Question
Updated on
3 Dec 2022
- Japanese
-
German
Question about German
What does “Wenn ein gelbrotes Abendlicht zwischen den Stämmen die Augen zum Zwinkern brachte, zuckte der Kopf, machten die Hände entrüstete hastige Abwehrbewegungen.”
Warum Autor der “Abwehrbewegung” den [un]bestimmten Artikel nicht hinzufügte ? mean?
What does “Wenn ein gelbrotes Abendlicht zwischen den Stämmen die Augen zum Zwinkern brachte, zuckte der Kopf, machten die Hände entrüstete hastige Abwehrbewegungen.”
Warum Autor der “Abwehrbewegung” den [un]bestimmten Artikel nicht hinzufügte ? mean?
Warum Autor der “Abwehrbewegung” den [un]bestimmten Artikel nicht hinzufügte ? mean?
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- German
Im Plural gibt es im Normalfall keinen unbestimmten Artikel, der wird weggelassen.
Highly-rated answerer
- Japanese
- German
- Japanese
Can you explain the difference of meanings between “Abwehrbewegungen” and “die Abwehrbewegungen” in this sentence?
- German
@tom1986
Since he is not describing any type of movement that this person makes, it is only "a type of defensive movement" (eine Abwehrbewegung)
If he said that this person was raising his arms and covering his face, you could say it's "the defensive movement" (Die Abwehrbewegung) since the author is describing a specific movement instead of an undefined one
Highly-rated answerer
- Japanese
I cannnot understand the reason why this author uses the word “Abwehrbewegungen” without bestimmt artikel.
- Japanese
- German
@tom1986 Hm ok so you only use definitive articles when you have already mentioned a person/object/action before, and you are talking about it again now.
In english it's the same:
"A dog is walking across the street"
You use an undefined article, you know nothing about this dog, it's the first time the author is talking about this dog, it could be any dog in the world.
Then, the author says this:
"The dog jumps on the roof of a parked car."
Now you know he is talking about the dog from before, because he is using a definitive article. If he said "A dog jumps on the roof of the car" you would think "Hm, is there a second dog? Is it the same dog?" because the author didn't define which dog he is talking about.
It is the same story here. The author mentions the gesture this person is doing for the first time, and does not describe it further, so it does not need a definitive article. It can be any kind of movement, you don't know what it looks like, the author doesn't tell you exactly what it is.
If the author would talk about this movement again in the next sentence, saying "Die Abwehrbewegung funktionierte nicht", then you need a definitive article because you are now talking specifically about the action he mentioned before.
Does it make sense now?
Highly-rated answerer
- Japanese
- German
@tom1986 My japanese is not good but maybe it's helpful to compare it to いくつか (any/not important which one) and その (this one/a specific object)?
Highly-rated answerer
- Japanese
not so helpful.
Because after I read your explanation, nevertheless it seems to me that the two sentences, “Black and big cat come.”and “The Black and big cat come. ” are almost same.
The Latter is ok as the the former.
Because after I read your explanation, nevertheless it seems to me that the two sentences, “Black and big cat come.”and “The Black and big cat come. ” are almost same.
The Latter is ok as the the former.
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