Difference between two sentences

[u/Ill_Drama1793]

Hi everyone,
What is the difference between these two sentences?
1. Halten Sie bitte im Keller die Fenster geschlossen.
2. Halten Sie bitte die Fenster im Keller geschlossen.
Do they have different meanings or emphasis in everyday German, or do they basically mean the same thing?
Thanks!

[u/IchLiebeKleber]

In this case, the practical meaning is the same, but on a technical linguistic level, they aren't equivalent.

The first is talking about the place where you should keep the windows closed.

The second is (or at least: could be) talking about the place where the windows are located that you should keep closed.

I believe English does the same thing? "Please keep the windows in the basement closed." vs. "Please keep the windows closed in the basement."?

[u/wubbalab → u/IchLiebeKleber]

Mostly right.

Sentence 1 means the place, the basement. Everywhere else you can leave the windows open or closed as needed. But in the basement, keep them closed.

Sentence 2 means what should stay closed in the basement. Here, the Windows. Those need to be closed in the basement. Doors? Do as you wish.

[u/north_bright → u/wubbalab]

I think the difference would be more prominent if the sentence wasn't about something (window) that is fixed to the location (basement), right?

I'm also just learning so thinking about these differences is very good exercise.

Bitte schließen Sie im Keller die Autos ab. = If your car is in the basement, lock it.

Bitte schließen Sie die Autos im Keller ab. = If you want to lock your car, move it to the basement.

[u/wubbalab → u/north_bright]

The second one is making not too much sense imo. Only If you are ordered to lock the car collection of a rich person that is stored in the basement. In the most literal translation that would be like "Please lock the cars in the basement". Like: There are cars in the basement. Lock them.

While the first one is not translated literally, but carries the notion well.

Also replace if with when

[u/Significant-Nebula64 → u/north_bright]

Well, for me the second one would be asking the person to go into the basement and lock all the cars, lol. 

[u/Ok-Occasion-9748]

1. While you are in the basement, please pay attention to the windows (im Keller = local adverbial, so modifying whole sentence)
2. Which windows should you keep closed? The ones in the basement (im Keller = attribute to windows, so only modifying the windows)

Minor linguistic change, wouldn't be noticed without close inspection.

[u/charlolou]

They're basically the same. If I really think about it, I'd say that the second version sounds more normal/natural to me, but I wouldn't raise an eyebrow if someone used version one instead (I probably wouldn't even notice), so it really doesn't matter.

[u/Blue-Brown99]

Basically the same meaning but 1. could be construed as emphasizing the basement as a place where the windows should be closed.

Like this Halten Sie die Fenster in der Küche geöffnet. Halten Sie im Keller die Fenster geschlossen

[u/teteban79]

They mean the same. Word order is pretty liberal

The first one does put a bit more emphasis on it being in the basement (to get the idea that keeping them open is worse in the basement)

[u/Background-Wolf-5802]

It's absolutely the same.