Use of "schon was" to mean "something
Are the following sentences correct?
Ich muss schon was essen. I have to eat something.
Ich gab schon was an einem Obdachloser. I gave something to a homeless man.
Wir wollten einfach nur gemütlich schon was kochen. We just wanted to cook something homemade.
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Corrections · 4
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Use of "schon was" to mean "something
Are the following sentences correct?
Ich muss schon was essen. I have to eat something.
Ich gab schon was an einem Obdachlosen. I gave something to a homeless man.
Wir wollten einfach nur gemütlich schon was kochen. We just wanted to cook something homemade.
No, it doesn't work in either sentence. If you leave out "schon", the sentences are fine, except the second one.
"schon" can convey different meanings, such as
- "already": Ich habe einem Obdachlosen schon (et)was gegeben = I already gave something to a homeless man
- "indeed, actually": not particularly idiomatic in the first sentence, maybe something like: Hast du deine Hausaufgaben gemacht? - Ich muss schon vorher (et)was essen...
Have you done your homework? - I actually / do have to eat something before I can get started...
Also, it's best to post in the "German" section, so German natives are more likely to see it.
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Thank you very much.
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Hi Ken, I am not a native speaker (I have just lived here for 10 years) but I would not translate ‘schon was’ with something. I would translate something with etwas or irgendwas, depending on the situation. The ‘was’ part could also be something, kind of like a shortened form of etwas (I think, again, not a native speaker here so maybe one of those can chime in).
The first sentence I would translate to English as ‘I do have to eat something’ the schon would be the do and the something would be the was. Like if someone was saying you don’t need to eat anything do you? And you responded as no, I do need to eat something ... does that make sense?
The same for the second sentence and in my opinion the third doesn’t make sense with schon was, it would only make sense with irgend- or etwas.
Hope this helps temporarily until a native speaker shows up!
Liebe Grüße
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