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German synonym thread | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Ubik Senior Member United States ubykh.wordpress.com/ Joined 5317 days ago 147 posts - 176 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Latin, Arabic (Egyptian), German, Spanish | Message 17 of 55 23 November 2010 at 6:33am | IP Logged | ||
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Another one:
der Wechsel - der Wandel 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| schoenewaelder Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5561 days ago 759 posts - 1197 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 18 of 55 23 November 2010 at 11:25am | IP Logged | ||
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Soweit: It's funny, I wasn't even aware the existence of this construction before, but since I first read this topic I've noticed it half a dozen times in the last week. I've half forgotten them already, so may not be grammatically correct, but as indication of usage:
Gestern war Ireland soweit Hilfe zu beantragen. (after resisting for several days) Bist du soweit deine Frau zu verlassen? (don't worry, it was just a novel I was reading). and in another context, at the end of the weather report, the bloke said "so weit für die Aussichten" but I've tried googling the phrase and don't get any hits, so I probably misheard. Parat: Arriving at the entrance at the same time as a neighbour: "Ich habe die Sclüssel parat" 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Gosiak Triglot Senior Member Poland Joined 5127 days ago 241 posts - 361 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, German Studies: Norwegian, Welsh | Message 19 of 55 23 November 2010 at 5:31pm | IP Logged | ||
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More of these:
töten - umbringen - killen (mag ich nicht besonders) - erledigen - kalt machen - ermorden - hinrichten 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ubik Senior Member United States ubykh.wordpress.com/ Joined 5317 days ago 147 posts - 176 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Latin, Arabic (Egyptian), German, Spanish | Message 20 of 55 24 November 2010 at 5:02am | IP Logged | ||
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Ja, killen sounds stupid actually. I hope thats not the "norm" LOL.
töten is the one Ive heard most often, but then again how often is one discussing the fine art of killing auf Deutsch? LOL kalt machen? to make cold? I guess if you wanted to be super literal LOL 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| koba Heptaglot Senior Member AustriaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5869 days ago 118 posts - 201 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Hungarian, French | Message 21 of 55 24 November 2010 at 3:40pm | IP Logged | ||
There are many different ways of rendering: "to happen, to take place" Passieren and Geschehen are synonymous and the most common words for "to happen", the former being the most common. to happen to s.o. depends on the connotation, e.g.: Wenn mir was zustoßt, ruf die Polizei (If anything happens to me (befalls), call the police). But geschehen and passieren would also be possible here, followed by the dative. But when the sense is not "to befall" but "to become of", werden von is used e.g. Was ist von ihm geworden Whatever happened to him? (e.g. What became of him?) "What's happened" in the sense of "What's up/What's the problem?" is colloquialy said as follows: Was ist los? sich ereignen is a more formal word, deriving from Das Ereignis(the event) pretty much like in "to occur", e.g. In Norwegen hat sich ein schweres Zugunglück ereignet (A serious train accident occured in Norway) vorkommen also renders "to happen, to occur", but it's used in more everyday language like in the idiom "Das kommt vor" (Accidents happen). Sich ereignis would sound ridiculous for such a simple sentence. There's also an idiomatic use of "happen", in the sense of "by chance", "by accident", e.g., Ich habe sie zufällig auf der Straße getroffen (I happened to meet her on the street) stattfinden, corresponds to "take place" and is usually referred to dates(e.g. Es findet am 19. November statt) also, to events, meetings and happenings in general, e.g: Eine geheime Abstimmung findet statt (A secret voting takes place) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| koba Heptaglot Senior Member AustriaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5869 days ago 118 posts - 201 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Hungarian, French | Message 22 of 55 24 November 2010 at 4:29pm | IP Logged | ||
Töten is the everyday word, which is used in reference to people and animals, but umbringen is a common synonym used for people, which is the usual word with reference to killing oneself too, e.g. Er hat das Krokodil getötet (He killed the crocodile); Er hat sich umgebracht(He killed himself). I believe Killen is rarer and used more in colloquial contexts, for instance, I saw once "Es wird killen" (e.g. "It will be the bomb!"), but I heard that it can also be used to refer to the killing of people, though i've never seen it like that. Der Killer is sometimes used to refer to a murderer/killer, but of course, referring to people. The most common words are: morden(intr.), ermorden(tr.) and der Mörder (note that the last one means "the murderer") and Der Mord renders "the murder". e.g. Bewaffnete Banden in Ruanda mordeten hemmungslos (Armed gangs in Rwanda were murdering in an unrestrained fashion), Die Rebellen haben ihre Geiseln ermordet(The rebels murdered their hostages) But note that sometimes verbs change their meaning by the prefix er- to mean that it was fatal, i.e. schlagen is "to hit/beat", but erschlagen is "to beat to death", same as in schießen and erschießen ("to shoot", "to shoot dead"). More examples: erdrücken (to crush to death), erstechen (to stab to death). erledigen, in this context, is more like a subtle way of saying 'to kill', like in "to get sb done, e.g. Man muss ihn erledigen (We gotta get him done) kalt machen is also very colloquial, like in "to off sb", "to ice sb" in English. And finally, Hinrichten means "to execute". PS: It's a complex subject, if anyone is interested in learning such nuances i'd highly recommend a book called 'Mastering German Vocabulary: A Practical Guide to Troublesome words" by Bruce Donaldson, it covers explanation to the most common words and how to tell them apart. Edited by koba on 25 November 2010 at 5:00pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Sh'Naya Diglot Groupie Germany Joined 6759 days ago 48 posts - 65 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: Spanish, Japanese, French | Message 23 of 55 24 November 2010 at 7:33pm | IP Logged | ||
What you heard is probably "Soweit die Aussichten (z.B. für das Wochenende)". This phrase can be heard in almost all weather forecasts. Edited by Sh'Naya on 24 November 2010 at 7:35pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| koba Heptaglot Senior Member AustriaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5869 days ago 118 posts - 201 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Hungarian, French | Message 24 of 55 26 November 2010 at 12:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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What I wrote up there is based on researches, books I've read, and answers I got from the natives themselves. I'd appreciate, however, if any German native speaker would like to elucidate further or point out if I was mistaken. :)
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