47
votes
Making sense of the construct “Ich bin der Auffassung”
TL;DR
That's the wrong literal translation. Note that Auffassung is female, i.e. die Auffassung. Here it's in the genitive case (der Auffassung). More literal translations would thus be:
I am of the ...
- 17.8k
26
votes
Can a German sentence have two subjects?
Short answer:
No
Long answer:
These are the parts of this sentence:
die Wahrnehmung von Gerüchen
Subjekt (subject)
Note, that neither Wahrnehmung nor Gerüchen are subjects. The whole nominal group ...
- 116k
26
votes
Why is the Passive voice of "einladen" used with "sein" and not werden?
Both are correct sentences, but there's a difference in meaning.
The form "sind eingeladen" is called Zustandspassiv (passive of state), and you can find a lot about that by searching for ...
- 21.6k
25
votes
Accepted
What is the meaning of "und sich"?
Normally, the word und joins two full sentences. However, if the subject or the verb or both are the same, it is seen as elegant to not repeat them in the second sentence. This can become kind of hard ...
- 21.6k
24
votes
Accepted
Asking about the weather using 'was'
Wie ist das Wetter heute?
How is the weather today?
Was für ein Wetter haben wir heute?
literally: "What kind of weather do we have today?"
- 50.1k
23
votes
Accepted
Was sind direkte und indirekte Objekte?
Die Begriffe direktes und indirektes Objekt entstammen an sich der englischen Grammatik und sind im wesentlichen deckungsgleich mit unseren Begriffen von Akkusativ- und Dativobjekt.
Das direkte Objekt ...
- 60.4k
21
votes
Accepted
Why the dative pronoun in "Ich wasche mir die Hände"?
The dative pronoun here means something like "for me". Many German verbs have this sort of construction, more than in English. But English has it too:
He made me some soup
She bought me a loaf of ...
- 1,117
21
votes
Use of the dative on inscriptions
For the same reason you use to in an English dedication:
To my father
You wouldn't just put 'My father', since you're telling us who you are dedicating the book to, not what it is.
- 2,331
20
votes
Accepted
Why is there "n" at end of plural of meter but not of "kilometer"
In the first sentence, "Metern" is dative plural, as required by "mit". The other examples are accusative, as measurements tend to be.
- 19.7k
19
votes
Accepted
SPD-Slogan „Das WIR entscheidet“
Du bist (vermutlich) über einen Rechtschreibfehler gestolpert (gemäß § 57 (3) der Rechtschreibregeln). Eigentlich müsste da stehen:
ein Land, in dem das Wir entscheidet
Wir ist hier ein ...
- 21.7k
19
votes
Use of the dative on inscriptions
It's an ellipsis of
„Dieses Parlament ist dem deutschen Volk gewidmet“ (This parliament is dedicated to the German people).
Widmen requires a dativ object in German.
See here for a detailed ...
- 1,000
18
votes
Why the dative pronoun in "Ich wasche mir die Hände"?
Ich wasche meine Hände
would be correct, but slightly unusual as long as nothing follows.
Ich wasche meine Hände in Unschuld/mit warmem Wasser/mit Seife.
is perfect.
Ich wasche Hände
is ...
- 26.4k
18
votes
Accepted
Which genus do I use for neutral expressions in German?
Oh boy, you just opened the box of Pandora as this is part of an ongoing discussion in Germany. I'll give an answer without politics first but I feel that this answer also needs to take a look at the ...
- 17.8k
18
votes
Use of "dar" at the end of a sentence
It just is a typo. It is wrong.
The correct version is:
Dieser Impfstoff kommt jetzt aber auch nicht und jetzt steht die EU eben größtenteils leer da.
- 116k
18
votes
Accepted
Why "taufet" not "tauft"?
The development of the German language has been characterised by a weakening of unstressed syllables (Nebensilbenabschwächung). Looking at the 3rd person singular present indicative, Old High German ...
- 23.9k
16
votes
Accepted
Is "Guten Morgen" in the accusative? Are all greetings so?
