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- "Habt ihr ihn geprüft?"
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Yeah I made this same mistake. Are you from America? American and British English differ in this regard. Whereas we in America would mostly say "Have you all tested him?" in Britain (or pretty much all English speakers in Europe) they would simply say "Have you tested him?"
But I still think Duolingo should accept this answer it makes perfect sense if you are an American English speaker.
"Ihn" is accusative, and "ihm" is dative. Seeing as an action is being done to "him" in this sentence, it is in the accusative case. Hence, "Habt ihr ihn geprüft?"
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Can't "ihn" equally as well be used when the direct object you're talking about is a non-living noun, e.g. der Spueler, der Garten, der Drucker, etc.? In which case it would be "it"?
(this is along the same lines, not in response to dave.petty's post, hence why in the same thread)
This question is already two years old, but I'll answer it anyways for those reading this in the future.
Yes, "ihn" can mean "it" if the noun you are talking about is masculine.
So the sentence "Habt ihr ihn geprüft" can mean:
- "Did you test him?"
and
- "Did you test it?"
Ja, das ist richtig, der neutrale Akkusativ des Personalpronomen ist "Es". The choice between "es" or "him" depends on the genre of the name to wich you refer to. Für diejenigen, die dies eine Zukunft lesen werden
So is "did" and "have" pretty much interchangeable in these cases?
"Did you test him?" is basically the same as "Have you tested him?"
German clearly has the "have" part down..."Hast du geschlafen" which easily translates to "have you slept." But is there an equivalent word for "did?"
Otto used the Perfekt, you used the Prätertitum.
The Perfekt is more common in spoken German
- 1802
Yes, exacly. I answered Otto's question. I copy it:
"Hast du geschlafen" which easily translates to "have you slept." But is there an equivalent word for "did?"
I'm not sure if that's really what he was asking. I didn't interpret it as so, that he's asking about the Präteritum/simple past, but rather if German uses an equivalent word of "to do" to form a past tense.
The German word for "to do" is "tun", so "did" -> "tat".
However, as you know, we don't use "tun" or "tat" with other verbs to form a past tense in German.
So my answer to his question:
But is there an equivalent word for "did?"
Would be no, not for this use.
It seems we just read/interpreted the question differently.
Can this also mean "Did you test it?" when referring to a masculine object (der Hund, der Käse, der Saft, etc.)?
I liked "Has he proved himself?" in addition to "Have you tested him?"; I would use these sentences interchangeably.
I'm still not fully clear on how you know that the "ihn" is a You, and not a SHE. Anyone can clear this up, I'd appreciate it.
I'd gladly clear this up for you!
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First off ihn never means you or she. Ihn always means him/it (masculine objects). And it is always the direct object of the sentence, never the subject
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What you probably mean is "ihr". Ihr can never mean "she" but can mean "her". As a direct or indirect object as well as a possessive pronoun. For example; "Her cat. = Ihre Katze." - I gave her a mouse = "Ich habe ihr eine Maus gegeben."
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Ihr can also mean you plural informal. (Talking to a group of people you know well). As is the case in this exercise.
So how can we tell when it means her or you? This part is simple: Case and Conjugation.
- You have = Ihr habt AND Sie hat (conjugation is different)
Keep in mind that sometimes the conjugations for sie and ihr are the same like with machen
- Ihr macht AND Sie macht (conjugation is the same)
As you can see when a female person is the SUBJECT of the sentence, the pronoun is SIE.
- "Her has" makes no sense. so if "ihr" is the subject of the sentence, it MUST mean you.
I'm sure you already know this, but just in case, here is a clarification of some of the terms I have used.
- Subject = Person or thing doing the action.
- Direct object = Person or thing being acted upon, directly affected by action.
- Indirect object = Person or object that indirectly affected by action.
Example 1. Ich esse den Fisch = I eat the fish
- Subject = Ich = I
- Direct object = den Fisch = The fish
Example 2. Du gibst mir ein kleines Buch. = You give me a small book.
- Subject = Du
- Direct object = Ein kleines Buch
- Indirect object = Mir
A very thorough answer--for which I am grateful. Vielen Dank! And yep, typo (I do that way too much!) I definitely did mean Ihr. I should have thought about the conjugation. I get the "her" for "Ihr"... so I would guess that Ihr macht is pretty much always "You do/make" and Sie macht would of necessity mean "She does/makes" by virtue of being the verb's subject. Thanks again! Have a Lingot for such a thoughtful answer.
