"Das geht aufs Haus."
Translation:That is on the house.
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And I should guess that it's "auf das" because it's an action? so it's accusative? If it not were an action, it'd be "Auf dem", right? So, "Das geht auf das Haus" = "That's on the house" = It's free!
I'm still a little puzzled here. 'Gehen' is intransitive, so doesn't take a direct object, which is what is usually rendered as accusative (eg, 'I take him to the store' would have 'him' in accusative and 'to the store' in dative). Am I right in deducing that the clause following a use of a transitive verb (eg, 'to the store' in 'I go to the store') would be rendered as accusative?
Gehen is used in a different meaning here and has nothing to do with "gehen" as in: "I go".
The meaning and the actual sentence hidden in this is the following:
"Die Rechnung geht auf Kosten des Hauses."
That means the price/value/amount in question will be transferred to the bill of the house, what means you don't pay but the house/host/etc. pays for it.
Having this cleared, nothing is physically moving, money is being transferred/refunded, that's all.
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Duolingo accepted a different "english version" (and a more physical interpretation, I suppose): "That goes onto the house."
Well, that's fine.
I am a bit fuzzed about the 'onto ..'. But if it sounds good in your ear. I never used it like this.
"Onto" is a preposition used with movement in English, so it is essentially like German accusative. I fix the flag onto the roof, the flag is on the roof. But "on " is also used accusatively all the time, probably more often than "onto", so you could also say I fix the flag on the roof. In fact, this would be more usual. My tendency is only to use onto when I want to draw a contrast or distinction, or seek clarification. "Do you mean you drove on the motorway or you drove onto the motorway?"
It would only be right in English to use 'onto' if your were literally putting something on the roof...like Christmas lights!
I said onto as well. And i don't know if the context is that it is supposed to go onto the house or if something is just merely on it. "That goes onto the house" like "that" would likely be replaced by the object if it was a projectile landing on the house "the spit is going onto the house" or if something belongs on the house... "It is supposed to go onto the house." If something is just "on the house" i wouldnt have said "onto"
It seems that "Das geht aufs Konto." might have been a better sentence to get across the meaning . . . I initially pictured something that would be affixed to the roof of a house, like solar panels or something . . . Wait a minute! I guess I don't hang out in bars enough. Is this what the barman might say to indicate the drink he is serving someone is at no charge?!?
@ Wait a minute! I guess I don't hang out in bars enough. Is this what the barman might say to indicate the drink he is serving someone is at no charge?!?
Yes it is. Of course you would here that in a bar. It is most common. What I always point out in my comments is that without context and for novice language learners it can be confusing at the beginning.
Ich würde das nicht in einer Bar mehr hören! Ich bin nicht eine jungen Frau! ;-)
@hechap
Sorry, but "Ich würde das in einer Bar nicht mehr (zu) hören (bekommen)! Ich bin keine junge Frau (mehr)!"
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So why there is an Akkusativ? If there is no physical movement, it should be Dativ. Am I wrong?
Well the linguist would say, that the movement described is about the money, even if it is a virtual one. It is accusative for sure, question test goes like this:
Question: "Auf wen oder was geht die Zeche?"
Answer: "Auf das Haus"
Er war ein Kumpel aus meiner Zeche, doch heut' kennt er nur noch den Klaren. Erst bechert er die halbe Nacht und dann steigt er mir aufs Dach! (Okay, I know, that will not help you a lot with your grammar questions)
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I was thinking the exact same thing, otherwise I could not make this work in my head. Thank you.
The rule about double-case prepositions is not based on whether the verb is transitive or intransitive, but instead whether sentence indicates position (dative) vs movement (accusative) with respect to the preposition in question. The classic example is lf course:
Er ist in der Küche. (Dat) Er geht in die Küche. (Acc)
The second sentence has 'Küche' in the accusative case despite the verb being intransitive.
so basically this is the german equivalent to the english colloquialism "its on the house"-your drink's for free, so that's why its in accusative form-"aufs"……... but if the sentence was meant to be in a literal way as in "the flag goes on the house" then it would use dative case-"das geht auf dem Haus"? is that right, or would it be accusative case in both circumstances?
