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- Topic: German >
- "Das brauche ich."
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the question in regards to word order gets asked a lot, but just for clarification; does using "das" at the beginning of the sentence emphasise that you need "THAT" specific object? or is that just how you're supposed to write it?
German word order is flexible. You can often times switch around the direct object and the subject because you are still able to tell them apart based on case. For example, saying "Ich möchte einen Apfel" can be turned into "Einen Apfel möchte ich." Another example would be, "Wir können Äpfel essen" turning into "Äpfel können wir essen." The only requirement is that you have your been in the second position of the sentence.
No. Yoda use verb to finish his sentance while German require you to put verb in the second position.
From Japan or Turkey he could be.
They based Yodas speach patterns off Latin (SOV) most likely as a nod to his implied age.
I have studied Latin for 8 years and yes I have noticed it is based off Latin word order.
That's right Yoda would say, "That, I need." But this one is saying "That need I".
It sounds really weird. But I think its probably so convenient to be able to say the most important part of the sentence first, and then add the grammatical necessities later.
In this case Yoda might be from Kazakhstan as well. In kazakh language the verb is in the end of the sentence.
Баяндауыш тек етістіктен ғана емес, басқа да сөз таптарынан бола береді, сондықтан оны "predicate" сияқты қарастыру қажет. Make kazakh language great again!
If it is like that, the Yoda could be Persian too. In Persian we put the verb at the end of our sentences.
Do the different word orders have different connotations or emphasis?
As a general rule, yes. Changing word order in German is roughly equivalent to changing inflection in English. Whichever noun comes first is receiving the emphasis.
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Actually, even in English a change in word order can imply emphasis. For example, someone asks for something and perhaps you don't want to give it so you ask, "And you need that WHY?"
Which way is more commonly used then? You could apply the same rule to English and Spanish but it would sound a little weird.
I suppose it's like in English you can say, "I need that" or "That I need." The only real difference is the second one puts more emphasis on "that."
But if we take for example "Dich brauche ich" and "Ich brauche dich" they can't mean the same thing right?
But if we take for example "Dich brauche ich" and "Ich brauche dich" they can't mean the same thing right?
The meaning is the same.
The emphasis is different. Dich brauche ich might be used to translate "You're the one I need" for example.
Is it "Du brauchst ich"/"ich brauchst du"?
Nearly!
du and -st on brauchst is correct.
But for the object, you need mich (me) and not ich (I).
Thus Du brauchst mich. (neutral word order) or Mich brauchst du. (emphasis).
And how do I say "You need me"?
What's your attempt?
- What's the subject (nominative) form of "you" in German?
- What's the verb ending for that subject?
- What's the direct object (accusative) form of "me" in German?
I'm not sure I understand what you're asking but I think I figured it out from another comment. Is it "Du brauchst ich"/"ich brauchst du"?
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Ich brauche das is equally correct :) So yeah, I think the difference is only emphasis.
Would this be like the difference in saying "I need that" (as opposed to someone else needing it) and "I need that" (as opposed to needing something else)? If so, is this the former or latter of the two?
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English is committed to subject verb object order in sentence construction. Changing the order is usually done just for stylistic effects. Other subject verb object (S.V.O.) languages are less rigid and more tolerant of changed order. German is one of them. Esperanto much more so.
What annoys me is that nobody answered your entire question, and it's a question that I have, as well. Does position imply importance? Does a word in first position have more importance? I would assume so.
What annoys me is that I've answered that question multiple times below, yet you rather complain instead of reading the whole thread...
Yes, a different word order is frequently used to emphasize a different part of the sentence. There are other factors, like spoken stress, but in writing, putting the word in first position is a good indicator of emphasis.
For those wondering if "Ich brauche das" is also correct: the answer is yes. The difference between "Das brauche ich" und "Ich brauche das" is just that there is more of an emphasis on Das when it is placed first. But either way of saying it is perfectly correct.
The passive sentence is, 'that is needed'.
In a passive sentence the direct object becomes the subject, and the verb is now conjugated according to the original direct object. It becomes much clearer if the direct object is plural:
I require those (potatoes).
Those (potatoes) are required.
Just wondering, though. Even if they are both correct, is "Das brauche ich" more commonly said than "Ich brauche das"? Swedish has the same thing and so far, I've encountered the former more than the latter.
