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Farid
What is the difference between "etwa" & "über"?
Mar 12, 2016 12:44 AM
Answers · 6
1
In which context? Do you mean something like 'etwa eine Stunde' and 'über eine Stunde', with a number after it?
In this case: 'etwa' - about, 'über - more than.
March 12, 2016
If you looked up "about" and found these two choices, the way to get a feel for the meaning is to do a "reverse lookup" (i.e. look up English/Farsi terms for both choices). E.g. on Pons:
http://de.pons.com/%C3%BCbersetzung?q=etwa&l;=deen∈=&lf;=de
Meaning 1: "ungefähr, annährend" = about, roughly, more or less
This is an ADVERB.
http://de.pons.com/%C3%BCbersetzung?q=%C3%BCber&l;=deen∈=&lf;=de
This is a PREPOSITION, and prepositions don't translate well between languages. The base meaning
is "in a vertical higher position" or "crossing something", so you get "above, beyond". But it can also be "about a subject" ("über ein Thema"; picture someone looking down at a subject), or it can mean excess ("über eine Stunde" = more than one hour, over one hour; picture something overflowing).
March 12, 2016
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Farid
Language Skills
Arabic, Arabic (Egyptian), English, German, Persian (Farsi), Russian, Spanish
Learning Language
Arabic (Egyptian), German, Russian, Spanish
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