TIME in German - When is GLEICH and when is SPÄTER?

Hey rabbits!
When is gleich, jetzt or bald? Let's talk about the time in German today. There are many ways of stating WHEN something is going to take place - explicit statements and rather vague ones. This applies to English as well as to German. Especially for foreigners it can be very difficult to know what is meant when native speakers use these vague phrases about time.
This is why I decided to make a video to help you teaching you how to talk about time in German and even providing you with helpful lists and graphs. Have fun! :)
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INTRO
"Monkey Spinning Monkeys" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
incompetech.com...
incompetech.com...
MUSIC & SOUNDS
„Slow Motion Warp" by CouchMango (soundbible.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
soundbible.com/...
soundbible.com/...
"Punch Swoosh Series" (modified)
Source: KZbin Audio Library
VIDEO CUTTING SOFTWARE
Adobe Premiere Elements 12

[@richard.featherstone]

My experience is that sofort is "now" with a sense of urgency , so it translates into English as "immediately"

[@norman3605]

Excellent idea for a video. This fills a gap in teaching I've not seen elsewhere regarding subtleties of language often lost in translation. In einem Augenblick" generally equivalent to the similar English phrase "in the wink of an eye" or "in the blink of an eye". Nicely done, Trixi!

[@ascaregs_channel]

My favorite timespan is "Jetzt sehr bald" (Now very soon) or the short Version JSB, which could be everything between "later" and "piss off"

[@williammejia4219]

vielen dank für dieses video. Ich bin auslander und wohne jetzt in deutschland. zeit hat mir immer verwirrt gemacht, und dieses video erklart alles! danke schön!

[@Fritzfarm]

Charts and graphs and Trixie......my head is still spinning. Actually a very interesting presentation, I learned a lot.

[@hannahbrown1263]

Danke schön!! As an English speaker trying to learn German, this filled in a lot of gaps from my classes :)

[@aldairvilla9055]

I feel like my german has improved because of your videos. Thank you Trixie.

[@seesixCM6]

I thought "gleich" was like "dasselbe." I never used "gleich" as a reference to time. It's good that you give us these videos. Thank you.

[@peterthomasjones3675]

best video you have made in a while! Very informative! Mach weiter so.

[@uribenyehudah]

Wie ich schon sagte, Sie sind erstaunlich! Sie sollten ein Video machen, das beide Sprachen vergleicht.

[@kellypayson4997]

You are a terrific German language teacher! Thank you!

[@nobymon199]

fur uns alle bist du denke ich schon ein KZbin Star, auf jeden Fall für mich :)

[@LoganNavarro]

I use the term "gleich" when i am doing something and am supposed, or asked to do something i am not in the mood right now, then i say i will do it "gleich" which i define as : "when i am done with what i am doing right now and am in the mood to do so" which can literally mean: 10-15 min (like in some TV spots "Gleich kommt der Film XY" ) to several hours later. Sometimes in my childhood it could be abused till someone else had done the task :)

[@MickeyKnox]

Viel interessanter finde ich die Frage (jetzt mal losgelöst von Übersetzungen) was bedeutet für die meisten die Aussage "nächsten Freitag". Mal angenommen es ist Montag und man verabredet sich mit jemandem für "nächsten Freitag" bedeutet das dann in 4 Tagen oder in 11 Tagen? Und wenn es "in 4 Tagen" bedeutet, was bedeutet dann "diesen Freitag"? Kann ja unmöglich der selbe Freitag sein, denn "dieser" und "nächster" sind 2 unterschiedliche Sachen ... Fragen über Fragen

[@TheShadowlight85]

Meinem Sprachempfinden nach ist lt. deinem Beispiel "dieser" Freitag in 4 Tagen und "nächster" Freitag in 11 Tagen.

[@danielaallienna6666]

TheShadowlight85 sehe ich auch so. Im Zweifelsfall kann aber immer noch "nächste Woche Freitag" sagen 😉

[@silkeschumann7261]

Nächster Freitag und dieser Freitag sind synonym. Denn dieser Freitag ist der nächste Freitag, der am nahesten ist, eben nächst. In 11 Tagen ist der übernächste Freitag.

[@silkeschumann7261]

Kleine Korrektur. Dieser und nächster Freitag sind von Samstag bis Donnerstag synonym.

