Hello everyone,
and welcome to our German Word of the Day. This time we will look at the meaning of
trotzdem
Trotzdem is a super super important word, and in my opinion, it should be among the first 50 or so words that we learn in a new language. What makes it so important? Well, just like weil or dass it is one of these essential function words. Imagine, you don’t know a word for becausein the language you’re learning. That would suck! I mean, how would you express reason then? You definitely can’t use your hands to somehow point out because or sign it the way you can sign arm or apple or even hammer. So it makes complete and utter sense for a textbook to pages of food vocab and body parts right in the beginning and do the impo… oh wait.
Maaan, I really am a textbook hater :)
But anyway… so trotzdem is super important and we’ll learn all about it today.
At the heart of trotzdem is the word trotz, which must be one of the most German German word. Not only because it has no real relatives in any other languages but also because of the sound. Trotz. Ka-chunk! A word like a machine sound. No elegance… just harsh and solid. And the sound matches the meaning nicely. The search for translations leads to words like defiance, contumacy, obstreperousness or ostentacounterpracticity …yeah… one of those is totally made up. But all this Latin jargon totally fails to capture the vibe of Trotz – the feeling and behavior of “Hell no!”.
It is pouring outside and your partner tells you it is not a good idea to go running?
Hell no! You’ll go and you’ll do the long turn.
Your mom wants you to finish your spinach? Hell no!! You’ll poke it with your spoon until it’s cold and you get send to your room. Your boss wants to cut costs by replacing the Nespresso capsule machine with instant coffee? Hell freaking no!!! Let’s picket this godforsaken office.
All that is Trotz – A (stubborn) resistance that is somewhere between proud and pout.
And that has been so since a while. One example for the use in medieval times is the word Trutzburg. Those were basically strongholds built to counter another stronghold. Like..
“You want to take my land?! Haha… good luck. I will sit in the safety of
my castle and raid your troops.”
“Okay… Then we’ll build our own castle right over there and raid your
raiding parties.”
Sounds childish but it was a common military tactic actually. But anyway, here are some examples for today
- Ich gehe der Erkältung zum Trotz schwimmen. (sounds literary nowadays)
- In defiance/ of my cold I go swimming.
- “Tim hat heute beim Mittagessen einfach seinen Teller runtergeschmissen.”
“Wieso das denn?”
“Einfach aus Trotz… weil es Rosenkohl gab.”
“Kenn’ ich… meine Tochter ist auch ein kleiner Trotzkopf.” - “Today at lunch, Tim threw his plate on the floor.”
“Oh Why would he do THAT?”
“Simply out of spite/to own me… because we had Brussels sprouts.”
“I feel you… my daughter is a _____ too.
I really don’t know how to translate Trotzkopf. Just look at these pictures at Google image search… Pictures for Trotzkopf... that should give you a good idea of the feel of Trotz.
Now, the concept or idea of Trotz must have been very practical and soon just having a noun wasn’t enough. So people started inventing new forms. For example the verb trotzen which is something like to resist.
- Ich trotze dem Wetter und gehe raus.
- I brave the weather and go outside.
Trotz has also become a preposition that means despite…. by the way, despite has nothing to do with spite… it comes from the spect-root so despite is like “not looking at something“…
- Ich gehe trotz meiner Erkältung schwimmen.
- I go swimming despite my cold.
And that brings us right to trotzdem.. because trotzdem is simply trotz dem written as one word. But wait a minute… isn’t trotz a genitive preposition? Like
- Trotz des hervorragenden Weines bin ich von dem Restaurant enttäuscht.
- Despite the outstanding wine I am disappointed by the restaurant.(lit)
Well… it’s true that trotz wants Genitive now… but when it was invented some 300 years ago it was designed to take Dative. And that’s why it is trotzdem.
All right.
Now let’s get to the meaning and the use of “trotzdem”.
meaning and use of “trotzdem”
Hey headline… I just said that.
