Learning German language: The German Learners' Society (MKII)

Reply 4220

Kallisto

Entertainment Forum Helper

22

Original post by kasten

Ich bin beileibe kein Physiker, googeln kann ich allerdings schon :wink:

: Geschossbewegung?

Ja, das macht Sinn. Danke dafür! Selbst Wikipedia weiß nichts darüber.

Reply 4221

grizzlybär

2

hi Kallisto,

I'd say the topic is ballistics.

I found 'trajectory' and had to look up the German word for it, which is Trajektorie, by the way, but I never stumbled over that one before.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 4222

BigFudamental

13

Am Ehesten noch "Flugbahn".

Reply 4223

chickenonsteroids

17

What do the prefixes 'zu' and 'ver' do to a word? Because I'm trying to understand the meaning of words without always having to go to a dictionary.

Gleichen means 'to resemble'
im Vergleich zu means 'in comparison to' and I read the word 'zugleich' and I couldn't deduce what it meant (now I know it means 'likewise' or something like that.

Reply 4224

grizzlybär

2

Original post by chickenonsteroids

What do the prefixes 'zu' and 'ver' do to a word? Because I'm trying to understand the meaning of words without always having to go to a dictionary.

Gleichen means 'to resemble'
im Vergleich zu means 'in comparison to' and I read the word 'zugleich' and I couldn't deduce what it meant (now I know it means 'likewise' or something like that.

hi chickenonsteroids,

there is no principle behind those prefixes. Sometimes it expresses an opposite
meaning: lernen - verlernen (learn - unlearn)
or something gone wrong: hören - verhören (hear - mishear)
sometimes it creates a new meaning: stehen - verstehen (stand - understand)
hey that's curious

'zugleich' means at the same time

Reply 4225

kiwicake

Hey everyone,

I'm so confused with dual case prepositions. I know that for movement you use accusative and for things were there is no movement you use dative.

But what about sentences like, 'I took part in a debate' would it be, 'Ich habe in einer Debatte teilgenommen.' or would it be, 'Ich habe in eine Debatte teilgenommen.'

Please help!

Reply 4226

chickenonsteroids

17

Original post by kiwicake

Hey everyone,

I'm so confused with dual case prepositions. I know that for movement you use accusative and for things were there is no movement you use dative.

But what about sentences like, 'I took part in a debate' would it be, 'Ich habe in einer Debatte teilgenommen.' or would it be, 'Ich habe in eine Debatte teilgenommen.'

Please help!

'in' takes the dative (usually) so it'd be 'einer' I believe.

Reply 4227

kiwicake

Original post by chickenonsteroids

'in' takes the dative (usually) so it'd be 'einer' I believe.

Thank you

Reply 4228

kasten

9

Original post by kiwicake

Hey everyone,

I'm so confused with dual case prepositions. I know that for movement you use accusative and for things were there is no movement you use dative.

But what about sentences like, 'I took part in a debate' would it be, 'Ich habe in einer Debatte teilgenommen.' or would it be, 'Ich habe in eine Debatte teilgenommen.'

Please help!

Neither

It would be "Ich habe an einer Debatte teilgenommen". Man nimmt an etwas (immer Dativ) teil :smile:

Reply 4229

such_a_lady

16

Original post by Sir Fox

"Hören auf etw." means to take someone's advise whilst "zuhören" just means the process of listening to someone/something. So you could first listen to your grandfather (ihm zuhören) and finally decide to take his advise, i.e. auf ihn hören. Another example: Kinder sollten besser auf ihre Eltern hören = Children should better take their parents' advise/orders.

In fact the two examples you gave (Hör mir doch mal zu and Hör auf dein Herz) are fairly difficult as the first one could mean both, either he/she barely wants you to listen to him/her or also wants you to take some advise, totally depends on what he/she is saying. If he/she is telling a story and you are constantly interrupting or listening to something else he/she just wants to make you stay attentive and listen to him/her without seeking to give any advise, whilst a parent talking to a child could also mean that in a way that the child should do both, listen attentively and finally take the advise.

Hope this helped :wink:

Made beautiful sense, thank you!

Reply 4230

kiwicake

Original post by kasten

Neither

It would be "Ich habe an einer Debatte teilgenommen". Man nimmt an etwas (immer Dativ) teil :smile:

Thank you!

Are there certain times when you would use 'an' instead of 'in'?

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 4231

hannah_dru

2

Original post by kiwicake

Thank you!

Are there certain times when you would use 'an' instead of 'in'?

You'll find that a lot of verbs have prepositions they go with.

Reply 4232

lolo66

7

Could someone explain this to me? In the sentence: Das hättest du dir sparen können! ...why the 'dir' as well as the 'du?'

Reply 4233

grizzlybär

2

Original post by lolo66

Could someone explain this to me? In the sentence: Das hättest du dir sparen können! ...why the 'dir' as well as the 'du?'

it's an idiom. 'sich etwas sparen können' it means that something was unnecessary or even inappropriate.
das kann ich mir sparen, das kannst du dir sparen, er sich, wir uns etc.

Er hat sich bereits entschieden, du kannst dir die Worte sparen.
Das zu sagen war echt gemein, das hättest du dir ruhig sparen können!