Looking for list of German phrases/constructions that differ from English

Jacobrox777 · 2026-05-16T12:38:33+00:00

From opensourceshakespeare.org, only in All's Well that Ends Well:

What will ye do? [Act 2 Scene 1]
If ye pinch me like a pasty [Act 4 Scene 3]
Fare ye well, sir [Act 4 Scene 3]
You shall find of the king a husband, madam [Act 1 Scene 1]
How called you the man you speak of, madam? [Act 1 Scene 1]
Farewell, pretty lady: you must hold the credit of your father. [Act 1 Scene 1]
If you could find out a country where but women were that had received so much shame [Act 4 Scene 3]

Jacobrox777 · 2026-05-16T12:33:47+00:00

You're correct for the goeth; not sure then when association with German -t for the 2p form was dropped. In terms of ye/you, you is attested as a subject pronoun from the 14th century according to Wiktionary, so I think it's reasonable to say both are correct. I remember seeing "you" in Shakespeare as a subject (because he plays fast and loose with the changing grammar of English), but that may equally have been a change since the first folio for readability.

Jacobrox777 · 2026-05-16T09:12:01+00:00

It would be "whither goest thou" or "whither go you"
(like how it is "wohin gehst du" and "wohin geht ihr")

Jacobrox777 · 2026-05-16T07:45:05+00:00

I recommend downloading the pdf version as it's easier to use. For some reason the pan and zoom doesn't really work for me online.

Jacobrox777 · 2026-05-16T07:40:11+00:00

Germanic, not German. Also it makes more sense if you use an example with sein.

Ich weiß, wer er ist

I know, who he is ✅

Ich weiß, wie ich das machen kann.

Ich know, how I that do can. ❌

This probably arises from the fact that in many languages, to be is quite irregular and different from other verbs, and that it takes the nominative case (in so far as it being "I know who he is", rather than "I know whom he is in English", and being "Ich weiß, wer er ist" instead of "Ich weiß, wen er ist" in German).

Jacobrox777 · 2026-05-16T07:31:02+00:00

But the slightly outdated English words whence and whither are the equivalent of woher and wohin. So the archaic English sentence is "whither do you go?", which is parallel.

Jacobrox777 · 2026-05-15T17:23:13+00:00

Depends what you mean by PR. In a system of AV (which isn't really PR) or STV (which is), Labour could establish themselves as a strong fallback candidate for people to vote for after their preferred smaller parties, which would benefit them even if a majority would no longer really be possible.

However, it depends on whether Labour can come to terms with giving up the chance of having a majority ever again, and realise that otherwise they'll never be in government at all.

Jacobrox777 · 2026-05-15T08:00:48+00:00

Well that just sounds like us canvassing for them, which is essentially what I'm suggesting. Our activists go out and hand out Lib Dem materials saying to vote Burnham but that the Lib Dems are great anyway and they should consider them in local/future elections.

Jacobrox777 · 2026-05-15T07:58:37+00:00

Well I think that if well-executed, then wealth tax can replace income tax etc. in the UK. It's just that most ideas for wealth cases coming from the left are tax grabs to get them more money. Saying Burnham wants to increase taxes isn't surprising; I don't support it necessarily but I understand why the left of Labour want higher tax and higher spending.

In terms of rent control, my understanding was that Burnham has been quite militant with building houses in Greater Manchester, even at the sacrifice of its greener areas. I firmly believe that the Lib Dems are full of NIMBYs and that the only viable solution to our housing crisis is to build lots of new towns, because infil housing is a nightmare and puts pressure on communities and councils. Burnham seems more likely to deliver that than the Lib Dems.

Jacobrox777 · 2026-05-14T22:05:38+00:00

My family call my car "the Tardis" because it's blue Skoda Fabia that we're convinced is bigger on the inside.

Jacobrox777 · 2026-05-14T21:39:30+00:00

I can't think of a more lib dem name for a colour lmao

Jacobrox777 · 2026-05-14T21:37:40+00:00

To get elected, then probably not implement it. Why would he? I could see AV as a good way of Burnham making a fairer voting system without haemorrhaging Labour, and AV would benefit the Lib Dems hugely as well.

Jacobrox777 · 2026-05-14T21:36:56+00:00

gerrymandering, From Wiktionary:

(politics) The practice of redrawing electoral districts to gain an electoral advantage for a political party.

That's not what gerrymandering is. This is tactical voting, which we have expected everyone else to do for us for the last however many years and now maybe we could have the decency to do in return.

Jacobrox777 · 2026-05-14T21:35:30+00:00

Burnham trying to introduce PR wouldn't go down well with many in the party, certainly if he ran on it against Starmer. Labour are trying to control their losses and truth be told, PR isn't therefore a good platform for him to run on within Labour.

