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Hi there, I have a few German sentences in my upcoming fic and I've been told they're incorrect. So any help would be appreciated :)
'Warte auf mich! Warten Sie!' Wait for me! Wait!
'Ich sagte warte!' I said wait!
'Hor auf zu weinen und schlafen gehen!' Stop crying and go to sleep!
That's all, unless anyone here also speaks Polish. :D
In German, we have to forms of addresses: formal (Sie) and informal (du). Depending on which form you use, the verbs are conjugated differently.
The right use depends on the relation your characters have. There are two possibilities to say it correctly:Quote:
'Warte auf mich! Warten Sie!' Wait for me! Wait!
1) Warte auf mich! Warte! (informal address)
2) Warten Sie auf mich! Warten Sie! (formal address)
Quite generally, the informal address is used if it's :
- two kids,
- an adult talking to a kid or
- two adults that know each other very well and are friends.
The formal address is used if it's:
- two adults that don't know each other that well (like e.g. colleagues at work) or
- a kid talking to an adult.
Depending on the above, the sentence as you have it (just add the comma) corresponds with the informal address. For the formal address, your sentence would read: "Ich sagte, warten Sie!"Quote:
'Ich sagte, warte!' I said wait!
If I know the context about who's speaking to whom, then my answer can be more definite.
I would think this is informal address, like e.g. an adult talking to a kid? That would be correctly: "Hör auf zu weinen und geh schlafen!"Quote:
'Hor auf zu weinen und schlafen gehen!'
I hope that helped.
The first two phrases are by a Nazi solider talking to a large group of his collegues who are laughing at him and pretending to drive off without him. So I'm not sure which to go with there :/
The second is indeed a grumpy woman snapping at kids. :)
Thank you so much! :D
Well, you need to decide on how "close" the people are. For instance, if they all are on the same rank, e.g. all are lieutenants, then they might use informal addresses. Being on first-name basis is generally a good indicator for informal address in Germany. So how do they address each other?Quote:
Originally Posted by JokerBlue
A soldier wouldn't address a higher ranking officer with first name, however, but use the "sir" - then the formal address is required.
Also, knowing now that a single person is talking to a group of people, then - if the address is informal - your character would say "Wartet auf mich! Wartet!" and "Ich sagte, wartet!"
Hope that helps.
I have a general German question....
What are some words or sounds in English that are difficult for native German speakers to say? What would a native German speaker pronounce very carefully in English or substitute with another easier to say word?
Edit: Thanks Bine! That's precisely what I needed to know.
'th' is often difficult for us to pronounce. When I started English, it always came out as either 's' or 'z'. Some words containing 'th' still trouble me and other people I know. (My boss for example has difficulties with 'thresholds'.) In that case it's hard to find substitutes though, so we try to speak slowly and clearly, or hope that the others understand us. xD