Learn German (short lesson) - grammar and vocabulary: "So"
Being German and frequently talking to foreigners who study my difficult language I often hear them making the same mistake, by confounding the English and German "so".
Example from foreigners: "Ich habe viel Sport gemacht, so ich bin sehr müde heute." "Deutsch ist wichtig, so ich muss es lernen."
The German "so" is very different, so while Germans understand these sentences, grammatically they are not correct.
Instead of the English "so" we would use "also" --> "...also bin ich sehr müde heute / ...also muss ich es [Deutsch] lernen".
The German "so" is used like the English "as".
"Er ist so groß wie sein Vater."
I hope this helps those of you who learn German!
I have no idea what any of that means. :) But I get the point...so means as in German. I think "so" is way overused in English. Something I am guilty of as well. It is almost a language "tic."
I find the word "like" to be more annoyingly overused.
I often have this image in my head of adolescent girls who say "and I was like, hello?" "that's like so crazy!"
Definitely.
I am actually learning German by myself and did know about "also meaning so" in the form of "something happened so I reacted this way".
But I actually thought "so" in german meant "so" in english. Like "I am so stressed I could die".
Started following you! Also, are you man or woman, I want to use you as an example of how a newbie should engage to get new followers. Do you mind me using you as example?
I am a man, like most here probably.
Your example is actually correct in German as well "Ich bin so gestresst, dass ich sterben könnte."
What I was aiming for was the other use of "so", which leads foreigners to make many mistakes in German (I keep hearing "...so ich muss Deutsch lernen" quite often, which is not correct).
I guess I should feel honoured, after only 2 days here on steem. :)
German is very close to my home language which is Afrikaans.
Direct translation from Google:
had done a lot of sports so I'm very tired today. "" German is important, so I have to learn it
My translation to Afrikaans:
Ek het vandag baie sport gedoen so ek is baie moeg vandag. Duits is belangrik so ons moet dit leer.
For us, we could leave the "so" out of the sentence and say: Ek het vandag baie sport gedoen. Ek is moeg. OR we could say: Ek het vandag baie sport gedoen, dus is ek moeg - I have done a lot of sports today, thus I am tired.
Even in Afrikaans, "so" is mostly overused, but it is not grammatically wrong either.
Same here:
Hy is so groot soos sy vader...OR... Hy is so groot soos sy pa.