- Forum >
- Topic: German >
- "Meine Tochter ist bei ihren …
"Meine Tochter ist bei ihren Großeltern."
Translation:My daughter is with her grandparents.
27 Comments
Yes, „Meine Tochter ist bei ihren Großeltern.“ means “My daughter is [located] at her grandparents['s place]”. But ‘mit’ is used instead of ‘bei’ if she's traveling with her grandparents, as in „Meine Tochter ist mit ihren Großeltern unterwegs.“ = “My daughter is en route with her grandparents.”; or if she's together with her grandparents somewhere other than their place, as in „Meine Tochter ist mit ihren Großeltern im Kino.“ = “My daughter is in the cinema with her grandparents.”.
412
It should be wrong, I think. "Meine Tochter ist bei Ihren Großeltern." that's how the sentence would look like. The "Sie", "Ihren", "Ihnen" is always capitalized if it is meant to be a (formal) you.
622
Does this sentence imply that the daughter is living with her grandparents as opposed to her with them at the moment ? At least that's how I understood the difference of bei and mit.
412
No. You simply don't use "mit" with persons in these contexts in German.
"Meine Tochter ist bei ihren Großeltern." doesn't state whether she's there right now or permanently. If you want to say that she is living with her grandparents, you'd say "Meine Tochter lebt bei ihren Großeltern." or "Meine Tochter wohnt bei ihren Großeltern."
The difference of "mit" and "bei" is that "mit" is always used if two or more people are doing the same together. So you can "mit jemandem Eis essen gehen" (Going out for ice cream with someone), "mit jemandem ins Kino gehen" (going to the movies with someone), "mit jemanden kochen" (cooking with someone) ect., but if someone is (only) in the care (for children) of another or as a location information - near someone else., you use "bei".
"Meine Tochter ist bei ihren Großeltern." doesn't say anything about what they're doing, whether they're doing something together. It is meant to say that you don't have to worry because the grandparents make sure that nothing happens to her (or that she doesn't harm anything/anyone else) OR that she is at her grandparents' house or with her grandparents somewhere else. (So you know where to pick her up or that you can call her by calling her grandparents' (cell) phone number.)
622
Thanks for the elaborate reply. This kinda helped me clear up some confusion on the two words :.
187
If bei implies the same thing as the French chez, then the English translation is wrong. It gives no indication of where the 3 of them are. They could be out in the country, at a mall or anywhere else. The translation must show that they are AT her grandparents'.
502
Wo ist im Englischen der Unterschied zwischen ".. BY her grandparents" und "... WITH her grandparents? Im Deutschen müsste bei der Verwendung von " mit", der Satz länger sein. Z. B. "Meine Tochter ist MIT ihren Großeltern schwimmen.