Please Translate from german?

Candy   Sun Dec 04, 2005 8:56 am GMT
<<what does "man" refer too again? I forget. >>

It means 'one' or 'you'. If you know French, you can equate it to the French use of 'on'.
Guest   Sun Dec 04, 2005 7:56 pm GMT
Also, ich habe bis vier Uhr gearbeitet.

----haben means "have". So to translate this sentence would be "Well, I have to work until 4 o'clock"

but i was told it means "Well, I worked until four o' clock."

So what i'm confused about is that it is in the past tense while using "haben" here would be in the future tense.

Is this right?
Sander   Sun Dec 04, 2005 7:59 pm GMT
=>Also, ich habe bis vier Uhr gearbeitet. <=

Well then, I've worked till 4 o'clock.

It's past tense because 'gearbeitet' is the past tense of 'to work'.
Guest   Sun Dec 04, 2005 8:02 pm GMT
alles klar. super
Candy   Sun Dec 04, 2005 8:03 pm GMT
"ich habe bis vier Uhr gearbeitet" means "I worked till 4 o'clock." German forms the past tense with the verb 'haben' (or sometimes 'sein') but in English it's usually translated as 'I worked' not 'I have worked'.
The future tense would be "Ich werde bis vier Uhr arbeiten" and to say 'I have to work...' is "ich muss bis vier Uhr arbeiten".
Guest   Sun Dec 04, 2005 8:16 pm GMT
so , Ich werde bis vier Uhr abreiten (I will work until 4 o'clock - werden meaning will)
Muss is meaning "have to"? while haben meaning "to have"?

"ich habe bis vier Uhr gearbeitet" -- If i said "Ich bis vier Uhr gearbeitet" would be no difference in meaning?

___________________________________________________________

German: Ja, wieviel macht das?

English: Yes, how much is that?

wieviel means "how much". But, listening to my german language cd, it translated "what time is it" as "wieviel Uhr ist es" (it might have been wieviel Uhr es ist, nevertheless it used wieviel to ask what time is it).

Does wieviel have multiple meanings?
Guest   Sun Dec 04, 2005 8:21 pm GMT
=>If i said "Ich bis vier Uhr gearbeitet" would be no difference in meaning?<=

No, "Ich bis vier Uhr gearbeitet" is grammatically incorrect (it's litterally says: " I tll 4 o'clock worked." ;-)

=>Does wieviel have multiple meanings? <=

Yes, to my knowledge it means both 'how much' and 'how many'.

To ask for the time I'd say " Wie spät ist es "
Sander   Sun Dec 04, 2005 8:24 pm GMT
That was me :-)
Candy   Sun Dec 04, 2005 8:27 pm GMT
<<If i said "Ich bis vier Uhr gearbeitet" would be no difference in meaning?>>

No, the word 'gearbeitet' requires the 'haben'. You could say "ich arbeitete bis 4 Uhr' which is the direct translation of 'I worked'. In German, this form is usually only used in written language, while "ich habe gearbeitet" is he spoken version. That's a generalisation, but a fair one!
Candy   Sun Dec 04, 2005 8:28 pm GMT
he spoken version = the
Guest   Sun Dec 04, 2005 8:34 pm GMT
ausgezeitnicht. danke
Candy   Sun Dec 04, 2005 8:40 pm GMT
Ausgezeichnet! :-) Gern geschehen (you're welcome)
Bardioc   Mon Dec 05, 2005 4:22 pm GMT
<<It's past tense because 'gearbeitet' is the past tense of 'to work'. >>

Go, went, gone, which of them is past tense?

Ich arbeite, ich arbeitete, ich habe gearbeitet

<<Yes, to my knowledge it means both 'how much' and 'how many'.>>

In German, there's no such distinction between much and many.
Sander   Mon Dec 05, 2005 4:28 pm GMT
Bardioc,

=>Go, went, gone, which of them is past tense?<=

went and gone of course.

=>In German, there's no such distinction between much and many. <=

That doesn't mean that it has multiple meanings.Just because English has 2 words meaning the same as one German word doesn't mean the German word hasn't got more meanings.
Bardioc   Mon Dec 05, 2005 5:02 pm GMT
As far as I have learnt in school, past tense is ''went''. And if I remember correctly, ''gone'' is past participle.

<<That doesn't mean that it has multiple meanings.Just because English has 2 words meaning the same as one German word doesn't mean the German word hasn't got more meanings. >>

Yes, of course. I just said that german language doesn't distinguage between much and many!