You are correct. "Guten Morgen" is short for "Ich wünsche dir/Ihnen einen guten Morgen".
Likewise, "Guten Tag" is short for "Ich wünsche dir/Ihnen einen guten Tag". Same with "Guten Abend".
As you ...
- 14.1k
16
votes
Accepted
Non-modal verbs as helping verbs (“I hear you coughing”)
The most direct equivalent to such constructions is an accusative-and-infinitive construction (AcI).
It can be used with verbs of perception and similar and the subject of the action that is perceived ...
- 21.7k
16
votes
Accepted
Definite article used in beginning of a sentence
One characteristic of German has been called Klammerstruktur: the phenomenon that words belonging together can be separated and occur at a vast distance from each other, which often poses problems for ...
- 23.9k
15
votes
Accepted
Kommas in »Ein Interview ist, im Vergleich zu einem Hearing, entspannter.«
Wie ist die korrekte Bezeichnung für das fragliche Satzglied?
Es handelt sich um eine Adverbiale der Art und Weise, die vom Wort «entspannter» abhängt.
Bezugwort der Präpositionalgruppe
Dass die ...
- 6,779
15
votes
Why is the Passive voice of "einladen" used with "sein" and not werden?
As addition to the two existing good answers of HalvarF and Skobo Do: the difference between
Sie sind eingeladen
and
Sie werden eingeladen
is identical to the difference of the English sentences ...
- 7,763
14
votes
Use of the dative on inscriptions
This is what's called a dativus finalis
It tends to denote purpose and thus means "this is for [the benefit of] the German people".
Latin knew the same notion, an example would be "tibi laetitiae", ...
- 60.4k
14
votes
Accepted
Articles with professions
This isn't about professions but special magic of the verb werden. It's a so-called copula, a coupler-verb. You know these already:
Sie ist unsere Lehrerin. (sein)
Es wird Nacht. (werden)
Wir bleiben ...
- 50.1k
14
votes
Why "taufet" not "tauft"?
Same reason why it's "thou shalt not steal" and not "you shall not steal" in English. Just an archaic form of language that's still often used in religious texts.
- 1,021
13
votes
Accepted
"Eines des wichtigsten Amt" oder "eines der wichtigsten Ämter"?
....... ist eines des wichtigsten Amt in Europa.
This sentence is not correct.
The other version
eines der wichtigsten Ämter in Europa
is indeed correct.
You are talking about one of many like: ...
- 671
13
votes
Why is the verb in 3rd position?
The verb is still in second position.
Sogar is a particle which modifies the subsequent part of the sentence. So it should be regarded as
[Sogar meine Tante] [hatte] [einen Ausdruck].
This is the ...
- 17.8k
13
votes
Why are there three verbs in a row?
One linguist once suggested analysing these sentences in terms of "multiplication" and "division", as if they were equations.
Ich verstecke mich. | × kann
Ich kann mich verstecken....
- 23.9k
12
votes
Accepted
What construct is “zu tun ist”?
"Ist" is the verb (more precisely, the finite verb) of the subordinate clause. Because it is a subordinate clause, the verb has to be at the end.
Es ist zu tun. "It has to be done.&...
- 14.1k
12
votes
What's the purpose of “die” in this sentence?
In this instance, die is a relative pronoun ('that'/'which' in English), not an article -- and so is the die before deshalb later in the sentence. The two clauses 'die nur über einen Privatweg zu ...
- 525
12
votes
Accepted
How can we build a sentence for presumed past in German?
You need the subjunctive, in this case the Konjunktiv II:
Hätte ich vor 10 Jahren im Lotto gewonnen, hätte ich meine Mutter vor Krankheit bewahrt.
Wäre WhatsApp 30 Jahre früher erfunden worden, hätte ...
- 4,398
12
votes
What does "können" refer to in this sentence?
The structure is
...Versuche ... zeigen ..., dass auf ... nicht verzichtet werden kann.
The second sentence, as a main clause (Hauptsatz) would be
Auf ... kann nicht verzichtet werden.
The ...
- 2,635
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