Question about something that is being "given" in a sentence.

Alles zur englischen Grammatik.
How to deal with English grammar.
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edmont
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Question about something that is being "given" in a sentence.

Beitrag von edmont »


Could both of my English translations of what Eric wants to give be correct (i.e., is the German ambiguous)?

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Eric will nicht Führer sein, sondern uns das geben, daß jeder sich selbst führen kann.
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Translation 1:
Eric does not want to be leader, but rather to give each one the ability to lead himself.

Translation 2:
Eric does not want to be leader, but rather to give us what is needed [some sort of means, tools, or ideas unspecified in the sentence], so that each one can lead himself.

In #2 Eric is not directly giving people the ability to lead themselves. He is giving them some sort of means or tools they can use to lead themselves. I would guess #2 is correct.
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Thank you for any assistance.




tiorthan
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Re: Question about something that is being "given" in a sentence.

Beitrag von tiorthan »

It's #2. It's indicated by "uns". You'd have to use "jedem" to express "each one".
You're never too old to learn something stupid.
MistakeSuggestionYou sure that's right?

edmont
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Re: Question about something that is being "given" in a sentence.

Beitrag von edmont »

Thank you, tiorthan.

Because of my faulty translations, I think you might have answered a partly different question than the one I asked. If so, please excuse my lack of clarity.  I'll rephrase my question.

Eric will nicht Führer sein, sondern uns das geben, daß jeder sich selbst führen kann.
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Would you agree that in "das geben," "das" cannot be a pronoun representing the whole dependent clause: "daß jeder sich selbst führen kann." ?

Instead, the "das" in "das geben" is an unspecified something given, "so that jeder sich selbst führen kann."

tiorthan
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Re: Question about something that is being "given" in a sentence.

Beitrag von tiorthan »

Well, German doesn't really distinguish these things. You can inline the clause:
Eric will nicht Führer sein, sondern uns dass-jeder-sich-selbst-führen-kann geben.
It's weird and nobody would actually use this (because structures like that are too difficult to parse) but it doesn't change the meaning.
You're never too old to learn something stupid.
MistakeSuggestionYou sure that's right?

edmont
Story Teller
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Registriert: 7. Nov 2016 14:44
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Re: Question about something that is being "given" in a sentence.

Beitrag von edmont »

Okay, thank you very much tiorthan.

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