A member asked me on my Wall: "Hallo Vera! could you please tell me the difference between Ihnen and dir? Danke. "
I decided to answer on the forum because more people can see the answer.
From Lesson 01.05 Abschied II Anrede “Dir” is the following sentence: Ich wünsche dir eine gute Nacht.
From Lesson 01.06 Abschied III Anrede “Ihnen” is the following sentence: Ich wünsche Ihnen eine gute Nacht.
Both can be translated as “you” but “dir” is used in informal situations and “Ihnen” is used in formal situations. You would use “dir” if you speak to a friend or a family member. “Ihnen” is used if you talk to unknow people, your boss, your teacher for example.
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Ein Mitglied fragte mich auf meinem Schwarzen Brett nach dem Unterschied von “Ihnen” und “dir”. Ich habe mich entschieden hier zu antworten, weil dann mehr Leute die Antwort lesen können.
Aus Lesson 01.05 Abschied II Anrede “Dir” stammt der folgende Satz: Ich wünsche dir eine gute Nacht.
Aus Lesson 01.06 Abschied III Anrede “Ihnen” stammt der folgende Satz: Ich wünsche Ihnen eine gute Nacht.
“dir” wird in informellen Situationen verwendet und “Ihnen” in formellen Situationen. Man benutzt “du” wenn man mit Freunden oder Famlienmitgliedern spricht. “Ihnen” wird beispielsweise verwendet, wenn man mit unbekannten Personen, dem Chef, dem Lehrer spricht.
Hi Susanne, We use “du” and “dich” in our forum. Most forums on the internet prefer the informal expressions. The reason is the community thinking. Instead of “Ich wünsche Ihnen einen schönen Tag!” you could say “Ich wünsche dir einen schönen Tag!”.
Ich wünsche dir auch einen schönen Tag!
Ich wünsche dir ein schönes Wochenende!
Now I am off to look at how I can get the correct marks on top of the vowels. I am using an iMac and I have switched the language to German but I am having trouble getting the right vowel with the umlaut on top!!
Your last sentences raise another question for me Why does Wochenende take the adjectival form schones and Tag take schonen? Danke
Hi Susanne, I’ve put a photo of my notebook PC keyboard (German layout) on my blog at alleray.vox.com. Actually I have installed keyboard layouts for Russian, Swedish, Spanish, and Chinese and have tried out a few more. For English and French I use the German layout because French ‘accents’ and ‘cédille’ can be entered easily with it. For Swedish it’s just the å (where the German ü is) and for Spanish the ñ (that’s where the German ö is) that are really necessary. In Spanish z and y follow the US keyboard, and in Swedish all other keys are the same as in German. The French keyboard is too different to be worth the trouble. Russian requires you to learn a new layout, but I don’t mind typing very slowly because I have to think a lot and look up words when I write in Russian anyway.
I can switch between keyboard layouts using Alt+Shift. One advantage of using a different keyboard is that in Word you automatically set the language by changing the keyboard layout. And I think it’s good training for your brain. Actually you get used to it very quickly.
To add keyboard layouts on a PC you have to go to “Systemeinstellungen” (system settings?) - sorry, but I’m not familiar with the correct English equivalents. There you find settings for “Datums- Zeit- Sprach- und Regionaleinstellungen”. Choose “Regions- und Sprachoptionen” (regional/ language options), “Sprachen” (Languages), “Details” and then “Add” both “Eingabegebietsschema” (e.g. Deutsch (Deutschland))and “Tastaturlayout” (keyboard layout) (e.g. Deutsch (IBM)) for the language you wish to add. You can then choose a key combination to switch between keyboard layouts. Finally you have to accept the changes and click “OK”. Done!
Sometimes I stick to my German layout and only for a diacritic I switch to a different layout, which is quicker than looking for and entering special characters in Word. I think you should get used to the ä, ö, ü keys in no time. Happy typing!
I saw that Steve helped you with the umlaut on top.
Nouns in German have different genders. Depending on the gender the adjective form changes. You find some grammar help on this website: German Grammar - Grammatik der deutschen Sprache
Don’t focus on grammar. You will learn a lot of grammar while listening and reading authentic material.
