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German: "Was für ein ..." | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| Speakeasy Senior Member Canada Joined 4057 days ago 507 posts - 1098 votes  Studies: German | Message 1 of 7 04 March 2014 at 4:04pm | IP Logged |
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I have a question about the corrrect use of the expression "Was für ein ..." in German. Some of the sources that I have consulted indicate that the article "ein" is NOT subject to case endings whereas other sources indicate that it IS to be declined. Some sources even suggest that article "ein" should not reflect differences of grammatical gender; thus "Was für eine ..." is not admissible. Here are three examples:
Was für ein Hund! (exclamatory statement: not declined) Was für ein Hund is das? (simple question: not declined) Was für einen Hund suchen Sie? (direct object of the verb suchen: declined) Can someone clarify the situation for me? Vielen Dank! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| drygramul Tetraglot Senior Member Italy Joined 4473 days ago 165 posts - 269 votes Speaks: Persian, Italian*, EnglishC2, GermanB2 Studies: French, Polish | Message 2 of 7 04 March 2014 at 5:22pm | IP Logged |
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That's interesting, I would like to know that too.
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| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5771 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 3 of 7 04 March 2014 at 5:36pm | IP Logged |
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"Was für eine" does work. Usually with expletives. =D
I use the correct case ending in all of the examples I can come up with. Not doing so sounds awkward. But I would interpret those patterns as: Das ist [ein Hund]. Das ist [was für ein Hund]? (still has to be inverted) - >Was für ein Hund ist das? The first usage would be the same pattern, dropping the "ist das" as it's not a real question, you use the question pattern to show frustration or surprise. Sie suchen [einen Hund]. Sie suchen [was für einen Hund]? (must be inverted) -> Was für einen Hund suchen Sie? Might be nonsense if you ask a linguist, but I think it should work. Edited by Bao on 04 March 2014 at 5:37pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4849 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 4 of 7 04 March 2014 at 5:47pm | IP Logged |
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Of course the article has to be declined! You simply use the nominative in exclamations:
Was für ein toller Mann! Was für eine tolle Frau! Was für ein tolles Auto! In questions, you simply use the case which is required by the verb: Was für einen Mann suchen Sie? Was für eine Frau suchen Sie? Was für ein Auto suchen Sie? 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Doitsujin Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5325 days ago 1256 posts - 2363 votes Speaks: German*, English | Message 5 of 7 04 March 2014 at 5:51pm | IP Logged |
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"Was für" can be followed by any case depending on the function of the noun. Here's a good example that I stole from http://www.deutschegrammatik20.de:
Nominativ: Was für ein Anzug gefällt dir? – Ein schwarzer. Akkusativ: Was für einen Anzug ziehst du heute Abend an? – Einen eleganten. Dativ: Mit was für einem Stift schreibst? – Mit einem weichen. Genitiv: Die Frau was für eines Mannes war sie? Eines einflussreichen. For more information see the website that I linked to. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Speakeasy Senior Member Canada Joined 4057 days ago 507 posts - 1098 votes Studies: German | Message 6 of 7 04 March 2014 at 10:46pm | IP Logged |
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Ausgezeichnet! Thank you very much for your replys. Although apparently simple, this matter has perplexed me for quite some time. I am dismayed by the minor but vexing errors, or the lack of clarity, that one finds in some self-study language courses. Vielen, vielen Dank!
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| Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 4087 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes Speaks: English Studies: German | Message 7 of 7 09 March 2014 at 8:23am | IP Logged |
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For anyone looking for self-study course testimonials, Hugo German in 3 months has this
succinct explanation: "The ein has the same ending as in the hypothetical statement on which the question is based. Sie sucht einen Teppich. Was für einen Teppich sucht sie?" P.55 Edited by Gemuse on 09 March 2014 at 8:23am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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