- Forum >
- Topic: German >
- "Mir geht es eigentlich gut."
75 Comments
In Australian English it's quite common to ask "How is it going?" or "How are you going?". Is that not a thing in British or American English?
Yeah, "How're you going to die, might?" is a rather shocking question till one realises it's "How're you going today, mate?" and it means "How are you today, mate?".
wow I never thought about that "how are you going?" could be taken by someone as being asked about their death. I'm Australian so it's a normal greeting to me. "How are you going mate?"
In the US, or anyway my part of it, it's common to say "How is it going?" or "How are you doing?" but NOT "How are you going?"
It said I was wrong with saying going too, duo it's a direct translation used in Australian English!
Please correct. It is said exactly the same as the Germans say it. How are you going? Wie gehen Sie?
2001
"How are you going?" may be common in some areas, but it's dialect and not standard English.
And Germans do not say "Wie gehen Sie?" as a greeting or asking how someone is feeling "Wie gehen Sie?" would mean, in a very literal sense, how someone is going from one place to another. "Wie geht's dir/euch/Ihnen?" is correct for the greeting.
The Germans commonly say “wie geht es dir“ or simply „wie geht‘s“. This means literally “How is it going to you”, which we do not say. We might say “How are things going” or “How is it going”. They are said in the same context as “How are you”. That is completely different from How are you going / wie gehen sie.
- 649
I'm English, amd "How are you going?" sounds unnatural to me, instead I wpuld say "How is IT going?".
"I actually feel fine" is not acceptable? (Duo, you are too harsh on me, dude)
Duo is not a person. Duo is a computer program. The answers are stored in a database. The database contains only the answers that some Duolingo employee has a entered into it. If a correct answer is not accepted, then you should click on the option to report the problem, and then choose the option that says your answer should be accepted. Then the people who maintain the database will evaluate your answer and if it is correct they will add it to the database. If you want Duo to accept more answers, then give Duo the correct answers that should be added!
"I am actually going well" .. is not accepted either. I don't know if it expects the Actually to be put first in that sentence or just does not like "going" being used in that answer which is a normal Aussie answer.
urgh I hate how it expects us to guess how to put the answer it wants when we know exactly what this sentence means.
I'll put a report in that this answer should be accepted.
"I am actually doing well" should be accepted, because it is used in the same circumstance and with the same meaning as the German phrase. "I am actually going well" could be correct if it's a common Aussie response. If so, then please report it so that it can be added to the database. However, it is not a literal translation. In the German sentence the subject is "It" and "mir" is most often "to me" - So literally it means "It goes well to me." But that isn't a good translation either, because it isn't considered to make much sense in English. This is one of those sentences that should not be translated literally. We should respond with a commonly-used phrase that means the same thing.
It actually goes well for me Was marked wrong
And the correction was
Its actually going well for me
Should my answer be accepted?
In American English, you would not normally say "It goes well for me" (or ask "How does it go for you?"). The normal conversation would be more like "How's it going?" "Actually, it's going well" or "It's actually going well" or "It's going well, actually." Though to be honest, "How's it going?" is a more casual way of asking "How are you?" or "How are you doing?," so you wouldn't normally get a complete sentence in reply, more like "Good, thanks. How about you?"
I'm Australian and your answer sounds a little weird to me. We'd here tend to say "going well". It actually goes well for me kind of sounds too formal or old fashioned. It just doesn't said like something usually said.
"I am doing rather fine" should be accepted. "Eigentlich" can be translated with "rather" as well depending on the context, I have found examples in both Langenscheidt and Linguee.
I agree. I wrote "rather good" but Duo corrected me. And maybe "rather well" is also appropiate.
Actually, I am not since the word order of this sentence changes twice during the lesson.
I was given the task of translating "Mir geht es eigentlich gut." After pondering the seventeen ways of saying that in English, then trying to read Duo's mind about which way Duo would like me to answer it, I, of course, guessed incorrectly. This particular lesson is one of my least favorite, as there is a higher percentage of "Guess which version I'll want THIS time?" happening. Aargh.
It's a shame to make such a simple concept so confusing! "Es geht mir gut" or "Mir geht es gut" both sound "normal" to me. I lived in Germany four years and studied German in college, but I am not a native. We need to hear from a native German on this. Based on all the icons by your name, DavidCaldw1, I think you are doing very well!
Eigen vs Eigentlich
The more common interpretation here for Eigen has been 'to own', but eigentlich is 'actually'
I am curious how this shifts meaning when lich is added to make it an adverb.