The accusative form is also used when a preposition is used to indicate a change in position. The implication with "The flag goes on the house" is that it is being placed onto the house, which it wasn't before. In this case the accusative would be used. The dative would be used for "The flag is on the house", because the flag is already on the house and not changing position.
It would be nice if Duolingo explained that this is an idiom. I am familiar with the saying "it's on the house" but how am I supposed to know that in German they say the exact same thing?
It's like "that one's on me". When you pay for something someone else will eat/drink/whatever
You mean like a pub landlord might say, meaning, "You don't have to pay for your drinks"? I don't think the German sentence could mean that, but I could be wrong.
Because in german it's actually 'That goes on the house' and not 'That's on the house' so whenever there's a movement we use the accusative case after the two way preposition which in this case is 'auf'.
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There was an insect in your salad and the manager is telling you the cost of your meal is on the house.
Fundamental principle of language learning. Some things are just idioms. People talk that way. lengthy explanations are pointless and interfere with the process of soaking up the language. Just mark this in tips as "idiom" please Duo
There is "Heim", but with a double meaning – "home" and "asylum". Remember the idiom: "Trautes Heim, Glück allein" ~ "Home sweet home".
When Duo says "that is on the house" is a correct translation, is it referring to when a restaurant offers you something free? Because then it might make sense that it is still in accusative, rather than dative.
I'm not sure if Duolingo will accept this exact wording as an answer, but for anyone having trouble remembering this, a closer/easier to remember translation would be "that goes on the house".
So here I have a question...can all the dative prepositions in german be used in Accusative when it means a motion or wohin or smth like that?
While I'm proceeding in german I can notice that nothing is on the grammar!!!
an, auf, hinter, neben, über, unter, vor, zwischen can be both D and A depending on the situation if that's what you're asking. I don't know about others yet; this is way too complicated to put it in just one lesson.
Accusitive prepostions: bis, durch, für, gegen, ohne, um
Dative prepostions: aus, außer, bei, gegenüber, mit, nach, seit, von, zu
Is the meaning of this sentence supposed to be literal or is it supposed to mean "its free as its on the house"?.
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It is absolutely correct to translate this as "That's complimentary." So why is it inexplicably marked false?
Why is "gehen" used here?
I know "gehen" is used in many other ways different than in English — "Es gibt zwei Zimmer" = "there are two rooms"; "Wie gehst du" = "how are you doing" — but how exactly do you know to use "gehen" rather than "sein" (ich bin, du bist, etc.)?
gibt is the third person singular form of the verb geben (to give). And in the 'wie gehst du, it is literally saying how goes it to you (or in english, how is it going).
I wrote "that's on the house" which was accepted. It would appear to have the same meaning as in English when something is offered for free in a restaurant such as an after dinner drink or desert.
Onto is in the Oxford Dictionary - and has been written as one word (as a variant) for more than 200 years, meaning "to a position on the surface of". It should be accepted.
Duolingo are repeating this enough that I hope it will be a definite fixture on my planned trip to Germany.
I am not a native speaker, but I'll try to help. Notice that "Das ist auf dem Haus" means that that is on the house, like, literally, above the house (on the roof or something). You can check that noticing that the dative "auf+dem" is being used, indicating position. The expression "das geht aufs Haus" is not saying that. Notice that the acusative aufs=auf+das is indicating movement, so the two sentences really don't have the same idea. I understand "das geht aufs Haus" as an idiomatic expression (including the use of "gehen", that gives the idea of movement), meaning that something ("das") is free of charge.
Ok so this is That is on the house as in the house is paying for it. Also a common expression in America if a bartender buys a shot for you, or a free inexpensive appetizer in a restaurant to tide you over an unintended long wait for something.
