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Is there a 'da-' construct with 'ohne'? if not, are there any more prepositions that can't form 'da-' constructs

I'm talking about "damit, daraus, darauf, darin, da-..." I've never heard "darohne" or anything like that, and according to the dictionary, nothing like that exists. Can anyone explain a bit and perhaps give more examples of prepositions that don't…
vlad-ardelean
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Classic childrens books that are unknown outside of DE/AT/CH?

This question is present as a matter of historical interest. While you are encouraged to help maintain its answers, please understand that "big list" questions are not generally allowed on German Language and Usage and will be closed per the…
adolf garlic
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Is there a common origin for "to count on s.o." / "auf jmd. zählen"

My girlfriend told me that the phrase "You can count on me" exists also in French, with the same meaning and as a literal translation to count on s.o. => to rely on s.o. In German, it is also the same auf jmd. zählen => sich auf jmd. verlassen I…
Sentry
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To which extent should repetitions of "der", "die" and "das" be avoided?

When I speak, it often happens that pronoun/article homonyms crop up after each other. So viele Katzen! Ich mag die, die den Hut trägt. Ich mag die, die die Mütze trägt. Welches Kätzchen findest du am süßesten? Ich denke, dass das, das das Kleid…
Tim
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How to address more than one person in an E-mail?

I have to address my future German Au Pair family in an E-mail and until now have only been in contact with the woman. However the last E-mail was signed with both names, so I now feel I should address the husband as well in my reply. It has been…
irishgirl21
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Why does Gauß' signature have no ß?

I do not speak German but during a discussion with some German friends we ended up chatting about the evolution of the way German is written (I am French and I mentioned some changes we went through too). It was mostly around ß→ss, ö→oe, ü→ue,…
WoJ
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Making sense of the construct “Ich bin der Auffassung”

I understand that “Ich bin der Auffassung” means something like “I believe” or “I think”. However, I do not understand how this makes sense grammatically, because when you literally translate it, it means: “I am the opinion” (I = the opinion). Is…
Mehmet Arıoğul
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6 answers

What is "das Schulabschlusszeugnis" in this context?

I am trying to understand the meaning of the following: Das originalsprachige Schulabschlusszeugnis, das den Hochschulzugang eröffnet My initial "translation" for this phrase intended only as a starting point and which was obtained entirely by…
Sriotchilism O'Zaic
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Is it an error when I do not use ß when it is necessary?

I'm living in a German-speaking country where ß is not used at all. Therefore, I do not use ß when I write German texts. Now I'm asking myself if this is technically a spelling error? Or is the ß more or less just a convention?
RoflcoptrException
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8 answers

How to say "respectively" in German when listing (enumerating) things

In English and many other languages I could say something like this: Tom and Jack play football and baseball respectively. That means that Tom plays football and Jack plays baseball. How can I say this in German? What is the equivalent of…
matvs
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How do German speakers decide what should be on the left side of the verb?

Compared to English, German has a fair amount of what I am describing as "Yoda-speak", whereby the order of elements in a sentence are in the reverse order of what they would be in English. NOTE: If someone knows what the technical term is for what…
Robert Oschler
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What is the difference between "Grippe" and "Männergrippe"?

Sometimes people say "Er hat Grippe." and sometimes they say "Er hat Männergrippe." When to use which? Where is the difference?
Kevin Kevin
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Ordering German special characters and those from other languages when sorting

I want to sort strings (text) in a software project of mine. I'm planning to do this in the lexically best way. My set of possible characters consist of the full alphabet (a–z and A–Z) and of the typical Latin 1 Umlauts, like Ä, ö, ß, and also…
Matthias
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Ist die Benutzung des Wörtchens "wo" in Zusammenhang mit Zeitangaben korrekt?

Hier ist ein Zitat aus dem Buch Die Stadt der Träumenden Bücher von Walter Moers: Es gibt Momente beim Schreiben, wo die Dinge in Fluß geraten und im Fluß bleiben müssen, und das geht nur, wenn man den richtigen Arm benutzt. Ist dies…
Rasmus
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Suffix: -ierung vs. -ation

Es gibt viele Wörter, die wahrscheinlich aus dem Lateinischen stammen, die im Deutschen mit zwei verschiedenen Endungen möglich sind. Ich rede von den Endungen -ierung und -ation. Beispiele: Registr-ierung / Registr-ation Isol-ierung /…
buschtoens
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