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There's an almost-but-not-quite similar phrase in English. "I am beside myself with (emotion)." Maybe that'll help with remembering this.
Oh my. I tried "I am out of myself with joy", mimicking the Italian "Sono fuori di me dalla gioia". Too bad. ;)
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@daffy_the_duck : How would that sound in Romanian? I can't figure it out right now.
'getting out of oneself' is a way of expressing a powerful feeling and there are similar idioms in romanian: 'imi ies din minti de furie' 'imi ies din fire' etc (although I don't know if there is one for happiness). But while 'getting out of oneself' implies a kind of self-transcendence :), in romanian there is a more 'biological' way to put it: 'nu-mi incap in piele de bucurie' - 'I don't fit in my own skin out of joy'
Duck_Dodgers, Thanks for filling us in on the Romanian equivalent of this expression. I don't understand any Romanian, but I understood the word "piele" since the Spanish word for skin is «piel»! I believe this is the root of our English word "pelt", which is an animal skin!
I did as well, but thinking of the same Swedish expression. :) Seems like it is only English that does not have this...
English does have it, just not in those exact words: "I am beside myself with joy"
There's also “I am overflowing with joy,” which is more explicit, albeit less common.
Yes, my Mom said "I am beside myself with joy" American with English/Dutch ancestry
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I can barely contain myself with joy at knowing that English does not have a similar expression.
sometimes in German they use "vor" to express the cause of something, where we usually use "of". They do this with things they are afraid of too. In english one would be "scared OF snakes" but in German one HAS "Angst vor Schlangen" Think of the "vor" replacing "with" in our expression and more literally meaning because of
Like Thetimesurfer said before, it does mean 'I am beside myself with Joy', which is confusing because the translation on here for außer is 'except'. Duolingo should have added 'Beside' to the translation.
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DL has "aside from" and "apart from" as well "except". Those two phrases accomplish the task nicely.
At this stage, I'm not looking to go into rhapsodies over my feelings. For now, I just need to be able to say "I am happy" or "I am sad", so I believe this sentence should be moved to a more advanced level. Please teach me to walk before teaching me to run!
We have to learn idioms somehow, it's nice to just commit to losing a heart sometimes for the sake of learning these things :') Language is one of those things where there is no linear progression to learning it--you just kind of have to learn everything. Besides, you could look up "happy" in a dictionary to get "I am happy," but the dictionary won't teach you how to say "I'm beside myself with joy." That's where Duo comes in!
It's not that I don't understand where you're coming from, though, I stared at the German for a full minute before putting "I don't have a clue" as my answer. Needless to say, that wasn't accepted ;)
"I don't have a clue" - LOL. Your point is well taken - while learning a language, beyond a point you just have to take it all in. I'm certainly not anti-idiom, and I would gladly give a heart (or four) for learning how Germans actually speak, rather than how I think they would speak if they were English :) And I greatly appreciate Duo for that. But I still feel that more common idioms are to be taught first. After all we really can't take it ALL in at once, as much as we'd like to. I have been "beside myself with joy" maybe 3 times in the last 2 years, hence my slight annoyance above.
There should be an asterisk or something to denote idioms outside of the idioms skill bubble.
It translates to "I'm beside myself with happiness," which to me does mean "I'm overjoyed."
"Mir." It really means "I am beside me from joy," since German doesn't have a "myself"--German just uses the same pronouns as if someone else were acting on you.
Er ist bei mir -- he is beside me
Ich bin bei mir -- I am beside myself (impossible, last I checked my Physics textbook, but there you have it)
It's the same with dich and dir, "du kennst dich" for instance, but all other forms use "sich" as a reflexive pronoun. It's a bit tricky, but pretty simple once you get your head around it initially. :-)
Me too. I thougt the literal words were "I am apart from my joy", so I tiried "I am without joy". Oh well.
Idiomatic usage.
Literally, you're "outside of yourself 'before' joy".
vor is sometimes used like this for a reason or source of emotions -- for example, you're also afraid "before" something and you might shiver "before" cold (vor etwas Angst haben, vor Kälte zittern).
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Another way of putting the "before" concept in English would be "in the face of" (esp. WRT fear).
Hehe. Hungarian version: Magán kívül volt az örömtől. Which is literally she was outside of herself from joy. :-)
Idioms are mean, ❤❤❤❤❤❤. This one needed better clues, from the app atleast.
I love the quirky similarities between idioms. "I am out of myself with joy" vs. " I am beside myself with joy".
