Hello everyone,
it’s great to be here, with all you German learners. Great crowd. Great crowd. And huuuge. Such a huge crowd. Billions and billions of learners.
Look, we have a problem. A really big problem.
Many people say … friends of mine, smart people, some of the smartest people in the planet, they come to me and they say German is difficult.
They say it’s too difficult and they can’t learn it.
But I tell them, German is not difficult. It’s not difficult, believe me. It’s actually really easy, you wouldn’t believe.
It’s just…Emanuel, he is a total weak woke liberal choke artist.
And these woke textbooks, they’re all text, no action, they totally don’t know what they’re doing. They don’t know what they’re doing.
Look, I know more about German than probably anybody. I get along great with grammar; I know words, I have the best words.
And I’m gonna share them with you. For free no less. I must be stupid to give it away for free. But I love you too much, I have to do it.
Today, we’ll look at the meaning of one of those prefix verbs. Believe, we’ll clear up the meaning of
untergehen
Find out more
All lessons, tools and premium features (and there’s a LOT of them :).
Already a member?
Audio Speed
Dark Mode
Ja, danke!
“untergehen” bedeutet eigentlich “decline” statt “falling apart”! Z.B. “Der Untergang und Verfall des Roemischen Reiches” = The DECLINE and Fall of the Roman Empire”
Da stimme ich nicht zu. “decline” ist eine Abwärtsbewegung, die aber nicht impliziert, dass man “bis zum Ende” geht. Bei “untergehen” geht es genau darum, dass man danach “weg” ist.
Die Übersetzung hier ist nicht gut getroffen.
“Der Blick von meinem Penthouse ist unglaublich, wenn die Sonne untergeht.” – Warum nicht “die Sonne geht unter”? Ist das nicht trennbar?
Doch, es ist trennbar. Aber das hier ist ein Nebensatz:
– Die Sonne geht unter. (Hauptsatz, “normal”)
– … , wenn die Sonne untergeht. (Nebensatz, Verb am Ende)
“Wenn” funktioniert wie “dass”
Hilft das?
Hahahahaha ‘I have the best words’ is something he actually said if I remember correctly
Yeah, he did. That actually triggered the whole thing for me because I was like “Wait Donald, I have the best words”
You’re the best. Really.
Das ist urkomisch! …der Mann ist gruselig… wie ein Zugunglück…
I have the best train wrecks, believe me!
OK…first, and much more importantly. Thank you very much for the anwer…the second thing maybe doesn’t matter….i thought maybe you had said that german daily talk did not use the future tense a lot…but i feel i’m wrong so i will get back to you
Oh no, that’s completely correct. I think I hardly ever use it. Maybe once a week or so. Other people might use it a bit more often but a learner can get by just fine without it.
“Ich habe ein schuld mit die knieppe in der ecke..dafur sind sie die zukunft verantworlich mauerbauer “…would that be an accurate translation.. (Sans the amount of “schuld’) …just for laughs…which is the way one must learn future tense for practical use…danke. So i guess the real question that has been kind of bothering me is the one time.you said (maybe lightly) that germans are not keen on the use of future tense… (In french it is called future proche..which we love in latin ..) ….so if you could please clarify maybe with an example….i will be greatly appréciative….
the translation is a bit off. “Trade deficit” would be “Handelsdefizit” and not “Schuld”. After all, just because you have a deficit doesn’t mean that you owe money. The real problem though is the last part
– sind sie die Zukunft verantwortlich Mauerbauer.
“sind sie die Zukunft” That translates to “they are the future.” I guess you were going for “they are the future something” but then you need an adjective in German … “zukünftig” is an option. “verantwortlich” needs an adjective ending. And Mauerbauer… I am building the wall, they just pay for it :).
As far as future tense goes… I am not sure what your question is. Germans aren’t keen on using future tense. That is true. What do you want me to clarify?
Ja…von kallstadt..wie saumagen ;
This blog is so good you should build a wall to stop it from being so great….and makes us pay for it…danke viel emmanuel…du hast es wieder getan my friend …u did it again….by thé way i heard trumps family is from kallstadt…and they all kick ass..
I’m gonna be honest with you. The bar near my home will pay for it. I have a thousand dollar annual trade deficit with that bar. I will build a wall and the bar will pay for it. It’s gonna be great. Believe me.
You got a good blog. The best blog, all polls show it’s the best.
Sehr komisch, Herr Trump
Polls also say, my blog beat Hillary Clinton easily.
I suspect quite a few German women wished Donald Trump had been Chancellor of Germany on New Year’s Eve. I don’t see Trump getting social media to remove all expressions of opposition to his policies like someone I could mention.
Did that actually happen? Who did this??
ZDF apologizing for covering up the attacks:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/06/tensions-rise-in-germany-over-handling-of-mass-sexual-assaults-in-cologne
ZDF has gone too far in it’s attempts to avoid seeming unseemly. Anything negative about the migrants could be construed as hate speech, no? Thus the coordination to silence opposition:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-internet-idUSKBN0TY27R20151215
No good can come of this.
The ZDF thing is indeed a gross misjudgment of the program, one that I’m sure not few politicians were happy about at the time. The other link though doesn’t have much to do with that in my opinion because it deals not with “opposition” but with hate speech. Freedom of speech is fine, but just as all freedoms it ends at the border of someone else’s individual rights. That’s why slander and defamation can be torts, as can be insults when they include race, religion or sexual orientation (there are more probably). And that is especially so if physical harm is threatened, which is often the case for hate speech. Factoring in that Facebook and Twitter are a very public domain and not some bar, I think some reigning in does not collide with the right for free speech.
Das geht runter wie Öl!
Auf Englisch, wir haben “goes down (just) like butter.” Das heißt, etwas ist leicht hinunterzuschlucken, wörtlich oder figürlich. Ist das ähnlich wie “das geht runter wie Öl”?
Nicht wirklich. “Geht runter wie Öl” heißt, dass etwas sehr angenehm zu hören ist. Man sagt es, wenn man ein Kompliment kriegt oder so. Es ist also viel positiver, als das, was du beschrieben hast.
Is there ANYWHERE that we can escape the insanity???? Apparently not…. Great blog!
It took a bit before catching on to the Donaldspeak. That was fun! Given the abysmal prospect of him possibly winning, a way to laugh must be found. Otherwise, as an American citizen who is proud of the principles my country was founded upon, well, my mental health will geht runter. :-D
Super! I have been reading your blogs for a while, but now I am starting to get a grip on German they are really starting to gel. Cheers for the funnies! you have the best funnies! or should that be fundies?
I have great comments, too. Really great comments.
Thanks for making German Easy Again ;)
I would like to add one nice example:
“Hurra die Welt geht unter” K.I.Z. – ft. Henning May:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTPGpBBwt1w
Also, “socialism” heißt “sanders” auf Deutsch?
I never said that! I totally never said that.
The Casper song “Im Ascheregen” uses untergehen to reference the burning of the city “Lass es unter gehen”. Good song too. Just a random bit of trivia – though I guess you got all the best trivia :)
When you said Casper I thought “Casper the ghost and when I then read “Im Ascheregen” I was like “Whaaaat? Thats not how I remember it :D
I really think you should buy a farm in runtergehen. Runtergehen has the best farms. ‘sept yours obviously.
A farm and a golf course :)