Imperfective Aspect in German “not since” constructions
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Imperfective Aspect in German “not since” constructions
I was recently forced to confess, in German, that I haven't spoken in a while:
*Ich habe seit sechs Jahren kein Deutsch gesprochen
Immediately I realized this was wrong, and felt inclined to say:
*Ich spreche seit sechs Jahren kein Deutsch
But that feels like a description of capacity or volition rather than habit. I am struggling to imagine the German way to form this imperfective sense of "the last time I spoke German regularly was six years ago" without fundamentally changing the content of the sentence. I have similar trouble imagining the same construction in other sentences where "not since" phrases are included, for example:
*Ich gehe seit Januar nicht mehr taeglich joggen
tenses time
asked 13 hours ago
frogfrog
1213
New contributor
frog is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
I was recently forced to confess, in German, that I haven't spoken in a while:
*Ich habe seit sechs Jahren kein Deutsch gesprochen
Immediately I realized this was wrong, and felt inclined to say:
*Ich spreche seit sechs Jahren kein Deutsch
But that feels like a description of capacity or volition rather than habit. I am struggling to imagine the German way to form this imperfective sense of "the last time I spoke German regularly was six years ago" without fundamentally changing the content of the sentence. I have similar trouble imagining the same construction in other sentences where "not since" phrases are included, for example:
*Ich gehe seit Januar nicht mehr taeglich joggen
tenses time
asked 13 hours ago
frogfrog
1213
New contributor
frog is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Wieso denkst Du, der erste Satz sei falsch? Und haben die Sternchen vor den Sätzen was zu bedeuten?
– user unknown
1 hour ago
add a comment |
I was recently forced to confess, in German, that I haven't spoken in a while:
*Ich habe seit sechs Jahren kein Deutsch gesprochen
Immediately I realized this was wrong, and felt inclined to say:
*Ich spreche seit sechs Jahren kein Deutsch
But that feels like a description of capacity or volition rather than habit. I am struggling to imagine the German way to form this imperfective sense of "the last time I spoke German regularly was six years ago" without fundamentally changing the content of the sentence. I have similar trouble imagining the same construction in other sentences where "not since" phrases are included, for example:
*Ich gehe seit Januar nicht mehr taeglich joggen
tenses time
asked 13 hours ago
frogfrog
1213
New contributor
frog is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
I was recently forced to confess, in German, that I haven't spoken in a while:
*Ich habe seit sechs Jahren kein Deutsch gesprochen
Immediately I realized this was wrong, and felt inclined to say:
*Ich spreche seit sechs Jahren kein Deutsch
But that feels like a description of capacity or volition rather than habit. I am struggling to imagine the German way to form this imperfective sense of "the last time I spoke German regularly was six years ago" without fundamentally changing the content of the sentence. I have similar trouble imagining the same construction in other sentences where "not since" phrases are included, for example:
*Ich gehe seit Januar nicht mehr taeglich joggen
tenses time
tenses time
asked 13 hours ago
frogfrog
1213
New contributor
frog is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 13 hours ago
frogfrog
1213
New contributor
frog is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 1 hour ago
frog
asked 13 hours ago
frogfrog
1213
New contributor
frog is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 13 hours ago
frogfrog
1213
asked 13 hours ago
frogfrog
1213
1213
New contributor
frog is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
frog is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Wieso denkst Du, der erste Satz sei falsch? Und haben die Sternchen vor den Sätzen was zu bedeuten?
– user unknown
1 hour ago
add a comment |
Wieso denkst Du, der erste Satz sei falsch? Und haben die Sternchen vor den Sätzen was zu bedeuten?
– user unknown
1 hour ago
Wieso denkst Du, der erste Satz sei falsch? Und haben die Sternchen vor den Sätzen was zu bedeuten?
– user unknown
1 hour ago
Wieso denkst Du, der erste Satz sei falsch? Und haben die Sternchen vor den Sätzen was zu bedeuten?
– user unknown
1 hour ago
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
Actually, your first example
Ich habe schon seit sechs Jahren kein Deutsch [mehr] gesprochen
was not wrong, but instead nearly perfectly idiomatic, even more if you had added the optional particle "mehr".
