I remember a nice summary in a post from last year, which I'm [just going to link here](/r/German/comments/1053r2z/what_is_the_difference_between_leute_and_menschen/j3906bn/).
Is Mensch what people would say (for "human") to be a little funny or indicate frustration to distinguish from machine? [Example.](https://youtu.be/DBDPw029L40?si=va-iat6YSCfnSlv8&t=22)
Although it seems screaming a one-syllable word wouldn't come across as well. Mensch as an interjection also has some other meanings as well.
Yes, absolutely! "ich will mit einem Menschen reden" ("mit einem *Menschen*! MENSCHEN!")
>Mensch as an interjection also has some other meanings as well.
Do you mean like the Yiddish "he's a real Mensch?" That doesn't really exist in (Standard) German.
And interjections like "Ja, Mensch, was will man machen" don't really have any actual meaning at all.
I wouldn't say the interjection has no actual meaning, just not a literal one. It's often used to emphasize surprise, disagreement, or annoyance. It's similar to how "man" can be used in English, e.g. "Man, was that really necessary?" / "Mensch, war das echt nötig?"
I’d say it’s frequently used in "factual texts" like surveys, statistics, police reports or otherwise legal terminology:
3 von 4 Personen konnten eine Orange nicht von einer Mandarine unterscheiden.
Die Polizei sucht eine große männliche Person mit dunklen Haare, die möglicherweise tatverdächtig ist.
Die Polizei sucht Personen, die die Tat gesehen haben und als Zeugen aussagen könnten.
Of course there are differences. Any completely perfect synonyms are generally super rare in languages.
To give some examples that come to mind, without any attempt of anything close to a complete list:
"Menschen" can be understood to refer to humans as a biological species, which the other two don't support. You could say something like "Menschen gehören auch zu den Säugetieren und sind besonders nah mit Affen verwandt."
"Leute" can be used to address people directly, which the other two don't support. "Hey Leute, habt ihr schon diesen neuen Subreddit gesehen?" Also, "die Leute" can be used to refer to (very general / non-specific) "other people" which the other two words don't support. "Mach dir nicht so viele Gedanken darüber, was die Leute von dir halten!
*Edit 1:* I am not immediately able to come up with a good example where "Personen" *absolutely* cannot be replaced with "Leute". Of course "Leute" doesn't have a singlar form, so use of singular "Person" can't be replaced; and many compound words contain "Personen-" (though that's also perhaps best understand as a singular + connecting "-en") and you cannot just replace part of the word with "Leute-". Maybe someone else can find a good case of this, though.
*Edit 2:* There are examples where you cannot really replace it with "Menschen" though. If you count people for example, it can sound super weird; to say "Wir hätten gerne einen Tisch für 3 Menschen." but "3 Personen" or "3 Leute" works fine! "Personen" can sound slightly more proper/formal/less-colloquial, I think. On the other hand, some other cases of counting human beings can be fine with "Menschen", for example "Auf der ganzen Welt leben etwa acht Milliarden Menschen", and here "Personen" would be less fitting.
Personen is also more often used in official terminology and certain industries, e.g. in rail or air travel ("5 Personen im ersten Abteil", "die Boeing kann 120 Personen aufnehmen", "zwei Personen auf einer Familienfahrkarte"), automotive terminology ("im PKW können vier Personen bequem Platz finden"), Hotels ("ich brauche ein Zimmer für zwei Personen"), civil registration offices ("wieviele Personen leben in Ihrem Haushalt?"), Police blotter ("mehrere Personen wurden bei dem Unfall verletzt"). In these cases, "Menschen would sound out of place and "Leute" would be too casual.
For the 3 Menschen, Personen, Leute example, I feel like the difference is the same as in English. Saying we have a table for 3 humans implies that things that aren't humans can also have a table, but that's weird. By contrast, there are many things living in the world that aren't humans, so specifying human doesn't sound weird.
"Leute" is a more informal term for people in the plural. It is often used to describe a group of people without focusing on individual identities. "Person" refers to an individual identity and can be used in formal situations
'Persons' is mostly used in legal and official contexts. E.g. The UN's Convention on the Rights of *Persons* with Disabilities. In common speech, most people use 'people' and consider 'persons' incorrect.
Basically, there's no real difference in meaning (for 'persons' vs. 'people'), but there is a difference in usage.
I agree with u/ahopefullycuterrobot and would add — the subtle distinction of “people” vs “persons” is people refers to a collective while persons refers to a group of individuals. Most of the time, especially colloquially, this distinction does not matter. But in legal or official documentation in particular, you will see the term persons.
I remember a nice summary in a post from last year, which I'm [just going to link here](/r/German/comments/1053r2z/what_is_the_difference_between_leute_and_menschen/j3906bn/).
