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Questions & Answers about Sag irgendwas!
What does the irgend- prefix add to this word?
The word was here is short for etwas (something). Adding the prefix irgend- gives it a feeling of randomness or indifference. While Sag etwas! just means 'Say something!', Sag irgendwas! emphasizes that it doesn't matter what is said, meaning 'Say absolutely anything!' or 'Say something or other!'.
Is irgendwas grammatically correct, or should it be irgendetwas?
irgendwas is perfectly normal in everyday spoken German, but it is a shortened, colloquial version of irgendetwas. You will hear irgendwas all the time in conversations, but you should use the full word irgendetwas in formal writing.
Why is the verb just Sag without an ending?
This is an informal command (the imperative) directed at one person. To make a command for du (informal 'you'), you take the present tense du sagst and remove both the pronoun du and the -st ending, leaving just Sag.