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- "Die Schweine fressen Kartoff…
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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.
The difference between "feed" and "eat." Only animals feed on things, it would be vulgar to apply fressen to people.
Fressen is more like Frantically guzzling, gobbling down.
Essen is eating at a table, usually with cutlery ;-)
Could "Die Schweine fressen KartoffeIn" also mean "The pigs are eating potatoes."? Or is it just "The pigs eat potatoes."
Are you supposed to pronounce the 'l' in 'Kartoffeln'? Is it more like 'kart-off-in'?
The "l" is pronounced, but there should be almost no "e" in that syllable: 'kar-toff-ln"
Would a native speaker ever refer to police as Schweine, or is this just an American idiom? And if they do, would they use fressen or essen in that scenario - like if a person who hates cops walks into a diner and sees a group of police eating hash browns? (This is a serious question).
I know! As a farmer, I cringe at that statement. Raw potatoes (particularly if they're starting to get some green under the skin) are poisonous to pigs.
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)
Yes, and I forgot to mention that there are additional endings which are used for some foreign words (most of them Latin or Greek), e.g.:
das Visum->die Visa
der Atlas->die Atlanten
There are some rules of thumb, but generally it is the best approach to learn the plural together with the word (there are 5 possibilities of plural endings in German, plus sometimes the vowel inside is changing).
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do you not pronounce the "n" in kartoffeln? I can't hear it when I listen to the audio
It is accepted. There must have been an error elsewhere in the sentence.
Good morning, I will travel from November 4th to 9th, tomorrow. So I can not study on days 4 and 9, because I will be traveling by plane and bus. I hit the freeze button for 1 day - 11/04 (tomorrow)
- 160
We abbreviate the word 'potatoes' every day. Common words reflect preparation: Mash for Mashed Potatoes, Roasties (informal for Roast potatoes), Jackets (baked potatoes cooked in their skins) and the common slang 'spuds'. Oh, and chips (pommes frîtes,or thicker cut) in the UK. In Scotland and the North and on Robbie Burns night you may here 'tatties'. I assume Germany has the same plethora of words for 'the humble spud' (idiom). Btw US chips are UK crisps. Now to find out how German fares.......
Since many ways of serving potatotes can be found in Germany, all of them have their names, but in most terms you still find the word Kartoffel:
"mashed potatoes" = "Kartoffelpüree" ("Püree" alone only if the context is rather clear), "Kartoffelbrei", "Kartoffelmus"
"fried potatoes" (is this the same as "roast potatoes"?) = "Bratkartoffen" (in some dialects "Brägele")
"jacket potatoes" = "Pellkartoffeln"
"chips" = "Pommes Frites", "Pommes", "Fritten"
"boiled potatoes" = "Salzkartoffeln"
"croquettes" = "Kroketten"
? = "Herzoginkartoffeln" (literally "duchess potatoes")
? = "Westernkartoffeln", "Wedges", "Kartoffelspalten"
? = "Bouillonkartoffeln"
"potato salad" = "Kartoffelsalat"
"potato pancakes" = "Kartoffelpuffer", "Reibekuchen"
? = "Röstie"
The equivalent of the humble spud" might be "die tolle Knolle" (lit. "the amazing spud"), but nobody would really say that, it is from some commercial.
But the potato itself has different names in the regional dialects. Most variants are either based on "Erdapfel" ("apple of the soil"; e.g. Aardappel) or "Erdbirne" ("pear of the soil"; e.g. Krumbiere, Krumbeere).
"fried potatoes" (is this the same as "roast potatoes"?)
To me, "fried potatoes" are in slices, "roast potatoes" are whole (small) potatoes or chunks of larger ones, and come out of the oven rather than the frying pan. "gebackene Kartoffeln"?
"chips" = "Pommes Frites", "Pommes", "Fritten"
That's UK "chips" = US "French fries".
US "chips" (UK "crisps") are "Chips" in German.
? = "Röstie"
Rösti ~ hash browns, I would say.
- 160
Thank you and thank you to mizinamo. The purpose of my question was to show that although we have different words, all peoples have a lot in common. I have lived on the East coast of England all my life, just about across from Hamburg. My Country has been a little 'at sea' (a bit unsettled) but we are now regaining ourselves. Whatever happens, the friendship is there. On a lighter note, the info on potatoes is absolutely wonderful! I have saved it all. Thank you so much. Vielen Dank!