Fast det beror helt på vad man vill understryka i meningen. Det viktigaste sätter man i fundamentet. "Jag behöver det" och "Det behöver jag" är båda rätt, men den första används oftare för man ofta sätter subjektet i fundamentet. Men när man säger "Det behöver jag" så vill man understryka att det är just DET (den saken) man behöver, därför sätts "det" som fundament. Det är bara det att man oftast är mer van vid att sätta subjektet först.
Sedan så är meningarna ganska så flexibla i svenskan. Man kan ändra ganska mycket på dem olika delarna (subjekt, objekt, adverb etc), med ett enda villkor: predikatet måste komma direkt efter fundamentet, för det är V2 ordföljd i svenskan.
That explanation by eineSchlange is about Swedish grammar, and I'm not sure if what they said also applies for German. But in case you still want to know:
It depends entirely on what you want to emphasize in the sentence. You put the most important part in the fundament. "Jag behöver det" and "Det behöver jag" are both correct, but the first one is more often used because the subject is often put in the fundament. When you say "Det behöver jag", you want to emphasize that det is precisely the thing that you need, hence you put det in the fundament. It's just that people are used to putting the subject first in a sentence.
Sentences are quite flexible in Swedish. You can change a lot of the different parts (subject, object, adverb, etc.) with a single exception: the predicate must come directly after the fundament because of the V2 word order.
then how would you say "that needs me"? (i now you could argue that a thing doesn't needs anything, but it's still a functional phrase in a normal way of speaking or at least in a poetic one).
Ich glaube, du würdest sagen „Das braucht mich.“ You conjugate "brauchen" for the subject "das" (that) instead of "ich" (I) and replace "ich" (I) with "mich" (Me, accusative). Of course, you could flip it again and make „Mich braucht das“ to match with this original sentence's order.
Thank you so much. Such a simple explanation, right to the point. This is exactly what I was wondering (word order, and whether it effects the meaning). Cheers!
You can say that. The emphasis this time is on the word "das". In a simple sentence like this, you can say "Ich brauche das" and get away with it.
No. One would not say "That needs me". If something "needs" you, you would say "It needs me", or "Es braucht mich" auf deutsch.
One of the suggested definitions I got from hovering over "brauche" was "use/am using". When I translated the German sentence to English as "I am using that" I was marked incorrect.
I've reported this as an error but I'm curious whether the problem is an accurate statement not being accepted or a bad suggested definition. Can anyone shed light on this? Is there a better way to say "I need that" vs. "I am using that"?
The dictionary is not context aware, so use your best judgement and prefer the ones on the top to the ones on the bottom.
"Dass" is a conjunction (more exactly, a relative clause). "Das" is either neutral article or pronoun. Pronouns and conjunction get easily mixed up (btw also by native speakers). Maybe this helps: https://deutsch.lingolia.com/en/vocabulary/easily-confused-words/das-vs-dass
I think you mean "Dass" is a conjunction (more precisely, a subordinating conjunction).
It's not a relative clause and it doesn't start a relative clause -- but das with one S can start a relative clause! (Example: In dem Haus, das meine Mutter mir gekauft hat, wohnen jetzt meine Kinder. The relative clause is das meine Mutter mir gekauft hat.)
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Please would you try to translate your sentences like '...das meine Mutter....." in full, when possible. This called for a diversion to other learning resources but not about das, due to the structure. L plates on here!
In dem Haus, das meine Mutter mir gekauft hat, wohnen jetzt meine Kinder. = My children now live in the house that my mother bought me.
so in german both word order are correct but what they usually prefer first? subject?
So say you wanted to say i need you and you want to really emphasize the you, for example Person 1: you need Adam? Person 2: i need YOU
Would you write it as dich brauche ich opposed to ich brauche dich to emphasize you?
Ich brauche es is grammatically correct ("I need it", rather than "I need that").
Es brauche ich sounds wrong to me.
I am curious as to the correct answer here which was posted as 'I need IT', I have questioned this with doulingo as surly that would be es brauche ist or ist brauche es?
No, neither "es brauche ist" or "ist brauche es" mean "I need it". In fact, those sentences in themselves don't make much sense; they translate as "it needs is" and "is needs it". To say "I need it" in German, one would say "Ich brauche es" OR "Es brauche ich" (if you would like and emphasis on IT.)
To lay emphasis on different parts of the sentence. You can say "Ich brauche das" as well.
