66 Comments
Sometimes Duolingo comes up with some really funny sentences. I can't imagine ever being in a heated conversation where one would be frustrated by another's praise of a lemon!
I might add it makes Duolingo more interesting, it's not a negative!
Maybe if it translated as "no, one lemon is not good," you might be saying that one lemon is rotten or something.
That is not correct. "Eine" means one in case you count feminine nouns: eine Orange, zwei Orangen, drei ....
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He could've asked for a lime and was offered a lemon so he says that a lemon is not good since he needs a lime.
Yes!! But don't try to eat more than a quarter of a lime.. I learned it the hard way...
I have a question on the grammar. Wouldn't the more accurate phrasing be "Nein, eine Zitrone ist gut nicht." with the negative coming last? I realize direct english translation sounds outdated old english but I thought most German Grammar kept this pattern or does this relate to a concept in later lessons? Or is this more like a grammar professor getting overly specific and uptight about day to day speech? :)
Nicht follows verbs and adverbs "of time" (such as heute (today), gestern (yesterday), etc). Gut is an adjective, so it would not follow it in this case.
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So is it actually One of the lemons is bad. or Just one lemon is not good enough. This sentence is ambiguous to me.
Why did they make me say this sentence??!!!! I love lemons!! When I get one in my water, I just take it put and eat it!!
Why is 'a lemon' right but 'the lemon' is wrong? They are the same quantity in english is that not how it would translate?
No, it would not translate that way. "the lemon" would be "die Zitrone". for a specific lemon. (definite article)
"eine Zitrone" or "a lemon" is any lemon. (indefinite article)
All I'm picturing is an "Is Pepsi ok?" type of situation but the dude just freaks out and starts screaming because no. A lemon is not ok.
'great' is more than just 'good'. Take a look at this: http://dict.leo.org/?search=great
This comes in front of a noun, so it is not the number "eins" which is used for counting, nor the noun "Einer", but it is the indefinite article for a feminine singular noun in this sentence and in another sentence "eine" could be used for a plural noun.
http://german.about.com/library/blcase_sum.htm http://www.canoo.net/services/Controller?input=eine=canooNet
But it doesn't accept "No, a lemon is not good" how is it in that circumstance only "No, one lemon is not good" is acceptable
i just had the same problem. Even though it reads as one of the correct answers down below, it still doesn't accept it as correct :/
Weird :/
I think the issue is not feminine versus masculine, but the fact that someone is not eating 'einen' lemon. We are discussing the lemon itself, 'eine' or 'ein'. Right?
Die Frau isst einen Zitrone -- versus -- Eine Zitrone ist gut mit ihre tee?
Please correct me if I'm wrong here!
If I'm understanding your question correctly, since Zitrone is female it gets "eine" as a indefinite article in the nominative case. This sentence has Zitrone in the nominative case.
"Die Frau isst einen Zitrone" has Zitrone in the accusative case and would be correct if Zitrone were masculine. However, since Zitrone IS female, this would also be 'eine'. It might help to review the rules associated with word-gender and cases.
Hope this helps! Good luck!
Would you be able to say "Nein, eine Zitrone ist gut nicht."? I thought it was acceptable it have the negative after the adjective (since I've seen it like that before).
Here the sentence describes a lemon that is "not good" if you were negating a verb such as "I do not eat." then it would be "Ich esse nicht." Here is a site that explains German word order. http://www.dartmouth.edu/~deutsch/Grammatik/WordOrder/MainClauses.html
It's an accent thing. German r's tend to be pronounced far back in the throat.
Why " The lemon is not good"is wrong, but "a lemon is not good" is accepted? So one is not good, many or tons of lemon gonna be perfect right?
"The lemon" = "die Zitrone" in German and it gives more information than how many. It shows that it is a specific lemon and not just any lemon. "eine Zitrone" = "a lemon" which is also used for "one lemon"
I spoke this sentence perfectly "No, a lemon is not good" but it said I got it wrong:(
Funny sentence indeed, especially when you make a typo in translation and put 'No, a lemon is not god'! A phrase I doubt I'd ever need lol
