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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 4083 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes  Speaks: English Studies: German | Message 9 of 126 12 April 2014 at 12:25pm | IP Logged | |||||
Thanks Doitsujin and Bao!
:D Yeah, thats what German sometimes seems like :P Reassuring to know there is a logic to the word orders.
AhA. Now it makes more sense! More questions.... 4. Hast du alles? Google translate says it means "Do you have anything". But "alle" means all, so is google wrong? Or is it just an idiom? 5. Mein Bruder ist älter als ich. Should "ich" not be "mich"? Otherwise we have two subjects? 6. Ich habe mich sehr über meinen Bruder geärgert. (Apologies for another word order question). Is the following legal: Ich habe mich über meinen Bruder sehr geärgert. 7. Meaning of Dann: Nächtes Jahr mache ich Abitur. Dann will ich studieren. What is the meaning of Dann in the above sentence (the usual meaning of "then/in that case" do not seem to make sense)? Edited by Gemuse on 12 April 2014 at 12:37pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5767 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 10 of 126 12 April 2014 at 2:13pm | IP Logged | |||||
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4 Do you have *everything*
Don't believe google translate. It is good enough to give you a rough overview of the meaning of a text, but it doesn't understand context. As I said, learner's grammar. If you are located in Germany, the next library would be a good starting point; unless you want to check out books you don't even have to register as a user there, you can just walk in during opening hours and look things up in books. (And things like dictionaries and reference grammars always have a copy that can't be checked out.) Alles can mean anything when used in a negative sentence, but thats relatively rare. You'll fare better by literally translating the words in sentences with all/nothing etc. 5 Comparision takes a predicative expression and the noun you compare your subject to takes nominative case. 6 Possible, yes, but there's a difference The sample sentence is a 'neutral' way of talking about your annoyance with your brother, while the focus of your sentence is your brother; it would be appropriate to use in a situation where you, for example, had to endure your brother and two of his friends doing something that really annoys you. His friends didn't know that you didn't like it, but your brother knew and did it nontheless, so you were angry at him, but not at his friends. The thing is, most sentences you will encounter are 'neutral' word order, and would be good to get a Sprachgefühl for neutral word order while learning to understand such sentences before you attempt to work with sentences that put an emphasis on one part of the sentence and by that, change its meaning. 7 You're not thinking of the temporal meaning of 'then', only of the causal one. Next year I'll finish high school and then I want to go to college. Really straightforward, dann/then is a very nice cognate. Edited by Bao on 12 April 2014 at 2:13pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 4083 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes Speaks: English Studies: German | Message 11 of 126 12 April 2014 at 2:37pm | IP Logged | |||||
Thanks Bao!
Very interesting. I will try to get a Sprachgefühl for neutral word order! Nice tip on the neutral connotation word order.
AHA. Studieren can mean going to college. I was thinking he wants to study for the Abitur, and so I discarded the temporal "then". I thought why the heck would he want to study for the Abitur after he got the Abitur. I have dictionaries and a couple of grammer books. But sometimes I have doubts as I have not processed the information properly. Thanks for all the help guys. Edited by Gemuse on 12 April 2014 at 2:39pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4845 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 12 of 126 12 April 2014 at 3:07pm | IP Logged | |||||
This is a common misconception among English learners of German. "Studieren" can only mean "to go to college/university" or "to take courses at college/university"! If you want to say something like "to study a language (on your own)" or "to study for an exam", this is "lernen" in German: Er lernt Griechisch (im Selbststudium). = He's studying Greek (on his own). Er lernt für seine Matheklausur. = He's studying for his maths exam. Er studiert Griechisch. = He's taking Greek at college/university. Er studiert Griechisch als Hauptfach. = He's majoring in Greek. Er studiert. = He's a student (at university)/He goes to college. As a general remark: A lot of your questions could be answered by a closer look at textbooks, grammars, or dictionaries. Edited by Josquin on 12 April 2014 at 3:11pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 4083 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes Speaks: English Studies: German | Message 13 of 126 12 April 2014 at 3:25pm | IP Logged | |||||
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^^ My Hueber learners dictionary says
(intr v) study, be a student *the example sentences are all with respect to university study* (tr v) study ein Buch/einen Bericht studieren **Looks up what a transitive verb is** So, Er studiert das Buch would be correct but Er studiert für seine Matheklausur would be incorrect? Actually I think I see the logic here. Studieren can be used in the English sense if there is a direct object of it. But then, why would the following be wrong: Er studiert Griechisch. Isnt Griechisch a direct object? PS: I do make an attempt to understand first via my texts/dictionary. Often I fail, and then I post here. Perhaps, in addition to helping me, these posts will help other learners. Edited by Gemuse on 12 April 2014 at 3:34pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5767 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 14 of 126 12 April 2014 at 5:41pm | IP Logged | |||||
would indeed be correct, but it's a relatively rare usage In this case studieren means to scrutinize. I imagine an antiques dealer looking at a book you brought. That usage is transitive. The first one is not intransitive, but ambitransitive. It only means to read a subject at university, and you can specify which subject if you want to. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 4083 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes Speaks: English Studies: German | Message 15 of 126 20 April 2014 at 3:09pm | IP Logged | |||||
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8. Wie gefällt es dir in dieser Stadt?
Means how do you like it in this city, correct? And the polite form would be Wie gefallen es Ihnen in dieser Stadt? 9. What is the difference between: 9a. Ich fahre bis Hamburg. 9b. Ich fahre nach Hamburg. and 9c. Ich fahre bis zum Bahnhhof. 9b. Ich fahre nach dem Bahnhof. Edited by Gemuse on 20 April 2014 at 6:46pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| daegga Tetraglot Senior Member Austria lang-8.com/553301 Joined 4522 days ago 1076 posts - 1792 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Swedish, Norwegian Studies: Danish, French, Finnish, Icelandic | Message 16 of 126 20 April 2014 at 10:39pm | IP Logged | |||||
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>> 8. Wie gefällt es dir in dieser Stadt?
>> Means how do you like it in this city, correct? Yes. >> And the polite form would be >> Wie gefallen es Ihnen in dieser Stadt? No. It's "Wie gefällt es Ihnen in dieser Stadt?" The (pseudo-) subject is "es" (=it) in both sentences, so the verb doesn't change its form. >> 9. What is the difference between: >> 9a. Ich fahre bis Hamburg. >> 9b. Ich fahre nach Hamburg. 9a. I drive until Hamburg. ... and then I take the train/plane from there ... ... and then it's your turn! ... and then you have to get off and I continue in another direction... etc. 9b. I drive to Hamburg. (in order to do something there) >> and >> 9c. Ich fahre bis zum Bahnhhof. >> 9d. Ich fahre nach dem Bahnhof. 9c. like 9a. 9d. doesn't make any sense, "nach dem Bahnhof" should be interpreted as a fixed point (like a coordinate), and you can't just drive there. "Ich fahre nach dem Bahnhof rechts." would be "I turn right after the railway station." If you want the meaning in 9b, you would say "Ich fahre zum Bahnhof." Edited by daegga on 20 April 2014 at 10:47pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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