# meistens vs am meisten



## screamerer

Hallo, Guten Tag, ..

Is there any difference between _*meistens*_ and _*am meistens*_?

_*Am meistens esse ich mit meiner Familie.
Meistens esse ich mit meiner Familie.*_


Dank schön.


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## elroy

"Am meisten*s*" gibt es nicht.  Did you mean "am meisten"?

"Meistens" is correct in your sentence; that's what I would say.

I think "ich esse am meisten mit meiner Familie" or "ich esse mit meiner Familie am meisten" would be "I am the one that eats with their family most," in a context in which I am comparing myself with others with regard to how often we all eat with our families.


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## screamerer

elroy said:


> "Am meisten*s*" gibt es nicht.  Did you mean "am meisten"?


Yes - that was a typo.



elroy said:


> I think "ich esse am meisten mit meiner Familie" or "ich esse mit meiner Familie am meisten" would be "I am the one that eats with their family most," in a context in which I am comparing myself with others with regard to how often we all eat with our families.



I myself couldn't feel a tangible difference..  . In English, though not quite sure, I would understand:

_*When I go out with my pals on weekends, I mostly spend 20 bucks or so.*_,
to mean that that sum of money is what he usually spends.

And,
*When I go out with my pals, I spend 20 bucks or so at the most.*
to mean that that sum of money is the height of his spending, but not necessarily how much he usually spends.. .


Can we perhaps apply that treatment to _*meistens*_ and _*am meisten*_?



Vielen Dank.


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## elroy

Definitely not.  In the first scenario you could say "meistens."  In the second one you can't use either "meistens" or "am meisten."  One option would be "höchstens."

Meistens gebe ich um die 20 Dollar aus, wenn ich am Wochenende mit meinen Kumpeln ausgehe.
Wenn ich am Wochenende mit meinen Kumpeln ausgehe, gebe ich höchstens um die 20 Dollar aus.


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## perpend

"im Schnitt" ginge.

Wenn ich ausgehe, gebe ich im Schnitt 20 Euro/Dollar raus.


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## screamerer

elroy said:


> Definitely not. In the first scenario you could say "meistens."  In the second one you can't use either "meistens" or "am meisten."  One option would be "höchstens."



I thought it'd be OK as _meistens_ is the superlative of _viel_, which is an indefinite pronoun for quantity, and how high an expenditure is, is basically a quantitative measure.. .

So the following statement is not acceptable?

_*Am meisten esse ich zehn Stücke Schokolade pro Tag.*_


Danke schön.


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## elroy

It is wrong if you mean "I eat at most 10 pieces of chocolate a day."  You would need to say 

Ich esse höchstens zehn Stück Schokolade am Tag. 

or 

Ich esse nicht mehr als zehn Stück Schokolade am Tag.

"Meistens" means "usually," "most of the time."


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## screamerer

Can you give me an example on proper use of _*am meisten*_?

Danke schön.


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## elroy

Wer spielt (unter deinen Kindern) am meisten Schach?
Lukas und Johannes spielen nur einmal der Woche. Frank aber spielt 2 Stunden am Tag. Der spielt Schach am meisten.


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## djweaverbeaver

Hi @screamerer.

_*Am meisten*_ is the superlative of *viel *and *sehr*:  *viel/sehr (positive) → mehr (comparative) → am meisten (superlative)*.  Also consider these sentences:

*Ich esse viel Schokade. →  Hans isst mehr Schokolade als ich.  → Unter den Freunden isst Birgit Schokolade am meisten.*
(I eat a lot of chocolate. → Hans eats more chocolate than I. → Of all the friends, Birgit eats chocolate the most.)

*Deine Geschwister lieben dich sehr. → Deine Eltern liebt dich mehr (als sie).  → Aber ich liebe dich am meisten.*
Your siblings love you a lot. → Your parents love you more (than they do).  → But I love you (the) most.