[@danielaallienna6666]

Silke Schümann in der Theorie klar 😉 im täglichen Sprachgebrauch machen es die Meisten aber anders.

[@JeanClaudeNoel]

Very well done. Very useful! Thanks Trixi!

[@leonardogalindo7484]

Sehr hilfreich und deutlich... Vielen Dank Trixi.

[@TbbVilma]

Such great points ! I really enjoy learning german with your videos :)

[@minim0erchen267]

Trixie.... als du das mit Antonio gesagt hast, saß meine Mutter neben mir ._. danke dafür ❤

[@markseare9274]

I love your videos! So informative! Die helfen mir sehr!

[@pupnoomann7866]

I think, "gleich" once meant "now". We just came to very often use it in the hesitant manner you described, at least when we're the person who is asked to do something. But if you yourself ask somebody to do something and add "gleich", it pretty much means "now". "Komm bitte gleich" means "Please start walking right now". That also explains the "jetzt gleich" thing.

[@huseinali4415]

Really good content, I will really appreciate such videos.... this is something surely I need for my curs-learning. Please make another... and another... and ........ and....another one :D Thank you for these explanations....

[@rosem.7222]

Thanks! Very helpful! Bald is the trickiest

[@jessicamiltner5460]

Very educational video ! thank you for the graph :)

[@2mrssteffi]

hey :) Klasse Videos, selbst für Deutschsprachige. Nur eines glaube ich würde mich verwirren, wenn meine Muttersprache Englisch wäre. "Irgendwann". Ich glaube, ich würde es statt alle anderen Wörter auswendig zu lernen es überall reinballern, da es ja schließlich immer geht. Doch wenn jemand irgendwann in z. B. so einem Kontext verwendet "wann kommst du?" "irgendwann" wäre das wohl für den wartenden bisschen unhöflich 😂 Just saying.

[@davidwebb5964]

have great weekend Trix

[@Rolle133]

One of my favourite word in this context is "zeitnah", because there is very much space for interpretation.

[@schneefreudeYuki]

one of my favourite is the term that indicates when a train will leave the station (when no exact time is named): "In Kürze"

[@rod750.]

Your description of ˝gleich˝ sounds me like a word we use in Mexico: ˝ahorita˝ literally ˝little/small now˝. It has a different meaning depending on the situation and the tone of the speaker.

[@Tukemuth]

Aww, I just remembered the grandpa from the Christmas video :( I hope he's still alive and not forgotten by his family.

[@Angelusloco15]

Tolles Video, Rabbit! 👍

[@Wario512]

In Austria "gleich" or as we spell "jo, glei" would definitly be part of the very right "never gonna happen" part of the line ^^

[@miri64]

Maybe it's a regional thing, but where I grew up "gleich" could also be synonymous with "sofort" (depending on circumstance and intonation) so "jetzt gleich" and "jetzt sofort" have a very similar urgency for me.

[@blumenbauer7820]

🌳Hallo Trixi, Sie sind eine tolle Frau, die mir viel geholfen hat.🏆

[@happyghost8311]

Actually, in certain situations, "gleich" can be translated as "right" for example "Ich bin gleich wieder da" means "I'll be right back", "Es ist gleich hier" is "It's right here". Therefore "jetzt gleich" should mean "right now"

[@Chrisopia]

The Welsh have a fascinating phrase... "see you now in a minute" - which is an affectionate "until I see you again", or more like "I won't be gone long" but if you say "i'll be there now in a minute" - it means you're on your way.... but the literal equivalent I guess would be jetzt gleich, but has a completely different meaning...

[@37372]

While travelling across Germany by train we became very familiar with the term "später"

[@jamescupedrojr8101]

Bis Bald :) is my favorite lol I like using words that have a meaning in English and using them in another language "Bald" in English ^^ (I am aware of the T sound at the end of the word it simply looks like "Bald"

[@Belgarion2601]

I agree with that "nachher" is earlier than "später", but depends on the context of course.

[@danielsagert2030]

you could also say gestern. example: Wann soll ich das abgeben? Gestern (Yesterday) it's used if something is to late

[@aquariusstar1806]

that was so useful . so adorable . tnx lots . 💗💗

[@JohnDoe-rw4hl]

I'm so . . . früh! Yeah, that was totally spontaneous.

