German: Passiv (Questions About Your Target Languages) Language Learning Forum

German: Passiv
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Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages

12 messages over 2 pages: 1 2 Next >>

Gemuse
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 4087 days ago
818 posts - 1189 votes

Speaks: English
Studies: German

Message 1 of 12

11 June 2014 at 10:33pm | IP Logged

I'm gonna have a bunch of questions on these, so I thought I'd make a different thread.

First question. I wrote the following sentence which was corrected:
1. Me: Es wird mich gefreuet werden, wann ich dich im Januar widersehen werde.
Intended meaning: It will make me happy, when I will see you in Januar.
So, passive future, + normal voice in subordinate clause.

Correction made: Es würde mich freuen, wenn ich dich im Januar widersehen würde.

Why was my original sentence wrong?

Second:
2. Es wurde vorgehabt, ein Gespräch mit dem Chef zu haben.
Intended meaning: It was proposed to have a conversation with the Boss.
Why is this incorrect?

Edited by Gemuse on 11 June 2014 at 10:48pm
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Doitsujin
Diglot
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Germany
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Speaks: German*, English

Message 2 of 12

11 June 2014 at 11:10pm | IP Logged

Gemuse wrote:

First question. I wrote the following sentence which was corrected:
1. Me: Es wird mich gefreuet werden, wann ich dich im Januar widersehen werde.
Intended meaning: It will make me happy, when I will see you in Januar.
So, passive future, + normal voice in subordinate clause.
Why is this incorrect?

a) You cannot transfer English patterns 1:1 to German.
b) "It will make me happy" is not a passive construction, it's an impersonal future construction.

This particular sentence would be usually be expressed as:

Ich freue mich (schon) darauf, Dich im im Januar wiederzusehen.

Gemuse wrote:

Second:
2. Es wurde vorgehabt, ein Gespräch mit dem Chef zu haben.
Intended meaning: It was proposed to have a conversation with the Boss.
Why is this incorrect?

vorhaben ≠ vorschlagen

Es wurde vorgeschlagen, ein Gespräch mit dem Chef zu führen.

Note that many "have + noun" expressions require a verb in German.

4 persons have voted this message useful

Cabaire
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Germany
Joined 5604 days ago
725 posts - 1352 votes

Message 3 of 12

11 June 2014 at 11:44pm | IP Logged

Quote:

Es wird mich gefreuet werden, wann ich dich im Januar widersehen werde

A tiny additional note:

You can use "wann" only, if is is a question: when? (direct or indirect)

Wann sehe ich dich wieder?
Ich frage mich, wann ich dich wiedersehe.
Ich weiß nicht, wann ich dich wiedersehe.

But:
Es freut mich, wenn ich dich wiedersehe.
4 persons have voted this message useful

Gemuse
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 4087 days ago
818 posts - 1189 votes

Speaks: English
Studies: German

Message 4 of 12

11 June 2014 at 11:48pm | IP Logged

Doitsujin wrote:

Gemuse wrote:

a) You cannot transfer English patterns 1:1 to German.
b) "It will make me happy" is not a passive construction, it's an impersonal future construction.

Thanks, I was wondering if it was passive or not!

Doitsujin wrote:

This particular sentence would be usually be expressed as:

Ich freue mich (schon) darauf, Dich im im Januar wiederzusehen. /QUOTE]

Should the first part not be in future tense ("I will be pleased...")?
Ich werde mich freuen darauf, Dich im Januar widerzusehen.

Gemuse wrote:

Second:
2. Es wurde vorgehabt, ein Gespräch mit dem Chef zu haben.
Intended meaning: It was proposed to have a conversation with the Boss.
Why is this incorrect?

My bad. If I want to say "It was planned to have a conversation with the Boss", is sentence 2 then correct?

Edited by Gemuse on 11 June 2014 at 11:56pm
1 person has voted this message useful

Gemuse
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 4087 days ago
818 posts - 1189 votes

Speaks: English
Studies: German

Message 5 of 12

11 June 2014 at 11:49pm | IP Logged

Cabaire wrote:

Quote:

Es wird mich gefreuet werden, wann ich dich im Januar widersehen werde

Thanks, a terrifically useful pointer! I did not know that.
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Josquin
Heptaglot
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Germany
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Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian

Message 6 of 12

12 June 2014 at 1:31pm | IP Logged

Gemuse wrote:

Quote:

2. Es wurde vorgehabt, ein Gespräch mit dem Chef zu haben.
Intended meaning: It was proposed to have a conversation with the Boss.
Why is this incorrect?

My bad. If I want to say "It was planned to have a conversation with the Boss", is sentence 2 then correct?

No, "es wurde vorgehabt" doesn't exist. You can however say: "Es war ein Gespräch mit dem Chef geplant" or "Wir hatten vor, mit dem Chef zu reden".

Edited by Josquin on 12 June 2014 at 1:31pm
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Gemuse
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 4087 days ago
818 posts - 1189 votes

Speaks: English
Studies: German

Message 7 of 12

12 June 2014 at 6:14pm | IP Logged

Josquin wrote:

Gemuse wrote:

Quote:

2. Es wurde vorgehabt, ein Gespräch mit dem Chef zu haben.
Intended meaning: It was proposed to have a conversation with the Boss.
Why is this incorrect?

My bad. If I want to say "It was planned to have a conversation with the Boss", is sentence 2 then correct?

No, "es wurde vorgehabt" doesn't exist. You can however say: "Es war ein Gespräch mit dem Chef geplant" or "Wir hatten vor, mit dem Chef zu reden".

Thanks. Can we say:
Es wurde geplant, ein Gespräch mit dem Chef zu haben.

BTW, what is the difference between plannen and vorhaben?

Doitsujin wrote:

This particular sentence would be usually be expressed as:

Ich freue mich (schon) darauf, Dich im im Januar wiederzusehen.

Should the first part not be in future tense ("I will be pleased...")?
Ich werde mich freuen darauf, Dich im Januar widerzusehen.

Edited by Gemuse on 12 June 2014 at 6:14pm
1 person has voted this message useful

Josquin
Heptaglot
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Message 8 of 12

12 June 2014 at 6:43pm | IP Logged

Gemuse wrote:

Can we say:
Es wurde geplant, ein Gespräch mit dem Chef zu haben.

BTW, what is the difference between plannen and vorhaben?

"Ein Gespräch haben" doesn't sound very good. I'd just say: "Es wurde geplant, mit dem Chef zu reden" or "Es wurde geplant, mit dem Chef ein Gespräch zu führen".

"Planen" is "to make a plan". "Vorhaben" is "to intend". As I already said before, a good dictionary and a grammar are your friends.

Quote:

Should the first part not be in future tense ("I will be pleased...")?
Ich werde mich freuen darauf, Dich im Januar widerzusehen.

First of all, the grammatically and orthographically correct sentence would be: "Ich werde mich darauf freuen, dich im Januar wiederzusehen."

Second of all, this sentence doesn't make any sense, because you're saying: "I will be looking forward to seeing you again in January." You probably want to say: "Ich werde mich freuen, dich im Januar wiederzusehen."

"Sich freuen" = "to be glad/happy/pleased". "Sich auf etw. freuen" = "to look forward to sth."

But, as I also said before, you can often use the present tense in German when talking about the future: "Ich freue mich, dich im Januar wiederzusehen." This sounds much better than your original sentence.

Edited by Josquin on 12 June 2014 at 6:55pm

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