# I/She was going to...



## greenterreno

I often say something like

"I was going to phone you tomorrow, but...", or "I was going to do that later, and...", or "She was going to join us for lunch, but...", or "I was just going to say that", etc, etc.

In Spanish and English, the structure seems (to me) simple, but I can't find the formula in German for "I was going to...." 

Can you help me? Danke.


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## Frank78

Sounds as it is a synonyme for "I wanted to phone you but..."? Am I right?

"Ich *wollte* Dich/Sie morgen anrufen, aber.."


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## newg

Hi,

No I would say that a synonyme would be:

"I was about to phone you..."

I think there's not the idea of "want" though it can be implied. 

I would suggest: _Ich war im Begriff, dich zu rufen._


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## Dan2

Frank78 wrote, "Sounds as it is a synonyme for "I wanted to phone you but..."? Am I right?"

newg replied, "I think there's not the idea of "want" though it can be implied."

I agree with newg: One can be "going to do something" without _wanting_ to do it.  But from a practical point of view, little would probably be lost in most cases by translating "I was going to..." as "Ich wollte..."

newg also wrote,
"No I would say that a synonyme would be: "I was about to phone you..." "
This also somewhat misses the exact meaning of "I was going to", which is simply "at some point in the past, my plan for the future was...", without any implication of how near that future is.  "I was about to...", on the other hand, implies immediacy.

(Note spelling of "synonym".)


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## greenterreno

Thanks for your replies!  I think Dan2 has my intention "about" right.  For me, "I was going to do (something)...."  *intention *is involved.

The intention could be out of duty, love, previous planning.....  But regardless of the intention, something then interfered with that intention that caused me *not *to do what "I was going to do."   The reason could be that I forgot to do it, something more important came up, etc.  

I guess I look for a general formula for "I was going to..."  Maybe it doesn't exist!


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## Alemanita

If you want to stress the intention: 

Ich hatte die Absicht dich anzurufen, aber .../ Ich hatte fest vor, dich anzurufen, aber ...

In a more general way, I think it is as Dan2 and Frank78 said: Ich wollte dich anrufen (it also has the connotation of intention!)

What newg said: Ich war im Begriff, dich anzurufen, als... / more colloquial: Ich war gerade dabei dich anzurufen, als... implies that you already had the phone in your hand when something else happened (estaba a punto de llamarte).

In my opinion, the general formula for "I was going to..." = "Iba a + infinitivo" = "Ich wollte ..."

In present time: I am going to = Voy a + infinitivo = Ich werde


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## dec-sev

Alemanita said:


> In present time: I am going to = Voy a + infinitivo = Ich werde


What will be the "general forumula" for the English "I will..." then?


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## Frank78

dec-sev said:


> What will be the "general forumula" for the English "I will..." then?



We only have one future tense in German. So "I am going to..." and "I will" are both translated as "Ich werde". As you might know you also can use a present tense in German to describe a future action.


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## dec-sev

Kann man "I am going to..." wie "Ich bin im Begriff..." übersetzen, oder verwendet man diesen Ausdruck nur in Vergangenheit (ich war im Begriff..)?


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## Frank78

Manchmal ja manchmal nicht. Going to future wird für geplante Absichten benutzt, will future für eher spontanere Entschlüsse.
"I'm going to move to Hamburg" - wenn es schon feststeht aber dennoch Wochen oder Monate in der Zukunft liegt macht "im Begriff sein" wenig Sinn.

"im Begriff sein etwas zu tun" würde ich eher mit "about to" übersetzen.
"The election result is about to be announced"


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## dec-sev

Frank78 said:


> "I'm going to move to Hamburg" - wenn es schon feststeht aber dennoch Wochen oder Monate in der Zukunft liegt macht "im Begriff sein" wenig Sinn.


 Übergibt "werde" den Fakt, dass es fest steht, dass ich umziehe? Wie würdest du "I'm going to move to Hamburg" übersetzen? "Ich werde in Hamburt umziehen","Ich ziehe nach Hamburg um" oder "Ich habe mir entschieden, in Hamburg umzuziehen"?


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## sokol

dec-sev said:


> _Vermittelt_ "werde" den Fakt, dass es fest steht, dass ich umziehe? Wie würdest du "I'm going to move to Hamburg" übersetzen? "Ich werde nach Hamburg umziehen" ,"Ich ziehe nach Hamburg um"  oder "Ich habe mir entschieden, nach Hamburg umzuziehen" ?



Alle drei sind möglich und korrekt und betonen lediglich verschiedene Aspekte. Ich persönlich finde, dass Präsens - "Ich ziehe nach Hamburg um" - wohl dem englischen Satz ziemlich gut entspricht, denn diese deutsche Formulierung macht *einerseits* klar, dass die Entscheidung gefallen ist (ohne sie besonders zu betonen, wie "ich habe mich entschieden"; "werde ... umziehen" dagegen vermittelt, dass die Entscheidung zwar relativ sicher ist, aber doch eventuell noch umgestossen werden kann); *andrerseits* aber auch, dass der Umzug noch nicht vollzogen (entweder noch nicht begonnen oder aber nicht beendet) ist.

