et ass mer kal

Feeling Cold or Sick: Et Ass Mer Kal

Level 3

To say I am cold, say Et ass mer kal. Word for word: it is to me cold. The person is in the dative.

How It Works

1. The pattern
et + ass + dative person + feeling:

  • Et ass mer kal. (I am cold.)
  • Et ass mer waarm. (I am hot.)
  • Et ass mer schlecht. (I feel sick.)

2. The person is in the dative
Use the dative pronouns, usually in their short forms mer and der:

  • Ass et der kal? (Are you cold?)
  • Et ass him schlecht. (He feels sick.)
  • Et ass eis ze waarm hei. (We are too hot here.)

With a noun, use the dative article: Dem Kand ass et kal. (The child is cold.) See dative articles.

3. The verb does not change for the person
Because the subject is et, the verb does not change for the person: et ass mer, et ass eis, et ass hinnen. Only the pronoun changes.

4. Getting cold or sick: ginn
With ginn (to become), the feeling starts: De Kanner gëtt et hannen am Auto dacks schlecht. (The children often feel sick in the back of the car.) In the past: Et war mer kal. (I was cold.)

5. Not like French or English
French says j'ai froid and English says I am cold. Luxembourgish does not use hunn here, and ech is not the subject.

6. Without a person
Leave out the dative, and et ass kal is about the weather or the room: Et ass kal dobaussen. (It is cold outside.) See et for the weather. The same dative idea appears in Wéi geet et dir?.

Examples (6)

  1. Maach d'Fënster zou, wannechgelift, et ass mer kal!

    Close the window, please, I'm cold!

    Mer is the short dative form of mir.

  2. Et ass mer schlecht, ech hunn ze vill giess.

    I feel sick, I ate too much.

    Schlecht here means sick or unwell.

  3. Ass et der net ze waarm mat där Jackett?

    Aren't you too hot in that jacket?

    Der is the short form of dir, to you.

  4. Et ass him kal, gëff him eng Decken.

    He is cold, give him a blanket.

  5. Dem Kand ass et kal.

    The child is cold.

    The dative noun dem Kand comes first, and et follows the verb.

  6. De Kanner gëtt et hannen am Auto dacks schlecht.

    The children often feel sick in the back of the car.

    With ginn, the feeling comes on.

Common Mistakes

  • Using hunn, like French j'ai froid.

    Ech hu kal.
    Et ass mer kal.

    Luxembourgish does not say you have cold. Use et, ass and the person in the dative.

  • Making ech the subject, like English I am cold.

    Ech si kal.
    Et ass mer kal.

    To say that you feel cold, the subject is et and you are in the dative. Ech si kal does not say that you feel cold.

  • Using the accusative instead of the dative.

    Et ass mech kal.
    Et ass mer kal.

    The person who feels something is in the dative: mir or mer, not mech.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

et ass mer kalLevel 3Feeling Cold or Sick: Et Ass Mer Kal

Learn This First

Before Feeling Cold or Sick: Et ass mer kal, learn Short Unstressed Pronouns and It for Weather and Time.

Words in This Pattern

kalschlecht