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Er hat große Sorgen um den Termin, doch ich beruhige ihn.

Er hat große Sorgen um den Termin, doch ich beruhige ihn.
He has big concerns about the appointment, but I calm him.
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Questions & Answers about Er hat große Sorgen um den Termin, doch ich beruhige ihn.

What does doch mean here, and how is it different from aber?
  • Here doch is a coordinating conjunction meaning roughly but/yet/however.
  • You can replace it with aber with no change in meaning: Er hat große Sorgen um den Termin, aber ich beruhige ihn.
  • Nuance: doch often feels a touch more contrastive or stylistic than aber, a bit like English yet vs. but.
Why is there a comma before doch?
  • In German, when two main clauses are joined by coordinating conjunctions like aber, doch, sondern, denn, a comma is required.
  • So the comma before doch is mandatory.
Does doch change word order?
  • As a coordinating conjunction (like here), doch does not change word order: the finite verb in the second clause stays in second position: ..., doch ich beruhige ihn.
  • Doch can also function like a connective adverb (similar to jedoch/however). In that role, it can appear first and cause inversion: Er hat große Sorgen; doch beruhige ich ihn. This is more literary; many learners prefer jedoch or trotzdem in that pattern.
Can I use dennoch or trotzdem instead of doch?
  • Yes, but they’re adverbs, not conjunctions, so they usually trigger inversion and don’t replace the comma-joining function:
    • Er hat große Sorgen um den Termin; trotzdem beruhige ich ihn.
    • Er hat große Sorgen um den Termin; dennoch beruhige ich ihn.
Why is it um den Termin and not um dem Termin?
  • The preposition um always takes the accusative case.
  • der Termin (nom.) → den Termin (acc.).
  • Therefore, um den Termin is correct; um dem Termin would be wrong.
Could I say wegen des Termins instead of um den Termin?
  • Yes. Both are idiomatic with Sorgen:
    • Sorgen um focuses on what you are worried about (often used with people, but objects/events work too).
    • Sorgen wegen states the cause of the worry more explicitly.
  • Standard: wegen
    • genitive → wegen des Termins. Colloquial dative (wegen dem Termin) is common in speech but not recommended in formal writing.
  • Subtle nuance: for events like a deadline/appointment, many speakers find wegen slightly more natural.
Why große Sorgen and not großen Sorgen?
  • There’s no article before the adjective, so you use strong adjective endings.
  • Plural accusative with strong endings takes -e: große Sorgen.
  • With a determiner like keine/meine/diese, you’d use mixed endings, often -en in the plural: keine großen Sorgen, meine großen Sorgen.
Can I use the singular große Sorge?
  • Yes, but it changes nuance:
    • große Sorge = one serious concern.
    • große Sorgen = serious worries in general (set phrase).
    • viele Sorgen = many different worries.
  • All are possible; choose based on what you mean.
What exactly does Termin mean? Is it the same as English date?
  • Termin = a fixed appointment/meeting/time slot or due date (e.g., doctor’s appointment, business meeting).
  • Not to be confused with:
    • Datum = calendar date.
    • Frist = time limit/deadline period.
    • Verabredung = arrangement/meeting (often private), and for a romantic date, German often uses Date (loanword) or Verabredung depending on context.
Why is Termin capitalized?
  • All nouns in German are capitalized. Termin is a noun.
Who does ihn refer to? Why not ihm?
  • ihn is the accusative masculine singular pronoun (him). It’s the direct object of beruhigen.
  • ihm is dative (to him), which is not used here because beruhigen takes a direct object.
  • Contextually, ihn refers to the person mentioned as er in the first clause (not to der Termin, even though that noun is also masculine).
Is beruhigen transitive or reflexive? Could it be sich beruhigen?
  • beruhigen is transitive: ich beruhige ihn = I calm him.
  • The reflexive form sich beruhigen means to calm down oneself: Er beruhigt sich.
  • Both exist; choose based on who is doing the calming and who is being calmed.
How do you conjugate and form the past of beruhigen?
  • It’s a weak verb. Key forms:
    • Present: ich beruhige, du beruhigst, er beruhigt, wir beruhigen, ...
    • Simple past: ich beruhigte, er beruhigte.
    • Participle II: beruhigt (note: prefix be- is inseparable, so no added ge-).
    • Perfect: ich habe ihn beruhigt.
Is Sorgen um the only option? What about Sorgen über or Sorgen für?
  • Use:
    • (sich) Sorgen um
      • accusative: to worry about someone/something.
    • Sorgen wegen
      • genitive: worries because of something.
  • Avoid:
    • Sorgen über is uncommon/awkward for worries (though sich ärgern über, sprechen über are fine).
    • sorgen für means to provide/care for, not to worry about: Er sorgt für seine Kinder = He takes care of his children.
Can I say Er macht sich große Sorgen um den Termin instead of Er hat große Sorgen um den Termin?
  • Yes; both are idiomatic.
    • Er macht sich (große) Sorgen um ... = he is worrying about ...
    • Er hat (große) Sorgen um ... = he has worries about ...
  • macht sich Sorgen foregrounds the ongoing mental activity; hat Sorgen is a bit more static.
Any pronunciation tips for Termin and beruhige ihn?
  • Termin is stressed on the second syllable: ter-MIN.
  • beruhige ihn: the ruh has a long vowel [uː]; Germans typically insert a slight glottal stop before ihn because it starts with a vowel: [bəˈʁuːɪɡə ʔiːn].
  • Spelling note: große uses ß in Germany/Austria; Swiss Standard German writes grosse.