Re: Fragen über Deutsch - Questions about German
Posted: 04 Apr 2016 08:36
Yes, "daß" is the writing before 1999. Since then, nearly each voiceless /s/ after a short vowel has to be written "ss", while each voiceless /s/ after long vowels and diphtongs is "ß". "das", however, is an exception that occured due to auslautverhärtung. In fact, "dass" and "das" is unsolvable even for many native speakers. As a rule of thumb, you could say it's written "dass" when a new subject comes after it.
Word order is actually not that hard in German. It's basically VSO in interrogative sentences and SOV in subordinate clauses. In affirmative sentences, it has a special word order called V2: The verb always comes at second in a sentence, no matter if the subject, an object, an adverbial construction or a subordinate clause precedes it.
Ich ging gestern in die Stadt, weil ich eine neue Hose brauchte.
In die Stadt ging ich gestern, weil ich eine neue Hose brauchte.
Gestern ging ich in die Stadt, weil ich eine neue Hose brauchte.
Weil ich eine neue Hose brauchte, ging ich gestern in die Stadt.
Ich: Subject, "I"
ging: Verb, "went"
gestern: temporal adverbial, "yesterday"
in die Stadt: local adverbial, "into the city"
Weil ich eine neue Hose brauchte: causal subordinate clause, "because I needed new trousers" (here word order is SOV)
Another remarkable feature is that in German, the temporal adverbial always precedes the local one, while in English it's the other way around.
There is something called "Verbklammer": If a verb is used with auxillary verbs, the main verb is not only in the infinitive like in English, but also goes to the very end of the sentence. "Ich konnte ihn sehen." "Ich habe ihn gesehen" (I could see him. I have seen him.)
If a verb has a prefix that owns primary stress, it is separated from the rest of the verb and goes to the very end of the sentence when it's conjugated, and both parts are separated within one word by the infix "ge" when used in the Partizip II.
Example: from fahren - to drive
umfahren - /umˈfaːrɛn/ to circuit, drive around something, primary stress on the verb stem vs.
umfahren - /'umfaːrɛn/ to knock something down with a car, primary stress on the prefix "um"
So you say: "Ich umfahre den Auerhahn. Ich habe den Auerhahn umfahren. Gib Gas, umfahr ihn!"
"I'm driving around the mountain cock. I drove around the mountain cock. Open up, drive around it!"
But: "Ich fahre den Auerhahn um. Ich habe den Auerhahn umgefahren. Gib Gas, fahr ihn um!"
"I'm knocking down the mountain cock. I knocked down the mountain cock. Open up, knock it down!"
Yes, German is actually that weird. My grandmother, however, used the last sentence I mentioned unintentionally on vacation. My grandfather still laughs about it several times. EDIT: Just for emphazizing: Neither did we knock down a mountain cock, nor did my grandmother want that. In fact, we didn't even drive around it but were waiting until it went into the forest.
Apart from this, the word order in German is quite free.
Word order is actually not that hard in German. It's basically VSO in interrogative sentences and SOV in subordinate clauses. In affirmative sentences, it has a special word order called V2: The verb always comes at second in a sentence, no matter if the subject, an object, an adverbial construction or a subordinate clause precedes it.
Ich ging gestern in die Stadt, weil ich eine neue Hose brauchte.
In die Stadt ging ich gestern, weil ich eine neue Hose brauchte.
Gestern ging ich in die Stadt, weil ich eine neue Hose brauchte.
Weil ich eine neue Hose brauchte, ging ich gestern in die Stadt.
Ich: Subject, "I"
ging: Verb, "went"
gestern: temporal adverbial, "yesterday"
in die Stadt: local adverbial, "into the city"
Weil ich eine neue Hose brauchte: causal subordinate clause, "because I needed new trousers" (here word order is SOV)
Another remarkable feature is that in German, the temporal adverbial always precedes the local one, while in English it's the other way around.
There is something called "Verbklammer": If a verb is used with auxillary verbs, the main verb is not only in the infinitive like in English, but also goes to the very end of the sentence. "Ich konnte ihn sehen." "Ich habe ihn gesehen" (I could see him. I have seen him.)
If a verb has a prefix that owns primary stress, it is separated from the rest of the verb and goes to the very end of the sentence when it's conjugated, and both parts are separated within one word by the infix "ge" when used in the Partizip II.
Example: from fahren - to drive
umfahren - /umˈfaːrɛn/ to circuit, drive around something, primary stress on the verb stem vs.
umfahren - /'umfaːrɛn/ to knock something down with a car, primary stress on the prefix "um"
So you say: "Ich umfahre den Auerhahn. Ich habe den Auerhahn umfahren. Gib Gas, umfahr ihn!"
"I'm driving around the mountain cock. I drove around the mountain cock. Open up, drive around it!"
But: "Ich fahre den Auerhahn um. Ich habe den Auerhahn umgefahren. Gib Gas, fahr ihn um!"
"I'm knocking down the mountain cock. I knocked down the mountain cock. Open up, knock it down!"
Yes, German is actually that weird. My grandmother, however, used the last sentence I mentioned unintentionally on vacation. My grandfather still laughs about it several times. EDIT: Just for emphazizing: Neither did we knock down a mountain cock, nor did my grandmother want that. In fact, we didn't even drive around it but were waiting until it went into the forest.
Apart from this, the word order in German is quite free.