Breakdown of Die beiden Probleme hängen eng zusammen.
das Problem
the problem
eng
narrow / tight
beide
both
zusammenhängen mit
to be connected with
Questions & Answers about Die beiden Probleme hängen eng zusammen.
Why does the sentence use beiden instead of zwei for "two"?
In German, die beiden is often used instead of die zwei when referring to a specific known pair of things or people. It emphasizes them as a unit and translates smoothly to "the two" or "both".
Why does eng translate to "closely" here? I thought it meant "narrow" or "tight".
You are right that eng describes something physically narrow or tight. In abstract contexts, however, a "tight" connection becomes a "close" one in English. The phrase eng zusammenhängen is a very common collocation meaning "to be closely connected".
Is zusammenhängen used for physical connections as well as abstract ones?
No, zusammenhängen is almost exclusively used for logical or abstract relationships, such as how ideas, problems, or events are linked. For physically attaching objects, you would use a verb like zusammenbinden or zusammenstecken.
If I wanted to say "The two problems WERE closely connected" in the simple past (Präteritum), how would the sentence change?
The verb hängen is strong (irregular) when it doesn't take a direct object, which is the case here. Its simple past stem is hing, so the sentence would become Die beiden Probleme hingen eng zusammen.
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