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While I was travelling through North Germany, I overheard some Germans talking to each other. They were having an argument, I think. At some point, one guy says the following phrase:

"Was hast du da eigentlich gegen?"

I found it remarkable since I always learned that it should be written together like

"Was hast du eigentlich dagegen?"

Now, I was wondering if this was standard German or some kind of dialect.

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areweoutofthewouts
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1 Answers1

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Now, I was wondering if this was standard German or some kind of dialect.

No, it's neither standard German, nor a specific dialect, but more colloquial use.

It appears in a similar manner for dafür or darüber in sentences like

Da kann ich jetzt nix für.

or

Da weiss ich nix drüber.

Some more examples:

Da wusste ich nix von.

<p>Mach da mal noch mehr Pfeffer bei.<sup>1</sup></p>

Still all colloquial use.

1)While notable that using dabei machen for e.g. a cooking receipe is colloquial use already.

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  • Okay, thank you for the quick response! – areweoutofthewouts Mar 01 '20 at 08:39
  • Meinst du damit, dass man mit "darüber" "da" in verkürzter Form erneut aufgreifen muss wie in "da weiß ich nichts drüber"? – Nico Mar 01 '20 at 10:26
  • @Nico Interessant, das kam mir nicht in den Sinn. Aber es ist immer noch zusammengeschrieben, wenn auch in verkürzter Form. – πάντα ῥεῖ Mar 01 '20 at 10:28
  • Schon, aber wir haben trotzdem eine Trennung "DA weiß.. DRÜBER." Interessanterweise führt die Trennung zur Reduplikation, wenn man das zusammenfügen würde: "dadrüber" – Nico Mar 01 '20 at 10:31
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    @Nico Ich habe meine Antwort entsprechend editiert. – πάντα ῥεῖ Mar 01 '20 at 10:32
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    While not dialectal, these constructions are certainly typical for (mid to northern?) German German. In Austria, you never use them, and can even apply them to mockingly imitate German German. (I don't know about Swiss, though. – phipsgabler Mar 01 '20 at 10:36
  • @phipsgabler I agree it's more commonly used in northern germany, but not really bound to a specific dialect. – πάντα ῥεῖ Mar 01 '20 at 10:39
  • Jepp, definitely something more from northern Germany... another example: „Danke Dir“ - „Da nicht für“ – Tode Mar 02 '20 at 05:52