# How to say "I am Christian" in german **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 12, 2014, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-say-i-am-christian-in-german/701093 "2014-10-12T05:47:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-say-i-am-christian-in-german/701093/21 "2014-10-13T06:37:33Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > **Schnitte** , perhaps I’m just being thick, but I can’t figure out what you mean by the would/if thing. Could you please give an example? I was thinking of sentences such as “If I would have a million dollars, I would buy a fancy car.” I was taught in school that only “had” was acceptable in the if clause of that sentence, but it seems the usage of “would” is not uncommon. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-say-i-am-christian-in-german/701093/22 "2014-10-13T06:46:04Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > I was thinking of sentences such as “If I would have a million dollars, I would buy a fancy car.” I was taught in school that only “had” was acceptable in the if clause of that sentence, but it seems the usage of “would” is not uncommon. I have never heard it. Is it an Americanism? And, if it is, is it possibly a borrowing from German/Yiddish? In my mind, the only way I can imagine hearing that sentence spoken is by someone with a Central European accent. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-say-i-am-christian-in-german/701093/23 "2014-10-13T06:51:26Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > I have never heard it. Is it an Americanism? And, if it is, is it possibly a borrowing from German/Yiddish? In my mind, the only way I can imagine hearing that sentence spoken is by someone with a Central European accent. A colleague of mine is German but spent five years in Australia, and says constructions like that are used there all the time. Personally, I have indeed heard it from non-native speakers, but I’m pretty sure I’ve also heard it on American TV shows, even though I can’t recall a specific instance. I had a discussion about it with British friends once, and they seemed sufficiently disapproving of the practice to imply that they had heard it in the UK too. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-say-i-am-christian-in-german/701093/24 "2014-10-13T06:56:58Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > A colleague of mine is German but spent five years in Australia, and says constructions like that are used there all the time . . . I have lived in Australia for the past 11 years, and have never heard it. I have never heard it in Britain or Ireland either, to my recollection. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-say-i-am-christian-in-german/701093/25 "2014-10-13T11:57:16Z")
Oh, OK, yes, we do that with the subjunctive in some dialects. Not that sentence, but others. “If I would have turned left at the light, I might have avoided that accident,” instead of, “If I had turned left at the light, I might have avoided that incident.” ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-say-i-am-christian-in-german/701093/26 "2014-10-13T13:58:20Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > Brazilians do this in Portuguese, and I still haven’t figured out if it’s proper language. They might say “I heard from the Daniel today” or “I visited the Sara.” It really sounds odd to me, and I never risk speaking like this because I am afraid there are subtle rules to it that I will never be privy to. Nobody fucks with the Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-say-i-am-christian-in-german/701093/27 "2014-10-13T15:43:19Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Oh, OK, yes, we do that with the subjunctive in some dialects. Not that sentence, but others. > > “If I would have turned left at the light, I might have avoided that accident,” instead of, “If I had turned left at the light, I might have avoided that incident.” So you’d say the construction with “would” in the “if” clause is common (though still incorrect) in third conditionals, but not second conditionals? ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-say-i-am-christian-in-german/701093/28 "2014-10-13T15:56:38Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > So you’d say the construction with “would” in the “if” clause is common (though still incorrect) in third conditionals, but not second conditionals? Now I’m going to have to look up what a second or third conditional is :). [continuing hijack] The example you gave is unfamiliar to me as an East-Coast American. But there are definitely many dialects I am innocent of. As an aside, in the example provided by **foolsguinea** , I think I would say it like this (incorrectly, of course): “If I’d’a’ turned left at the light, I might’a’ avoided that accident,” instead of, “If I had turned left at the light, I might have avoided that incident.” The “might’a’” part is clearly from “might have”, but the “I’d’a’” part puzzles me. Is it “if I had have” or “if I would have”? Both are clunky, but that’s the way we say it in Jersey. “I’d’a’ done something different” means “I would have done something different” [/continuing hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2014, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-say-i-am-christian-in-german/701093/29 "2014-10-14T02:32:25Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > Brazilians do this in Portuguese, and I still haven’t figured out if it’s proper language. They might say “I heard from the Daniel today” or “I visited the Sara.” It really sounds odd to me, and I never risk speaking like this because I am afraid there are subtle rules to it that I will never be privy to. If it works as in Spanish, and from what I remember from my Brazilian coworkers it did, it means “the Sara that you first think of when I say ‘Sara’”. For Spanish it’s considered “ungrammatical”, but still done all the time; this often leads to people emphasizing the article to indicate “yeah yeah it’s incorrect yeah yeah I was awake in class, but you know what I mean and most importantly who I mean”. _La Madonna_. (Louise Ciccone; note that in Spanish, images of Our Lady aren’t called _madonnas_ unless they’re in Italy and then you specify which one you’re talking about). _La Garbo_. (Greta). If my mother says _la Rita_: her best friend. If someone on TV says _la Rita_: Hayworth neé Cansino. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2014, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-say-i-am-christian-in-german/701093/30 "2014-10-14T02:43:04Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > If my mother says _la Rita_: her best friend. If someone on TV says _la Rita_: Hayworth neé Cansino. Cf. “The Donald” ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2014, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-say-i-am-christian-in-german/701093/31 "2014-10-14T02:48:45Z")
