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.
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Sources for Etymology:
- Check "sodass" on DWDS.de
Biggest German Dictionary, great for etymology, usage frequency and collocations) - "sodass" 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.
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So, the difference between sodass and damit is intention? If I’m understanding this correctly, then the following examples should work:
Ich habe zu viele Fehler gemacht, sodass ich den Test wiederholen muss.
(I did not intend to fail the test, so having to retake it is a consequence)
Ich lerne fleißig, damit ich diesmal den Test bestehe.
(I intend to pass this time, so I work harder)
Yeah, exactly.
But “sodass” can fill in for “damit” but not vice versa. So “sodass” can also be used for contexts of intent but it’s not limited to that the ay “damit” is.
Ha ha ha I just read through the below looooong comments and replies. No longer will I feel shame for not getting something on the first or second…or third try :)
Die Frage – und Antwort! – über den Unterschied zwischen Sodass und Damit hat mir sehr geholfen.
No longer will I feel shame for not getting something on the first or second…or third try :)
Nah, you shouldn’t. It’s always the teacher’s fault. Either for not understanding the question and not being able to work with the student to discover what the actual question is, or because the answer is phrased weirdly, or (and that’s rare) because it’s really just too difficult but the teacher didn’t recognize that.
I always thought this translated as “so that” but i’ve encountered a few examples where this seems to make no sense, because “so that” tends to express an intention. Its kind of a false friend no? This word doesn’t express an intention right?
e.g. Ich arbeite viel, sodass ich immer noch müde bin
correct translation could be “ i work a lot therefore I am always tired” right? Incorrect would be “i work a lot so that I am always tired.
Does this work?
ich habe das Glas fallen lassen, sodass es gebrochen wird
I (accidently) dropped the glass so it broke
Both sentences you mention sound weird to me, especially the second one, where “wird” is completely out of place. Sounds like a bad AI translation.
“sodass” can be used in this somewhat broader sense of “consequence” though.
– Wir haben viel länger für den Aufstieg gebraucht, sodass wir dann wenig Zeit auf dem Gipfel hatten.
So yeah, it’s not always about your intention. The best translation for this is “so”.
Cool thanks : )
“Sounds like a bad AI translation” yeah i expect a lot of my german does tbh although i was not very awake when i wrote that either ;)
Would it the sentence with the glass sound better with wurde ?
No, the thing is that you already say that you’re the one who is guilty (Ich habe es fallen lassen).
That already heavily implies that it breaks, and when you add an explicit passive, it sounds weird. Like, the result of your dropping it is someone showing up and breaking it.
ok, interessant. Danke!
just coming back to this. I’m curious why my first sentence sounded weird to you?
It’s just not something I would ever phrase that way. Might be personal preference, but to me, it doesn’t sound idiomatic at all.
ok…cool
Thinking about this, a context where I’d use “sodass” would be
– Stell mal den Reis ein bisschen niedriger sodass er nicht überkocht.
But still, I’m more likely to phrase these things with “sonst”.
coming back to this word.
The first example you said sounded off was this:
Ich arbeite viel, sodass ich immer noch müde bin
Does this somewhat similar sentence sound ok please?
ich habe diese Woche viel gearbeit, sodass ich heute sehr müde bin.
or
wegen meiner arbeit bin ich sehr müde, sodass ich meine heutige Pläne gekündigt habe
To me, the sentence sounds like someone is trying really hard to use synonyms or special phrasings for no reason.
The first two examples are correct but I don’t think anyone would phrase it that way in daily life.
The last one is better, but still, it sounds like someone who isn’t used to writing is trying to write “good german” and fails.
I mean, that’s literally me lol. I think I’m just going to stay away from this word in future.
Diffrence between sodass and damit…and what is right meaning of sodass
“sodass” talks about a effect of something, “damit” is about purpose. They can overlap, they’re not always interchangeable.
“damit” would not make sense here, because stopping the hike was not the purpose of the rain.
Just returning to this word. I think if I read this comment i would have had a better understanding of sodass.
so this would be an example of where sodass would be wrong right?
Ich habe mir eine Ps3 extra gekauft, damit ich die originale Fassung von Dark Souls spielen könne.
No, it wouldn’t be wrong. The effect of you buying the Ps3 is that you can fail at Dark Souls.
I think I need to add to the comment that “damit” is ONLY about purpose while “sodass” is broader and can also cover “consequences that weren’t the goal”
No, it wouldn’t be wrong. The effect of you buying the Ps3 is that you can fail at Dark Souls.
Ok now i am even more confused. Could you unpack that a little bit please?
What i wanted to say in english was
“I bought a Ps3 especially so that I could play the original version of Dark Souls.”
Btw, there was a typo in my text (soz). Not sure if thats what contributed to the confusion. It was meant to be könnte not könne. That was totally unintentional konjuntiv 1.
Nah, the “könne” thing has nothing to do with anything here. “kann” would be best anyway.
“damit” talks about “purpose”, “sodass” talks about “effect”. “purpose” and “effect” can be the same.
That is the purpose of buying a Ps3 AND it’s the effect of buying a Ps3.
So you can use “damit” or “sodass”.
This on the other hand can be the “effect” of heavy rain, but it’s certainly not the “purpose” of the heavy rain, so here “damit” wouldn’t work, while “sodass” would.
So the vibe i’m getting is that this word kind of expresses a potential negative consequence??
I honestly feel like you could do an article on this one.
Do these sound any better please?
Er hat das Lotto gewonnen, sodass jede wieder im Kontakt mit ihm tritt und Geld von ihm will.
He won the lottery so everyone gets back in touch wants money from him (this is a negative consequence)
Sie hat die Warnung ignoriert, sodass es nun Stress gibt.
She ignored the warning and so now there is trouble…
The second one works fine, but the first one not so much. I can’t put my finger on why.
You can treat “sodass” and “damit ” as synonyms so long as you aware that you will stumble across uses for “sodass” that “damit” doesn’t cover.
Interesting. I was confident the first one would be the correct one, if it had had to pick one.
Perhaps this word could become an article one day… : ) Sodass is a part of B2 grammar… i don’t really get it still but maybe i figure it out…