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Deswegen kaufe ich halt gern alles im Supermarkt.

That's why I like to buy everything in the supermarket.

If I am not wrong, the sentence still has same meaning without using halt. Why is it used here?

Wrzlprmft
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Noisha Studieren
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    Have you tried a dictionary ("halt" als Modalpartikel)? Easy German has a good video aboout this topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Awhco_VHWE – HalvarF Oct 23 '20 at 14:29
  • sponanoues thought: as a fill word to claim sth. like "as a matter of fact" - by the pov of the speaker. maybe related: https://german.stackexchange.com/questions/8435/benutzung-der-abt%c3%b6nungspartikel-halt (and there are 5 more linked on the right side - 4 are marked dups of this, on not: https://german.stackexchange.com/questions/1319/was-für-ein-wort-ist-halt) – Shegit Brahm Oct 23 '20 at 14:35
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    More or less the same use as "just" in Englsh: "That's why I just like to buy everything in the supermarket." No special meaning, it only adjusts the mood a bit. You can get this from Wiktionary though. – RDBury Oct 23 '20 at 16:30
  • @Shegit Brahm -- Many of the questions that were closed for being duplicate shouldn't have been because the linked answers were in German. I didn't see any answers in English for this question. On the other hand, it's still basically a dictionary look-up so it could easily be closed for that reason. But then the German versions of the questions are not closed despite that. – RDBury Oct 23 '20 at 16:49
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    Does this answer your question? Meaning of "XXXX halt" – guidot Oct 23 '20 at 19:52
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    @guidot The question is in English, but the answer is in German. – RHa Oct 23 '20 at 20:26

4 Answers4

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The word „halt“ is a special word, mostly used in spoken form. It only increases the statement as it is, like:

Example: Ich mag es (halt) nicht in den Urlaub zu gehen.

I don’t like to go on vacation.

Implication of „halt“: I don’t like to go on vacation, and that’s the way it is.

That is not a literal translation. It’s more a translation of the meaning.

RHa
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  • It's not that special; there are about a dozen of these modal adverbs, modal particles, flavor particles, flavor crystals, or whatever you want to call them. Wiktionary has a list. – RDBury Oct 24 '20 at 01:09
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Halt is a modal particle. Modal particles can be used to provide the recipient of a statement with information about how the speaker thinks about what is said in the statement.

Halt expresses that a fact is being reported. The speaker may not very happy about it but accepts it as given. Possible translations are "as a matter of fact" or "It's the way it is".

RHa
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The filler word "halt" is the same like "eben" which has the meaning appropriately to the English "just" which is the most similar filler word.

äüö
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    "filler word" is definitely not the proper term. This sounds like it doesn't mean anything. But if German language was an asian dish, modal particles would be the spices. – tofro Oct 30 '20 at 08:29
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you could translate it to just

You don't have to say halt but you just show your mood while saying something. That's what you say when you want to justify yourself

For example

  • "Ist halt so!!" It's the way it is.

  • "Das ist halt meine Art" "That's just my way"

  • "So bin ich halt" "That's just how I am"

Newone90
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