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
- Check "damit" on DWDS.de
Biggest German Dictionary, great for etymology, usage frequency and collocations) - "damit" 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.



Damit examples
You can click the buttons “show/hide example” up where the translations are to see them.
So damit can be a nebensatzkonnektor and a Hauptsatzkonnektor pos 1. I realise this isn’t a very concrete question but do you think there is any possibility you could end up with a significantly different meaning if you mixed up the grammar?
Is “Hauptsatzkonnektor” the right term here? I think it’s just an “prepositional adverb”, which, due to it’s pointing “da” of course “connects” to whatever was there before.
Just the fact that it’s in position 1 and refers back to the sentence before does not mean it’s grammatically a “conjunction”.
I find the word “Konnektor” really out of place actually, as a “connection” can also be semantic. But I hate the DaF vocab anyway. I think they just pick things based on how long and complex they sound.
“aber” and “und” are proper “Hauptsatzkonnektoren”.
Rant over!
Now, could the meaning change if you mix up grammar? Yes!
– Maria kam schon um 7. Damit habe ich nicht gerechnet.
– Maria kam schon um 7 damit ich nicht gerechnet habe.
The second sentence makes no sense. Like… what? She came already at 7, so I can do algebra?
Let me know if that helps :)
I got taught “und” and “aber” are Hauptsatzkonnetoren Position 0. Can something be a preopositional adverb and function as a Hs konnektor position 1 at the same time? no idea. I’m just going off a list i was given that has “damit” under both columns.
Thanks for the example. Was that a typo- you mean “can’t do algebra? “
Where’d you get this list from?
I think the function and effect on grammar is what defines a HS-Konnektor.
Oh yeah, I did mean “can’t” :)
a teacher typed it out as a handout.
Also another question. You typed :
– Maria kam schon um 7. Damit habe ich nicht gerechnet.
My understanding would be a hauptsatzkonnektor p1 would have a comma not a full stop ?
e..g Ich möchte eine Deutchprüfung machen, deshalb merke ich mir viele Grammatikregeln
Is there then not a sentence structure like that where you have first clause of sentence then comma “damit” verb subject etc like my example
So I had a comment written but then I looked up “Hauptsatzkonnektoren p1” just to be sure and apperantly, they DO call these things that.
I hate this so so much. It’s unhelpful, unnecessary and complicates things that do not have to be complicated.
What are these things then if I move them away from p1?
– Ich habe damit nicht gerechnet.
If were thing of Goethe Institut or whatever, I would ban the term “P1 Hauptsatzkonnektoren” entirely. There is no such thing. No one needs it and no one can define it so it is consistent.
Try thinking of p1 hsk as… drumroll … adverbs. Which can of course sit in position 1, but they don’t have to.
I think that’ll clear up a LOT of things for you.
ok, cool. Yeah some of the language is confusing.
According to the teacher something like this (or the second clause) is called a “Fragesatz” even though no question is asked:
Meine Freundin und ich machen diesen Sommer mit einige Freunden eine Reise, woauf ich mich freue
Just popped to mind as another bit of confusing grammar termininology..
Uhm… again, I would have to look that up, but I would almost bet money that this is NOT a Fragesatz. It’s not an indirect question like
– Ich frage dich, was du weißt.
I would call your example a free relative with a prepositional relative pronoun. I think in “stiff” English, you’d translate it as
– blah blih blah plans shmans, to which I am looking forward.
And I would bet even more money that this is NOT considered an indirect question, but a relative clause.
I don’t think analogue structures like this would be classified differently by two languages that are this close.
Is your teacher a native speaker and do they have a DaF degree? I feel like they ought to be carefully with them terms. Slippery slope!