Sunday 1 April 2007

The possibility to...

My German is still too limited to figure out if this is an issue with literal translation, but I hear many Germans using constructions like this: "Do you have the possibility to call me tonight?" Using the word possibility like this will virtually always sound unnatural. It is much easier to express this sentiment using "can".

The phrase above would more naturally be expressed like this: "Can you call me tonight?" or "Would you be able to call me tonight". Instead of "I don't have the possibility of arriving at 8:00." say "I can't arrive at 8:00".

1 comment:

dhuber said...

I've noticed this, too, and I can't figure it out. Germans will many times ask "Ist es moeglich...?" (is it possible...?) instead of using much more economical "Koenntest du...?" Perhaps it's more polite? Perhaps it avoids the du/Sie problem--"Ist es moeglich, mir zu anrufen" v. "Koenntest du/Koennten Sie mir anrufen"?

In any case, if they were translating directly, it should be "Is it possible...?" not "Is there the possibility of...?" I've not heard "Gibt es die Moeglichkeit...?" before. Odd, but maybe I've just not been listening closely enough...