# English to German Translation- Help!!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-to-german-translation-help/680329
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 2, 2014, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-to-german-translation-help/680329 "2014-02-02T02:14:26Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@bobkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobkitty)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2014, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-to-german-translation-help/680329/1 "2014-02-02T02:14:26Z")
I’m working on a Valentine’s present for the boyfriend, who is a Marine. I want to do a play on the “Teufel Hunden” name (I know that Teufel Hunden is grammatically incorrect, but I ain’t arguing with the USMC), where I have a label on a photo of our cat that says “Devil Dog’s Pet” in German.
I know that the German word for pet is haustier, but I have no idea how to put it all together, especially with the built-in grammar issue.
Thoughts?
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### Author:  [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2014, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-to-german-translation-help/680329/2 "2014-02-02T02:55:08Z")
Because of the grammatical issue I think you’re probably going more for Denglish rather than correct German anyway so I would think _Teufel Hunden’s Haustier_ would get the point across. Or you could use the _genitive_ - _Haustier des Teufel Hunden_.
But my German sucks, so I’m sure you’ll get better responses soon enough.
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### Author:  [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2014, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-to-german-translation-help/680329/3 "2014-02-02T03:02:43Z")
Just missed the edit window but I wanted to add that there’s no possessive apostrophe in German. That’s why I mentioned it was Denglish.
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### Author:  [@SacFly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SacFly)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2014, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-to-german-translation-help/680329/4 "2014-02-02T06:35:41Z")
So the grammar of Teufel Hunden is all messed up. For your purposes I would suggest just Teufel Katze. Devil Cat. This is also wrong, as it should be one word, but it’s kind of cute.
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### Author:  [@Uniqueorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniqueorn)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2014, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-to-german-translation-help/680329/5 "2014-02-02T10:45:29Z")
You could also say “Das Haustier von den Teufel Hunden”, which would actually be correct, if a bit clunky (Das Haustier der Teufel(s)hunde" would be better).
Or compound the heck out of it and go with Teufelhundenhaustier.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2014, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-to-german-translation-help/680329/6 "2014-02-02T14:05:08Z")
> [@Moe](#):
>
> Because of the grammatical issue I think you’re probably going more for Denglish rather than correct German anyway so I would think _Teufel Hunden’s Haustier_ would get the point across. Or you could use the _genitive_ - _Haustier des Teufel Hunden_.
>
> But my German sucks, so I’m sure you’ll get better responses soon enough.
I’d leave out the apostrophe, and use it as a noun adjunct. In other words, it becomes Devil Dog pet. If you want, stick a “The” in front of it.
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### Author:  [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2014, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-to-german-translation-help/680329/7 "2014-02-02T15:04:22Z")
You can also use “Haustier von Teufel Hunden”. I think this would be more common for “everyday” German. I’d probably use **Moe’s** genitive “Haustier des Teufel Hunden” though.
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### Author:  [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2014, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-to-german-translation-help/680329/8 "2014-02-02T21:24:53Z")
> [@Bozuit](#):
>
> You can also use “Haustier von Teufel Hunden”.
This needs an article: _Haustier von den Teufel Hunden_. That’s assuming that Teufel Hunden is actually intended to be plural; if it is a singular masculine (_der Teufel Hunden_, as the previously mentioned option _des Teufel Hunden_ suggests) then it becomes _Haustier vom Teufel Hunden_ (\*von \*+ \*dem \*is contracted into _vom_). Of course, if it is a singular masculine noun, then the genitive of that noun does take a -s suffix: _Haustier des Teufel Hundens_.
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### Author:  [@bobkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobkitty)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2014, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-to-german-translation-help/680329/9 "2014-02-04T01:31:39Z")
Whew. German is a weird language. 😃 Thanks to everyone for weighing in!!
So, the Devil Dog is singular masculine (one Marine boyfriend, because really that’s all I can handle… 😉 ), and the pet is a singular female cat (but I’d still like to stick with ‘pet’ instead of cat). Where exactly does that leave us?