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Feb. 12th, 2006 10:16 pm
German Word-of-the-Day for Owlet: Day 9
gleich /glaeç/ "alike, equal, even; presently"
This is one of those handy little words that you can hardly get through a German conversation without and--for just that reason--one of those I'm most wary of tackling. All I can hope for is tot try to cover the most basic meanings and hope that you can figure out the more extended ones as you go along.
If you guessed that this was cognate with English like, good for you! The usage has diverged quite a bit, though. It can still mean "even" in the literal sense, such as ein ungleiches Pflaster "an uneven sidewalk", but more often means "equal". If you're the same age as someone, the two of you are im gleichen Alter (or Gleichaltrige "peers").
But note an important difference between gleich and derselbe: The latter is more accurately translated as "one and the same". If you and your friend both want to buy das gleiche Auto, there's no problem: You'll each get your own and peace will rein. But if you two want to buy dasselbe Auto, someone is going to end up disappointed.
Rarely is it ever used prepositionally; in fact, this sounds positively Biblical! One of the most common uses of gleich is adverbial and has no equivalent in English. Ich komme gleich! (or even just Gleich!) means you'll be there so soon, it's almost like you've arrived already. It's less immediate than jetzt, though, something which you'll come to realise jetzt, gleich oder später.
This is one of those handy little words that you can hardly get through a German conversation without and--for just that reason--one of those I'm most wary of tackling. All I can hope for is tot try to cover the most basic meanings and hope that you can figure out the more extended ones as you go along.
If you guessed that this was cognate with English like, good for you! The usage has diverged quite a bit, though. It can still mean "even" in the literal sense, such as ein ungleiches Pflaster "an uneven sidewalk", but more often means "equal". If you're the same age as someone, the two of you are im gleichen Alter (or Gleichaltrige "peers").
But note an important difference between gleich and derselbe: The latter is more accurately translated as "one and the same". If you and your friend both want to buy das gleiche Auto, there's no problem: You'll each get your own and peace will rein. But if you two want to buy dasselbe Auto, someone is going to end up disappointed.
Rarely is it ever used prepositionally; in fact, this sounds positively Biblical! One of the most common uses of gleich is adverbial and has no equivalent in English. Ich komme gleich! (or even just Gleich!) means you'll be there so soon, it's almost like you've arrived already. It's less immediate than jetzt, though, something which you'll come to realise jetzt, gleich oder später.
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