Native speakers would probably express the same thing rather with a duration rather than a point in time (which might explain your problems):
Ich hatte die letzten 5 Jahre keine Gelegenheit, Deutsch zu sprechen
Whereas
Ich spreche schon seit 5 Jahren kein Deutsch [mehr]
would somewhat imply a deliberate decision 5 years ago to stop speaking German like in
Ich rauche schon seit 5 Jahren nicht mehr
answered 12 hours ago
tofrotofro
44.4k146133
What is the function ofschonin your examples?
– frog
12 hours ago
1
"schon" emphasizes the length of the time period, comparable to "I haven't spoken German for six years already".
– Henning Kockerbeck
12 hours ago
3
Particles like schon are the fine adjustment screws of German sentences.
– tofro
11 hours ago
Wenn Du vor 6 Jahren auf einer Insel gestrandet wärst wie Robinson, und aus Mangel an Gelegenheit nicht mehr geraucht hättest, könntest Du auch sagen "Ich rauche schon seit 5 Jahren nicht mehr". M.a.W.: Die Aussage mit der bewussten Entscheidung halte ich für substanzlos.Vgl. "Ich warte schon seit 2 Stunden".
– user unknown
1 hour ago
add a comment |
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1 Answer
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1 Answer
1
active
oldest
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oldest
votes
Actually, your first example
Ich habe schon seit sechs Jahren kein Deutsch [mehr] gesprochen
was not wrong, but instead nearly perfectly idiomatic, even more if you had added the optional particle "mehr".
Native speakers would probably express the same thing rather with a duration rather than a point in time (which might explain your problems):
Ich hatte die letzten 5 Jahre keine Gelegenheit, Deutsch zu sprechen
Whereas
Ich spreche schon seit 5 Jahren kein Deutsch [mehr]
would somewhat imply a deliberate decision 5 years ago to stop speaking German like in
Ich rauche schon seit 5 Jahren nicht mehr
answered 12 hours ago
tofrotofro
44.4k146133
What is the function ofschonin your examples?
– frog
12 hours ago
1
"schon" emphasizes the length of the time period, comparable to "I haven't spoken German for six years already".
– Henning Kockerbeck
12 hours ago
3
Particles like schon are the fine adjustment screws of German sentences.
– tofro
11 hours ago
Wenn Du vor 6 Jahren auf einer Insel gestrandet wärst wie Robinson, und aus Mangel an Gelegenheit nicht mehr geraucht hättest, könntest Du auch sagen "Ich rauche schon seit 5 Jahren nicht mehr". M.a.W.: Die Aussage mit der bewussten Entscheidung halte ich für substanzlos.Vgl. "Ich warte schon seit 2 Stunden".
– user unknown
1 hour ago
add a comment |
Actually, your first example
Ich habe schon seit sechs Jahren kein Deutsch [mehr] gesprochen
was not wrong, but instead nearly perfectly idiomatic, even more if you had added the optional particle "mehr".
Native speakers would probably express the same thing rather with a duration rather than a point in time (which might explain your problems):
Ich hatte die letzten 5 Jahre keine Gelegenheit, Deutsch zu sprechen
Whereas
Ich spreche schon seit 5 Jahren kein Deutsch [mehr]
would somewhat imply a deliberate decision 5 years ago to stop speaking German like in
Ich rauche schon seit 5 Jahren nicht mehr
answered 12 hours ago
tofrotofro
44.4k146133
What is the function ofschonin your examples?
– frog
12 hours ago
1
"schon" emphasizes the length of the time period, comparable to "I haven't spoken German for six years already".
– Henning Kockerbeck
12 hours ago
3
Particles like schon are the fine adjustment screws of German sentences.
– tofro
11 hours ago
Wenn Du vor 6 Jahren auf einer Insel gestrandet wärst wie Robinson, und aus Mangel an Gelegenheit nicht mehr geraucht hättest, könntest Du auch sagen "Ich rauche schon seit 5 Jahren nicht mehr". M.a.W.: Die Aussage mit der bewussten Entscheidung halte ich für substanzlos.Vgl. "Ich warte schon seit 2 Stunden".
– user unknown
1 hour ago
add a comment |
Actually, your first example
Ich habe schon seit sechs Jahren kein Deutsch [mehr] gesprochen
was not wrong, but instead nearly perfectly idiomatic, even more if you had added the optional particle "mehr".
