"Gehen Sie nur voraus, bitte."
Translation:Just go ahead, please.
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It accepts both "Just go ahead, please," and "Go just ahead, please," which I would not consider the same thing in English. Which is a more accurate translation?
Out of those two, I would choose "Just go ahead, please", but having said that, I'm not sure that even that would be accurate. In English, the use of "just" in such a sentence implies a degree of impatience (eg. "Just get of with it...!). I'm not sure whether that is the intention in the German sentence. Maybe a native speaker can help us out?!
In this case nur would mean just, not only. It would be "just go ahead " not "only go ahead" which has a different intention. There are words in English as well with multiple meanings and you have to figure out what the meaning is based on the context of the word.
I put "Only go in front please." and it was accepted. Should it not have been?
No; "soeben" is "just now, just a moment ago", while "nur" is "only, merely, just".
Should "go straight ahead, please" be accepted too? It was incorrect for me.
There is nothing in this sentence that says the person can't zigzag. I think the "just" means, "Don't argue, dang it, just do it!".
Can "voraus" mean "forward"? Or is there a distinct difference between "ahead/in front/advance" and "forward" that I am missing in this context?
So "Gehen Sie nur voraus, bitte" could translate to "Just go forward, please"
I'd understand voraus as meaning only ahead, further in front compared to me but not further forward than where you are now which would be vorwärts.
Forward is vorwärts. Go in front of me is: Geh vor mir her. And voraus is as "zuerst" about like first.
This is formal, right? Colloquially and informally, how would this go? Say a friend asked if they could have a biscuit from the tin on the table. I'm guessing you wouldn't say 'Gehen Sie nur voraus, bitte' as that would be too formal and polite? What about 'nur voraus'?
To one friend: Geh nur voraus, bitte. To multiple friends, Geht nur voraus, bitte.
But you wouldn't use it in your biscuit situation -- it's for explicitly walking forwards, not the abstract / general "continue / proceed with what you are doing" meaning that "go ahead" can have in English.
In your biscuit situation, Nur zu! might work, especially informally.
Or Mach ruhig! Macht ruhig! Machen Sie ruhig! / Nimm dir ruhig einen! Nehmt euch ruhig einen / Nehmen Sie sich ruhig einen!.
Thank you so much! I will now be a much more eloquent host to my German friends.
Will you please go ahead , was marked wrong why , there is no difference in the meaning
I want to know how to say "Please just get out" - like when you are already at the point of being desperate in asking someone to just leave, but still trying to maintain politeness.
Bitte gehen Sie jetzt einfach (raus) -- with raus, "Please just get out"; without raus, "Please just leave".
