German question | Antimoon Forum

what is the proper polite way in greeting a senior in german?
Ganadege Frau (sp?) means madame but i heard no one uses this anymore.

To a senior male, you would say "mein herr"

to an elderly women, how would you greet them? "mein frau"?

Gnädige Frau = mylady = old-fashioned

Mein Herr, meine Frau = OK, but sounds old-fashioned.
And note that "meine Frau" also means "my wife"!

The best way is probably:
Herr Müller! / Frau Müller! or
(Mein) lieber Herr Müller / (meine) liebe Frau Müller = (My) dear Mr./Mrs. Müller.

No good suggestion for that case.

i hear many times germans speaking, at the end of a sentence they say "oder". what does this mean when they add this at the end?

"Oder" means "or".
Adding an "oder?" at the end of the sentence is equivalent of English speakers saying "isn't it?" or "don't you think?", as a way of politely seeking consensus with the conversation partner.

thanks fredrik.

another question.

the word 'also' is used alot as well. What does this meaning and in context of a sentence?

"Also" means "so":

Also, gehen wir, oder? = So, are we going, or?

Du bist also nur neugierig. = So you are just curious.

menschen and leute means people, are they used in different contexts?

Menschen = Humans
Alle Menschen haben das Recht auf....= All humans have the right to...

Leute = People, guys
Es stehen einige Leute da drüben = Some people are standing over there.
Viele Leute waren gekommen = A lot of people had come.

Volk = People as a nation
Das britische Volk = The British people

i was wondering cause, during the german elections, angela merkels used a slogan : besser fur die menschen...... would that translate to better for the people or better for the humans?

i noticed sentences where menschen is used would be equal to people.
also, when beginning a letter i've seen more used Dear Leute.

what does geil mean? from leo i got all these answers, but in casual conversation when someone says geil, what doesit mainly mean?

cool adj. [coll.] geil [coll.] i
i def adj. (Amer.) [sl.] geil i
i horny adj. geil [vulg.] i
i lewd adj. geil [vulg.] i
i lustful adj. geil [vulg.] i
i phat adj. [sl.] geil [sl.] i
i prurient adj. geil [vulg.] i
i randy adj. - sexually aroused f geil [vulg.] i
i ruttish adj. geil [vulg.] i
i salacious adj. geil [vulg.] i
i voluptuous adj. geil [vulg.] i
i wicked adj. (Brit.) [sl.] geil [sl.] i

<<but in casual conversation when someone says geil, what doesit mainly mean?>>

It usually means 'cool'. It's also often used in the sense of 'horny' but it should be clear from the context which one is meant! ;)

ich bin sehr geil!

>>besser fur die menschen...... would that translate to better for the people or better for the humans?<<

I dunno. I would translate that more to mean, better for mankind!