Incredible German words

Vor · Post by **Vor** » Sat Nov 06, 2004 11:46 am

Anyone know the meaning of these?

unzähligen ineinandergeschobenen

k-pp · Post by **k-pp** » Sat Nov 06, 2004 1:07 pm

innumerable people shoved together

Vor · Post by **Vor** » Sat Nov 06, 2004 2:28 pm

Thank you k-pp.

By the way, how 'advanced' does one have to be in their study of the German language to decipher such a word?

k-pp · Post by **k-pp** » Sat Nov 06, 2004 3:08 pm

mmm I don't know. I translated it by instinct (I'm German but I've lived in the UK all my life) - I'm waiting for corrections to flood in from 'native German speakers'....

Bruno · Post by **Bruno** » Sat Nov 06, 2004 5:01 pm

how 'advanced' ?? to translate unzähligen ineinandergeschobenen.

Its not so bad if you learn to breakup the compound words. To create new words germans just string smaller words together instead of going to Latin or Greek root to create something. Thus unzähligen Zahl =count, igen converts noun to adjective= countable, un to negative = uncountable.

in/ein/ander/geschobenen. in=into, ein=one, ander=another Schieben =push. past tense geschoben= pushed, en= universal noun

uncountable ( universal noun) pushed into one another

Vor · Post by **Vor** » Sat Nov 06, 2004 6:32 pm

Thank you.

It seems to me that the longer second word is a noun. Should it be capitalized? It wasn't in the book. That confused me.

thanks again

Richard Hargreaves · Post by **Richard Hargreaves** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 6:21 am

Yep, I'd go with K-pp... Countless [people] shoved together or pushed next to each other.

Howard · Post by **Howard** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:49 am

Hi,

you're right. If the second word's a noun it should be capitalised. What's the next word or the rest of the sentence?

SvenW · Post by **SvenW** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 9:25 am

Howard wrote:...
If the second word's a noun it should be capitalised. ...

In German, a noun is allways written capitalised.

Bruno wrote:...
in/ein/ander/geschobenen. in=into, ein=one, ander=another Schieben =push. past tense geschoben= pushed, en= universal noun

uncountable ( universal noun) pushed into one another

ineinander=together (an other working adjectiv in this case: zusammen-geschoben)
geschoben=pushed
Dividing it more makes it senseless. Ander is not a word.

Technical it describes a telescopic sliding object like a ladder...
More litterally you can speak of "ineinandergeschobene" cars after a mass accident at the highway, I think you can imagine what I mean.

Howard · Post by **Howard** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 12:01 pm

Howard wrote:
...
If the second word's a noun it should be capitalised. ...

In German, a noun is allways written capitalised

Thanks Sven, I know that

The inference of the phrase is that they always are.

Vor · Post by **Vor** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 2:28 pm

Howard wrote:Hi,

What's the next word or the rest of the sentence?

Es war die Oberkante eines Steilhanges, von dem aus man unten den breiten Bahnkörper nördlich des Hauptbahnhofs mit unzähligen ineinandergeschobenen Zügen und darüberhinaus das grandiose 1800 Meter breite Band der Wolga erblickte.

So, inein... should be Inein..., correct?

Thanks to all

k-pp · Post by **k-pp** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 3:07 pm

Nope, it's an adjective. The noun is Zügen, trains. The countless things which are pushed together are trains not people!

k-pp · Post by **k-pp** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 3:12 pm

P.S. Context is god!

Vor · Post by **Vor** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 6:27 pm

Well, that's new to me. I never knew you guys built up you adjectives too. I thought that was only done with nouns!

DeBaer · Post by **DeBaer** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 7:05 am

we built up all kind of words.
you should hear some southern german swearings, lol.