- Forum >
- Topic: German >
- "Es geht um die Fans."
98 Comments
Would "Es ist um die Fans" and Es geht ueber die Fans" mean the same thing as the sentence on duolingo?
In German you can't say "es ist um", you always have to use the verb "gehen". I believe it also has to be "um" and cannot be "über", in order so say what something is about. For example:
In dem Buch geht es um ... - The book is about ...
In dem Lied geht es um ... - The song is about ...
In dem Streit geht es um ... - The quarrel is about ...
Worum geht es in dem Lied? Es geht um die Fans. - What is the song about? It is about the fans.
Thanks! When I read the sentence I thought for sure it meant something like "it is walking around the fans"... boy was I wrong!
315
"it is walking around the fans" translates to "Es geht um die Fans herum." So the sentence "Es geht um die Fans" has no ambiguity for Germans.
Thank you very much for the prompt reply. It's not letting me reply to your most recent post, so I'll reply to this one again instead. So if I understand you correctly, then: geht um = about | läuft um = walk/run/go around? So even though "geht" normally means "go", it changes to meaning "about" when it's paired with "um"? If yes, then does this apply to other conjugations as well? Like, sie gehen um die Fans = they are about the fans | sie laufen um die Fans = they walk/run/go around the fans? Is this right?
- 315
Yes. For example you could have a book series about fan culture in European soccer. So 'they (the books) are about the fans' means 'Sie (die Bücher) gehen um die Fans".
@HammadS: when separating the sentence I would count three positions: ("Es" subject) ("geht" verb) ("um die Fans"). The "um" is a preposition, introducing the last part of the sentence. This is the same as in English ("about the fans).
However, in both languages, specific prepositional phrases are tied to verbs. So you say "to ask for something", in German "fragen nach etwas". Although the preposition belongs to the "something/etwas", it should be learned together with the verb.
But then what about that other question which Duo keeps giving me, "Die Maus läuft um das Glas"? It says that this means "the mouse walks around the glass", and it doesn't use geht or herum. Wouldn't this be able to apply to this sentence as well? "Es läuft um die Fans"? If not, then somebody please correct me. Hell, even if I'm right, somebody please let me know. lol
- 315
Good point, Tor. (As a native speaker it is really difficult to keep in mind all the varieties, especially for a layman.) When you want to express that "it is about the fans" the verb "laufen" does not work here.
You said "Worum geht es in dem Lied?" Can I say "Worüber ist der Lied?" Or is that terrible?
- 315
You could say "Worüber ist das Lied" and Germans understand what you mean. But the more elegant and correct version is "Worum geht es in dem Lied"
Gave you lingot for your display name! :) Thanks for the 'eindeutig' explanation.
Always the same with Duolingo, they never explain nothing, we have to figure out by ourselves... Thanks for the explanation.
Hello, this is very helpful.. One doubt.. is this statement wrong? - "Das Buch geht um.." Does it always have to be ".. geht ES..."?
Of course you can say "Das Buch geht um X". But you can replace "das Buch" by "es" ("it"): "Es geht um X".
But every sentence needs a subject. And if you start the sentence with "in diesem Buch" (not "das Buch"), then you definitely need the "es", because else the sentence would not have a subject.
I guess they don't want to get to scholarly, but isn't this the separable verb "umgehen," with its own meaning that differs a bit from "gehen"?
Not in this context since "um" is being used as a preposition rather than part of a verb.
Nope. "Umgehen" is a separable verb, so if it was applicable, "um" would have to go to the end.
...But the verb in this sentence is just "geht"; "um" is simply a preposition.
EDIT: I am wrong.
- 315
I should clarify: There is the German word "umgehen" as in "Ich umgehe den Stau". That's what I was talking about. And that word is not separable (I'm German). I was not talking about "gehen" "um". Anyway, that verb "umgehen" does not apply in the sentence of Duolingo so the discussion here is a little nitpick. ;)
Derp. I did not notice that. There are two different verbs, one separable, one inseparable. Weird.
For once, what looks like would be the literal translation is not accepted. I knew that it should mean 'It's about the fans' but didn't dare put it, so opted for a word for word translation!
"It's about the fans". Why is the contraction to 'it's', not acceptable?
Because you would not say so in English, at least not if you want to express the same as the German srentennce does.
The German sentence says that the fans are the subject of what is tackled.
Your sentence could best be understood as that there is something that moves in a circle around the fans.
That's what I wrote also. It's how we would say it in English, but it does add the "all" to the sentence.
I think it is not accepted as an answer because German is really verbose and if we write all, it'd mean we have alles in the German sentence.
I wrote: 'It is about the supporters, but DL rejected 'supporters'. What would be the reason why 'fans' can't be translated as 'supporters', I wonder?
Funny how in spanish you may also ask: De que va la pelicula? (What´s the movie about?) va=ir (go) geht=go. I will definetly remember this! :D
Can somebody go word by word and translate this literally? It would be greatly appreciated. Things related to geht confuse the hell out of me. Does it mean go in this case? Does um mean around? The only way I can think of to translate this is "it goes around the fans." Is that the literal meaning here, or do some words have different meanings?
I dislike simply memorizing idiomatic meanings, so explanations like this help me a great deal.
- 1159
Agreed. I thought it was, "It goes around the fans," too, as based on the other one sometime ago, "Wir gehen um das Haus."
What I did just discover though, is if you try to translate, "It goes around the fans," via Google Translate it adds an extra word, 'herum', to the end—"Es geht um die Fans herum."
