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1500 questions
13
votes
1 answer
How should I correctly use “sollen”?
What do these two sentences mean?
Ich soll das Buch lesen.
Ich sollte das Buch lesen.
I have mostly seen should translated as sollte, but that seems to be past tense. The first one would be “I should read the book” and the second one “I should…
StrixVaria
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13
votes
3 answers
Länder versus Lande
Gibt es neben der Tatsache, dass der Plural "Lande" abgesehen von Liedern, Gedichten und den Niederlanden praktisch nicht mehr verwendet wird, auch einen inhaltlichen Unterschied zwischen "Länder" und "Lande"?
(Sowie etwa "Worte" zusammenhängende…
Phira
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13
votes
1 answer
Meaning of 'ran' in German?
While reading a graded reader for German learners (Momente in München) I ran across the expression "Ran an die Arbeit" and wanted to understand why it means "Get to work"?
I searched in several places and realized that I didn't know what 'ran'…
Tony M
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13
votes
1 answer
Position of "nicht" in following contexts
I went through the article The Position of Nicht and the question Where is exactly the position of “nicht” in the sentence?. I would like to know if
I am correct in the following sentences and
if my logic is correct in placing nicht.
Sentence…
thandasoru
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13
votes
8 answers
Wie nennt man einen weiblichen Nazi?
Ich tue mir im Moment schwer, wie man eine Frau korrekt als Nazi bezeichnet.
Für Männer ist der Fall klar.
Onkel Björn ist ein alter Nazi.
Aber für Frauen?
Tante Alice ist ein alter Nazi. (?)
Tante Alice ist eine alte Nazi. (?)
Tante Alice war…
mtwde
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13
votes
10 answers
What is the German idiom or expression for when someone is being hypocritical against their own teachings?
In the USA we have a few common idioms for indicating to someone they are being hypocritical, with the sub-context being that they are contradicting their own teachings or personal code for living.
For example: An author of self-help book on using…
Robert Oschler
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13
votes
3 answers
How would you say "Sorry, that was a mistake on my part"?
Im not entirely sure whether I can say "Bitte Entschuldigung, das war ein Fehler meinerseits" or if there is a better or more correct expression.
user39077
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13
votes
1 answer
Is "wissen" the only verb in German to have an irregular present tense?
More precisely, apart from modal verbs, is "wissen" the only non-modal verb that uses the same form for the 1st and 3rd person singular in Präsens? I can't think of any other verb that does this and I couldn't find any info online. If this were the…
Tommaso F.
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13
votes
2 answers
What is the difference between Bewußtsein and Bewußtheit?
I came across the following passage reading an English version of Nietzsche's The Gay Science:
Consciousness (Bewußtsein)[6] — Consciousness (Bewußtheit) is the latest development of the organic, and hence also its most unfinished and unrobust…
cako
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13
votes
1 answer
German story to reduction of alphabet
I remember having read a short story about the reduction of the German alphabet some years ago. The story is very short (only a few pages), but the interesting thing about it was that during the story, the reduced alphabet was used in the story…
mliebelt
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13
votes
2 answers
»reell« vs. »real«
Gibt es einen unterschied zwischen reell und real? Wann verwendet man was?
Die reellen Zahlen
Er hatte keine reelle Chance.
Ihr Traum war nicht real.
Die Reallöhne sind in den vergangenen Jahren kaum gestiegen.
Die einzige Frage, die…
Philipp Stephan
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13
votes
7 answers
What is the accurate translation of "Best Regards" to finish a letter?
To finish up a letter addressed to a client, I use Best Regards, followed by my signature.
I've looked around for a direct translation, and came up with:
┌────────────────────────────────┬────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────┐
│…
Zuul
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13
votes
2 answers
What is the role of "von" when specifying a person?
I've asked a phrase translation:
Original sentence:
Past friday the server at xxx stopped, disk failure, I have been dealing with this ever since!
The suggested translation was:
Am letzten Freitag funktionierte der Server xxx, wegen eines…
Zuul
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13
votes
3 answers
Why is the sentence "Das ist eine Nase" correct?
I'm doing some homework, in which we have pictures and we have to complete the sentences like "Ist das ein Salat?" - "Nein, das ist kein Salat. Das ist ein Bus."
In the example above, both Salat and Bus get the article "ein", so I get why the answer…
Ricardo Potozky
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13
votes
2 answers
How does the German superpower of word chaining really work?
Germans are known for their craftsmanship for words other languages require whole sentences for. We can express literally anything with one word by just connecting multiple words with our superpower.
But even as a native speaker, I recently…
Waescher
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