Breakdown of Seltsam, dass niemand etwas gehört hat.
etwas
something
haben
to have
hören
to hear / to listen
niemand
no one
dass
that
seltsam
odd, peculiar
Questions & Answers about Seltsam, dass niemand etwas gehört hat.
Since we are learning about -haft adjectives in this lesson, is there one I could use instead of seltsam here?
Yes! You could use rätselhaft. It is formed from das Rätsel (mystery/riddle) plus the -haft suffix. While seltsam just means "strange" or "odd", rätselhaft adds a nuance that the situation is actively puzzling or mysterious.
Why doesn't the sentence start with a subject and verb, like Es ist seltsam?
In everyday spoken German, it is very common to drop the dummy subject es and the verb ist at the beginning of a sentence when expressing an opinion or reaction. You will often hear just the adjective, just like in Schön, dass du da bist (Nice that you are here).
Why is the word order niemand etwas rather than etwas niemand?
In German, the subject almost always precedes the object, especially when both are pronouns. Here, niemand is the subject in the nominative case (nobody did the hearing), and etwas is the direct object in the accusative case (the thing that was or wasn't heard).
Would a native speaker pronounce etwas fully in this context?
Often, no. In colloquial, everyday speech, etwas is almost always shortened to was. A native speaker would highly likely say: Seltsam, dass niemand was gehört hat.
Learn Seltsam, dass niemand etwas gehört hat and more in German
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free