58
votes
Accepted
Isn't it demanding to ask for something with "Ich möchte"?
"Ich möchte" doesn't really correspond to "I want", but more to something like "I would like...". "I want" would be more something like "ich will", ...
- 17.8k
20
votes
Accepted
When asked "Arbeitest du morgen?", how can one know if he's asked about the day or the action
In both German and English, this difference in asking is usually expressed with a tonal mark:
'Arbeitest du morgen?
Do you 'work tomorrow?
Arbeitest du 'morgen?
Do you work 'tomorrow?
Or you ask ...
- 51.9k
19
votes
Accepted
“Da endlich sieht sie der Kapitän.” – Why “sieht” instead of “sehen”?
Because the conjugation of the finite verb agrees to the subject.
Da endlich sieht sie der Kapitän.
To understand a German sentence correctly, you have to pick up all the clues given. The verb ...
- 51.9k
15
votes
Accepted
Welcher Satz ist richtig? "Wie lange fahren Sie ans Meer?" oder "Für wie lange fahren Sie ans Meer?"
"Wie lange fahren Sie ans Meer?" could be interpreted as "how long is the drive to the sea?" as well as "how long will you stay at the sea?". Which one of the two depends on the context.
"Für wie ...
- 1,602
13
votes
Accepted
"Wovon" or "von wo"?
Wovon and Von wo denote different questions.
Wovon means something like What is the cause.
Example:
Wovon ist dir schlecht geworden? (What made you sick?)
@raznagul said that wovon is ...
- 1,801
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
12
votes
Accepted
"Wo kommen Sie her?" or "Woher kommen Sie?" — What is the difference?
The difference is in the meaning, but this can change by adding words.
The first phrase Woher kommen Sie? asks
more where you are coming in the moment. For example: Ich komme gerade aus der ...
- 986
12
votes
Isn't it demanding to ask for something with "Ich möchte"?
"Ich möchte" is perceived as a more polite form of "ich will", so translating both to "I want" will lose important nuance and arguably be wrong.
Grammatically, "ich ...
- 19.9k
11
votes
Accepted
What's the difference between "schon" and "noch" in questions?
Your holiday begins ----------------- Now ----------------- Your
holiday ends
Wie lange hast du schon Urlaub?
In this question, the time span from Your holiday begins until Now is asked.
(Your ...
- 3,657
11
votes
Accepted
What is the meaning of the construct "Willst du was trinken?"
Willst du was trinken?
Do you want something to drink?
The sentence you gave is in fact a yes-no question (I assume that is what you mean by closed question). That is the reason why the verb is in ...
- 24.5k
10
votes
Nichts vs Etwas (in questions)
The presupposition or implication of both sentences differ.
"Ist dir etwas aufgefallen?" == "Did you notice anything?" is neutral (other than the fact that the speaker talks about ...
- 14.4k
10
votes
Isn't it demanding to ask for something with "Ich möchte"?
"Ich möchte" does not translate as "I want". It means that you have a wish, not a demand. To a waiter you would typically say "Ich möchte bitte das Steak" which is a bit ...
- 9,916
9
votes
Accepted
Connecting sentences into a question?
First of, it doesn't matter whether it is a question or not. What you're trying to do is fit in a relative sentence. The thing about English is that it
tends to skip relative pronouns
moves the ...
- 29.6k
9
votes
“Da endlich sieht sie der Kapitän.” – Why “sieht” instead of “sehen”?
Rearranging the sentence yields
Da sieht der Kapitän sie endlich.
or even
Der Kapitän sieht sie endlich.
which make the meaning and the structural parts clearer. (See here for another example ...
- 269
9
votes
Accepted
Different ways to say "why"
This is the English translation of an old German answer given by the user splattne in 2011.
The word "weswegen" was not topic of the original German question, but it fits into the same ...
- 118k
8
votes
Accepted
Verb takes last position in Hauptsatz. Is this possible?
The word that introduces a subordinate clause is the was. The sentence is missing an implicit Das:
Das, was ich am meisten an Maria mag?
or:
Das, was ich am meisten an Maria mag, sind ihre ...