If we look it up in a dictionary we get all kinds of words… however, still, yet, though, regardless, nevertheless and more. Some are quite good (nevertheless) some are really quite fail (however) but if we really want to understand trotzdem we need to forget about those.
The key to trotzdem is .. despite that . Not just despite… despite THAT.And not only because it is the literal translation but because the two work the same. You see, there are many ways to express one thing…
- Thomas is tired. He reads the book regardless/anyway.
- Thomas is tired. Nevertheless, he reads the book.
- Thomas is tired. [ Despite that] he reads the book.
- [Despite his tiredness] Thomas reads the book
- [Although Thomas is tired], he reads the book.
The message is the same for all sentences. The first two use just one word to express the “despite-ness” and leave the rest to context. The others have a word to express “despite-ness” AND the actual fact … either as a noun (tiredness) or as an activity (is tired) or just as a reference to what has been said before. Together, they answer the question “despite what?“… so we could call them a [ despite-box ].I (I’ll add a link to our post on boxes below).
And trotzdem is just like despite that. It expresses “despiteness” and it references something that has been said before. And it fills the despite-box completely.
- Thomas is müde. [Trotzdem] liest er das Buch.
With that in mind let’s look at how trotzdem works.
Just like any other box the despite-box takes one slot in the sentence. And for German that means if it is in the beginning, the verb has to follow in position 2.
- Thomas ist müde. Trotzdem, er liest… is wrong
- … . Trotzdem liest er das Buch… is correct
Another feature of boxes is that we can move them around quite freely. Here’s a longer sentence with all possible positions.
- Es ist schon um 1. [Trotzdem] muss ich… /Ich muss [ ] vor dem Essen [ ] mit meiner Kollegin [ ] die Präsenation durchsprechen.
- It is already 1 pm. [Nevertheless/”despite that”], I’ll have to go over the presentation with my colleague before lunch, [ though/”despite that” ]
In English, the standard slots for this are at the beginning and the end. In German, we have more options. There’s a tendency though. The further we get to the end, the more likely it’ll be wrong. And the very end itself , it rarely works. You really need a lot of Sprachgefühl for that. So as far as the position of trotzdem goes, I would say… stick to the beginning or the first half.
Finally, since trotzdem “fills up” the box completely, we cannot connect stuff with is…
- Deutsch hat Fälle, aber [ trotzdem ] die Fälle mag ich es… is WRONG
- German has cases, but [despite that] the cases I like it… just as wrong
The despite-box is full. Die Fälle (the cases) are not in it, and so they just sit around in the sentence without any friends or connections. Awww… poor cases.
If we want to connect a thing, we need a preposition.
- [ Trotz der Fälle ] mag ich Deutsch.
And if we want to connect an activity… we need a conjunction. And that brings us right to obwohl. Obwohl means although and it does the exact same thing… it expresses “despite-ness” and connects an activity, or in other words, a sentence that contains a verb. Together, they fill the despite-box.
- [ Obwohl Deutsch Fälle hat], mag ich es.
Now… with all we’ve just learned what’s the answer to the following question:
Are “obwohl” and “trotzdem” interchangeable?
Considering all the annoying things you’ve seen German do… what would you guess?
Exactly.
They’ not.
In grammar terms trotzdem is an adverb, obwohl is a subordinating conjunction. And that means they have completely different functions.
Trotzdem fills the despite-box alone, references something that has been said before and cannot connect anything. Obwohl references nothing, doesn’t fill up a box alone and connects an activity.
- [Obwohl ich müde bin], lerne ich Deutsch.
- Ich bin müde. [Trotzdem] lerne ich Deutsch.
Can you see? We can use them to convey the same message but it’ll be two completely diffe… oh I see we have a call here…uhm… Tinley from Tibet, welcome to the show
“Hi Emanuel. I have a question about what you just said.”
