Similarities & Differences In German & English

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Similarities & Differences In German & English

Jeremy Johnson
September 26, 2000
Similarities and Differences
All human communications involve language, and its use as such implies that there must be certain similarities. All languages have an alphabet, a lexicon, and a set of rules establishing how sentences are constructed. While there are differences in the alphabet, and lexicons of the various languages, the most important difference involving syntax are those found in the construction rules.
English and German because of their shared root have many similarities, but through time they have developed substantial differences. The single most profound individual difference in German is the declension of case and gender. To decline case German changes the form of the noun and the corresponding pronoun to show the relationship the noun has to the verb.
Das Mädchen ißt den Fisch
The girl eats the fish
The girl eats the fish
Den Fisch ißt Das Mädchen
The fish eats the girl
The girl eats the fish
Both ways of writing the sentence in German are and understandable. The determiner das declines Mädchen as the subject of the sentence while the determiner den declines Fisch as the direct object. In the English translations the meaning is derived by the word order, the first noun is the subject and the second is the direct object. In many cases the noun will change its form as well as the determiner, as with the noun der student, which becomes den studenten when it is used as the direct object.
German also differs from English in that it declines gender with the determiner, and sometimes with the noun as in the following example:
Wir suchen zu baldmöglichem Antritt eine freundliche Apothekerin (Vollzeit). Wir bieten eine
We looking for soon possible beginning a friendly pharmacist (fulltime). We offer a
We are looking for a friendly female pharmacist to begin as soon as possible. (Fulltime)
eigenständinge und verantwortungsvolle Arbeit in einem kleinen, freundlichen team.
Own / permanent and responsible position in a small friendly team.
Were offering a permanent and responsible position in a small, friendly team.
The gender is shown within the determiner and the noun in the German sentence, while in the English sentence an additional word is required to convey female preference. The proceeding example also shows the declension of case in the la...

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