to work that way. Still, thanks man, i know it was a long question but i appreciate it a lot
^^

[proven sphinx]

That's why translating word-for-word is useless.

[long whale]

"um etwas/jemanden gehen" = to be about something/someone ;)

[proven sphinx]

Take this also from someone who's been studying to be a translator for the past few years.

There's no such thing as "translating word for word".

Unless you're trying to illustrate a particularly interesting grammatical phenomenon or whatever.

[steel walrus]

i only speak 2 and i guess using that as reference isnt enough to predict everything in other languages. Still, im glad i got the answer i needed for my question ^^

[proven sphinx]

Trust me, it could get a lot more foreign. There's an absolutely enormous variation on how languages are structured.

German and English are literally part of the same family of Germanic languages.

[steel walrus]

oh nice, i see, i thought uber was all i needed but i guess my lessons haven't gotten this deep into the language. Thanks ^^ imma screenshot this too ^^

[proven sphinx]

Dieses Buch ist über Deutschland --> This book is above Germany

Uh, what?

No.

It still means "about".

And "Dieses Buch geht um Deutschland" isn't correct, either...

[steel walrus]

yeah, i see i see, honestly, it's not that it is hard for me to understand the concept just that i didnt expect it. Still, imma save these examples for future refence, thanks man ^^

[proven sphinx]

You'd have to say: "In diesem Buch geht es um Deutschland."

[steel walrus]

also

im not sure, how gramattically correct you guys are but i appreciate you guys for taking the time to try to explain this to me. Imma save this for future refence

[proven sphinx]

People with a yellow username are native German speakers.

You could also say "Das Buch handelt von X".

[steel walrus]

yeah, i know, still, i need all the help i can get and i appreciate anyone willing to give it. Thanks to you too, also, my bad, im trying to reply to everyone while cooking so im sorry, if i missed something ypou said, my bad ^^

[proven sphinx]

No problem. We're always glad to help. 😄

[steel walrus]

yeah, i've noticed everyone here is very helpful. Every time i come here with a question i leave with a good answer. Thanks ^^

[proven sphinx]

That's literally what this server is for.

[steel walrus]

and i appreciate y'all for it ^^ now imma head out, these eggs aint getting burnt under my watch haha

[proven sphinx]

See ya.

[solid hull]

hmm, I've only ever seen "in". Is "bei" Swiss German or would it mean something different?

[proven sphinx]

Hmm, a quick Google search confirms that this has nothing to do with Switzerland. It's used everywhere.

[solid hull]

Noted, so what's the difference if there's one

how did you search it up lol

[proven sphinx]

Well, "in diesem Buch" is only about the plot, whereas "bei diesem Buch" can mean other things related to the book, such as the cover or whatever.

[solid hull]

I see

makes sense

[proven sphinx]

You may be right about that specific construction, though.

"In diesem Buch geht es um..." seems to be more common.

[solid hull]

right, people when talking about books will talk about what the book was about instead of the cover of the book or whatever lol

[proven sphinx]

Yeah, obviously.

[solid hull]

virgin in diesem Buch geht es um/in diesem Buch handelt es sich um VS chad dieses Buch handelt von

[proven sphinx]

Kek. Pretty much.

No...

That's a different construction. Fornoughting mentioned it just above.

Bei diesem Buch handelt es sich um...

Woah, there was no need to delete your comment altogether. Asking questions is what this channel is for. 😅

After all, other people might have the same question.

By the way, "Bei diesem Buch handelt es sich um..." is much more common than "In diesem Buch handelt es sich um...", so it's the exact opposite as the other construction with "es geht um".

[solid hull]

Raven warum sprichst du allein mit dir selbst? hab dir schon gesagt es ist für dich nicht gesund droggen zu nehmen

[proven sphinx]

LOL

[fervent kernel]

How would I say something like "we ordered a big amount, but still it wasn't enough"

Only the bolded part

[meager kiln]

immernoch/ trotzdem

[fervent kernel]

Ty!

[meager kiln]

bitte

[autumn condor]

This book I'm studying out of just confused me. It spends some time saying that mit for instance takes dative, but then it does this

Das Kind spielt mit den Autos. giving mit accusative?

[swift bough]

Nö, that’s still dative

Because if it’s plural, then it’s den, not dem

[autumn condor]

ahaa

the book did not give me this information before throwing the sentence at me

[swift bough]

Oof

[autumn condor]

I like the book because it explains some things very well, but it also seems very inconsistent in difficulty

another example would be Nach dem Essen trinken die Leute noch Kaffee. which if I understand properly is a subordinate clause?

