Questions tagged [spoken-language]
The spoken-language tag has no usage guidance.
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I have a table of Agency, Mood, Tenses with an example sentence. Are these examples a correct understanding of these grammar structures?
I have this chart I've been making to drill learning general Agency-Mood-Tense grammar. The primary issues I've been running into is that there are a significant amount of examples that somewhat ...
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Metathese in der Infinitivendung - "hab ich eben gefundne"
Manchmal höre ich -ne anstelle von inf. -(e)n. Das hatte ich bisher als Sächsisch gezählt, wegen eines Schulfreunds. Dessen Vater aus Dresden spricht aber keinen starken Dialekt, er selbst eigentlich ...
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Unexpected reply to "Alles gut?"
Today I asked a colleague if everything is ok, "Alles Gut?" I was expecting a usual "gut, und dir?"
But the response was unexpected and I didn't understand it. It was something ...
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2
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"I find the same thing" - how to properly translate
I've discovered that I am confusing my German speaking friends with this sentence: "Ich finde die gleiche"
I intend this to be used in the manner I would use it in a normal English ...
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How to read aloud lengths, for example "1,4 m"? (Wie sagt man oder liest man Metermaße vor)
Is there some documentation on correct ways of reading numbers in narration context — when reading aloud from a fiction book?
1,4 m = Eins Komma vier Meter/ein Meter vierzig
2,8 Meter = Zwei Komma ...
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What would you include in your German first lesson? [closed]
I will soon start teaching at a language school and just wanted to ask around what you would include in your first German lesson for non-native speakers (French/British)?
I've got a plan but would ...
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3
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Question about position of words in a sentence
Also ich habe es geschafft
or
Also habe ich es geschafft
To me the second one sounds more like a question. And first one would be a more "spoken way".
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Was für ein schöner Tag! vs Welch ein schöner Tag! - exclamation
Would you say there is a difference between was für ein vs welch when you want to express amazement / surprise?
In written German is it preferred to use Welch ein schöner Tag! and in spoken language ...
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1
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German equivalent to "same as last time" for making appointments
In English, when scheduling a meeting or deciding when to meet with someone, one often says "same as last time". For example:
At what time should we go jogging tomorrow? - Same as last time,...
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Sprechpause bei "Gendergap" - Beispiele für solche Pausen außerhalb des "Genderns"
Es geht hier nicht um Meinungen oder Einstellungen zur Sinnhaftigkeit!
Mir geht es um eine "technische" Frage, die den Leitlinien der Meta-Diskussion folgt.
Im Beispiel
Schüler:Innen (oder ...
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German equivalent to using the word "well" as a bridge between two ideas
When speaking in English, the word "well" is often used as a buffer between sentences or when answering a question. Example:
What are neural networks? – Well, neural networks are …
What ...
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1
answer
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Is there a German phrase literally resembling "you can eat it" that means "food is good"?
Someone had told me that when asked "how's your food?" in Germany people sometimes responded with something along the lines of the German equivalent to "you can eat it", to mean ...
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Gesprochene Sprache lernen
Können Sie mir bitte zwei Bücher oder Quellen empfehlen, die die folgenden Eigenschaften haben:
Man soll damit die in Alltag gesprochene Sprache lernen können.
Man soll damit Sätze oder Fragen (...
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1
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Word order after "nein" [closed]
While conversing with 2 native German speakers I said,
Nein, sie gehen nicht.
And they corrected me to,
Nein, gehen sie nicht.
However, Duden has this example sentence:
nein, das ist unmöglich
...
- 4,352
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Unseren vs. unsern vs. unsren
Part of this question already exists on Reddit, but I thought it would be worth asking again here because it might produce some more reliable and complete answers. In Wiktionary's declension table (...
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What's the saying for when you have the exact change to pay for something?
I just went to collect an item I bought over Ebay and wanted to tell the seller that I had the exact amount of cash with me and he didn't need to worry about handing over change. How do I say this? I'...
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2
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How is schon being used here?
These lines are from a Die Chefin episode:
Gustav: Macht nicht viel Sinn, Maik Grasser zu entführen. Der kann keine Million Lösegeld zahlen.
