German language

Walter

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Austria, in the heart of Europe
The German word "gerade" can mean...
  • straight
  • right now
  • especially
If the first letter is written in upper case ("Gerade") it is a noun and means
  • straight line
Confusing? What do you think the German sentence
  • "Ich fragte mich gerade, warum gerade diese Gerade so gerade ist"
means?
  • "I just wondered, why especially this line is so straight."
 
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Another one. A train is a "Zug" in German.

The sentence "Der Zug ist abgefahren" can mean...

  • The train has left.
  • Something is no longer possible.
  • The train looks cool ("abgefahren" in the sense of freaky or cool)
 
Jealousy is a passion that eagerly searches what causes pain.

In German:
Eifersucht ist eine Leidenschaft, die mit Eifer sucht, was Leiden schafft.

Notice the spaces. E.g.
  • "Leidenschaft", substantive, passion
  • "Leiden schaffen" contains "Leiden" which means "Suffering" and "schaffen" which means create
So in German Jealousy is a passion, that creates pain.
 
German culture and language is definitely underappreciated. I love the food, the bier and the wine especially Gewürztraminers and Silvaner.

My favorite French dish is Alscatian, basically German. Choucroûte garnie.
 
One of the strangest things in German are compound words - they basically have no limit, so you can string as many words as you want together as long as it makes sense.

An example:
Finanzdienstleistungsunternehmen.

Finanz = finance
Dienstleistung = service
Unternehmen = company

Three words compound to form a new word.

 
German language flow chart shows if you should use the formal ("Sie") or informal version of "you" ("Du") when addressing a person.
I've seen this on Twitter without a source and a reverse image search didn't provide a source.

German-Sie-Du.jpg


If you think WTF - in English there was a time when we thou, thee, thy, thine, and ye.
:)
 
Gegenseitigkeitsabkommensbeauftragterschild.

Gegenseitigkeit = mutuality
Abkommen = treaty
Beauftragter = represantive, officer
Schild = plate
No offense but to me the german language sounds like a man with a hair lip and a mouth full of shat trying to talk .But again I dated a young woman from south Africa yeas ago and her native tongue sounded the same way.
I think the french language is the sexiest sounding of them all .
Im American and have rarely heard the German language except in older war movies .
English has words that can mean various things also .
 
"umfahren" is another interesting German word. Two meanings:

  • to driver around around something, to bypass
  • to knock someone over with a car
So strangely one word with opposite meanings. Context is king.
 
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