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- "Man kann diese Tassen nicht …
21 Comments
1622
listening to a computer pronounce this is certainly not clear that this is intended to be plural Tassen. There is not any grammatical indicator elsewhere in the sentence suggesting plural. Both diese Tasse and diese Tassen should be correct.
727
Still not happy with conflating "you" with "man." "Du kann diese Tassen nicht ersetzen," aber "Er kann."
English should be "One cannot replace these cups."
727
I know. And that is why I consider this exercise to be vague and imprecise.
On another page, I tried to detail the difference, because I run into it all the time.
My wife is gluten intolerant - and a whole lot more educated on the topic than I am. Therefore, almost always when I ask, "Can you eat this," I never mean "Kann man etwas essen."
Hence, my example: "Du kannst nicht das essen, aber er kann!"
727
That said, if the English sentence was, "Can one eat this," I would have used "Kann man das essen?" But because of what I stated above, for me, "Can you eat this" must be "Kannst du das essen?"