[willow socket]

no

[autumn condor]

then I don't understand the structure at all lol

[willow socket]

'nach dem Essen' is a temporal expression.

[autumn condor]

I know what it is saying, but not why it's ordered that way

[willow socket]

'after the food'

[autumn condor]

with the verb first

[willow socket]

the verb only comes first in a question

[autumn condor]

trinken die Leute...

after the temporal

[willow socket]

the verb is always position II. Here, 'nach dem Essen' occupies position I and the verb has to come immediately after

[snow bone]

The first position doesn't need to be taken by the subject

[autumn condor]

I think this is the distinction I'm missing

[willow socket]

Ich trinke Kaffee. (verb in position II, after subject)
Nach dem Essen trinke ich Kaffee. (verb still in position II, but after a temporal phrase)

[autumn condor]

I am largely unaware of temporals yet which also likely didn't help

[willow socket]

In german, verb in position II in a hauptsatz is really the most important thing. Any sentence part can take position I.

[autumn condor]

and yeah I'm aware of the position II for the most part, although more complex sentences throw me for a loop with it

[willow socket]

z.B. Wegen des Wetters bleibe ich drinnen.

here the causal takes position I.

[autumn condor]

Wegen des Wetters is genitive? Are causals genitive in general or depends on adverb I suppose

I realize that's way too vague of a question hah

[willow socket]

Am Wochenende bin ich mit dem Hund spazieren gegangen.
Wegen des Regens brachte ich einen Regenschirm mit.
Mit dem Auto fahre ich durch die Stadt.
In Frankfurt esse ich die beste Falafel (von Aroma natürlich.)

here we see temporal, kausal, modal, and lokal in position I.

[autumn condor]

danke alles, I see the structure there

It's so hard because you try to study a portion of Grammar, and that small portion seems to drag in other portions and they all compound and it gets too complicated again (for a grammar beginner)

[willow socket]

it becomes easier the more used to german you get 🙏 so don't fret.

if you're already thinking about this at A1, you're probs on a good way lmfao

[autumn condor]

I'm in a weird place where I can understand it when I read it (not all the time, but say your sentences above) but not reproduce it

or, I miss the subtext information given by the grammar because I'm unfamiliar with stem changes or casings

thus, focusing on grammar for a bit

[willow socket]

That's totally normal. Even at C1. Perfectly understand written and spoken, but reproducing it doesn't come as naturally. Passive skills develop quicker than active.

[autumn condor]

my approach so far has been to study a smaller set of vocabulary first, and now I want to study some grammar basics to utilize with that smaller set of vocabulary. The logic being, as I add new vocabulary after that I can incorporate and use it more easily vs just knowing what something is called (so many people just cram vocabulary, I don't want to be a phrase book)

unfortunately it seems most things just explain the basics and pat you on the butt and go "good luck", I need to find worksheets or something next

[willow socket]

Yeah, my recommendation is always being given and monotonous lol. But a grammar book and practicing vocab lists, reading as much german as you can, turning all videos/shows in german (even if you cannot understand it yet), and producing summaries of what you read/hear that a native speaker can correct. Building Anki decks.

imo at the beginning, learning grammar builds a good base, but after and alongside that you have to be consuming german content to build a vocabulary and also understanding how germans write/speak

[hollow vapor]

Is all correct?

I've been looking for this and I'm still not sure what I did wrong

[long whale]

Several errors in there. Check plural form/s. Check whether an adjective is in front of a noun (in which case it gets declined and you ought to check whether the ending is correct) or whether it isn't (-> it doesn't get declined). :)

[delicate tiger]

✅ : 1, 3, 7, 9, 10
❌ : 2, 4, 6, 8
5 is the last unused word, a form of "unzureichend"

[hollow vapor]

Gereiz, ?, Ausschlage, kostspielige, ?

sry I tried :(

[fallow ledge]

Almost
for 1. i think you need the Partizip 2 form
For 4 your plural is almost there, one sound is wrong
Kostspielige ✅
For 8. for plurals, adjectives after meine are declined in the same manner as after die

[stray wigeon]

Does anyone know the easiest way to fluently Pronounce Grammar and phrases?

[plain umbra]

Can you explain more about what you mean?

