We've covered expressing opinions in German, but what about when you believe something to be true, but aren't completely sure? There are many different verbs for expressing what you assume or suspect to be the case. 

The verbs vermuten and ahnen are rather neutral ways of suspecting something, whereas the verb verdächtigen is used primarily in the context of crime or wrongdoing.

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Man vermutet, hier ist irgendwas in der Lüftung vom Willy-Brandt-Haus.

One suspects there is something in the ventilation here in the Willy-Brandt-Haus.

Caption 75, heute-show: Die männliche Merkel hat Erinnerungslücken

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Von all dem ahnt man oben nichts, denn die vielfältigen Geheimnisse der Alpenseen bleiben meist verborgen.

Of all of this, you would suspect nothing from above, because the diverse secrets of the Alpine lakes stay mostly hidden.

Captions 31-32, Alpenseen: Kühle Schönheiten

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Sie haben den Chip also nur demontiert, damit wir ihn nicht finden und Sie nicht verdächtigen?

You only took the chip out so that we wouldn't find it and wouldn't suspect you?

Caption 23, Großstadtrevier: Neben der Spur

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The separable verb annehmen, and the verbs vermuten and mutmaßen can all be translated as "to assume." However, it is especially common to use the phrase davon ausgehen. 

Das ist wahrscheinlich sehr viel Arbeit auch, nehm ich an.

That's probably a lot of work too, I assume.

Caption 39, Der Fotograf: Sven Siegrist

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Er untersucht die genaue Herkunft von Kunstwerken im Museum Wiesbaden, von denen man annehmen könnte, dass sie während der Zeit der Nationalsozialisten unrechtmäßig und illegal ins Haus gelangten.

He is investigating the exact origin of artworks in the Wiesbaden Museum, that could be assumed to have entered the building unjustly and illegally during the Nazi era.

Captions 19-21, Restituierung von Raubkunst: aus der Nazi-Zeit

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Ich gehe mal davon aus, dass wir circa sechzig Prozent internationale Schüler haben werden.

I am assuming that we will have around sixty percent international students.

Caption 85, Strothoff International School: Interview mit dem Rektor

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Lange gingen Astronomen davon aus, dass die Asteroiden Überbleibsel einer kosmischen Katastrophe, Bruchstücke eines zerborstenen Planeten irgendwo zwischen Mars und Jupiter seien.

Astronomers long assumed that asteroids were small remnants of a cosmic catastrophe, broken pieces of a planet blown apart somewhere between Mars and Jupiter.

Captions 17-19, Unser Universum: Asteroiden - Gefahr aus dem All?

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Further Learning
It being Monday, use the examples above and others on Yabla German to construct a few sentences about your expectations for the week. What do you assume will happen the same way it always does? What do you suspect might be different?

It's quite easy to get the similar-looking werden, wurden and würden confused, so we're taking a look today at the differences between them and the different contexts in which they are used. 

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To start with, wurden and würden are different grammatical moods of the verb werden. 

Heute in unserer ersten Lektion werden wir die Buchstaben des deutschen Alphabets lernen.

Today in our first lesson, we will learn the letters of the German alphabet.

Caption 2, Deutsch mit Donna Blitz - Das Alphabet

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Es soll bis über zwanzig Grad warm werden.

It should get warm, up to more than twenty degrees.

Caption 16, München - 180. Oktoberfest eröffnet

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Schön, du musst mich nur küssen und dann werde ich eine wunderschöne Prinzessin.

Fine, you only have to kiss me and I will turn into a beautiful princess.

Caption 11, CHoE Rocker - Hunde-Prinzessin

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Die Tage werden immer kürzer und immer kälter.

The days steadily become shorter and colder.

Caption 9, Alpenseen - Kühle Schönheiten

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Oh, es wird sehr schwierig werden, meinen Titel zu verteidigen.

Oh, it is going to be very difficult to defend my title.

Caption 23, Wintersport - 7. Austrian Freeski Open

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As you can see, werden can be used in a wide variety of contexts and can be translated variously as "will," "get," "will turn into," and "become." The last example uses the future tense of the verb, wird werden, which is translated as "going to be." 

In contrast, wurden is the Indikativ mood (similar to the indicative or realis mood in English) of werden. This just means that the verb is used to express a known state of affairs.

Sie flohen aus dem Königreich und wurden nie wieder gesehen.

They fled from the kingdom and were never seen again.

