# Geburtstag haben



## newguy298

Im really confused on the word "Geburstag" 

Im using a program and it says Geburstag -be one's birthday So I guess it has something to do with someone's birthday?
Also when I click on the word it says Geburstag Haben...Im not sure if their suppose to be together or what..because in the sentence im reading Geburstag and Haben are seperated.


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## Dopplereffekt

Hello Newguy and welcome to the forums!

We in Germany say _"Ich habe Geburtstag" _= _"It's my birthday"_. Both words are written seperately as you already correctly assumed. _Haben _is the auxiliary verb that is used with _Geburtstag _and is written in lowercase. It can mean both a) to have a birthday in general (on a certain date) or b) the actual day where you're celebrating your great day.

i.e.:

a) "Ich habe am dd.mm. Geburtstag." (My birthday is on the dd'th of mm)
b) "Ich habe heute Geburtstag." (It's my birthday today)

Cheers


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## newguy298

Dopplereffekt said:


> Hello Newguy and welcome to the forums!
> 
> We in Germany say _"Ich habe Geburtstag" _= _"It's my birthday"_. Both words are written seperately as you already correctly assumed. _Haben _is the auxiliary verb that is used with _Geburtstag _and is written in lowercase. It can mean both a) to have a birthday in general (on a certain date) or b) the actual day where you're celebrating your great day.
> 
> i.e.:
> 
> a) "Ich habe am dd.mm. Geburtstag." (My birthday is on the dd'th of mm)
> b) "Ich habe heute Geburtstag." (It's my birthday today)
> 
> Cheers


In 
a)"Ich habe am dd.mm.Geburstag."Geburtsag=Birthday why is habe in its place?All these words with multiple definitions really confuse me and throw me off


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## Sowka

Hello 

And welcome to the forum, newguy298!



newguy298 said:


> In
> "Ich habe am dd.mm.Gebur*t*stag." Why is "habe" in its place?



The German word _Geburtstag_ is _birthday_ in English.

As for the expression "Geburtstag haben", the German structure is different from the English structure. You will see this very often: You can't simply replace words in an English sentence to obtain a German one. The sentences in German and English are often built in different ways to express the same meaning.

If you translate the German expression for "It's my birthday" word by word, you get:
_Ich habe Geburtstag.
*I have birthday._

This is something you'd not say in English, but this is the way it is expressed in German. In German, this is the normal structure to be used here. You can see the different structures if you go through all the persons _(I (ich), you (du), he/she (er/sie), we (wir), they (sie), you (ihr)_)

Ich habe Geburtstag.  --- It's *my* birthday.
Du hast Geburtstag. --- It's *your* birthday. (singular: referring to one person)
Er hat Geburtstag. --- It's *his* birthday.
Wir haben Geburtstag. --- It's* our* birthday.
Ihr habt Geburtstag. --- It's *your* birthday. (plural: referring to several people)
Sie haben Geburtstag. --- It's *their* birthday.

You can see that in English, the difference between the different persons is expressed in the possessive article (_my, your, his..._). In the German sentences, there is no possessive article (which would be: _mein, dein, sein..._). In German, the difference is expressed by the personal pronoun (_ich, du, er..._) and its verb (the forms of the verb _haben_ (= _to have)_):

*Ich habe* Geburtstag.  --- It's *my* birthday.
*Du hast* Geburtstag. --- It's *your* birthday.
*Er hat* Geburtstag. --- It's *his* birthday.
*Wir haben* Geburtstag. --- It's* our* birthday.
*Ihr habt* Geburtstag. --- It's *your* birthday.
*Sie haben* Geburtstag. --- It's *their* birthday.

In this way, the meaning is as clear as in the English sentences. However, this meaning is expressed in a different manner.


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## perpend

Hi, What is the source of the "program" that you are referring to, newguy!


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## Sowka

*Moderator note*: 

Please note that this  thread is about the German expression "*Geburtstag haben*". 

There are  indeed other ways of expressing the same meaning in some situations, but this thread  focuses on this particular structure "*Geburtstag haben*". Thank you!