Sure… go ahead…
“So… I think I have seen trotzdem being used just like obwohl and it was a text by a native
speaker. Was that like old use or something”
Ohhhh… no, you’re absolutely right. I totally forgot. Trotzdem actually can be used like obwohl. But then you’d have to say it differently…
“Oh…”
Normally trotzdem carries the emphasis on trotz... TROTZdem. If you want it to function like an obwohl you need to say trotzDEM.
“Wow really?! I didn’t know that stress could make such a difference in German.”
Well, there aren’t many cases where it makes such a difference but for trotzdem it’s really important.
“Would you understand it though?”
Actually, maybe not… at least I would be really confused for a second.
“Cool, thanks a lot.”
Thank YOU for bringing that up, man.
I totally forgot about that. It is a rare use, that’s for sure. I think I never do it in daily life and I don’t think I’d write it either because the reader has no pronunciation. It does sound super fancy though to say
- TrotzDEM ich viel lerne, kann ich mir nie die Artikel merken.
You could use that to show off in German class.
Here, for comparison, the standard versions.
- Obwohl ich viel lerne, kann ich mir nie die Artikel merken.
- Although I study a lot, I can’t ever remember the articles.
- Ich lerne viel aber trotzdem kann ich mir nie die Artikel nicht merken.
- I study a lot and yet, I can never remember the articles.
All right. I think we’re almost done but a couple more things.
First off, trotzdem is often used as a one word sentence so let’s do one example for that…
- ” Ich will nicht, dass du einfach Sachen aus meinem Fach nimmst.”
“Aber der Jogurt wäre eh abgelaufen und du warst noch im Urlaub.”
“Trotzdem. Es geht um’s Prinzip.” - “I don’t want you to just take stuff from my shelve.”
“But the yogurt was going to expire and you were still on vacation.”
“Whatever/Still. It’s a matter of principle.”
Then, if you have to write a longer text and you don’t want to use the same words all the time… German has come up with a few synonyms for trotzdem …
- dennoch, nichtsdestotrotz, nichtsdestoweniger, nichtsumsokein
…yeah…one of them is totally made up.
Now I guess we should do some examples for the synonyms but … meh… let’s just not do it. We’ve done enough for today.
That was our German Word of the Day trotzdem. It means despite that and that’s really all there is to say. Whenever despite that fits, trotzdem will be a translation. If not, then no trotzdem.
One of our interns here has created a neat little exercise for you. I’ll add it at the bottom. You can try out how well you can “spot” a trotzdem and if you want a nice challenge you can also try to translate all the sentences :). I’m looking forward to your solutions in the comments.
And of course if you have some questions or suggestions or you want to get some of your examples corrected, just leave me a comment too.
Good luck with the exercise, I hope you liked it and see you next time.
Exercises:
The first one is some general questions about the article and some about “trotzdem” and “obwohl” in particular.
And here, as a little bonus a something quite hard.
Only some of these sentences can be translated with “trotzdem”.
Which ones?
- I am tired. I’ll come to the party though.
Ich bin müde. Ich komme (aber) trotzdem zur Party.
- I’d like to come to the party. I’m tired though.
Ich würde gerne zur Party kommen. Ich bin aber/allerdings/jedoch müde.
- Though I am tired I go to the party.
Obwohl ich müde bin, gehe ich zur Party.
- It’s raining but I’ll go running anyway.
Es regnet, aber ich gehe trotzdem laufen.
- We have no more butter but I was going to go to the store later anyway.
Wir haben keine Butter mehr, aber ich wollte eh/sowieso später einkaufen.
- Regardless of the hefty prices I would recommend the restaurant.
Trotz der gesalzenen Preise würde ich das Restaurant empfehlen.
- The prices are hefty, but I would recommend the restaurant regardless.
Die Preise sind heftig, aber ich würde das Restaurant trotzdem empfehlen.
- I’m really trying and yet I can’t seem to remember any articles.
Ich gebe mir echt Mühe, und trotzdem ich kann mir irgendwie keine Artikel merken.
