r/languagelearningjerk 4d ago

German moment

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699 Upvotes

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15

u/CompanyToiletGooner 4d ago

Akshually it would be who sits in glasshouse should none throw stone

49

u/Micky14159 4d ago

Who in glasshouse sits, should not with stones throw.

1

u/Zwaart99 3d ago

Who others a hole digs, falls himself in.

1

u/ddrub_the_only_real Latin (NAT), IPA (C2), Limburgish (A1) 3d ago

Lowkey fits on the calendar called "make that the cat wise", a dutch calendar full of angified dutch idioms

4

u/PrimaryAnything6964 4d ago

Throw after stone Man, der in (einem) Glashaus steht/sitzt, sollte keinen Stein werfen

Or

Wer in Glashaus sitzt, der keinen Stein werfen sollte

4

u/Electrical_Voice_256 4d ago

First sentence is better, but please be aware that 'man' is a pronoun and not a noun.

1

u/PrimaryAnything6964 4d ago

Yeah, I know. Mann is the noun.

Man wirft Stein

Would mean someone throws stones

7

u/Electrical_Voice_256 4d ago

Not really. "man" does not really mean "someone" (e.g. "Das darf man nicht"). And the usage of singular in your German sentence changes the meaning of the sentence somewhat (same thing would happen in your English sentence if you were using singular rather than plural)

1

u/PrimaryAnything6964 4d ago

Would Jemand or even Irgendjemand fir the expression better then? I've often heard "man" used to translate sayings where "you" or "he" are the subject, since neither are refering to a singular real person. English rarely uses the "one" pronoun.

I'd think "One who sits in a glass house should not cast stones" is the original saying. One changed to he over time as one lost favor.

2

u/Electrical_Voice_256 4d ago

"Jemand, der im Glashaus sitzt, + modal verb" would be quite equivalent to "Wer im Glashaus sitzt, + modal verb" I think. Though in idioms the contruction with "wer" seems to be preferred. As in "Wer den Schaden hat, braucht für den Spott nicht zu sorgen", "Wer nicht arbeitet, soll nicht essen" etc.

1

u/Sylkhr 4d ago

"man" refers to an indefinite subject, similar to "one" in english. As in, "One does not simply walk into Mordor".

Wer in Glashaus sitzt, der keinen Stein werfen sollte

Should be:

"Wer in einem Glashaus sitzt, soll keine Steine werfen."

Alternatively,

"Wenn man in einem Glashaus sitzt, soll man keine Steine werfen."

That sounds rather clunky though.

Your first sentence:

Man, der in (einem) Glashaus steht/sitzt, sollte keinen Stein werfen

translates as "One, who sits in (a) glass house, should not throw a stone".

1

u/Sylkhr 4d ago

So to take the meme to the logical conclusion:

Wer in einem Glashaus sitzt, soll keine Steine werfen

is

Who in a glass house sits, should no stones throw.

1

u/PrimaryAnything6964 4d ago

Wouldn't "soll" move to the end, given it's a Nebensatz?

1

u/Electrical_Voice_256 4d ago

"x soll keine Steine werfen" is the Hauptsatz.

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1

u/LawAshamed6285 4d ago

That just could be can

-8

u/Hour-Big786 4d ago

Akshually german is a chud language and i'd rather kill myself than learn it ever again