conditional sentence in German....

Bunnymoney · 5 October 2009 09:24

Hi..

Can someone translate the following conditional sentences into German please...

1) If she knew about it, she would be shocked.

2) If she knows about it, she will be shocked.

My german is not that good to be able to translate them correctly, so if anyone can help me I would be very glad..

Thanks ...

twotos · 5 October 2009 09:32

1) Wenn sie darüber wüsste, wäre sie schockiert

2) Wenn Sie darüber weiss, wird sie schockiert sein

Caiher · 11 October 2009 16:01

I do not quite agree with the first answerer. His/her translation is somewhat literal. A smoother, a real German version would go like this (supposing the English "to know" corresponds to the German "erfahren"):

Wenn sie es erführe(!), wäre sie schockiert.

Wenn sie es erfährt, wird sie schockiert sein.

cedelinech · 11 October 2009 16:23

Correct. In more colloquial German, you can also say, "Wenn sie es erfahren würde, wäre sie schockiert." German teachers and professional proofreaders may not like the "würde", but no one else will object.

A more literal approach, but without the (wrong) literal translation of "about":

Wenn sie davon wüsste, wäre sie schockiert.

Falls sie davon weiss, wird sie schockiert sein.

Please note that, in this case, I used "falls" instead of "wenn" in the second sentence. I cannot provide a clear, grammatically corroborated explanation for that. It just sounds much better. Maybe there is a rule for it, but for me it's just the vibes.

abdulek · 11 October 2009 18:41

Wenn das Wörtchen wenn nicht wär', wär' mein Papa Millionär.

cedelinech · 11 October 2009 20:06

In Greek: An eixe mpalakia h giagia tha th legame papou, which means, "If Grandma had balls we'd call her Grandpa."

anelinlin · 12 October 2009 15:29

would it be wrong to use the Präterit :

"wenn sie es erfuhr, ..."

"wenn sie es wusste, ..."

?

Another question : some cheap E-G dictionnary I have gives "würde können" for the conditional of "können". Is that sharp wrong or simply a forme concurrente of : könnte

Regards

Caiher · 12 October 2009 15:41

Yes, definitely! This is not German at all.

Caiher · 12 October 2009 15:42

And back to Switzerland: If grandma would have had weels and if she would have been painted in yellow, she would have been the postal coach (Postauto)

cedelinech · 12 October 2009 15:53

Yes, I think in the context of the original sentences the preterite would be wrong. The sentences are conditional; I think that ought to be called hypothetical subjunctive, but not quite sure about the correct English term. The preterite would be correct for something like, "If she knew about it, she must have been shocked," which sounds a bit awkward also in English.

As for "würde können" -- that sounds even much more awkward. It completely goes against my grain. As I mentioned in my first post on this thread, that kind of use of "würde" plus a verb in the infinitive is quite common, albeit not 100 % bullet-proof, in colloquial German, not only in dialects, but also in written Standard German. However, there are a few exception, where that kind of construction just doesn't work.

I'm not sure about the grammatical rules, though. After all I, as a native Swiss German speaker, grew up with only basic education in German grammar. Anyway, I assume "würde" plus verb doesn't work with auxiliary verbs, e.g. "würde haben," würde sein," or, in this case, "würde können." Shudder... I'd say, there may be a few pretty exotic dialects where such constructions are acceptable. but not in, say, regular Standard German.

cedelinech · 12 October 2009 16:02

Yeah, that's how I learned about the Greek version: About 15 years ago, during a late evening session with wine on the terrace of my Greek buddy, we talked about my boat, especially about all the troubles we had had with Greek boat builders. He said, "If we had known beforehand, ...." A few minutes later, "If only we had know that from the beginning." Again later, "If I had been told such two years ago, ...." Upon which I said, "Yanni, there are too many ifs. In Alemannic, we say, "If Grandma had wheels she would be a bus."

He put on an evil grin and asked, "Do you know how we put that in Greek?"

Although I'm pretty fluent in Greek, I had to say no.

His reply: see above. Makes sense, to me anyway.

arybeejana_mor · 7 November 2009 17:34

The rool for würden-forms of Konjunktiv2 (hypothesis):

- Weak verbs: "würde machen", "machte" but the latter happens to sound the same as Präteritum, so not ideal and rather litterary. But grammatically, both are correct.

- Weak verbs with Rückumlaut: "würde kennen", "kennte" and the latter differs from Präteritum (kannte)

- strong verbs: Präteritum plus Umlaut (mind vowel shift originaly from plural vowel, so a few verbs change vowel there too) or "würde + Infinitiv"

er käme (Prät. kam) - er würde kommen

er führe (Prät. fuhr) - er würde fahren

er stünde (Prät stand) - er würde stehen

- Modal verbs: no "würde" possible, only the pattern "Form of Präteritum + Umlaut IF the Infinitiv also has Umlaut, otherwise same as Präteritum"

Infinitiv - Präteritum - Konjunktiv2

können - konnte - könnte

sollen - sollte - sollte

dürfen - durfte - dürfte

- Specials:

haben - hatte - hätte (as if it was stong, but with weak ending)

wissen - wusste - wüsste (change i/ü is due to other reasons)

Joseltraia · 8 November 2009 01:04

This sentence is completely correct but most people between Flensburg and Andermatt rather would say

Falls sie davon weiss, ist sie schockiert

THIS sentence now may be grammatically wrong, but is practical language in daily use