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## berndf

newguy298 said:


> In
> a)"Ich habe am dd.mm.Geburstag."Geburtsag=Birthday why is habe in its place?All these words with multiple definitions really confuse me and throw me off


Try to follow the logic of _I have fun_ or _I have much work to do_ or_ I'm having a good time_ or _I have some worries_. In German you, similarly, "have" birthday.


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## perpend

berndf said:


> Try to follow the logic of _I have fun_ or _I have much work to do_ or_ I'm having a good time_ or _I have some worries_. In German you, similarly, "have" birthday.



You could use "to be" in those instances. "I'm having fun" or "I'm swamped with work" or "I'm enjoying myself" (actually, you did you "to be" in that one, Bernd) or "I'm worried."


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## berndf

perpend said:


> You could use "to be" in those instances. "I'm having fun" or "I'm swamped with work" or "I'm enjoying myself" (actually, you did you "to be" in that one, Bernd) or "I'm worried."


_Be_ is not the verb of the sentence _I'm having fun_. The verb is still _have_, it is just continuous form that uses_ be_ as its auxiliary. I _have_ and _I'm having _both translate to _ich habe_ in German.


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## perpend

I'm just trying to follow the logic.

"I have fun" (adjective/adverb?) doesn't mean much to me in American English, i.e., it's not idiomatic, except for some very specific contexts, and I can't get the logical link to "I have " 'birthday' " (noun).


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## berndf

perpend said:


> I'm just trying to follow the logic.
> 
> "I have fun" (adjective/adverb?) doesn't mean much to me in American English, i.e., it's not idiomatic, except for some very specific contexts, and I can't get the logical link to "I have " 'birthday' " (noun).


Whether it is better to say _I have fun _or _I'm having fun_ is a different battle ground (static vs. progressive aspect). Choose whatever suits you better. It has no relevance for this discussion.

German simply doesn't make that distinction. Whether you read _Ich habe Geburtstag_ as _I have birthday_ or _I'm having birthday_ doesn't matter. Choose whatever is intuitively more accessible to you.


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## perpend

newguy298 said:


> Im really confused on the word "Geburstag"
> 
> Im using a program and it says Geburstag -be one's birthday So I guess it has something to do with someone's birthday?
> Also when I click on the word it says Geburstag Haben...Im not sure if their suppose to be together or what..because in the sentence im reading Geburstag and Haben are seperated.



Hi, newguy298!  Have you found a better understanding of the terms?


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## newguy298

perpend said:


> Hi, newguy298!  Have you found a better understanding of the terms?


Not really...This helped alittle,but I guess it just takes time?


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## newguy298

Sowka said:


> Hello
> 
> And welcome to the forum, newguy298!
> 
> 
> 
> The German word _Geburtstag_ is _birthday_ in English.
> 
> As for the expression "Geburtstag haben", the German structure is different from the English structure. You will see this very often: You can't simply replace words in an English sentence to obtain a German one. The sentences in German and English are often built in different ways to express the same meaning.
> 
> If you translate the German expression for "It's my birthday" word by word, you get:
> _Ich habe Geburtstag.
> *I have birthday._
> 
> This is something you'd not say in English, but this is the way it is expressed in German. In German, this is the normal structure to be used here. You can see the different structures if you go through all the persons _(I (ich), you (du), he/she (er/sie), we (wir), they (sie), you (ihr)_)
> 
> Ich habe Geburtstag.  --- It's *my* birthday.
> Du hast Geburtstag. --- It's *your* birthday. (singular: referring to one person)
> Er hat Geburtstag. --- It's *his* birthday.
> Wir haben Geburtstag. --- It's* our* birthday.
> Ihr habt Geburtstag. --- It's *your* birthday. (plural: referring to several people)
> Sie haben Geburtstag. --- It's *their* birthday.
> 
> You can see that in English, the difference between the different persons is expressed in the possessive article (_my, your, his..._). In the German sentences, there is no possessive article (which would be: _mein, dein, sein..._). In German, the difference is expressed by the personal pronoun (_ich, du, er..._) and its verb (the forms of the verb _haben_ (= _to have)_):
> 
> *Ich habe* Geburtstag.  --- It's *my* birthday.
> *Du hast* Geburtstag. --- It's *your* birthday.
> *Er hat* Geburtstag. --- It's *his* birthday.
> *Wir haben* Geburtstag. --- It's* our* birthday.
> *Ihr habt* Geburtstag. --- It's *your* birthday.
> *Sie haben* Geburtstag. --- It's *their* birthday.
> 
> In this way, the meaning is as clear as in the English sentences. However, this meaning is expressed in a different manner.


