Giving an opinion
die Meinung you met last lesson. The phrase that carries it is fixed and does not look like English:
Meiner Meinung nach ist das Buch zu lang.
nach comes AFTER its noun here, and Meinung is in the dative — learn the whole thing as one block. Note the word order: the phrase fills first position, so the verb comes straight after it.
| In my opinion the book is too long. | Meiner Meinung nach ist das Buch zu lang. |
Agreeing and disagreeing
| einverstanden | agreed, in agreement |
| zufrieden | satisfied, content |
| dagegen (L108) | against it |
Bist du einverstanden? — Ja, ich bin einverstanden. Ich bin zufrieden mit der Arbeit.
auf jeden Fall / auf keinen Fall
der Fall is a case, and German builds two opposite adverbs on it:
| auf jeden Fall | definitely, in any case |
| auf keinen Fall | absolutely not, no way |
They are as strong as English definitely and no way, and they are the normal way to answer a proposal.
| No way! | Auf keinen Fall! |
Not caring, and not knowing
egal means it makes no difference, and it takes a dative person: Das ist *mir egal. *keine Ahnung is the everyday "no idea" — it is a fragment, said on its own, and much more common than a full sentence.
überhaupt nicht is the strongest of the negators you now have: nicht < gar nicht (L47) < überhaupt nicht.
When there is nothing to be done
Da kann man nichts machen is the German shrug, and it uses the impersonal man from L61. Say it whole.