Native speakers would probably express the same thing rather with a duration rather than a point in time (which might explain your problems):
Ich hatte die letzten 5 Jahre keine Gelegenheit, Deutsch zu sprechen
Whereas
Ich spreche schon seit 5 Jahren kein Deutsch [mehr]
would somewhat imply a deliberate decision 5 years ago to stop speaking German like in
Ich rauche schon seit 5 Jahren nicht mehr
answered 12 hours ago
tofrotofro
44.4k146133
Actually, your first example
Ich habe schon seit sechs Jahren kein Deutsch [mehr] gesprochen
was not wrong, but instead nearly perfectly idiomatic, even more if you had added the optional particle "mehr".
Native speakers would probably express the same thing rather with a duration rather than a point in time (which might explain your problems):
Ich hatte die letzten 5 Jahre keine Gelegenheit, Deutsch zu sprechen
Whereas
Ich spreche schon seit 5 Jahren kein Deutsch [mehr]
would somewhat imply a deliberate decision 5 years ago to stop speaking German like in
Ich rauche schon seit 5 Jahren nicht mehr
answered 12 hours ago
tofrotofro
44.4k146133
answered 12 hours ago
tofrotofro
44.4k146133
answered 12 hours ago
tofrotofro
44.4k146133
answered 12 hours ago
tofrotofro
44.4k146133
44.4k146133
What is the function ofschonin your examples?
– frog
12 hours ago
1
"schon" emphasizes the length of the time period, comparable to "I haven't spoken German for six years already".
– Henning Kockerbeck
12 hours ago
3
Particles like schon are the fine adjustment screws of German sentences.
– tofro
11 hours ago
Wenn Du vor 6 Jahren auf einer Insel gestrandet wärst wie Robinson, und aus Mangel an Gelegenheit nicht mehr geraucht hättest, könntest Du auch sagen "Ich rauche schon seit 5 Jahren nicht mehr". M.a.W.: Die Aussage mit der bewussten Entscheidung halte ich für substanzlos.Vgl. "Ich warte schon seit 2 Stunden".
– user unknown
1 hour ago
add a comment |
What is the function ofschonin your examples?
– frog
12 hours ago
1
"schon" emphasizes the length of the time period, comparable to "I haven't spoken German for six years already".
– Henning Kockerbeck
12 hours ago
3
Particles like schon are the fine adjustment screws of German sentences.
– tofro
11 hours ago
Wenn Du vor 6 Jahren auf einer Insel gestrandet wärst wie Robinson, und aus Mangel an Gelegenheit nicht mehr geraucht hättest, könntest Du auch sagen "Ich rauche schon seit 5 Jahren nicht mehr". M.a.W.: Die Aussage mit der bewussten Entscheidung halte ich für substanzlos.Vgl. "Ich warte schon seit 2 Stunden".
– user unknown
1 hour ago
What is the function of
schon in your examples?– frog
12 hours ago
What is the function of
schon in your examples?– frog
12 hours ago
1
1
"schon" emphasizes the length of the time period, comparable to "I haven't spoken German for six years already".
– Henning Kockerbeck
12 hours ago
"schon" emphasizes the length of the time period, comparable to "I haven't spoken German for six years already".
– Henning Kockerbeck
12 hours ago
3
3
Particles like schon are the fine adjustment screws of German sentences.
– tofro
11 hours ago
Particles like schon are the fine adjustment screws of German sentences.
– tofro
11 hours ago
Wenn Du vor 6 Jahren auf einer Insel gestrandet wärst wie Robinson, und aus Mangel an Gelegenheit nicht mehr geraucht hättest, könntest Du auch sagen "Ich rauche schon seit 5 Jahren nicht mehr". M.a.W.: Die Aussage mit der bewussten Entscheidung halte ich für substanzlos.Vgl. "Ich warte schon seit 2 Stunden".
– user unknown
1 hour ago
Wenn Du vor 6 Jahren auf einer Insel gestrandet wärst wie Robinson, und aus Mangel an Gelegenheit nicht mehr geraucht hättest, könntest Du auch sagen "Ich rauche schon seit 5 Jahren nicht mehr". M.a.W.: Die Aussage mit der bewussten Entscheidung halte ich für substanzlos.Vgl. "Ich warte schon seit 2 Stunden".
– user unknown
1 hour ago
add a comment |
frog is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
frog is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
frog is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
frog is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
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Wieso denkst Du, der erste Satz sei falsch? Und haben die Sternchen vor den Sätzen was zu bedeuten?
– user unknown
1 hour ago