Word
Der Dirigent ist extrem anspruchsvoll.
Meaning
The conductor is extremely demanding.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Der Dirigent ist extrem anspruchsvoll.
sein
to be
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
extrem
extremely
der Dirigent
the conductor
Questions & Answers about Der Dirigent ist extrem anspruchsvoll.
How does the word anspruchsvoll literally translate, and can I use it to describe things as well as people?
It comes from der Anspruch (the claim, demand, or expectation) and voll (full). So it literally means "full of demands". At the B2 level, it's a very useful word because you can use it for people (like our conductor here) but also for things, such as a challenging task (eine anspruchsvolle Aufgabe) or a sophisticated, ambitious movie (ein anspruchsvoller Film).
If anspruchsvoll means demanding, how would I say someone is undemanding or easy to please?
You would use the exact opposite suffix and say anspruchslos. Just like in English with "-ful" and "-less", German frequently pairs -voll and -los. You can use anspruchslos for an easy-going person, or even a houseplant that doesn't require much water or sunlight.
Dirigent looks like the English word "director". Are they interchangeable?
No, this is a false friend! Der Dirigent strictly refers to a musical conductor, like someone leading an orchestra or a choir. If you want to talk about a movie director, you need the word der Regisseur. For a company director or principal, you would use der Direktor or der Geschäftsführer.
This lesson is about geschweige denn (let alone). Why can't I just add it to the end of this sentence, like "...geschweige denn nett" (...let alone nice)?