Communication: Saying yes or was it no?!

Hi again,

today you get a shorter and less nerdy blog post than the last few. It’s going to be all about communicating. Even though it’s over a year ago since I moved to Cyprus, I still smile and think about the language differences whenever I hear the Greek word “vaí” (nai) – meaning yes.

yesno

If you were in Denmark and heard the word “næ” (nai) it would have a very different meaning, namely no. Imagine which confusion this would create in a communication situation, if you automatically presumed it had the same meaning!

It’s not only words that can create confusion and misunderstandings, when communication with another culture and/or in another language. You always need to be careful, when doing business with other countries. It’s not always enough knowing the language, you also need to know the culture and not least the business culture.

Cultural differences

Some cultures uses their hands a lot when they speak, which is a problem if you only communicate online or via phone. It can therefore be a good advice to meet with the other part personally and beforehand make sure that you know how to behave and how to interpret the other part.

Some cultures, e.g. Finland often do business while socializing, whereas Germans like to separate the matters. There is no better way of doing business, it all depends on the eyes that sees and which custom we are used to. Therefore its always advisable to know the traditions and way of doing business are, before entering a partnership.

Learning by doing

After a very short time here in Cyprus I quickly learned that even though a Cypriot says that he/she’ll call you back, then don’t expect it to be true – in some cases you have to call them back your self, and that several times to make sure you have an appointment or to follow up on a matter. This mostly goes business wise – haven’t had any problems with my friends not calling back! You should think that it would be important to call a possible client back, if you want to make money, not necessarily in this culture.

Coming from a very structured culture, where timetables and deadlines are important and moving to a country, where things are more relaxed take time to adapt to – and vice versa for that matter! I do, however, enjoy the more relaxed way of living, just not when I need things to happen more quickly!

An example here of: A friend of mine opened a restaurant, but had to shut it down due to some legal issues, which she thought was taken care of. Then she decided to start all over. To open any kind of business in Cyprus you need a lot of licences a.s.o. She has, however, had a lot of difficulties getting everything ready in a short period of time, as you need to go many different places to have them done, then there are the limited opening hours (and not least the closing of most public offices in August) as well as the problem of time – it can take a lot of time just opening a business bank account, especially after the crisis hit Cyprus.

How do they do?

As the example shows then you need to get the right contacts in order to have everything done properly, also to save time and money – but everything takes time here. So if you consider opening a business in another country or even your own, it’s always good to get in contact with a professional business that knows what they are doing. It also doesn’t hurt for you to study the culture and rules regarding having a business in the chosen country, just to make sure everything is done right.

Luckily it’s a strong friend, who still believe in fighting for her goal. You never know when you get burned, but we all live and learn, and you never know if it’s the right solution until you have tried.

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better” – Samuel Beckett (1906-1989)

German grammar: Prepositions & Cases


cat-prepositions-imageGerman prepositions

In my last blog post I wrote about German adjectives’ inflections, in which I also shortly mentioned German prepositions. This post will therefore be about German prepositions and which case they take.

A preposition is “a word that shows the relationship of a noun or a pronoun to some other word in the sentence”(1) and it links nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence. Prepositions are placed before the article, adjective and noun and tell the position of the noun/person etc. Both in German and English the prepositions are flexible and there isn’t always an equivalent in the other language as most languages have their own way of expressing a relationship.

The 3 cases

In German the prepositions take 3 cases: Accusative, Dative and/or Genitive. This means that each preposition take an object in Accusative, Dative or Genitive – some prepositions even have two cases to choose from, which I’ll get into later. If you want to master the German Language you need to practice the prepositions and which case each preposition take – you can of course  always look this up in a dictionary, but knowing most of them will save you time writing/translating.

Prepositions with Accusative

When I first learned this string of words, I learned it as a rhyme: durch, für, gegen, ohne, wieder, um, kannst du nicht die Akkusative, dann bist du wirklich dumm! There are, however, more prepositions than those 6, which take Accusative:

Durch through, by
Für for
Gegen against, for
Ohne without
Wider Against, to, towards
Um around, for; at (time)
Entlang along, down -This preposition however goes after the object: Sie geht den Fluss entlang./
She is walking along the river. (1)
Bis until, to, by –Bis is technically an accusative preposition, but it is almost always used with a second preposition (bis zu, bis auf, etc.) in a different case, or without an article (bis April, bis Montag, bis Bonn). (1)

Prepositions with Dative

These prepositions take the Dative case:

Aus from, out of
Bei at, near
Mit with, by
Nach after, to
Seit since (time), for
Von by, from
Zu at, to
außer except for, besides
Entgegen Against, contrary to
gegenüber across from, opposite (can go before or after its object)
gemäß according to, after, subject to
nächst Next to
samt Together with, along with
zuwieder against

E.g. Er trank aus der Flaschen – he drank from the bottle

Er wohnt bei seiner Grossmutter – He live with his grandmother

  Two-way-prepositions: prepositions with Accusative/Dative

 

An at, on, to
Auf at, to, on, upon
Hinter Behind
In in, into
Neben beside, near, next to
Über about, above, across, over
Unter under, among
Vor in front of, before;
ago (time)
Zwischen between

A two-way-preposition take either an object in Accusative or Dative case all depending on the situation.

