Just comment on this post and I’ll post it as question :)
On “zu” and “um zu”
Hi there,
I’ve learnt about sentences with ‘dass’ and ‘zu + infinitive’, but I still don’t feel so confident writing arbitrary sentences that I make up myself. I’ve read the stuff on your site too and this helps loads (much more than many of the boring grammar books); but am still having trouble.
As I understand, it’s okay to write things like, “I know I eat many apples”, in two different ways:
Ich weiss, dass ich viele Äpfel esse.
or
Ich weiss, viele Äpfel zu essen.
…
But are they really the same? The literal English translation is slightly different:
I know that I eat many apples
vs
I know to eat many apples
Also, I was wondering what is possible to make up the main bit of the sentence (“ich weiss”), not the dependent part. Can it just be anything that can be / needs completing? E.g.,
The sausages, …
On Tuesdays, …
I hope, …
For “I must have forgotten it”, would that be:
ich muß es zu vergessen haben.
ich muß haben, es zu vergessen.
(Originally asked by Edd)
You made me do stuff in German
Sorry I just had one more question about dropping things… would one use the construction (for example)
- “mir ist die Brille runtergefallen” or
- “ich hab meine Brille fallen lassen”?
And could please tell me how I would say
- “you made me drop my pencil”?
I thought of
- “Du hast mich dazu gebracht…”
but I can’t think of how to work in either of the previous constructions.
(asked by Andrew)
Stand-alone ob-sentence
I was wondering if constructions, like
- “ob es ihm noch gut geht?”
when wondering to yourself aloud how someone is, leave out the main clause?
Is the implication
- “Ich frage mich, ob es ihm noch gut geht?”?
Or does it mean something else?
(asked by Andrew)
Weir use of “langsam”
In a sentence such as
- “Ich frage mich langsam, wenn die Burger endlich serviert werden”
and
- “Mir ist langsam langweilig”.
Does this use of langsam function like “beginning to” or “starting to”, as in “I’m starting to wonder when the burgers will be served”?
(Asked by Andrew)
zur selben Nacht – warum nicht “in der”?
Hallo Emanuel,
In einem Lied gibt es diesen Text:
“Er traf ein Mädchen, das war blind
Geteiltes Leid und gleichgesinnt
Sah einen Stern vom Himmel gehen
Und wünschte sich sie könnte sehn
Sie hat die Augen aufgemacht
Verließ ihn noch zur selben Nacht”
Warum heißt es hier “zur selben Nacht”? Ich gebe zu, es klingt irgendwie besser als “an der selben Nacht” aber es würde doch auch “am selben Tag” heißen statt “zum selben Tag”? oder sind beide möglich?
Wieder mal danke im Voraus! :)
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