- I’m trying really hard but I can’t remember all of them yet.
Ich gebe mir echt Mühe aber ich kann mir noch nicht alle merken.
- I begged you to do the dishes and still, there they are, dirty as ever.
Ich habe dich bekniet, das Geschirr abzuwaschen und trotzdem, da ist es, dreckig wie eh und je.
- I left the dirty dishes this morning and they are still there.
Ich habe den Abwasch heute morgen stehen lassen/nicht gemacht, und er ist noch da.
Click here to download all audio files (zip-archive, mp3 files)
Further reading:
- German Sentence Structure – “The Box Model” (find out what I mean by boxes)
Hallo Emanuel
Diese zwei Beispiele habe ich mehrmals gelesen, trotzdem kann ich sie überhaupt nicht kapieren. Die haben mich seit ein Paar Stunden umgetrieben:
Beispiel 9 sagt, dass der folgende Satz korrekt ist:
aber der gleiche Satz mit “trotzdem” ist falsh:
(Ist das nicht ein trotzDEM, bzw ein Synonym für “obwohl”?)
Im Beispiel 5, sind diese beiden Sätze als passende Übersetzungen betrachtet:
Das zweite ist ein “trotzDEM/obwohl”, oder?
Das erste kann ich nicht verstehen. Ich hab das als falsch markiert, weil der Verb nicht am Ende steht.
Und den folgenden Satz finde ich in Ordnung. Könntest du bitte eklären, warum das falsche Übersetzung ist?
Ich bin gerade ein bisschen verwirrt und weiß nicht was mein Problem ist. Was habe ich nicht verstanden, Emanuel?
Danke sehr!
Gute Fragen!!
Frage 1:
WENN du es so betonst (trotzDEEEM, dann ist der Satz richtig, aber 99% aller Deutschlerner betonen es im Endeffekt nicht so, und meinen es auch nicht so, sondern sie meinen das “normale” “trotzdem”.
Aber ja… du hast recht.
Frage 2 (Beispiel 5):
Du hast recht. Das war ein Fehler in meinem Quiz. Ich habe etwas durcheinandergebracht.
Der Satz ist richtig.
Sorry für die Verwirrungen :)!!
Übrigens… warum lernst du eigentlich noch? Du bist schon so gut :)!!
Oh, Emanuel
Jetzt fühle ich mich geschmemichelt!
Danke
ello
allo
You are so funny. You make it easy and fun to learn in detail.
Nope. Totally understood everything until it came to the questions. I am an idiot.
I don’t think so. The questions are actually quite hard here. I have to redo them, but I haven’t had the time yet.
If it is of any interest, Trotzkopf would be translated in French as “tête de cochon”. But the pictures you find on google are not the same…. https://www.google.com/search?q=%22t%C3%AAte+de+cochon%22&client=ubuntu&hs=SCi&channel=fs&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiKqPCa-a_jAhVOUt8KHaoxBSYQ_AUIECgB&biw=1600&bih=748
Oh… indeed they’re not :D.
I was doing a homework assignment for my German class and this post really helped me! Thank you :)
Super, freut mich :)!
Dude I know its super superficial, but you gotta format the bolding of your words
What do you mean? They’re set to be bold-italic. Do you mean I should make them just bold?
Great website!!! I am happy I found it and I am amazed by the quality of the linguistic content!!! Keep it up!
Thanks for the great feedback :). Danke!!
Is the word *trotzdem* more likely postive than *obwhol *
Maybe so… the thing is, that it stands with the thing that is happening, while “obwohl” stands with what is a possible hindrance.
– Obwohl es regnet, gehe ich in den Park.
– Es regnet und trotzdem gehe ich in den Park.
The second sounds much more energetic :)
Really when someone doesn’t know then its up to other viewers that they will help, so here it occurs.