[stray wigeon]

some words I can Pronounce Really good But Most words I cant pronounce

[plain umbra]

Ahh, I see. Well, one thing you can do is post some recordings of yourself speaking German in #pronunciation and people there will comment advice about it.

A good way to practice pronunciation is to listen to people speaking (in VC, or watching videos/movies or other stuff like that), and try repeating out loud what they say.

You can also see some pronunciation resources in our resource list.

faq resources

[stoic mauve]

Resources

https://bit.ly/gladresources

[stray wigeon]

Thank u bro I luv u😘

[vast ridge]

Are these two sentences correct and say the same thing?
"Ich habe dir die Erlaubnis gegeben."
"Ich gab dir die Erlaubnis."

[long whale]

Yes, they're both correct, and they do mean the same thing. However, you wouldn't say the 2nd one. Präteritum is only used in written German (apart from modals and, depending on region and context, a few very frequently used verbs, like kommen or gehen). :)

[vast ridge]

So it's not preferred to use imperfect form of verbs? Nyaaah! >-<
Thanks. 💖

[somber sequoia]

Hallo, könnte mir jemand erzählen, ob was der Steuer ist?? Vielen Dank im Voraus...

[scenic drift]

there's die Steuer (tax) or das Steuer (steering wheel / helm). no der Steuer

[somber sequoia]

Yes you are right haha 😂 vielen Dank

[woven grove]

'war' ist in die Präteritum?

[proven sphinx]

Ja.

Ich war schon dort. (Präteritum)
Ich bin schon dort gewesen. (Perfekt)

[woven grove]

Ah

danke

[knotty shore]

How do you start thinking in German?

Like instead of me having thoughts in English is their a way to condition one's self to start thinking everything in German

Like having a dream while asleep and it's all in German

[fervent kernel]

That's a very abstract question

[proven sphinx]

That's very hard to achieve. Basically, you'd need a lot of exposure to German for that. It's not really necessary anyway, since you can easily improve your language skills without having to think in that language.

Really though, you could think in German whenever you wanted. It would just be a bit harder if your skills aren't up there yet.

[knotty shore]

That's my end goal. It would be very interesting to experience it

Since obviously I lived my whole life thinking in English

[proven sphinx]

Well, obviously, it varies from person to person, but I started thinking in English around 3-4 years after I started learning it, I think.

So yeah, I think by the time you reach B2/C1, it should become easier to think in a foreign language, but you have to force yourself to do it a first. It was hard at first, but over time it became second nature to me.

[knotty shore]

Yeah just takes a long time I guess

[proven sphinx]

In my case, it was a combination of massive amounts of exposure and just the willingness to start thinking in English, since I thought that would improve my fluency overall, and that's exactly what happened.

So the key factors are exposure and motivation, as with everything else.

If you're extremely motivated, you can start thinking in a foreign language even if your skills aren't quite up there yet. It will just be harder to keep it up, since you'll have to keep searching for words that you'd already know in your native language.

[arctic cosmos]

Kann jemand eine andere formulierung für diesen satz schreiben?

[proven sphinx]

Man könnte "ja" einfach auslassen, aber mit dem "ja" wird die Tatsache, dass er so früh verstorben ist, noch ein bisschen unterstrichen.

"Dieser Komponist, der (ja) leider viel zu früh verstorben ist, hat uns eine Reihe von großartigen Werken hinterlassen."

Das wäre eine andere Formulierung.

[arctic cosmos]

Kannst du bitte eine formulierung für diesen satz auch schreiben (der dritte fall betrifft...)?

[proven sphinx]

Welchen Satz meinst du denn?

Kannst du mir den ganzen Satz zeigen?

[arctic cosmos]

Dieser satz : Der dritte Fall betrifft Modalpartikeln in komplexen (appositiven) Attributen zu Nominalphrasen

[proven sphinx]

Oh je...

Also, "dieser ja leider viel zu früh verstorbene Komponist" ist eigentlich das Subjekt. Es könnte z. B. durch "er" ersetzt werden und der Satz würde immer noch Sinn ergeben.

Das nennt man eine Nominalphrase.

Und ein Attribut ist etwas, was mehr Informationen zu dieser Nominalphrase gibt.

Auf gut Deutsch heißt das einfach, dass "ja" ein bisschen mehr Informationen über etwas gibt.

Es betont einfach, dass dieser Komponist leider viel zu früh verstorben ist.

Wie gesagt, man könnte einfach "Dieser Komponist" sagen, aber alle anderen Wörter vor "hat" geben uns ein bisschen mehr Informationen über diesen Komponisten.