[@jamesdunn3864]

In Kuwait we used an expression "IBM" to connote something that would happen soon but with the speaker disclaiming any responsibility for the event not happening soon, or at all. The letters stand for "Insh' Allah, Bukra, Mumkin" (of course these are the phonetic representations of the Arabic terms) which mean "by the will of God, tomorrow, maybe".

[@demenion3521]

what about the past, like "gerade eben", "vorhin", "damals", "früher", "letztens", "neulich"... ?

[@claudiasteuber5793]

Richtig gut gemacht 👍

[@klotz__]

Jetzt gleich means (for me) that something is going to start within the next few minutes from now on: "Der Film fängt jetzt gleich an." ("The movie is about to start any minute now")

[@erickcastillo6069]

I love your videos I hope I speak german like you ine day

[@johanneskolb2848]

Sehr interessant! Auch als Muttersprachler lernt man dabei einiges :)

[@IsabellTabacchi]

Bei mir als handelsübliche Studentin ist wohl alles etwas nach rechts verschoben... "Ich fange nachher mit meiner Hausarbeit an." - 7 Monate später; Immer noch nicht angefangen. :D :D

[@Gnarlf]

What about "wenn ich zeit habe / wenn ich frei habe" = "when i got time / when i got freetime" Since the other can not know when it will happen its a little vague as well. And i my case it mostly means "probably never so fuck of"

[@andymitchell5344]

Hi. A good English word (Used in England more than the US) for 'gleich' would be 'shortly' :)

[@stephanrudolph]

As a German living in London the expression "See you later" drives me crazy. People use it always in the sense of *any*time (irgendwann) and not like the German "Bis später" which means (at least for me and most other non english friends) sometime later today. And in my understanding in German "Bis später" is almost like a promise or a confirmation that we will see each other again later today for sure. Some words and expressions in German and English are sometime so close in meaning. Another confusing thing is for example "talent". In German someone is a Talent when one has potential, but isn't a master yet. While in England beside the German sense of it also people who are the best in what they are doing would (sometimes) be called a talent.

[@MrSabachtani]

What's even more interesting is: When are Eric and you are going to marry? :D It gets even trieckier in Austria: We often say: Jetzt gleich, oder Jetzt dann^^ Sometimes, we even say: Jetzt dann gleich^^ Which I assume is quite confusing. Well, ich melde mich nachher dann xD

[@superdau]

Ja, das kenn ich auch "jetzt dann gleich nachher". ;) Ich sage (und höre) auch immer wieder mal "jetzt bald irgendwann".

[@ElGaladri]

Naja, das heißt aber meiner Meinung nach mehr oder weniger, dass wir das jetzt machen sollten, irgendwann machen müssen, aber vermutlich eher bald machen werden.

[@shuxin646]

hahaha.Vielen Dank. Das ist hilfreich und interessant.

[@jakethomas3271]

The screen shot thing worked perfectly 😂

[@HiwasseeRiver]

California English includes the time suffix -ish, as in noon-ish, one-ish, Saturday-ish, December-ish, 2010-ish. which all mean "don't ever place your time expectations on me"

[@gatronix754]

ahhh trixi teach us the time in german !! bitte

[@danbachmann8005]

The graph thing is very clever... although, I disagree on the meaning/position of "jetzt" and i also don't think that it has the same meaning as "nun". "Jetzt" imo has the exact same meaning as the word "now". It defines the present moment as in a point in time as well as "the present" as in a time span that includes this very moment and encompasses the (more or less) immediate past and future. With the latter meaning the focus lies a little bit on future developments and implies a change of some sort which may be why you put it further right. "Nun" on the other hand also means "now" but focuses more on past events and how they changed the present. "Was mach ich nun?" e.g. kind of implies that something happened in the past that needs to be resolved. "Was mach ich jetzt?" focuses on future opportunities/options.

[@im6925]

great video!! could you make a video about german accents? I'm very interested in hehe :)

[@Spencerpmoy]

Great video! Note: "sounds like a paradox" or simply "paradoxical" would have worked

[@kleschtremania]

nachher kommt vor später meiner Meinung nach... Aber finde ich ein gelungenes Video. Hier fällt auch gleich wieder die dialektale/umgangssprachliche Vielfalt auf....

[@puntinounterwegs]

Bei uns im Rheinischen sagt man auch gerne "jetzt dann gleich" - im Grunde etwas später als "jetzt gleich", aber so bald, daß man nichts anderes mehr anfangen sollte. "Schatz, wann ist das Essen fertig?" "Jetzt dann gleich!" - heißt: Du kannst Dich schon mal an den Tisch setzen.

