"Seine Eltern wohnen jedoch immer noch dort."
Translation:However, his parents still live there.
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The German sentence translates directly as "His parents live however still there" so its understandable that word order in English is confusing. Flexible word order in German allows for this sentence to emphasize that its his parents who are still (also emphasized) living there by placing "Seine Eltern" in the first position, rather than "jedoch" (however) which we would generally place at the beginning of the sentence in English.
This sentence has two adverbs to consider the placement of: jedoch and immer. Adverb placement is not fixed, but they generally go close to or before what they modify. The placement of the verb wohnen is fixed to the second position, unlike in English were you could place all the adverbs before it ("However, his parents are still living there").
Jedoch modifies wohnen (which must be in second position) and can come either before or after wohnen. Here, it could be switched with "Seine Eltern" and still be a proper sentence. By placing "Seine Eltern" in the first position, it emphasizes that its his parents still living there.
Immer is modifying noch (still) to make it more emphatic, but it doesnt have a word to word translation in English, so its sort of like adding italics or using all caps for the word "still" in written English.
To break it down: Seine Eltern (subject, emphasized) wohnen (verb in 2nd position) jedoch (adverb modifying wohnen) immer noch (emphatic"still") dort (least important element).
What does "immer" reinforce here? It looks redundant from an English language point of view.
930
Several people here have said that it is a common manner of speaking in German and carries meaning beyond simply "noch".
It puts emphasis on the word 'noch.' It would be like saying, "His parents are still living there."
We use the same phrase in Afrikaans in exactly the same way. Immer noch/ altyd nog is what you would answer if someone would ask if you are still doing the same job for example. Your answer would mean "yes, without change, up to now. If you use only noch it does not exclude that you could have moved over to a different job and returned to the first one where you are still at. That is the context and I agree the phrase doesn't correspond to the English way of saying the same thing
Same with "His parents, however, still live there". Strange that that's not accepted, especially since it has been 7 years since your comment.
- 112
Why can't it be "His parents live there still however"? Okay, it's a bit clunky as a sentence, but surely the meaning is identical?
As a native English speaker, you would be understood, but it is an awkward sentence. "His parents still live there, however", or "However, his parents still live there" would be more natural.
- 2300
According to Duden "jedoch" can either be a conjunction or an adverb; and "allerdings" can either be a particle or an adverb.
As adverbs, the two are mostly interchangeable, as per the first definition of "allerdings"—although for me, "jedoch" has a greater need for explicit contrast than "allerdings"—and when "jedoch" is a conjunction they are still relatively interchangeable, but you have to watch out for word order there. As a coordinating conjunction "jedoch" takes up the '0th' place in the clause; meaning that another element needs to come before the conjugated verb. However, as "allerdings" is an adverb, it takes up the 1st place in the clause, so the verb comes directly after.
When used as a particle or carrying the second definition of "allerdings" as an adverb, the two have almost diametrically opposed meanings.
why would including always in the translation not be accepted? Although I understand that that kind of emphasis doesn't really make much sense in English it does still work as a translation and it was it says in German.
It should work fine, depending on context. Da is a "close" there, dort is a "farther" there - i.e. over there.
- 974
Except when I answered "However, his parents still live over there" it said I was wrong. It probably should have accepted my answer though.
immer means: already noch means: still immer ... noch: means still
So when i translated the sentence saying:his parents are still already living there. It was wrong.
I understand that "still already" doesnt make sense, but in other context would we translate immer as already or omit it?
Noch has many meanings, the two words "immer noch" together mean "still" as in "still need to do something" it is an expression you should learn.
I said "still stay there" which in my part of the world (Scotland) means the same. After all if you are "living there" you are "staying there". Quite a common expression here.
His parents, however still live there. (What is wrong with that?)
- 2300
No, unfortunately it doesn't work like that.
"immer noch" is simply a more emphasised "noch", that doesn't really have an English equivalent.
'Live there still.' Was not accepted yet is perfectly fine in English. And is interchangeable with 'still live there'. It can depend on what part of the English speaking world you come from.
- 1497
"His parents still live there anyway" was not accepted, though I don't see how the meaning differs from the suggested translation. Reported.
Duo also doesn't accept "Nevertheless, his parents live there still." Also reported.
Ditto "However, his parents live there still."
It seems that "anyway" and "live there still" (instead of "still live there") are bollixing Duo. So, Duo, "live there still" may be a bit old-fashioned, but it is reasonable English; and "anyway" isn't the same as "any way".
- 2300
"His parents still live there anyway" was not accepted, though I don't see how the meaning differs from the suggested translation. Reported.
"jedoch" and "however" are used to mark a contrast to what was just said before, so I could imagine the full statement looking something like this:
Mein Chef hat seine Heimatstadt immer gehasst, seine Eltern wohnen jedoch immer noch dort.
My boss always hated his home town, however, his parents still live there.
"anyway" has a few separate meanings, one of which comes pretty close to what we're getting from however:
however
Used to introduce a statement that contrasts with or seems to contradict something that has been said previously.
‘People tend to put on weight in middle age. However, gaining weight is not inevitable’
anyway
Used to indicate that something happened or will happen in spite of something else.
‘nobody invited Miss Honey to sit down so she sat down anyway’
Although these certainly go in the same direction (they share a lot of synonyms, but importantly are not listed as synonyms of each other), they are not interchangeable in my eyes. A fitting context for "anyway" with this sentence would be (in my opinion):
Mein Chef hat denen gesagt, er würde sie nicht mehr besuchen, wenn sie nicht umziehen würden, trotzdem wohnen seine Eltern immer noch dort.
My boss told them he'd stop visiting them if they didn't move. His parents still live there anyway.
"however" indicates an indirect relationship between the two statements i.e. "if he hates it there, you'd expect his parents to as well, but everyone's different"; whereas "anyway" indicates a more direct relationship between the two statements: "he gave them the ultimatum of moving or never seeing him again, and they chose not to move".
So I think Duo's right for not accepting "anyway" as a translation for "jedoch".
Duo also doesn't accept "Nevertheless, his parents live there still." Also reported.
I reckon this could be accepted, but as "nevertheless" often gets translated to "nichtsdestotrotz" (both share meaning and are compounds of three words), I wouldn't hold my breath on this one.
Ditto "However, his parents live there still."
It seems that "anyway" and "live there still" (instead of "still live there") are bollixing Duo. So, Duo, "live there still" may be a bit old-fashioned, but it is reasonable English
You have to remember, the accepted answers have to be entered manually one by one, and I just don't see enough people entering "live there still" for it to be worth adding. As you mentioned, it's pretty old-fashioned.
"anyway" isn't the same as "any way".
Indeed.
- 1497
"Immer noch" means "still". It's a stock phrase. In English we have the expression "up to now." But what does UP have to do with anything? "Up to now" is also a stock phrase. All languages have these sorts of things.
I?agree with VaughanD that "live there still" is acceptable in English. Maybe Duo considers it poetic rather than conversational, but maybe it sounds normal to me because it so common in songs and poems.