Expressing the desire to do something

In order to say “I feel like doing something” in German, you express it as “I have lust in order to do something”. The “in order to” part here is expressed as “zu” (pronounced tsu)

lust -> Lust (a friendly reminder that nouns in German are capitalized!)

Example sentences

  1. I feel like eating -> I have lust in order to eat -> ich habe Lust du essen
  2. Do you feel like eating? (informal) -> Do you have lust in order to eat -> hasst du Lust zu essen?
  3. We feel like seeing the movie -> We have lust in order to see the movie -> wir haben lust sehen zu Der Film
  4. Do you feel like eating something? -> Do you have the lust in order to eat something? -> hasst du lust etwas zu essen?

etwas

Remember that was in German meant what? Also notice the employment of the wh -> h consonant shift. Somewhat in German is called etwas. The word can also mean something, and we’ll have to decide how its used based on the context.

something/somewhat -> etwas

Note: etwas is more commonly employed as something than somewhat

Example Sentences

  1. It is somewhat big -> es ist etwas Groß
  2. It is somewhat bigger -> es ist etwas Größer
What’s up with the umlaut?

See how we got from Groß to Größer. I forgot how the LT guy explained it in the audio, but got the answer from Gemini. Apparently, adding this umlaut is the classing pattern for forming comparative versions of most single syllabled adjective that have the stem vowels a, o, or u

This is the way in which the stem vowels change:

  • a -> ä
  • o -> ö
  • u -> ü
  • au -> äu
Important points
  1. The umlaut isn’t just a spelling mark. It also changes the pronunciation significantly.
  2. Multi-syllable adjectives generally do not take the umlaut. Examples:
    1. langsam -> langsamer (not längsamer); means slow and slower, respectively