Thanks this helped me...I've been confused about this sense day one about How everything translates back into something like
"Birthday today is"
Im still confused abit,but still thanks Im gonna keep studying


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## berndf

newguy298 said:


> Thanks this helped me...I've been confused about this sense day one about How everything translates back into something like
> "Birthday today is"
> Im still confused abit,but still thanks Im gonna keep studying


Try to think of _Brithday _as a state of mind rather than as a day of the calendar. Think of cakes and birthday parties and just "feel" the analogy between _I'm having fun_ and _I'm having birthday_.


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## Dan2

newguy298 said:


> Im really confused on the word "Geburstag"
> 
> Im using a program and it says Geburstag -be one's birthday So I guess it has something to do with someone's birthday?


"Geburtstag" simply means "birthday", no more, no less. If your program says "Geburtstag" means "to be one's birthday", it's simply wrong.  As has been pointed out many times in this forum, these translation programs are _very_ inaccurate. You shouldn't be using them to learn a language.


newguy298 said:


> I've been confused about this (since) day one about How everything *translates back* into something like "Birthday today is"


As I was saying...



berndf said:


> Try to follow the logic of _I have fun_ or _I have much work to do_ or_ I'm having a good time_ or _I have some worries_. In German you, similarly, "have" birthday.





perpend said:


> "I have fun" (adjective/adverb?) doesn't mean  much to me in American English, i.e., it's not idiomatic


First of all, "I have fun" is fully idiomatic in American English.  I think you're   simply thinking of contexts that call for the progressive.  But there's   nothing at all unusual or special about contexts that require the  simple  present for this expression: "I have fun when I'm at my friend's   house" (in which context, note, "I'm having fun" would be wrong).

Secondly, Bernd is simply illustrating that English too has idioms involving "have", and suggesting that once a German learner realizes this it may become easier to accept an unfamiliar use of "haben".

Also: English actually _does _use "have a birthday", although it's less common and more limited than "to be one's birthday" (and requires the "a").  Examples: "I hear you're having a birthday next week", "Mary has a birthday coming up - we should do something for her."


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## perpend

Dan2 said:


> First of all, "I have fun" is fully idiomatic in American English. I think you're simply thinking of contexts that call for the progressive. But there's nothing at all unusual or special about contexts that require the simple present for this expression: "I have fun when I'm at my friend's house" (in which context, note, "I'm having fun" would be wrong).



Comparing "I have fun" (without anything additional) and "Ich habe Geburtstag"---nee, das sind zwei paar Schuhe, m.E.

"I have fun" can be totally idiomatic in a longer sentence, but that doesn't relate to the query, in my opinion.

It can also be fully idiomatic in a completely different context, that isn't even in the scope of this query.

A birdie whispered in my ear that this "translation" is from Tell Me More.


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## berndf

perpend said:


> Comparing "I have fun" (without anything additional) and "Ich habe Geburtstag"---nee, das sind zwei paar Schuhe, m.E.
> 
> "I have fun" can be totally idiomatic in a longer sentence, but that doesn't relate to the query, in my opinion.
> 
> It can also be fully idiomatic in a completely different context, that isn't even in the scope of this query.


Dan hat dir geraten zu versuchen, etwas über den Tellerrand des Kontextes, den Du Dir gerade vorstellst, hinauszugucken; in diesem Fall, dass Du Dir den Ausdruck _I have fun_ nur als einen abgeschlossenen Satz vorstellen kannst. Meine Beispiele, die progressive und simple present mischen, zeigen auch, dass es darauf in hier _nicht _ankommt. Wenn Du Dir _I have fun_ nicht vorstellen kannst, dann stell Dir _I'm having fun_ vor. Harping on this distinction is what has nothing to do with this query.


