77
votes
What is the German word for: "It only works when I try to show you how it does not work"?
there was a German word with the definition that means:
It only works when I try to show you how it does not work.
What you are probably looking for is called the Vorführeffekt.
It's ...
- 8,502
56
votes
Accepted
What does "vergeben" relationship status mean?
Vergeben in relationship status means that those people currently are in a relation already.
Similar to the English, taken.
It has nothing to do with the English forgiving, but simply means these are ...
- 8,502
34
votes
Is "1. Etage" the ground floor or the first floor in Germany?
In Germany, 1. Etage, 1. Stock, and 1. Obergeschoss all denote the first level above the ground floor (Erdgeschoss).
- 8,175
31
votes
Why the frequent use of “Bad” in German place names (and does it mean something different than “bath”)?
The German "Bad" corresponds to the English "Spa". Towns containing a "Heilbad" may carry the protected title "Bad" and many of them do.
- 381
30
votes
„bis Sonntag“: is Sunday included or excluded?
The sentence doesn't say, probably because people don't care as weather forecasts tend to be wrong anyhow ;)
Like in most languages, bis in German expresses a time extent to a certain point in time. ...
- 60.3k
29
votes
Accepted
Weird usage of "alles"
Alles Bereiche, in denen früher vor allem Männer tätig waren.
This is actually an ellipsis where the two words das sind were omitted.
Das sind alles Bereiche, in denen früher vor allem Männer tätig ...
- 21.5k
26
votes
How to tell the difference between "ice" and "ice cream" when the word "Eis" is used?
Die normale Form, von ice cream zu sprechen, ist in der Tat einfach nur Eis. Es gibt kein Problem damit, weil Situationen, in denen man die beiden Dinge verwechseln könnte, fast gar nicht existieren.
...
- 30.9k
25
votes
Is "befriedet" correctly translated to "pacified" here?
„Befriedetes Besitztum“ has an additional special meaning in legalese. It is "a property or building that is secured against unauthorized entry in a recognizable manner by contiguous protective ...
- 21.5k
24
votes
Accepted
What does "Augenmaß" mean in a political context?
Augenmaß has two meanings, here the second fits:
Fähigkeit, in angemessener Weise zu handeln; Besonnenheit, Umsicht
Beispiele
das rechte Augenmaß verloren haben
Politik mit Augenmaß (Besonnenheit, ...
- 23.9k
24
votes
Why the frequent use of “Bad” in German place names (and does it mean something different than “bath”)?
German towns can participate in a certification process to allow to carry a rating as Bad in their town name.
By German federal law strict prerequisites have to be met by an applicant, e.g.:
...
- 70.1k
24
votes
What is the meaning of 'Marsch' in Marschflugkörper?
"Marschieren" is not restricted to a parade, it is the general term for troop movement. The troops don't even need to march in cadence.
The English term "to cruise" would be translated into German by "...
- 7,211
23
votes
What does "Möhre" mean here?
Möhre here refers to the old computer. Generally, any piece of equipment that is outdated (not in a nostalgic way) and often already insufficient can be referred to as a Möhre.
The word is short for ...
- 3,562
23
votes
»Late«, »too late«, »spät«, and »zu spät«. What equivalences are there?
You're quite right: "I'm late" equates to German "Ich bin zu spät [bei einer Veranstaltung]". The "zu" is necessary; there is no conventional meaning to simply saying *&...
- 14.2k
22
votes
Accepted
How to call someone "silly" in a cute way?
First of all, as a native German I never heard of "Dummerchen" as sausage! I bet that no one would understand it in that way. "Dummerchen" is a minimization of a stupid person and always understood in ...
- 472
22
votes
Is "1. Etage" the ground floor or the first floor in Germany?
"Etage" is an elevated floor. Therefore, the 1 Etage is the first floor in the sense used in Britain or most parts of Europe that is the first elevated floor, not the ground floor.
The German for ...
- 12.6k
22
votes
Accepted
Is there a German "Loot Box"?
I would suggest
Schatzkiste
which is completely unspecific, in which respect the content is to be considered as Schatz, but already conveys the idea, that the Schatz is already contained in it.
