Help with Homework

[Grand_Admiral_Thrawn]

Well, I'm having a bit of trouble with my homework tonight, and since there seems to be plenty of German speaking forum members, I thought this would be a good place to get some help (sure, I could have called my professer, but this is easier).

 

Ok, there are two questions, the first I am stumped on, the second I simply want verification as to whether or not it is right. In the first question I am given two incomplete sentences (the first of the four below), into which I need to place the appropriate verb I managed to get the second sentence I think, but I'm stumped as to the first. Hopefully this will make sence when you see the question. The verbs at the bottom are those I have to choose from:

 

1.

>heute die Sonne?

 

>__________________________________-

 

heiβe / kommt / kommst / ist / scheint / sind / zeigt / geht / bin / regent

 

 

In the second question, I was given the answer to a question and had to formulate the question itself from the bold and underlined verb (sort of like Jeopardy). Just let me know if this is right:

 

2.

 

Answer: Michaels Zimmer ist sehr groβ.

Question created by me: Wie groβ ist Micheals Zimmer?

 

 

While I am enjoying the class, it is a real pain in the butt to learn all of the verb endings for specific pronouns, the gender of a noun (definitely a new thing to me. I only took French in highschool for one year), sentence structure. Hopefully I'll get the hang of it. Anyhow, any help with the above would be appreciated.

[Trejiuvanat]

I'm trying to decipher the order here...

 

1. Scheint heute die Sonne?

Nein, heute regnet es, und es ist kalt und sehr windig.

 

(Das ist eine Beschreibung vom Wetter hier. Dumme Regen-Saison.)

(This is a description of weather here. Stupid Rain season.)

 

2.

 

Um... I guess your question would be okay. It sounds silly.

 

Considering that your question is: "How big is Micheal's room?"

And the answer is: "Michael's room is very big."

 

Sehr is no verb, it's the equivalent of very.

 

A more convenient question would be: "Ist Michael's Zimmer groß?", which means: "Is Michael's room big?"

 

Hope it helps. And yes, German grammar is a pain in the butt. Despite having lived there for quite a few years and having spent most of my life in a German school in Costa rica, I never fully mastered the declinations and the different cases... Good Luck, GAT.

[Mad78]

Hell you have german as well. Switzerland is half german speaking which means you have to learn it at school. I have been doing it for about 6 years and still can't master it. All this grammar and verbs.

 

About Michaels room it does sound a bit strange The germans don't tend to use HOW like we do (at least I think they don't ).

[the_mask]

Well, what can I say. The answers are already there, so my work here is done

 

Trej's sentences are 100% right. In the first one you (GAT) had the order of two words wrong, though: Nein, heute es regent,.

You could say Nein, es regnet for no, it's raining, but since there's a description of when it's raining, it has to be written Nein, heute regnet es.

 

You also should rather take Trej's alternative to the second sentence : Ist Michael's Zimmer groß?, since if you asked how big the room is, you'd rather get an answer, that included how many square meters the room has

[Grand_Admiral_Thrawn]

Thanks for the help . My biggest limitation is that right now, after a month of learning, we're probably at the equivilant of grade 4.

 

And to think I took this willingly .

[Mad78]

i didn't and i am forced to learn it. And i can't go to the swiss-german area of switzerland to train since over there they speak a local version of the language which incomprehensible.

[the_mask]

Thanks for the help . My biggest limitation is that right now, after a month of learning, we're probably at the equivilant of grade 4.

Mmm, I dunno. I've already written pretty large stories in 4th grade

 

they speak a local version of the language which incomprehensible.

* breathes a sigh of relief *

So it's not just me ?

Nah, to be honest, if I listen really hard I can understand most of the dialect.

[Mad78]

You have been to Switzerland?

I remember visiting Balenberg and there was a guy there explaining how they used to make Chess it sounded as follos:

Eugh Eugh Nor Eugh Do Eugh auch Supper Eugh

I stopped listening after that but stayed in the hut since it was nice and warm in there

[Trejiuvanat]

Thanks for the help . My biggest limitation is that right now, after a month of learning, we're probably at the equivilant of grade 4.