It is “der Tag” (masculin) and “das Wochenende” (neutral). Therefore the adjective changes.
I found a solution for Linux too. I sacrificed my Caps Lock function by turning it into a switch between British English and German. The keys are still in British English, but I know where the umlauts and the beta are.
When I first arrived in Austria, I was given a German keyboard and had it set to British English. I was doing a lot of programming in C++, which was so difficult when I couldn’t see on the keyboard where the symbols were.
Yeah… Sane people code in one and only one keyboard layout - standard US (okay the brit layout is close enough).
I still find making a compose key much easier for umlauts.
setxkbmap -option compose:rwin
Run this in a terminal to set your Right windows key to Compose if you want to give it a try.
On a side note – I can’t see where the symbols are either. I’ve typed on a “Das Keyboard” (completely blank black keys) for about 6-7 years and in the Dvorak layout for the last 15 years. No one messes with my pc at work… because no one can figure out how to type on it. Security by obscurity.
A blank keyboard?!?! Wow, you really are a master hacker.
I ran your command in my terminal, and I can get the beta, but I don’t know about the umlauts. On the other hand, I have a bunch of other cool stuff like arrows ( ←↓→) and this strange symbol ¢.
I started typing in German on my Mac using a German keyboard and showing the keyboard viewer. To me, the hard part is remembering where the y and z keys are, as my fingers automatically do them the other way around. I do not think it is practical to only use one keyboard layout. Try doing it in Greek or Russian, for example! Much easier to switch to a more appropriate keyboard layout.
Ich wunsche euch eine gute Nacht. Heute habe ich mit einigen Freunden gereist, um einen ziemlich spektakulären Wasserfall zu besuchen. Wir gingen einen langen Weg hinter und genossen immer weg von Addis für kurze Zeit. Ich gehe bald ins Bett!
I have a Macbook gifted to me by a relative who lives in France. I rest assured that if stolen here in the US, my azerty keyboard will at least mark my computer as unique among the other pawn shop macs. In addition, umlauts are no problem, although typing Spanish is a bit of pain. I didnt know blank keyboards existed. That might be something I would be interested in given my multilingual ambitions.
I wish we could give this whole thread a rose. It deserves one. From dir und Ihnen und keyboard layouts and advice about keyboard input and a lovely description of a nice walk in the country.
Readers can find Alleray’s picture of a keyboard at his site by entering the term “keyboard” in the search box. You can also browse through the many excellent pictures of gardens, plants and so on.
schönen: in a pinch you can get by with typing an ‘e’ after the ‘o’: schoenen. I was once taught that the umlaut takes the place of an ‘e’ that belonged to the original spelling. I think that is true for any umlaut: that is, ä = ae, ö = oe, and so on. I do NOT know how true this bit of information is.
It was a workaround to use “ae”, “oe” and “ue” instead of “ä”, “ö” and “ü”. Some machines like teleprinters had no “Umlaute” available. It came to this solution because old fonts used a small “e” instead of points above the character as you can read on Wikipedia.
My advice: I would avoid to write “ae”, “oe” and “ue”, and try to write the correct characters. Use the workaround only if nothing else is possible. To me it looks always a bit odd to read these characters. With modern keyboards you can define your own key combination.
@ donhamilton I think that the old spelling (17th/18th centuries or earlier) put the ‘e’ on top of the a, o, u. In handwriting this ‘e’ looked similar to " (see: Sütterlinschrift – Wikipedia), so in the end it became the two dots we find in print. In handwriting we can use the dots or ".
@ alleray - I noticed that in Austria, I often find umlauts where there usually are none, such as in benützen as opposed to benutzen. In general, which version should Austrian men such as us üse?
(p.s. I am giving a public lecture at the Sternwarte in Vienna on Friday about the Sun, the heliosphere, and Voyager 1. If you are interested, no tickets are required.)
@Vera and Reinhard. Thank you for correcting my false idea about the ‘e’ and the umlaut. Some of the letters of the other Germanic languages are more interesting than the letters of English. ö and the Scandinavian ø are two of my favorites, but I have never much liked the å.
@ColinJohnstone Any chance we’ll see your lecture on YouTube?
Why does Wochenende take the adjectival form schones and Tag take schonen? Danke