Ich hasse es, wenn du so tust, als würdest du mich nicht kennen!

Sentence Discussions German
#1
English Translation

I hate it when you pretend like you don’t know me.

Hello all,

Keeping everything else the same, is it OK to change the word order and say “als du würdest mich nicht kennen!” here?

#2

No. The verb has to go in position 2, so with “als” in position 1 in that second clause, you are forced into “als würdest du…” and not “als du würdest…”

That being said, it’s possible to see “als du” in a sentence if it’s a simple comparison and not a construct like “als wäre” or “als ob” or “als würdest”. For example: “Ich bin größer als du” (I’m taller than you) or “ich kann das heben besser als du es heben kannst” (I can lift that better than you can lift it).

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#3

You have two options:

  • The given sentence: … als würdest du mich nicht kennen!
  • Alternatively: … als ob du mich nicht kennen würdest!
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#4

Well, that is not what I was hoping to hear… :slight_smile:

But, I thank thee nonetheless, @Lernen_und_Fahren (for the clear answer and the additional examples).

Thanks @davidculley.

Als ob feels more natural to me for some reason; probably only because I have seen this structure a few times already. :man_shrugging:

Good news is: the clozemaster sentence does not feel as weird to me as it did yesterday…

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#5

In my perception, that expression (… als ob du …) is indeed the more common one.

I myself prefer the other one (… als würdest du …). It seems more eloquent to me. But that’s just my subjective opinion, not a fact.

In the end, it doesn’t really matter which one you use or prefer.

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#6

Right, I’ll need to understand both anyway. :slight_smile:

#7

Right :slight_smile: I just meant there’s no need to worry about being judged if you use the “worse”/wrong sentence. There is no “worse”. :slight_smile:

1 Like