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Grammar in Rammstein Lyrics | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| MarcoLeal Groupie Portugal Joined 4835 days ago 58 posts - 104 votes  Speaks: Portuguese* | Message 1 of 8 21 June 2014 at 3:56am | IP Logged | |||||
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Today I was listening to Rammstein and a couple of grammar "oddities" drew my attention:
At one point in the song Ohne Dich they seem to simply omit the haben auxiliary: Ich werde in die Tannen gehen Dahin wo ich sie zuletzt gesehen Doch der Abend wirft ein Tuch aufs Land Und auf die Wege hintern Waldesrand The same happens in the song Mutter: Der Mutter die mich nie geboren Habe ich heute Nacht geschworen Ich werd' ihr eine Krankheit schenken Und sie danach im Fluss versenken I copied a couple of extra lines just so you can see that the missing "habe" and "hat" don't show up later either. Finally in the song, Hilf mir, I noticed the excerpt "Das muss ein trefflich Spielzeug sein" where the ending "es" of the adjective is missing. I'm not trying to be a grammar nazi or anything, and I understand the concept of artistic license. I just want to know if constructions like these sound as weird to you (especially to native speakers) as they did to me or if they are common elsewhere, in either spoken or written German. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Doitsujin Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5321 days ago 1256 posts - 2363 votes Speaks: German*, English | Message 2 of 8 21 June 2014 at 5:53am | IP Logged | |||||
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Omitting auxiliary verbs and some noun/adjective endings is quite common in German poetry, and Rammstein really loves puns and wordplay. Some of their lyrics might even surprise native German speakers.
For example, when I heard their song "Du hast" for the first time, I thought it meant "Du hasst mich"; it's was only later when the line was completed ("Du hast mich gefragt") that I realized that Rammstein managed to fool me. To answer your question, most Germans probably won't find the lyrics strange. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| MarcoLeal Groupie Portugal Joined 4835 days ago 58 posts - 104 votes Speaks: Portuguese* | Message 3 of 8 21 June 2014 at 6:27am | IP Logged | |||||
That's interesting. I had never heard about that but thanks to your tip I found a reference to it here (Example: Wie er mich nicht wiederfinden gekonnt.) And according to this, poetic influence also explains the dropping of adjective endings (Goethe's "dein eigen Angesicht.")
Doesn't that have to do with the fact that people know it's a Rammstein song? Wouldn't it sound strange if an average educated German said something like "Ein schnell Auto das ich gestern gesehen"? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cabaire Senior Member Germany Joined 5600 days ago 725 posts - 1352 votes | Message 4 of 8 21 June 2014 at 6:57am | IP Logged | |||||
In poetischer und volkstümlicher Sprache steht ein unflektiertes Adjektiv besonders vor neutralen Substantiven im Nominativ und Akkusativ: Wir wollen sein ein einig Volk von Brüdern (Schiller) Ein garstig Lied! Pfui! Ein politisch Lied! Ein leidig Lied! (Goethe) Abendrot, gut Wetter droht (Sprichwort) ... von einem steinalt, lieb Mütterlein (Fallada) "Das Spielzeug" is a neuter in the nominative in the sentence, dropping the ending of the adjective is a poetic licence.
Well, in a poem, you may say this. In a conversation is sounds strange. Edited by Cabaire on 21 June 2014 at 7:00am 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Doitsujin Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5321 days ago 1256 posts - 2363 votes Speaks: German*, English | Message 5 of 8 21 June 2014 at 7:02am | IP Logged | |||||
That would indeed sound very strange. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| MarcoLeal Groupie Portugal Joined 4835 days ago 58 posts - 104 votes Speaks: Portuguese* | Message 6 of 8 21 June 2014 at 7:03am | IP Logged | |||||
Yeah, suspected that much. Thanks. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6598 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 7 of 8 21 June 2014 at 3:01pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I love the word play in Haifisch (see the comments too).
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| MarcoLeal Groupie Portugal Joined 4835 days ago 58 posts - 104 votes Speaks: Portuguese* | Message 8 of 8 21 June 2014 at 5:23pm | IP Logged | |||||
Yeah it's a great song. Concerning the interpretation of the lyrics, I definitely agree with what the first commenter (gerold firl) said. BTW, you might also like the word play in the song Los. Edited by MarcoLeal on 21 June 2014 at 5:32pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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