"Nein, der Einwohner ist kein Bürger."
Translation:No, the inhabitant is not a citizen.
23 Comments
Normally in sentences like this, it's better to stick to 'kein'. But in this specific example, 'Der Einwohner ist nicht Bürger' is fine.
I guess it's because you want to negate the noun, not the verb in this sentence.
Could "Einwohner" be translated correctly as "occupant" in this context?
This one is a bit tricky:
Occupant is used similar as tenant as: "Bewohner(in), Insasse, Wohnungsinhaber(in)", all related to tenancy, or to be in a flat/apartment.
whereas
"Einwohner" can mean: inhabitant, resident, citizen and in plural population
and
Buerger, or Staatsbuerger: means citizen.
In this context it is pointed out that this particular person (Einwohner) lives there rightfully, but has not the status of a citizen (Staatsbuerger).
Hope that helps.
Hmmm. In NZ "occupant" is "the person living in the house"; not neccessarily a tenant. They could be the owner of the house. So "circular" letters may be addressed to "The Occupant".
Yep, you are right. I live in OZ and it is pretty much the same as you said.
The focus on my comment was to clarify the difference between "Staatsbuerger und Einwohner", especially from the German point of view.
The thing with the occupancy is a bit vague, I should have better left it out. And basically agree with what you say.
In the USA, the legal distinction is between "resident" (especially "permanent resident") and citizen, so that 'resident' would be the preferred translation of "Einwohner".
1843
In English, the definite article 'the' is a determiner that refers to particular nouns; "No, a resident is not a citizen" should be also accepted
Well that might be right but it may not work here, I explain,
The German phrase ""Nein, der Einwohner ist kein Bürger." Means actually that this particular "Einwohner" in question is not a "Bürger" or has citizen status.
When I translate your English sentence back to German, it would sound like: "Nein, ein Einwohner ist kein Staatsbuerger." Which is a categorical statement. It can be correct though, because if you are an expat, you are most likely not a citizen of that country you live in temporarily. :-)
- 1843
Thanks for your answer. A text without context is just a text. In this case, as in many others we would need context. As I said in my post, "No, a resident is not a citizen" should also be accepted. Just to give you an example that I copied from http://www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/de/05Dienstleistungen/04Schriftstuecke/Beurkundung__Beglaubigung.html comparing the German and the English versions: German: "Die Behörde in Deutschland, der das Dokument vorgelegt wird, kann dann zusätzlich auf Beschaffung einer "Apostille" bestehen, die durch den Secretary of State des Bundesstaates ausgestellt wird, in dem der „notary public“ seinen Sitz hat." English: "Authorities in Germany may request an "apostille" in addition to the signature certification done by a US notary public."
Thanks for your reply. You are right about the context issue and I am on to if for two years with different proposals without success yet.
What I wanted to point out is.
"der Einwohner " can be under stood in German as:
Der Einwohner im Allgemeinen = a genereic inhabitant/resident
Der Einwohner = the/a inhabitant/resident
Dieser Einwohner = this particular inhabitant/resident
Whilst translated the other way around,
a resident = "ein Einwohner", which is not the same as "der Einwohner"
In my humble opinion of course.
