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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| fnord Triglot Groupie Switzerland Joined 5034 days ago 71 posts - 124 votes  Speaks: German*, Swiss-German, English Studies: Luxembourgish, Dutch | Message 49 of 126 20 June 2014 at 1:47am | IP Logged | |||||
I guess the difficulty here is different modal verb constructions which, in some cases, appear similar in both languages, yet don’t quite “match” in others. Translating English to German here, I would prefer: 1. Er konnte es nicht tun (much simpler, more literal translation) 2. ditto (Er hätte es nicht tun sollen implies that he did it nevertheless. “Er sollte es nicht tun” leaves this totally open, so does not work) 3. Ich mochte es nicht essen (same as 1., simpler and more literal) I would even tend to assume a slight preference by native speakers for the simple past here. Maybe even in colloquial usage and oral speech (…which, interestingly, otherwise very much eschews the simple past in favor of using the present perfect).
You could even just drop it entirely: “Hat Spass gemacht.” I’m not sure whether we can generalize here, but out of these three… 1. Ich war heute Fussball spielen. Hat Spass gemacht. 2. Ich war heute Fussball spielen. Es hat Spass gemacht. 3. Ich war heute Fussball spielen. Das hat Spass gemacht. …the first one is in fact the “best”, i.e., mostidiomatic one. Whereas 2. and 3. sound somewhat awkward. Edited by fnord on 20 June 2014 at 1:57am 3 persons have 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 50 of 126 20 June 2014 at 2:49pm | IP Logged | |||||
Yeah, but one should mention that this is only possible in spoken language. Even there, people often use an "'s" which could be interpreted either as "es" or "das". "Warst du Fußball spielen?" - "Ja, 's hat Spaß gemacht." Also, using the "das" gives the whole phrase some emphasis: "Das hat (aber) Spaß gemacht!" 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Random review Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5784 days ago 781 posts - 1310 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin, Yiddish, German | Message 51 of 126 26 June 2014 at 3:11am | IP Logged | |||||
Off topic, I know, but this is an amusing illustration of the power of Michel Thomas's method and of the fact his courses are very incomplete. That structure is very easy and natural to anyone who finished the MT German courses and yet other, much easier structures that he didn't cover still give me difficulties. You might want to have a run through his so-called advanced course, all those hätte....können and hätte...sollen structures will seem easy by the end. Edited by Random review on 26 June 2014 at 3:12am 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 4083 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes Speaks: English Studies: German | Message 52 of 126 26 June 2014 at 7:52am | IP Logged | |||||
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Thanks Martin, will check out Michel Thomas.
A simple question (I hope). I am reading a course on LingQ and came across these sentences: 1. Morgen werden es 2 Wörter sein, in einem Monat - hundert. Q: Since we have "es", should it not be "wird" instead of "werden"? Is this passiv? 2. Man soll vom ersten Tag an sprechen, wenn es auch (nur) ein Wort ist, das sie sprechen können. Q: Where did the sie come from? If it is "Man" should it not be some singular pronoun? Edited by Gemuse on 26 June 2014 at 8:03am 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 53 of 126 26 June 2014 at 12:40pm | IP Logged | |||||
"Es" is a so-called "dummy subject here. The verb, however, inflects according to the real subject ("zwei Wörter"). No, this isn't passive voice, it's future tense. A passive sentence consists of a form of "werden" + past participle, e.g. "Ich werde geschlagen". In a passive sentence, something is done to someone.
I suspect the "sie" should have been written with a capital S here, so it's a formal address of the reader: "You should speak from day one, even if it's only a word you can speak." Edited by Josquin on 26 June 2014 at 12:46pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 4083 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes Speaks: English Studies: German | Message 54 of 126 04 August 2014 at 12:04am | IP Logged | |||||
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Another couple of random questions based on my assimil lessons:
1. Der Wievielte ist heute? Is Wievielte a noun? Wie viel means how many. Or is it just an idiom? 2. Die Kuchen bei Müllers sind die besten. Why do we have "besten" and not "beste"? Isnt "beste" the superlative of gut? 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 55 of 126 04 August 2014 at 2:59pm | IP Logged | |||||
"Wievielte" is a question word that doesn't exist in English. Literally translated it means "the how-many-th". The question is an abbreviation of "Der wievielte Tag des Monats ist heute?" = "Which date is today?".
Adjectives need to be declined. The undeclined superlative of "gut" is "am besten". It is declined according to the weak declination pattern (der beste, die beste (sg.), das beste, die besten (pl.) etc.). Edited by Josquin on 04 August 2014 at 3:00pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 4083 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes Speaks: English Studies: German | Message 56 of 126 27 August 2014 at 9:42pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Thanks Josquin!
More questions: I encountered some sentences in Hugo German. 1. Ja, der Tisch ist bestellt. Yes, the table is ordered. Should it not be? 1a. Ja, der Tisch wird bestellt. And incidentally, why is it "ist" and not "hat" in 1 above? 2. Where have you been living? Wo haben Sie gelebt? Does the above sentence not say "Where had you lived?", ie past tense? "Have you been living" seems to imply present tense? 3. Are measurements always in singular (eg. Meter)? I could have sworn the GPS voice said "Metern". 4. Yes, I am showing them to her. Ja, ich will sie ihr zeigen. Where did "will" come from? "will" means want? 5. Does he help you with your work? Hilft er Ihnen bei der Arbeit? Can we use "mit" instead of "bei"? Hilft er Ihnen mit der Arbeit? Similarly: 6. She lives with her parents. Sie wohnt bei ihren Eltern. Can we say: Sie wohnt mit ihren Eltern? I am getting a bit confused with bei ←→ mit. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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