So perhaps that 'herum' word is the marker for when they specifically mean one context or the other in German, sort of like the word 'entlang' from a few lessons ago—"It goes along the street," "Es geht die Strasse entlang."
"Es geht die Strasse entlang." "It goes along the street."
"Es geht um die Strasse herum." "Is goes around the street."
"Es geht um die Strasse." "It is about the street."
(PS: Come to think of it, even in English that word 'about' could sometimes mean something like 'around'. Like, "She goes all about town doing her business," or, "The children are playing all about.")
I thought of a scenario that might help to understand the meaning of "es geht um". Context always makes it easier for me to understand a foreign language. Imagine someone tells you he is writing a thesis about rock'n roll and you ask him: "Is this thesis about musicians?" The answer then could be. "Nein, es geht um die Fans."
No, that would be a different German sentence. "Es ist für die Fans." http://context.reverso.net/traduction/anglais-allemand/It+is+for+the+fans.
That would be a question. The conjugated verb comes is the second element in a main clause.
When I translated: "It is about the supporters" it corrected me but in a previous lesson it gave both definitions as correct!
This is either band drama, air conditioning issues, or that tacky M&Ms commercial
Is the 'a' in 'Fans' pronounced correctly here? It sounds more like an 'ä' to me. The Forvo pronunciation also sounds a bit different, so I wanted to check.
- 315
Yes, as the word 'Fan' is a word imported from English, it is pronounced like the English word. That's why you hear the "ä" sound.
- 206
I answered "it is for the fans", and I was curious if my answer (while still incorrect), was close. And if someone could help me by identifying where I could have went wrong that would be most helpful.
- 315
Well it is the difference between being FOR fans and being ABOUT fans. There is a difference in meaning. Hope that helps.
Is this an idiom? I would expect this to translate in English to "it goes to the fans"
This is one of those really strange sentences, which I don't even know who would need for any reason at all. Plus, it's not funny at all.
- 460
The lesson is teaching how to say what something is about, i.e., what the subject is (of a book, or a movie, or a discussion, etc.). It's a phrase that you might very well want to use in conversation, or at least understand when you hear or see it. And since the meaning is not clear from a direct translation, you need to learn it by seeing how it is used.
I put "this one goes to the fans" because all I could think of is someone in concert announcing some spiel like "this one goes out to all the fans out there who can't get enough rock 'n roll" blahblahblah. Not the same meaning?
How would you say "it goes to the fans" - to elaborate the example, the refunded ticket money would go to the fans. Would it be something like "Es gibt um die Fans".
I wrote, "It goes around the fans." Of course, this doesn't make a lot of sense, but it seems to be a literal translation. The answer was marked incorrect. Can someone explain why?
Duolingo gave me two answers: "It is about the fans" and "It is concerning the fans". Well, it was hard to guess it.
- 445
How would "It goes around the fans" be translated into German then?
If we're expected to translate this sentence using what we've been shown up to this point, why is this sentence dependent entirely on a colloquialism?
If Es is a rumour, could you translate the sentence as It goes around the fans, (as in an earlier example, Er geht um das Haus) or does the sentence so need herum to complete it, as in an example given above? Thanks
"gehen um" means "to be about". So "Es geht um die Fans" is "It's (all) about the fans".
When you talk about a rumour going around, you would say "Es geht unter den Fans um". You'd use the word "umgehen" (stress on the first syllable, or else it has a completely different meaning) in this context, and certainly not an equivalent of "about", but of "around".
Could someone give me a literal translation? I dont know the technicalities of different languages, or even my own lol
A literal translation would be something like "It goes about the fans". But you can't say so in English.
How are we supposed to know which "about" to use? um, von, uber, an etc... so confusing
As "umgehen" is a separable verb why is the "um" not at the end of the sentence ie Es geht die Fans um
It is not the separable verb "umgehen" (which means "to walk past something", "to avoid") here.
Here it is just "gehen um", i.e. "gehen" with the preüposition "um", which means "about".
It is "about the fans" = "um die Fans". A preposition stands in front of the phrase it qualifies.
Is there any difference between saying Was es geht um and Worüber ist es Would they both mean 'What is it about?' Could this translate to anysubject you wanted to describe what it was about?
Neither "Was es geht um?" nor "Worüber ist es?" are correct German sentences.
a) the word order is wrong in two respects:
- the verb needs to be in second position
- In German, you can't separate the preposition from the word it refers to. So it is not "was ... um", but "um was"
So the correct sentence is "Um was geht es?" (note the verb is in second position, because "um was" counts as one element).
b) "worüber" is the wrong preposition. It should be "worum". And you don't use "sein", but "gehen".
But "Um was geht es?" and "Worum geht es?" can both be used without a difference in meaning.
- 223
Going by each word and their meaning, why can't the following sentence be correct? "It goes at the fans", as in meaning, a raging bull or something goes at the fans.
- 315
"It goes at the fans" as in "It goes towards the fans" would be translated to "Es geht auf die Fans zu".
Careful "It is about the fans." can be contracted to "It's about the fans." but you have a Turkish capital i which still has the dot. " İ "
- 315
Nobody in Germany would understand "Es geht um die Fans" as "It goes around the fans". As I said earlier in this post an accurate translation of "It goes around the fans" would be "Es geht um die Fans herum".
So it would better use "Es ist ueber die Fans" instead of "es geht uber die fans" no?
But the Duolingo team should have given this example in the course itself and not on the practice.
What is the difference between gehts and tut? They both mean "does", right?
