12 Comments
918
"I don't hear the girl" as well as "I don't hear a girl" should be accepted, shouldn't it?
dziewczynka literally indicates a little girl and is the dimunitive of dziewczyna. Eddie
Yes. But you didn't take cases into consideration.
First, the verb "słyszeć" (to hear) takes Accusative.
Secondly, here you negate it. And negated Accusative turns into Genitive. (IMPORTANT: only negated Accusative changes case. The other cases stay the same when negated).
And "dziewczynki" is not only Nominative plural, it's also Genitive singular. Actually, most (but not all) feminine nouns have Genitive singular identical to Nominative plural.
It has happened again. My answer is "nie słyszę dziewczynki" literally. What's the difference?
The comment section is for the PL->ENG translation exercise...
"Nie słyszę dziewczynki" is the main answer. "Nie słyszę dziewczyny" also works, that will be about an older girl or a young woman.
It is. In Nominative and Accusative. But here you need Genitive, so "dziewczynki" may only be singular and the plural would be "dziewczynek".
- 101
However in a statement like that, how do you know if it's in the proper context. There may be one or there may be a dozen that were playing and how would you distinguish between the two?
As I wrote. You have the verb "słyszeć" and it takes Accusative. It's negated here, and negated Accusative = Genitive.
The Genitive singular form is "dziewczynki". The Genitive plural form is "dziewczynek". Therefore this sentence is undoubtedly in singular.
Most feminine nouns have the following forms identical: Nominative plural, Accusative plural, Genitive singular.