Das heisst natürlich, falls auch der englische Ausdruck - "going to" - in diesem Fall dasselbe vermittelt (Entscheidung ist gefallen, aber noch nicht vollzogen): was meines Erachtens der Fall ist, aber ich könnte falsch liegen.


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## dec-sev

Noch eine Frage. Man scheint im Deutschen den Präsens verwenden zu können, wo man im Englischen "will" sagt:
- I am going shopping
- Buy a couples of beer.
- Ok. I _will_.
Kann ich in diesem Fall sagen: "_OK, das mache ich_"?


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## Cpt.Eureka

dec-sev said:


> Kann ich in diesem Fall sagen: "_OK, das mache ich_"?



Ja, eine von vielen Möglichkeiten. Sehr beliebt ist auch "Okay, wird gemacht."


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## dec-sev

Danke für eure Beiträge!


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## sokol

In Österreich ist "Okay, mach ich!" sogar zweifellos die häufigste Antwort in diesem Kontext - und ja, Präsens wird im Deutschen sehr oft für nicht im Präsens ablaufende Handlungen verwendet.


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## Canis Snupus Snupus

Hi everyone

How would "was going to (do something)" be translated in situations where intentions do not apply?

E.g. He was going to die, but the doctor saved him.  

Google translates it as "Er würde sterben, aber der Arzt rettete ihn."  But I read this as "He would die, but the doctor saved him." 

Would "Er wäre gestorben, aber der Arzt rettete ihn" be better?  

Would "Er war im Begriff zu sterben, aber der Arzt rettete ihn" also be correct?  


Thanks


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## Syzygy

"_Er war im Begriff zu sterben_" corresponds to "_He was about to die_", so would only be applicable in some contexts. In general, I would go with your first suggestion using the Konjunktiv II Plusquamperfekt since, in most cases, you are indeed talking about something that, in the end, did not happen.
But: "_He was convinced that he was going to die._" = "_Er war davon überzeugt, dass er sterben würde._"
"_We all knew it was going to be expensive._" = "_Wir wussten alle, dass es teuer werden würde._"
"_He was going to die a year later._" (?) = "_Er sollte ein Jahr später sterben._" (Not sure about this one, is this a grammatically correct equivalent of "_He would die a year later._" in English?)


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## JClaudeK

Canis Snupus Snupus said:


> E.g. He was going to die, but the doctor saved him.
> Google translates it as "Er würde sterben, aber der Arzt rettete ihn."
> But I read this as "He would die, but the doctor saved him."





Syzygy said:


> I would go with your first suggestion using the Konjunktiv II Plusquamperfekt


I would not use the Konjunktiv II Futur I _(Er würde sterben)_ , it's totally missleading.
It would only be possible in a sentence like: Er dachte, er würde sterben (= He thought that he was going to/ would die) , aber ....
or
"_Er war davon überzeugt, dass er sterben würde._" (Syzygy) 

_He was going to die, but the doctor saved him. _→  Er lag im Sterben, aber ....
or:


Canis Snupus Snupus said:


> Would "Er wäre *..... *gestorben, aber der Arzt rettete ihn" be better?


Er wäre beinahe gestorben (=  he almost died), aber ....


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## Syzygy

JClaudeK said:


> _He was going to die, but the doctor saved him. _→  Er lag im Sterben, aber ....
> or:
> 
> Er wäre beinahe gestorben (=  he almost died), aber ....


I agree that "_im Sterben liegen_" is much more idiomatic in this particular context.


Canis Snupus Snupus said:


> How would "was going to (do something)" be translated in situations where intentions do not apply?


I'm retracting the "_in general_" from my last post. I now feel that contexts where you *would* use Futur I Konjunktiv II are fairly common, if not more so than the ones that are about counterfactual hypotheticals.
Some more examples:
"_Nothing was going to change (that)._" = "_Nichts würde sich ändern (/ etwas daran ändern)._"
"_He was just going to have to get used to it._" = "_Er würde sich einfach daran gewöhnen müssen._"


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## Canis Snupus Snupus

Cheers.  Thanks


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## elroy

Can you say "Er *sollte* sterben, aber..."?


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## Syzygy

This thread might interest you. You could say it in a context where, in English, you would say "_He would die [later] but ..._"/"_He would end up dying but ..._". "_Sollte_" implying posteriority is only used when talking about something that did in fact happen. Of course, using "_sollte_" for English "_should_" works fine but that's probably not the context you had in mind.


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## bearded

JClaudeK said:


> Er dachte, er würde sterben (= He thought that he was going to/ would die) , aber ....
> or "_Er war davon überzeugt, dass er sterben würde._" (Syzygy)


How about the use of Kon.I in these cases? _Er dachte/war überzeugt, er werde sterben/dass er sterben werde. _Would it be incorrect?


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## Syzygy

bearded said:


> How about the use of Kon.I in these cases? _Er dachte/war überzeugt, er werde sterben/dass er sterben werde. _Would it be incorrect?


That looks good to me. Maybe I should have gone with "_Es deutete sich an, dass er sterben würde._" as an example to avoid interference with reported speech grammar.


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## JClaudeK

bearded said:


> How about the use of Kon.I in these cases? _Er dachte/war überzeugt, er werde sterben/dass er sterben werde. _Would it be incorrect?


Not incorrect at all, but "hypercorrect" (just kidding ) - i.e.  more 'academic'.


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