German translation help please
 

I am in the process of trying to rent a chalet in Grindelwald for this summer. I have been working with grindelwald.ch for apartment listings. Unfortunately, the ones I am interested in do not have direct bookings, so I am having to send emails back and forth to the owners. I do not speak German, and they do not speak English. Using the online translators has been difficult, as it doesn't come out very clearly.

So, could you please help with this:

Die Wohnung ist vom 16.7 23.7.2005 noch frei. Soll ich Ihnen den Vertrag zusenden?

I think the first sentence says the place is still available. But the second?

Thanks so much!

"Should I send you the contract?"

Your interpretation of the first sentence is correct. Good that you were not thrown by "noch" - - meaning "yet" (you might have thought that it mean NOT).

The literal order of the words... just in case it might amuse you is...

"Should I to you the contract send to?"

Best wishes,

Rex

"Should I send you the contract"

Excellent! Thanks so much. We have always stayed in hotels at Grindelwald, but have decided to try one of the apartment/chalets. They seem to be quite a bargain compared to the hotels. And this time we're going by car, so we have more flexibility.

Again, thank you for your very prompt replies.

The appartment is from 16.7 23.7.2005 still free. Shall I you the contract tosend :-)

Ah, The Awful German Language. I had a Great Uncle whose English vocabulary was fairly well developed, but he never quite left behind German grammar.

"The horse has uber the fence gejumped."

For 6 years now, I am waiting for our politicians to tell us their plans for the future. Im still waiting for the verb.

Just a little help for Logos -

For six years now I HAVE BEEN waiting for ...

Of course you learnt Russian in the 'ehemaligen DDR' not English.

Harzer

Well, technically, the conditional "should" is represented by the conditional form of the verb sollen, i.e., "sollte." However people do translate "soll" as "should"-but that's not really correct.

"Soll" is the third-person present tense of the verb, and thus should be translated into English as "shall," and not "should."

Right, Spygirl :top:

So would "For 6 years now; I am waiting..." be correct. It is that I am still waiting now and have been waiting in the past. :-)
I have been to the DDR once or twice :-)

Admittedly, Logos-this is a bit difficult for non-natives-the first part of your sentence needs to be the present perfect continuous "have been waiting" because you're describing the duration of a continuing state or action from the past to the present.

The second sentence "am still waiting" is also an expression of continued duration occuring in the present, so it is correct!

LOgos, as spygirl says, it would be incorrect to say "I am waiting" to express an action in the past that is continuing in the present. You must used the present perfect continuous (or progressive) tense, "I have been waiting"

"I am waiting" is the present continuous/progressive tense, and conveys only the notion of an action taking place in the present, i.e. "I am waiting now and continue to wait" There is no sense of a past action with this form.

Oops--typo: "You must use..."

Thanks for explaining!

>LOgos, as spygirl says, it would be incorrect to say "I am waiting" to express an action in the past that is continuing in the present.

It is very different from the German use of the present tense. You can use present tense ("ich warte") to indicate that this past action is still continuing. Past tense "Ich wartete", would indicate its finished.
I am shure i am going to make a few more errors like that :-(