"Was ist die Summe?"

Translation: What is the sum?

[Catweasel]

I translated this as "What is the total?"...but was marked as being wrong. Is it too idiomatic for the Owl?

[jotomicron]

I also think that translation would be more natural. However, I have written "sum" as I wasn't sure "total" would be accepted. I wonder if it already is...

[frenchmeggermany]

could be, I also put "what's the total"

[deactivated user]

Can you tell us if the green owl was happy with our answer?
I answered: "What's the amount?" and it was fine. :-)

[Drearpine53428]

THE "GREEN OWL" HAS A NAME!!!

his name is duo

[DeborahLac19]

I found this about summe :https://en.langenscheidt.com/german-english/summe

[deactivated user]

.. How does this mean "(I) crooning/am crooning" ?????

[yashkochar]

summen (verb) means to croon/hum. I don't think it fits here, but is listed as a definition of the word summe.

[zengator]

NB: Summe means "sum, total, amount, or aggregate" (http://www.dict.cc/?s=summe) and would mean "hum, buzz, croon, etc" only if paired with ich (as the first-person conjugated form of summen), probably in the form of a question (so that it's the first word in the sentence).

z.B.: Summe ich zu laut? (Am I humming too loudly?)

Otherwise, if it's capitalized, it's a noun, thus "sum, total, etc".

[dustyhusername]

Can this also mean the central idea or point, or summary like it does in English, like "the sum of all fears"?

[zengator]

Summe doesn't really mean "summary". But in "The Sum of All Fears", "sum" doesn't mean "summary", it means "total" or "aggregation".

"Summary" would be "die Zusammenfassung oder die Inhaltsangabe oder der Überblick, u.a.., wie hier aufgelistet"

Interesting, though, is that there is both a book and a movie called "The Sum of All Fears", but the titles are translated differently: "Der Anschlag" und "Das Echo aller Furcht". Sieh dir das an: http://www.dict.cc/?s=the+sum+of+all+fears

[Nmangamer1]

Can you use this to ask for the cost of things?

[deactivated user]

Yes you can, but it sounds stilted and incomplete. Correct sentences in regards how much it is (sum of the purchase for instance) are:

Was macht es? (umgangssprachlich)
Was macht das? (umgangssprachlich)
Was kostet das?
Was ist die Gesamtsumme?
Was ist der Gesamtpreis?
Wie teuer ist das Ganze?
Koennen sie mir die Gesamsumme geben/sagen/nennen?
Summa sumarum?

and many more, but "Was ist die Summe?" is a bit short.
It would work on the checkout (Kasse) though.

[GhostAlexMercer]

Literally! What is "sum"?

[petros557]

isn't summary the word that sum comes from?

[JameezDuol]

other way around, summary comes from sum. sum is from summe in latin which means highest.

[Thomas328056]

Does German have a less formal sounding word for "total" than "Summe"?

[Minervas37]

No, it's perfectly fine.

You could only express it more or less snobbishly by saying it in latin:
"summa summarum"
(which means 'sum of sums' literally)