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- Topic: German >
- "Es ergab sich einfach so."
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I was so confused with the German context. Why was "surrendered" shown as a solution, I do not understand? Thanks!
"Sich ergeben" means to surrender, it has to be reflexive. But only "ergeben" means to end, or to finish something with a result. In this case, the English translation doesn't sound very good, it would be more like "It happened just like that".
Brankica, I agree 100% with you. " it happened just like that" is the best Egnlish translation. This is an idiom!
Correct me if im wrong In my opinion, ergab is like and action of "giving"
I think if you ergab sich, means you give yourself to others, means you surrender
If something ergab sich, it gives itself to its current situation
This is how i think, i hope it gives a little clue to the true meaning or ergab
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The German verb "ergeben" can have different meanings depending on its grammatical use:
ergeben + Akkusativobjekt = to result in something, to yield something
sich jemandem ergeben (reflexiv, Dativobjekt) = to surrender to someone / to capitulate to someone
sich ergeben + Akkusativobjekt = arise from somthing / result from something
And of course there can be idiomatical forms:
sich dem Suff ergeben = to abbandon oneself to drinking
Es hat sich so ergeben. (Perfekt) / Es ergab sich so. (Präteritum) = It just came about like that. / It just happened that way.
I think I understood. Please correct me if I am mistaking. By itself, the word "ergaben" is to surrender, but when you put it with "sich" it makes it into what it is here, "come about".
No, sich ergeben means to surrender to somebody or something, but I think that the somebody or something has to be specified. When the somebody or something is not mentioned then I believe that surrender is an incorrect translation, although I did make that mistake.
Or if it doesn't have that simple meaning then perhaps, "It just happened like that." or "It just up and quit.", "I didn't do anything special, I just got lucky."
I think we'd need a native speaker to explain the context in which this is used to get the right idiom. Either way, the actual meaning is not 'surrendering itself so easily.'
Would this be more accurately translated as "It came about just that way" or "It just happened that way"? In the first, the particular way it happened is emphasized (which would be my inference from the order of "einfach so"; in the second, Duolingo's, the statement means something more like "I can't explain it, but that's how it happened."
As an English-speaking person, I think I'd be most likely to say "It just happened that way" or "It simply happened that way." Either of those comes with a shrug: "What do you want from me, it just happened that way."
"It happened just like that" can mean "it happened exactly that way" or--depending on some vocal emphasis, "just like that" could possibly mean "suddenly, unexpectedly"--Everything was going fine, when just like that, the roof fell in."
Edit: "It just happened like that" can also mean it happened very recently.
Yeah, when I saw DL's translation, I thought it meant it happened very recently. I got very confused. I think the German word order "einfach so" emphasizes "so" (this way), not the time it happened.
As a native English speaker, but not fully understanding German. Is this just a polite way of the saying, "S**t happens"? Not that duo would ever accept that answer, but perhaps that is the best answer.
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To really de-emphasize the mode, native English speaks would say "It just happens" and leave off "that way". Contrastingly, if we want to emphasize the mode, we'd say "That is the way it happens".
I researched this phrase and found that it is often used to precede a subordinating clause. This equates to a very common English phrase: "It just so happened that..." ("Es ergab sich einfach so, dass...")
I don't like this sentence, please give it a proper hint. I am confused about the many uses and translations of "sich" can someone please explain?
It is as easy as any other word having multiple meanings. "sich ergeben" can mean both "to appear/to come along" or "to surrender/to capitulate". http://www.dict.cc/?s=sich+ergeben
You might draw some parallels with the phrase "to give myself up" in English. "He is planning to give himself up to the police" means that he is both going to show up and to surrender to the police.
I finially understood what "sich" is after watching a DFE video explaining it., I think....
ich - mich
du - dich
es - sich
yes?
That's correct but it's far from the full list. The full list of German reflexive pronouns you can check out here: http://www.canoo.net/services/OnlineGrammar/InflectionRules/FRegeln-P/Pron-Refl.html?MenuId=Word421
It is complex and confusing, one more thing to remember, as it is partially matching with the forms of normal personal pronouns, but not exactly... http://www.canoo.net/services/OnlineGrammar/InflectionRules/FRegeln-P/Pron-Pers.html
It seems that you have trouble in fully understanding the usage of reflexive pronouns with words like "ergeben". You are not alone, I'm on your side here :) It is better not to concentrate your attention to the word "sich". You should rather take it as granted that "sich ergeben" is basically one word, like "selfmade" is in English. It is easier this way.
and......can you explain that in the english language? what is reflexive form!?! and i am kinda confused about what a verb is... XD
Verb is a word that means action. For example "to eat", "to sleep". Reflexive verb is one where the object of the action is the same as subject. In English there are no reflexive verbs. You could instead use pronouns like "yourself". For example "to eat yourself", but you can't "sleep yourself", because there is no object.
In German they use lots of reflexive verbs which may have very different meaning compared to nonreflexive form. For example "ergeben" means "to produce" while "sich ergeben" means "to surrender".
thank you, but i wasn't serious about the verb part, you couldn't tell i was being sarcastic from the text. I do get confused about it, but after a little thinking I remember what a verb or adjective is.
Vielen dank for explainging "sich" , what other reflexive verbs are there?
what's the meaning of "einfach so" here? it's everywhere but the meaning is so different from each others.
It means "simple" or "simply" or "just".
- Es esgab sich so = It came about like that;
- Es ergab sich einfach so = It just came about like that.
So is "It surrendered so easily" wrong, when ergab is surrender???? OMG....will I ever figure this out???
This kìnd of thing is not for beginners in any language. Native speakers will have the "feel" of it, but then they don't need the course. If you are still trying to figure out die, der and das there is no way you will ever work out things like this. Idioms should be the very last thing you learn in any new language.
It happened easily so is also accepted but I have no idea what it should mean. Also is there any chance of an answer with the meaning of surrender? Probably because subject is es?
No, this sentence has nothing to do with surrender but means something like "that is just how it happened" It is a phrase which is often used.
Hi all, somebody know if this is a common phrase in germany? sounds so weird =/
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Why do they throw in an idiom, with no explanation, when we are trying to learn the ways and rules of "reflexive verbs"??? NOT HELPFUL
"it simply happened so" was rejected.........???? can the "so" be disregarded here??? I feel it should be accepted!!
The position of "so" in the sentence is just... I don't know, just weird. I doubt a native speaker would ever use it in that position. "It simply happened like that " or "that way" sounds better to me.
"It simply came out that way" is not accepted. Why? Because of "came out"? "Simply"? "That way"? I don't know, but I think I've learned to ve very literal with the translations and not to use common colloquialisms.
I think the problem is ‘came out’: I don't know that that is a good translation for ‘sich ergeben’ (at least not like this, in isolation).
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Wild guess here. Perhaps you could say. Das Mädchen zerschlug den Schädel ihres Vaters mit einem Beil mitten im Polizeipräsidium. Nachher ergab es (das Mädchen) sich einfach so. But if this exists I fear it's dated because now one would use sie to refer to Mädchen I think. Perhaps it might still work as literary or dialect. Also might have to use sein instead of ihr. Just trying to have some fun with this not trying to be instructive.
Why is "It simply happened in this way" an incorrect translation according to DL?
"It just happened so" ist nicht idiomatisch auf Englisch, mindestens US Englisch.
