Vera? I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m trying to ask some questions about this lesson. I am now familiar with all of the words, but I need help understanding how the phrases roughly translate to English.
So here are some:
“wann war das nur?” What meaning does the ‘nur’ add to the question? Without the ‘nur,’ wouldn’t it translate to “when was it?”
“Das wurde aber auch Zeit.” What does this translate to? My guess is something like “That would happen with time,” but I’m not very sure.
“Wie lange stand es jetzt leer?” What meaning does the ‘jetzt’ add to this? Without the ‘jetzt,’ wouldn’t it translate to something like, “How long has it stood vacant?”
I have more questions, but this is enough for now.
I look forward to your response.
Hi, Hans-Peter answered most of your questions. Thank you, Hans-Peter.
On LingQ we believe that you learn better by examples than by rules. And especially in the case of such filler words it is better to learn them by examples. You’ll experience how you could use these words. In English, there are also such words for example still, quite, just etc.
Don’t think too much about a single word.
The ‘nur’ in this case can maybe translated as ‘but’.
→ But when was it?
I’m not a translator (and it is easier for me to do translations from English into German), but this is the best translation I could imagine.
Vera - Thanks so much for your help. I agree that it is best not to focus on rules too much.
I found a mistake in your reply that I hope you appreciate me pointing out: “The ‘nur’ in this case can maybe translated as ‘but’.” You would want to say “can maybe be translated” instead. The ‘be’ on the end of ‘maybe’ isn’t the verb ‘to be.’ ‘Maybe’ is just like ‘perhaps.’ Similarly, you wouldn’t say “can perhaps translated,” but you would say “can perhaps be translated.”
The way I would have said it is “The ‘nur’ in this case might be translated as ‘but’.”
It was no big deal, but I hope that helps.
