German: Some basic A2 level questions (Questions About Your Target Languages) Language Learning Forum

German: Some basic A2 level questions
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Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages

Gemuse
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Germany
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Studies: German

Message 1 of 6

13 February 2014 at 11:40pm | IP Logged

I had some basic questions (Maybe A1 level questions :-\ )

1. "Wann essen Sie zu Abend?".
Why isnt it "zum Abend"?

(similarly with Mittag)

And in the following answer, should we have zu oder zum?

"Meine Nachbarin isst um 21:00 Uhr zum Abend".

2. The Satz: "Danach habe ich die Firma KOPO angerufen, aber es war niemand im Buro".
Why is it "es war"?
Should it not be:
"..., aber sie waren niemand im Buro." (why is it singular neutral "es"?)

3. The Satz "Fragen Sie nach Zeit für einen Deutschkurs."
Can "nach" mean about?
Is the folgend Satz correct:
"Ich antworte ihn(ihm?) nach meiner Arbeit."

4. There is a difference in cases in the following two sentences (eine Stunde -> einer
Stunde).
Why?
(i) Dann können Sie eine Stunde später abfahren, um 12 Uhr 27.
(ii) Kommen Sie, wenn Sie wollen, in einer Stunde wieder.

5. The Satz: "Ich hole mir `was zum Trinken aus dem Kühlschrank."
why isnt it "den Kühlschrank"? Is "holen" not a movement action?

6. Perfekt tense.
"Der ist mit den Mülleimern beshäftigt."
Does this mean he WAS occupied with the Mülleimern in the past, but is now free?
Or does it mean he has been occupied with the Mülleimern?

7."Mittwochs fahre ich zum Tennisplatz"
Why isnt it "...zu den Tennisplat"? Does "fahren" not mean movement?
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vermillon
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Message 2 of 6

14 February 2014 at 12:39am | IP Logged

I'll answer those that I can:

2. es often acts as a dummy subject, here the subject of war is niemand: "niemand war im Büro", nobody was in the office. (who would those "sie waren" be anyway? "they were nobody"?)

3. fragen nach etw: ask about sth. But "about" in your second sentence would be... über?

4. I would say this is because of später: "in einer Stunde", Stunde is the main word of the phrase, while "eine Stunde später" später is the main word. (this is not a grammatical explanation... :S)

5. aus, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu => dative. Whatever the verb might be, movement or not.

6. None of them, it means he is currently busy (beshäftigt is an adjective, you would say).

7. same as 5. (learn the list by heart). zu => dative. (movement or not)
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Josquin
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Message 3 of 6

14 February 2014 at 2:14pm | IP Logged

1. "Zu Mittag/Abend essen" is an idiom and a fixed expression. "Zum Mittag/Abend essen" doesn't exist.

2. vermillon is correct.

3. The sentence should be: "Fragen Sie nach der Zeit für einen Deutschkurs." Vermillon is correct again, but the second sentence doesn't work in German. I'd suggest something like: "Ich beantworte seine Fragen zu meiner Arbeit/über meine Arbeit."

4. This is the difference between a time span and a point in time. A time span is expressed by an accusative ("eine Stunde"), while a point in time ("in einer Stunde") requires the dative.

5. vermillon is correct.

6. vermillon is correct again, but the word is "beschäftigt". The "sh" sound is written "sch" in German, except in English loan words.

7. And vermillon is correct once again.
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Gemuse
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Germany
Joined 4027 days ago
818 posts - 1189 votes

Speaks: English
Studies: German

Message 4 of 6

15 February 2014 at 9:49pm | IP Logged

Thanks vermillion and Josquin!

2. Is the following Satz correct: ""Danach habe ich die Firma KOPO angerufen, aber
niemand war im Buro". And how does it compare to the original sentence? I'm a bit
confused by the dummy object concept.

3. Actually, the real sentence from my German textbook was
"Fragen Sie nach Zeit und Preis für einen Deutschkurs".
So its ok to skip the definite article when there is an und, but otherwise it is
required?

4. Is "in" the only word leading to switching between timespan and timepoint? Both
sentences seemed to be talking about one hour later.
Are the following sentences correct?
(i) Dann können Sie in einer Stunde später abfahren, um 12 Uhr 27.
(ii) Kommen Sie, wenn Sie wollen, eine Stunde wieder.

6. Aha. Didnt know beschäftigt could be used as an adjective (I was taking it to be
past patiziple). But I now see that for past patiziple use, it would have been paired
with "haben".
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Josquin
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Message 5 of 6

16 February 2014 at 12:17am | IP Logged

Gemuse wrote:

2. Is the following Satz correct: ""Danach habe ich die Firma KOPO angerufen, aber niemand war im Buro". And how does it compare to the original sentence? I'm a bit confused by the dummy object concept.

This sentence is also correct. There's no difference in meaning whatsoever. One remark: It's Büro.

Quote:

3. Actually, the real sentence from my German textbook was "Fragen Sie nach Zeit und Preis für einen Deutschkurs". So its ok to skip the definite article when there is an und, but otherwise it is required?

Yeah, I think that must be the rule. You can't leave out the definite article when using only one noun.

Quote:

4. Is "in" the only word leading to switching between timespan and timepoint? Both sentences seemed to be talking about one hour later.
Are the following sentences correct?
(i) Dann können Sie in einer Stunde später abfahren, um 12 Uhr 27.
(ii) Kommen Sie, wenn Sie wollen, eine Stunde wieder.

Well, first of all, these sentences are not correct, they're absolute nonsense. You can't mix up the constructions like that.

Secondly, while "eine Stunde später" as a whole refers to a point in time, the crucial part is "später": How much later are you supposed to come back? One hour. This is a time span.

You're correct insofar as "in" always refers to a point in time, but I guess there must be other words indicating a point in time as well.

Quote:

6. Aha. Didnt know beschäftigt could be used as an adjective (I was taking it to be past patiziple). But I now see that for past patiziple use, it would have been paired with "haben".

The word is either "Partizip" (German) or "participle" (English). You could also interpret the sentence as some sort of Zustandspassiv, so "beschäftigt" could also be a participle here. Anyway, often participles can become adjectives, so you can interpret it either way.
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beano
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Message 6 of 6

17 February 2014 at 1:33pm | IP Logged

I think your're trying to use English constructions in a German setting. While this often works, there are many instances where it simply doesn't.

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