Reading · A1 · Text 18

Arm

55 words1 min read71% known at A1

Nicht nur der Mensch hat Arme, sondern auch die Affen.

Not only humans have arms, but apes do as well.

Auch bei technischen Geräten spricht man von Armen: So hat zum Beispiel ein Turmkran einen Arm, an dem die Last hängt.

In technical devices, one also speaks of arms: For example, a tower crane has an arm on which the load hangs.

Es gibt Roboterarme und bei Hebeln spricht man von Hebelarmen.

There are robot arms, and in the case of levers, one speaks of lever arms.

Schließlich spricht man auch bei Flüssen von Armen, das sind die Seitenflüsse oder Seitenarme.

Finally, one also speaks of arms in rivers, which are the tributaries or side arms.

15 words above A1

Turmkran← der Turmkran

tower crane (a tall crane used on construction sites)

Roboterarme← der Roboterarm

robot arms (mechanical arms on robots) plural form

Hebelarmen← der Hebelarm

lever arms (parts of a lever) dative plural

Seitenflüsse← der Seitenfluss

tributary rivers (side rivers flowing into a main river) plural form

Seitenarme← der Seitenarm

side branches (of a river, also called arms) plural form

Geräten← das Gerät

devices, appliances, technical equipment dative plural device, tool, appliance, machine; equipment, tools; contents, furniture B2/ɡəˈrɛːt/

Hebeln← der Hebel

levers (simple machines) dative plural

Mensch← der Mensch

human being, person weak noun; singular nominative here

hängt← hängen

to hang, to be suspended strong verb: hängen – hing – gehangen

technischen← technisch

technical, related to technology dative plural adjective ending technical; technological; engineering B1[ˈtɛçnɪʃ]

sondern

but rather, but on the contrary used after a negative statement to introduce a contrast so?, then what?, so you tell me! B1[ˈzɔndɐn]

schließlich

finally, lastly in the end, finally, eventually; after all (because of, for the reason) B2/ˈʃliːslɪç/

zum← zu dem

to the, for the (contraction of 'zu dem') used in the phrase 'zum Beispiel' = for example

beispiel← das Beispiel

example part of the phrase 'zum Beispiel' (for example) B1/ˈbaɪ̯ʃpiːl/

Affen← der Affe

monkeys, apes plural form

Grammar in this text

Coordinate conjunction 'nicht nur … sondern auch'

Nicht nur der Mensch hat Arme, sondern auch die Affen.

This construction pairs two statements to express 'not only … but also'. The second part begins with 'sondern auch' and the verb is placed in second position.

Impersonal pronoun 'man'

Auch bei technischen Geräten spricht man von Armen:

'man' is an impersonal pronoun meaning 'one', 'you', or 'they' in general statements. It always takes the verb form of the third person singular (er/sie/es). Here it is used with the verb 'spricht' (from 'sprechen').

Relative clause with preposition + relative pronoun

So hat zum Beispiel ein Turmkran einen Arm, an dem die Last hängt.

This is a relative clause that describes the noun 'Arm'. The relative pronoun 'dem' follows the preposition 'an' and stands in the dative case because 'an' is a two-way preposition used here to indicate location. The conjugated verb 'hängt' goes to the very end of the clause.

Existential construction 'es gibt'

Es gibt Roboterarme

'es gibt' means 'there is / there are'. The subject is always 'es' and the verb 'gibt' is the third person singular form of 'geben'. The object that follows is in the accusative case.

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Text from Arm — Klexikon, used under CC BY-SA 4.0. See sources.

Translation, glossary and grammar notes are machine-generated and inherit the same licence.