"Die Schweine fressen Kartoffeln."
Translation:The pigs eat potatoes.
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According to dict.cc the first would be more vile and barbaric whereas the other one means regular eating, doing it in a 'normal' way.
1258
Applying fressen to humans is very offensive. Fressen is for animals who eat in a sloppy manner. Essen is for humans.
1136
I wrote the pigs eats potatoes and got wrong. I though it was ok but English is not my first language.
The five possibilities are (and each of them except for the first and the last one can be accompanied by an Umlaut or not):
-(e)n: die Kartoffel->die Kartoffeln, die Fahne->die Fahnen (often for words ending in -e, the additional e or even reduplication of end consonant are inserted for better pronunciation)
-er: das Buch->die Bücher, der Mann->die Männer, das Kind->die Kinder
- (no ending): der Vater->die Väter, der Beutel->die Beutel (often for words already ending in -er)
-e: der Hahn->die Hähne, das Maß->die Maße
-s: das Baby->die Babys (only for foreign words)
Because "die Schweine" is plural.
Die Schweine fressen. The swine (or pigs) eat.
Das Schwein frisst. The swine (or pig) eats.
The fact that the singular and the plural of "swine" are spelled the same in English, but differently in German, can be confusing.