All Questions
2
votes
2answers
112 views
Looking for ALL german verbs database
It could be plain text. I need to have there all verbs with all forms written down.
I'm afraid I can't use any web source, 'cause I want to create an application that will "read" sample german book ...
4
votes
1answer
94 views
Usage of articles with “Schule”
I read this question Articles in real life where I saw a number of comments that said that it was typical of Turks, Arabs and Slavic speakers to say something like "Ich war in Schule" or "Ich gehe in ...
0
votes
1answer
79 views
Namen und Vornamen mit definitem Artikel [duplicate]
In meiner Schulzeit verwendeten wir unsere Vornamen und Namen immer mit definitem Artikel:
Der Andreas hat gesagt, dass der Herr Schultz in Deutsch ...
Wie verbreitet ist dieser Sprachgebrauch?
4
votes
1answer
80 views
Is there a good sourcebook for practice exercises?
I'm looking for a book full of practice exercises. I find that, while my vocabulary is getting better and my knowledge of grammar improving, it would really help to do more exercises and compare my ...
3
votes
3answers
124 views
Phonetic help for Weierstraß
As far as I remember it is pronounced like ['vaɪəʁˌʃtræs] but not quite sure about it (specially whether it is a "ʁ", "ʀ" or "x" in the middle).
12
votes
1answer
146 views
Was ist der Unterschied zwischen einer Sage und einer Legende?
Ich habe bisher die Wörter Sage und Legende synonym verwendet. Es gibt zwar Dinge die ich so nenne, und andere Dinge, die ich wieder anders nenne (bspw. würde ich nie die Niebelungenlegende sagen), ...
5
votes
2answers
257 views
What does the word “Schickimicki” mean?
I have seen and heard the word many many times but every time I ask "Was bedeutet Schickimicki?" they don't give a conclusive answer.
I just saw it on the journal Zeit and just thought I didn't know ...
5
votes
3answers
178 views
What is the meaning of these grammatical forms involving “werden”?
Reading a book recently, I find myself wondering often about the usage of "werden" in many contexts, such as in these examples:
(talking about a group of people smoking from a common pipe): Sam ...
5
votes
1answer
88 views
Learning German through debates/ discussions - Deutsch lernen durch Debatten/ Reden
Ich habe mir gedacht dass man ab einem gewissen Deutschniveau auch durch Schreiben Fortschritte machen kann.
Habt ihr Blogs, oder kennt ihr eine Seite wo man an Debatten teilnehmen kann?
Ich habe ...
11
votes
4answers
148 views
Use plural or singular to refer to a »Menge« of something?
Examples:
Eine ganze Menge Nüsse sind das!
Sie sollten sorgfältig über die Menge der Kontextinformationen nachdenken, die notwendig sind, um sicherzustellen, dass […].
Is the use of ...
3
votes
1answer
85 views
How to translate “Relever une prescription” from french to german?
How do you say in german when a nurse becomes aware of a medical prescription and prepares everything according to what the doctor asks?
In french we say "Relever une prescription". The action itself ...
4
votes
3answers
92 views
What is the reason for this seemingly inconsistent inflection around masculine genitive?
I found the following sentence in a book:
(...) bemerkte ich (...) eine mir auffällige Übereinstimmung bezüglich des Inhaltes der drei Zeitungsfetzen: sie enthielten nämlich alle drei einen ...
5
votes
3answers
117 views
What is the difference between “schmeichelhaft” and “schmeichlerisch”?
The words "schmeichelhaft" and "schmeichlerisch" seem to have the same meaning. Is there any difference in connotation between these words, e.g., contexts when you would use one and not the other?
1
vote
3answers
127 views
What is the German equivalent for “generation skipping trust?”
In my (unpublished) "Dynasty" novel, the (American) patriarch leaves his German estate to his favorite (German) grandaughter. Like many American millionaires, he uses a "generation skipping trust" to ...
12
votes
2answers
370 views
Exklusives und inklusives logisches “oder”
Das logische "oder" bedeutet so viel wie "entweder A oder B oder (A und B)".
Wenn man im Deutschen jedoch sagt
Ich gehe ins Kino oder in den Zoo.
meint man meistens
Ich gehe entweder ins ...
5
votes
2answers
101 views
Nachgestellte Spezifikationen in Firmennamen
Viele Firmennamen enthalten nachgestellte Spezifikationen über die Art der Firma, z. B.:
Müller Maschinenwerke
Octothorpe Bürobedarf
Schmidt Müllpressen
Derartige Ergänzungen werden und ...
