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4 votes
4 answers
1k views

So what's a "Realencyclopädie"?

Given the importance of Pauly's work (Wikipedia, Wikisource), I assume it wasn't written in gibberish by a madman. That said, what secondary or tertiary sense does the German real or Real have that ...
lly's user avatar
  • 208
7 votes
2 answers
156 views

Wie habe ich das nur gemacht?

So the question is in the title. Because my German is still very basic, and I only know that "nur" means "only", I was wondering if in this phrasing it acts something like a modal ...
Djanoko's user avatar
  • 83
4 votes
1 answer
983 views

"bieten" with the meaning of "to ensure"

In a newspaper article, I tumbled on the following sentence: "Die Krankenkasse fordert politische Massnahmen, um dem Anstieg der [Krankenversicherungs]Prämien Einhalt zu bieten". In this ...
Sylvain Gadenne's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
55 views

Bedeutungen von "aufsetzen"

Ich bin kein deutscher Muttersprachler. Als ich mir die Bedeutungen von "aufsetzen" angeschaut habe, habe ich bemerkt, dass context.reverso.net es in erster Linie als "set up" ins ...
aldin's user avatar
  • 367
0 votes
1 answer
99 views

The meaning of this sentence, especially, dafür [duplicate]

The sentence: Es waren kaum Leute auf der Straße, dafür rasten die Autos ganz nah an uns vorbei. DeepL translates it as: There were hardly any people on the street, but the cars sped past us very ...
Ser Name's user avatar
0 votes
3 answers
147 views

Translation: "Vorzügliches" in English

I would like to translate the following sentence into English, taken from a handwritten document produced in 1804 in Prague: "Welche Beweise sind für den Satz über das Gleichgewicht am Hebel ...
DavideC's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
189 views

What does *her* add to the meaning of this sentence?

(NB: If this question starts out looking very familiar to you, this is because it is in fact my second question about the same snippet of text. The first one is this one: "andern" vs "...
kjo's user avatar
  • 3,525
11 votes
1 answer
2k views

How does "zuerst glühen wir vor" translate to "first, we'll have predrinks"?

I found the sentence Zuerst glühen wir bei mir vor. in Memrise. According to them, it translates to First, we'll have predrinks at my place. and the literal translation First, glow we by me ...
pluto-sigmoid's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
1k views

What is the difference between "antreten" and "konkurrieren"?

I am having difficulties figuring out the difference between "antreten" and "konkurrieren" in terms of the translation "to compete". In fact, both seem to be translated ...
Mark's user avatar
  • 2,751
1 vote
3 answers
150 views

Expressing "to do somebody a disservice" in German

I have been struggling with the correct way to express "to do somebody a disservice" in German. In English, this phrase is often used when your intentions are to do something good for ...
Mark's user avatar
  • 2,751
1 vote
1 answer
132 views

How to correctly express "get wise to"

I am having some difficulties translating the phrase: "to get wise to something" in German, where "to get wise to something" == "slowly figure out/not be fooled by somebody&...
Mark's user avatar
  • 2,751
2 votes
1 answer
93 views

Split a sentence into elements

I try to decompose this sentence in elements and I am not sure how to do it: Was ist denn das für eine Geschichte? This may translate as "What kind of story is this?" (not sure). Could you ...
alinsoar's user avatar
  • 123
0 votes
1 answer
169 views

Different meanings of "zu"

I have seen sentences in which zu was used for "closed" and others in which geschlossen was used. examples: geschlossen: die Tür ist geschlossen zu: die Tür ist zu or ihre Augen waren zu ...
Yaya's user avatar
  • 103
1 vote
3 answers
204 views

Expressing "keep/bring in line" in German"

I am having troubles expressing "bringing/keeping someone in line" in German. This is synonymous with, "to keep somebody in control", or in German, closely related to "...
Mark's user avatar
  • 2,751
6 votes
2 answers
300 views

Correct usage of the words "selbstständig" and "eigenständig"

I was wondering if somebody could help me understand the difference and correct usage of the words "selbstständig" and "eigenständig". Looking in the dictionary, it seems they ...
Mark's user avatar
  • 2,751

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