67 Comments
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.
Actually, you're right: 'onto' sounds and is dead wrong.
Btw, I've read many of your comments and have found them very helpful. Have a lingot from a grateful Pom.
"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?"
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 would only be right in English to use 'onto' if your were literally putting something on the roof...like Christmas lights!
To coto.i: Thank you. I didn't try it because I like to be right - but I wondered.
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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"
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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.
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Ich würde das nicht in einer Bar mehr hören! Ich bin nicht eine jungen Frau! ;-)
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.
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'.
Hi, christian, could you please tell me, why the answer ' That is on the roof.' is also correct?
I think it's auf + dative for static conditions, while auf + accusative for dynamic situations. So, isn't 'That goes onto the roof' more accurate for Das geht aufs Dach ?
"That is on the roof" is not correct. Please report it if it says that.
is "aus" a totally different word than "aufs" or are they both constructions of "auf + something" .. choosing prepositions are still very confusing to me at this stage.. with all their nach's and zu's and what not.
Yes 'aus' is totally different from 'aufs'. The second is a prepositional contraction of 'auf das' (thereby used with neutral nouns in the accusative case, and that's when the sentence indicates movement). The first is a distinct preposition.
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?
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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.
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
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.
Is the meaning of this sentence supposed to be literal or is it supposed to mean "its free as its on the house"?.
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.
What are you on about? It's absolutely fine. Please read the previous comments.
I read them, but not everyone knows the meaning of this English idiom, it is better to translate it here "that is for free" instead of the literal translation
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literally "that goes to the house", so i think that "that is the way to the house" is a correct translation
No. This is someone, possibly a pub owner, telling you that they're giving you something, most likely a drink, for free.
Usted tiene razón, muchas gracias.
http://www.ggnlw.com/media/cache/pics/2012/07/23/180400_RJcPM_detail_thumb.jpg
So it can't mean anything literal, like the flag gets attached to the house, the Christmas decoration goes on the roof, etc.?
Actually Christian is right, with more than 90% likelihood it means the host pays, you get something for free, it is complimentary because the chef or waiter messed up!!!!!!!! The literally translation is. Something will be mounted on top of the House (roof), but there are better ways in German to say that. Ask the Germans, Duolingo should also check with native speakers b4 they release their translations, so much confusion here and there.....
Just to clarifiy, Duolingo's translation is fine. "That's on the house" does have the same meaning.
Now context and inflection comes in.
"That is on the house." Spoken straight and without any other context the meaning would be most likely physical (on top of...)
"That's on the house" with a smile on the face, and the right context means: "Das geht aufs Haus." or what stonitoc above suggests.
Where does this satellite dish go, Helmut? Ahh, ja, das geht aufs Haus, Billy; natürlich.
You can't really use "geht" in that context.
Wo kommt die Satellitenschüssel hin? Die kommt aufs Dach.
