davon, dabei, darüber

Sounds simple enough, but I have trouble with those words. They seem, at times, to be thrown into sentences and they can have literally scores of meanings. I guess I am making it too hard, but are there any guidelines as to how to use these words correctly...or how one tells what they actually mean in the context of a sentence without the English translation readily available?

You and me both. I can generally figure out the meaning in the sentence, but would not feel at all confident in using them in a sentence of my own as they have so many meanings as you said. I'm sure Paul will set us right.

<p> <p>Hi Bob,</p> <p>Sorry about the delay. You are right about the different meanings depending on the context of the sentence. I know it is not easy in the beginning but you will notice in time you will develop favorite phrases to use. <i>Da</i>- words are useful to avoid redundancy. For example, if someone were to ask you: “<i>W</i>ü<i>nscht du dir alle deine Geldsorgen w</i>ä<i>ren gel</i>ö<i>st?”</i> The shorter response would be “<i>Davon tr</i>äume ich.” =”That is what I dream about.” instead of having to reiterate the noun.Other example:"Haben Sie die Aufgabe erledigt?"="Have you completed the task?" "Ich bin dabei!"="I am on it!"<br></p> <p>When combining 'da' with a prepostion starting with a vowel like&nbsp;'über', 'um' or 'unter' for example an -r is inserted (darüber, darum, darunter).</p><p>Davon und darüber are quite similar in their meaning but are not always used in the same way. <br></p><p>"Davon/Dar<span>über</span> rede ich garnicht."="<span>I am not talking about this.</span> "</p> <p><span>Ich denke darüber nach = I am thinking about it.</span></p> <p><span>Ich werde mich darüber informieren.<span>&nbsp; </span>= I will inform myself about it. <br></span></p><p><span><br></span></p> I hope this helps!</p><p>Paul<br></p>

Hi Paul, Yes, that does help. If you ever add another level, and I hope you do because I intend to finish Platinum before the end of the year, that would be a good thing to cover in depth with many more examples. regards, Byron

Hi Byron, I have forwarded your request to the content development team. Lieben Gruß! Paul