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Die Fälschung ist ganz wertlos.

Die Fälschung ist ganz wertlos.
The forgery is completely worthless.
From Lesson 216:Unfulfilled wishes (nur / doch)·German

Questions & Answers about Die Fälschung ist ganz wertlos.

Why does ganz translate to "completely" instead of "quite" here?
While ganz often means "quite" or "fairly" (like in ganz gut), when it is used with an "absolute" word like wertlos (worthless) or kaputt (broken), it means "completely" or "entirely." Since a forgery can't easily be "a little bit" worthless, ganz scales up to mean 100 percent.
How do we know the gender of Fälschung?
The noun Fälschung ends in the suffix -ung. In German, nouns ending in -ung are almost always feminine and take the article die. This noun is built from the adjective falsch (false) and the verb fälschen (to forge or fake).
Is the suffix -los in wertlos exactly like English?
Yes! The German suffix -los works exactly like the English suffix "-less," meaning "without." Here, it attaches to the noun der Wert (value) to create wertlos (worthless). Another common B1 example you might know is arbeitslos (jobless/unemployed).
How would I turn this situation into an unfulfilled wish using Konjunktiv II?
To express regret about this forgery using the grammar from your current lesson, you could say Wäre es doch keine Fälschung! or Wenn es nur keine Fälschung wäre! (If only it weren't a forgery!).

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