Knowing relations between words can help understand their meanings and build a more connected vocabulary network. Here, you can explore parents and offspring and discover the whole family.
- shows how many children or parents the word has
- get the translations and a link
Loading word family…
Sources for Etymology:
- Check "schreiben" on DWDS.de
Biggest German Dictionary, great for etymology, usage frequency and collocations) - "schreiben" on Wiktionary (English version)
(For etymological connections across European languages. Not always accurate) - Etymonline.com - Origins of English words
My favorite source for the origin of English words.
Audio Speed
Dark Mode
I saw this example in a textbook.
“Die Lehrerin hat den Satz an die Tafel geschrieben”
It says that “an die Tafel” answers the question “wohin”.
Does this make sense? Was surprised its not “wo”
btw when i searched for schreiben it appears way down under like 20 prefix versions.
REally? It’s the top result for me. Did you add something to it or make a typo?
As for your question – it’s not about where she is but where she puts the writing. The sentence is not on the board before (but in her head or notebook) and is on the board after. “wohin” makes perfect sense for that.
hmm, ok, I think this is a case of german and english conceptualising things differently. Thanks for the answer.
i just searched again and its at the top -maybe I made a mistake.
Oh, wait, I guess you’re thinking of it more in terms of the pen/chalk being on the surface of the board?
Yeah kind of but its also I just a strange idea for me full stop that writing would be wohin. That said, in english you would probably say “on” but “onto” is not wrong.
Onto just sounds less idiomatic, and also sounds like the board might be lying flat.
For me thinking about on or onto with writing is really such a nuance its almost just something I can’t comprehend would be a thing.
How about writing something into your journal? To me, the “directionality” of this is SUPER strong.
i’d definitely go for “in” actually. Into isn’t necessary wrong, but i definitely hesitiate over whether its idomatic in all the examples i can think.
Just wanted to check this use of schreiben das Jahr
e.g.
“wir schreiben das Jahr 2014”
I’ understood this as ” we are talking about the year xyz”
Then I googled it which seemed to be mainly to do with Star Trek when talking about the captains’ log. e.g. “Captains log. Stardate 30003030. ”
put it into deepL which suggests a more elegant / specific forumulation “this is the year / it is the year”
I don’t actually think i’Ve seen this written but I’ve heard it a few times in different places.
I’m sort of curious where this term originated. Do you have any thoughts or anything to add ?
DeepL has it right, I would also translate it as “It’s the year XYZ”
– Wir schreiben das Jahr 2023 und die S-Bahn ist immer noch nicht fähig, im Winter normal zu fahren.
This is a pretty normal phrasing, so it’s not just limited to Captain’s logs.
As for the origins… if you think of a chronicler or scribe, it makes sense.
Cool. Danke!
I just wanted to check the prepositions here.
If i want to write about something (a dream i had, a particular topic for my homework, the history of the world) its an +Akk ?
Does über work as well if its an overview of a big theme?
If i want to write to someone (send them an letter) its also an +Akk?
Great question!
The two main prepositions are “über” and “an” and they both go with Accusative.
The recipient can also be connected directly via Dative.
This sounds less stiff and more personal.
danke!