6
votes
2answers
99 views
Etymology and meaning of “Lotterleben”
A German friend of mine used the term "Lotterleben" to describe to me someone as a "free spirit", although the dictionary translate the term as "dissolute lifestyle" which have a string negative ...
8
votes
4answers
168 views
What is the difference between “Dom”, “Kathedrale” and “Münster”
"Dom", "Kathedrale" and "Münster" all translate as "cathedral" in English. When I searched online, all explanations were in German and I could not quite understand them.
Is there any difference in ...
5
votes
2answers
78 views
Adjective endings in accusative case and in comparison (neu/new)
This page suggests that neu/neuer is new/newer. This page suggests that "ein neuer Wagen" (a new car) is an identification of gender.
Is it true that neuer can stand for both - and thus the only way ...
5
votes
2answers
58 views
Pazifisch vs. pazifistisch, metabolisch vs. metabolistisch - wie funktionieren diese Suffixe?
Was ist der Hintergrund der Suffixe "-isch" und "-istisch"? An welchen Wörtern werden sie verwendet, was ist ihr unterschied?
Ich vermute, dass letzteres zusammengesetzt ist aus "-ist" und "-isch". ...
-2
votes
1answer
62 views
Translated This is your life by switchfoot [closed]
Original:
Yesterday is a wrinkle on your forehead
Yesterday is a promise that you've broken
Don't close your eyes
This is your life and today is all you've got now
And today is all you'll ...
10
votes
3answers
407 views
How to know if a beginning 'v' is pronounced /f/ or /v/?
A 'v' in the beginning of a word can be pronounced in one of two ways:
/f/: Vater, verrückt, vier, Vogel.
/v/: Vanille, Verb, Villa, Vokal, vulgär.
My question: Is there a way to know how a word ...
3
votes
1answer
98 views
A kind of – German Expressions
Whenever I try to say something like ‘A type of car’, or ‘a type of food’, I end up saying
‘eine Art + nominative singular’ or
‘eine Art von nominative singular’
but I’m not really sure about it. ...
1
vote
1answer
122 views
What is “hochdeutsch”? Which dialect should I learn?
If I want to learn the German language, which dialect should I learn?
In other words, I would like to know about the dialect which is most common?
(I have just arrived in Germany and living in ...
1
vote
4answers
136 views
How to say the following in German and “habe” or “hatte”?
Original:
I didn't see her and when I realized it was her, it was already too late.
Übersetzung:
Ich hatte sie nicht gesehen, und when ich hatte realized es war sie, es war schon zu spat.
...
5
votes
3answers
152 views
Browser Add-ons to learn German
I am an active learner of German. I remember to have installed a browser Add-on on my old computer which helped me to learn the gender of German words by colorizing them in the browser using different ...
4
votes
3answers
125 views
Positions of verbs in clauses
e.g. when we use wenn the verb goes to end. If the sentence starts with wenn, the second clause starts with verb as follows:
Wenn es morgen regnet, gehe ich ins Kino.
I think it is similar for ...
5
votes
1answer
68 views
Pronouncing “chs” as /ks/
"ch" is pronounced as /x/ or /ç/ depending on the vowel in front of it, and "s" is pronounced /z/ before a vowel, how come then that the sequence "chs" in the words wachsen and Wechsel is pronounced ...
1
vote
1answer
68 views
How to translate Perfekt into English
I came across these sentences with their translations:
Du bist aus Berlin gekommen. - You have come from Berlin.
Wo seid ihr so lange gewesen? - Where were you so long?
From what I have ...
6
votes
2answers
101 views
Gibt es ein Verb für “Ein Zeichen wird durch seine Escape-Sequenz ersetzt”?
Beim Programmieren (oder LaTeX-Schreiben) müssen manche Zeichen durch Escape-Sequenzen ersetzt werden.
Beispiel (in LaTeX):
Ich habe 10$.
Wird zu
Ich habe 10\$.
da $ ein für den mathmode ...
6
votes
2answers
99 views
The use of stand alone prefixes of separable prefix verbs
I've encountered an example of using a prefix of a separable prefix verb by itself, and I was wondering what is the right way to use such prefixes this way:
A: Mach die Tür bitte zu!
B: Sie ist ...
0
votes
0answers
94 views
Welche Wortarten gibt es im Deutschen? [closed]
Welche Wortarten gibt es im Deutschen?
Ich kenne Substantive, Verben, Adjektive, Adverbien, Pronomen und so weiter. Bei Duden habe ich gerade ein Interrogativadverb gesehen. Das kannte ich noch ...
10
votes
5answers
423 views
Was sind die genauen Regeln zur Benutzung des Buchstabens “ſ”?
