Don’t worry, it’s the other way around for Germans learning English.
W H Y
Submitted 2 days ago by Stamets@lemmy.world to memes@sopuli.xyz
https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/5a0f040e-b309-49e6-a40b-46cf38179896.jpeg
Comments
FQQD@lemmy.ohaa.xyz 2 days ago
observantTrapezium@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
It’s actually really easy to remember when considering the Proto-West Germanic etymology, one comes from *hwār, the othe from *hwaʀ. Just apply regular sound changes to find the modern form!
cobysev@lemmy.world 2 days ago
I had this problem learning Norwegian.
- “And” is “og”
- “or” is “eller”
Everytime I see “og” in a Norwegian sentence, I immediately want to translate as “or.” It keeps tripping me up!
Nikko882@lemmy.world 2 days ago
You would also get the same problem as the op in Norweigan. Hvor = Where Hvem = Who (Hvorfor = Why / Wherefore) English is the odd one out here, it seems. (Also why I would rather be learning German from Norwegian than English, but oh well.)
kshade@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Just remember that whomst = wemst and it’ll all make sense.
Randelung@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Wem wemst du was? Ich wem dir gleich eine!
morgunkorn@discuss.tchncs.de 2 days ago
W A R U M ?
spoiler
D A R U M !
CaptainBlagbird@lemmy.world 1 day ago
W I E S O?
morgunkorn@discuss.tchncs.de 1 day ago
D A S O. ah ne, geht nicht :(
bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 1 day ago
Nur für den Kick, für den Augenblick?
Phen@lemmy.eco.br 2 days ago
“Push” sounds exactly the same as the word for “Pull” in Portuguese (Puxe)
ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
Nicht, “why” ist “warum.”
pedz@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
Und dann es gibt wann und wenn.
I’m a native French speaker that learned English in school, and we had to get used to words spelt the same but with a different pronunciation and sometimes a slightly different meaning.
Don’t worry, you’ll probably get used to it.
UltraMagnus0001@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Isn’t English partially based on German
hakase@lemm.ee 1 day ago
English shares a common Germanic ancestor with German. German and English are sisters.
madjo@piefed.social 1 day ago
And then you listen to the Frysian song "Wer Bisto" by Dutch Frysian duo Twarres, where "wer" means "where".
janNatan@lemmy.ml 1 day ago
Just memorize and then internalize the lyrics to “Wo Bist Du” by Rammstein and then never get confused again!
naught101@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Trust me, pretty much everything about German is easier than English (I’m a native English speaker who learned German). The only difficult thing is learning all the verb cases.
bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 1 day ago
Not the genus of nouns? It makes so little sense I couldn’t explain it to anyone.
naught101@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Well yes, that too… They are petty intertwined.
It’s been a long while though - I was fluent by the end of 2003 (except for those things, but I got by), but if let it slip a lot since then
BenLeMan@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Of course you realize that English is a Germanic language? Therefore, it is you who have strayed from the proper words. 😉
diverging@piefed.social 1 day ago
German is not the same as Germanic. Both German and English evolved from a common ancestor, which we call Proto-Germanic.
'Who' and 'Where' are '*hwaz' and '*hwar' in Proto-Germanic.
I would say that in this case German strayed more than English.
Saleh@feddit.org 1 day ago
Wat?
SippyCup@feddit.nl 1 day ago
We added a bunch of French. It’s not a romance language by any stretch but it’s kind of a Francish one. Francish being a Celtic word, because we added a bunch of those too.
BenLeMan@lemmy.world 1 day ago
And lots of straight up Latin, yeah.