A funny example of North American culture is that everyone refers to the CEO of my multinational company by his first name, almost never formally. Everyone is still afraid of him though.
oh god the first name basis thing makes some stuff make so much sense retroactively -- I had no idea first name = du! I had a German professor (whom I communicate exclusively in English with) tell me in an email I could "say du to" him, and it confused me so much at the time but now I realize he probably just meant I could call him by his first name and send generally less formal emails... useful info!
I also feel like strangers are more likely to duzen people around the same age as them here in Berlin, at least among 20-somethings like myself. But I'm not 100% sure on that -- I default to Sie less because it's polite and more because it's easier to remember the verb forms!
As an Italian is the same here in Italy, the exact same thing that is in Germany: works the exact same way, just… people don’t do it. I’m one of the very few in my city that follows this rule :)
Personally, I try to use more formal language with my students, calling them Sir or Ma'am, even with very young students. This is not common practice, but I think it helps reinforce the idea that school is a place where a polite and courteous etiquette is expected. I understand the value in having an established hierarchy, but I also believe respect is a two-way street. If they are expected to speak to me deferentially, then I think it's only fair that I extend the same courtesy to them. It doesn't matter to me if the kid is only 5 years old. I can help teach them politeness by example.
Children don't get the luxury of ever being Siezet. I don't mean to be pedantic (I totally am) but wouldn't children of aristocracy be Siezet (like Prince George or Princess Charlotte) 😁.
Technically yes, probably; they definitely would have been back when we still had royalty, but since we no longer do and I don't think British royalty largely bothers to learn German at a duz-able age, luckily we need not worry about monarchy :D Edit: only caveat is, if you ever read, watch or play fiction that has royal children in it, both originally German or translated, they will probably be Ihr-t 😉😄
This thing about the use of "Ihr" to refer to singular people really confuses me. I've seen the singular "Ihr" in some videogames, like Skyrim. I thought it was just a weird translation, but then I played Enderal, a game developed by Germans, and every NPC still talks to my character using "Ihr" (and he's not royalty).
What I've alway wondered is if you're speaking to two people and one is known to you and the other one isn't, would you use plural Sie or Ihr? Say, for example I was at a friend's house for the first time. I would use du for my friend but Sie for their mother. Would I say "Sie haben ein schönes Haus" or "Ihr habt ein schönes Haus"? If I use Sie, it isn't clear that I"m speaking to both of them. If I use Ihr, then that's being rude to the mother.
@@julianachilles8555 I think their point is that it's not capitalized when it's the non-formal 2nd person plural, only when it's the old-fashioned formal one (similar to how "sie" is never capitalized unless it's the 2nd person formal Sie)
If I wanted to say "you are my favorite [profession]" to a woman, would I use the masculine or the feminine form of the profession? Is German starting to lose gendered professions?
Not yet, no. I find the tendency in English very interesting, but we're nowhere near it in German - perhaps because modern English only has a few distinctly gendered nouns anyway, making them stand out as differentiated, while it's the norm in German, making a general masculine (or feminine) form seem reductive to some. In fact, there has been a tendency towards using generic Femininum more as of late, which makes me hopeful that - as the pendulum swings - we will come to a place where both generic feminine or masculine forms are used interchangeably, depending on the preference of the speaker, the majority of a group, random switching or whatever else.
I want to "Sie" everyone so i could just use the infinitive form of the verb and not to worry about conjugation. Sadly "du" exists and it's here to stay. Why Germany why? Extrem kompliziert.
A funny example of North American culture is that everyone refers to the CEO of my multinational company by his first name, almost never formally. Everyone is still afraid of him though.
oh god the first name basis thing makes some stuff make so much sense retroactively -- I had no idea first name = du! I had a German professor (whom I communicate exclusively in English with) tell me in an email I could "say du to" him, and it confused me so much at the time but now I realize he probably just meant I could call him by his first name and send generally less formal emails... useful info!
I also feel like strangers are more likely to duzen people around the same age as them here in Berlin, at least among 20-somethings like myself. But I'm not 100% sure on that -- I default to Sie less because it's polite and more because it's easier to remember the verb forms!
As an Italian is the same here in Italy, the exact same thing that is in Germany: works the exact same way, just… people don’t do it. I’m one of the very few in my city that follows this rule :)
Beautiful eyes, sweet little smiles and good content 🌹🌹
Personally, I try to use more formal language with my students, calling them Sir or Ma'am, even with very young students. This is not common practice, but I think it helps reinforce the idea that school is a place where a polite and courteous etiquette is expected. I understand the value in having an established hierarchy, but I also believe respect is a two-way street. If they are expected to speak to me deferentially, then I think it's only fair that I extend the same courtesy to them. It doesn't matter to me if the kid is only 5 years old. I can help teach them politeness by example.
Children don't get the luxury of ever being Siezet. I don't mean to be pedantic (I totally am) but wouldn't children of aristocracy be Siezet (like Prince George or Princess Charlotte) 😁.
Technically yes, probably; they definitely would have been back when we still had royalty, but since we no longer do and I don't think British royalty largely bothers to learn German at a duz-able age, luckily we need not worry about monarchy :D
Edit: only caveat is, if you ever read, watch or play fiction that has royal children in it, both originally German or translated, they will probably be Ihr-t 😉😄
This thing about the use of "Ihr" to refer to singular people really confuses me. I've seen the singular "Ihr" in some videogames, like Skyrim. I thought it was just a weird translation, but then I played Enderal, a game developed by Germans, and every NPC still talks to my character using "Ihr" (and he's not royalty).
When you minimized the fonts we could not read the content anymore on RUclips. Maybe it was different on your screen
What I've alway wondered is if you're speaking to two people and one is known to you and the other one isn't, would you use plural Sie or Ihr? Say, for example I was at a friend's house for the first time. I would use du for my friend but Sie for their mother. Would I say "Sie haben ein schönes Haus" or "Ihr habt ein schönes Haus"? If I use Sie, it isn't clear that I"m speaking to both of them. If I use Ihr, then that's being rude to the mother.
Can’t say for sure about whether it’s Sie or ihr, but it’s most likely not “Ihr” because that gets used mostly for royalty
Its also the non-formal 2nd Person Plural though.
@@julianachilles8555 I think their point is that it's not capitalized when it's the non-formal 2nd person plural, only when it's the old-fashioned formal one (similar to how "sie" is never capitalized unless it's the 2nd person formal Sie)
If I wanted to say "you are my favorite [profession]" to a woman, would I use the masculine or the feminine form of the profession? Is German starting to lose gendered professions?
Not yet, no. I find the tendency in English very interesting, but we're nowhere near it in German - perhaps because modern English only has a few distinctly gendered nouns anyway, making them stand out as differentiated, while it's the norm in German, making a general masculine (or feminine) form seem reductive to some. In fact, there has been a tendency towards using generic Femininum more as of late, which makes me hopeful that - as the pendulum swings - we will come to a place where both generic feminine or masculine forms are used interchangeably, depending on the preference of the speaker, the majority of a group, random switching or whatever else.
I want to "Sie" everyone so i could just use the infinitive form of the verb and not to worry about conjugation. Sadly "du" exists and it's here to stay. Why Germany why? Extrem kompliziert.
However, Blackpink says "Hit you with that ddu-du ddu-du du" 😁😝
@@saintperthnorthcloud3850 that’s just a sound 💀
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍🤓
Can you make me the best German speaker of all time
You, two or more is y’all in English. :)