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- "Ich hatte durch die Zeitung …
"Ich hatte durch die Zeitung davon erfahren."
Translation:I had found out about it from the newspaper.
38 Comments
What's wrong with 'I had found out through the newspaper about it.' ? Duo didn't accept.
As a native speaker I often use different word order like this to emphasize things.
I know that the sentence order is awkward but it's grammatically correct.
I would call that weird sentence order, but not so weird it should be considered incorrect.
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My answer was like yours but without "about it" and it was accepted: "I had found out through the newspaper".
The word hint for davon says about it/them; but when I said "...about them through the newspaper" it marked me wrong. So either the hint is wrong or the answer was unfairly marked incorrect; which is it?
Does anyone know why Davon came after Die Zeitung ! thanks ! why not vice versa !
erfahren in my experience, is ironically, to experience. Is this use of the word correct in this particular sentance? I am unsure. It makes sense, I suppose, with regards German language. Normally I would use/have heard/have read 'ausfinden'.
The sentence is absolutely correct. Etw. erfahren means both to experience sth and to come to know sth. By the way. to find out about sth. can also be translated as etw. herausfinden. "ausfinden" does not exist.
The use of erfahren is absolutly correct....lets say you read the obituarty...;). And you find out about the death of sb.
Because the lesson is about past imperfect, which implies that you have to build your sentence using had + past participle, even though preterit alone would often do it in spoken English. But there is actually the same difference in meaning in German and English between a past action (preterit) and another prior to that (or any past) action. Of course this would all be much clearer in context.
Usually depends on context since the "da-" words are used to point. It can be either.
If you're asking about "die Zeitung", it is indeed accusative. The preposition "durch" always takes the accusative.
I wrote "I had found out about it by the newspaper." and got it wrong. Is it really bad in english to use here the word "by"?
It is not correct, I'm sorry to say.. But you can use by way of the newspaper - that seems acceptable to me. Not sure if they accept it however.
OK, I accept it. Though could you please link me a page where I can look it up?
Somehow I am not able to find any relevant links for such usage. I'm sorry about that. But please note that found out goes well with ... from (an object or a person), so you should stick to this usage.
In English, when you say "by the newspaper", it sounds like you were standing by the newspaper's building/offices when you " found out about it". For example, "by the bank" or "by the shop". " by" can often indicate location. Hope they helps!
As a native English speaker, this sentence sounds to me like you found out about something next to the newspaper. Using "by" like this evokes its locational meaning. "By way of" is regionally correct; I rarely would use that phrase, though. I would just say "in the newspaper". The information is "in" the book/paper/magazine/box/house.
Because "da" doesn't mean "they", it means "it" or "that" or "this".
Maybe in some specific context you could make it be translated to "them", but you'd have to work out quite a critical example :)
durch is referring to the newspaper and davon is referring to the thing you found out.
I find this a bit confusing. Could someone give a few more examples in both present and future tense? Thank you.
Isn't the meaning of "erfahren" experienced rather than found or learned ?
"I had learned through the newspaper about that." - I see nothing wrong with that..
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"Ich hatte durch die Zeitung davon erfahren." 1. Why is "davon" last before the infinitive? Is it treated here as an accusative noun? Otherwise I'd expect it to be before "durch die Zeitung." 2. I actually used "Ich hatte es . . .", which was accepted. What is the difference in meaning or preference between using "es" and "davon"?