- 38.4k
8
votes
Reihenfolge der Satzglieder in einer Frage
Für mich hören sich auch beide Fragen korrekt an. Eine Änderung der Reihenfolge zieht jedoch meist auch eine Veränderung der Betonung nach sich, wie hier deutlich wird:
Gehört das Buch dir? Oder ...
- 586
8
votes
Accepted
Hidden “if” and converting to a question
Neither version works particularly well as a question because the hint that it is meant as a question comes too late and is inconspicuous, even with dann (because this word also has other meanings). ...
- 19.7k
8
votes
Accepted
Nebensatz mit einer Frage?
Das geschieht durch die Intonation, also die Sprachmelodie - Das Fragezeichen ist eigentlich nur ein schriftlicher Ersatz dafür.
Im Deutschen (wie im Englischen) wird eine Frage mündlich durch eine ...
- 60.8k
8
votes
Accepted
What does "macht" mean in "Was macht Tina?”
You are confusing a noun with a verb.
The verb machen means ‘to make’, ‘to do’, while the noun die Macht means ‘power’.
ich mache
du machst
er/sie/es macht
wir machen
ihr macht
sie/Sie machen
In ...
- 3,657
8
votes
Accepted
How to ask a question with double accusative?
First off there are not two accusatives there, das Licht is nominative.
The second one is better as others have said, the reason this is correct is that generally in German questions the word order ...
- 633
7
votes
Accepted
Answering Wie alt bist du?
Ich habe zweiundzwanzig Jahre alt is wrong.
In colloquial language you may say Ich habe zweiundzwanzig Jahre auf dem Buckel (I have 22 years on the hunchback).
But the correct version is: "Ich bin ...
- 9,284
7
votes
Accepted
Asking question using "welch-" in genitive case
Because of the fact that you are asking for more than one Merkmal, you need to use sind instead of ist in your first question, which is otherwise fine:
Die typischen Merkmale welcher Epoche sind ...
- 15.8k
7
votes
What does "macht" mean in "Was macht Tina?”
machen also means "do". There's only one possibility of meaning since there's no objective:
Was macht Tina? - What is Tina doing?
- 1,753
7
votes
Wie funktioniert Satzstellung im Deutschen?
1) Partikel wie ja, eben, einfach usw. beziehen sich auf den Satzteil, welcher direkt darauf folgt.
Ich habe einfach mich für Deutsch entschieden. ist falsch, denn es bedeutet nicht das, was du ...
- 51.9k
6
votes
How to answer the following question "Was mögen Sie alles nicht?"
While your suggested answer is gramatically correct and idiomatic, you might want to go back to the question:
Was mögen Sie alles nicht?
→ alles being the operative word here. If you ask for alles,...
- 23.9k
6
votes
How to negate the following question "Scheint heute die Sonne"?
Nein, die Sonne scheint nicht heute
sagt, dass die Sonne an einem anderen Tag scheint, (aber) nicht heute.
Richtig ist:
Nein, die Sonne scheint heute nicht.
Mit der Sonne lässt sich der Unterschied ...
- 23.1k
6
votes
Welcher Satz ist richtig? "Wie lange fahren Sie ans Meer?" oder "Für wie lange fahren Sie ans Meer?"
Both German sentences are correct, but they have different meanings.
Wie lange fahren Sie ans Meer? How long are you driving to the sea? – Here, fahren means the actual travel, and we want to know ...
- 426
6
votes
unbelebte Dativobjekte: Fragesatz in korrektem Deutsch gesucht
Die richtige Frage lautet:
Wem muss ich schnell ausweichen?
Falsch war lediglich das Satzzeichen am Ende der Frage (das darf kein Punkt sein, sondern muss ein Fragezeichen sein.)
Nach einem ...
- 118k
6
votes
Accepted
»wohin« oder »wo … hin«?
I add numbers to your sentences, and omit »jetzt«:
Wo fährt das Schiff jetzt hin?
Wohin fährt das Schiff jetzt?
In (1) »hin« is not a part of the interrogative word »wo«, but a part of ...
- 118k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible