During the height of the Cold War in 1963, President John F. Kennedy announced to a crowd of Germans in West Berlin that the proudest boast of the modern free world was to say with solidarity, Ich bin ein Berliner (I am a citizen of Berlin). What he didn’t realize at the time was that a Berliner is what some Germans call a jelly-filled doughnut.
So, did the president of the United States of America call himself a jelly doughnut during an impassioned speech about freedom, or does German grammar and context debunk this myth?
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Breaking down the grammar of Ich bin ein Berliner
To understand the grammatical debate around the meaning of Ich bin ein Berliner, you need to understand a little about nouns, articles, and the German cases (which don’t exist in English). A key piece of evidence that believers of the Kennedy jelly doughnut debate typically bring up is that they believe the German article ein (a, an) in the statement Ich bin ein Berliner should have a different ending to reflect either the case or grammatical gender of Berliner (citizen of Berlin).
The truth is, Berliner is a masculine German noun, so you couldn’t say Ich bin einer Berliner as if it were a grammatically female noun. Since bin (to be) is a linking verb, Berliner is what’s known as a predicate noun in this sentence. Therefore, Berliner would share the same case as Ich (I) in this case, which would be the nominative case. The only form of ein you can use for a nominative, masculine noun is ein, so Ich bin ein Berliner is grammatically correct. This dispels the myth that Kennedy called himself a jelly doughnut based on incorrect German grammar.
Context is king in Germanic languages
When we’re referring to a jelly doughnut, Berliner would also be a masculine, nominative noun. Kennedy’s sentence Ich bin ein Berliner (meaning: I am a citizen of Berlin) would look the same if the former president did lose his mind and call himself a jelly doughnut. So, how do we know that he meant to call himself a citizen of Berlin instead? Just like German idioms, a literal translation doesn’t always work out without context.
A Berliner is only a doughnut outside of Berlin
The answer is that Germanic languages rely heavily on context. First, only Germans outside of Berlin call these jelly doughnuts a Berliner, so, culturally, the listening West Berliners’ first thoughts wouldn’t have been about a doughnut reference. How can we tell? By the reaction of the crowd at the time: The citizens of Berlin cheered rather than laughed.
Contextual seriousness of Ich bin ein Berliner
Secondly, the German stereotype of seriousness must be considered during the socio-political climate of Berlin at the time. The difficulties of post-WWII life would make misinterpreting Ich bin ein Berliner as Kennedy calling himself a doughnut highly unlikely. While reliance on context can lead to some funny misinterpretations, German is not one of the hardest languages to learn when you pay attention to what’s going on around you.
How to actually say ‘I come from…’ in German
Once a native German finds out that you know how to speak German, they might pick up on your accent and ask you where you’re from. Avoid the humorous confusion John F. Kennedy caused in his Ich bin ein Berliner (I am a citizen of Berlin) speech with one of the German phrases below that says “I come from…” in German.
- Ich komme aus… = I am from…
- Ich bin gebürtig aus… = I was born in…
- Ich bin in… aufgewachsen. = I grew up in…
Sometimes, Germans will just say Ich bin (I am) followed by their location of origin, followed by the ending -er for men and -erin for women. For instance, if Kennedy had just said Ich bin Berliner, it would directly translate to “I am a citizen of Berlin.” (But then the jelly doughnut joke would have been lost entirely, which might have been a loss on its own.) So, if you’re from America, you could say Ich bin Amerikaner (I am a male American) or Ich bin Amerikanerin (I am a female American).
Overall, language is a wonderful mix of context and interpretation. If you’d like to avoid mix-ups in your conversations as you learn German, consider a live lesson with Rosetta Stone. You’ll get culturally focused topics like these that will help immerse you in your new language.
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