[arctic cosmos]

Ja verstanden danke schön 💙💙💙

[proven sphinx]

Da hatte ich ja etwas Schwierigkeiten, das gut zu erklären. 😅

Hier hast du noch einen anderen Beispielsatz für "ja" als Modalpartikel.

[snow bone]

Was ist die moderne Alternative zu "gen". Dict.cc sagt, dass "gen" schon veraltet ist.

[proven sphinx]

Das kann nicht stimmen...

Vielleicht trifft das nur auf einen bestimmten Ausdruck zu.

[snow bone]

Oh, vielen Dank

[proven sphinx]

Wo hast du das denn überhaupt gesehen?

Ich brauche wohl etwas Kontext dafür.

Du meinst das?!

[snow bone]

Ja genau

[proven sphinx]

Aha!

Ja, genau. Es klingt recht poetisch.

Heutzutage würde man es kaum sagen, außer man will einen bestimmten stilistischen Effekt damit erreichen.

Hier hast du auch den Eintrag dazu im Duden.

[snow bone]

Ich habe nur noch eine Frage. Wie oft wird das Verb "wesen" im Vergleich zu "anwesend sein" benutzt?

[proven sphinx]

Bist du sicher, dass dieses Verb überhaupt existiert?

Ich habe es noch nie in meinem Leben gehört.

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

[snow bone]

Ja, es sollte "to be present" bedeuten

[proven sphinx]

Ja, offenbar gibt es das schon, aber eben, es ist veraltet.

[snow bone]

Ah gut dann

Danke

[delicate tiger]

Wenn man nicht mehr west verwest man. (hatte ich aber auch noch nie vorher gehört)

[proven sphinx]

Manche Wörter trifft man halt extrem selten an, obwohl es sie eigentlich schon gibt.

[wanton zodiac]

What is the difference between der teil und das teil?

[swift bough]

You can think of „der Teil“ as something which broke off of something else. Like if you cut a slice off of a cake, then it’s der Teil. For das Teil it’s a completed piece which hasn’t been ripped/moved away from something, so like a screw or a doorknob (bc without those things the door wouldn’t work)

„der Teil“ is always a part of smth else

Das Teil is a part but it didn’t come from something else

If that makes sense

If you literally ripped a doorknob in half, then each half of it is „der Teil“

But the entire thing by itself is „das Teil“

[wanton zodiac]

Ahh

Okay

Thnks

[swift bough]

Yup np

[eager socket]

when places ask for PLZ (postal code) and Ort, is Ort the city or the region/province? 🤔

oh, found a translate thing which translates it as city

[swift bough]

Yes it refers to city

[eager socket]

danke 🙂

[proven sphinx]

"Ort" just means "location". It may refer to a city, town or village.

[eager socket]

Yeah, I knew it meant location, but that's a bit vague, so I wasn't sure which location

And makes sense. When I said city, I was including towns and such too since otherwise I wouldn't be able to fill it out, haha

(I technically don't live in a city)

[slow granite]

hmmm

is there any easy way to determine if something is accusative or dative

[proven sphinx]

You mean by looking at a sentence?

[slow granite]

yea

or when forming it

like how do i know

[proven sphinx]

Well, the accusative and dative are distinct in every form.

Accusative: Ich sehe den Mann.
Dative: Ich gebe dem Mann ein Geschenk.

den Mann = accusative
dem Mann = dative

[slow granite]

yea but what separates

i heard that dative is the indirect object

[proven sphinx]

Yeah, it basically is.

[slow granite]

but how is someone i give something to an indirect object

[proven sphinx]

You give someone (indirect object) something (direct object).

Ich gebe ihm (dative) ein Geschenk (accusative).

[slow granite]

ah

yea that makes sense

thank you :)

[proven sphinx]

Just be warned that it's not always that easy.

Sometimes, you just have to learn by heart if a certain preposition or verb requires the accusative, dative or even genitive.

[slow granite]

yea ig

but u gotta start somewhere

[proven sphinx]

e.g. "sehen" or "für " always require the accusative, wheras "helfen" or "mit" always require the dative.

Ich sehe ihn. Ich mache das für dich.
Ich helfe ihm. Ich mache das mit dir.

[slow granite]

oh dear

is the list of these exceptions long

[proven sphinx]

Maybe this will help.

Things are much more complicated for the verbs, though.

You basically just have to learn with every new verb if it takes the accusative, dative or even genitive on some rare occasions.

