34
votes
Accepted
“Ab” vs “seit” for time periods
Generally, I – as a German – would say that things that will happen in future are composed with ab.
Ab morgen gehe ich arbeiten.
Things that began in the past but span to the present are composed ...
- 561
33
votes
Accepted
Use of the verb "bauen" without the preposition "an"
Both expressions generally mean the same, with a slight difference:
Wir bauen diese Schule seit einem Jahr clearly states that the school was built from the ground up, that is, there was nothing ...
- 61.9k
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. ...
- 61.9k
26
votes
Accepted
What does the expression "mit x mal" mean?
In diesem Fall ist es nicht 15 mal, sondern die Altersangabe mit 15.
Die folgende Formulierung macht es vielleicht klarer:
Es ging offenbar darum, wie er mit fünfzehn einmal vor dem
...
- 8,512
21
votes
Accepted
What is the German equivalent of “about” (as in “about this site”)
You shouldn’t use Über by itself and probably not at all. In my opinion it’s an anglicism and sounds weird in German. Whenever I read this I always think that it was either translated literally from ...
21
votes
Accepted
Why is ‘aus’ needed at the end of a sentence? - More generally: why does a seemingly unnecessary preposition appear at the end of a sentence?
In this case, the aus is not a preposition, but a prefix to a trennbares Verb, a dividable/seperable verb.
In your example, the english verb to look translates to aussehen which is the verb sehen ...
- 1,837
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
20
votes
Accepted
"Wir ziehen aus der Wohnung aus." What is the function of the first "aus" in this sentence?
The latter "aus" is, as you correctly recognized, part of the verb "ausziehen". The former "aus" is a preposition that denotes what the speakers are moving out of. Let's ...
- 18.2k
17
votes
Accepted
Wurde der Ausdruck "Schlange stehen" vom Türkischen beeinflusst?
Bahn fahren benötigt keine Präposition, weil das Verb fahren das Transportmittel bereits als Akkusativobjekt zulässt. Kuchen essen, Zigarre rauchen, Mist bauen, Schlange stehen, Marathon laufen und ...
- 56.2k
17
votes
weird usage of "dran"
The phrase spät dran sein means to be running late. It is a fixed word combination.
Update:
As Arsak comments, spät dran sein has früh dran sein as a counterpart.
- 10.2k
17
votes
Accepted
What controls the meaning of "auf" in a sentence?
To expand a bit on the answer given by infinitezero, many common words, especially prepositions, are impossible to translate directly without taking a number of factors into account. Instead, it's ...
- 10.4k
16
votes
Accepted
Interessieren (für / an)
Sentence 1 is wrong. 2. and 3. are correct.
The preposition für must be used with sich interessieren: Ich interessiere mich für Geschichte. Alternatively one can say Geschichte interessiert mich.
...
- 15.1k
15
votes
Accepted
Präposition "an": Dativ oder Akkusativ?
Nein. Die Präposition an steht je nach Verwendung entweder mit Dativ oder mit Akkusativ. Als Grundregel gilt bei solchen "Wechselpräpositionen":
Antwortet die Phrase auf die Frage "wo?" (Ortsangabe - ...
- 13.6k
15
votes
Accepted
The definition of "so was von"
In fact this is an idiomatic phrase; it may communicate an elative, intensifying meaning, but usually, it simply expresses the speaker's firm opinion of a certain circumstance. It's commonly used, ...
- 13.6k
15
votes
Accepted
Why do I see a reflexive pronoun at the end of the sentence?
Is the verb here "sich annehmen"?
No, here it is etwas an sich nehmen. It means to take something to oneself or literally to one's body.
It's a form of "nehmen" that focuses on ...
- 2,138
14
votes
Context-specific translation of German word "an"
There is no doubt whatsoever that the sentence carries the meaning 1.
This is because the phrase to be proud of something is translated as auf etwas{Akk} stolz sein thus the second sentence would ...
- 38.5k
14
votes
Accepted
Is "zu" used to describe purpose?
It should be zu Besuch, which is more of a fixed expression.
