Is that sentence correct? I thought simply
Das Buch wird immer uns gehören
should be enough. If "zu uns" is correct, is it just to reinforce? Is there a rule as to when use it?
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1Was willst Du denn sagen? "Das Buch gehört uns" ist eine Aussage zu Besitz und Eigentum, "gehört zu uns" eine über Identität und Kultur.– user unknownSep 23, 2013 at 23:56
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Ich habe den Unterschied schon verstanden, danke. Ist "eine Aussage zu etw." das gleiche als "eine Aussage über etw."?– perssonSep 24, 2013 at 10:52
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1 Answer
It is a bit hard to judge that without context. Without context I would think that
Das Buch gehört uns.
is correct, it means that we own the book. On the other hand
Das Buch gehört zu uns.
means that we and the book belong together or that the book is a part of us. That would be somewhat unusual, but I can imagine contexts in which that would be right.
A more typical example of „gehört zu“ would be a situation where someone sees a seemingly lost child. They might then ask
Zu wem gehört das Kind?
Someone in a group of people might then answer
Es gehört zu uns.
meaning that the child is with that group, is part of the group (and they possibly did not notice the child wandering off). Here „gehört uns“ would certainly be wrong, because they do not own the child.
Gratuitous pop cultural reference:
Er gehört zu mir wie mein Name an der Tür.
answered Sep 23, 2013 at 13:44
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That seems like a very subtle difference to me. I take the form without "zu" is then what's normally used?– perssonSep 23, 2013 at 14:54
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Yes, @karoshi. It's the much simpler statement of the two. "Das Buch wird immer uns gehören" -- "The book will always be ours".– elenaSep 23, 2013 at 15:09
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1@karoshi Not so subtle actually. I have expanded the answer a bit, does that help? Sep 23, 2013 at 15:34
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