Trouble with Impersonal Passive Voice usage
When and why would you use the "impersonal passive voice" in a german sentence? One example given on Wikipedia is "Es wird gespielt," which apparently translates as "Someone is playing." Why wouldn't you use "jemand" here?
Another example is "Heute wird gespielt. Dort wird gespielt." This translates as "Someone is playing today. Someone is playing there." Can someone explain the intuition/reasoning behind the format of these german sentences (and the lack of even an "es")?
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impersonal_passive_voice
standard-german impersonal-constructions
edited 10 hours ago
David Vogt
3,559228
asked 10 hours ago
AaronAaron
3764
add a comment |
When and why would you use the "impersonal passive voice" in a german sentence? One example given on Wikipedia is "Es wird gespielt," which apparently translates as "Someone is playing." Why wouldn't you use "jemand" here?
Another example is "Heute wird gespielt. Dort wird gespielt." This translates as "Someone is playing today. Someone is playing there." Can someone explain the intuition/reasoning behind the format of these german sentences (and the lack of even an "es")?
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impersonal_passive_voice
standard-german impersonal-constructions
edited 10 hours ago
David Vogt
3,559228
asked 10 hours ago
AaronAaron
3764
1
Hm. I would translate etwas wird gespielt rather to something is being played.
– Björn Friedrich
10 hours ago
3
Possible duplicate of Impersonal passive construction where the 'es' is implied/omitted
– PiedPiper
10 hours ago
add a comment |
When and why would you use the "impersonal passive voice" in a german sentence? One example given on Wikipedia is "Es wird gespielt," which apparently translates as "Someone is playing." Why wouldn't you use "jemand" here?
Another example is "Heute wird gespielt. Dort wird gespielt." This translates as "Someone is playing today. Someone is playing there." Can someone explain the intuition/reasoning behind the format of these german sentences (and the lack of even an "es")?
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impersonal_passive_voice
standard-german impersonal-constructions
edited 10 hours ago
David Vogt
3,559228
asked 10 hours ago
AaronAaron
3764
When and why would you use the "impersonal passive voice" in a german sentence? One example given on Wikipedia is "Es wird gespielt," which apparently translates as "Someone is playing." Why wouldn't you use "jemand" here?
Another example is "Heute wird gespielt. Dort wird gespielt." This translates as "Someone is playing today. Someone is playing there." Can someone explain the intuition/reasoning behind the format of these german sentences (and the lack of even an "es")?
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impersonal_passive_voice
standard-german impersonal-constructions
standard-german impersonal-constructions
edited 10 hours ago
David Vogt
3,559228
asked 10 hours ago
AaronAaron
3764
edited 10 hours ago
David Vogt
3,559228
asked 10 hours ago
AaronAaron
3764
edited 10 hours ago
David Vogt
3,559228
edited 10 hours ago
David Vogt
3,559228
edited 10 hours ago
David Vogt
3,559228
3,559228
asked 10 hours ago
AaronAaron
3764
asked 10 hours ago
AaronAaron
3764
asked 10 hours ago
AaronAaron
3764
3764
1
Hm. I would translate etwas wird gespielt rather to something is being played.
– Björn Friedrich
10 hours ago
3
Possible duplicate of Impersonal passive construction where the 'es' is implied/omitted
– PiedPiper
10 hours ago
add a comment |
1
Hm. I would translate etwas wird gespielt rather to something is being played.
– Björn Friedrich
10 hours ago
3
Possible duplicate of Impersonal passive construction where the 'es' is implied/omitted
– PiedPiper
10 hours ago
1
1
Hm. I would translate etwas wird gespielt rather to something is being played.
– Björn Friedrich
10 hours ago
Hm. I would translate etwas wird gespielt rather to something is being played.
– Björn Friedrich
10 hours ago
3
3
Possible duplicate of Impersonal passive construction where the 'es' is implied/omitted
– PiedPiper
10 hours ago
Possible duplicate of Impersonal passive construction where the 'es' is implied/omitted
– PiedPiper
10 hours ago
add a comment |
1 Answer
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I find your example a bit ambiguous, since gespielt may refer to a game, a concert, a cinema and a theatre.
