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I often hear "dann treffen wir uns gegen 8 Uhr irgendwo". How precise is this? Is it ±5 min or ±10 min or does it depend on the situation?

Are there other words which means "approximately at eight", but are either less precise or more precise?

Stovner
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2 Answers2

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It depends on the persons and situation.

In my opinion it is around ±5 min or ±10 min and it sounds to me if a group is meeting before 8 (maybe somewhere in the city or at an event) and the other person will join them later but without any fixed time

therealmarv
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  • More precise: genau um 8. Less precise: irgendwann um 8, um 8 Uhr herum, ab 8 – therealmarv Aug 09 '11 at 11:32
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    Note: the question if "gegen 8 Uhr" is always before 8 o'clock has been heavily discussed on various sites. Some argue that it's always before 8, others say it can be before or after 8. – Joachim Sauer Aug 09 '11 at 11:34
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    I'm not so sure about the "always before" meaning. Although IMO the period which is accepted "after" a certain point of time is certainly shorter: You don't want to let people wait for you. As a rule of thumb: -10/+5 minutes. – 0x6d64 Aug 09 '11 at 12:35
  • @0x6d4: that's exactly my point: there is no generally accepted interpretation. Some people are very sure that it's "always before" while others say "it's -10/+5" (or something similar) and a few say "it's ±10". – Joachim Sauer Aug 09 '11 at 12:49
  • normally you divide the hour in 4 quarter so i assume maximal ±5 min as ok, 10 min is too close to 8h15min ... whats the point of saying "gegen 8 Uhr" at all when youre are not allowed to come later than 8? – Hauser Aug 10 '11 at 01:36
  • I have to admit, I never thought of 'gegen 8 Uhr' to be valid only for times before 8 o'clock before (maybe because I tend to be late?). But now thinking about it, there is much sense, in only accepting times before 8 as valid. On the other hand: If I didn't knew it - how should others know? About the distance: Depends on the kind of termin. You might even say: "Wir gehen abends immer noch spazieren - meist bis gegen 7 oder gegen 8". This wouldn't mean either 18:55-19:00 or 19:55-20:00 Uhr, but maybe 18:30 to 20:00 Uhr. – user unknown Aug 10 '11 at 05:30
  • ... depends on the person ... - If the person is me it means +/- 15 minutes :D – oleschri Aug 12 '11 at 19:19
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It means around, about or towards the time. It's a rough time with some minutes tolerance, not important after the mentioned time or before it. (as therealmarv has answered) it depends on the person.

EDIT

Other words which means "approximately at eight" (less to more precise*):

  • so gegen acht Uhr
  • ungefähr um acht Uhr
  • gegen acht Uhr
  • etwa um acht Uhr
  • um acht Uhr oder so

If you mean the precise time you would say:

  • um acht Uhr
  • um genau acht/ genau um acht
  • um Punkt acht Uhr

* : it's hard for the first five or so entries in the list to determine which one is more precise. At least colloquially, they can all mean the same.

Community
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    +1 Gigili, this is nice addition to the previous answer, but I still accept the other one since it answers the question more directly. – Stovner Aug 11 '11 at 08:52