In Swedish you have the word Trots, which I belive is the same. Regarding your statement “Not only because it has no real relatives in any other languages “
That’s what it said in my etymological dictionary but you’re right… that would be too much of a coincidence if “trotz” and “trots” were not related. :)
Hello. Thank you for such a good blog!
I am just wondering if there is a small mistake on the 4.question of the exercises part a. Shouldn’t we convert obwohl to trotzdem at the second sentence?
-Obwohl mein Deutsch nicht perfekt ist, konnte ich mich mit Muttersprachlern unterhalten.
-Ich konnte mich mit Muttersprachlern unterhalten, obwohl mein Deutsch nicht perfekt ist.
And is it possible to covert first sentence from obwohl to trotzdem like this;
Mein Deutsch ist nicht perfekt, trotzdem konnte ich mich mit Muttersprachlern unterhalten.
Thank you very much :)
Ops… yeah, I made this exercise in kind of a hurry :D. Danke!! Your solution is perfect.
Salutations,
Could I use “Allerdings” instead of “trotzdem” on b.7 (maybe in a different position)?
Or “und doch” on b.10?
Thanks for the post and keep up the good work, I’m sure it helps people a lot!
b7)
Good thinking… “allerdings” isn’t strong enough a contrast as the word is also used in sense of “in that case” You could use it in addition to “trotzdem” but if you just said “allerdings” I would be waiting for a “because”.
b10)
That’s a tough one… I would say no, because I was going for the simple temporal meaning of “still”, not the reproaching one. But if you read the English sentence as an accusation rather than a simple description, then “und doch” would fit right in.
Hope that helps
Hmm, good. I wasn’t aware of such nuances.
That was really good for me, both post and response.
Thanks!
Just in case you haven’t seen it… there is a post on “allerdings” too, at the word of the day page
Cool, more learning, really good that one also.
And well, sorry, I haven’t read all posts… yet.
Great post. I was wondering if you could explain the differences between vor, vorher und bevor. Always gets me – while speaking to a German person, I said “Ich denke, dass mein Deutsch ist besser als bevor”, and was corrected to “vorher”. I don’t get why… Same with weil, denn and wegen. And I’ve been reading your posts for a while now, and there was one in which the word order was rather confusing.
Maria sieht nach den langen Autofahrt von München, wo sie beruflich zu tun hatte, nach Berlin zu ihrem Freund Markus, mit dem sie, sobald sie einen Job in Berlin bekommt, zusammenziehen will, sehr müde und erschöpft aus
After her long drive from Munich, where she had job related stuff to do, to Berlin to her boyfriend Marcus, with whom she wants to move together as soon as she gets a job in Berlin, Maria looks very tired and exhausted.
In “aussehen”. You said it was fictional, but then if you really wanted to write such a sentence, how would it be in German? And if so, why are there two verbs floating in the middle (zusammenziehen will)??
This “nachdem, nach, bevor vorher, vor” stuff is one of THE MOST common mistakes people make… it has something to do with the function of the words.
YOu’ll find some answers here
http://yourdailygerman.wordpress.com/2012/07/16/time-in-german/
and more in the time-mini series about prepositions and coordinating things in time (part 5 and 6)
In a nutshell it’s the same as “meanwhile/while/during”… three words expressing “simultaniousness” and I mustn’t mix them up.. because they have different functions. “Vorher/bevor/vor” is the same triumvirate.
A for the long sentence… it is fictional in that people wouldn’t stuff like that normally, but if I wanted to put all that into one sentence, that would be the way… it is grammatically correct and understandable and people like Kant or Nietzsche have done MUCH WORSE… you have to break it down into boxes…
– [Maria] who-box – sieht (verb position 2) – [nach der langen Autofahrt von A nach B] when-box – [sehr müde und erschöpft ] how-box – aus (rest of verb)
3 Boxes in total. That ain’t much. The thing that makes it long is just the amount of additional info … additional info about München (she has business there) and about her bf Markus (she wants to move together + additional info about when she’s going to do that)
All the additional info is packaged in minor sentences so it can fit into boxes (main sentences do not fit in boxes) … that’s why you have “ziehen will” somewhere there… it is the end of the side sentence
– mit dem sie [+ when box] zusammen ziehen will.
