Register  Login  Active Topics  Maps  

zu verrückt für euch/Rätsel|Adv|En TAC’15

 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log Post Reply
812 messages over 102 pages: << Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 68 ... 101 102 Next >>
Via Diva
Diglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
last.fm/user/viadivaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 3994 days ago

1109 posts - 1427 votes 
Speaks: Russian*, English
Studies: German, Italian, French, Swedish, Esperanto, Czech, Greek

 
 Message 537 of 812
25 August 2014 at 4:05pm | IP Logged 
6WC, day twenty five
I was eager to do something with my grammar today, so I listened to some Michel Thomas (still boring), sat in front of the book and then realized that there would be no more grammar. The first task of the paragraph was to look at the words and make sure you know their genders, plurals and meanings. This nice work took more than 1,5 hours. This was freaking exhausting and quite disappointing sometimes (there were some conpletely alien words, which I haven't seen before, but it turns out that they are in A1 list).
I can't even check what have I done, since the second task was to take words and to write sentences with them. I can show it though:


The worst thing is that the work felt just as dull as my university homework on subjects I don't understand. Well, this is kinda true, because the main conclusion from that work is that I don't know plurals. Maybe it's time to create an Anki deck (counting the time it takes as studies, haha) and start to learn these plurals? But it's so very dull...
it would be useful to make Memrise course with wrong answers! But, damn, I am not sure if I have enough willpower for such a work.
1 person has voted this message useful



Via Diva
Diglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
last.fm/user/viadivaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 3994 days ago

1109 posts - 1427 votes 
Speaks: Russian*, English
Studies: German, Italian, French, Swedish, Esperanto, Czech, Greek

 
 Message 538 of 812
26 August 2014 at 4:01pm | IP Logged 
6WC, day twenty six
After a marathon with Dr Who I sat to do some grammar and again I had to spend a lot of time just dealing with some list of words. This time it was easier, I just had to write examples to verbs which demand Akkusativ. Sometimes I was stuck trying to find the masculine (haha) word, which would fit the the verb (well, I could write some nonsense with masculine nouns I know, but it's too early to behave like a freak in German). Sometime later I was to determine myself, which case the verb demands and that's where I was stuck again.
I use Wikitionary, occasionally look in Duden and started using PONS dictionary just yesterday. None of them tells me which case I need to connect a noun with the verb. This is very frustrating for me, and I don't even know if I will find a dictionary, which will be just like Wikitionary, but even better - considering that there would be clear words like demands Accusative. Yeah, examples are not that useful for me.
Well, that's actually an idea for yet another Memrise course, and this time we will have a verb and four (I know that some verbs demands Genitive, hehe) cases to choose. The problem is, however, that sometimes a verb can be not that clear and accept different cases depending on a situation.
To be honest, right now I think, that German is logical as a computer and that in order to master it I have to assimilate lots of information and manage it just like a computer. To think about things straight, in order to avoid problems I have to learn nouns with articles, plural form and even their declensions sometimes (Hallo, mein Junge!), and when I bump into a verb I need to know if it's separable or not sometimes, intransitive or transitive, what the case it demands and, sometimes, but still often enough, its auxiliary verb, its past tense form and the blessed Partizip II, I don't even speak about these nasty ones which change their roots when conjugated.
It's like I need a large table with lots of columns and items, and also the ability to deal with this table like with my own fingers. I hate mistakes. So I guess, every writing or chat will be an endless wandering in order to check everything I write.
I know that most useful examples will be just stuck in the memory, I had this with English even considering that I wasn't writing or speaking in the very process of learning - I have passively absorbed lots of information. But it looks like I need a lot of time to do such a thing, and I won't be always dedicating enough of it to German.

And still I damn adore this language! I feel like I am damned, but what wouldn't you do for love?
1 person has voted this message useful



Doitsujin
Diglot
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 5080 days ago

1256 posts - 2363 votes 
Speaks: German*, English

 
 Message 539 of 812
26 August 2014 at 5:33pm | IP Logged 
Via Diva wrote:
I use Wikitionary, occasionally look in Duden and started using PONS dictionary just yesterday. None of them tells me which case I need to connect a noun with the verb. This is very frustrating for me, and I don't even know if I will find a dictionary, which will be just like Wikitionary, but even better - considering that there would be clear words like demands Accusative. Yeah, examples are not that useful for me.

