Happy birthday Chris aka Korexus
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- Lardmaster
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- Xarfei
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I know you had German in school, so you should understand this:
"Viel Glück und viel Segen auf all deinen Wegen,
Gesundheit und Frohsinn sei auch mit dabei."
and
"Hoch soll er leben, hoch soll er leben - drei mal hoch!"
Christian
PS: The number 1 song we sing in Germany when it's someones birthday is actually "Happy birthday to you,..." but next are the two above songs.
"Viel Glück und viel Segen auf all deinen Wegen,
Gesundheit und Frohsinn sei auch mit dabei."
and
"Hoch soll er leben, hoch soll er leben - drei mal hoch!"
Christian
PS: The number 1 song we sing in Germany when it's someones birthday is actually "Happy birthday to you,..." but next are the two above songs.
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For those who don't speak German:
"Much luck and many blessings in all your ways
health and gladness also be with you"
and then
"High should he live, high should he live - three times high!"
Not that certain Germans would advocate certain mind altering substances of course. Or would even think of a helicopter-fish...
For those who don't speak Polish, well one of the cleaners at school does. I can ask her, but she doesn't speak much English. Fairly sure that Sto Lat is the group of plains just outside Ankh Morpork though.
Somehow I feel that good old "Happy Birthday" sums it up best. Rule Britannia, 3 Lions on a Shirt and God save the Queen!
korexus.
"Much luck and many blessings in all your ways
health and gladness also be with you"
and then
"High should he live, high should he live - three times high!"
Not that certain Germans would advocate certain mind altering substances of course. Or would even think of a helicopter-fish...
For those who don't speak Polish, well one of the cleaners at school does. I can ask her, but she doesn't speak much English. Fairly sure that Sto Lat is the group of plains just outside Ankh Morpork though.
Somehow I feel that good old "Happy Birthday" sums it up best. Rule Britannia, 3 Lions on a Shirt and God save the Queen!
korexus.
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I know I'm on thin ice here, and you're apparently in Germany an' all ... but shouldn't that, grammatically, be "seien" rather than "sei" ?! I'm not suggesting you misquoted ... I'm just suggesting that the original German writer maybe got his German grammar wrong! Oder?Xarfei wrote:I know you had German in school, so you should understand this:
"Viel Glück und viel Segen auf all deinen Wegen,
Gesundheit und Frohsinn sei auch mit dabei."
Han
There are two ways to write: Short-hand, and Long-Han'ed. ~ Han
"If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs"......... it's probably just that you're the last person to appreciate the enormity of the catastrophe about to
"If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs"......... it's probably just that you're the last person to appreciate the enormity of the catastrophe about to
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I guess it depends on what you mean by word.Lardmaster wrote:My German friend at work says there is no such word as "seien".
Germans, like so many foreigners, like to mangle their verbs differently depending on who they are talking to and about. The verb "sein" means "to be", the imperative "Be!" can then be formed as "sei" (for a familiar 'you') or "seien Sie!" (for a respectful 'you') etc.
Han's point comes in on the 'they' form, which should be "sie seien" as the verse was talking about two things (health and happiness) it seems logical therefore to use the 'they' form of the verb, rather than the 'it' (es sei).
To be honest it's been long enough now since I did German that I can't be certain but it does seem to make more sense that way. However Xarfei was quoting a song and it is common practice in all languages to abbreviate lyrics to make them scan. Maybe "Gesundheit und Frohsinn sei' auch mit dabei." might be the most accurate.
For those of you that have just been put off German for life, I should point out that sein is easily the most irregular of verbs in German. Most of it is actually considerably more logical than French or English.
Here endeth the lesson.
korexus.
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I had 6 years of German in school an I know tons.
Heineken eeeh Glühwein (or is that Austrian), Underberg those are fun, I am sure that am Main and an der Oder means something and I think Dumkopf is something like "Great guy" or something since I get called that a lot.
@Han:
I am pretty sure Germans are like the rest of the world when it comes to speaking or writing in the native tounge. We dont care about rules. It is our language so we can do whatever the h*** we want with it. It is the rest of you out there that needs to follow rules or we will pretend we dont understand one single word of what you just said.
Heineken eeeh Glühwein (or is that Austrian), Underberg those are fun, I am sure that am Main and an der Oder means something and I think Dumkopf is something like "Great guy" or something since I get called that a lot.
@Han:
I am pretty sure Germans are like the rest of the world when it comes to speaking or writing in the native tounge. We dont care about rules. It is our language so we can do whatever the h*** we want with it. It is the rest of you out there that needs to follow rules or we will pretend we dont understand one single word of what you just said.
First one here, last one to leave.
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Han:
I think you are right. I actually just copied the lyrics from some webpage, but whenever I sing the song, I use the word "seien" not "sei".
This makes more sense to me since "Gesundheit" + "Frohsinn" = 2, i.e. plural. "sei" I would use if I want you either only to be healthy or happy.
The word certainly does exsist. When you run it through google (German pages only) you get around 2.7 million hits.
Nemesis:
It should be "spiele" not "spiel".
verb: spielen
ich spiele (I)
du spielst (you)
er spielt (he)
wir spielen (we)
ihr spielt (you - plural)
sie spielen (they)
I think you are right. I actually just copied the lyrics from some webpage, but whenever I sing the song, I use the word "seien" not "sei".
This makes more sense to me since "Gesundheit" + "Frohsinn" = 2, i.e. plural. "sei" I would use if I want you either only to be healthy or happy.
The word certainly does exsist. When you run it through google (German pages only) you get around 2.7 million hits.
Nemesis:
It should be "spiele" not "spiel".
verb: spielen
ich spiele (I)
du spielst (you)
er spielt (he)
wir spielen (we)
ihr spielt (you - plural)
sie spielen (they)
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In that case, and this is just fun banter to keep the boards active for a few interesteds, your German friend at work is an idiot or badly taught! It's like you asked an english colleague whether you could correctly say in English, "He suggest". Without an "s". He/she might say no, doesn't exist in my language. Hmm. "I'd go along with it, should he suggest it".Lardmaster wrote:My German friend at work says there is no such word as "seien".
Subjunctives are tricky. Your German friend at work is, well, just wrong! There IS such a word as "seien"; he/she just never uses it. No more than you ever use "I were" or "he suggest"... ?
So, Lardy, you can get one up on your German friend at work by telling him/her that he/she is wrong on German! Definitely. Or else, best not crush them, keep it to yourself.
Han
There are two ways to write: Short-hand, and Long-Han'ed. ~ Han
"If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs"......... it's probably just that you're the last person to appreciate the enormity of the catastrophe about to
"If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs"......... it's probably just that you're the last person to appreciate the enormity of the catastrophe about to