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What languages do you speak? (lemmus.org)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by VanHalbgott@lemmus.org to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

183 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Alternatively, in the languages I speak:

Welche Sprachen sprechen Sie? (Deutsch/German)

¿Qué idiomas habla usted? (Español/Spanish)

Quelle langue parlez-vous? (Français/French)

EDIT: These sentences are now up to date.

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[–] Ephera@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

ein Bißchen Deutsch

BTW, this should be written as:

ein bisschen Deutsch

We switched from ß to ss in all words with a preceding short vowel in 1996: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reform_der_deutschen_Rechtschreibung_von_1996
So, it's "Fuß" and "Maß", because those are pronounced with a long vowel, but then "Fass" and "muss" and "Biss", because those are pronounced with a short vowel.

And in this case, "bisschen" is spelled with a small "b" for reasons that I'm not entirely sure are logical. 😅
It would be spelled with a capital letter, if "Bisschen" was a unit of measurement here (i.e. a small bite), like a "Liter" is.
But because it was used so much and without really referring to a specific measurement, it eventually began being spelled lowercase, similar to "wenig" or "etwas" ("ein wenig Deutsch", "etwas Deutsch"). Apparently, this kind of word is called an "Indefinitpronomen".

https://de.wiktionary.org/wiki/bisschen
vs.
https://de.wiktionary.org/wiki/Bisschen (much rarer)

[–] spizzat2@lemm.ee 5 points 2 months ago

Thanks! It's surprisingly difficult to get Germans to correct me on things. Most of them are just happy that I can speak it at all, so they tell me not to worry about the little stuff. 😂