Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
Non-restrictive meaning in German
German translation:
Use adverbs to illustrate distinction.
Added to glossary by
Kim Metzger
Jul 31, 2005 16:18
18 yrs ago
2 viewers *
English term
Mexico
Committed to Quality and Service
Native in: English (Variant: US) 
Works in: German to English
Non-restrictive meaning in German
English to German
Art/Literary
Linguistics
Zeichensetzung
How would you convey the non-restrictive meaning of: "The lemmings, which performed well in the first race, were all fuzzy animals." in German?
Restrictive clauses, which are essential to the meaning of the sentence, are not set off by a comma. Nonrestrictive clauses, which are not essential to the meaning of the sentence--they merely add further information--are set off by a comma. For example:
Restrictive: The lemmings that performed well in the first race were all fuzzy animals.
Nonrestrictive: The lemmings, which performed well in the first race, were all fuzzy animals.
In the first sentence, the meaning is that some lemmings were not fuzzy. Just the fuzzy ones performed well.
In the second sentence, the meaning is that all the lemmings attending the event were fuzzy and that they all performed well in the race.
I understand that under German punctuation rules the translated German sentence would have a comma after Lemminge (Die Lemminge, die ....) in both cases because:
REGEL: Nebensätze trennt man mit Komma ab oder schließt sie mit paarigem Komma ein.
Beispiele:
Nebensatz
am Anfang: Als wir nach Hause kamen, war es schon spät.
eingeschoben: Das Brot, das sie in den Ofen geschoben hatte, duftete köstlich.
am Ende des Ganzsatzes: Ich weiß nicht, was ich dazu sagen soll.
http://www.neue-rechtschreibung.de/regelwerk_zeichen.htm
So how does one convey a non-restrictive meaning in German?
Restrictive clauses, which are essential to the meaning of the sentence, are not set off by a comma. Nonrestrictive clauses, which are not essential to the meaning of the sentence--they merely add further information--are set off by a comma. For example:
Restrictive: The lemmings that performed well in the first race were all fuzzy animals.
Nonrestrictive: The lemmings, which performed well in the first race, were all fuzzy animals.
In the first sentence, the meaning is that some lemmings were not fuzzy. Just the fuzzy ones performed well.
In the second sentence, the meaning is that all the lemmings attending the event were fuzzy and that they all performed well in the race.
I understand that under German punctuation rules the translated German sentence would have a comma after Lemminge (Die Lemminge, die ....) in both cases because:
REGEL: Nebensätze trennt man mit Komma ab oder schließt sie mit paarigem Komma ein.
Beispiele:
Nebensatz
am Anfang: Als wir nach Hause kamen, war es schon spät.
eingeschoben: Das Brot, das sie in den Ofen geschoben hatte, duftete köstlich.
am Ende des Ganzsatzes: Ich weiß nicht, was ich dazu sagen soll.
http://www.neue-rechtschreibung.de/regelwerk_zeichen.htm
So how does one convey a non-restrictive meaning in German?
Proposed translations
(German)
| 3 +4 | "Die Lemminge, die..." versus "Diejenigen Lemminge, die..." |
Olaf Reibedanz
|
| 3 +1 | s.u. |
Brie Vernier
|
| 4 | s.u. |
Michael Hesselnberg (X)
|
Proposed translations
+4
15 mins
Olaf Reibedanz
Colombia
Colombia
Native in German
Colombia
Finance / Trading / Blockchain / Crypto
Native in: German
Works in: English to German, French to German, Spanish to German, and 2 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
4
Selected
"Die Lemminge, die..." versus "Diejenigen Lemminge, die..."
Hi Kim, you are right, the German "die Lemminge, die..." is ambiguous. However, there is a solution to this dilemma.
First of all, you can distinguish the restrictive sentence in one of the following ways:
Diejenigen Lemminge, die...
Jene der Lemminge, die...
By using this construction, you make it perfectly clear you are only talking about certain lemmings.
Secondly, in the case of the non-restrictive clause, you can add a word making it clear you are talking about all of them:
"Die Lemminge, die *allesamt* gut im ersten Rennen abschnitten..."
"Die Lemminge, die *durchweg* gut im ersten Rennen abschnitten..."
"Die Lemminge, die *ausnahmslos* gut im ersten Rennen abschnitten..."
etc.
By adding such adverbs, you avoid the misunderstanding.
HTH ;-)
First of all, you can distinguish the restrictive sentence in one of the following ways:
Diejenigen Lemminge, die...
Jene der Lemminge, die...
By using this construction, you make it perfectly clear you are only talking about certain lemmings.
Secondly, in the case of the non-restrictive clause, you can add a word making it clear you are talking about all of them:
"Die Lemminge, die *allesamt* gut im ersten Rennen abschnitten..."
"Die Lemminge, die *durchweg* gut im ersten Rennen abschnitten..."
"Die Lemminge, die *ausnahmslos* gut im ersten Rennen abschnitten..."
etc.
By adding such adverbs, you avoid the misunderstanding.
HTH ;-)
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "I liked Gabrielle's "wuschlige Viecher" and will use it in my ProZ.com article, but Olaf's explanation and examples were more detailed and thus most helpful. Thank you all."
+1
7 mins
Brie Vernier
Germany
Germany
Native in English
Specializes in field
Germany
Bridging the language gap since 1995
Native in: English (Variants: UK, US, British)
Works in: German to English
Related KudoZ points
:
8
s.u.
Non-restrictive: *Die* Lemminge, die im ersten Rennen gut performed haben (danke, Dieter Bohlen), waren alle wuschelige Viecher.
Restrictive: *Alle* Lemminge, die ..., waren wuschelige Viecher.
Restrictive: *Alle* Lemminge, die ..., waren wuschelige Viecher.
8 mins
s.u.
da mehrere LÄnder in Deutschland die Reform sine die aufgeschoben haben, und ich sie persönlich als totalen Unsinn empfinde,
rate ich hier zu der Kommatasetzung der Nebensätze, wie Du sie beschreibst
rate ich hier zu der Kommatasetzung der Nebensätze, wie Du sie beschreibst
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
MMUlr
: Frage: Wollte jemand die Kommasetzung zur Abtrennung von Nebensätzen abschaffen? Meines Wissens nicht ... gottseidank :-)
14 hrs
|
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