What phrase, word or grammatical construct in your native language is hard to grasp or explain to non native speakers?
I was trying to explain “mal” in German today, which I didn’t think was hard to explain, until I tried... I realized I have no idea what it means.
“Ich geh dann mal” = I am leaving, I have used this phrase a million times but could not tell you what the “mal” in there is supposed to do. “Ich geh dann” or “ Ich geh” means the same thing (in my dialect, other Germans might disagree)
“Mach mal...” = “ok, do it” once again, no idea... It kind of has a nuance to it, that the speaker actually doubts the other person can, but it could also mean that the speaker doesn’t care, like “k, go ahead”
“Von mal zu mal” = from Time to time, not really used in daily life, but encountered in literature
Also there are words like “manchmal” = occasionally, “erstmal” = for starters where “mal” seems to mean something related to a moment in time...
You get the drift, what are your phrases/words you can’t explain to a non native speaker?
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via Learn Online English Speaking
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