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Lv 6
? asked in Society & CultureLanguages · 8 years ago

Are these phrases in German grammatically correct?

Hi, I need to translate two phrases into German and I'd like to make sure that they're correct.

Phrase One: Meine Mutter ist Österreichische aber sie nicht mich hat gelehret Deutsch.

My mother is Austrian but she never taught me German.

Phrase Two: Ich habe arbeit zu tun.

I have work to do.

I'm pretty sure number two is wrong, but I don't know for a fact.

Thanks.

2 Answers

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  • Powershifter
    Lv 5
    8 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    Meine Mutter ist Österreicherin, aber sie hat mir kein Deutsch gelehrt.

    The adjective for nationality is different than just saying something is Austrian. The conjugated verb always comes second place in a clause. So, disregarding aber which is a coordinating conjuction, sie takes first place and hat must then come second. The past participle is then shifted to the end. This is sometimes called the 'brace', because it holds the phrase from either end, like a book stand.

    Ich habe arbeit zu tun.

    The second one actually seems fine to me.

    Source(s): damn typos lol
  • sortier
    Lv 5
    8 years ago

    1. Meine Mutter ist Österreicherin, aber sie hat mir kein Deutsch beigebracht.

    The verb "lehren" seems a bit outdated in this context. If you have to use it anyway, it would read: "aber sie hat mich kein Deutsch gelehrt" ('mich' was correct because it's accusative).

    2. Depending on the context it's either

    Ich muss etwas erledigen

    Ich muss arbeiten

    Ich bin beschäftigt

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