Das habe ich von vielen Leuten gehört.

Sentence Discussions German
#1
English Translation

I’ve heard that from a lot of people.

Google Translate gives the German for “I’ve heard that about a lot of people” as the same as the Cloze sentence here. They mean different things. Can the German be dis-ambiguated to point specifically to these two different English meanings?

#2

It’s true that the German sentence “Das habe ich von vielen Leuten gehört.” is ambiguous.

The two meanings:

  • “I’ve heard that about a lot of people.” This can also, and should, instead be translated as “Das habe ich über viele Leute gehört.”
  • “I’ve heard that from a lot of people.” This is usually the intended meaning of the German sentence.

For the first meaning, there is a better, alternative translation. For the second meaning, there isn’t. So to avoid ambiguousness, you should avoid to use this German sentence to express the first meaning.

#3

Excellent clarification. Many thanks. The translations presented with each Cloze sentence often feel a little ‘loose’ to me, and I’ve started using the ‘explain’ button to orient myself, a native English speaker obsessively concerned with nuances of the language, which you might infer.

1 Like