What's the difference between der Fernseher and das Fernsehen?
... Just got through the Communication lesson in German, and am curious. Danke!
15 Comments
"Der Fernseher" refers to a physical television set, which is tangible. "Das Fernsehen" refers to the television industry, or the channels you can watch on the TV. For example: "Ich habe einen neuen Fernseher gekauft." = "I bought a new TV set." But, "Was gibt's heute Nacht im Fernsehen?" = "What's on TV tonight?"
Thank you! I really appreciate the second example - it's a pretty good use for Fernsehen, and I was looking for one.
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Is Im (in dem) the only way to say it or could auf dem(the more direct english translation work)? thanks
No -- auf dem Fernsehen would sound as silly in German as "on top of the television" would in English.
Danke! Appreciate the answer! (p.s. you really read a lot? Sometimes I think I'm an informavore (like a herbivore, but gobble of words and numbers instead of veggies) on a prolonged feeding frenzy!)
Not as much as I used to since I found out that just doing things without reading the manual provides a lot more fun and more or less pleasant surprises ;) I like the term informavore!
Fernsehen is as in "What's on television? -- Sports."
Fernseher is as in "What's on television? -- A vase."
Fernsehen = Television = “far+seeing” = the technology of broadcasting moving images over large distance
Fernsehgerät or Fernseher = Televisor = “far seer” = the device that is used for receiving and displaying television images
Danke for the breakdown - that's one I hadn't come across yet (Fern+sehen). I always like to try to break words down if I can, it seems to have a snow-ball effect on my learning.
Re Fernsehgerät, is it possible to break this down like Fern+seh(en)+gerät, where (my limited vocabulary - looking for memory hooks here) I can think of gerät like an appliance or something - something that sees far?
Yes, Gerät is a device or appliance.
(Perhaps more "device"; I wouldn't call a washing machine a Gerät, I think. I'm not sure how to define the word exactly, though.)
