Isn't the "Ihnen" and "dir" the differences in formality? 'Dir' being colloquial and 'Ihnen' being formal? I haven't done German for a few years but I remember there are two different words (and sometimes phrases) depending on formality: ie. "Du bist" (colloquial) & "Sie sind" (formal). Please correct me if i'm wrong.
That's right. "Kann ich Dir helfen?" is the informal version. Formal and informal address also exists in amongst others Dutch, French, Russian, Japanese and several other Asian languages. Except that in French it gets a bit more complicated and in the Asian languages it gets very complex.
Hmmmkay... very interesting discussion here... I find German to be easy to learn. The first languages I learnt were French and German... can't speak French worth anything now due to lack of practice... I forgot most of my German when my family mved to New Zealand but when coming back to Germany it wasn't difficult at all to learn the languuage again. I can't explain grammer to anyone, least myself but I can speak and write quite well, at least I always got good grades here and people usually accept it, when I allow myself to correct them. Sooo... if it isn't a Ph.D you're writing, I might be able to help you... Cheers Fred EDIT: Just a thought - your teacher knows your writing style - now assuming someone writes you that essay in grammer legue far above yours and in a totally different style, wouldn't your teacher be suspicous? Or doesn't that matter as he couldn't possibly find the source? Just a thought, no offence meant...
I think german is actualy quit hrad to learn. The english "THE" splits into "DER, DIE, DAS" which most people find complicated to understand to use. the german grammar system is so F''''ed up that even the pros dont really know how it works, thats why the grammar system was redone a couple of years ago and now again. even thou its my native language i cant explain all forms and endings. o he other hand is you think german is hard try finnish. its the hardest language with latin letters . i life in finland for 3 years and still my finnish is more then poor . swedish is easy i learned it in 6 month.
Its a new teacher. Hasn't read any of my german. I don't need the report/summary to be in PERFECT german. It's ok if there are a few mistakes, it makes it more believable. He just needs to know a bit of graphical grammar, not basic conversation skills. I'll PM everyone that suggested help. Thanks Michiel PS: I'm going to Köln and Frankfurt , and somewhere in between.
please define "Kann Ich Helfen Dir" or its correction, i dont understand German, i only know Portuguese, English, and understand some Spanish, Italian and French. if some one understands Portuguese plese tell me. KelticFox, sorry about your sensei, may he rest in peace. i wish i knew the languages you know even if not in totality.
Actually son you did! As I remember there was a post where you said you hacked into NASA! P.S. Mister_tad, thank you for bringing this up, I tried making a point about keltic's fibbing but no one took notice (probably cos no one cares) but, well... I'd just like to say thanks
"Kann Ich Helfen Dir?" is supposed to mean: "Can I help you?", but the grammar is (quite) wrong and not a mistake that would be made by someone who is fluent in German. It should be: "Kann ich Dir helfen?" Moreover the capitalisation of the D in Dir is important, as all nouns are capitalised in German (except "ich", which paradoxically in English is capitalised: "I"). However for other words the usual rules apply, so "helfen" should be lower-case all the way.
OK. Enough of the personal attacks. Please take them to PM if you want to continue them. I don't want to read arguments on the forums we have all put so much effort into making a fun place to be. Fly
You don't You shouldn't You don't I don't want you to justify anything. Given that there was money being offered I felt it necessary to post my thoughts on the matter, the same I would advise someone against buying something on the FS forums from someone with a previously sketchy record. It's all to easy to lie about anything and everything on the internet. If any far-out claim you make (or anyone makes) is questioned and you fail to reply, your credibility is affected. On top of all that, it's already been pointed out by others, including a couple native Germans, that your German isn't fluent. Given this, I certainly wouldn't want to pay you to translate.
Nexxo in that way "Kann Ich Helfen Dir" being Kann=Can Ich=I Helfen=Help Dir=you and using your correct word logic, "Kann ich Dir helfen", "Kann Ich Helfen Dir" means "Can I you help" right? interesting.... German gramar is in this way similar to Portuguese gramar, next laguage to learn: German i am not atacking him he has every right to be Sad, my Sensei is one of my best friends and if he died i would be realy sad. i like to learn stuff and for paying for the service. if i knew fluent German i would do it for free to help others as i translate English to Portuguese and vice-versa for any of my friends and now for any user of these forums .
Hey guys. My friend is doing all the work here but I'm posting it for him. He's gonna join soon. It's "Kann Ich Ihnen Helfen"
Dude, did you actually read this thread? And it is: "Kann ich Ihnen helfen" or "Kann ich Dir helfen". Capitalisation matters in German.
Actually that's incorrect, Ihnen is capitalized, but dir is not. Informal pronouns are not capitalized, however formal ones are i.e. Sie, Ihnen. So the informal should be: "Kann ich dir helfen?"
Yes, yes it is. When I dated a german exchange student, she told me that she thought it was easier than Spanish....never should have listened to her.
It depents on where you live. I find typing English more difficult then German. maybe be because German grammar is somewhat like Dutch. And for the du/Sie discussion, just use Sie for everything. Some Germans can really get offend by du. Aber ich sollte Ihr gern hilfen, aber meine Deutsch ist nicht so gut If you think at German is hard, you should try Spanish. It's even harder
I'm Dutch. And German grammar is nothing like it. Ich wurde Ihnen gerne hilfen, aber mein Deutch ist nicht so gut.
I took Spanish for 3 years, I thought it was pretty easy, I was pretty good at writing. However, I can't remember any of it now except for the occasional odd phrase that comes to mind. I started taking Deutsch when I entered college. At least you don't have to remember the gender of a noun, you can always tell by its ending, not always true with german.
