64
votes
Accepted
German word for a specific situation in an image
German compound nouns are often made fun of because of their length. To nonspeakers, they look monstrous and incomprehensible. But in reality, they are quite simple.
There's always at least two parts,...
- 25.5k
44
votes
Accepted
How widely used is the term Treppenwitz? Is it something that most Germans know?
From my experience, most people have heard of the term, but don't neccessarily know the exact and/or correct meaning. And "Treppenwitz" also isn't regularily used in day-to-day conversations, either.
- 18.2k
34
votes
German word for a specific situation in an image
Most commonly this is referred to as
Tresorsturzopferclownausrutschbananenvorfall
Which translate to incident related to a banana on which the clown, that is victim of a falling safe, is slipping
- 791
27
votes
Accepted
Do words with “-zeug” endings refer to categories or specific objects?
-zeug used to be a collective noun, referring to a set of things. This is still the main use:
Bettzeug, Badezeug, Flickzeug, Grünzeug, Handwerkszeug, Regenzeug, Schlagzeug, Schreibzeug, Schuhputzzeug,...
- 19.2k
26
votes
Accepted
Is it "Vierergruppe" or "Viergruppe", or is there a distinction?
For me, "Viergruppe" sounds simply wrong, so I consider it a typo in the sources, you found.
As mentioned in the linked answer compositions of nouns in German may have a "Fugenlaut". For combinations ...
- 11.5k
26
votes
Accepted
Could someone identify this word in the phrase "Die ____ grüßen den Führer"?
The word is Steyrwerke. It was a weapons factory company in Steyr, Austria.
- 22.5k
21
votes
Is "Rotenstrand" a correct term?
You can say "Oderstrand" or "Rheinufer" because you would not say "Oder Fluss" or "Rhein Fluss".
The Red River (at least the one in Asia) is translated as "Roter Fluss" so you would have to say "am ...
- 4,428
21
votes
Accepted
Is leaving out prefixes like "rauf", "rüber", "rein" when describing movement considered a big mistake in spoken German?
No, it is not necessary
It does not sound bad or unusual if you use the short version. The longer version just puts more emphasis.
- 18.3k
21
votes
"tax temperature rent reduction"?
The billboard is showing an advertisement for the Berliner newspaper Der Tagesspiegel. The full text reads
Steuertemperaturmietensenkung
Wie das nach der Wahl alles zusammen funktionieren soll. Bei ...
- 18.2k
19
votes
Do words with “-zeug” endings refer to categories or specific objects?
The previous answers are already good but I too want to add something.
While in today’s language Zeug means stuff (e.g. “Räum dein Zeug weg!” = “Clean up your stuff!”) it used to have the connotation ...
- 291
19
votes
Accepted
How flexible is German in forming compound adjectives?
Your examples are useful to show that there are limits.
From your examples schachbegeistert und diamantartig will be accepted wihout question.
We will correct lesenbegeistert to lesebegeistert, ...
- 1,615
18
votes
German word for a specific situation in an image
Then one German speaker told the following word
clownenschadenmitbananaundsafeleiderkaputt.
Apart from the fact that this is not a German word, it is nonsense. It still would be nonsense if the ...
- 1,420
16
votes
Accepted
“Eine Flasche Wasser” versus “Eine Wasserflasche”
It's really pretty much the same in English, a bottle of water vs. a water bottle. While a Flasche Wasser certainly has some water in it, a Wasserflasche can be both full or empty.
It's even more ...
- 19.2k
16
votes
Accepted
Warum verliert "Schule" in Zusammensetzungen ("Schulhaus") das "e"?
Wenn zusammengesetzte Substantive gebildet werden, wird zwischen die einzelnen Bestandteile ein Fugenlaut eingefügt. Der häufigste Fugenlaut ist die sogenannte Nullfuge. Damit ist gemeint, dass die ...
- 121k
15
votes
How widely used is the term Treppenwitz? Is it something that most Germans know?
How widely used is the term Treppenwitz? Is it something that most Germans know?
I'd say that every reasonably educated native speaker of German does of course know the Treppenwitz der Geschichte, ...
