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- "Wohin möchten Sie gehen?"
51 Comments
I object to Duolingo translating this as "Where do you want to go?" The meaning is approximately the same, but it obscures the fact that möchten is actually the subjunctive of mögen — has nothing to do with wollen (want) — and should be translated as "would like".
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Wo indicates a place where something is. Wohin is a direction or place someone is going to. Woher is a place or direction someone is coming from.
Wohin means "where to" expressing movement to a place. And Wo is just "where" expressing only place, with no movement.
Wo wohnst du? = Where do you live?
Wohin gehst du? Where do you go (to)?
Not really. "Wo moechten Sie hingehen?" should be an acceptable alternative.
I was told that 'wo' is only used for questions about a location. For a destination/origin, one must always use 'wohin/woher'.
Shouln't you translate "möchten" as "would you like" and "wollen" as "do you want"?
That's correct. Whether "sie" means "they" or "you" depends on the capitalisation, unless it's at the beginning of the sentence (in which case it could be either).
- 2151
Too many meanings for "Sie"! How would I know if it is "sie" or "Sie" on a conversation?
- 2044
Only by context. Similarly, we English speakers use "you" for both singular and plural while German has two separate words ("du" and "ihr"). For the most part, context makes it extremely clear whether you're talking about the person/people you're talking to ("Sie") or totally different people ("sie"). However, it's easy to imagine scenarios where this would still be a bit ambiguous, and for these, other cues like gestures, intonation, etc. can make it clear whom you're talking about.
I put Where DID you want to go? and was marked wrong. Shouldn't 'do you want' be 'wollen Sie'?
Same question here ! Duo never told me how to form the past tense in German (I am currently in the "modal" lesson), and just gave me a sentence in the past tense for me to figure out that it has "ten" at the end. And just after that, he doesn't want the past tense for "wollten" !
What a nasty owl you make !
Pay attention to the small dots above the "o". "mohten" would be past tense, but "möchten" is the conditional form named Konjuktiv II.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjunctive_mood#Konjunktiv_II
Aaaaah I haven't learnt the "past" nor the "conditional" tense for now :(
Nasty owl, isn't German hard enough ?!
OK I was mistaking this as past tense rather than subjunctive. So maybe 'Where would you like to go?' equates in meaning to DL's 'Where do you want to go?'. But translating this English to German should be 'Wohin wollen Sie gehen?'??
My teacher told me that "möchten" is more like "would like" than like "want", is she right?
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No, No, NO!!! "möchten" does NOT mean "want!" It specifically means "would like to." Please correct this egregious error as soon as possible, Duo!!
Nothing wrong with "Where do you wish to go?" - but Duo Database may say "No".
Anyone else find the microphone activity bizarre? It seems random whether or not it accepts my attempt to speak the phrase. Occasionally, as what happened just now, I accidentally pressed the end recording button before I had said a word meaning it evaluated nothing, yet it passed me! Other times I swear I had nailed the sentence perfectly only to be given wrong each time.
I totally agree. Sometimes I say things exactly right and it gets counted as wrong. Other times I mumble bleh blek blarb and it says right you are. I finally just gave up trying to use the mic and switched it off.
- 2044
Since "möchten" is subjunctive and so conjugates differently from other verbs, I'll use "gehen" in my examples:
For "you," "Sie" is capitalized, and verb ends in "-en": Wohin gehen Sie
For "she," "sie" is lowercase (unless at beginning of sentence), and verb ends in "-t": Wohin geht sie (this is where "möchten" is different: Wohin möchte sie)
For "they," "sie" is lowercase (unless at beginning), and verb ends in "-en": Wohin gehen sie
Note that, for "you" and "they" at the beginning of the sentence, the forms look exactly alike (Sie gehen can be "you go" or "they go"). The subject would then have to be inferred from context. (Duo will accept both translations.)
I entered 'whereto do you want to go', & although I was marked correct, it said that 'where_to do you want to go' is more correct.
- 2044
Er ... don't use either. "Whereto" is super old-fashioned, and we never use it in modern English. As for "where to," we never phrase it that way either. Move "to" to the beginning ("To where do you want to go?"--still pretty awkward, though) or the end ("Where do you want to go to?"--better), or just leave it out altogether ("Where do you want to go?"--best).
- 594
For the same English sentence "Where do you want to go?" Duo has two translations 1) "Wohin möchten Sie gehen?" and 2) "Wohin wollen sie gehen?". WHY? no context so no reasons to have two different translations.
- 2044
Both translations are correct, so Duo accepts both so that you won't be marked wrong if you happen to think of the wrong one. I'm not sure why you would think that no context means there can only be one translation; in fact, usually the lack of context means Duo needs to accept multiple answers because there's no way to determine which answer is more correct.
- 325
When will Duo correct this to "would like to"? This error was noticed at least four years ago.
I am interpreting möchten as the simple past tense of mögen, hence möchten = liked. This does not work with the tense or the meaning of the DL answer. What am I doing wrong?
- 2044
"Möchten" is actually the subjunctive form of "mögen." ("Mochten" (no umlaut) is simple past.) Subjunctive translates to "would [verb]" in English, hence "would like."
- 2573
I wrote Where do you like to go? It was marked wrong. This is not found anymore... It is actually stressful but I'm going to keep trying strictly out of pride now. Good luck to the rest of you who still find it fun.
- 361
In English, "Where do you like to go?" is a question you might ask someone about where they like to go every Saturday, or every summer.
"Wohin möchten Sie gehen?" is a question about where someone would like to go for a specific event, time etc. For instance, you are talking to your boss about where to go for lunch, you might say, "Wohin möchten Sie gehen."
Of course, I have never had a boss that I had to use the formal "Sie" with...
- 2573
I guess it is all about where you are from. One of my German speaking roommate (Stuttgart) liked my answer as being acceptable. Thanks for chiming in Daria.
