"Bist du der Bürgermeister?"
Translation:Are you the mayor?
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haha I like how if you break it up, "Bürgermeister" means citizen master.
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This is the awesomeness of German. Like another phrase in this lesson (Occupation Lesson 4) is Mitarbeiter, or "with worker" for co-worker. Also "Arbeitgeber" or "work giver" for employer. I don't think any language does this as well as German.
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"Munkatárs" = 'munka' (work) + 'társ' (partner)
"Munkaadó" = 'munka' + 'adó' (giver)
"Alkalmazott" = 'alkalom' (opportunity) > 'alkalmaz' (apply, employ) > 'alkalmazott' (past participle, i. e. 'employee')
"Polgármester" = 'polgár' (citizen) + 'mester'
Turkish uses words within words, practically. An example: "Employer" is "işveren" in Turkish; consisting of "iş", job; and "veren", giver.
perhups Thai language, for example ice is called nam keng that means strong water lol
In India, words for all the political terms are either borrowed from Persian or Sanskrit.
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Or look at the Finnish equivalents:
Employer = Arbeitgeber = työnantaja, työ/n (work) + antaja (giver)
Employee = Mitarbeiter = työntekijä, työ/n (work) + tekijä (doer)
Not only does it literally translate into citizen master, but you address a male mayor as Herr Bürgermeister (Mr. Mayor), which can literally translate into "Lord Citizen Master."
How about you are asking a close friend whether they have been assigned the role of mayor in a stage play.
Yes, a close friend or family member would make "du" acceptable. You wouldn't go up to a mayor you aren't related to or have a good friendship with and use "du". That is way too familiar for someone with that position.
True enough, but I have a hard time believing that a close friend or family member wouldn't already know the answer to the question!
LOL. I could just imagine coming home for Christmas from far away asking my brother... "So... are you the mayor now?"
I would rather say "Sind sie der Bürgermeister ?“ or “Seid ihr der Bürgermeister ?“.
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I thought I was the only one that thought of that! Nice to see someone else that remembers those creepy Rankin-Bass stop-motion shows
That's how I know the word. One of the easiest words to learn in the lesson :-).
When do you accept a spelling mistake and when not? It seems to be quite arbitrary.
If there is only one letter misspelled and it doesn't change it to a different word, it will pass.