 

 

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When deciding on, whether a two-way-preposition has an object in Accusative or Dative you can decide so by asking either: wohin (where to) or wo (where). If it’s a motion the preposition take Accusative case, and if it’s a location the object take Dative case. An easy example to show this rule is:

1)    The boy went in the house to pick up his bag  -> here the boy moves from outside the house and into the house = motion

2)    The boy is playing in the house  -> here the boy stays at the same place, namely in the house = location.

Figurative sense

In case the two-way-preposition stands in a sentence, where it has a figurative sense, then the main rule is: auf and über always take Accusative case, while the rest take Dative case.

E.g. Sie freute sich über die vielen Geschenke (A) – She was pleased over all the presents

Prepositions with Genitive

Statt, anstatt Instead of
Während During, in the course of
Wegen Because of
Diesseits On this side of
Jenseits On the other side
ausserhalb Outside of
innerhalb Inside of
Oberhalb above
unterhalb under

 Prepositions with Genitive and Dative

Here are some of the most important prepositions that take both Genitive and Dative case. In this case it doesn’t make a difference which case you choose.

Binnen Within
Dank Due to, thanks to
Laut By, according to
Trotz In spite of
zufolge According to

Verbs with prepositions

Like in English, many German verbs and verb phrases take a certain preposition. This is a pitfall for many foreigners learning a new language, as it might not be the same preposition used in all languages, just have a look at this example: Believe in -> glauben an.

Rule of thumb is that the German verb phrase take an object in the same case as the used preposition, just be aware of the two-way-prepositions.

Prepositions Used with Verbs (Table fund in source 1)

Prep.

Verb Phrase

Example

an*

 an etw arbeiten D Er arbeitet an einem Roman.
He’s working on a novel.

an*

 an etw/jdn denken A Ich denke oft an ihn.
I think of him often.

auf*

 auf etw achten A Sie müssen auf den Preis achten.
You have to pay attention to the price.

auf*

 auf etw bestehen D Er hat auf seinen Rechten bestanden.
He insisted on his rights.

aus

 aus etw bestehen D Sein Haus besteht aus Stein.
His house is made of stone.

für

 für etw sorgen A Die Polizei sorgt für Recht und Ordnung.
The police strive for law and order.

in*

 s. in jdn verlieben A Er hat sich in sie verliebt.
He fell in love with her.

in*

 s. in etw/jdm täuschen D Ich habe mich in ihm getäuscht.
He disappointed me.

mit

 mit etw rechnen D Wir haben mit seiner Dummheit nicht gerechnet.
We didn’t account for his stupidity.

nach

 nach etw riechen D Es riecht nach Benzin.
It smells like/of gasoline.

über*

 über etw/jdn urteilen A Ich kann nicht über sein Talent urteilen.
I can’t judge his talent.

über*

 über etw verfügen A Verfügst du über einen Rechner?
Do you have access to a computer?
  NOTE: über is always ACCUSATIVE in verbal idioms.

um

 s. um etw bewerben A Bewirbst du dich um den Posten?
Are you applying for the position?

von

 von etw/jdm distanzieren D Sie haben sich von ihm distanziert.
They distanced themselves from him.

vor*

 jdn vor etw retten D Sie hat ihn vor dem Wasser gerettet.
She saved him from the water.
  NOTE: vor is always DATIVE in verbal idioms.

zu

 zu etw/jdm stehen D Stehst du zu ihm?
Are you sticking by/with him?
  * = two-way (accusative/dative) prepositions

Here you can see a list over verbs and their prepositions.

Verbs with cases

Below I’ve listed some verbs that take an object in either Accusative or Dative case. You need to be aware of some of these as the Accusative object might be missing in some sentences. There are of course many other verbs than those listed below, make sure to check your dictionary to be sure.

E.g.

Hängen + A
Legen +A
Setzen +A
Stellen +A

 

Ankommen +D
Eintreffen +D
Sich einfinden +D
Erscheinen +D
Sich versammeln +D
Sich niederlassen +D

  

Quiz

I’ve listed some links to tests, which you can take in order to test your skills in the above mentioned grammatical areas.

