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Funny sentence, blue people are not too common. In German though, it makes some sense because blau is informal for intoxicated, like "boozed".
935
Yeah, I went with "at least you don't look drunk," which of course was counted wrong.
Interesting, I took it as concern for someone with a bad heart. People with failing hearts do look blue.
But remember, the speaker is speaking to multiple individuals in this sentence.
It's still a weird sentence, though. I am German and I also thought of blue people first. A better sentence for what you mean would be "Wenigstens seht ihr nicht aus als ob ihr blau wärt"
In English, "looking blue can" mean "looking sad". Or if the person is experiencing hypothermia, they can actually turn blue.
How do you distinguish 'zumindest' , 'mindestens' and 'wenigstens' ? Are they used in different ways?
This blog post cleared that up for me. I recommend following this person. It's a entertaining an informative blog!
Oh and reading the English sentence again, it does make sense after all. The correct translation is "Zumindest siehst du nicht traurig aus."
That is true, "blue" should not be accepted as translation at all because it implies something completely different.
"I spent the day in the huckleberry patch, eating and picking. I ate so many berries I feel like a blueberry."
"At least you do not look blue."
It could be possible translation but 'feeling blue' isn't the most common way of saying it though
As I was walking along the shore one fine winter's day, I was surprised to see a group of people emerge from the water, fully clothed, struggling to make it to land. "Our boat capsized, and we had to swim through a quarter mile of cold water!" one of the group exclaimed. "Well," I replied, "at least you all don't look blue."
- 935
No, though "Du" and "Ihr" (informal plural) are sometimes capitalized in correspondence (e-mail, or a letter). This is the informal plural (du+du=ihr). It's not usually capitalized. The formal plural, Sie, is capitalized, along with Ihnen (dative form), and other related forms, including the possessive pronoun "Ihr", which might be what you're thinking of? For instance: Formal plural: Was denken Sie? Was ist Ihre Meinung? (Sie & Ihre are capitalized) Informal plural: Was denkt ihr? Was ist eure Meinung? (ihr & eure are not capitalized, though they might be in a letter or e-mail?)
"Ihr" in upper case is a polite form of address that is not used any more, but you find in literature written before 1900. Today you use "Sie" instead.
"ihr" in lower case is 2nd person plural.
Is this "aussehen" a verb that is inverted when reffering to the subject???
I mean, it's not the subject that does the action, but the action is done towards it.
- 935
"aussehen"= "to look" in the sense of to appear
So, "You look tired"= "Du siehst müde aus."
"That looks terrible"= "Das sieht furchtbar aus."
It's also used figuratively, to convey prospects, in the same sense as English:
"It doesn't look good." (say, describing a sick person's chance of recovery) = "Es sieht nicht gut aus."
In other words, it's not an action verb at all, but a linking verb! (remember those?) :]
Although this direct translation should be accepted, it shouldn't be the main suggested translation. Blau = drunk, blue = depressed, two very different meanings. In English, blue complexion could also be very cold, ill or pale. Does this translate to German?
This translation was made with Google translate. See: http://translate.google.ro/?hl=rotab=wT#en/de/At%20least%20you%20do%20not%20look%20blue.
The answer taken from Google translate was: Mindestens du siehst nicht blau.
- 935
If you want to say "you don't look blue", then the verb is "aussehen". To look, in the sense of "to appear, to have the appearance" = "aussehen". "sehen" is simply to see.
