Posted by KJ on Friday, January 21, 2011 at 10:42pm.
I tried to get some help from my native German-speaking wife but she made some statements that make no sense to me. She has not lived in Germany for about 55 years, and idiomatic expressions have changed, and new words added, since she lived there. She did not even know the most suitable word for "box". Apparently, "die Box" is now commonly accepted in German. More and more English words are creeping into the language.
Another controversial remark she made is that the "Sie" form of address would not be used with someone eating Cheez-its out of your box. "Du" would be used instead for people whom you find annoying.
The final comment that makes no sense to me is that one would use a reflexive compound verb (like sich nehmen) with "ihr" but a nonreflexive verb (nehmen) with "du".
Thus for example, she claims that suitable translations would be:
Nimm dir dein eigene Box! oder
Nehnt ihr euch eure eigene Box!
For the wir form, what you are actually saying is "Let's get our own box!
which might be something like:
Lassen wir unsere eigene Box nehmen!
Forget about the Sie form. You can probably figure out something.
It sure is simpler in English!
Perhaps Reiny can help with this.
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