That is just additional info about her bf Markus.
The main structure is this.
– [Who] verbs [when] [how ] rest of verb.
The when-box is filled by Autofahrt which is closer explained by two destinations.
And that’s it. It’s just very dense but it’s not magic. Here you have the whole thing in pieces (with the fat trimmed):
– Maria sieht nach der Autofahrt müde aus.
– Die Autofahrt war von München nach Berlin zu Markus.
– In München hatte sie beruflich zu tun.
– Mit Markus will sie zusammen ziehen, sobald sie einen Job hat.
Hope that helps :)
I get very confused with vorher, and from your Blog link, i gathered that one needs a preceding reference time to use voher, partnered like danach?
But then why would the above sentence in Anonymous’s question be “Ich denke, dass mein Deutsch ist besser als vorher?”
Wouldn’t you also need a reference point? Could you also use “fruher” here?
(I’m extra curious as my sentence in regards to high levels of pressure in the modern world was wrong – I had written “…und der Druck ist viel grösser als vorher” but I was corrected to “als früher”. Why?
How would you distinguish between the usage of vorher and früher?
Thanks!
vorher=before
If no reference point is explicitly given, the reference point is “now”.
früher is ok in the first example. In the second example there is no clear breakpoint between the modern world and the pre-modern one. The “border” between them is very vague, so I guess it’s not entirely clear what vorher refers to.
That’s a really great way to put it actually!!!
Good question… the “vorher” did stick out a bit to me, but I didn’t mention it because, of course, it is much better than “bevor” and also I wouldn’t really know an alternative to just plug in there. “Früher” would seem a little too far back in this context… like “10 years ago”. I think I would say something like
– Mein Deutsch ist jetzt besser als wo ich angefangen hab’/am Anfang/vor 3 Monaten/wo ich noch ein Baby war.
So basically, I would pick a specific point in the past and use that. I would never say “vorher” but it sounds less weird than in the example about society and I think Grateful Reader’s comment nails it.. “vorher” doesn’t sound well with gradual, ongoing change. Now you could say “Wait a minute… weight loss is a gradual change and still people post “vorher/nachher”-pics”… but it does sound like “before my diet/after my diet” with diet being a limited event.
“Vorher” works best to arrange two activities in time, “früher” is great to jump back in time to the olden days :)
ich war immer verwirrt, wie ich Obwohl und Trotztdem unterscheiden kann :)
Nicht nur du… das verwirrt viele :)
Danke für noch einen schönen Blog :)
Könnte man auch anstatt “Ich gehe der Erkältung zum Trotz schwimmen” (In defiance of my cold I go swimming) sagen:
Ich gehe zum Trotz der Erkältung schwimmen?
Leider, wegen meiner Englisch-Muttersprache, finde ich so eine Wortfügung einfacher zu verstehen.
Also verstehen kann man das, und es gibt bestimmt auch Muttersprachler, die das mal sagen, aber idiomatisch ist es nicht. Und wenn man ganz streng ist, dann ist es auch falsch…
– zum Trotz der Erkältung
heißt rein logisch gesehen eigentlich
– to the cold’s defiance
So “der Trotz der Erkältung” is one unit now… oh warte … Deutsch :)
Aber du kannst natürlich sagen:
– Ich gehe trotz der Erkältung schwimmen.
Vielen Danke! Die Bild of der “Trotzkopf” ist toll – now I think I will remember what trotz and trotzdem mean. I have a lot of trouble remembering all those abstract words… now I’ll go looking for similar concrete memory hooks for the other pesky adverbs, etc which I have trouble with. (Note: in English we could say someone is “pigheaded” but I can’t think of a noun for that.)
Or, perhaps less often, bullheaded.