Check out the Valenzwörterbuch deutscher Verben. It indicates the required case for each meaning of a verb. Also check out Linguee, if you haven't already done so.

There are also tons of German verb lists on the Internet. For example:
Verben mit Dativ
Verben mit Akkusativ
3 persons have voted this message useful



Kronos
Diglot
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 5021 days ago

186 posts - 452 votes 
Speaks: German*, English

 
 Message 540 of 812
27 August 2014 at 5:54am | IP Logged 
Via Diva wrote:
6WC, day twenty five
I was eager to do something with my grammar today, so I listened to some Michel Thomas (still boring), sat in front of the book and then realized that there would be no more grammar. The first task of the paragraph was to look at the words and make sure you know their genders, plurals and meanings. This nice work took more than 1,5 hours. This was freaking exhausting and quite disappointing sometimes (there were some conpletely alien words, which I haven't seen before, but it turns out that they are in A1 list).
I can't even check what have I done, since the second task was to take words and to write sentences with them. I can show it though:


The worst thing is that the work felt just as dull as my university homework on subjects I don't understand. Well, this is kinda true, because the main conclusion from that work is that I don't know plurals. Maybe it's time to create an Anki deck (counting the time it takes as studies, haha) and start to learn these plurals? But it's so very dull...
it would be useful to make Memrise course with wrong answers! But, damn, I am not sure if I have enough willpower for such a work.


Just saw your sentences, and to make those exercises less boring and more fruitful for you I offer some corrections. Format:

(1) Your sentence
(2) My correction (where necessary)
(3) Translation into English


Ich habe zwei Kühlschränke in meiner Wohnung. (correct)
I have two refrigerators in my apartment.

Sein Kopf tut ihm weh, denn er hat Fieber. (correct)
His head aches because he has fever.

Ich kaufe eine Bluse und einen Rock. (correct)
I buy a blouse and a skirt.

Ich nehme meine Fahrkarte und gehe nach den Bahnhof.
Ich nehme meine Fahrkarte und gehe zum Bahnhof.
I take my ticket and go to the station.

Es gibt viele Bäume und Blumen da. (correct; or:)
Dort gibt es viele Bäume und Blumen.
There are many trees and flowers.

Alles hat ein Anfang und ein Ende.
Alles hat einen Anfang und ein Ende. (einen = accusative masc.)
Everything has a beginning and an end.

Wir waren zuerst im Café und dann ging wir nach ein Restaurant.
Wir waren zuerst im Café und gingen dann in ein Restaurant.
At first we were in a café and then went to a restaurant.

Er hat Job (?) und sein Beruf ist Kellner.
Er hat einen Job, sein Beruf ist Kellner.
He has a job, he is a waiter by profession.

Von Morgen bis Abend arbeite ich.
Ich arbeite von morgens bis abends.
I work from morning to night.

Ich nehme Geld aus mein Konto.
Ich nehme Geld von meinem Konto. (Better:)
Ich hebe Geld von meinem Konto ab.
I draw money from my account.

Wir haben Fleisch am Mittagessen.
Wir haben Fleisch zum Mittagessen (or: zu Mittag).
We have meat for lunch.

Es gibt viele Bilder an der Ausstellung.
Es gibt viele Bilder in der Ausstellung.
There are many pictures in the exhibition.

Das Hotel braucht mein Ausweis.
Das Hotel braucht meinen Ausweis. (meinen = accusative masc.)
The hotel requires my passport.

Ich habe Kaffee jedes Frühstück.
Ich habe Kaffee zu jedem Frühstück.
I have coffee with each breakfast.

Firma hat ein sehr gutes Angebot.
Die Firma hat ein sehr gutes Angebot.
The company has a very good offer.

Handy ist mehr nützlicher als Telefon.
Handy ist nützlicher als Telefon.
Cell phone is more useful than telephone.

Ich habe Durst und ich brauche ein Glas Wasser. (correct, but second 'ich' redundant)
Ich habe Durst und brauche ein Glas Wasser.
I am thirsty and need a glass of water.

Ich kaufe Obst: Äpfel und Birnen. (correct)
I buy fruit: apples and pears.

Ich schenke ihm ein Buch. (correct)
I give him a book as a present.

Meine Heimat ist eine große Stadt. (correct; but better:)
Ich komme aus (or: Ich lebe/wohne in) einer großen Stadt.
I come from (or: I live in) a big city.

