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| kgoedert Diglot Newbie Brazil Joined 4563 days ago 20 posts - 25 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English Studies: German, French | Message 1 of 10 27 July 2012 at 2:04pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Hi,
I started to study German by myself few weeks ago, and I am struggling with some grammar points. First: * the position of the word nicht. Is there an specific place for it in a phrase? For example: Somebody asks me if we can meet at 4 o'clock. And I want to answer, "no, not at 4 o'clock". Which one is correct: 1. Nein, nicht um vier Uhr 2. Nein, um vier Uhr nicht Are they correct? Or only one of them? * the position of words like 'jetzt'. The question is the same. Do they have to be on a specific place on a phrase? * the last question is about turning a statement into a question. If I have a statement like this: Ich esse um ein Uhr. And I want to turn it into a question like "Do you eat at one o'clock?" Which is correct: 1. Essen Sie um ein Uhr? 2. Sie essen um ein Uhr? They seem both correct to me. Are they really? I appreciate any help. Or any pointer to a book or link or any other resource. Thanks Kelly 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| nuriayasmin70 Diglot Senior Member Germany languagesandbeyoRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4522 days ago 132 posts - 162 votes  Speaks: German*, English Studies: SpanishB1, Portuguese, Czech, Hungarian | Message 2 of 10 27 July 2012 at 2:28pm | IP Logged | |||||
Your first example isn't a complete sentence. In a complete sentence "nicht" is placed behind the conjugated verb: Ich komme nicht um vier Uhr. Ich kann nicht um vier Uhr kommen. The sentence structure may be different, though: Um vier Uhr komme ich nicht. Um vier Uhr kann ich nicht kommen. However, I think it's best you keep in mind that "nicht" is placed behind the conjugaged verb which is different in Portuguese where "não" is placed in front of the conjugated verb like "Não venho às 4 horas" or "Nao posso vir às 4 horas". As your examples are incomplete sentences without a verb, both options are possbile, just the emphasis is a bit different. To me, "Nein, nicht um vier Uhr" sounds more neutral, you simply say 4 o'clock isn't a good time for you. "Nein, um vier Uhr nicht" sound more like "Oh please, not at 4 o'clock, that's a bad time for me" to me. In your second example option number one is correct when you ask someone when he has dinner. "Sie essen um ein Uhr?" is also a correct sentence but for me it implies something like "You eat at one o'clock? Really?" Or when you already know it and just want a confirmation. Well, hope this was helpful. Edited by nuriayasmin70 on 27 July 2012 at 2:31pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| kgoedert Diglot Newbie Brazil Joined 4563 days ago 20 posts - 25 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English Studies: German, French | Message 3 of 10 27 July 2012 at 2:47pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Thank you. Yes, it helped me a lot.
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| Kyle Corrie Senior Member United States Joined 4830 days ago 175 posts - 464 votes | Message 4 of 10 27 July 2012 at 7:54pm | IP Logged | |||||
That's not exactly accurate. What if you were to use a subordinating conjunction? "Ich weiß, dass du nicht kommen kannst." 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| nuriayasmin70 Diglot Senior Member Germany languagesandbeyoRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4522 days ago 132 posts - 162 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: SpanishB1, Portuguese, Czech, Hungarian | Message 5 of 10 27 July 2012 at 9:04pm | IP Logged | |||||
You're certainly right. I was only thinking of main clauses (correct expression? I'm not quite sure). It's really not easy to explain grammar rules for one's native language. Hm, when I think about it, it seems that it has nothing to do with subordinate clauses but it's rather important whether there's an infinitive or not and when there is, the "nicht" is always placed before the infinitive. Could that be right? Two examples I've just thought of: Ich weiß, dass sie nicht kam. Sie kann nicht kommen. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4708 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 6 of 10 28 July 2012 at 10:41am | IP Logged | |||||
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The other solution is to say, "Nein, es ist nicht möglich um vier Uhr zu kommen" or
"diese Möglichkeit gibt es nicht" or something like that 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| nuriayasmin70 Diglot Senior Member Germany languagesandbeyoRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4522 days ago 132 posts - 162 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: SpanishB1, Portuguese, Czech, Hungarian | Message 7 of 10 28 July 2012 at 1:38pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Oh dear, I just hope kgoedert isn`t totally confused now and continues to learn German :-)
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| Cortical Tetraglot Newbie CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4634 days ago 30 posts - 52 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, SpanishB1 Studies: Russian, Mandarin | Message 8 of 10 28 July 2012 at 2:40pm | IP Logged | |||||
I would say: Ich komme um vier Uhr nicht. Ich kann um vier Uhr nicht kommen. are also right. I'm not sure, but I think they are used when the listener is expecting an affirmative answer, so you stress that your answer is a negative one. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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