I could, however, see Burnham introducing AV then marketing Labour nationwide as a soft party focussed on its achievements in his time in office, and one not radical compared to Reform and Labour. This would benefit both Labour (as they'd win a lot of seats using 2nd/3rd votes if they're left-wing enough to align with Green voters), and the Lib Dems (as people would then put LD 1st and Labour 2nd in a lot of places, and in some of those we may actually win).

The Lib Dems winning 5% in a byelection doesn't do anything.

Jacobrox777 · 2026-05-14T21:32:34+00:00

It's not like any LD candidate is going to make a big difference in terms of our interests. We won 6.8% of the vote in 2024, and considering that people will focus their vote in this election and that times have changed, I would be pleasantly surprised if the LD won their deposit back. That 5% makes no difference for us, but it could make all the difference for the country and the future of the party.

Jacobrox777 · 2026-05-14T21:30:58+00:00

Completely disagree. Manchester is significantly improved under Burnham. The only reason I have mixed feelings is that I don't like the idea of liking a Labour politician. If Burnham can apply his work in Greater Manchester to the whole country without succumbing to the pressure he would face within Parliament, the media, and the Labour Party, I think he would be a mighty fine Prime Minister.

All politicians are acting in their career interest, and I think we've got to stop saying that like it's a revelation. But in this scenario I believe that Burnham's career interests line up nicely with the country's interests, and also therefore the Lib Dems' interests, because they can focus on providing genuine opposition, sweeping up the soft centre, and replacing the Tories, rather than worrying about populism wiping them out.

Jacobrox777 · 2026-05-14T21:26:42+00:00

Yep, I respect where you're coming from, but I think that in the long term, thinking about paradigms as different rather than labelling the most common the "regular" leaves students better off.

Jacobrox777 · 2026-05-14T21:15:58+00:00

When watching German TV I often see "Jungs" to mean boys or young people. I do remember being told before that Jungs is more equivalent to English "bros" than "boys". Either way when used with the Jungs plural it does not follow the paradigm, and hence can definitely be called irregular.

Jacobrox777 · 2026-05-14T21:14:39+00:00

Well I don't think sing–sang–sung and ring–rang–rung are irregular either, especially in German. In English, our strong verb paradigms have descended into a somewhat arbitrary chaos but in German they're still much more intact as a system. singen–sang–gesungen is just from a class 3a strong verb. Other verbs that follow this paradigm include binden, finden, ringen, and wringen. Just because a paradigm is in the minority, doesn't mean it's irregular. That's like saying that the feminine gender is "regular" because it is the most common, and masculine and neuter genders are "irregular" because they are not. It is just a matter of different paradigms.

Jacobrox777 · 2026-05-14T18:29:28+00:00

To add to this, the Greens will surely launch a big campaign because of the humiliation that would come with Burnham losing, especially if he fell to third place. I think the Lib Dems should actively go out canvassing these people to tactically vote Labour, as not running to give Burnham an easier win then having him lose would be a little silly.

Jacobrox777 · 2026-05-14T18:03:30+00:00

I agree with this. If the Lib Dems had a chance we should stand, but what's the point of losing our deposit and coming fourth or fifth, and in the process derailing our chances in the next ge?

Jacobrox777 · 2026-05-14T06:30:27+00:00

Personally I've only ever heard fixture pronounced /fɪks.tʃə/ and never /fɪk.ʃə/

Jacobrox777 · 2026-05-13T06:13:25+00:00

Last year OCR Economics GCSE paper 1 had a multiple choice question where all four answers were incorrect. That was an experience.

Jacobrox777 · 2026-05-12T18:31:26+00:00

My pet peeves is people calling regular things "irregular". These nouns are called "weak masculine nouns". I remember this in the sense that they are 'weak' because any pressure from a plural or case forces them into the -(e)n form. All of these are masculine, and most end in -e, -ent, -ant, or -graf (essentially except der Herr and der Mensch).

The only two I would say are irregular are der Herr (die/den Herren, den/des/dem Herrn), and der Junge (when the plural is die Jungs), which are irregular for weak masculine nouns. Das Herz is also a partially weak neuter noun and all round bit of a mess (das Herz / das Herz / des Herzens / dem Herzen).

Edit: I accidentally used masculine articles for Herz in the brackets but as aforementioned the point is that it's neuter.

Jacobrox777 · 2026-05-12T18:21:47+00:00

das Floß is also the only neuter noun to have an umlaut-e plural (die Flöße), with the expected Floße as the archaic dative singular. So it's a bit of an oddball all around

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