This is why your sentence _*Am meisten esse ich zehn Stücke Schokolade pro Tag* means *I eat ten piece of chocolate at day the most often*. _ If you replaced it with its positive viel (ex. *Viel esse ich zehn Stücke Schokolade pro Tag*), you understand that *viel *is here a measure of frequency, not quality (*viel = oft, häufig*).

_*Meistens *_means *in den meisten Fällen*. (= *mostly* in the sense of *usually, most of the time, more often than not, for the most part, in most cases*).

_*Höchstens *_is the opposite of _*mindestens*_ (*at most/no more than ≠ at least/no less than*).

I hope this helps.


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## elroy

Great breakdown, djweaverbeaver!  Just a couple things:


djweaverbeaver said:


> * Deine Eltern lieben dich mehr (als sie).*


 (Probably just a Denkfehler.) 





> This is why your sentence _*Am meisten esse ich zehn Stücke Schokolade pro Tag* means *I eat ten piece of chocolate at day the most often*. _ If you replaced it with its positive viel (ex. *Viel esse ich zehn Stücke Schokolade pro Tag*), you understand that *viel *is here a measure of frequency, not quality (*viel = oft, häufig*).


 It's "zehn *Stück* Schokolade."

"Viel esse ich zehn Stück Schokolade am Tag" 
"Am meisten esse ich zehn Stück Schokolade am Tag" 

These sentences don't make sense in German.

"The most often" would be "am häufigsten," not "am meisten."

I eat ten pieces of chocolate a day the most often. = Ich esse am häufigsten zehn Stück Schokolade am Tag. / Ich bin der, der am häufigsten zehn Stück Schokolade am Tag ist.


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## perpend

Maybe "in der Regel" ist hier angesagt.

In der Regel esse ich zehn Stück Schokolade pro Tag.

Klingt aber wirklich nicht "Deutsch".

Schokolade käuft man in Riegelform, oder?


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## elroy

perpend said:


> In der Regel esse ich zehn Stück Schokolade pro Tag.


 Gegen diesen Satz hätte ich nichts einzuwenden. Er entspricht mehr oder weniger der Bedeutung "Meistens esse ich...".


> Schokolade käuft man in Riegelform, oder?


 Na ja, meistens schon.  Ein Riegel Schokolade besteht aber oft aus quadratförmigen Stücken, die man in der Regel  zum Essen abbricht. 

Nebenbei: Ist "käuft" eine bairische Form des standardsprachlichen "kauft"?


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## perpend

Oops: "kauft".


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## perpend

screamerer said:


> Hallo, Guten Tag, ..
> 
> Is there any difference between _*meistens*_ and _*am meistens*_?
> 
> _*Am meistens esse ich mit meiner Familie.
> Meistens esse ich mit meiner Familie.*_
> 
> 
> Dank schön.



I just think going back to the OP "in der Regel" is maybe the searched-for word.


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## elroy

perpend said:


> I just think going back to the OP "in der Regel" is maybe the searched-for word.


 I think there are many words and expressions that can be used to express that meaning:

in der Regel
meistens
normalerweise
in den meisten Fällen
üblicherweise

etc. etc. etc.


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## screamerer

djweaverbeaver said:


> I hope this helps.



Of course it does. Thanks a lot .


@elroy :

I can't quite catch the theme here: is it dependent upon whether what's being measured is countable or not?

However, I have thought out some (bizzard ) explanation, and that is that quantities addressed by _viel_ and extents to which actions are carried out are two subtly distinct perspectives..

with _viel_, it's more like one is scoping the width (size) of what's being observed:
*Am meisten esse ich zehn Stücke Schokolade pro Tag.*
That's about all I do to gain weight, I eat 10 bars of chocolate a day - I don't do anything more (for example, I don't sleep longer periods, or eat more red meat.. .).

But if I wanted to measure the depth to which an action is carried out, that is, _ten bars_ as matters _eat_ in the example, then Am höchsten/höchstens would fit in right:
*Am höchsten esse ich zehn Stück Schokolade am Tag.*
i.e. that's how far I go with my eating.


