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German: meaning of "da"

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drygramul
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 Message 1 of 8
11 July 2014 at 2:48pm | IP Logged 
I understand the meaning of "da" when it's used as "denn" or "dort".
But what's the meaning in each of the following examples?
-- Solved --

Auf der Webseite des Londoner Imperial War Museums erzählen Briten, welchen Bezug der Erste Weltkrieg zu ihrer eigenen Familiengeschichte hat: Da ist zum Beispiel der Großvater, der [...]

Christoph Butterwegge, Armutsforscher der Universität Köln, weist darauf hin, dass vor allem große Bahnhöfe zu Einkaufszentren umgestaltet werden: „Da übergibt man die Verantwortung an ein privates Unternehmen.


Edited by drygramul on 11 July 2014 at 4:37pm

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stifa
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 Message 2 of 8
11 July 2014 at 3:18pm | IP Logged 
Have you checked Duden and Wiktionary.de? They have some rather thorough definitions of
the word "da".
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akkadboy
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 Message 3 of 8
11 July 2014 at 4:05pm | IP Logged 
My German is rusty but I would say (after checking the complete sentences) :

1) "da" is part of the family name "da Silva".
2) the locative meaning. "Here it is the grand-father (...) there it is the mother (...)". So maybe something like "in one case (...) in an other case", "in one family (...) in an other family (...)".
3) the locative meaning, "here, one abandons the responsability"
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drygramul
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 Message 4 of 8
11 July 2014 at 4:09pm | IP Logged 
stifa wrote:
Have you checked Duden and Wiktionary.de? They have some rather thorough definitions of the word "da".

Let's follow your suggestion:

From Duden:
1.a        an dieser Stelle, dort
1.b       hier
2    zu diesem Zeitpunkt, in diesem Augenblick
3.a        unter diesen Umständen, unter dieser Bedingung
3.b        in dieser Hinsicht
3.c        gesprächseröffnend, eine Schilderung einleitend
4    dabei, dafür, dagegen, daher, damit, danach, dazu


So in the following sentence
„Da übergibt man die Verantwortung an ein privates Unternehmen." the translation could be any of those:
- Here responsibility is passed to a private company. (1)
- Now responsibility is passed to a private company (2)
- This way responsibility is passed to a private company. (4)
- To that end responsibility is passed to a private company. (4)

That was my problem from start.

Edited by drygramul on 11 July 2014 at 4:21pm

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drygramul
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 Message 5 of 8
11 July 2014 at 4:16pm | IP Logged 
akkadboy wrote:
My German is rusty but I would say (after checking the complete sentences) :

1) "da" is part of the family name "da Silva".
2) the locative meaning. "Here it is the grand-father (...) there it is the mother (...)". So maybe something like "in one case (...) in an other case", "in one family (...) in an other family (...)".
3) the locative meaning, "here, one abandons the responsability"


1) There's a part missing, Silva is the name of the subject of the previous sentence (sie vermitet). My guess, judging by the grammar (verb on end) was either
a) as Silva thinks
b) because Silva thinks

2) It could be, but also "an example for that" (dafür)

3) I chose that interpretation too, but I'm still not sure.

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akkadboy
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 Message 6 of 8
11 July 2014 at 4:22pm | IP Logged 
1) Yes, but the first sentence is "Edinalva da Silva lebt seit 50 Jahren in Morro Azul".

2) well, the meaning is pretty much the same anyway :-)
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drygramul
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 Message 7 of 8
11 July 2014 at 4:36pm | IP Logged 
1) You're right, I assumed Silva was the first name.

2) It is. None of those usages make me miss something. The problem arises when I want to use "da" actively.
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Josquin
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 Message 8 of 8
11 July 2014 at 8:31pm | IP Logged 
akkadboy wrote:
My German is rusty but I would say (after checking the complete sentences) :

1) "da" is part of the family name "da Silva".
2) the locative meaning. "Here it is the grand-father (...) there it is the mother (...)". So maybe something like "in one case (...) in an other case", "in one family (...) in an other family (...)".
3) the locative meaning, "here, one abandons the responsability"

This is absolutely correct. Both da's have a locative meaning.

In sentence 2) you can translate it literally into English: "There's the grandfather..."

In sentence 3) it means "here" or "in this case".


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