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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Astrum Newbie United States Joined 5064 days ago 15 posts - 16 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 1 of 18 11 April 2011 at 2:27am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Hey everbody, I've been learning German for about 3 months or so, and i must say that
I'm starting to get the hang of it, I'm able to read basic articles written in German and I can chat with native German speakers online (with a little help for a translator). But there's one thing that I still can't understand, SENTENCE ORDER! It's driving me insane, the way the sentences are comsposed in so confusing, I get that you're suppose to put the verb at the end of the setence in some cases, but there is still more that confuses me. Take these setences for example : "Dann komm, gehen wir in den Supermarkt." "Vorher müssen wir die Einkaufsliste machen. Mal sehen, was brauchen wir?" Now I can understand what it means, but I don't understand WHY it's right. Why is it "gehen wir in den Supermarkt"? and not "Wir in den Supermarkt gehen"? And "die Einkaufsliste" and not just "Einkaufsliste" I've asked some German natives online but none of them seem to have an answer they just say "Das ist wie es ist". 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| tbone Diglot Groupie United States Joined 4990 days ago 92 posts - 132 votes  Speaks: English*, German Studies: Spanish, Russian | Message 2 of 18 11 April 2011 at 3:31am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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"Es ist halt so."
Best advice I've had when learning a language. There may be a "why", but it may have been invented after the fact. Allow yourself to get used to the patterns. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| delta910 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5874 days ago 267 posts - 313 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Dutch, German | Message 3 of 18 11 April 2011 at 6:57am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I'm going to second what tbone said actually. I have been learning it for a long time and the best way to get down
the syntax is to just get used to the patterns. Over time you will pick it up. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| zekecoma Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5343 days ago 561 posts - 655 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish | Message 4 of 18 11 April 2011 at 7:35am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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"Dann komm, gehen wir in den Supermarkt."
Well the first is a command, since it is not the subject it inverts but verb is always the second one then any other verb is at the end. "Vorher müssen wir die Einkaufsliste machen. Mal sehen, was brauchen wir?" Whatever you have at the beginning is given more "emphasis", then the verb and subject are inverted like you would be asking a question, but it's not a question. After a comma it is reset, then you start like you was creating a new sentence unless you start with a non-subject. Now like after words like "dass", "ohwohl", etc, you have to place the subject then anything else and then the conjugated verb at the end like this, , dass ich nicht das gesagt hatte. Edited by zekecoma on 11 April 2011 at 7:37am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Doitsujin Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5319 days ago 1256 posts - 2363 votes Speaks: German*, English | Message 5 of 18 11 April 2011 at 9:04am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Nice explanation, but you're overgeneralizing a bit.
This sentence order is inverted, because the first word, "vorher," is an adverb. This is somewhat similar to the inversion of English sentences starting with hardly, scarcely, barely, no sooner etc.
"Mal sehen" (=let's see) is an interjection/imperative and could be considered a complete sentence and "was brauchen wir?" is a rhetorical question which has the same word order as a real question. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Hampie Diglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 6658 days ago 625 posts - 1009 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: Latin, German, Mandarin | Message 6 of 18 11 April 2011 at 12:43pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Gehen wir is kind of a first person plural imperative and means ‹let’s go› while wer gehen just means ‹we are going›
1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| LanguageSponge Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5765 days ago 1197 posts - 1487 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Welsh, Russian, Japanese, Slovenian, Greek, Italian | Message 7 of 18 11 April 2011 at 6:31pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
This is something I learnt when I started learning German about ten or so years ago, maybe even more now, and I think it's absolutely right. I think sometimes, it's more useful, after a certain point, to stop questioning "why" and just learn by example. My friend did Latin in school with me - he could tell you which case all the nouns were in, he could tell you what tense all the verbs were in, but he could hardly ever explain why - which is no bad thing, he just learnt by example. Also, I hasten to add, his learning by example meant that he got used to the patterns and in his own way understood much faster than my classmates or I ever did. Jack 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Astrum Newbie United States Joined 5064 days ago 15 posts - 16 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 8 of 18 11 April 2011 at 8:48pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Well, I can't say that that's very comforting...
So how could I "Learn by example", other than just reading an trying to absorb what I read. Oh, and I have another question. If the statement "Ich bin gelangweilt" is not correct and "Ich langweilig mich" would you say "I'm tired" Like this "Ich müde mich"? If I'm not mistaken(which I very well can be), "Ich bin müde" is the correct one, no? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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