As an English speaker learning German, I face endless confusion and frustration with many of the short question words that are “False Friends”

Such as:

Wer (where) - Actually means who.

Wo (Who) - Actually means where.

Wie (We) - Actually means how.

Was (was) - Actually means what.

Also (also) - Actually means so.

Will (will) - Actually means to want.

And the completely arbitrary gender assignments!

For example.

The year is: Das Jahr, a neuter word.

The month is: Der Monat, a masculine word.

And the week is: Die Woche, a feminine word.

And then there’s directly counter-intuitive examples of words that seem like they Should be a gender other than what they are, such as:

The little girl - Das Mädchen (Neuter, not feminine)

Breasts - Der Busen (Masculine! Boobs is masculine!)

Person - Die Person (Feminine! Why isn’t this word neuter?!"

  • Pipster@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    8·
    5 months ago

    Dutch (probably applicable for a bunch of Germanic languages), the way a word at the end can modify the whole meaning of the sentence as I’ve already mentally parsed it.

    I need a book Ik heb een boek nodig

    I have a book need

    So my brain has got to ‘boek’ and therefore already finished that part of the sentence as ‘I have a book’, only to have a new word thrown in. It feels like a kid saying “I like you… NOT”.

    And time… Ugh… Half past seven = Half acht (eight) Twenty five past one = Vijf voor half twee (five before half two).

    On the other hand, dutch swear words? Sublime. Gezellig? Amazing word. Swaffelen? Chef’s kiss.

    • Fawkes@lemmy.zipOPM
      3·
      5 months ago

      Yeah, it’s the same in German. You don’t say Seven-thirty. You say Half-eight. A bit tricky. And german is the same qith sentence structure. The second verb always comes at the end of the sentence. Makes it so you literally can’t know the purpose of the sentence until you hear the whole thing. Which, is kinda ingenious actually. Means you can’t interrupt people.

        • Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de
          4·
          5 months ago

          Interesting, didn’t know that.
          I learned British English at school, yet all the learning materials focused on using the am/pm style.
          Perhaps because we already know the 24h format well in Germany, as it is also routinely used here.

          • Pipster@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
            2·
            5 months ago

            I guess in speech we tend to say something like 'eight thirty" rather than “twenty thirty” but certainly in witten communication its always 24 hour.

            • Tuukka R@sopuli.xyzEnglish
              2·
              3 months ago

              This is how it works in German as well. 16 o’clock is called “um 4” in a typical conversational situation.

    • davepleasebehave@lemmy.world
      3·
      5 months ago

      Could you tell me what time it is?

      Could you tell me what time the train leaves?

      Similar to Dutch in the sense that the important verb comes at the end.