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1500 questions
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votes
4 answers

Was ist der Unterschied zwischen "reden" und "sprechen"?

Ich denke, sie sind Synonyme; aber sind sie es wirklich? "Reden" scheint mehr umgangssprachlich zu sein, während "sprechen" ganz viele verschiedene Bedeutungen hat. Warum gibt es das Wort "reden"? Warum ist "sprechen" nicht genug? Was ist der…
hhh
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38
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9 answers

What is the German equivalent of foo, bar, baz?

The English words foo, bar and baz are often used as placeholder nonsense names in programming. In French, "toto, titi, tata, tutu" are common. Which words are used for this purpose in German code? To clarify: Although company-local traditions are…
Tim
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38
votes
3 answers

Gute Anrede für Bedienungen

Ich suche eine gute Anrede für Bedienungen im Restaurant. Seit Fräulein in Verruf gebracht wurde, denke ich oft über eine Alternative nach. Ich habe bereits etliche Bedienungen gefragt und oft fanden sie Fräulein diskriminierend. Diese Untergruppe…
Ludi
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38
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8 answers

W → V, V → F. Why do German speakers wrongly transpose rather than shift when speaking English?

If German "W" is pronounced like an English "V" and German "V" is pronounced like an English "F" i.e. W → V V → F Why is it that I continually hear German speakers pronounce their (English) V's as (English) W's when speaking English?…
adolf garlic
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37
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2 answers

Low German, Upper German, Bavarian ... Where are these dialects spoken?

There are many questions here on German.stackexchange dealing with variations of Standard German and with specific properties of dialects, but to many people it seems to be unclear in which geographic region which dialects are spoken. So, here is my…
Hubert Schölnast
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37
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1 answer

What are the differences between "bekommen", "erhalten", "entgegennehmen", "empfangen", "besorgen" and "kriegen"?

Do they all mean to receive or to obtain? What are the differences in the use of these words?
zud
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37
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3 answers

Wieso sprengt man Rasenflächen?

Googles Resultate bezüglich der Herkunft waren mittelprächtig. Es scheint mir, dass es sich mit in die Luft jagen (dem anderen sprengen, das sehr bekannt ist) die Herkunft teilt. Aber wie die genau aussieht, also wo und wann die Differenzierung…
Jürgen A. Erhard
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37
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5 answers

Kann man sich entschuldigen oder nur um Entschuldigung bitten?

Achtung: Folgende Frage könnte als Haarspalterei oder Spitzfindigkeit empfunden werden. Ich frage mich, ob der folgende Ausdruck sich entschuldigen eigentlich richtig ist. Man hört ihn sehr häufig, und jeder versteht ihn. Mein Problem damit ist…
splattne
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37
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6 answers

Which letters does the German alphabet consist of?

I mean the “official” or “traditional” alphabet, such as the one taught in schools to children. Is the ordering the same as English? Does it include C, which I notice never seems to show up in native-German words? Does it include ü, ö, ä, and ß? If…
maaku
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36
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5 answers

"Die Worte" vs. "die Wörter"

This question also has an answer here (in German): Was ist der Unterschied zwischen "Worte" und "Wörter"? Worte and Wörter are both plurals of Wort. Is there a difference in meaning between them?
iddober
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36
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1 answer

Is Bavarian the 80th most spoken "language" in the world?

Yesterday I stumbled upon this infographic showing the 100 most spoken languages in the world. It says that Bavarian has 14,359,000 (total) speakers, which makes it the 80th most spoken language in the world. For me Bavarian was always some kind of…
mtwde
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36
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5 answers

For new words which are often nouns who sets the gender?

I think the title sums it up but since every single thing in the universe can be referred to as a noun and German assigns every noun a gender who gets to decide the gender? Furthermore, other European languages have similar issues other than…
user2175
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1 answer

»Karlsruhe, den 29. Juli 2012« – warum »den«?

Wenn man in einem Schriftstück den Ort und das Datum schreibt, dann kenne ich das so: [Ort], den [Datum] also z.B.: Karlsruhe, den 29. Juli 2012 Warum schreibt man den? Warum nicht der wie in Folgendem? Es ist der 29. Juli 2012. Gibt es eine…
Martin Thoma
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Are “Kinder” still their parents’ “Kinder” when they grow up?

In English, child can mean a young person, but it can also mean something like “offspring” or ”progeny”—i.e., it can denote the relationship that one has with one’s parents. For example, it is entirely appropriate for my parents to say something…
HardlyKnowEm
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36
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11 answers

Aus vs. Von - What is the difference?

My confusion at the moment lies in the difference in the two prepositions, aus and von. Please note that Dict.cc is my main resource for words and phrases, and it shows the following: I’m fairly confident in my ability to use these words…
Dustin
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