Do you approve (of?) that?



Danke schön.


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## elroy

No, I don't.  Have you read the previous posts closely?  Nothing in this thread supports the speculations you present in your most recent post.

It doesn't have to do with countability or width or depth.

Again,

meistens = most of the time (mostly)
am meisten = the most (more than any other member of a group)
höchstens = at most (no more than)

Meistens esse ich Schokolade. = I eat chocolate most of the time. / I mostly eat chocolate.
Jakob isst Schokolade am meisten. = Jacob eats chocolate the most (more than anyone else he is being compared with).
Ich esse höchstens zwei Stück Schokolade am Tag. = I eat two pieces of chocolate a day at most. / I eat no more than two pieces of chocolate a day.

In Arabic:

Meistens esse ich Schokolade. = غالبًا آكل شوكولاتة. / في معظم الأحيان آكل شوكولاتة.
Jakob isst Schokolade am meisten. = يعقوب هو أكثر من يأكل شوكولاتة.
Ich esse höchstens zwei Stück Schokolade am Tag. = آكل قطعتين من الشوكولاتة يوميًا على الأكثر. / لا آكل أكثر من قطعتين من الشوكولاتة يوميًا.

I hope it's clear now.


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## djweaverbeaver

Thanks @elroy. Some of those mistakes could have been avoided if I had not been so tired when I was typing that.


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## Schlabberlatz

Examples of common uses of "am meisten":
"Am meisten esse ich mit meiner Familie": When I eat with my family, I eat more than in any other situation.
"Bei einem Familienessen esse ich am meisten": This would normally be taken to mean that you eat more than the other family members.


elroy said:


> I think "ich esse am meisten mit meiner Familie" or "ich esse mit meiner Familie am meisten" would be "I am the one that eats with their family most," in a context in which I am comparing myself with others with regard to how often we all eat with our families.


I’d normally say "am häufigsten" in this context.


elroy said:


> Lukas und Johannes spielen nur einmal der Woche. Frank aber spielt 2 Stunden am Tag. Der spielt Schach am meisten.


Lukas und Johannes spielen nur einmal *die* Woche. Frank aber spielt 2 Stunden am Tag. *Der spielt am meisten Schach*.


djweaverbeaver said:


> Unter den Freunden isst Birgit Schokolade _am meisten_.


"… *isst Birgit am meisten Schokolade*."


elroy said:


> It's "zehn *Stück* Schokolade."


I’d prefer "Stücke" in this context. It seems that both versions are correct: "zwei Stück/Stücke Kuchen essen"


perpend said:


> Schokolade käuft man in Riegelform, oder?


_Tafeln_ are more common in Germany.


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## perpend

Thanks, Schlabberlatz! My key take-away is that we Americans don't quite have a good grip on "am meisten", well, I should speak only for myself. Your post is interesting/helpful.


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## screamerer

Schlabberlatz said:


> Examples of common uses of "am meisten":
> "Am meisten esse ich mit meiner Familie": When I eat with my family, I eat more than in any other situation.


Hallo, ..

Can that statement be also unterstood to mean that he most often eats with his family?

Danke.


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## Schlabberlatz

screamerer said:


> Can that statement be also unterstood to mean that he most often eats with his family?


One would say "Meistens esse ich …". "Am meisten" has a different meaning in this context.


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## screamerer

Vielen Dank.


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## Kajjo

@screamerer: Please understand that "am meisten" does NOT mean "höchstens/maximal". This mistake you repeated throughout this thread.

_Ich esse höchstens 10 Stückchen Schokolade auf einmal.
Ich esse maximal 10 Stückchen Schokolade an einem Abend._

The phrase "am meisten" is used to compare with others:

_Ich esse am meisten Schokolade von uns allen (=mehr als alle anderen)._

The word "meistens" is used to express a frequency of occurrence and usual behaviour:

_Meistens esse ich abends ein Stückchen Schokolade. (Usually / On most evenings I eat...)_


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