This expression is very nice actually :), and in Arabic we also have similar expressions such as ( الفرحة تغمرني) which means I'm covered with joy, or something like that :D...
No. The German is exaggerated, so the English has to be, too. They want to teach the idiom.
What about "I am carried away with joy."? Does that make any sense? It was not accepted..
"Don't get carried away" is often used to rein in someone's over-excitement about a fanciful course of action. "And when we have sold the house, we'll buy a castle!" "Don't get carried away, son. Maybe next year".
I don't get the German course here. In the French course they have never put idioms they didn't teach on the practice part, but they would put it in the lesson and teach it properly. I expect the same from the German course.
Is the literal translation of this sentence "I am over myself for joy" (although that's not a natural English sentence)?
I think "I am over the moon" should be accepted. I have reported it at least 3 times already.
I am delighted - wrong I am over the moon - wrong Seriously I don't see any difference between these and "I am overjoyed".
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To convey the meaning of ....I am outside of myself with joy.....
This is a little different from the English expression ....I am beside myself with joy (or excitement, anger, anticipation, whatever)....
Duo offers and accepts reducing the German sentiment to an English expression which means the joy is spilling outside of oneself. I am overjoyed. Shorter and used more frequently, but no more logical than the alternatives.
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It is unlikely that stating that here will result in any changes to what die Eule accepts as an answer. To accomplish that, one should use the "Report a problem" button, not the "Discuss sentence" button:
I usually do both. (Specially when I am not absolutely sure.) Does no harm.
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I generally only use the "Report" if I am certain that my alternative is correct.
If I am unsure, then I will post to the discussion to solicit advice, heeding the admonition that die Eule used to put at the top of the comments: "Stop the clutter!"
In Ireland we would say I was over the moon. Dubliner's would say "he was delira and excira" https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=delira%20and%20excira
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That is what I put: "I am outside myself with joy." But there was no joy and it was counted as wrong.
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It's an idiom in a sense. It just means that one's joy cannot be contained. Not dissimilar to "I am beside myself with [some emotion]."
Possibly correct discussions of the phrase's origin here and here.
Yes, that is incorrect.
The German sentence says nothing about friends.
Did you misread Freude (joy) as Freunde (friends)?
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Huh, we have the same thing in Russian - "вне себя от счастья" which is directly translated as "out of myself from joy".
I don't think so, because it does not directly imply happiness. The general meanings are similar, but it is a little too much of an idiom.
Thank you. :-) but then I must have used that phrase wrongly before! Just wondering why nobody corrected me and accepted it as a phrase of joy.
I am citing Greg and Ivy on January 22, 2009 in regards: Idioms: “Over the Moon”
This idiom is a commonly used one. Perhaps you have heard it before. Do you know its meaning? If someone told you the sentence, “Oh, I’m over the moon today”, what would they mean?
For those of you who are not sure about the meaning, it means that that person is so happy (very happy, overjoyed). Here are some examples…
I got my exam result this morning. You know, I’m simply over the moon about it. I can’t wait to tell my parents the good news.
Vincent is over the moon these days. He just bought a new house.
Perhaps I was unclear - it does mean "extremely happy." However, it's possible that Duolingo doesn't want someone defining the meaning of an idiom as another idiom.
I looked it up in the Beolingus dictionary, it says that the meaning of the expression "außer sich vor Freude (über etw.) sein" is "to be cock-a-hoop (about/at/over sth.)". So the sentence could be translated as "I am cock-a-hoop"?
That is an extremely outdated expression, so while true I highly doubt Duolingo would accept it.
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Maybe not now . . . . but I am going to incorporate "cock-a-hoop" into my everyday vocabulary, and who knows, maybe one day . . . . .
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This sentence appears to contradict itself. I am translating this sentence as: "I am except for myself overjoyed". Why can't one just say "Ich bin vor Freude"?
Can someone please explain why this sentence is structured this way. Is 'joy' just a really convoluted word in German?
This is probably the most ridiculous thing Duolingo has ever given me. So people can't simply say "Ich bin überglücklich"? Is this the type of stuff that goes on in Germany?!
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Why duolingo has these bs sentences instead of real things? I know household appilances in German, but I do not know how to say washing machine, fridge, knife etc.. Totally non sense.. like this sentence.
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If you want specific words, try dict.cc or Collins Dictionary or translate.google.com
I've found that I learn most by using DL as a starting point and then doing additional work, and that these kinds of complicated sentences help build a true understanding of the language.
But YMMV.