But it may help to see it from that perspective: Someone along with German jemand/man is a fully synthetic subject, required due to lack of knowledge, what to put there. (At least lack of knowledge is one meaning, another would be I don't care, who.)
The impersonal passive allows exactly to leave that position empty, a quite elegant construction, which automatically avoids putting an accidental stress here, as in
Da spielt doch jemand!? (Isn't somebody playing there?)
answered 9 hours ago
guidotguidot
12.7k1546
Even better example would be without doch: Da spielt jemand? (Who'd play in such a shitty place, among other interpretations)
– Armin
2 hours ago
add a comment |
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1 Answer
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1 Answer
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active
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votes
I find your example a bit ambiguous, since gespielt may refer to a game, a concert, a cinema and a theatre.
But it may help to see it from that perspective: Someone along with German jemand/man is a fully synthetic subject, required due to lack of knowledge, what to put there. (At least lack of knowledge is one meaning, another would be I don't care, who.)
The impersonal passive allows exactly to leave that position empty, a quite elegant construction, which automatically avoids putting an accidental stress here, as in
Da spielt doch jemand!? (Isn't somebody playing there?)
answered 9 hours ago
guidotguidot
12.7k1546
Even better example would be without doch: Da spielt jemand? (Who'd play in such a shitty place, among other interpretations)
– Armin
2 hours ago
add a comment |
I find your example a bit ambiguous, since gespielt may refer to a game, a concert, a cinema and a theatre.
But it may help to see it from that perspective: Someone along with German jemand/man is a fully synthetic subject, required due to lack of knowledge, what to put there. (At least lack of knowledge is one meaning, another would be I don't care, who.)
The impersonal passive allows exactly to leave that position empty, a quite elegant construction, which automatically avoids putting an accidental stress here, as in
Da spielt doch jemand!? (Isn't somebody playing there?)
answered 9 hours ago
guidotguidot
12.7k1546
Even better example would be without doch: Da spielt jemand? (Who'd play in such a shitty place, among other interpretations)
– Armin
2 hours ago
add a comment |
I find your example a bit ambiguous, since gespielt may refer to a game, a concert, a cinema and a theatre.
But it may help to see it from that perspective: Someone along with German jemand/man is a fully synthetic subject, required due to lack of knowledge, what to put there. (At least lack of knowledge is one meaning, another would be I don't care, who.)
The impersonal passive allows exactly to leave that position empty, a quite elegant construction, which automatically avoids putting an accidental stress here, as in
Da spielt doch jemand!? (Isn't somebody playing there?)
answered 9 hours ago
guidotguidot
12.7k1546
I find your example a bit ambiguous, since gespielt may refer to a game, a concert, a cinema and a theatre.
But it may help to see it from that perspective: Someone along with German jemand/man is a fully synthetic subject, required due to lack of knowledge, what to put there. (At least lack of knowledge is one meaning, another would be I don't care, who.)
The impersonal passive allows exactly to leave that position empty, a quite elegant construction, which automatically avoids putting an accidental stress here, as in
Da spielt doch jemand!? (Isn't somebody playing there?)
answered 9 hours ago
guidotguidot
12.7k1546
answered 9 hours ago
guidotguidot
12.7k1546
answered 9 hours ago
guidotguidot
12.7k1546
answered 9 hours ago
guidotguidot
12.7k1546
12.7k1546
Even better example would be without doch: Da spielt jemand? (Who'd play in such a shitty place, among other interpretations)
– Armin
2 hours ago
add a comment |
Even better example would be without doch: Da spielt jemand? (Who'd play in such a shitty place, among other interpretations)
– Armin
2 hours ago
Even better example would be without doch: Da spielt jemand? (Who'd play in such a shitty place, among other interpretations)
– Armin
2 hours ago
Even better example would be without doch: Da spielt jemand? (Who'd play in such a shitty place, among other interpretations)
– Armin
2 hours ago
add a comment |
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1
Hm. I would translate etwas wird gespielt rather to something is being played.
– Björn Friedrich
10 hours ago
3
Possible duplicate of Impersonal passive construction where the 'es' is implied/omitted
– PiedPiper
10 hours ago