Reviewing meeting action items | Learn German in English

Sentence explanations

1. Können wir die Aufgaben aus dem Meeting durchgehen?

   Can we review the action items from the meeting?

   Können wir

   can we

   Aufgaben

   tasks; action items

   Meeting

   meeting

   durchgehen

   review; go through

   More detail

   Können wir combines können (“can; be able to”) with wir (“we”). Here können is the first-person plural present form and makes a polite feasibility request: “Can we …?” In a main-clause question, the conjugated modal comes first, while the other verb stays in the infinitive at the end. Example: Können wir anfangen? — “Can we start?” Aufgaben is the plural of Aufgabe, “task” or “assignment.” In this sentence, the meeting context and the fixed translation support the more specific sense “action items.” The singular–plural pair is die Aufgabe — die Aufgaben; the plural form does not mark a particular gender distinction itself. Example: Wir teilen die Aufgaben auf. — “We divide up the tasks.” Meeting is a borrowed noun meaning “meeting.” Its plural is Meetings. In aus dem Meeting, Meeting is the noun after aus; aus takes the dative, so the neuter article changes from das to dem. The phrase means “from the meeting,” identifying the source of the action items. Example: Die Notizen kommen aus dem Meeting. — “The notes come from the meeting.” durchgehen means “to go through” something systematically, and here it means “to review” the action items. It is an infinitive in the fixed sentence because it follows the modal können. As a separable verb, it can split in a finite main clause: Wir gehen die Aufgaben durch. — “We go through the tasks.” The infinitive remains together: Wir können die Aufgaben durchgehen. — “We can review the tasks.” The question structure is Können wir [object] [source phrase] durchgehen?: können marks the request, wir is the proposed group, die Aufgaben is what they would review, and aus dem Meeting specifies where those action items come from. Together, Können wir die Aufgaben aus dem Meeting durchgehen? means “Can we review the action items from the meeting?”

2. Ich habe die Zusammenfassung geöffnet, also schauen wir sie uns an.

   I have the summary open, so let's check them.

   Ich habe

   I have

   Zusammenfassung

   summary

   geöffnet

   opened; open

   also

   so

   schauen wir sie uns an

   let’s check them

   More detail

   Ich habe is the first-person singular form of haben, “to have.” Here it is the auxiliary in the German perfect tense, not a separate statement of possession: Ich habe ... geöffnet means “I have opened ...” or “I opened ...”. The same pattern is reusable with another participle, for example: Ich habe die Datei gespeichert. — “I saved the file.” Zusammenfassung means “summary.” Its base form is the noun die Zusammenfassung; the ending -ung forms a feminine noun related to the action of summarizing. In the sentence, die Zusammenfassung is the definite noun phrase, “the summary.” geöffnet is the past participle of öffnen, “to open.” With habe, it forms the perfect: habe geöffnet. The participle describes the opening action and, in this context, the resulting state that the summary is open. Compare öffnen — “to open” and geöffnet — “opened/open.” also connects the result or situation to what follows. Here it means “so,” introducing the suggestion that follows from having the summary open. schauen wir sie uns an uses the separable verb sich etwas anschauen, “to look at/check something.” In the suggestion pattern Schauen wir ... an, the first-person plural subject wir gives the meaning “let’s ...”; the verb’s separable part an appears at the end. Here sie is the accusative pronoun meaning “them,” referring to the plural action items mentioned in the preceding context. German sie can also mean “it” when its referent is a feminine singular noun, but the fixed translation and context support the plural reading here. uns is the first-person plural dative reflexive form used with sich etwas anschauen; together with the verb, it gives the natural English idea “let’s look at/check them.” The whole utterance is assembled as Ich habe die Zusammenfassung geöffnet — “I have the summary open” — followed by also — “so” — and the suggestion schauen wir sie uns an — “let’s check them.” Thus the complete meaning is: “I have the summary open, so let’s check them.”

3. Wer soll den Kunden kontaktieren?

   Who should contact the client?

   Wer soll

   who should…?

   Kunden

   client

   kontaktieren

   contact

   More detail

   Wer soll combines the question word wer (“who”) with soll, the third-person singular present form of the modal verb sollen (“should / be expected to”). German places the lexical verb in the infinitive at the end of this kind of question: Wer soll ... kontaktieren? means “Who should ... contact?” The question asks which person is expected to perform the action; it does not itself identify that person. Kunden is the noun Kunde (“client” or “customer”) in the accusative singular form required after kontaktieren. The masculine definite-article pattern is der Kunde (nominative) but den Kunden (accusative); Kunde belongs to a group of masculine nouns that add -n or -en outside the nominative singular. The plural is also Kunden, as in die Kunden, so the article helps identify the singular here. kontaktieren is the infinitive “to contact.” It is a regular verb and takes the person contacted as an accusative object: Ich kontaktiere den Kunden. — “I contact the client.” In the fixed sentence, the infinitive remains at the end because it follows the modal verb soll. Together, Wer asks for the actor, soll expresses the expected or appropriate action, den Kunden names the person receiving the action, and kontaktieren supplies that action. The complete utterance is therefore: “Who should contact the client?”

4. Die Projektleitung kümmert sich darum.

   The project lead will handle that.