Otherwise, yes it can be used with many nouns to express a purpose.
Zum (zu dem) and zur (zu der) are contractions that are used in ...
- 3,562
14
votes
Accepted
Why do people say "Ich gehe auf die Toilette" instead of "Ich gehe in die Toilette"?
Because Toilette means in everyday language toilet and not bathroom, so in die Toilette gehen means to step into the toilet bowl.
Auf die Toilette gehen comes from auf die Toilette setzen (to sit on ...
- 8,527
14
votes
What is the difference between "ins" and "im" in German?
im is short for in dem and is used with dative case for masculine and neuter singular nouns. (The feminine singular equivalent would be "in der", plural would be "in den".) im is often (but not only) ...
- 3,178
14
votes
Accepted
Why does "zu" come at the beginning of the sentence?
In German, what number and type of objects a verb needs has to be learned. There are two relevant meanings of passen here, DWDS 1a and 1b.
The first states that a piece of clothing fits somebody with ...
- 24.9k
14
votes
What is the difference between "Zu" and "Auf" in these sentences?
Zu Boden simply means that your head was was tilted towards the floor, e.g. due to shyness. Auf den Boden (the article can't be omitted here) would be used for looking at the carpet, searching for ...
- 27.5k
13
votes
Ist "wegen dir" falsch und nur "deinetwegen" richtig?
Richtig und falsch ist sowieso immer so eine Sache. Und gerade in einer solchen Auseinandersetzung kommt es stark auf die Region an, in der du dich gerade befindest.
Wenn man mal davon ausgeht, dass ...
13
votes
Accepted
Can "nach" mean "about"?
"Nach" is a very natural choice for the topic of inquiries. Why? Because it's the preposition that goes with "fragen", which is the default/generic verb for that action.
Ich frage nach dem Weg.
I ...
- 29.6k
13
votes
Accepted
What is difference between "mir gegenüber" and "gegen mich"?
No, they mean different things.
gegenüber mir (I would prefer the reverse order mir gegenüber as in your example) means towards me (e.g. in the sense “They are well-disposed towards me”, in German: „...
- 1,197
13
votes
Accepted
Is it "seit ein paar Tagen" or "seit einen paar Tagen"?
"Ein" is a part of "ein paar" and "ein paar" is an unchangeable pronoun. That is why "ein" is not changed to "einem". Note that "Tagen" is dative.
If you would use "einige" or "wenige" (synonyms of "...
- 4,638
13
votes
Accepted
Warum wird »Richtung« auch großgeschrieben, wenn es als Präposition genutzt wird?
Es ist eine Präposition
Erst einmal: Es ist keine Apposition, sondern tatsächliche eine Präposition. Grund? Erweiterungsprobe. Wenn Richtung Hannover eine Apposition wäre wie Farbe Lila oder Kaiser ...
- 6,983
13
votes
Accepted
»gen Mekka beten«
Gen Mekka beten mag eine feste Phrase sein, aber die Himmelsrichtungen werden auch heute noch gerne mit der Präposition gen verwendet.
Blicken wir also gen Osten.
Damit ist dann aber nicht die ...
- 56.2k
12
votes
Accepted
Question regarding "vor"
Your sentence seems to be meant as a shortened version of
Die Delfine haben ihn umzingelt, aber sie haben nicht vor, ihn zu fressen.
The repeated verb haben has been omitted. This is a common ...
- 19k
12
votes
Accepted
Is »für« or »vor« redundant in this sentence from »Der Spiegel«?
Yes, it seems like they could not decide whether they wanted to use the sentence as
Die drohende Einnahme der Stadt stellt damit auch die US-Armee vor ein Dilemma.
or
Die drohende Einnahme der ...
- 787
12
votes
„bis Sonntag“: is Sunday included or excluded?
It is inclusive, until and including Sunday.
See, for instance, https://www.hofer.at/de/infos-und-services/hofer-a-z/o/oeffnungszeiten/
Öffnungszeiten Die Hauptöffnungszeiten der Hofer-Filialen ...
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