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## perpend

Hmmm ...

I have fun.
I have birthday.

Stand alone.

I neither see the logic nor the lesson, in this comparison, Bernd.. Please tell me what I am missing in the comparison.

"Tell Me More" is the site, that the birdie told me of.

From #11 (from Bernd): _German simply doesn't make that distinction. Whether you read Ich habe Geburtstag as I have birthday or I'm having birthday doesn't matter. Choose whatever is intuitively more accessible to you._


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## bearded

perpend said:


> I'm just trying to follow the logic.
> 
> "I have fun" (adjective/adverb?) doesn't mean much to me in American English, i.e., it's not idiomatic, except for some very specific contexts, and I can't get the logical link to "I have " 'birthday' " (noun).


Hello perpend
In the expression 'I have fun' I think the word 'fun' is a noun (what do you have? fun), and I find it strange that you should not recognise it, even if not idiomatic. The 'logical link' to 'I have birthday' is from the point of view of the grammar, not of the meaning (anyhow, if I receive presents, luck-wishing words etc. from my friends, on my birthday I may 'have fun').


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## Schimmelreiter

I understand quite well why perpend perceives _fun_ as an adjective: _This movie is fun, a fun game, _etc.
German learners tend to say_ funny_​, which is wrong.


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## perpend

bearded man said:


> Hello perpend
> In the expression 'I have fun' I think the word 'fun' is a noun (what do you have? fun), and I find it strange that you should not recognise it, even if not idiomatic. The 'logical link' to 'I have birthday' is from the point of view of the grammar, not of the meaning (anyhow, if I receive presents, luck-wishing words etc. from my friends, on my birthday I may 'have fun').



I have fun. (for me, "fun" is an adjective)
Ich habe Spaß. (for me, "Spaß" is a noun, in German)
I have birthday. ??? (It means nothing to me)
Ich habe Geburtstag. (for me, "Geburtstag" is a noun, in German)

EDIT: Der Geburt war schwer.


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## Schimmelreiter

perpend said:


> I have fun. (for me, "fun" is an adjective)


As in _I'm having a fun time_, I presume.


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## perpend

If I were to say "I have fun" it would mean "Ich lass' manchmal die Sau raus".


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## bearded

From the Merriam-Webster English Dictionary:  FUN (noun) anything that provides enjoyment or amusement.
On the day of my birthday, (wenn ich Geburtstag habe), if I receive a cake, I shall ''have fun (enjoyment)''.
Is perpend confusing fun with funny?


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## berndf

perpend said:


> I have fun. (for me, "fun" is an adjective)


No way.


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## Dan2

perpend said:


> I have fun. (for me, "fun" is an adjective)


I don't think this is a situation where you can say, "For me".  Part of speech (noun vs verb vs adjective...) is determined not by meaning or anything real-world, but rather by syntax.  We look at the thousands of words of a language and find that they fall into a half-dozen or so categories in terms of what "slots" they can fill.  The slot in "I have ____" can be filled by a noun ("I have money", "I have problems") (more generally, by a "noun phrase": "I have a small red car"), but not by an adjective ("I have big", "I have interesting", "I have wet" are all bad sentences).  If we look at a large number of noun phrases and adjectives and find that what I say is true in general, then "fun" in "I have fun" must be a noun, no matter what the sentence "means" to you.  (Or as Bernd put it more eloquently: an adjective? "No way".) ("I have" can also be followed by a past-participle verb, clearly not relevant here.)


Schimmelreiter said:


> I understand quite well why perpend perceives _fun_ as an adjective: _This movie is fun, a fun game, _etc.


The slot in "The movie is ____" can be filled by a noun phrase ("garbage", "a work of art") or an adjective phrase ("good", " extremely bad").  I perceive "fun" as a noun here, but I suppose (unlike "have fun") someone might perceive it as an adjective.

I think that for most of the 20th century, "fun" was simply a noun: "We're having fun", "Fun is an important part of life" (and a noun in "The movie is fun").  A decade or so ago (and maybe even now) people objected to "fun" in adjectival slots ("It's a fun game").  Of course, this adjectival use of "fun" is not wrong in any absolute sense, but the objections are evidence that the usage was unfamiliar to the objectors.  And adjectival "fun" is still limited to colloquial contexts, which is not true of the noun.

