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It's easy to say “ich bin als zweiter Sohn der Familie geboren”, but actually I'm second to last, how would one tell this fact? Is my assumption right?

Ich bin der zweite Sohn vom letzten in der Familie?

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  • I have removed the second part as it is policy to ask only one question at a time and the second part duplicates german.stackexchange.com/questions/24742/…. – Carsten S Oct 18 '15 at 18:36
  • Note that your sentence actually reads I am the second son of the last in the family while it is unclear who (or what) the last in the family is. I would likely interpret it as being the last one you want to have contact with again. – Jan Oct 18 '15 at 18:59
  • Then how to say "from the last" please – user1474062 Oct 18 '15 at 19:07
  • My sentence was "ich bin als der zweite Sohn vom letzten geboren." Somebody might have edited the body i think – user1474062 Oct 18 '15 at 19:19
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In general, second to last or penultimate would be translated als vorletzter.

Ich bin als vorletzter Sohn der Familie geboren.

However, that sounds slightly off to me, and I would prefer.

Ich bin der zweitjüngste Sohn der Familie.

(second youngest)

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  • Thanks for the edit, I always struggle with inequalities, signs and such ;) – Carsten S Oct 18 '15 at 18:50
  • "Vorletzter" like it,and answers are great but i actualy want to cound down like that: second to last,third to last,fourth to last etc. – user1474062 Oct 18 '15 at 19:04
  • You can continue the series with "vorvorletzter". Often you can also use "vierter von hinten/oben/unten/..." - but this does not work in this case. – Gerhard Oct 18 '15 at 20:44
  • @user1474062, drittletzter, viertletzter, ... – Carsten S Oct 18 '15 at 20:55
2

Siblings are naturally ordered from oldest to youngest, so if there are a lot of them, and if you're the second youngest, why don't just say:

Ich bin der zweitjüngste Sohn der Familie.

Keep in mind that there still might be younger daugthers, so you might want to be more specific while expressing it more generic:

Ich bin das zweitjüngste Geschwisterkind.

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  • 2
    "das zweijüngste Kind" would probably be less ambiguous, especially as in some dialects a "Geschwisterkind" means "niece" or "nephew" ("child of a sibling"). – Stephie Oct 18 '15 at 20:38
  • @Stephie zweijüngste oder zweitjüngste Is there a t between two? – user1474062 Nov 26 '15 at 11:24
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    @user1474062: That’s a typo. There is no other form than zweitjüngste. – dakab Nov 26 '15 at 11:27

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