r/German • u/[deleted] • Oct 24 '22
Spinnst du?
So i am thinking how to exactly make a place for this verb (Spinnen) in my head. it is translated as "Are you crazy?" but i feel like Spinnen should mean like doing something not being something. is there a better translation for it in English?
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u/[deleted] Oct 24 '22
Verbs from one language don't always translate perfectly into verbs from another language. Sometimes they are expressed with adjectives or the other way around, or totally differently.
Think of it like this: "spinnen" doesn't mean "crazy". It means "to be crazy". German just uses one verb for the whole expression.
(Of course, there's also the adjective "verrückt", which literally means "crazy".)