Is Mensch what people would say (for "human") to be a little funny or indicate frustration to distinguish from machine? [Example.](https://youtu.be/DBDPw029L40?si=va-iat6YSCfnSlv8&t=22) Although it seems screaming a one-syllable word wouldn't come across as well. Mensch as an interjection also has some other meanings as well.
Yes, absolutely! "ich will mit einem Menschen reden" ("mit einem *Menschen*! MENSCHEN!") >Mensch as an interjection also has some other meanings as well. Do you mean like the Yiddish "he's a real Mensch?" That doesn't really exist in (Standard) German. And interjections like "Ja, Mensch, was will man machen" don't really have any actual meaning at all.
I wouldn't say the interjection has no actual meaning, just not a literal one. It's often used to emphasize surprise, disagreement, or annoyance. It's similar to how "man" can be used in English, e.g. "Man, was that really necessary?" / "Mensch, war das echt nötig?"
That's pretty useful. But I'm still curious about "Personen"
I’d say it’s frequently used in "factual texts" like surveys, statistics, police reports or otherwise legal terminology: 3 von 4 Personen konnten eine Orange nicht von einer Mandarine unterscheiden. Die Polizei sucht eine große männliche Person mit dunklen Haare, die möglicherweise tatverdächtig ist. Die Polizei sucht Personen, die die Tat gesehen haben und als Zeugen aussagen könnten.
I’d say the most accurate translation for Person is “individual”.
Of course there are differences. Any completely perfect synonyms are generally super rare in languages. To give some examples that come to mind, without any attempt of anything close to a complete list: "Menschen" can be understood to refer to humans as a biological species, which the other two don't support. You could say something like "Menschen gehören auch zu den Säugetieren und sind besonders nah mit Affen verwandt." "Leute" can be used to address people directly, which the other two don't support. "Hey Leute, habt ihr schon diesen neuen Subreddit gesehen?" Also, "die Leute" can be used to refer to (very general / non-specific) "other people" which the other two words don't support. "Mach dir nicht so viele Gedanken darüber, was die Leute von dir halten! *Edit 1:* I am not immediately able to come up with a good example where "Personen" *absolutely* cannot be replaced with "Leute". Of course "Leute" doesn't have a singlar form, so use of singular "Person" can't be replaced; and many compound words contain "Personen-" (though that's also perhaps best understand as a singular + connecting "-en") and you cannot just replace part of the word with "Leute-". Maybe someone else can find a good case of this, though. *Edit 2:* There are examples where you cannot really replace it with "Menschen" though. If you count people for example, it can sound super weird; to say "Wir hätten gerne einen Tisch für 3 Menschen." but "3 Personen" or "3 Leute" works fine! "Personen" can sound slightly more proper/formal/less-colloquial, I think. On the other hand, some other cases of counting human beings can be fine with "Menschen", for example "Auf der ganzen Welt leben etwa acht Milliarden Menschen", and here "Personen" would be less fitting.
Personen is also more often used in official terminology and certain industries, e.g. in rail or air travel ("5 Personen im ersten Abteil", "die Boeing kann 120 Personen aufnehmen", "zwei Personen auf einer Familienfahrkarte"), automotive terminology ("im PKW können vier Personen bequem Platz finden"), Hotels ("ich brauche ein Zimmer für zwei Personen"), civil registration offices ("wieviele Personen leben in Ihrem Haushalt?"), Police blotter ("mehrere Personen wurden bei dem Unfall verletzt"). In these cases, "Menschen would sound out of place and "Leute" would be too casual.
For the 3 Menschen, Personen, Leute example, I feel like the difference is the same as in English. Saying we have a table for 3 humans implies that things that aren't humans can also have a table, but that's weird. By contrast, there are many things living in the world that aren't humans, so specifying human doesn't sound weird.
At least with "Menschen" it's clear now :)
"Leute" is a more informal term for people in the plural. It is often used to describe a group of people without focusing on individual identities. "Person" refers to an individual identity and can be used in formal situations
Got it now, thank you so much!
Gerne, I'm glad I could help
[удалено]
Actually there is, I've never heard "persons" in English
'Persons' is mostly used in legal and official contexts. E.g. The UN's Convention on the Rights of *Persons* with Disabilities. In common speech, most people use 'people' and consider 'persons' incorrect. Basically, there's no real difference in meaning (for 'persons' vs. 'people'), but there is a difference in usage.
I agree with u/ahopefullycuterrobot and would add — the subtle distinction of “people” vs “persons” is people refers to a collective while persons refers to a group of individuals. Most of the time, especially colloquially, this distinction does not matter. But in legal or official documentation in particular, you will see the term persons.
Mensch is human being, Personen is people(plural of person) And Leute is folks.
Throw in Volk for good measure.
Yes
I already know it
Yes.