Yes, sometimes the grammar of German will make obvious something that would be easy to lose in careless translation, but not always. Using an example: Dave and

Yes, sometimes the grammar of German will make obvious something that would be easy to lose in careless translation, but not always. Using an example: Dave and Andy each went to London with a pencil and a book. He forgot it at the train station. Dave und Andy sind mit jeweils einem Stift und einem Buch nach London gefahren. Er hat es im Bahnhof vergessen. Here it is NOT clear who forgot (they are both male), but it is clear what was left behind, because 'es' refers to the book (neuter), otherwise a different article would have been used for masculine pencil. In careless English translation one loses the distinction because English uses "it" for all inanimate objects.