I Need Help with Some German

[Alukarj]

I'm not asking for much, or maybe I am. I'm confused and here is why.

Gern

In this book I'm studying from, it says the word gern expresses enjoyment. It is either used in set expressions, such as Aber gern! or Gern geschehen!, or in combination with verbs. Note that gern follows the main verb.

Then it shows me some examples. Here are the examples:

Was machen Sie gern?
What do you enjoy doing?

Ich gehe gern schwimmen.
I enjoy swimming.

Ich schlafe gern.
I like sleeping.

Wir tanzen gern.
We enjoy dancing.

Wohnst du gern hier?
Do you like living here?

Okay? So why does gern come after a word such as Sie in the first example? Why does it come after du in the last example? confused Hilfe mich bitte! emotion_8c

[heh u jelly]

They are questions and I think the adjective always comes last in a question.

[Ven Loki]

Wll, "gern" doesn't actually mean enjoy... enjoy is a verb while "gern" means something along the lines of "with pleasure".

So literally, the questions mean "What do you do with pleasure?" or "Do you live here with pleasure?" (God, that sounds absolutely ridiculous when translated literally, sorry.)

If you try to think of it that way, it is added at the end of the question, just like it would be in English.

Sorry, I am no grammar teacher but maybe this is a way for you to better remember / understand it.

[heh u jelly]

Ven Loraine Jr

So literally, the questions mean "What do you do with pleasure?" or "Do you live here with pleasure?" (God, that sounds absolutely ridiculous when translated literally, sorry.)

haha yeah. maybe "for fun" is a bit better. but both get the point across.