Greta: Kay Weber schon.
What does schon mean in this ...
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2
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(Jemanden + Adj + "zu" + Verb) Struktur
Ich habe eine Frage. Ist dieser Satz richtig oder klingt er für Sie komisch?
Sein Mut macht ihn ein bisschen schwierig, zu tolerieren.
Allgemein gesagt, ist diese Struktur akzeptabel?
machen + ...
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3
answers
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Die war sogar mit in Amerika
I have heard the following dialogue in the German TV series "How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast)":
Boy: Du hast ja noch meine Gehirnzelle.
Girl: Klar. Die war sogar mit in Amerika.
Context: a ...
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1
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Was sagt Markus Gürne zum Abschied in "Börse vor Acht"?
Ich schaue mir ganz oft die Sendung "Börse vor Acht" im Ersten an. Besonders schätze ich Markus Gürne wegen seiner gehobenen Sprache.
Leider ist es mir misslungen, seinen Ausdruck zum ...
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The expression "zum Mitnehmen"
When getting a coffee in Germany, occasionally the cashier would ask me "Zum Mitnehmen?"
Sometimes cashiers are in a friendly cordial mood, and other times they might be grumpy. That's how ...
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Why do some words, when spoken informally, have the ending -chen?
I've often heard some of my German friends use the ending "-chen" when talking, in an informal manner. For example, "Hallöchen", "Kärtchen", "Liebchen", etc ... Formally one would say "Hallo/Guten Tag"...
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Is there any German resource that airs television programs and/or films, with transcriptions, that can be easily searched?
Something I like to do when learning Spanish is search for words and phrases used in television programs aired on RTVE, which is basically Spain's state-owned public broadcasting service. The reason ...
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9
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"Ich habe Durst" vs "Ich bin durstig": Which is more common?
Ich habe Durst.
Ich bin durstig.
Both of the above sentences, as I know, mean "I am thirsty".
In English, we often say S + be + Adj, but only in German do we say "I have thirst" or "I have hunger"...
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1
answer
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Verb form to finish someone else's sentence?
In spoken language, it sometimes happens that one person starts a sentence and another speaker finishes it, interrupting the first speaker.
(This may be impolite in some situations, but not always).
...
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"Shall we ... ?" as a polite-but-informal suggestion : wollen vs. sollen
I often find myself wanting to make a polite-but-informal suggestion like the English "Shall we meet tomorrow?", and not knowing whether to say "Wollen wir uns morgen treffen?" or "Sollen wir uns ...
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Which vowels can be reduced to schwas in informal German?
In American accent, almost all vowels in non-stressed syllables and non-diphthong containing syllables can be reduced to schwas in non-careful everyday speech. Example: In 'easier to understand', 'to' ...
user34137
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Is German on social media very distinct from standard German?
When I read the Germans' writing on Facebook such as when commenting on news by Spiegel or Bild or any other posts, I do not notice a big difference from standard German in terms of spelling or tenses ...
user34137
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2
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B1 language certificate [closed]
I have been told that I have to complete my b1 German certificate within a year. I am Australian and I am newly married in Germany and living here now.
I only speak very very basic German as I have ...
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Will I mix up German and Norwegian if I learn them at the same time? [closed]
I speak Norwegian at B2 level, but I also want to learn German. Are they from the same language-family, will I start to mix up them if I start to learn German? Are they too similar?
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What interjections can be used at start of a sentence? [closed]
So I'm a beginner in German and I'm trying to make my speech sound a bit more natural and I was wondering what interjections I might use at the start of a sentence like "Well, ..." or "So, ..." in ...
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Podcasts about the German language
I'm searching for podcasts that are about the German language, discussing etymology, language history and the like. Preferably in German but other languages are also of interest.
I've tried ...
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What if someone says "Ich bin" as a self-introduction?
If someone who doesn't really know German says
Ich bin [name]
instead of
Ich heiße ...
to introduce him/herself, is this an error in German and how odd does it sound?
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Why teilnehmen AN?
