A language learners’ forum

Posted: **Tue May 05, 2020 10:11 am**

DaveAgain wrote:äste and geäst both translate as 'branches'

does the ge prefix have a meaning?
Man sah die Äste vor sich ...
... mit dem Fuß im tieferliegenden Geäst herumstochern ...

(Quote taken from Die Geschichte von Herrn Sommer ISBN: 9783257226645)

"twigs and branches, big and small, growing in all directions"
if it is more dominated by bushes, it's called "Gestrüpp"

Posted: **Tue May 05, 2020 10:19 am**

Kraut wrote:
DaveAgain wrote:äste and geäst both translate as 'branches'

does the ge prefix have a meaning?
Man sah die Äste vor sich ...
... mit dem Fuß im tieferliegenden Geäst herumstochern ...

(Quote taken from Die Geschichte von Herrn Sommer ISBN: 9783257226645)

"twigs and branches, big and small, growing in all directions"
if it is more dominated by bushes, it's called "Gestrüpp"

seems to be a building morpheme, describing a mass of rather undefined things of the same nature but without contours

stochern - das Gestochere
murmeln - das Gemurmel
stöhnen - das Gestöhne
schwätzen - das Geschwätz
prägen - das Gepräge
fummeln - das Gefummel
schreiben - das Geschreibsel

Posted: **Tue May 05, 2020 11:32 am**

DaveAgain wrote:äste and geäst both translate as 'branches'
does the ge prefix have a meaning?

IMHO, in this particular case, the Ge prefix turns Äste into a collective noun. I.e., a Geäst consists of Äste and you'd use Geäst to refer to all branches. Note that there's also an archaic form Astwerk with the same meaning. A somewhat similar case is Gerippe [=skeleton], which (also) contains Rippen [=ribs].

Posted: **Tue May 05, 2020 12:59 pm**

https://www.google.com/search?q=Ge%C3%A ... 41&bih=384

Posted: **Tue May 05, 2020 3:47 pm**

Greetings, everyone. I'm glad to find this forum! I have been learning German on and off for about a year with slow results, but recently switched from more traditional methods of learning (books, Duolingo, etc) to something closer to the AJATT/MIA mass immersion system. The core of my learning/studying right now is centered around Glossika mass sentence structure and the core of my immersion is watching boatloads of German-dub anime series and German TV news. Lately my progress has been much improved using these methods. I am going to take some time and read this entire thread, but I just wanted to say hello for now.

Posted: **Mon Jun 01, 2020 5:17 pm**

I'm re-posting my German specific questions from my log here, in case anyone doesn't read my log that can answer:

Deutsch
40 mins. (and that's without the DW audio course!)
I continued to work on the C exercises from Kapitel 1 in Begegnungen. One of the exercises had me write three small texts. I'll post those below, in case there are any errors or what not.

Also, I notice that in one of the exercises the following happens:
Später bin ich Journalist. ([Later] I will be a journalist)
Today I noticed the following grammar notes:
Jetzt lerne ich Deutsch. (I'm learning German now.)
which can also go like:
Ich lerne jetzt Deutsch.

So, I got to wondering if you can say:
Ich bin später Journalist. or if that can't be done, for some reason. I notice an example with später in the same section of notes, but only with später at the beginning of the sentence.

And now the three texts:
a) Anna Tatzikowa kommt aus Moskau. Sie wohnt jetzt in München. Anna studiert Medizin und später ist sie Ärztin. Ihre Muttersprache ist Russisch und sie spricht sehr gut Englisch. Sie is ledig. Sie Spielt gern Tennis und hört gern Musik.

b) Paul Ehrlicher wohnt in Leipzig und arbeitet als Kriminalkommissar. Er ist geschieden und hat zwei Kinder. Seine Muttersprache ist Deutsch und er spricht auch English. Paul spielt gern Gitarre und singt gern.

c) Petra Sommer wohnt in Frankfurt. Sie ist Lehrerin und ist verheiratet. Ihre Muttersprache ist Deutsch und sie spricht ein bisschen Englisch und Spanisch. Sie lernt gern Italienisch und schreibt gern Gedichte.

I'm not sure if you can pro-drop, like I did. I just tried it though.

Posted: **Tue Jun 02, 2020 5:28 am**

księżycowy wrote:Also, I notice that in one of the exercises the following happens:
Später bin ich Journalist. ([Later] I will be a journalist)

You can't use "später bin ich" with a noun. It's usually used with a past participle.

For example:

Etwas später bin ich nach Hause gegangen. [= Sometime later I went home.]

You might say something like:

Später möchte/werde ich als Journalist arbeiten.

or

Ich möchte/werde später als Journalist arbeiten.

Posted: **Tue Jun 02, 2020 10:41 am**

It's OK.
https://books.google.de/books?id=Fm3_jX ... 22&f=false

Später bin ich eine gute Mathelehrerin und bringe den Schülern schwierige Aufgaben bei.

In 30 Jahren bin ich vielleicht bereits Großvater.

Posted: **Tue Jun 02, 2020 11:29 am**

I have to admit that I am getting some fascinating replies to this. (I've asked elsewhere as well.) I certainly hope my textbook is teaching me correct things!

Posted: **Tue Jun 02, 2020 12:29 pm**

Good job I haven't yet donated my Begegnungen A1 book, because I just had to look it up! There is a bit more context to the exercise, it works as follows:

Johann studiert Chemie. Später ist er...
Marie studiert Jura. Später ist sie...

The goal of the exercise is to practice the use of masculine and feminine job titles.

I'd be interested to know how this feels to a native speaker too? It's not a sentence pattern I think I would use now.

On the whole though, the Begegnungen series is of good quality, so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Also, the fact that whilst the conjugated verb goes in 2nd position, you don't have to put the subject in 1st position, is a good one to start training early.

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