Yeah… I really should try to use images more often. And for certains groups of words Google image search is actually a really intuitive dictionary :)
Hallo!, Um anzufangen, finde ich diesen Blog sehr nuetzlich, und ich hoffe, dass du fortsetzen wirst, es zu schreiben. Also, naechste Woche fahre ich mit meiner Familie nach Oesterreich ab, um ein Urlaub zu machen. Und ich habe gewundert, ob es einige Unterschiede zwischen “deutschen Deutsch”, und “oesterreichischen Deutsch” gibt. Ich habe gelesen, dass einige Worte, die in Deutschland neutrum sind, in Oesterreich maennlich sind. Ich weiss aber nicht, ob das total Quatsch ist. Und bitte sag es mir, wenn du mein Deutsch nicht verstehst. Es ist offensichtlich nicht meine erste Sprache :)
Das stimmt auf jeden Fall .). Es gibt definitiv Unterschiede und manche Wörter würde ich gar nicht verstehen…
Viel Spaß dort und noch ein Kompliment… dein Deutsch ist echt schon ganz gut. Es gibt natürlich ein paar Fehler, aber nichts großes. Ich habe alles ohne Probleme verstanden.
Danke Schoen!
Diese Blog ist sehr toll! Die liese ich gerne wöchentlich. Dankeschön!
Mein Versuch:
I am tired. I’ll come to the party though.
Ich bin müde. Trotzdem komme ich zur Party.
I’d like to come to the party. I’m tired though.
Ich möchte zur Party kommen. Aber ich bin müde.
Though I am tired I go to the party.
Obwohl ich müde bin, gehe ich zur Party.
It’s raining but I’ll go running anyway.
Es regnet, trotzdem werde ich laufen gehen.
We have no more butter but I was going to go to the store later anyway.
Wir haben keine Butter mehr, aber ich wollte ohnehin später zum Laden gehen. (auch: sowieso)
Regardless of the hefty prices I would recommend the restaurant.
Trotz der hohen Preise empfehle ich das Restaurant. (oder: würde ich das Restaurant empfehlen)
The prices are hefty, but I would recommend the restaurant regardless.
Die Preise sind hoch, aber trotzdem empfehle ich das Restaurant. (oder: würde ich …)
I’m really trying and yet I can’t seem to remember any German gender.
Ich versuche hart, trotzdem kann ich mich an kein deutsches Genus erinnern.
I’m trying really hard but I can’t remember all of them yet.
Ich versuche hart, aber ich kann mich nicht an sie all erinnern. (auch: trotzdem kanni ich mich …)
I begged you to do the dishes and still, there they are, dirty as ever.
Ich habe dich darum gebeten, abzuspülen, trotzdem ist das Geschirr noch da, schmutzig wie immer.
I left the dirty dishes this morning and they are still there.
Ich habe an diesem Morgen das schmutzige Geschirr verlassen und es ist noch dort.
Wow… bin beeindruckt!!! Und “ohnehin”… daran habe ich selbst garnicht gedacht :).
Ein paar Kleinigkeiten:
– I’m trying really hard…
eine idiomatische Übersetzung wäre
– Ich gebe mir echt (große) Mühe…
und wenn du was mit “versuchen” machen willst, dann
– Ich versuche es so gut wie ich kann, aber….
– … ich kann mich nicht an sie all erinnern.
Besser mit “merken” und auf jeden Fall “sie alle” oder am besten einfach “alle” (ohne “sie”)
– I left the dishes….
“this morning” in direkter Rede wäre “heute morgen” (idiomatischer) und “verlassen” verwendet man in dem Kontext nicht alleine. Man würde “lassen” und ein Verb nehmen…
– Ich habe das Geschirr stehen lassen…
Ich habe das Geschirr hinterlassen…?
Nee… das klingt entweder nach “vererben” oder ein bisschen so als hätte der andere um das Gechirr gebeten.
Danke, so was habe ich geahnt.
Danke!