All Questions
0
votes
1answer
90 views
German Pre-fixes - Do they carry meaning? [duplicate]
I frequently come across words like versprechen, erhalten, beliefern. Because my vocabulary is limited, i can detect that the verbs sprechen, halten and liefern were spoken but i do not know what ...
4
votes
2answers
144 views
Adding -es to adjectives after “etwas”
"traurig" and other adjectives get an -es affix after "etwas" (e.g., etwas trauriges)
What are the conditions for this affixation? Does this have anything to do with case?
4
votes
2answers
149 views
What is the proper use of the word “bang?”
The original context is "Bang fleht ein liebkranker Mann." (Viljaslied, Die Lustige Witwe).
I once wrote a poem beginning,
Ich schaue dich so gerne an.
Du liesst mich immer so BANG.
Bang is ...
3
votes
4answers
277 views
Ways to die in German
I want to learn the different shades of meaning and frequency of use of the following verbs that have the meaning of to die:
ableben
abtreten
erlöschen
krepieren
sterben
versterben
...
3
votes
1answer
146 views
'auf' oder 'an der' Bushaltestelle?
Welcher Satz ist Richtig?
Ich bin auf der Bushaltestelle warten
oder
ich bin an der Bushaltestelle warten?
UND
der Bus ist auf der Bushaltestelle?
oder
der Bus ist an der ...
4
votes
1answer
109 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 ...
2
votes
2answers
140 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 ...
5
votes
3answers
174 views
beschränken vs einschränken – is there a difference?
What is the difference between verbs beschränken and einschränken? Do these two words have the same meaning or maybe they mean something different?
4
votes
2answers
219 views
verhindern, hindern, behindern - what's the difference?
What's the difference between verhindern, hindern, behindern - in dictionary they seem to have the same or very similar meaning?
0
votes
1answer
83 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
89 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
367 views
How would I say “Or, call us at (phone number)” in German?
How would I say "Or, call us at (phone number)" in German, or perhaps "Or, contact us at (phone number)? This is to be placed next to an e-mail contact form. The tone of the site is professional ...
3
votes
3answers
149 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
253 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), ...
11
votes
3answers
478 views
Why are “vier” and the beginning of “vierzehn” not pronounced the same?
Why is "vier" in the beginning of "vierzehn" [ˈfɪrʦeːn] not pronounced the same as the standalone "vier" [fiːɐ]?
5
votes
2answers
351 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 ...
3
votes
1answer
89 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 ...
5
votes
1answer
101 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
175 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 ...
5
votes
3answers
198 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 ...
4
votes
3answers
98 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 ...
1
vote
3answers
135 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 ...
5
votes
2answers
60 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
73 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 ...
1
vote
1answer
147 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 ...
5
votes
2answers
225 views
Pronunciation of 'r' in German
According to the answer of @what to the question Pronunciation of "lernst" there are 3 different ways to pronounce the alphabet r in German:
voiced uvular fricative [ʁ] (splattne's sample)
...
5
votes
2answers
111 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
106 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 ...
3
votes
1answer
106 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. ...
5
votes
1answer
73 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
76 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 ...
0
votes
0answers
105 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 ...
8
votes
4answers
190 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
86 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 ...
1
vote
1answer
56 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, ...
6
votes
2answers
105 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 ...
5
votes
3answers
118 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
1answer
129 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 ...
12
votes
2answers
127 views
Is there a common origin for “to count on s.o.” / “auf jmd. zählen”
My girlfriend told me that the phrase "You can count on me" exists also in French, with the same meaning and as a literal translation
to count on s.o. => to rely on s.o.
In German, it is also ...
3
votes
4answers
209 views
What's the meaning of “schon”?
Today in the class I heard German guy saying: "Ist der Platz schon frei?". Which supposedly means "Is this place already available/free?" and that makes no sense to me. What's the meaning of "schon" ...
2
votes
1answer
121 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 ...
7
votes
2answers
125 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 ...
4
votes
1answer
60 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 ...
6
votes
1answer
93 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?
0
votes
1answer
126 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 ...
7
votes
3answers
210 views
Sprache für automatische Übersetzung ins Deutsche
Ich vergleiche gern die unterschiedlichen Sprachen eines Lemmas in der Wikipedia. Diese sind längst nicht immer gleich gut gepflegt. Manchmal finden sich in einzelnen anderen Sprachen interessante ...
2
votes
1answer
176 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"
...
7
votes
2answers
152 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?
8
votes
3answers
227 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
225 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?