[@taejunkim8250]

Hi trixie!!

[@Nikioko]

sofort (unverzüglich) = immediatly, without any delay jetzt = now gleich = as soon as possible

[@ElectroNeutrino]

I've found a few different verbs for "to clean", but I'm having a hard time understanding when to use which. So far I found säubern, reinigen, sauber machen, and putzen. What's the difference in usage for these?

[@lynnsaik]

when I say "gleich" I almost ever forget it a few minutes after I said it and then I'll never do it 'til my mother comes and is like yours: "Lea, KOMM RUNTER! SOFORT!" and then I know what I forgot. And I forgot it hours ago...

[@walerij]

Hallo Trixi. Hast Du zufällig das Word "gerade" / "grade" nicht vergessen? Es wäre interessant zu wissen, wo es auf der Timeline steht und wie von Deutschen verstanden / verwenden wird.

[@rcookie5128]

so viele Arten eine Zeitspanne zu beschreiben.. :D gut, dass ich kein Deutsch lerne, wobei: Das Video würde bestimmt extrem helfen.

[@maxmustermann194]

7:37 we need a remix!

[@hierbinich1686]

auf jeden fall

[@Omar-vl9xn]

Roger that

[@chrisrudolf9839]

Ein ähnliches Video könntest Du vielleicht "irgendwann bei Gelegenheit" (hihi) machen, um den Hintegrund verschiedener deutscher Abschiedsfloskeln zu erklären (insbesondere wann man sie benutzt, abhängig davon ob und wann man erwartet, die andere Person wiederzusehen). Um den wunderschönen Tricolon von Reinhard Mey zu zitieren: Das heißt nicht "bis bald", das heißt nicht "bis später", das heißt auch nicht "auf Wiedersehn", das heißt: "Lebe wohl."

[@ioannisme7495]

amazing...thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@jeremyvik]

I think of sofort as being immediately

[@127138kj]

I don't know if someone commented this already, but could "gleich" be "shortly"? Like if your friend says "Komm mal her!" and you'd say "Ja, ich werde da sein gleich" meaning "Ya, I'll be there shortly".

[@taofiknassan2016]

Thank u, not too bad.

[@user-rn6jj4fe8l]

Aaaah vielen Danke!!

[@HalfEye79]

When I was a child and said my father to come, I want to show something to him, I almost every time heard "Ich komme gleich." That can mean, he would come in round about 20 minutes or never, if he forgot it.

[@ianmoid4773]

Die Videos werden besser und besser! :D

[@smu4242]

Spaeter kann fuer mich auch in ein paar Tagen oder Wochen sein, kommt ganz auf den Kontext an. Beispiel: Was machst du an Sylvester? - Ich bin auf Hawaii, wir sollten spaeter nochmal feiern!

[@SilentRain97]

it's pretty funny that exactly this is the research field of my linguistics professor

[@FarkunDarkrar1]

Great!

[@kami8604]

sofort

[@schneefreudeYuki]

bald und später sind ziemlich ähnlich-ungenau. Später ist, naja, später mal. Nicht jetzt. Bald kann wirklich irgendwann sein.

[@Kutatiusz]

Gute Video.

[@EmmerKnives]

Je nach dem wo man ist kann "gleich" auch mit der Bedeutung von "sofort" benutzt werden

[@Zackabier]

Sehr coole Grafik. Ich finde allerdings, der schöne Ausdruck "gelegentlich" oder "bei Gelegenheit" und das besonders im Berufsleben so beliebte "zeitnah" hätte noch hinzugehört.

[@_mortiam]

I disagree about jetzt gleich. It's for me more urgent than jetzt, actually synonymous to jetzt sofort. I guess that's different in Austria than in Germany. PS: Nette Singeinlage xD

[@BassaSelim]

Mortiam I also think these phrases are equal. And I'm not from Austria. My guess is that a lot of those time spans are quite individual.

[@superdau]

For me it mosly depends on the intonation. A commanding "jetzt gleich" means "you better be on your feet already", but in a casual way as an answer I also understand it as "the next thing I do after I'm finished with whatever I'm doing now". To make it even more complicated use "jetzt gleich nachher". ;)

[@felixklink9569]

It's the same here in southern Germany

[@samanibrahim2458]

What about the word (eben)?