Caption 85, Märchen - Sagenhaft - Das tapfere Schneiderlein

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Here, wurden gesehen is the passive voice of the German Präteritum, as is common with the combination of werden and a past participle.

Wahrscheinlich wurden sie im hohen Norden auf dem Eis für die Jagd verwendet.

They were probably used for hunting on the ice in the far north.

Caption 17, Unterwegs mit Cettina - Schlittschuhlaufen

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Thus, wurden is usually translated as "were," but it is also sometimes used in the same sense that the present tense werden is sometimes translated as "become." The sentence Aus Bauern wurden Arbeiter could be translated as "Farmers became workers," which has a very different verb structure but a similar meaning in the end.

Ähm, was würden Sie denn als ihre Stärken und Schwächen, ähm, beschreiben?

Um, what would you then, um, describe as your strengths and weaknesses?

Caption 34, Eva erklärt - Bewerbungen

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Genau. -Würden Sie uns vielleicht 'n bisschen Ihren Stand vorstellen?

Exactly. -Would you maybe present your stand to us a little bit?

Caption 47, Unterwegs mit Cettina - auf dem Bruchsaler Weihnachtsmarkt

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Thus, würden is in most contexts translated to English as "would."

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Further Learning
Watch the Yabla video about the verb werden, which goes into detail about the verb's conjugation, moods, and tenses, and go to Yabla German and see many other examples of werden, wurden, and würden used in a wide variety of contexts.

But then you hopefully knew that already! You may not, however, be completely familiar with differences between the two words and the different meanings they can have in specific contexts. 

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The most common translation of the pronoun etwas is "something":

Etwas hat sich schon verändert.

Something has indeed changed.

Caption 11, 2raumwohnung - Achtung fertig

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Und doch hat diese Ausstellung etwas sehr Besonderes.

However, this exhibition has something very distinct about it.

Caption 5, DDR zum Anfassen - Ganz tief im Westen

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However, when etwas is used as an adjective pronoun (usually a possessive, or noting quantities of something), it can be translated as "a bit," "somewhat," or less commonly, the simple "some":

Planktonfresser hin oder her, ihm ist doch etwas mulmig geworden,

Plankton eaters or not, he did get a bit queasy

Caption 25, Abenteuer Nordsee - Unter Riesenhaien und Tintenfischen

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Bachforellen sind etwas kleiner als die ursprünglich hier lebenden Marmoratas.

Freshwater trout are somewhat smaller than the marble trout that originally lived here.

Caption 1, Alpenseen - Kühle Schönheiten

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...verlor das Fahrrad zwischenzeitlich etwas an Bedeutung.

...the bicycle lost some of its significance for a while.

Caption 25, 200. Geburtstag - Die Geschichte des Fahrrads in 2 Minuten

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The adverb etwa can be translated as "about," "approximately" or "something like." It is most often used before a numerical measurement:

Und es sind etwa 35 Kilometer von den

And it's about 35 kilometers from the

weißen Klippen von Dover zu den Sanddünen von Calais.

white cliffs of Dover to the sand dunes of Calais.

Caption 20, Abenteuer Nordsee - Unter Riesenhaien und Tintenfischen

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Jährlich werden pro Person in Deutschland etwa 160 Liter Kaffee getrunken.

Every year, approximately 160 liters of coffee are drunk in Germany per person.

Caption 5, Eva zeigt uns - wie man Kaffee kocht

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Das bedeutet etwa „Ende des Sommers“.

That means something like "end of the summer."

Caption 6, Cettina erklärt - Halloween

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The adverb etwa can also be used as a grammatical particle, which is often difficult to directly translate, but in this case lends a suggestion of disbelief to the statement: 

Rauchst du etwa wieder?

Are you smoking again?

Caption 4, 12 heißt: Ich liebe dich - Kapitel 3: Erfolgreiche Vernehmung

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Zweifelst du etwa an der Aufrichtigkeit meiner Gefühle?

Are you doubting the sincerity of my feelings?

Caption 9, Küss mich, Frosch - Die Zeiten haben sich geändert

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As you see in the two examples above, etwa is not directly translated. A more literary translation of the above examples, which gives them more of an expression of disbelief on the part of the speakers, could respectively be: "But you aren't smoking again?" and "But you aren't doubting the sincerity of my feelings?"

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Further Learning
Read the definition and examples given for the particle usage of etwa on Duden, and search for etwa and etwas on Yabla German to see other examples of these words used in a real-world context.