What exactly is the difference between Süd and Süden, and when should one or other be used?
Which is correct: "Ich komme aus dem Süd" or "Ich komme aus dem Süden"?
And how exactly would you translate "Wir sind Süden"? "We are the South" or maybe "We are Southern/Southerners"?
Wrong:
Ich komme aus dem Süd
Wir sind Süd
Wir sind Süden
To translate these word clusters that aren't correct sentences doesn't make any sense.
Correct:
- Ich komme aus dem Süden
- Wir sind im Süden
The translations of the correct sentences are:
- I'm coming from the south. (verbatim: ... out of the south)
- We are in the south.
Süd most often appears only as a prefix. (Südpol = south pole, Südfrucht = tropical fruit.) It appears as real single word only in names
In all other cases it is "Süden".
Whether you use "Süd", "Süden" or "südlich" depends on the context of what you are trying to say.
First, to directly answer your question:
Which is correct: "Ich komme aus dem Süd" or "Ich komme aus dem Süden"?
"Ich komme aus dem Süden" would be right.
And how exactly would you translate "Wir sind Süden"? "We are the South" or maybe "We are Southern/Southerners"?
This depends on the context. "Wir sind Süden" probably wouldn't be said in normal speech. If someone were to say "We are the South", they would probably say "Wir sind der Süden".
If they said "We are Southerners" there is even one more destinction:
If they were trying to say that they are from the south of germany, they would probably say "Wir sind Süddeutsche". Which uses the prefix "Süd" and combines it with "german". So basically, "We are south-germans".
If they are trying to say that they are from a southern country (e.g. Italy and Greece are considered "southern" in europe), then they would say "Wir sind Südländer", which means "We are south-landers".
Ill try to explain the basic rules behind this, although Ill have to say, take this with a grain of salt, as Im not 100% sure about the accuracy and the perfect grammatical reasoning. Just from the perspective of a native speaker:
Saying things like "Wir sind Süden" sounds a lot like a slogan. It feels like they try to say "We are the essence/heart of the south" or "We represent the south" or "This is what the south is like". The reason for that is, that one would usually use an article in that sentence. "Wir sind der Süden". This feels more like they are identifying with a specific, southern area. Its like a company saying "We are best" instead of "We are the best".
"Süd" is usually not used alone. Nobody really says "Ich fahr süd". Cant say if that would 100% be wrong, but nobody says it like that. One either says "Ich fahre in den Süden" or "Ich fahre südlich". Here, the first one is usually used to say that your destination is some southern location. Like Bavaria in Germany for example. Whereas "Ich fahre südlich" is usually used if you are trying to describe your path, when "the south" is not necessarily your destination. Its basically saying "Im takint the southern road" or something like that. "Süd" itself is only ever used as a prefix or suffix.
I cant really tell if there is a "rule" to whether it has to be used as a pre- or suffix. As far as I can tell, thats pretty arbitrary and basically depends on what sounds better. In the examples given, it seems like locations or areas can use it with either prefix or suffix, like Stuttgart, and it wouldnt sound odd. For "Names", like the name of the company "ALDI", it would sound odd to say "Süd-ALDI". Here only the suffix works.
Wir sind Süden ist nonsense. It means we are the south. If you want to say "we are southerners" it would be "wir kommen aus dem Süden".
Süden means South. Süd is a prefix for other locations like Südbahnhof or Süddeutschland.
