- Forum >
- Topic: German >
- "Die Gruppe liest."
40 Comments
Why is it the "Die gruppe liest" and not "Die gruppe lesen," or are they both adequate ways to say the sentence?
In English, collective nouns can take plural verbs, but not in German. "die Gruppe" is singular. Hence, the verb needs to be singular as well.
My mistake! I thought "die Gruppe" was singular. "die Gruppen" must be the plural, thanks!
Die Gruppen is plural of group, so it should get the plural verb. In English it's the difference between: The group reads vs The groupS read.
"Leute" is a plurale tantum.
"Unterlagen" in the sense of "documents"? Yes. According to Duden, it's mostly used in the plural. So it could technically be used in the singular as well, but I've never actually heard the singular. For all intents and purposes, it is a plurale tantum.
"Unterlage" meaning "mat" or "pad" is a regular noun. It can occur in the singular and plural.
"Die Groper" liest. They really need to fix some of these soundbites, and as the sentences get longer and more complex, the worse they sound.
Gruppe literally means group. It may have a slang or informal meaning of band, but that doesn't apply in all uses of Gruppe. When in doubt, think group
It carries the same meaing, but doesn't directly translate as that. It's kind of like saying "The rock group" or "The rock band".
This also points out one of those subtle differences in they way British and Americans speak. Here in the US, we tend to use conjugate with collective nouns as singular, whereas in the UK, one is more likely to do so as plural. "The band is angry with their manager" vs. "The band are angry with their manager".
Duolingo as a rule seems to support English contractions very rarely. It's not to say that it shouldn't be accepted - but if you insist on using them you will often be frustrated.
It's because the German word means "group", not team (after all, not all groups are teams, so the two words don't mean the same thing).
It clearly sounds like "die Kope". I have never thought that it was die Gruppe.
If the contextual translation of this answer allows for "group" to be "class", why would "Die Gruppe lernt." not allow the same? I missed it just a moment ago by trying to use "class".
It might be clearer if Duo just removed the contextual elements from the translation hints and stayed focused on the translation to "group", with perhaps a footnote explanation of the contextual translation possibilities back out on the lesson selection screen.
That's not what the translation reads on the exercise. It says "the group read.' this is incorrect. Please fix it, Duolingo.
Why is 'the group are reading' not correct? Is it because in this context I should have written 'the group is reading'? I'm getting slightly confused by these collective nouns. In German, is a collective noun always singular? thanks
I put this too and was marked wrong - not sure why.. hoping someone can explain?
I put "the group read" and it was marked incorrect. The correct answer is "the group reads." I see that group follows the same format as for he/she/it, i.e. is singular. You would say "he reads" as opposed to "he read" (singular) You would say "the children read," not "the children reads" (plural) So I see my mistake and understand the rule.. but this doesn't translate, in English "the group read" is perfectly acceptable, I am a little confused on the translation and wondering if I understand it correctly!
duo says the answer is "the groups reading" i wrote "the groups read" and not accepted. doesn't make any sense
I don't understand Duo's message to you. "Die Gruppe" means "the group", not "the groups".
198
My German autocomplete keeps suggesting ließt, I decided to try it and was marked incorrect. Does spelling it with a double s mean something else?
Earlier in this section I translated 'Die gruppe liest' as 'the group is reading' and was marked wrong. Why?
While the German sentence uses the singular verb form (liest, as discussed in previous comments), English can use the plural verb form: "The group are reading" is the present-tense continuing form, but "The group read" is the equivalent in simple present tense. Think of it as how Sie lesen could be either "They are reading" or "They read".
So, yes, that should be accepted and there's no problem that it is. It is not a typo.
That is simply not correct. "The group" is ALWAYS singular. It's a singular noun. The plural is "groups."
Danke. So it would be either 'Die Gruppe liest' or 'Die Gruppen lesen' (if multiple groups)? I think for English speakers its difficult because for collective nouns we use the plural form. I just need to learn this!
No, we don't use them in English, unless they are a plural form. No one in the United States, England, Australia or Canada says "The group are going out." of "The band are playing here." or "The company are afraid of high prices." They WILL say "The media are circling the wagon." or ""The data do not confirm this." because those are Latin plural nouns. If you want to make a collective noun plural and not get strange looks, then you'll need to qualify the individuals within the collective ("members of the band, people inside the company" etc.....). This inserts a plural noun and makes the collective noun the object of a preposition. Otherwise using a plural verb for a singular collective noun is extremely rare.
respectfully - 'the group are going out' or 'the band are playing here' would definitely be said in UK. Whilst it may not be 100% correct, this is definitely said and understood. Maybe less so than 'the company are....'