   Projektleitung

   project lead

   kümmert sich darum

   will handle that

   More detail

   Projektleitung means “project lead” here. It is a feminine noun: die Projektleitung. The compound names the person or role responsible for leading a project. In the singular, the noun itself stays Projektleitung in the common cases; the article shows forms such as die Projektleitung and der Projektleitung. Its plural is Projektleitungen. kümmert sich darum contains the reflexive verb sich kümmern and darum. The reusable pattern is sich um etwas kümmern, meaning “to take care of” or “to handle something.” kümmert is the present-tense third-person singular form of kümmern, matching Die Projektleitung; sich is the reflexive form required by this verb. darum is a da-compound meaning “about that” or, here, “that/it,” referring to the matter being handled without naming it again. Practice example: Ich kümmere mich um die Aufgabe. — “I’ll take care of the task.” German present tense can describe a future action when the context or translation supplies a future time frame. Thus, kümmert sich darum is rendered here as “will handle that.” Together, Die Projektleitung identifies the actor, and kümmert sich darum says that this project lead will handle the matter indicated by darum. The complete meaning is: “The project lead will handle that.”

5. Was soll ich als Nächstes machen?

   What should I do next?

   Was

   what

   soll ich

   should I

   als Nächstes

   next

   machen

   do

   More detail

   Was is the interrogative pronoun “what.” Here it asks which action is intended, rather than naming a person or a specific object. A reusable contrast is Wer soll kommen? — “Who should come?”; wer asks about a person, while was asks about a thing, content, or action. Soll ich combines the first-person singular of sollen with the subject pronoun ich. sollen expresses what someone should do or is expected to do; in this question, soll ich means “should I” in the sense of asking what is expected or appropriate. The finite modal verb appears in second position after the question word, while ich is the subject. Example: Soll ich anfangen? — “Should I start?” Als Nächstes is a reusable temporal expression meaning “next” or “as the next step.” Nächstes is the capitalized nominalized form of the adjective nächst-, with the neuter ending -es; the whole expression functions adverbially. Compare zuerst — “first” — and danach — “after that.” Example: Als Nächstes lese ich die E-Mail. — “Next, I will read the email.” Machen is the infinitive of machen, “to do” or “to make.” In this utterance it means “do,” referring to an action. After the modal verb sollen, the infinitive stays at the end: Was soll ich machen? — “What should I do?” Its present-tense forms include ich mache and du machst; the observed form machen is the infinitive, not a conjugated first-person form. Together, Was asks which action, soll ich asks what is expected of the speaker, als Nächstes places that action next in sequence, and machen supplies the action verb at the end. The complete meaning is: “What should I do next?”

6. Aktualisiere die Notizen und teile die Datei.

   Update the notes and share the file.

   Aktualisiere

   update

   Notizen

   notes

   teile

   share

   Datei

   file

   More detail

   Aktualisiere is the informal singular imperative of aktualisieren (“to update”). It addresses one person and gives a direct instruction. The imperative normally appears without the subject pronoun: Aktualisiere die Notizen! means “Update the notes!” Notizen is the plural of Notiz (“note”). In this sentence, die Notizen is the accusative object of aktualisiere; the definite article die marks the plural noun phrase here. Example: Ich lese die Notizen. — “I am reading the notes.” teile is the informal singular imperative of teilen (“to share” or “to divide”); here it means “share.” The imperative can also be shortened to Teil!, while Teile! is a valid form with the ending -e. Example: Teile den Link! — “Share the link!” Datei means “file.” It is a feminine noun, and its plural is Dateien. In die Datei, the article die accompanies the singular feminine accusative object of teile; for a feminine noun, the nominative and accusative singular article have the same form. Example: Ich öffne die Datei. — “I am opening the file.” The conjunction und joins the two commands. The first command is Aktualisiere die Notizen; the second is teile die Datei. Together, they instruct one person to update the notes and share the file: “Update the notes and share the file.”

7. Ich schicke dem Team das Update.

   I will send the update to the team.

   schicke

   send

   Team

   team

   Update

   update

   More detail

   schicke is the first-person singular present form of schicken (“to send”): ich schicke. German present tense can refer to a planned future action when the context makes that timing clear; here the fixed translation gives that intended future reading. The verb takes the thing sent as an accusative object and the recipient as a dative phrase. Team means “team.” In this sentence, dem Team means “to the team”: dem marks the dative form of the neuter noun phrase das Team. The same noun can appear in other cases, for example das Team (nominative or accusative) and dem Team (dative). The dative phrase identifies the recipient, not the item being sent. Update means “update.” Here it is the thing being sent, expressed as the accusative phrase das Update. Update is a neuter noun, so its definite article remains das in the accusative; the dative form would be dem Update. Together, Ich schicke dem Team das Update. follows the reusable pattern subject + verb + dative recipient + accusative thing: Ich is “I,” schicke is “send,” dem Team is “to the team,” and das Update is “the update.” Thus the utterance means “I will send the update to the team.”

8. Dann haben alle die neueste Version.

   Then everyone will have the latest version.

   Dann

   then

   haben

   have

   alle

   everyone

   neueste

   latest

   Version

   version

   More detail

   Dann means “then” and links this statement to the preceding event in time or sequence. It commonly appears at the start of a sentence: Dann komme ich. — “Then I’ll come.” haben is the infinitive/base form “to have”; here it is the present-tense form used with the plural subject alle: alle haben. German can use the present tense for a future event when the time is clear from context. Thus the fixed translation uses “will have,” although no separate future auxiliary appears in the German sentence. alle means “everyone” here and functions as the plural subject. The verb therefore has the plural form haben, not singular hat. As a different use, alle can modify a plural noun: alle Versionen — “all versions.” neueste is the superlative form of the adjective neu (“new”): neu → neuer (“newer”) → am neuesten or attributive neueste (“newest/latest”). In die neueste Version, it describes Version. The ending -e is the adjective’s inflection after the feminine singular definite article die in this noun phrase; it is not part of the base form neu. Version is a feminine noun meaning “version.” In this phrase it is singular and is marked by the article die: die Version. Its plural is Versionen, as in die neuesten Versionen — “the latest versions.” Together, Dann haben alle means “Then everyone will have,” and die neueste Version means “the latest version.” The complete utterance is therefore “Then everyone will have the latest version.”