30
votes
Confusion with seinem and two masculine nouns in the same sentence
Yes, the sentence indeed is ambiguous, but no, this is not an issue at all.
In fact, most sentences in most languages are in (partly) ambiguous. Our brains just automatically resolve most of these ...
- 3,022
21
votes
Accepted
Confusion with seinem and two masculine nouns in the same sentence
You're right, both can be meant, son or plaster. Use »dessen« to remove the ambiguity.
Plötzlich wollte mein Sohn aber doch den Gips vor dessen Untergang
bewahren.
Now it's clear that »dessen« ...
- 16k
15
votes
Is "ein Herz wie das meine" an antiquated or colloquial use of the possesive pronoun?
No. It's perfectly right. You are also right supposing that the case is accusative and the gender neuter. You are wrong, however, using meinem (is dative).
In the Wiktionary
table, cf. Nicht-...
- 30.5k
12
votes
Accepted
The use of "-en" in a specific phrase
First of all: to figure out the meaning by using translation apps, you need to take care of right spelling. In German there is a big difference between befehlen and Befehlen. The former is a verb. The ...
- 7,657
8
votes
Accepted
Why would the pronouns in this sentence have different suffixes?
In English you can say:
Is that your thigh or my thigh?
Is that your thigh or mine?
Is that yours or mine?
And you translate those sentences into German this way:
Ist das dein ...
- 121k
8
votes
Accepted
Why is it "für ihren Bruder" but not "für ihr Bruder"?
Short answer:
für asks for the accusative case, Bruder is singular masculine, so one has to use ihren there, because this is the accusative masculine singular inflection of ihr.
Additional comments:
...
8
votes
Accepted
Masculine possessive adjectives ending in nominative
The possessive pronouns (mein, dein, sein, ...) stay the same if followed by a masculine noun, not necessarily directly followed.
mein Hund
mein schöner Hund
mein schneller, schöner, toller Hund
If ...
- 18.3k
8
votes
Accepted
“Wir kaufen ein Geschenk für unsere Tante.” – why “unsere”?
The preposition für requires the Akkusativ. See here:
Source
Thus the correct answer is indeed für unsere Tante.
- 18.3k
7
votes
Accepted
When to use sein or ihr?
Its the same as in English:
The pronoun refers to the sentences subject, which is male:
Walter hat gerade Maria geheiratet.
Er (Walter) liebt seine (eigene) Frau sehr.
Walter just has ...
- 121k
7
votes
Accepted
Warum heißt es „ihrer“ und nicht „ihren“?
The sentence is parsed this way: "in einer (Dativ, singular) ihrer (Genitiv, plural) Familien".
In English it would be "in one of their (or "of her"!) families".
Note that "in einer Ihrer (...
- 4,638
7
votes
Zweideutige Possessivpronomen?
Es hängt im Beispielsatz nur am Komman, dass "der Dieb" ein Einschub ist und nicht eine dritte Person, deshalb ist die Ausgangssituation bei flüchtigem Lesen schon nicht ideal. Ich ignoriere jetzt ...
- 27.8k
7
votes
Is "ein Herz wie das meine" an antiquated or colloquial use of the possesive pronoun?
This use is as much antiquated as it is lyrical. It definitively is not colloquial. Some may use that occasionally but its by far not the norm.
- 249
7
votes
One adjective for two singular nouns (same gender)
Your second alternative doesn't work in German unfortunately, although it would seem logical. The attributes have to be congruent with the nearest noun.
So it has to be
mit ihrer üblichen Schönheit ...
- 25.4k
7
votes
Accepted
Diese Leiche und seine Umstände
The word “seine” refers to “ihr Tod”, and “Tod” is masculine. Replacing “seine” the sentence would become
Und die Umstände ihres Todes sind so schön mysteriös.
- 20.4k
6
votes
Accepted
Where to use or omit possessive adjectives in German vs. English
I am not completely sure about this but the rule seems to be that the dative is used instead of the possessive if the possession is inalienable. There is a Wikipedia article about this: https://en....