I learn German and I don't get it. As I know, 'an' is usually used when we say that something is near a vertical surface (das Bild hängt an die Wand). And in english, polish, russian and ukrainian we ...
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How to use "eh" as "anyway"?
Examples:
Ich habe eh keinen Bock, ins Kino zu gehen -- I don't wanna go to
the cinema anyway.
Of course I don't mind taking you home - I'm going that way anyway.
Die kaputte Vase hat mir eh nie ...
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2
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When is "gewesen" used in spoken german? [duplicate]
I know that "gewesen" is used in simple past, which I believe is used more for formal writing. I've heard people (in southern Germany) use "gewesen" in conversation and am unsure why people wouldn't ...
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4
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How to meet other people to learn and speak German with?
I would like to improve my German communication, reading and writing skills. German classes at school does not seem to help me enough to make good conversation with Germans. I'm 17 years old and live ...
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4
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Why does the reflexive pronoun receive a sentence accent in the following sentence?
Here is an excerpt from a dialog, where someone is recommending a film to a friend for a watch:
Solltest du dir anschauen!
I heard the reflexive pronoun dir being accented as I listened to the audio ...
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Schibboleth, um Angelsachsen (UK, US, Australien, Neuseeland) als Nichtdeutsche erkennen zu können?
Ein Schibboleth ist ein Wort oder ein Satz, den eine Sprachgruppe sehr einfach aussprechen kann, während eine andere Sprachgruppe dies überhaupt nicht hinbekommt.
In den Beispielen, die ich bisher ...
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Would this past tense phrasing sound awkward in spoken conversation? [duplicate]
I am trying to get a sense of how the simple past tense is used in spoken German. If I were talking about a film, would it sound overly formal or stilted to say:
Der Film handelte von …
or would ...
5
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2
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Usage of the ur- prefix
From what I understand 'ur-' is used, roughly:
to refer to origin, as in 'Urgroßmutter'
to strengthen an adjective or adverb, as in 'urschön' (~very beautiful) or 'urplötzlich' (~very quickly)
I've ...
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Geschlechtsneutrale Übersetzung für „cousins“
Ich übersetze einen englischen Text, worin sich die Wörter „my cousins“ im Kontext auf einen Cousin (männlich) und zwei Cousinen (weiblich) bezieht. Die korrekteste Übersetzung wäre also vermutlich „...
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How to relay the digits of a phone number?
How do you relay the digits of a phone number? For example:
Frau Stein: „Wie ist ihre Telefonnummer?“
Udo: „Sie ist 0451-83794.“
Do you say the phone number digit by digit or do you group them in ...
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When is ‘er’ replaceable with ‘der’?
This question also has an answer here (in German):
Artikel anstelle von Personalpronomen
Why is der used in the following example sentences (from online dictionaries) in place of simply er? Would ...
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0
answers
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Which verbs use the Präteritum in spoken language(Northern Germany)? [duplicate]
I would like to know which verbs(besides sein, haben, and the modals) are commonly spoken in the Präteritum in Northern Germany, specifically Berlin(state).
This question was answered partially here ...
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1
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Idiomatic usage of “müssen”
I’m watching “Deutschland 83”, and one of the characters said “Du musst geh nach Berlin”, which confused me because I had always learned that modal verbs always kicked the second verb to the end of ...
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"Nein" vs "nee", is there any difference?
The only time I've ever seen Germans say nein is in the movies or in textbooks. I've also heard a politician say nein when she wanted to make a strong stand again a comment. I'm guessing nein is more ...
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1
answer
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How much is an English accent a hindrance to understandability?
Most English speakers really struggle to produce the ch and r sounds correctly. The ü sound also doesn’t have an equivalent in English.
How bad do English speakers really sound when they speak German?...
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vote
5
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How can ethnically Asian people, who are not German, practice spoken German?
Being a mechanical engineer, it would be helpful to learn to speak Deutsch. Will reading newspaper headlines in German papers help, or what else should I do?
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Verbs associated with “Kommentar”
What are the german verbs that are used with Kommentar? I mean how do you say: drop a comment, leave a comment? Which verbs are Kommentar restricted to?
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