Im Fraktursatz gibt es zwei Arten des Buchstabens "s": "s" (das runde s) und "ſ" (das lange s). Das ß ist im Fraktursatz eine Ligatur aus ſ und z. (Also ß = ſz). Im Gegensatz zum Englischen wird ...
1
vote
0answers
150 views
When EXACTLY can/do you start calling one an “Experte” [closed]
Im pretty much annoyed by this term and its imho mis-use for many pseudo-experts. Experts for terrorism, amok, climate, babysitting... you probably all know this phenomenon of people designated in ...
2
votes
5answers
235 views
“…hat Philosophie, Pädagogik, Theaterwissenschaften, Anthropologie und Politik studiert”
Ich denke, es ist einigen von euch auch schon aufgefallen, dass manche Leute in ihrer Biographie auf einer Webseite oder Beschreibung ihres Werdegangs durch Dritte bei einem Interview so vorgestellt ...
1
vote
1answer
43 views
Nominative / accusative - what to use with preposition “als” and constructions like “John the engineer”?
Sie halten Johannes der Ingenieur als der wichtigste Fachmann ihrer Firma.
I don't know if I used the two "der" articles well.
In the sentence "Sie halten den Mann" the accusative is obvious, ...
1
vote
1answer
101 views
Schreibst du einen Brief an deinen Vater?
Please explain what are the cases (accusative, dative) here and why exactly those.
Schreibst du einen Brief an deinen Vater?
I assume that schreibst is a verb, ein Brief is a subject the same ...
7
votes
2answers
165 views
“Stem-Changing Verbs” vs “Strong Verbs”
I want to know what is the relation between the two terms "Stem-Changing Verbs" and "Strong Verbs".
Form what I understand there is a group of verbs that I called "Stem-Changing Verbs" which change ...
4
votes
1answer
52 views
Article to go with plural accusative noun
I found this sentence in a magazine:
Herr Minister, sind Sie mit den Ergebnissen des EU-Gipfels am 28. und 29. Juni in Brüssel zufrieden?
I understand this as:
Minister, are you happy with ...
7
votes
2answers
156 views
“Der gute Mann” vs. “Ein guter Mann”
Wie nennt man die Konstruktion im Deutschen, wenn das Adjektiv eine andere Endung hat, wenn der Artikel definitiv bzw. nicht definitiv ist? Warum betrachtet man das nicht als anderen Kasus?
"der ...
4
votes
3answers
217 views
Words derived from “Kinder”?
My understanding is that kinderlos means childLESS.
In the opposite vein, I once described a woman as "kinder fähig." That literally means "child capable," and would refer to someone's ability to ...
2
votes
1answer
88 views
German phrasal verbs?
I know of German separable prefix verbs and of English phrasal verbs, but these examples seem to be of phrasal verbs on German that do not fall under the definition of separable prefix verbs:
weg ...
2
votes
1answer
173 views
“Auf [eine Sprache]” - Etymologie [duplicate]
Warum verwendet man im Deutschen die Präposition "auf" im Zusammenhang mit Sprachen? Warum sagt man also auf Deutsch, auf Englisch, auf Latein etc?
In anderen Konstruktionen verwendet man ja auch "in"
...
6
votes
1answer
90 views
The suffix -sal, usage and examples
Here is an excerpt form the Book "German: An Essential Grammar":
I was surprised to see the suffix -sal, of which I had never encountered.
What is the usage of this of this suffix?
4
votes
3answers
141 views
Translation of the idiom “no harm, no foul” in German
Do similar figure of speech exist in German or should one translate it literally?
0
votes
1answer
121 views
Translation of a Nietzsche-related text; OK? [closed]
In an answer of mine on Philosophy, I (neither native-German nor native-English speaking) translated some German to English as follows.
Nachdem man nun weiß, was die Zukunft von Ehe und Gattin ...
1
vote
1answer
142 views
German words database
I'm searching any good database about german words (substantives currently, but a more comprehensible database will go down well also), with, almost, the following information:
Word name: in ...
8
votes
3answers
202 views
Was ist ein “Füllwort”?
Nach Diskussionen in Kommentaren zur dieser Frage:
What's the difference between "jedenfalls" and "auf jeden Fall"?
habe ich mich auf die Suche nach einer guten Definition ...
8
votes
3answers
207 views
What's the difference between “jedenfalls” and “auf jeden Fall”?
They mean the same thing, I think, but are used differently? When can I use one, and when can I use the other?
6
votes
2answers
144 views
Why is it “der Presse” instead of “die Presse”
Der Presse zufolge war der Prozess unfair.
Found this sentence while learning. The translation is: The press said the trial was unfair.
Since Presse is feminine, why is it preceded by der?
