- Forum >
- Topic: German >
- "Ich will nicht zum Arzt!"
30 Comments
I would have naively guessed you need a 'gehen' in there somewhere. Is there a rule here or is this just idiomatic?
As Christian said, the infinitive can often be dropped when it is implied. Same as in English: I would like a beer (to drink).
The meaning is very similar but I guess "zum" is the reason you should assume the intended verb is "Go". ZUM in this sentence means "To the" so you cannot say: I do not want to see to the doctor.
Yes it should be accepted, but I think it is by now?
@Natalino4ka: You're right, that "zum" includes a definite article and hence would have to be translated using "the" instead of "a". However, in THIS case, if someone says "Ich gehe zum Arzt", it doesn't necessarily mean they're going to a particular doctor - it just means they're going to a doctor. It's a common phrase. Therefore, in this case, "I don't want to see a doctor" is a perfectly fine translation.
I am not native speaker, but I think the article should be "the" not "a" because of "zum = zu + dem"
That's true when literally translated, but dativ nouns always require an article, and that article doesn't always translate directly back into English
I have problem with the place of nicht, why isn't it "Ich will zum Arzt nicht" ?
I'm not a native German speaker, but -- most often the verb goes after the finite verb: "ich will nicht zum..." meaning "I don't want to go..."
You can move the "nicht" to change the emphasis, and make it clear that the negation is about some other element in the sentence, but that just doesn't work here -- "will nicht" is really a single idea, and moving "nicht" away from "will" would just weaken the sentence and make it sound funny.
There's some good information about German word order in the following link -- search down for "placement of nicht"
If there is a preposition with the complement, which is the case here (zu), nicht is placed berore the complement and its preposition.
Warum nicht: "I will not go to the doctor?" Wenn nicht, wie sagst man das?
"Ich werde nicht zum Arzt gehen."
"Ich will" means "I want," it's what's called a "false friend."
You can't. "'Nicht' precedes what it negates" (https://yourdailygerman.com/position-nicht-german/).
"Ich will zum Arzt nicht" is like saying "I want to go to the doctor not".
It's not because of zum. With modal verbs, like ''wollen'' here, we can drop the verb and the action is implied in the sentence.
"I won't go to the doctor" means exactly the same as your (slightly stilted) translation, and is more everyday speech
Are you suggesting that the best way to pick up a new language is to never learn how people actually speak it?
By the way, the contraction 'zum' is commonly used in written German.
You keep posting that observation - I'm not sure what you're driving at.
'Wanna' is a slang contraction for 'want to'. Slang, other than specific idiomatic phrases, is generally not accepted on Duolingo.
629
More importantly, "I will not" which is grammatically correct English and - quite apart from its sometimes being used to form future tense - means "I do not wish to", is not accepted. Reported 2 Dec 2016.
"I will not" does technically mean that and might have been used at a time, but is never used in this manner anymore, be it in written or spoken English.