- 15.4k
6
votes
Accepted
Why is it "in meinem Herzen"?
Herzen is not only the plural (in all cases), but the dative singular form, too. It belongs to a group of nouns called “weak”; see, e.g., German for English speakers or canoonet.
- 19.7k
6
votes
Do I need to repeat the possessive pronoun for a second substantive?
As far as I know, there is no grammatical rule saying that there has to be a possessive pronoun before each element in such a kind of enumeration. I rather consider it a convention, though it does ...
- 169
6
votes
Accepted
Do I need to repeat the possessive pronoun for a second substantive?
It is actually important to have the possessive pronoun in front of each word to emphasize that the roles are applying to two different persons. Usually that would be clear from the number of the verb,...
- 2,278
6
votes
Accepted
der Ihren – Alternative form of a possessive pronoun (ihr-) used for emphasis?
As you correctly said, "der Ihren" is a nominalised possessive adjective which comes from the pronoun "ihr". It is used as an genitive attribute to "den Wohlstand".
Not ...
- 3,320
5
votes
Accepted
Understanding "aber des einen seins war blind"
Your reading A seems to be correct (I must, however, admit I don't really understand your reading B)
Des einen seins can be ripped apart to "Das Seine des einen" and is a kind of grammatical ...
- 62.5k
5
votes
Is "ein Herz wie das meine" an antiquated or colloquial use of the possesive pronoun?
In your example, meine is a possessive adjective with a regular weak ending -e (just as in das kranke Herz). The more modern form would be
ein Herz wie meins
with a neuter possessive pronoun (...
- 25.5k
5
votes
Accepted
How do "attributiv" and "nicht attributiv" work?
Wiktionary is a bit of a mess here. Usually, attributive vs. non-attributive is a distinction made for adjectives. Attributive adjectives accompany a noun and show agreement, non-attributive ...
- 25.5k
5
votes
Accepted
"Welt, ade, ich bin dein müde" in Bach BWV 158
It is an archaism. The genitive pronoun form used to be «dein» (similarly, also «mein»). The form «deiner» (and «meiner») had become common by the 18th century, while Luther in the 16th century still ...
- 7,031
5
votes
Accepted
How could sein be the correct possessive in this case?
English "sight" means "seeing something". It is a process. This is "Blick" in German.
The eagle has the prey in sight.
Der Adler hat die Beute im Blick.
But German &...
- 121k
4
votes
Accepted
Is "Wo ist dein Kamera?" correct? (usage of 'dein/deine')
Du wolltest doch fotografieren. Wo ist deine Kamera?
Is correct. Not 'ph' but 'f'.
You will (actually) always use 'deine' when the reference is feminine. When it is masculine or neutral it is just '...
4
votes
Dies vs Diese - what is the rule to follow
I could be wrong but, generally:
If the second word in the sentence is either 'sind' or 'ist' then you use 'dies'.
If the second word in the sentence is not 'sind' or 'ist' you use 'dieser/diese/...
- 41
4
votes
Das ist eine unsere Stärken vs unserer Stärken
This is correct:
Das ist eine unserer Stärken.
This is one of our strengths.
The part »unserer Stärken« (of our strengths) is in genitive case. This grammatical case is used for many ...
- 121k
4
votes
Where to use or omit possessive adjectives in German vs. English
Being very pedantic the following four sentences have a different meaning:
Er wäscht die Hände.
Er wäscht seine Hände.
Er wäscht sich die Hände.
Er wäscht sich seine Hände.
However in 99.99% of ...
- 6,108
4
votes
Do I need to repeat the possessive pronoun for a second substantive?
You can ommit the second or any further pronouns if all the nouns have the same numerus and gender. Otherwise it sounds odd.
Ich habe meine Häuser und Yachten verkauft.
Meine Frau und Tochter ...
- 1,615
4
votes
Accepted
In "Was isst du am liebsten", what's the explanation of "du am liebsten", instead of "deine am liebsten"?
A more literal translation would be "what do you like to eat the most?". Also, what Nathan says (his comment should be an answer).
- 109
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible