# Wir sind glücklich



## J-Mac

Hello-
Got this letter from my girlfriend, and I have NO idea what it says. Can anyone help me out? Thanks a lot- Jeff

Win sind glucklich


Möglicherweise sollten wir ein, wenig deutsches zu sprechen versuchen, ja? 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





 Sie haben einen guten Hund, ich genossen, ihn zu treffen.  

~ Ihre freundin


----------



## Jana337

J-Mac said:
			
		

> Hello-
> Got this letter from my girlfriend, and I have NO idea what it says. Can anyone help me out? Thanks a lot- Jeff
> 
> Win sind glucklich
> 
> Möglicherweise sollten wir ein, wenig deutsches zu sprechen versuchen, ja?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sie haben einen guten Hund, ich genossen, ihn zu treffen.
> 
> ~ Ihre freundin


Wir sind glücklich - we are happy
Möglicherweise sollten wir ein wenig Deutsch zu sprechen versuchen - we could perhaps try to speak German a bit
Sie haben einen guten Hund - they have a good/nice dog
Ich habe genossen, ihn zu treffen - I enjoyed meeting him

Ihre Freudin - your friend (Ihre - she addresses either a group of people or someone with whom she is on formal terms)

This is poor German if you copied her letter faithfully.  The part with dog was quite weird - I had to guess what it could mean.

Hope this helps.

Jana


----------



## J-Mac

Thank you so much, Jana! That was a big help. I'll explain a couple of quick things that might cause the message to make more sense..

First off, we send eachother messages in a language that neither of us speaks or writes, and today she chose to send that note to me in German. I am sure she translated as best she could, but I totally understand that the words she used might not be the popular or correct way to use them.

We have a saying that we use all the time when we are trying to tell each other how happy we are to have met one another, and that is "Lucky Us". I am quite certain that she meant to say that by writing "Win sind glucklich".

The part about the dog is funny. Last night, we took a night hike here in California with my dog Baja. I think she was trying to say that she had a good time being with him, etc...

When she signed Ihre Freundin, I feel she was trying to say "Your Girlfriend", which is how she signs her notes to me.

Thanks for your help. I was wondering, could you explain to me how I would say "I think you have conquered my heart" in German?
Thanks- Jeff M.


----------



## Jana337

J-Mac said:
			
		

> Thanks for your help. I was wondering, could you explain to me how I would say "I think you have conquered my heart" in German?
> Thanks- Jeff M.


Sure. 

Ich glaube, Du hast mein Herz erobert.

I hope you plan on supplying us with your entertaining exchanges fairly often!

Jana


----------



## J-Mac

Thanks again, Jana. Will be happy to keep you updated on the latest messages. Actually, I got one in Spanish as well, but I speak Spanish so it was a little easier to translate. I had sent her a phrase in French that basically said "Your feet must be hurting, because you have been running around in my mind all day long". I got her reply back in Spanish that basically said "Well, then the next time I see you I expect a foot massage". Funny stuff!!! Keeps things really interesting.....

Thank you for explaining how to say the "conquer my heart" message. Could you tell me the proper way to say the following:

My love-
I have been waiting for you my entire life. Now that you are here, I feel my life can truly begin.

Thanks again, Jana. I really appreciate your help....


----------



## Jana337

> Thanks again, Jana. Will be happy to keep you updated on the latest messages. Actually, I got one in Spanish as well, but I speak Spanish so it was a little easier to translate. I had sent her a phrase in French that basically said "Your feet must be hurting, because you have been running around in my mind all day long". I got her reply back in Spanish that basically said "Well, then the next time I see you I expect a foot massage". Funny stuff!!! Keeps things really interesting.....


Yikes!  I didn't mean to coax you into sharing your love correspondence with you.  This is not a chatboard, after all. I wanted to say that you will be most welcome whenever you need our help when composing another message for your girlfriend. Congrats on such a nice hobby, by the way. 


			
				J-Mac said:
			
		

> My love-
> I have been waiting for you my entire life. Now that you are here, I feel my life can truly begin.
> 
> Thanks again, Jana. I really appreciate your help....


Mein Schatz, auf dich habe mein ganzes Leben gewartet. Jetzt, wenn ich dich habe, spüre ich, das mein Leben wirklich beginnen kann.

Jana


----------



## J-Mac

Thank you again!!! I guess I got a little carried away with my stories!! I will try and control myself and not reveal too much next time!! I will have another phrase to translate sometime soon I am sure, so thank you in advance for helping me out!!
Jeff


----------



## elroy

Two remarks:

*After the explanation, I think that by "Sie haben einen guten Hund" she meant to say "you have a good dog."  My first reaction was also to go with "they"' but the context suggests the formal "you" (in German the pronouns for "they" and formal "you" are identical, except that the latter is capitalized.  However, since the pronoun is the first word in the sentence here, there's no way to tell which one is meant without context).

*Jana, did you forget "ich" here?



> auf dich habe *ich* mein ganzes Leben gewartet


 
I know that dropping the personal pronoun is sometimes done in informal contexts, but I don't think you meant to do that here - or did you?


----------



## Ralf

Jana's profound knowledge of German, Elroy's attentiveness and my (anal retentive) meticulousness  will bring up this:


			
				Jana337 said:
			
		

> ...
> Mein Schatz, auf dich habe *ich* mein ganzes Leben (lang) gewartet. Jetzt, *da* ich dich habe, spüre ich, das mein Leben wirklich beginnen kann.



Ralf


----------



## elroy

Ralf said:
			
		

> Jana's profound knowledge of German, Elroy's attentiveness and my (anal retentive) meticulousness  will *yield* (bring up = vorbringen, aufwerfen, erwähnen) this:
> 
> 
> Ralf


 
Perfect! 

I was going to counter "wenn" and propose "da" but I figured Jana's profound knowledge of German was so profound that my attentiveness was exaggerated. Luckily for all of us, your meticulousness has removed all doubts.


----------



## Jana337

elroy said:
			
		

> Perfect!
> 
> I was going to counter "wenn" and propose "da" but I figured Jana's profound knowledge of German was so profound that my attentiveness was exaggerated. Luckily for all of us, your meticulousness has removed all doubts.


Let me just add tht the missing "ich" was no intention on my part. 

Jana


----------



## Whodunit

J-Mac said:
			
		

> Hello-
> Got this letter from my girlfriend, and I have NO idea what it says. Can anyone help me out? Thanks a lot- Jeff


 
Hi Jeff,

Just to let know about the correct German sentence, I corrected it for you ... you could explain her mistakes to your friend and what she confused, then. 



> Wi*r* sind gl*ü*cklich ('Wir' is the word for 'we'; the word 'glücklich' needs an umlaut or 'ue' if you can't type them ... you have to use either ü or ue because it's impossible to omit them as in Spanish or French)
> 
> Möglicherweise sollten wir ein (no comma) wenig *D*eutsches zu sprechen versuchen, ja? *Du* ha*st* einen guten Hund, ich *habe es* genossen, ihn zu treffen. ('ein wenig' is a compound and has to be unseparated like 'a bit'; 'Deutsch' is the word she wanted to use, because you need the accusative here, which sounds like the nominative in case of languages; "Sie haben" means "you have" in formal contexts, which is often correct, but not how you would address a friend, plus the verb has to be assimilated to the correct pronoun: du hast; 'genossen' is the past participle, so she just forgot about the auxiliary verb 'haben' (=have) and 'es', which doesn't exist in English as an annexion to 'enjoy'.)
> 
> ~ *Deine F*reundin (Again, she used formal address, which is irrelavant here, because you are friends; Freundin has to be capitalized, because it's a noun and nouns are always capitalized in German)


----------



## Whodunit

Jana337 said:
			
		

> Sure.
> 
> Ich glaube, Du hast mein Herz erobert.
> 
> I hope you plan on supplying us with your entertaining exchanges fairly often!
> 
> Jana


 
Let me be yet a bit more meliculous than Ralf: ()

Ich glaube, du hast mein Herz erobert. (what did I change? Can you spy the mistake? )


----------



## Whodunit

Ralf said:
			
		

> ...Mein Schatz, auf dich habe *ich* mein ganzes Leben (lang) gewartet. Jetzt, *da* ich dich habe, spüre ich, das mein Leben wirklich beginnen kann.


 
Are you serious? Would you say that in a letter to a friend? 

I'd suggest to replace "da" by "wo", because that's how German temporal relative clauses work in everyday speech.


----------



## Ralf

Whodunit said:
			
		

> Are you serious? Would you say that in a letter to a friend?


If I had to write this sentence I definitely would. 


> ...
> I'd suggest to replace "da" by "wo", because that's how German temporal relative clauses work in everyday speech.


That's true, unfortunately. Therefore I would prefer "da" instead of "wo".  

Ralf


----------



## J-Mac

Wow- thanks for all of the help everyone. I was away at work for a couple of days, and just read all of the info you have been putting on the board. Thanks a million!!!!
Jeff


----------



## gaer

Ralf said:
			
		

> If I had to write this sentence I definitely would.  That's true, unfortunately. Therefore I would prefer "da" instead of "wo".
> 
> Ralf


Ralf, not only WOULD I write such a sentence to a friend, I did—many—which is probably why we got married. 

(It was in English, of course.)  

Gaer


----------



## gaer

Whodunit said:
			
		

> Let me be yet a bit more meliculous than Ralf: ()
> 
> Ich glaube, du hast mein Herz erobert. (what did I change? Can you spy the mistake? )


Do you mean changing "Du" to "du"? <confused>

Gaer


----------



## gaer

Jana337 said:
			
		

> Wir sind glücklich - we are happy


The first thing I thought of here was:

"We are lucky/fortunate."

It is a phrase I have heard a great deal in this area after Wilma, in English though. 

Gaer


----------



## Whodunit

gaer said:
			
		

> Do you mean changing "Du" to "du"? <confused>
> 
> Gaer


 
Genau. 

Es ist in bestimmten Kontexten sehr wichtig, die neue Rechtschreibung zu verwenden, da es in allen Bundesländern (Jens wird euch die Ausnahmen erläutern ) seit dem 1. August '05 nun verbindlich geworden ist, sie zu verwenden. Wenn aber jemand gerne die Alte behalten will, soll er's machen.


----------



## gaer

Whodunit said:
			
		

> Genau.
> 
> Es ist in bestimmten Kontexten sehr wichtig, die neue Rechtschreibung zu verwenden, da es in allen Bundesländern (Jens wird euch die Ausnahmen erläutern ) seit dem 1. August '05 nun verbindlich geworden ist, sie zu verwenden. Wenn aber jemand gerne die Alte behalten will, soll er's machen.


Who, I GUARANTEE you that if I wrote such a personal thing to someone I loved or held in great esteem, I would use "Du". Rules are never binding in letters between two close friends, since they are only for those two people and concern no one else in the universe, and I think the capitalization in this case, to someone very special, is something special. 

Gaer


----------



## Whodunit

gaer said:
			
		

> Who, I GUARANTEE you that if I wrote such a personal thing to someone I loved or held in great esteem, I would use "Du". Rules are never binding in letters between two close friends, since they are only for those two people and concern no one else in the universe, and I think the capitalization in this case, to someone very special, is something special.
> 
> Gaer


 
That's a completely different story, because interhuman relations have nothing to do with correct language, political correctness, or stylistic. 

Nevertheless, we're going way off-topic now and I'd be glad if we could stop this discussion about "du" and "Du" here. If you want to elaborate on this, you could perhaps open a new thread.


----------



## gaer

Whodunit said:
			
		

> That's a completely different story, because interhuman relations have nothing to do with correct language, political correctness, or stylistic.


Agreed. Let's get back on topic. 

Gaer


----------



## Ralf

gaer said:
			
		

> The first thing I thought of here was:
> 
> "We are lucky/fortunate."
> 
> It is a phrase I have heard a great deal in this area after Wilma, in English though.
> 
> Gaer


Just to go back to J-Mac's original phrase "lucky us". I would suggest a few German equivalents:

Wir Glücklichen!
Haben wir ein Glück! (Hatten wir ein Glück! when referring to events in the past, which would be the case when reflecting the horrors of Wilma. It conveys the connotation of "we are lucky to have survived")

... and a bit more figuratively:
Wir Glückspilze!

Ralf


----------



## gaer

Ralf said:
			
		

> Just to go back to J-Mac's original phrase "lucky us". I would suggest a few German equivalents:
> 
> Wir Glücklichen!
> Haben wir ein Glück! (Hatten wir ein Glück! when referring to events in the past, which would be the case when reflecting the horrors of Wilma. It conveys the connotation of "we are lucky to have survived")


Ah, but Ralf, you may not understand that we are saying, right now, "We are lucky." For you and the rest of the world, Wilma is over. Not for us. The building next to us still has no power, and some of my students still have no power at home. We did not get power back at work until the middle of last week. And we still have a temporary sheet of plastic in a frame nailed over the place where our kitchen window used to be. Each day continues to be a test of stamina.


> ... and a bit more figuratively:
> Wir Glückspilze!
> 
> Ralf


[/QUOTE]
Yes. I've seen that before, although I never understood where it came from. 

Gaer


----------

