Breakdown of Der Doppelgänger war mir sofort sympathisch.
sein
to be
mir
me / to me (dative)
sofort
immediately
der Doppelgänger
the doppelganger
sympathisch
likeable
Questions & Answers about Der Doppelgänger war mir sofort sympathisch.
Why use the dative pronoun mir here instead of saying 'I liked'?
The adjective sympathisch is one of those special adjectives that require the dative case to show who is affected. Literally, this sentence says 'The doppelganger was likeable to me.' Using mir points right to the person experiencing that feeling.
Is sympathisch a false friend? It looks like 'sympathetic'.
Yes, it is a very common false friend! sympathisch means 'likeable', 'nice', or 'pleasant'. If you want to say someone is sympathetic (showing compassion), you would use a word like mitfühlend or verständnisvoll.
Could I just use the verb mögen (to like) instead?
You definitely could say Ich mochte den Doppelgänger sofort (I liked the doppelganger immediately). However, the structure jemandem sympathisch sein (to be likeable to someone) is a very natural, everyday German expression, especially for describing a good first impression of someone's personality.
Why does mir come before the adverb sofort?
In German sentence structure, pronoun objects like mir are drawn very close to the conjugated verb (war). Adverbs of time like sofort (immediately) usually come after these short pronouns, while the main adjective sympathisch is pushed to the very end of the sentence.
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