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| soclydeza85 Senior Member United States Joined 3702 days ago 357 posts - 502 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German, French | Message 1 of 23 03 June 2015 at 3:38am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||||||||
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I made a thread like this a while ago but cannot find it for the life of me. I figure this will be where I ask for corrections from natives (or those that are proficient enough). If this conflicts with the forum, just let me know.
I'm going over some words/particles/additives in my German Frequency Dictionary and would like some insight on how to use them. Here are some example sentences I made up. Let me know if I'm using them wrong and/or give me a proper example. nach und nach (little by little) Er hat nach und nach den Fisch gegessen. nach wie vor (as before, still) Sie ist nach wie vor die beste Wahl. so was (something like that) Er hat mir so was gesagt. Das Buch heißt so was. vor allem (above all else, especially) Das kommt vor allem nicht in Frage! vor sich hin (to oneself) Ich habe dasselbe vor mich hin gesagt (hingesagt?). unter anderem (amongst other things) Wir können das tun, aber das ist unter anderem nicht die Hauptsache. Bitte korregieren Sie mich, danke! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Doitsujin Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5115 days ago 1256 posts - 2363 votes Speaks: German*, English | Message 2 of 23 03 June 2015 at 1:07pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||||||||
OK, but I'd prefer aufgegessen.
OK.
"So was" is OK for spoken German, but in written German you're more likely to find "so etwas."
Incorrect. You could say "Das Buch heißt so oder so ähnlich."
Incorrect. Use "Das kommt überhaupt nicht/gar nicht in Frage." instead.
It's "hingesagt."
Incorrect. Depending on the intended meaning, you could say something like: "Wir können [u.a. auch] das tun, aber das ist nicht die Hauptsache/nicht so wichtig." 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||||||||
| soclydeza85 Senior Member United States Joined 3702 days ago 357 posts - 502 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French | Message 3 of 23 04 June 2015 at 2:13am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Thanks Doitsujin! If you wouldn't mind, could you give me simple example sentences with the correct usage of the ones that I used incorrectly?
Also (different topic), I'm doing a quick brush-up on relative clauses (relative pronouns). Hammer's German Grammar states that you can use either the Der form or the Welcher form, but that the Welcher form is a bit more "stylistic". What exactly does this mean? With a sentence like: Das Haus, neben dem viele Bäume stehen, is sehr groß. how is it different (or, how is it perceived) when said like: Das Haus, neben welchem viele Bäume stehen, ist sehr groß 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||||||||
| daegga Tetraglot Senior Member Austria lang-8.com/553301 Joined 4316 days ago 1076 posts - 1792 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Swedish, Norwegian Studies: Danish, French, Finnish, Icelandic | Message 4 of 23 04 June 2015 at 3:40am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||||||||
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With "stylistic" they probably mean literary. "welcher" is not so common in speech, even in writing it often doesn't feel very natural. On the other hand it serves its purpose when there would otherwise be a chance of ambiguity.
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| Doitsujin Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5115 days ago 1256 posts - 2363 votes Speaks: German*, English | Message 5 of 23 04 June 2015 at 8:03am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||||||||
You can find lots of real life examples on linguee.de. For example: nach und nach unter anderem As for welche/r I fully agree with daegga. IIRC, some older style guides for tech writers recommend using the welche/r forms, if an article is followed by an identical relative pronoun (e.g., der Mann, der ...; die Frau, die ...). And since we're at the topic of relative pronouns, here's a relatively well known joke sentence with 5 die in a row: Die, die die, die die Dietriche* erfunden haben, verdammen, tun ihnen unrecht. If you can parse it without problems, you have mastered German relative pronouns. :-) * A Dietrich is a lock-pick. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||||||||
| soclydeza85 Senior Member United States Joined 3702 days ago 357 posts - 502 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French | Message 6 of 23 06 June 2015 at 2:29am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Thanks Doisujin! That link will come in very handy.
I figured that was the difference between der/welcher. It's the same as in English, in that using "which" sounds a bit more "proper" or educated, though it's not really a big deal if someone uses it in speech. 2 Questions: 1) Vorstellen: using the dative means to imagine, while using the accusative means to introduce. Am I right in this? z.B. Ich stelle mir vor, dass es schwierig ist (I imagine that it is difficult) Ich stelle mich an den Direktor vor (I introduce myself to the director) 2) Whenever I talk to a native German and they ask me how I'm learning German I usually say "ich lehre mein selbst". Though the point gets across, I'm sure this is wrong. What is the correct way "I am teaching myself" or "I taught myself"? I put it into Google Translate but I don't always trust that thing. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||||||||
| daegga Tetraglot Senior Member Austria lang-8.com/553301 Joined 4316 days ago 1076 posts - 1792 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Swedish, Norwegian Studies: Danish, French, Finnish, Icelandic | Message 7 of 23 06 June 2015 at 2:36am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||||||||
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1.)
to introduce is ditransitive, so: Ich stelle mich dem Direktor vor. The rest is correct. Well, the difference is more like that the recipient is reflexive (mir = to myself, sich = to himself, ... compare with "I think to myself" = "Ich denke mir") in the case of "imagine". The subordinate clause is just an extraposed object, so it's ditransitive too. 2.) "Ich habe es mir selbst beigebracht." / "Ich bin ein Autodidakt." Edited by daegga on 06 June 2015 at 2:59am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||||||||
| soclydeza85 Senior Member United States Joined 3702 days ago 357 posts - 502 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French | Message 8 of 23 06 June 2015 at 3:07am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Thanks daegga! That just gave me an "ah-ha" moment. All this time I thought vorstellen had 2 different meanings, depending on whether it is followed by the dative or accusative. However, it makes sense that, in German, when you say "I imagine..." you are really saying "I introduce <the thought, idea> to myself". Even if not, it makes it easier to remember.
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