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> I didn't find the grammar particularly hard once you learn the differences. Then you are either a genius in language learning/grammar or you are not aware of
by wolfgke 9y ago
> I didn't find the grammar particularly hard once you learn the differences.
Then you are either a genius in language learning/grammar or you are not aware of your mistakes (choose for yourself). I say as a native German speaker that even less educated Germans do some really ugly grammar mistakes that you should better avoid, just to give two examples:
1. Using the dative as "Deppengenitiv" (douche's genitive): Some prepositions (such as "wegen") require a genitive; also some (a little bit obscure and old-fashioned) verbs (such as "gedenken") require a genitive object. Uneducated people use them with dative. You are hopefully not uneducated.
So the following sentences are WRONG:
- Wegen einem Unfall kam ich zu spät zur Arbeit.
- Ich gedenke den Verstorbenen.
Correct is of course (you guessed it after I gave the rule):
- Wegen eines Unfalls kam ich zu spät zur Arbeit.
- Ich gedenke der Verstorbenen.
2. Which are the correct principal forms of "hängen"
a) hängen - hing - gehangen,
b) hängen - hängte - gehängt?
Answer: Both are correct, but have different meanings. a) are the correct principal forms of the intransitive verb (i.e. without object) "hängen" and b) are the correct principal forms of the transitive verb (requiring an accusative object) "hängen"
So the following sentences are WRONG:
- Er hing ein Bild auf.
- Die Jacke hängte am Ständer.
Correct is
- Er hängte ein Bild auf.
- Die Jacke hing am Ständer.
- germanier 9y agoI don't think I would call people uneducated and their usage of language dumb and wrong just because it does not follow the usage from one specific point in time long ago. Most things you mentioned have been used by a vast number of people for a significant time now. At some point we need accept that language is constantly evolving. You don't write like Goethe either but I don't call you uneducated for that. Before anyone laments the erosion of our language: The German language has never been so expressive as it is now. Every change gives new ways to precisely choose the way you word something.
- wolfgke 9y ago> I don't think I would call people uneducated and their usage of language dumb and wrong just because it does not follow the usage from one specific point in time long ago. Most things you mentioned have been used by a vast number of people for a significant time now. At some point we need accept that language is constantly evolving. You don't write like Goethe either but I don't call you uneducated for that. This is a difference in mentality that I observe all the time between English and German language. In English if lots of speakers make some mistake it becomes "an accepted alternative" and at some time even "correct". For German language the mentality is different: If lots of people make a mistake it (with few exceptions) will still be considered as wrong. Accept it.