"Ich esse nicht am Mittag."

Translation: I do not eat at noon.

[antigona125]

Could this be "I do not eat lunch", also?

[whiteuil]

No, it can't. Mittag means literally "middle of day".
Lunch is Mittagessen (Essen = food)

[jotomicron]

But "I eat lunch" can be translated as "Ich esse zu Mittag" ...

[krt589]

Yeah, "zu Mittag essen" means "to eat lunch", but "am Mittag essen" just means "to eat at noon". Just the way it is...

[spiffwalker]

"I do not eat lunch" would be "Ich esse nicht Mittagessen". I think..

[Medvidek]

"I do not eat lunch" translates as "ich esse zu Mittag nicht". Maybe "ich esse kein Mittagessen" would be OK as well.

[jjd1123]

This is a late comment, but "Ich esse kein Mittagessen." is fine. Your first sentence should be "Ich esse nicht zu Mittag.".

[ariquis]

why "am Mittag" is not correctly translated as "at the noon", but only "at noon"?

[whiteuil]

I think maybe it's because we don't say this in English (at the noon), but I'm not quite sure.

[Soglio]

Right. We say "at noon," never "at the noon." Similar, "at midnight," "at midday."

[Capo_di_capi]

Could I put NICHT at the and, Ich esse am Mittag nicht?

[KyleGoetz]

"Ich esse nicht an Mittag" would also be /grammatically/ correct, right? Or would the article "dem" be required in the sentence (ignore English equivalent, please).

[nailtrail]

Am = an + dem, so Ich esse nicht an dem Mittag would be correct I think. An Mittag in itself is not enough.

[Manny4us]

Why is "am" here anyway?

[zengator]

"am" means "at the". It is a contraction of "an dem". Without it, you would essentially be saying "I do not eat noon."

It may be a bit confusing because in German, one uses the definite article "dem" with Mittag, but in English one uses only "noon". That's just a matter of custom and practice. I'm surec that to native speakers of German "an Mittag" sounds just as awkward as "at the noon" sounds to native English speakers. To those here for whom neither English nor German is native (or fluent), it's probably just a subtlety that you might not notice.

[GirlAfraid83]

I put "I don't eat at lunch" and they marked it as wrong - does nobody else refer to lunchtime as just lunch?

[JerrodMiller]

Yes, "lunchtime" can at times be referred to as just "lunch" like that. But the sentence wasn't about "lunchtime", it was about "midday/noon". My lunchtime (or, my lunch) at work is 11, so I don't eat at noon. Ich esse nicht am Mittag.

[Zeynepzlem]

Lunch is the food you eat, lunchtime is the time you eat the food

[Maria_Tuberose]

Do we say in der Nacht but am Mittag?why are different prepositions used?

[NeddyNoodle27]

Am is just a contraction of an + dem, and dem is the dative form of der here.

[Ukeiildh]

The "I do not eat at noon." translation comes across as a dogmatic statement by a person who categorically does not eat at noon. How, then, would you say , "I am not eating at noon," referring to what's going on in the present time?

[zengator]

Perhaps you could add heute: "Heute esse ich nicht am Mittag."