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I'm aware German doesn't have a gerund like the English language does, so I was just wondering how you could translate "being a" as in "being a vegetarian may cause health problems"?

Would "als" work here?

TehMacDawg
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Harley
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    being -> to be -> zu sein – Em1 Dec 06 '12 at 21:39
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    Just for clarification, German does have a Gerund form by making the verb a neuter noun: "sein" ("be") to "das Sein" ("the action of being something or existing"), just for the example here. – Kevin Dec 07 '12 at 05:27
  • @ em1: you are missing the cause-notion of "being a" – Emanuel Dec 07 '12 at 22:33

3 Answers3

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As @Em1 correctly explained

Vegetarier zu sein könnte gesundheitliche Probleme verursachen/ bedingen.

oder flüssiger

Vegetarier zu sein könnte der Gesundheit abträglich sein / schaden.
bummi
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  • These examples are grammatically correct but unidiomatic. Germans don't typically use "zu sein" gerunds. Active verbs sound better: I'd try "Sich an eine vegetarische Diät zu halten..." or "Als Vegetarier zu leben..." . – Diogenes Creosote Dec 08 '12 at 01:20
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    I disagree in so far as that your examples are not any better or more common. On the contrary , to me they are more complicated the one of Bummie... If someone wanted to match the succinctness of the English gerund, a German would probably say "Eine vegetarische Ernährung kann zu ... " or more colloquial "Kein Fleisch zu essen... – Emanuel Dec 08 '12 at 20:11
  • As a native speaker, I don't think the use of "zu sein" is unidiomatic. However, I don't like the „könnte“.

    I would probably use "Vegetarier zu sein kann der Gesundheit schaden." or "Vegetarier zu sein kann zu gesundheitlichen Problemen führen."

     – cfaerber Dec 08 '12 at 23:39
  • Noch kompakter: "Vegetarismus kann der Gesundheit schaden" o. "~ kann ungesund sein". Vor allem schmeckt es nicht. ;) – user unknown Dec 09 '12 at 01:11
  • Colloquially I would drop the "zu". – Sebastian Redl Mar 20 '14 at 16:36
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In your example "being a vegetarian may cause health problems," you'd need to resort to a different expression, e.g. change the phrase "being a vegetarian" to "to live as a vegetarian" or "life as a vegetarian": 

a) |Als Vegetarier zu leben| verursacht möglicherweise Gesundheitsprobleme. 

b) |Das Leben als Vegetarier| ruft möglicherweise Gesundheitsprobleme hervor.

It's a different thing with e.g. "being a chef, he knew how to make lasagna," where you can indeed use "Als X":

|Als Koch| wusste er, wie man Lasagne zubereitet.
TehMacDawg
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  • +1 for the difference between "being a vegetarian" and "being a chef" (or rather the significance of the comma). – Hagen von Eitzen Dec 07 '12 at 21:31
  • we can bring the examples even closer together: "Being a vegetarian he knows how to cook tasty stuff with vegetables"... there are different functions of "being a" – Emanuel Dec 07 '12 at 22:31
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Additionally als can be used as you actually purposed.

For instance

Being an office employee, I don't dare to complain about that.

could be like so

Als Büroangestellter wage ich nicht mich darüber zu beschweren.