1)    Verbs with prepositinos

2)    Two-way-prepositions

3)    Preposition quiz 

 

Sources:
1)  About.com – German prepositions 
2)   A. Rossen – Tysk Grammatik, 3. Udgave, 2. Oplag 1998, Aschehoug Dansk Forlag A/S, pp. 122-133.

Adjective endings/ inflections in German

More on adjectives 

Not long ago I wrote a blog about adjectives. This blog will also be about adjectives, but instead focus will be on German adjectives and their inflections. In German the adjective inflection depends on the case, number and gender as well as a determiner, if any.

Take this sentence for example:  The two black dogs live in a beautiful villa.

If we analyze the sentence then the black dog is our subject and it stands in Nominative case, live is our verb and in a beautiful house is ‘where they live ’ – here controlled by in+D. (In another blog post I’ll talk about prepositions and which case they take).

In order to make a correct sentence we need to know: the case, the gender of the noun and the number as well as which determiner stands before the noun. After a short analyze we can translate the sentence into German:

Adjectives: two(=zwei), black (=Schwarz, the +pl, Nom), beautiful (=schön, a +f, Dative)

Nouns:  the dogs (= Hund, pl+nom)  and a villa (=Villa, f+dative)

Verb: lived (wohnen,pl, present)

German: Die zwei schwarze Hunde wohnen in einer schönen Villa.

Below I’ve listed, which articles goes into which group as well as 3 tables showing the inflection/endings of the adjectives according to which article goes before the noun, if any.

Article-group (the/a/no article)

Der-Group (the)

  • der (definite article or demonstrative pronoun)
  • dieser
  • jeder
  • jener
  • aller
  • welcher
  • solcher
  • mancher
  • sämtlicher
  • beide (pl.)

Ein-Group (a)

  • ein
  • kein
  • mein
  • dein
  • sein
  • ihr
  • sein
  • unser
  • euer
  • ihr / Ihr

Definite article: der (the)

Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural
Nominative case der alte die alte das alte die alten
Accusative case den alten die alte das alte die alten
Dative case dem alten der alten dem alten den alten (*1)
Genitive case des alten (*2) der alten des alten (*2) der alten

Indefinite article: ein (a)

Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural
Nominative case ein alter eine alte ein altes (keine) alten(*3)
Accusative case einen alten eine alte ein altes (keine) alten(*3)
Dative case einem alten einer alten einem alten (keine) alten (*1, 3)
Genitive case eines alten(*2) einer alten einer alten(*2) (keiner) alten(*3)

 

No article

Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural
Nominative case alter alte altes alte
Accusative case alten alte altes alte
Dative case altem alter altem alten (*1)
Genitive case alten (*2) alter alten (*2) alter

More on dative and genitive

  • (*1) = In the dative plural, add an -n to the end of the noun, eg den kleinen Kindern
  • (*2) = In the genitive, add an -(e)s to the end of the noun, eg des alten Mannes
  • (*3) = kein/e/n is being used to show the plural because you can say ‘no shoes’ but not ‘a shoes’!

Punctuation rules

PunctuationPunctuation

Every time we write, translate or correct a text, we use punctuation marks. The main idea of punctuation is to divide the text into information blocks, which at the same time serves to make the text easier to read and thereby understand.

Punctuation has always been a tricky part of learning a language, e.g. some languages use the grammatical comma, where the comma divides the main and the subordinate clause. In other languages there is no comma between the main and the subordinate clause. However, you can also find languages, which doesn’t use punctuation at all. This is seen in the Thai language, where the words are written in one continual line or in the rune language, where a space was used to indicate a new sentence.

Where to use what?

I’ve uploaded a table that shows, where you use the different punctuation symbols in a sentence: Proper-Punctuation (Source)

The English punctuation rules

If you want to get a deeper knowledge of the English punctuation and grammar rules you can have a look at this homepage. Here you get all the rules and there is even a test that you can take at the end of each topic.

The Danish punctuation rules

Back in 2004 Denmark changed its traditional grammatical punctuation (like the one we know from e.g. German) to a more flexible punctuation rule (like the English, Swedish and Norwegian). The Danish punctuation rules are set by Danske Sprognævn (the Danish language council) and can be found in Retskrivningsordbogen (the Danish spelling dictionary).

Where the old comma divided the main and the subordinate clauses, the new gives the writer an option to leave out the comma between the main and subordinate clauses.  Because the rules are many I suggest that you have a look in the newest edition of Retskrivningsordbogen. You can also get an overview here.

If you want to test your Danish comma skills you can do so here.

/Sembach