- 83
14
votes
“Eine Flasche Wasser” versus “Eine Wasserflasche”
I (native German speaker) disagree with the assessment that your teacher is "full of waste products", but I do think she is being unnecessarily unsystematic.
eine Flasche Wasser is a quantity of a ...
- 8,596
14
votes
Accepted
Definition of German Word "Sicherungssatz" in Backup Context
"Sicherungssatz" can be literaly translated with "backup set". Where "backup set" is used, in german it is "Sicherungssatz" here: Create a Full Database Backup
Since microsoft has an consistent ...
- 256
13
votes
Accepted
Programmierung: Bindestrich zwischen Klassenname und dem Wort "Klasse"?
Zusammensetzungen, die fremde (meist englische) Wortgruppen enthalten, werden mit Bindestrich geschrieben, d.h. nicht eingedeutschte Wörter werden korrekterweise mit Bindestrich(1) in zusammengesetzte ...
- 10.2k
13
votes
German translation of "case sensitive"
[I hope an answer in German is fine; in a nutshell: you can try a neologism, but there is no intuitive good one.]
Es gibt m.W. tatsächlich keinen etablierten „deutscheren“ Begriff für case-[in]...
- 9,111
13
votes
German translation of "case sensitive"
Keep case-sensitive as a foreign word, or use a supporting sentence instead of a participle construction ("wobei Groß- und Kleinschreibung unterschieden wird").
As usual, the best actual choice ...
- 6,986
13
votes
How does the German superpower of word chaining really work?
I question the underlying claim. There is no "word chaining super power" in German as compared to other languages.
German's word chaining super power is grossly overestimated, or simply ...
- 31.1k
13
votes
When to form compound words?
Duden states that you are allowed to add hyphens to emphasize certain parts [§45(1)] or in confusing/unclear composita [§45(2)]. This means, that Schokoladenhafermilch itself is correct. But in order ...
- 18.3k
11
votes
Warum Rohr-Rohzucker und nicht Roh-Rohrzucker?
Von einer Konvention würde ich keinesfalls sprechen, zumal die Bezeichnungen offenbar wild durcheinander gehen:
Du schreibst von Rohr-Rohzucker, z.B. von Südzucker,
@dakab kauft Roh-Rohrzucker, z.B. ...
- 24k
11
votes
Accepted
Neue Schreibweise von Komposita
Meine Vermutung:
Viele Textverarbeitungsprogramme haben Probleme, zusammengesetzte Wörter in der Rechtschreibprüfung zu analysieren und markieren sie. Schreibt der unsichere Benutzer dann zwei ...
- 24k
11
votes
Neue Schreibweise von Komposita
Es müsste Studententypen oder Studenten-Typen heißen. Oder eben umschrieben werden als Typen von Studenten. Auch Studenten, die jeder kennt wäre richtig.
Deppenleerzeichen sind nicht korrekt. Es ...
- 3,562
10
votes
Was ist der Begriff für charakteristische Kombinationen wie »stinksauer«, »affenheiß«, »schweinekalt«?
Es handelt sich um Präfix-Elative. Sie sind idiomatisch, d.h. nur teilweise semantisch transparent, und treten auch in anderen indo-europäischen Sprachen auf.
(Eine Auflistung kenne ich nicht, aber ...
- 14.7k
9
votes
Accepted
Ist es korrekt, mit der Vorsilbe „nicht“ Adjektive zu bilden?
Ich halte die Bildung von Adjektiven mit dem Präfix (oder Halbpräfix oder Präfixoid) "nicht" für durchaus zulässig, auch wenn solche Wörter in der Praxis selten vorkommen, weil es meistens ...
- 31.1k
9
votes
Is "Rotenstrand" a correct term?
It only works for rivers which don't need that river extension to be recognized.
So, Oh London, du Zasterpfuhl am Themsestrand (Oh London, you boodle puddle on Thames' banks) works, but for the Red ...
- 57.3k
8
votes
What is the stylistic device in “Pistolenstich und Messerschuss”
I do not know a name for this specific construction, but I see some more general devices in action here:
It is a word play (German: Wortspiel). More specifically, it is an anagram (Anagramm) - at ...
- 19k
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