Mmm, I dunno. I've already written pretty large stories in 4th grade

Good old stories in the Grundschule, those were the days.

 

they speak a local version of the language which incomprehensible.

* breathes a sigh of relief *

So it's not just me ?

Nah, to be honest, if I listen really hard I can understand most of the dialect.

The swiss accent is easier to understand that the Austrian one.

[Grand_Admiral_Thrawn]

I'd thought that the accents in Östereich would be easier to understand. I always thought they were closer to Deutchland than Sweiss. See how I did that. I tied my German into my English... now I have to hope I spelled everything right.

 

I was suppose to take a trip with my family to Austria, but it never panned out. Too bad, I've always wanted to go to that area of Europe (but avoid France. No offence any French people).

[zxzxi]

I'm just going to stick with Spanish. At least when I'm forced to take a Language class (other then Lang. Arts or English.) I'm only in 8th grade. I also live in the US.

[AdmiralFishface]

To clarify...

 

People from northern Germany don't understand people from the south and vice versa.

People from eastern Austria don't understand the ones from the west.

People from Germany don't understand people from Austria.

People from Austria don't understand the ones from Germany (maybe the ones from the south, some of them).

Noone understands Schwitz'rdütsch.

 

Yep, one language indeed.

 

Well, it's not that bad, but in university I meet lots of people from other parts of Austria, and there is a kind of language barrier (the alps, I guess). This kinda thing is natural for every language.

 

P.S.: Österreich, Deutschland, die Schweiz

Edited October 16, 2004 by AdmiralFishface

[Mad78]

English also devellopped certain slangs. Such as rhyming slang which sounds rather weird.

Slang:

I am going up the Apples to get my Titfa

translation...

I am going up stairs to get my hat.

(Apples and pears, stairs

Tit for tat, hat)

Kind of weird and you can also pin point the area from which an englishman comes by listening to his accent.

[Grand_Admiral_Thrawn]

But can you tell where a Canadian comes from by his accent? It's actually quite odd. People from Ottawa (three hours north of where I live) have a strange accent, as well as some odd phrases in their vocabulary.

[the_mask]

You mean noofy or however it is written ?

I heard a few examples of it once, but some of it was ... over my head

[Grand_Admiral_Thrawn]

Lol, no, in my opinion the people in Newfoundland don't even speak English. Here in Ontario there is actually a variance in accents. The farther north you go the more prominent the accent seems to be. There is also an accent for the "prairie folk" in the middle provinces.. Even those in Quebec have to be different. Their version of French is very different from that spoken in Europe.

[Mad78]

You can say that twice. The Canadian accent in french can recognised anywhere.

I also hear I have a Genevois (as in Geneva) accent in french you can cut with a knife but I don't notice anything.

[the_mask]

Good old stories in the Grundschule, those were the days.

Yeah, I remember writing one, that included a robot, who wielded a blaster and a lightsaber. That must've been in 3rd or 4th grade. It didn't sit too well with my teacher, though. He was more on the ... green party ... track.

 

But then again, that guy also tried to forbid us to watch Pink Panter or Tom & Jerry, because they were "dangerous". Rah, like that hippie could talk of real life. But enough of mentally challenged individuals

 

So GAT, was it noofy or something else, you meant ?

[Mad78]

If only he had knowen you would turn green several years later

[Grand_Admiral_Thrawn]

It was something else that I had meant, bu I don't think most people would know about unless they've lived here.

[the_mask]

If only he had knowen you would turn green several years later

Yup, but I didn't regret a day of it

 

It was something else that I had meant, bu I don't think most people would know about unless they've lived here

Well, if you want to give it a try, I'm here

[Trejiuvanat]

I also hear I have a Genevois (as in Geneva) accent in french you can cut with a knife but I don't notice anything.

 

On never notices his own accent. I've been told that Costa Ricans have a singsong accent in spanish (not as bad as Mexicans), but I have never noticed it.