German Language Stack Exchange is a bilingual question and answer site for speakers of all levels who want to share and increase their knowledge of the German language. It's 100% free, no registration required.
Sign up to join this community
What is the correct German way for the English construction involving identifying the superlative in a group? For instance
Lake Michigan is the largest of the Great Lakes?
or
It was the darkest of nights.
Is there a difference in how to write it if the group is definite (e.g., "the Great Lakes") versus indefinite (nights, books, games)? Would a genitive-style approach work, or is there another formulation?
There are subtle differences when using a superlative for an idiomatic group or when using it simply with plural. This can nicely be shown with the examples you gave.
It was the darkest of nights. - Es war die dunkelste aller Nächte.
Note that we can use "aller" here to put emphasis on the fact that a variable number of many nights are judged here. Similar examples would be
- Fritz ist der beste aller Schüler [pl.].
- Die schönste aller Blumen ist die Rose.
We can of course replace "aller" (meaning the sum of all) by any other expression to precise the quantity:
Das dickste der fünf Bücher, die ich gelesen hatte war...
Die hübscheste meiner Töchter ist die Susi.
Das beste Deiner Programme ist...
Only if the quantity is invariable we may also use the simple plural:
In diesem Strauß ist die schönste der Blumen eine Rose.
This is however only rarely done as then using singular is preferred:
Die schönste Blume in diesem Strauß ist eine Rose.
Fritz ist der beste Schüler [sing.].
Lake Michigan is the largest of the Great Lakes.
In this case we are dealing with the fixed name Great Lakes where the quantity is invariable and thus we translate
Lake Michigan ist der größte der Großen Seen.
Note the difference when we say
Lake Michigan ist der größte aller großen Seen.
In the latter case the superlative relates not to the Great Lakes but to all great lakes in the world.
Lake Michigan is the largest of the Great Lakes?
Der Michigan-See ist der größte der Großen Seen?
It was the darkest of nights.
Es war die dunkelste der Nächte.
oder
Der Nächte war es die dunkelste.
It was the darkest night. mit Es war die dunkelste Nacht übersetzen, aber mein Englisch ist nicht so toll - vielleicht ist darkest of nights etwas anderes, als ich denke.
Jan 17, 2012 at 15:48
No, there is not really a difference between definite and indefinite:
e.g. "it was the darkest of nights"
"Dies war die dunkelste der Nächte." (edit: actually this would be: "Dies war die dunkelste Nacht")
and limited to only "summer nights" would be: "Dies war die dunkelste der Sommernächte." (edit: actually this would be: "Dies war die dunkelste Sommernacht")