"funny" is obviously related to "fun", but has a distinctly different meaning from the adjective "fun" or from what would be expected from the noun "fun" (as Schimmelreiter pointed out).


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## Hutschi

Hi, I want to add to Birthday.

Heute ist mein Geburtstag = today is my birthday (in the calendar)
Heute habe ich Geburtstag = today is my birthday (in a cultural sense, birthday party, congratulations)

--- 
But it depends also on context. The distinction is not absolute.


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## bearded

To Dan2
I gladly subscribe the arguments in your brilliant grammatical ''essay'' above.  Just one minor detail:
In the dialogue between perpend (for me, fun is an adjective) and berndf (no way), I had interpreted the comment 'no way' as meaning ''there is no way to persuade him, so we'd better give up'', rather than ''adjective? no way'' as you seem to understand.  Or could it mean both?
Maybe berndf will reply with the 'authentical' meaning..


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## berndf

I meant: "Adjective? No way!" As Dan understood it.


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## hiimokay

newguy298 said:


> Im really confused on the word "Geburstag"
> 
> Im using a program and it says Geburstag -be one's birthday So I guess it has something to do with someone's birthday?
> Also when I click on the word it says Geburstag Haben...Im not sure if their suppose to be together or what..because in the sentence im reading Geburstag and Haben are seperated.




German is a confusing language and does not translate perfectly to English. Geburtstag does translate to birthday however when you say It's my birthday in german it is Ich habe Geburtstag, You say I have birthday. It is also the same when talking about if you are hungry or thirsty you say in german Ich habe hunger/durst. It does translate exactly to I have hunger/thirst but you just have to practise and learn it, also the site/program you are using is not correct try dict.cc


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## hiimokay

berndf said:


> No way.





Dan2 said:


> "Geburtstag" simply means "birthday", no more, no less. If your program says "Geburtstag" means "to be one's birthday", it's simply wrong.  As has been pointed out many times in this forum, these translation programs are _very_ inaccurate. You shouldn't be using them to learn a language.
> 
> As I was saying...
> 
> 
> 
> First of all, "I have fun" is fully idiomatic in American English.  I think you're   simply thinking of contexts that call for the progressive.  But there's   nothing at all unusual or special about contexts that require the  simple  present for this expression: "I have fun when I'm at my friend's   house" (in which context, note, "I'm having fun" would be wrong).
> 
> Secondly, Bernd is simply illustrating that English too has idioms involving "have", and suggesting that once a German learner realizes this it may become easier to accept an unfamiliar use of "haben".
> 
> Also: English actually _does _use "have a birthday", although it's less common and more limited than "to be one's birthday" (and requires the "a").  Examples: "I hear you're having a birthday next week", "Mary has a birthday coming up - we should do something for her."




FUN IS A VERB STOP COMPARING IT TO GEBURTSTAG AND JUST ACCEPT THAT GERMAN IS A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE WITH DIFFERENT COMPREHENSION!!


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## berndf

hiimokay said:


> FUN IS A VERB


Certainly not.

Though not in_ I have fun_, there are some expressions where the interpretation as an adjective could make sense, e.g. in _a fun day_. But there is absolutely no context where _fun _could be a verb.


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## bearded

hiimokay said:


> German is a confusing language


A German might say that English is a confusing language. You shouldn't think that each language, whose expressions do not correspond exactly to the English ones, is ''confusing''.  Maybe it is just confusing to you.
Every language has its own ways of expression, and very often they do not coincide with each other word for word.


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## Katharina Blum

berndf said:


> But there is absolutely no context where _fun _could be a verb.


Are you funning me?
fun


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## berndf

I suppose you should never be never. But you agree that this usage belongs to a very informal register?


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## Katharina Blum

You're right of course. Point is, is there any one word in the English language that can't be _verbed_?


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## berndf

Katharina Blum said:


> You're right of course. Point is, is there any one word in the English language that can't be _verbed_?


Probably not, if the range of registers you are willing to consider is sufficiently broad.


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