...
- 26.3k
20
votes
Accepted
What does “alles” mean here?
The word »alles« means »everything«. You are asked to tell everything that Sylvie does. You are not asked what Sylvie is doing in a special situation, or at a special moment. You are asked what Sylvie ...
- 116k
20
votes
Accepted
Why isn't "gehen" in the sentence?
"Müssen" in German can also imply direction - the usage you are expecting is as auxiliary verb, like "können", "dürfen", "sollen":
Etwas tun müssen
Gehen müssen
But you may use it without any ...
- 541
20
votes
Accepted
What does "Zukunst" in "Zurück in die Zukunst" mean?
It is a play on words. Zurück in die Zukunft is the German title of a popular movie series (Back to the future). I guess they replaced f with s to mix in the word Kunst (art). What this might mean is ...
- 19k
20
votes
Accepted
How to tell if someone's talking about "the lakes" or "the seas?"
According to Duden (the standard dictionary of German language) "die See" has no plural in the meaning of "das Meer". This means that "die Seen" is always a plural of "der See" (in the cases where it ...
- 4,618
20
votes
How to tell the difference between "ice" and "ice cream" when the word "Eis" is used?
Even though there is the German word "Eiscreme" (often used as a label on ice cream packages) it is not very common to use it in conversations unless the context is ambiguous or misleading.
So, "Does ...
- 1,228
20
votes
What does the verb 'wegpurzeln' mean? [context inside]
wegpurzeln is composed of weg (away) and purzeln
Combined with übereinander this translates to something alike
until they tumbled over each other in such a way that they landed apart from each other
...
- 17.8k
19
votes
Das ist ja wohl nicht dein Ernst - meaning of particle "ja"
This word is a modal particle. Here on German Stackexchange we already have 80 questions dealing with this part of speech: modal particles on German.SE
There is an article about Modalpartikel in ...
- 116k
19
votes
Accepted
"Hopfenkaltschale" usual, unfamilar or frequent word for beer? What means "vegane Hopfenkaltschale"?
According to Duden, Kaltschale is a kind of soup that is served cold. "Hopfenkaltschale" could therefore be translated as "cold hops soup".
It is a name occasionally used to ...
- 4,846
18
votes
What does “italienisch konstruiert” mean?
Das Zitat stammt aus dem E-Mail-Roman »Gut gegen Nordwind« vom österreichischen Autor Daniel Glattauer aus dem Jahr 2006. Der Roman wurde mittlerweile schon in mehr als 40 verschiedenen Theatern als ...
- 116k
18
votes
Accepted
Was ist eigentlich der Unterschied zwischen Kabarett und Comedy?
Der Comedian macht es wegen dem Geld, der Kabarettist macht es wegen des Geldes.
Jetzt klarer? Der Comedian wendet sich an ein "weniger gebildetes" Publikum, dem es egal ist, ob nun Dativ oder ...
- 49.9k
18
votes
Accepted
What does "Fotze" really mean?
The Word Fotze has the same origin as the word Fut, (middle high German: vut) and both are gross and dirty words for vagina. There is no other usage than as swear words. It is similar to the English ...
- 116k
18
votes
Accepted
Can "ekrasieren" be translated as "to exterminate"?
I have to admit that I have never seen this word in German, even though I'm a native speaker.
It's obviously a loanword from French. Today nobody uses this word, except maybe in a very special ...
- 3,852
18
votes
Accepted
What does "klammern und bäumen" mean in the context of this phrase?
You translatet „klammern“ correctly with cling.
But with „Bäumen“ you got the wrong meaning of that word.
You translated it as comming from the plural of „Baum“: die „Bäume“, and in dative „den Bäumen“...
- 8,970
17
votes
What does Wechsel mean in this case?
Wechsel von offenen Geleiseschottern mit Vegetationsflächen unterschiedlicher Wuchsdichte in den ehemaligen Bereichen zwischen den Geleisen.
I bolded the two relevant words. Wechsel does indeed also ...
- 38.3k
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