3 persons have voted this message useful



Josquin
Heptaglot
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 4604 days ago

2266 posts - 3992 votes 
Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish
Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian

 
 Message 541 of 812
27 August 2014 at 11:56am | IP Logged 
Nice corrections, but I'd like to add some remarks. Some sentences look like literal translations from English which don't sound really good in German.

Kronos wrote:
Wir haben Fleisch am Mittagessen.
Wir haben Fleisch zum Mittagessen (or: zu Mittag).
We have meat for lunch.

I'd rather say: "Wir essen Fleisch zum Mittagessen."

Quote:
Ich habe Kaffee jedes Frühstück.
Ich habe Kaffee zu jedem Frühstück.
I have coffee with each breakfast.

Same here: "Ich trinke Kaffee zu jedem Frühstück."

Quote:
Handy ist mehr nützlicher als Telefon.
Handy ist nützlicher als Telefon.
Cell phone is more useful than telephone.

This sounds odd without any article. Better solution: "Ein Handy ist nützlicher als ein Telefon."
3 persons have voted this message useful



Kronos
Diglot
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 5021 days ago

186 posts - 452 votes 
Speaks: German*, English

 
 Message 542 of 812
27 August 2014 at 12:51pm | IP Logged 
I agree, to be entirely colloquial and not look like textbook material some sentences would have to be slightly adjusted.

Josquin wrote:
Quote:
Handy ist mehr nützlicher als Telefon.
Handy ist nützlicher als Telefon.
Cell phone is more useful than telephone.

This sounds odd without any article. Better solution: "Ein Handy ist nützlicher als ein Telefon."

Yes. I'd say both are possible; leaving out the articles would be OK here, but makes the sentence perhaps sound a bit too informal, too colloquial.
2 persons have voted this message useful



Via Diva
Diglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
last.fm/user/viadivaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 3994 days ago

1109 posts - 1427 votes 
Speaks: Russian*, English
Studies: German, Italian, French, Swedish, Esperanto, Czech, Greek

 
 Message 543 of 812
27 August 2014 at 3:49pm | IP Logged 
Doitsujin, thank you for both dictionaries! I haven´t even heard about Linguee before, but it´s awesome and I installed an app on my phone straightaway, haha. Valenzwörterbuch deutscher Verben is also great, and I can only dream about such a dictionary being adapted to modern standards (I don´t even mean apps, but faster search engine would be great for starters).
Kronos, by dull work I meant searching for plurals and checking genders, sentences were less boring :) Thanks for the corrections! I needed to build the last sentence that way in order to use more than one word from a group of nouns, usually I would say Ich komme aus einer großen Stadt.
Josquin, articles... so alien even after more than 10 years of dealing with them in English... thanks!
_______________
I have 5 paragraphs left in the book and I want to deal with them tomorrow. Unfortunately, the last topic from today (prepositions) wasn't really clear to me even considering that I was using dictionaries to cope with that lack of understanding. This book just doesn't explain their meanings, and I am not sure if I should take A2 coursebook from this course or find some more useful A1 course. Well, I know one thing for sure - I got used to my "evening grammar" and only F1 was able to knock it off. Unfortunately, my uni has way more power than F1, but let's hope I will make some time for such an interesting thing as the German grammar!
1 person has voted this message useful



Gemuse
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 3842 days ago

818 posts - 1189 votes 
Speaks: English
Studies: German

 
 Message 544 of 812
27 August 2014 at 8:47pm | IP Logged 
Kronos and Josquin: Thanks, these example sentences were useful to me too!

One question: For both food consuming activities, I see "zu" being used.
I think I was told "zu Mittag" was just an idiom. The 2nd sentence below however is surprising to me. I would have expected:
Ich trinke Kaffee mit jedem Frühstück.
I drink coffee with breakfast.

Is there a particular reason why "zu" is used?

How would we write
"I drink coffee *as* breakfast"?


Josquin wrote:

I'd rather say: "Wir essen Fleisch zum Mittagessen."

Same here: "Ich trinke Kaffee zu jedem Frühstück."


Edited by Gemuse on 27 August 2014 at 8:50pm



1 person has voted this message useful



This discussion contains 812 messages over 102 pages: << Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102  Next >>


Post ReplyPost New Topic Printable version Printable version

You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page was generated in 0.3750 seconds.


DHTML Menu By Milonic JavaScript
Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved
No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization.