(no subject)

[kittydesade]

The construction um ... zu + infinitive.

Die Scweiz muss wirtschaftlich stark sein, um neutral zu bleiben.
Switzerland has to remain economically strong in order to remain neutral.

The German construction um...zu + infinitive is equivalent to the English construction "in order to" + infinitive. A comma is optional with an um...zu construction. However, it is common practice in newspapers and magazines to use one to set the construction off, even though the sentence may be clear without it.

Ergänzen Sie die Sätze undvergleichen Sie dan Ihre Sätze mit den Sätzen von Ihrer Partnerin/Ihrem Partner.
e.g. Um gesund zu bleiben, muss man viel Sport treiben.

Um schöne Ferien zu haben, muss man entspannen. [Relax]
Um gute Noten zu bekommen, muss man viel studieren.
Um ein gutes Examen zu machen, muss man auch viel studieren.
Um glücklich zu sein, muss man nett sein.
Um reich zu werden, muss man Republican sein. ... Okay, fine, you can have the Protestant answer. Um reich zu werden, muss man viel arbeit machen. Oder um reich zu werden, muss man ... save money? Be frugal? Hm.


... Okay, for not having had brain to write much of anything for a few days, that was actually a surprisingly writing-productive work day. That kind of gives me hope that I'll be able to come home, make a sammich, and sit down and get more writing done tonight. If I don't abruptly change person and number in mid-sentence. That was just weird. In English, mind you, not German.

This was, however, brought on by a preview scene for the upcoming Once Upon a Time which left me going WHAT? EGGS? SERIOUSLY? I have no idea what the hell the writers were smoking for this one. Our Supernatural Creatures Are Different doesn't even begin to describe it, and if I were more confident that they would flesh out this bizarre biology and make it have some sort of in-story justification, I'd be a lot happier. But I think they just went with eggs because it sounds weird. And that makes me incredibly sad.

No word yet from the bank, but then again we're not supposed to hear from them till Wednesday. Next Wednesday, since I misheard that the first time. Which means a whole week free of house drama yay. This makes me ever so happy. And after that hopefully they will fix the damn boiler, maybe it'll be something easy to fix, they can get the utilities on and then everything will be done. Argh.

I wish I had something more to talk about here than television, writing, and house stuff. I don't, really. I'm watching Alcatraz! And going on a massive Sam Neill kick as a result, albeit a quiet one. Oh you have no idea. I'd forgotten how much I adore that man.

All right, let's see if I can get a couple BBM drafts pounded out by Monday. The answer, probably, is yes. But let's see.