Your say - Lost for words 3l126w
Watch your daughter 6n2aa
A while ago, whilst on holiday in Greece, we met a German family. The young daughter wanted to play on the beach with our daughter, and her mother wanted to return to the pool. Thinking that I was being helpful I offered to 'watch' her daughter. Dredging up from the depths of my 'O' level German (Failed) I said: Wir wachsen ihre Tochter. I received the most horrified look from the mother. Obviously I fell foul of a dangerous linguistic 'false friend'. What I actually said was 'we wax your daughter'!
Editor's note: Very true, wachsen means 'to wax'. There is indeed a German word closely related to 'to watch' - wachen, to keep watch. But the phrase you were looking for is: Wir en auf ihre Tochter auf. Anyway, well done for trying!
Sent by: Malcolm
Comments 682840
You could use wachen (as in 'to watch'), too - wir wachen über ihre Tochter. But that'd sound rather, well, poetic. :)
In the context here wachsen means 'to wax', in a different context, however, it can also mean to grow.
You can also use aufen auf with the accusative case. In this case it would be wir en auf ihre Tochter auf. Aufen is a separable verb.
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