[slow granite]

that sucks

is there really no rule to it

oh well

thanku c:

[proven sphinx]

You're welcome. And no, there isn't really a hard-and-fast rule for which case a verb should take, unfortunately.

[slow granite]

sigh

[proven sphinx]

In the end, most verbs take the accusative. However, there are a few very frequent ones like "helfen", "geben" or "glauben" that take the dative.

[slow granite]

like

is it "to whom"

like i provide help to someone but i see someone

[proven sphinx]

Basically, yes. But English doesn't work quite like German, so that won't always help you.

[slow granite]

true

[proven sphinx]

e.g. "helfen" and "glauben"

That would be just "who" in English.

Ich helfe dir. Ich glaube dir.

[slow granite]

yeah

tho i understand it much better now

good as a starting off point

c:

[proven sphinx]

Yeah, I think so too.

[fervent kernel]

Isn't it just indirect object vs direct object?

[nocturne lichen]

for a way of figuring out if 'doch' fits could it kinda be another way of saying 'on the contrary'? - in certain scenarios (forgot to add)

[snow bone]

Doch has many meanings

It means "on the contrary" when it prefixes an answer to a question usually

[nocturne lichen]

ah cool danke!

[earnest shoal]

Hi. any fluent german speaker can translate the following phrase? "Der große auszug". It is from a political cartoon about the breaking of USSR. Greatly aprreciated.

[fallow ledge]

The great exodus?

I dont understand the context though

[plain umbra]

A bunch of countries split off from USSR, so it's like an exodus of countries or whatever.

[fallow ledge]

Good old political catroons

[earnest shoal]

thanks a lot

[shy spindle]

so i learnt that anfangen is fing ... an in präteritum, but then one of my teachers questions was like "Womit fängte der Zweite Weltkrieg an?" and I'm wondering why it's fängte?

[plain umbra]

Maybe they just mixed it up? It seems like they used the regular verb form instead of the irregular form. So maybe they forgot anfangen is irregular or whatever.

[shy spindle]

oh ok thanks

[chrome quarry]

who could help with my german test I really need the help?

[wise pendant]

Many irregular verbs tend to get replaced more and more by their regular variants.
Examples that already fell out of use are buck for backen for example. Many more are currently slowly falling out of use.

[swift bough]

Never heard anyone say or write fängte an in my life

[wise pendant]

Yes fängte is still rare but other regular variants are getting more and more common and I suppose fängte might be just starting to slowly creep up.

[swift bough]

I wonder how long it takes for something like that to catch on seeing that the Präteritum is generally more rare anyway

[wise pendant]

Probably will be the common variant 3 or 4 generations from today

[topaz pewter]

1000 years

[wise pendant]

Language change can be fast

In 1000 years german will have become completely unintelligible for everyone several times over

[topaz pewter]

Is the German of 1000 years ago so much different than today's 🤔

[wise pendant]

Even in the way your grandparents speak are a few things that seem old fashioned to the young ones today in vocab and even grammar to some extent

[wise pendant]

Yes. Have you tried reading medieval german texts?

[topaz pewter]

I sadly cant read that type of handwriting 😥

Lol tbh i havent

[willow socket]

Assuming there's no technological extinction event, in 1000 years we're all gonna be speaking esperanto.

[wise pendant]

Ok maybe it wasn't enough time to get unintelligible several times over but it has definitely become very different from today's german

This is german from 1000 years ago:
youtu.be/3zKgRPsFMW0

[topaz pewter]

Thanks just saw it

Looks like a mix of Dutch & Swedish to me

[wise pendant]

That's just after separating from Old English and Old Dutch

[worn bramble]

Hi does anyone have the link for never ending story in german?

[dawn mountain]

Can someone tell me what "so wie sie" means ?
I think wie sie means "like her/them".

Can I translate "so wie sie" as "Just like her/ them"?

[slim yew]

does ger many have many turkish people

as its name implies

[summer crystal]

Around 3.2%, according to Wikipedia.

[soft moss]

Was ist der Unterscheid zwischen 'gegenüber' und 'entgegen', mein Anki-deck sagt das 'gegenüber' meinst 'opposite', aber in die Organische Chemie Klasse ich habe besucht, ich gelearnt das 'entgegen' übersetzt zu 'opposite'?

[latent yew]

Does this sentence make sense?

"Meine Katze hat mit mich gespielt." It has to be in perfekt btw

[fallow ledge]

Almost