[@ThePetaaaaaa]

Trixi, ein Moment ist übrigens eine festgelegte Zeitspanne von 90 Sekunden

[@BassaSelim]

ThePetaaaaaa Wer hat das denn festgelegt?

[@ThePetaaaaaa]

+BassaSelim woher soll ich das wissen? War allerdings eher in alter Zeit so. Wer heute von einem Moment spricht meint wohl nicht 90 Sekunden. Wäre aber technisch korrekt :D

[@BassaSelim]

ThePetaaaaaa Ich hatte von dieser Festlegung bislang noch nie gehört. Wikipedia erwähnt "etwa 90 Sekunden" in der Übersichtsseite zu "Moment", aber eine Erklärungsseite gibt es nicht. Schade ^^

[@fremejoker]

Der Moment als Zeitangabe und der Moment als mittelalterliche Zeiteinheit sind zwei verschiedene Dinge.

[@lea2315]

+ThePetaaaaaa Ich hab 2.5 Sekunden gehört?😂

[@yuukonen]

THANK U

[@DJDoena]

Today is wednesday the 7th. Next sunday. Is it the 11th or the 18th? Or cut it closer. When said on friday the 9th. Is next sunday the 7th or 18th?

[@lena_3244]

DJDoena In Germany that's confuse some people to but i would say it's the 18th. So next Sunday (the 18th). The 11th would be more like These sunday

[@lena_3244]

*too

[@ib9rt]

"Next Sunday" would usually mean "the next Sunday after this one", but since it can be ambiguous you should not rely on this understanding and should make sure to clarify if it's important, e.g. "Would you like to come round for lunch next Sunday (the 18th)?" Another way of saying the Sunday after this one is "Sunday week". This is much less ambiguous as it definitely doesn't mean this coming Sunday.

[@BassaSelim]

This is ambigous. It can mean both and depends on who used the phrase. It's generally better to be more specific: "diesen Sonntag" oder "diese Woche Sonntag" would be in the same week, so at max in 6 days. "Nächste Woche Sonntag" would be in the next week so at least in 7 days up to in 13 days.

[@carudatta]

In Austria everything will be done "eh gleich" oder "eh bald". May mean everything.

[@hydrofire83]

Jetzt gleich sofort, aber erst demnächst, also Später. 🕝🕤🕛🕐🕗

[@G.Harley.Davidson]

What does “ snell “ mean!?

[@iboarshock7059]

This is almost too stereotypically German... even when talking about words for vague, imprecise periods of time, here is Trixi precisely defining just how vague and uncertain those words actually are. I now feel certain if I promise to get something done _später,_ I had damn well better do it in that exact _später_ time frame or face shocked disapproval.

[@akawhut]

"Komm geh weg" is still one od the most hilariously paradoxical phrase.

[@wernerhiemer406]

Oder: "Du fängst dir gleich eine!" und dann ist es schon passiert. Die berühmte Backpfeife. Oder Ohrfeige.

[@helloman519]

its the eye of the Tiger its the thrill of the fight

[@tessaling]

Aber vorsicht: "Frauen-gleich" kann auch sehr lange andauern. ;) "Ich schaue mir nur mal eben kurz die Schuhe an, bin gleich wieder da" - korrekter wäre wohl eher "nachher" in diesem Fall. :D Ja, das gibt es auch bei Männern. Aber ja, "gleich" kann sehr lange dauern. Bezogen auf Aufräumen möglicherweise auch mehrere Tage. :D

[@Gleiswanderer]

Fehlen eigentich noch die unbestimmten bestimmten Angaben, also z.B. das berühmte "am Montag in 8 Tagen" was irgendwie immer nur dann verwendet wird, wenn grade Montag ist, und damit 8 Tage falsch sind..

[@graufuchs88]

gleich in English is kinda like saying " Yeah.....sure"

[@gredangeo]

What happened here?: Diese becomes a completely different word, Nächste. Meanwhile in English, it both refers to the word same word, Week.

[@syddlinden8966]

So gleich is like "in a minute/give me five" whereas jetzt gleich would be like "in a second" maybe?

[@ChristianHernandez814]

we have the same challenge in Spanish

[@kaffeetrinker2710]

Yea, i made her "really happy". :D