This is the difference between passive and active voice. "I need that" is an example of active voice, the subject acts directly on the direct object. "That is need by me." is an example of passive voice, where the subject, me, is being acted on.
That is need by me.?? That doesn't sound like a correct English sentence.
Example of passive voice: The car is being repaired.
I thought it was "That needs me" but it turns out it's "I need that"... How come??
Because of cases. Word order is flexible in German, to see what is subject and what is object, you look in what case each part is. If you were the one who is needed, it would be "das braucht mich" / "mich braucht das".
So, if this sentence is okay for general. Can I use something else instead of "Das" for example; "Wasser brauche ich" or "Katze will ich"
Wasser brauche ich is possible (roughly: "It's water that I need").
Katze will ich doesn't work because cats are countable, but Eine Katze will ich is possible (roughly: "It's a cat that I want").
Thank you so much, this will be very priceless information for me to understand nature of german language
So it would be okay if I spoke/wrote the sentence as "Ich brauche das"? (However the better choice would be "Das brauche ich"?)
So it would be okay if I spoke/wrote the sentence as "Ich brauche das"?
Yes.
(However the better choice would be "Das brauche ich"?)
Which one is better depends on exactly what emphasis you want to convey. Both are good sentences.
I'm still learning so I haven't quite figured out the word order in German yet; however I know when your asking a question, the verb should come first. For instance: Brauche ich das? Do I need that? Isst du Tomaten? Do you eat Tomatoes?
This is probably an odd question, but why does it use the Wir/Sie form of "need"? Is there actually an "ich" form, or no?
It's not using the Wir/Sie form of need. That would be "brauchen" (with EN on the end. But this uses "brauche" (with only an E on the end. That is the "ich" form. Remeber, Ich brauche, du brauchst, Sie brauchen, er/sie/es braucht, wir brauchen, ihr braucht, sie brauchen.
Oh my dear goodness. I can't believe I forgot that. I was obviously pretty tired at that point. Thank you so much! :)
Of course you can. In fact, I think that's far more common than Das brauche ich. It's similar to how it's far more usual to hear "I need that" than "That is needed by me."
I guess it's more common in English because the other version is rather cumbersome. But in German, you change the word order pretty freely according to what part you want to emphasize.
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Yes, the analogy doesn't really work because in German only the order is inverted, not the grammatical structure. You can sometimes get away with fronting the object for emphasis in English, given sufficient context and intonation. For example, in this beer advert:
Draughts I hate. Except McEwans Export -- now that I like!
(In case anyone requires an explanation for the "except": it's a pun on draughts [UK] = checkers [USA] = Damespiel, versus draught [UK] = draft [USA] = "vom Fass".)
dqxxmvyvoedn
Hi can you give me an idea which word is emphasised in different orders please if possible thanks
In spoken language, it also depends a lot on which word(s) you stress, but in writing, you generally can say that there's emphasis on what you put in front of the verb.
Would "das brauche mir" be grammatically correct? And what would it mean? Thanks!
lol, in my local dialect, this would mean "we need that" (correctly: das brauchen wir"). But no, it's not correct in standard German.
Yes. Or at least very unusual. "Need" is usually not used in the continuous aspect.
why not : " ich brauche das " ??
That's another possible sentence.
It matters in English too. "I need that", and "That (is what) I need" have different emphases, and apply in different contexts.
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Can das appear at the end of a sentence, please? The equivalent is not a problem in English although it is probably used more in phrases and questions.
Can das appear at the end of a sentence, please?
Yes, it can. Ich mag das. "I like that."
How would "That needs me" be translated to German.
The verb would be conjugated to match the subject das (third person singular), and "me" as the direct object would be in the accusative case.
Do you want to give it a try yourself?
Would this work in the context of two people looking at something, like shoes or a phone, and then one says, "Now THAT, I need"? I also don't know if that needs a comma or not, English is not my home language
Can anyone explain why das brauche ich is "I need that?" why isnt it ich brache das
Both Das brauche ich. and Ich brauche das. are possible.
The verb endings and the case forms show what the subject and object are.
but when do we use Das brauche ich and when do we use ich brauche das? thanks
but when do we use Das brauche ich and when do we use ich brauche das? thanks
As a learner, stick to the basic word order (subject - verb - object) but be prepared to recognise when native speakers use other orders.
Word order depends on emphasis in ways that are not always easy to convey or explain.