Ive seen eigen also translates to 'destinctive.' Which makes more sense for the shift in meaning. But Im not 100% certain
Any clarification would be useful, thanks in advance
It could mean either one. "Wie geht es?" is the equivalent of "How are you?" and the reverse "Es geht mir gut, danke" is "I am fine, thanks". A more typical response is just "gut, danke". It's a generic greeting with no particular reference.
Feeling well in English would also be incorrect since "feeling well" means that you do the action of feeling competently. It would have to be "feeling good" or "doing well". As you said though, this is better translated as "doing well".
Well, one might quibble on "feeling well."
I am in good health: I am well: I feel well: I am feeling well.
"Well" also means healthy, the opposite of "sick," so if you feel well, it means you are not sick. In fact, it would be highly unusual for someone to say "I feel well" when they mean "I am competent at feeling things."
One so seldom has to report on one's competence in feeling things. ;-)
But I agree, "feeling well" is the grammatical opposite of "feeling sick."
"I feel well" vs. "I feel sick." "I feel good" vs. I feel bad."
"Feeling badly," would more specifically reflect your competence at feeling things.
Out of habit I frequently asked my father "How do you feel" and he would usually grin and say "with my hands" or "with my fingers". Then we would laugh and I would change my question to something like "Are you well? Do you have any pain or other physical problems." But in common usage, we Americans say "How do you feel" and we mean "Are you feeling sick or well or sad or happy, etc." We do not usually ask what method one uses to feel another object. This is two different meanings of the word "feel" and it is ambiguous in English.
Just wondering, because I happen to guess everytime the wrong answer with the "es geht" phareses, is there any standard way to translate it, or do we have to rely on the context everytime, which doesn't seem to work for me. Any suggestions translators?
- 1533
How's it going or how are you doing are the traditional British ways, but British English is an endangered species.
- 2001
They're also common in American English. But that doesn't really matter here, since the German sentence translates to "I am actually doing well," not "How are you doing?"
That's what I put too. I guess there are so many ways to say this, they just don't have them all in the database yet.
Can the german for this also be said as "Eigentlich, geht es mir gut"?
I actually feel well ...should have been accepted. Better grammar than I actually feel good ...which is what DL wanted...
Me neither :/ it's like a woman to a man or a man to a woman: neither understands the other ;) we can get an inkling though...
I don't see why my response was incorrect. Same words for the most part, but arranged how I would say it.
I have spoken English my entire life and I say "How goes it," all the time. "Wie geht es dir," sound good to me.
If we say "How goes it?" we're usually being a bit comical. It's one of those things that may be incorrect "proper" English at the moment but could be creeping into the language. Maybe the next one to creep in will be "How go you?" ... When you think about it "How do you do?" is absolutely correct and normal but a bit strange too.
Later edit/addendum :
Also I think the following alternatives probably carry the same meaning as the German sentence :
I'm doing pretty well. I'm doing quite well. I'm doing rather well. I'm going quite well.
All things considered I'm doing well. ( I wasn't completely sure about this nuance, but had the feeling that the German version allowed for a whiff of countering the idea that all may not actually be well, otherwise why not just say "Mir geht es gut").
Or you could just use "Howdy!" which is the short version of "How do you do?"
- 2001
That's not a translation of the exercise sentence. "Mir geht es eigentlich gut" = "I am actually doing well."
Why did Duo not accept translation I am actually doing fine. Should do as well.
Duo may not have all possible correct translations in its database. That's why it's important to click on the link to report a problem, and then choose the option that states your answer should be accepted. Duo team will evaluate your answer and determine if it should be added or not. Just remember that there are millions of people using this system, so it make take Duo a bit of time to respond to them all.
- 784
I thought eigentlich has meanings of actually and really. Why isn't 'I am really fine.' accepted? or in this particular text, I should say I am actually fine?
If tatsächlich differs from eigentlich in that it is 100% certainty, then why is eigentlich used here as default? Wouldn't someone know with 100% certainty how they are feeling (or more accurately, how they are dealing with feelings)?
- 564
It marked "Really I'm doing fine" as incorrect. I suggest this is added as a valid answer unless there is some subtle difference not recognised in English.
I thought so too at first, but it is actually quite easy to figure out if you think of another example. Look at the following two sentences:
Actually I am doing fine. & Are you actually married?
Only in one of these sentences can the word actually be replaced by really. That should answer your question. I guess the word eigentlich can only be used in that particular context. I am guessing, but I'm actually quite confident I am right. ;)
Really, I am doing fine. and Are you really married? both sound like perfectly fine English sentences to me.
You'd have to say "I'm doing really well." "Well" is the adverb; "good" is the adjective.
That's assuming you want to report on your good health, good progress, etc.
'I am going well actually' is what DL said was correct this time. last time, same words, DL said it was 'I am feeling fine'. I don't understand how/ why they keep changing things.
