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- Topic: German >
- "Sie sind unter uns!"
62 Comments
zwischen is between.
It's not a coincidence that zw shows up in both zwischen and zwei, or "tw" in both "between" and "two" -- it's used when something is between two things.
"between" and "among" are thus also rather different things.
For "among", use unter.
Context will let users understand whether unter means "under" or "among", much as native English speakers can tell the difference between the meanings of "on" in "He gave a lecture on a table" and "He gave a lecture on physics".
1758
I would rather think "they" is a group of people/aliens/zombies that are among the population of a city/region/country. That sentence is often a subtitle of mystery series or movies.
735
Here I immediately visualized the Graboids from the Tremors movies when I interpreted the sentence as "They are under us."
2100
I agree I can't translate literally, but this phrase was written in an episode where Mulder travels to the past: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_%28The_X-Files%29. Anyway, I just posted because "Sie sind unter uns" needed this joke :-)
1762
I translated the German as "They are beneath us" and it was marked correct. But obviously the sense in English is not the same as "They are among us." So, just how would you say "They are beneath us" (i.e. a phrase of contempt) in German?
1762
Taking a stab at answering my own question re "They are beneath us." How about "Sie sind unter unserem Niveau."
I assume that "uns" is the dative here, not the accusative. Am I right?
371
It seems that I was wrong to believe that "zwischen" could only mean "between" (two other elements), and not "among" (several other elements).
If it does mean both "between" and "among", I would really like to know when I should use "zwischen" or "unter", too.
"Zwischen" is much more literal and physical than "unter". They're generally not interchangeable. You use "unter" for among / between when it's referring to group membership rather than physical position.
"Sie sind zwischen uns" would mean rather that they are physically located between you and me, and "Let's keep this between us." is translated using "unter", like "Das bleibt unter uns."
Wait, unter means under and among at the same time?
No, not at the same time, but at different times.
In any given sentence, it will mean one or the other depending on what the speaker wants to say.
That does not make any sense!
Prepositions in general don't "make sense".
Why do you "listen to music" but "look at a painting"? What not "listen at music" or "look to a painting"?
Why do we meet "at Christmas in December on a Wednesday"? Why "at midnight" but "in the evening"? Wouldn't it be simpler if the same preposition worked for all of them?
1758
Well, English has different meanings for words, too.
Something LIKE this. - Etwas WIE das. Something I LIKE. - Etwas das ich MAG.
1758
Why not? "They are among us" only reminds me of a horror movie. I use the sentence more often in the meaning of "They are below us". Sie sind (eine Klasse) unter uns. Sie sind (ein Stockwerk) unter uns. Sie sind (in der Highscore) unter uns. Sie sind (an der Kletterwand) unter uns. And there are many more.