Trump. Because the more famous one is _el pato Donald_. ---
**Author:** ![dasilva94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@dasilva94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasilva94)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2014, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-say-i-am-christian-in-german/701093/32 "2014-10-14T02:58:06Z")
How would “Ich bin Christlich” be translated to english? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2014, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-say-i-am-christian-in-german/701093/33 "2014-10-14T03:17:07Z")
> [@kellner](#): > > I’d say that “Ich bin Christ.” is the neutral version and “Ich bin ein Christ.” is slightly emphatic (cf. Kennedy and his donut.) According to this — [5 Ridiculous Cold War Myths You Learned in History Class | Cracked.com](http://www.cracked.com/article_19676_5-ridiculous-cold-war-myths-you-learned-in-history-class.html) — 1. asserting that “Ich bin ein Berliner” implies “I am a jelly doughnut” is like claiming that “I am a New Yorker” implies “I am a weekly literary magazine.” 2. No one would misunderstand Kennedy’s intent 3. people from Berlin don’t call those pastries Berliners anyway. 4. The difference between “Ich bin Berliner” and “Ich bin ein Berliner” is more like the difference between “I am from New York” and “I am a New Yorker” 5. The whole jelly doughnut thing originated in a throwaway joke in a novel published in the 1980s. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2014, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-say-i-am-christian-in-german/701093/34 "2014-10-14T03:20:21Z")
> [@dasilva94](#): > > How would “Ich bin Christlich” be translated to english? It means “I am Christian”, as opposed to “I am _a_ Christian”. It’s not so much a statement of identity or participation as a statement about your character, philosophy, behaviour, etc. It might be translated as “I am Christ-like”. ---
**Author:** ![kellner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@kellner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellner)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2014, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-say-i-am-christian-in-german/701093/35 "2014-10-14T04:21:08Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > According to this — [5 Ridiculous Cold War Myths You Learned in History Class | Cracked.com](http://www.cracked.com/article_19676_5-ridiculous-cold-war-myths-you-learned-in-history-class.html) — > > 1. asserting that “Ich bin ein Berliner” implies “I am a jelly doughnut” is like claiming that “I am a New Yorker” implies “I am a weekly literary magazine.” > > 2. No one would misunderstand Kennedy’s intent > > 3. people from Berlin don’t call those pastries Berliners anyway. > > 4. The difference between “Ich bin Berliner” and “Ich bin ein Berliner” is more like the difference between “I am from New York” and “I am a New Yorker” > > 5. The whole jelly doughnut thing originated in a throwaway joke in a novel published in the 1980s. Err, yes? Although many people want to read a lot into the “Berliner”/“ein Berliner” distinction, both are perfectly fine and mean basically the same thing, but I would maintain that there is a very subtle difference in emphasis. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2014, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-say-i-am-christian-in-german/701093/36 "2014-10-14T16:10:51Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Oh, OK, yes, we do that with the subjunctive in some dialects. Not that sentence, but others. > > “If I would have turned left at the light, I might have avoided that accident,” instead of, “If I had turned left at the light, I might have avoided that incident.” I almost never hear that construction. But then, I don’t get out much. I’d use the latter phrase, ‘If I had turned left at the light, I might have avoided that incident.’ On the rare occasion I hear the if/would construction it’s usually from a person whose mouth gets ahead of his or her brain (e.g., someone who is nervous about being interviewed by a video crew for the news), or if they have the same dialect that gives us ‘I had gone to the store’ instead of ‘I went to the store.’ ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-say-i-am-christian-in-german/701093/37 "2014-10-17T12:58:27Z")
“I had gone to the store,” is standard English, though. Past perfect. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-say-i-am-christian-in-german/701093/38 "2014-10-17T14:39:45Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > Now I’m going to have to look up what a second or third conditional is :). It’s a point of grammar that seems to be taught to ESL students, but I’ve never been taught it myself as an English speaker, either in grammar school, high school, or college (and I was an English major, as well as having taken courses in copy editing.) In my experience, native English speakers quite often get the verb forms in conditionals jumbled up. Wikipedia has a decent [run-down](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_conditional_sentences) on conditionals, their forms, including the “zero conditional” and “mixed conditionals.” ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-say-i-am-christian-in-german/701093/39 "2014-11-04T17:04:51Z")
I really wish, as much “English” as I had in school, that conditional and subjunctive had been covered at some point. Not at all. My mother taught ESL, so I got some smattering of it from her, but I’d never heard of zero conditional, etc., before this thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-say-i-am-christian-in-german/701093.md?page=1)