|
 |
Formal "you" in German | ||
Tags: Polite/Informal Forms | German | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Lindsay19 Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5820 days ago 183 posts - 214 votes  Speaks: English*, GermanC1 Studies: Swedish, Faroese, Icelandic | Message 1 of 5 02 February 2009 at 9:48pm | IP Logged | ||
|
So the last two books I've read (in German) were both fantansy and dealt with kings, queens, knights, dragons, Scandinavian gods, etc. I saw that when speaking with each other, many of the characters used a formal "you" that I had not known of until then: "Ihr" and "Euch". Is "Sie" not polite enough? I was wondering if anyone knew what kind of situations this is used in, besides what I came across. Thanks in advance! Edited by Lindsay19 on 02 February 2009 at 9:51pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Walshy Triglot Senior Member Australia Joined 6941 days ago 335 posts - 365 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German | Message 2 of 5 02 February 2009 at 11:03pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I've read before on the forum that it's a (now obsolete, of course) way for servants and slaves to address their masters.
For comparison, using it in modern German would probably sound as dated as "thee", "thou", "thine", etc. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sapphire Newbie Germany Joined 5856 days ago 39 posts - 39 votes Speaks: German* Studies: Mandarin | Message 3 of 5 03 February 2009 at 6:17am | IP Logged | ||
Yes, that's right, but you can use it to joke or if you wanted to talk to a royal family in German. ;D You might even stumble over some knight or king refering to himself in the third person, "er sagt..." instead of "ich sage...", which can be confusing. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6271 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 4 of 5 03 February 2009 at 7:46am | IP Logged | ||
|
When I was learning German at university, I tended to over-use Sie in informal contexts, so I came across as overly polite and formal with young Germans.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Lindsay19 Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5820 days ago 183 posts - 214 votes Speaks: English*, GermanC1 Studies: Swedish, Faroese, Icelandic | Message 5 of 5 03 February 2009 at 11:12am | IP Logged | ||
|
Great, thanks guys :-)
1 person has voted this message useful |
If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
