Translation for "There are 20 students in my class"

Question

There are 20 students in my class.

I've read the thread on difference between es gibt/es sind, and since this example is a specific situation, it seems the translation should be

Es sind 20 Schüler in meiner Klasse.

Is that a correct translation? What would be some other alternatives?

@unor in American English even an elementary school has students, not pupils, so the translation may be spot on. — Robert, Aug 25 '14 at 16:24

user9298 · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-24T20:36:06.550

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The most common translation would be

In meiner Klasse sind 20 Schüler.

Or

Bei mir sind 20 Schüler in der Klasse.

Another possibility is

In meiner Klasse hat es 20 Schüler.

One would not use "es gibt" in that case because the sentence is only about the number of students while "es gibt" focusses more if an object exists or not. A more formal version would be "Meine Klasse besteht aus 20 Schülern. " But thats not something one would say in spoken language.

edited Aug 24 '14 at 20:36

answered Aug 24 '14 at 19:54

user9298

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You could complete your answer by providing "some other alternatives". – Aug 24 '14 at 20:17
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But "Es sind 20 Schüler in meiner Klasse." is a correct translation, too. Isn't it? – hellcode Aug 24 '14 at 20:50
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"Es sind 20 Schüler in meiner Klasse" is a totally correct translation. – user9298 Aug 24 '14 at 21:18
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"In meiner Klasse hat es 20 Schüler" sounds totally wrong in my ears. – celtschk Aug 24 '14 at 22:12
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The expression „hat es“ is used only in some regions of Germany. – Carsten S Aug 24 '14 at 23:00
The "Es sind..." version is the same as the first one here, just with "in meiner Klasse" moved. The "es" is just a grammatical filler – Emanuel Aug 24 '14 at 23:07
Es hat is German, but not standard German. – Aug 25 '14 at 11:43

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 25 '14 at 19:56

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Es sind 20 Schüler in meiner Klasse.

Is a totally fine translation.

In meiner Klasse hat es 20 Schüler

well, this is colloquial in some regions but not standard German... (it would translate back to something like: there in my class have 20 students).

edited Aug 25 '14 at 19:56

Takkat

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answered Aug 25 '14 at 14:19

user3398698

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This seems to have been meant as a comment on user9298's answer. – Carsten S Aug 27 '14 at 07:54

Translation for "There are 20 students in my class"

2 Answers2