37
votes
Accepted
Are “Kinder” still their parents’ “Kinder” when they grow up?
Absolutely; an adult is still someone’s Kind in exactly the same way as in English. Just two examples I quickly found via a web search:
Vor allem diese sonderbare Hilflosigkeit, wenn die eigenen ...
32
votes
Accepted
Is the genitive used at all in everyday German?
In my opinion:
Yes, you should learn about the genitive.
While it's use apparently is on the decline and there are many "substitutions", you should not expect it to disappear totally in the next ...
28
votes
What is the best way to say “gentle reminder” in German?
You can use "Freundliche Erinnerung". Anonther possibility often used is "Höfliche Erinnerung" (polite reminder).
And I would suggest to use the verb: "Wir möchten Sie höflich erinnern,...".
27
votes
Can I use ‘fahren’ when the mode of transport is not decided?
Yes. A common small-talk topic is “Wohin fahrt ihr dieses Jahr in den Urlaub?” and it is perfectly ok to answer “Wir fahren nach Island” even if you have your flight tickets booked already.
Same ...
23
votes
Accepted
Wie nennt man einen weiblichen Nazi?
Ganz allgemein gesprochen ist in diesem Kontext, also wenn es um Prädikative geht, Movierung nicht nötig. Viele Sprecher nehmen keinen Anstoß an Sätzen wie den folgenden, wo das Geschlecht (Sexus) ...
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 ...
20
votes
Accepted
How do you say “geek”/“IT guy” in German?
Unfortunately another area where little understood English terms have taken the cake.
Geek: originally a person biting heads off of small animals
The subspecies technology geek is what is known in ...
Community wiki
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 ...
19
votes
Accepted
Difference between responding to "danke" with "bitte" versus "gerne"
"Bitte" is the "standard" answer to "Danke".
"Gerne" is short for "Gern geschehen!".
According to the Duden, "gern" means
mit freudiger Bereitwilligkeit, Vergnügen
It therefore implies that the ...
18
votes
du vs dir in "How are you?"
Don't compare German to English. In German we're not talking about direct and indirect objects. What we concern about are cases:
nominative
accusative
dative
genitive
The question "Wie geht es dir?" ...
16
votes
"Nicht" vs "Kein"
When negating something else than a noun, always use nicht.
When negating a noun, there are some guidelines:
Use kein if what you are negating is
a noun with which you would use ein if not negating
...
16
votes
Accepted
How does the current usage of Futur I sound to native German speakers?
It is still used. Just not as much. You need it, if there is no info about time in the sentence, when you want to emphasize your resolve, or when the present tense could be misunderstood as a general ...
15
votes
Accepted
Why and when is the comparative degree used to express the opposite?
What you're looking for is called "absoluter Komparativ".
Komparative in Ausdrücken wie ein älterer Herr oder auch ein kürzerer Beitrag werden als “absolut” bezeichnet, weil sie losgelöst von einer ...
15
votes
Accepted
Wann wird "bis auf" inklusiv, wann exklusiv verwendet?
These:
Meiner Auffassung nach ist aus der Position im Satz keine Schlussfolgerung zu ziehen, ob es exklusive oder inklusive gemeint ist. Der einzige Unterschied, den die Stellung im Satz ausmacht, ist ...
15
votes
Regionale Verbreitung von »Ich bin Hauptplatz«
Ich kann nur für Berlin sprechen – und hier ist es ziemlich üblich geworden. Besonders amüsant ist diese Konstruktion bei (absichtlich) gekürzten Stationsnamen:
"Ich bin am Alexanderplatz" –> "Ich ...
15
votes
Is there a word for “hey” or “oi”?
The usual word for that is he (often with a lengthened e and then spelt hee, heee, heeeeee or similar):
He, kannst du mir sagen, wie spät es ist?
Heee, was machen Sie denn da?
There are also ...
15
votes
Accepted
Fälschen oder verfälschen?
beide Sätze haben eine komplett unterschiedliche Bedeutung.
Er hat meine Unterschrift gefälscht
bedeutet: Er hat selbst die Unterschrift geschrieben / mit einem Kopierer kopiert / reproduziert.
...
14
votes
Accepted
Niveau von "Da wusste ich nichts von"
(a) ist meines Wissens 100%ig korrekt und kann auch in der Schriftsprache verwendet werden. (b) hingegen wird rein umgangssprachlich gebraucht und klingt unsauber. Es ist durchaus weit verbreitet und ...
14
votes
How do you say “geek”/“IT guy” in German?
A neutral term would be ITler or, more German, EDVler, which is very broad. If people spend a lot of time with computers, they’re often called Computerfreak – I, however, don’t know whether it is ...
14
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, ...
14
votes
What if someone says "Ich bin" as a self-introduction?
The difference is in the level of formality vs casualness here.
Ich heiße Fritz Müller
would be a formal, almost stiff way of introducing yourself. Someone presenting himself to a conference ...
14
votes
Accepted
Adjektiv für Mehrzahl ("liebe Erika und Richard" vs "liebe Erika und lieber Richard")
Liebe Erika und Richard ist weniger ein Grammatik- denn ein Stilproblem
Das Stilempfinden deutscher Prägung leidet unter der fehlenden Adjektivkongruenz. Da das Problem nicht lösbar ist, weicht man ...
14
votes
Accepted
Using "um...zu" with past participle
They are both technically correct. Your answer, however, is the one that makes more sense in the context. The infinitive clause is final, i.e. it describes a purpose. Did you go to Paris in order to ...
13
votes
What's the difference between "genau" and "stimmt"?
Actually it’s simple for speakers of English, because there are simple, yet precise translations available:
genau = exactly/precisely
stimmt = correct/true
The use cases in German may differ from ...
13
votes
Accepted
Why 'der' in 'Danke der Nachfrage'?
Wie schon anderswo erklärt, kann „danken“ ein Dativ- und ein Akkusativobjekt haben, um auszudrücken, wem und wofür gedankt wird. Dort wo wir heute den Akkusativ benutzen, wurde laut Grimm (Punkt 3) im ...
13
votes
Can I use ‘fahren’ when the mode of transport is not decided?
Yes, but.
Fahren is a generic verb that can work for more or less any mode of transport: ‘Ich fahre mit dem Bus/der Bahn/der Fähre/dem Auto’. However, it is not used as often when you are actually ...
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: „...
13
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 ...
13
votes
Accepted
Options for saying, "my number is"
Meine Nummer ist is indeed used quite often in German and not an "English" term at all.
So if you would like to stick with your relative clause construct, it would be
Meine Nummer, an die Sie die ...
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