german verbs anrufen and telefoniern
First let start by saying that I am new to German...so anyone who answers this please keep that in mind.
I am using the Living Language Ultimate German Beginner-Intermediate course to get a basic introduction for German.
Lasting, I., & Singer H. (2000). Ultimate German: Beginner-Intermediate. New York: Living Language, A Random House Company.
In chapter three (page 31) they give the vocabulary list for the chapter. The problem is that they give the same definition for the verbs "anrufen" and "telefonieren." The definition they give is "to call, to telephone."
I remember a conversation I had with a lady from Berlin a few days ago, and she said that these words don't really have the same meaning because you use them at different times? And she wasn't sure, but she thought that some dialects may use them differently?
What is the difference between these two verbs? And is it true that this usage is different in the different dialects?
For me, an American who speaks Bavarian dialect and Standard German, I would say that "telefonieren" better translates in English as "use the telephone; place a call" and "anrufen" is the way we would say "to call someone" or "to make a call to someone". Ich rufe sie an = I call her (up). Ruf mich an! = "call me!". It's a subtle difference, but there is a distinction. I can think of few cases where "anrufen" couldn't be employed and be clearly understood, but "telefonieren" wouldn't work for a lot of standard situations, so if in doubt, especially as a learner, I'd recommend leaning heavily on "anrufen" until you get your sea legs under you and start to have some intuition for it.
Hope that helps. Glueck auf!
I use "telefonieren" to explain the act of conversing over the phone, whereas "anrufen" is simply "to call".
For example:
"Wir haben gestern über eine Stunde telefoniert."
means:
Yesterday we talked on the phone for over an hour.
"Ich hab dich gestern mehrmals angerufen. Wo warst du denn?"
means:
I called you several times yesterday. Where were you?
If you need more explanation, just tell!!
Grüsse,
Ian
I'm not a native German speaker, but Ian's explanation sounds about right to me. For example, if someone was talking on the phone and someone else asked what they were doing I think you could say 'Er telefoniert gerade' but not 'Er ruft gerade an' If you said that I would take it to mean he was in the act of dialling the number. But I could be wrong.
Ian
Are you a native German speaker? I thought you weren't at first because of your name, but I guess you probably are. In which case your explantion is obviously right lol
<< For example, if someone was talking on the phone and someone else asked what they were doing I think you could say 'Er telefoniert gerade' but not 'Er ruft gerade an' If you said that I would take it to mean he was in the act of dialling the number. But I could be wrong. >>
You're not wrong here. That is a right explanation you gave there.
I'm not a native speaker, but my main language is German since a couple of years now.
Grüsse,
Ian
IAN de donde eres, Que idiomas hablas y donde vives?
Me parece que conoces muchas lenguas, es verdad?
Disculpame por las preguntas demasiado personales
Hola Guest.
Cómo te llamái?
Soy indonesio. Hablo indonesio, claro, inglés, alemán, porque vivo en Alemania, y un poquico sueco.
Si. Conozco muchas lenguas, pero hablo bién sólo indonesio, inglés, y alemán.
Salu2,
Ian (=Es mi nombre medial)
If you speak German well is it easy to understand Swedish without prior knowledge of it?
Yes, after learning some basics, you can understand quite a lot Swedish. The same goes for Norwegian and Danish. But I'm talking about the written language. It definitely takes much more time to get used to the spoken language.
If you speak German well is it easy to understand Swedish without prior knowledge of it?
No!
"Soy indonesio"
Si eres indonesio como es que hablas castellano tan bien? Quizàs me tomes el pelo??
Cuidade
Soy de veras indonesio.
Por qué andái con la mosca en la oreja?
Si ya estuviste en Espanya, debís haber notado de que haya mucha gente asiática allá.
No te equivoquís.
No te diste cuenta de que nunca haya dicho yo que hable bién castellano?
Podís releer mi post encima.
No sé ni aun cómo se traduce la palabra "post" en castellano..
Saludos,
Ian
Ian, podís no se usa en ningún dialecto del español, ni siquiera en Argentina.
Se dice podéis(vosotros), pueden(ustedes) o en última instancia podés.