Lindsey Griffith, J.D.’s Post

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Legal English Specialist | US Lawyer | University Lecturer | Business and Legal English Trainer | Certified Copyeditor

eventually ≠ eventuell The English word eventually is not the same as the German word eventuell! This is a false friend 😉 Below in the picture are the translations for each word. ✳️ ‚Eventuell‘ means possible/possibly or potential/potentially. ➡️ Note that when I am talking about the future, I would usually translate ‘eventually’ to ‚irgendwann‘, ➡️ and when I am talking about something that happened in the past, I would translate ‘eventually’ to ‚letztendlich‘ or ,schließlich‘.

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Ooh! This is really helpful! Can you do the difference between "eigentlich" and "actually"?

Natasha Costello

Legal English Teacher | Lecturer in English Law | Co-author Practical English Language Skills for Lawyers: Improving Your Legal English

2mo

Thanks for sharing, Lindsey Griffith, J.D. It's the same in French: 'éventuellement' means possibly or potentially, not eventually.

Ken Powell

Lawyer and English language teacher

2mo

Though interesting that the noun "eventuality" - a possibility, often with a serious or negative connotation - could be equated with "Eventualität" (both fairly uncommon nouns in their respective languages). I sometimes call these "half friends"...a bit like the verbs intrigue and intigierien being (mostly) false friends (intrigue might be used in the plotting sense in English, but it's rare)...while the nouns intrigue and Intrige are fairly true / treu to one another!

Stephen Griffith Ed.D.

Full Professor at Jack Welch Management Institute

1mo

You should also contrast the difference between the English "control" and German "Kontrollieren"

Erika Niestroj-Frost, M.A.

English Second Language Specialist

2mo

Well said Lindsey

Thank you Lindsey! That’s such a great explanation!

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