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aaronpk_tv
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@aaronpk "very little" has the feel of "not much" to me, that makes it sound weird. I would say that "ganz klein" is even smaller than "sehr klein" (very little), even being the smallest. When used in other contexts, e. g. "ganz voll", it would translate as "completely full". "Ganz" takes the role of "completely" as a qualifier for adjectives. So something along the lines of smallest/completely small/utterly small would be a better fit in my opinion.
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@aaronpk
I think this is more about English than German.
First of all, I'd also prefer "small" over "little".
Second "completely small" doesn't really work in English, does it? So "quite small" is what I'd say.
"ganz" only means "completely" when it's not with another adjective; Das ganze Lied = The whole/complete song. With an adjective it's always "quite". Das ganz lange Lied = The quite long song. -
In that case wouldn't it be:
klein, sehr klein, ganz klein
small, very small, embodying the concept of smallness -
Benjamin Häublein
https://social.tchncs.de/@bh
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Sep 21
@aaronpk
I might not know about nuances in the English language, but "ganz klein" means "very little". "Quite small" could also work."Completely small" would be "total klein" or "völlig klein".
ok thanks, so definitely not the "completely" meaning then.
So when would you use "sehr klein" instead of "ganz klein"? -
Any German speakers want to tell me if my instinct on this is correct?
"Ganz kleine Nachtmusik" is the name of a piece of music by Mozart that was just discovered. (He later titled a piece "Eine kleine Nachtmusik")
The English press about this is translating it as "Very little night music" which seems wrong? I feel like either "Quite small night music" or "Completely small night music" would be more accurate.
When does "ganz" change from "quite" to "completely"? Is it ambiguous here? -
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