da
adv · /daː/ ·Etymology
From a merger of three interrelated adverbs: 1.) Middle High German dā, dār (“there, at that place”), from Old High German thār, dār, from Proto-West Germanic *þār. 2.) Middle High German dar, dare (“thither, to that place”), from Old High German thara, dara, from an extended form of the former. 3.) Middle High German dō, duo (“then, at that time”), from Old High German thō, dō, duo, from Proto-West Germanic *þō. The three forms were already sometimes intermingled in Old and Middle High German. The eventual loss of the distinction in modern German was reinforced by phonetic mergers in various dialects. Today, the senses of adverbs 1 and 3 are covered by da, while adverb 2 has been chiefly replaced with hin, dahin. The form dar- remains as a variant of da- before vowels and in some compound verbs (like darlegen, darbringen). Adverb 1 and 2 are cognate with Dutch daar, Low German dar, dor, English there, Swedish där. Adverb 3 is cognate with Dutch toen.
Translation
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there
Am liebsten entfloh sie dem allem in den großen Garten. Da verbrachte sie ihre schönsten Stunden.
She liked best to escape from all of that into the big garden. There she spent her most pleasant hours.
Wir fahren nach Hamburg. Meine Frau hat eine Freundin, die da wohnt.
We’re going to Hamburg. My wife has a friend who lives there.
- as source:wikdict-en-de-stardict
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then; so; at that moment
temporal
Ich war gerade eingeschlafen, und da kam ein Anruf.
I had just fallen asleep, and that’s when someone called.
Er hat immer weiter auf mich eingeschrien. Da bin ich einfach gegangen.
He just kept on shouting at me. So I just left.
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replaces any pronominal adverb when the context is clear
colloquial
Ich wollte eigentlich Linsensuppe machen, aber da (= dafür, dazu) hatte ich das Rezept nicht.
I was actually going to make lentil soup, but I didn’t have the recipe for it.
Wir haben jetzt ein Angebot gekriegt, aber da (= darüber) müssen wir noch diskutieren.
We’ve now received an offer, but we’ll still need to have discussion about that.
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present, here, there (having arrived, being around in the topical location, regardless of whether this matches the speaker's position)
Die Gäste sind noch nicht da.
The guests aren’t here yet.