New answers tagged meaning
2
votes
Joke interpretation
If this is on topic here is questionable. At least it is a fringe case and what constitutes "humour" is perhaps in the eye of the beholder. I'll try but no guarantees are given and you won't ...
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9
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Joke interpretation
It's a bit harsh to judge jokes from a pre mass-media generation with current standards, where you can watch more well-written jokes in a month of Netflix than they would have had in their whole lives....
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5
votes
Accepted
Joke interpretation
Regarding the first quote, it probably plays with the similarity between "Beine" and "bene". Meyerheim says something to the effect of "She'll dance to any music as long as ...
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2
votes
Accepted
difference between dies vs das
The primary distinction is closeness: "dies" for close things, "das" for things that are farther away. As a native, I'm not entirely sure where the boundary between "dies"...
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1
vote
What does "eben" mean in "ich arbeite immer noch für die Agentur aber eben freiberuflich"?
"Eben" (here - there are other meanings of this word) is a so-called mood particle. Every language has them and they are usually not translatable, because they don't transport information on ...
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2
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Why is "keiner" masculine in this sentence? "Keiner sagt dir, was du tun sollst"
Keiner is a pronoun; the ending -er is masculine. One of the functions of the masculine is referring to persons, most clearly shown by interrogative wer (as opposed to neuter was, which refers to ...
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2
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Why is "keiner" masculine in this sentence? "Keiner sagt dir, was du tun sollst"
"Keiner" is a generic masculinum, traditionally used to express "There is no information whatsoever about the sex of the actor". This has recently been criticised for furthering ...
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0
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What does "eben" mean in "ich arbeite immer noch für die Agentur aber eben freiberuflich"?
It has no direct translation.
ich arbeite immer noch für die Agentur aber eben freiberuflich"
translates to "I still work for the agency, but as free-lancer".
The "eben" ...
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3
votes
Accepted
Wie habe ich das nur gemacht?
You are basically correct - "nur" is used as a particle here.
See also the Duden dictionary entry for Partikel "nur" (in German)
In questions, this may express confusion, ...
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5
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Wie habe ich das nur gemacht?
"Wie habe ich das gemacht?" would be a neutral question, where I ask another person to tell me how I did it. For instance, an illusionist could ask this his audience, after performing a ...
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4
votes
Accepted
Clarification of a piece of German text
Whose account (Konto) is it that the money is coming from when the machine (die Maschine) disburses it to somebody?
What's meant here is not the account or cash cartridge of the machine, but the ...
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-1
votes
"Penner" as an insult?
from a misplaced comment by @user1934428 to another question
Literally, a Penner is someone who is asleep. Whether a word itself is an insult usually depends on the way it is used. When I'm with ...
1
vote
Bedeutung „es liegt mir nicht fern“
Ich sehe es ähnlich wie planetmaker.
Den Ausdruck würde ich mit »ich kann mir [gut] vorstellen, es zu tun« übersetzen, allenfalls mit »ich bin nahe daran/kurz davor, es zu tun«. Dass jemand seine ...
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2
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Bedeutung „es liegt mir nicht fern“
Nein, nicht direkt. Es ist eine Aussage über wie wahrscheinlich es ist, eine Handlung durchzuführen.
Wenn etwas einem fern liegt, dann ist es eine Tätigkeit, die man nicht in Betracht zieht, weil ich ...
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2
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Bedeutung „es liegt mir nicht fern“
bedeutet er, dass jemand die Absicht etwas zu tun hat?
Ja, genau das bedeutet er. Das ist eine ironisierende Verneinung von "es liegt mir fern ...", was soviel bedeutet wie "ich will ...
- 6,947
2
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If there is more than one subject separated by “and” in a German sentence is the verb plural or singular?
The main rule is the same as in English and most other languages: if the subject is an enumeration of more than one entities, the verb/predicate is plural.
However, there can be cases when the ...
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0
votes
Possible meanings of "zwingen"
Den frohen Künstler kann die Welt nicht zwingen, …
Beugen, niederringen, abhalten oder aus der Bahn bringen - stop, suppress, bow, derail.
… Er aber zwingt mit seiner Kunst die Welt.
He bans the ...
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-1
votes
Possible meanings of "zwingen"
We have to do or to conform to a lot of things: you want to go to school - you need to have a certain haircut (there are countries where that is the case), you want this job - you need to wear a suit, ...
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5
votes
Possible meanings of "zwingen"
The meaning of "zwingen" here is "to force [someone/something to act/react]". We'd expect some specification in the context on what exactly is being forced onto someone else here. ...
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1
vote
Possible meanings of "zwingen"
"Zwingen" just as its English counterpart "force", needs additional words to clarify what is forced e.g.
Ich zwinge dich, mir dein Geld zu geben
I force you to give me your money
...
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2
votes
Possible meanings of "zwingen"
This is the verb bezwingen in reality. But the author used the plain zwingen out of poetic freedom because the sentence has a better rhythm that way.
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