"Haben Sie eine bessere Person?"
Translation:Do you have a better person?
83 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
2141
But when the clue is audio-only, like it was for me, you can not tell if the Sie is sie. I agree that "Do they have a better person" is also a correct translation from the audio version.
456
If you were listening to the sentence, that could be a correct interpretation since Sie and sie are distinguished by capitalization
2489
"Sie" can be singular or plural. It's the formal way to address people, whether you're talking to one person or multiple people. "They" would be "Haben sie" (lowercase "sie").
I'm from the UK, and I'd definitely say "Have you got a ...". This one really got me thinking...
You might use "Have you ..." for ultra-formal situations, but you'd never use it in everyday speech: "Have you any further questions for the witness" in a court of law, but only ever "Have you got a pen" in normal conversation, or even when being very polite, like a job interview. "Have you ..." feels Victorian.
I think, although they look the same, the informal version ("Have you got a ...") is actually using "have" in another way, to indicate the past tense. So there's this form in English;
"Have you got a better person?"
"Have you seen the movie?"
"Have you understood it?"
where "got," "seen," and "understood" are the verbs, and "have" is an auxilliary verb indicating something happening in the past. It's the same in the German perfect tense;
"Hast du deine Hausaufgaben gemacht?" - "Have you done your homework?"
So, in summary, I think "Have you a better person" is just something you would not say in spoken, modern, UK English.
I don't think it is wrong! In farmafil's suggestion, I can just see someone saying this? (Possibly more likely to be UK, & "Have you got. . ." might be another way of saying it. "Do you have. . ." is more likely to be US). I don't htink it's that old-fashioned in the right context - just a bit formal!
She, lower case 'sie' is never used with verb form like 'haben', then it would mean 'they'. Due has marked 'Do you have' wrong when written "Haben Sie" when duo means 'they' contextually and formally. So, as in speaking, formal use of "Sie" is ambiguous, as German formal is always expected, until informal is agreed upon!
This avoids the occurrence, as happens in English, of the accusatory "You!" ex: You should not" vs the formal "One should not"
Ambiguity exists in most, if not all, languages. Except perhaps math, where the parentheses clarifies! ;-)
Adjectives must match the noun they are describing in gender, number and case and for whether the noun is preceded by a definite article (weak declension or inflection), an indefinite article or possessive pronoun (mixed declension) or no article (strong declension, as the adjective must show everything for the noun as if it were the definite article), and also change endings for comparisons. At this site, you can click on the British flag to see explanations in English. http://www.canoo.net/inflection/gut:A
Here the noun is preceded by "eine" so it is mixed inflection or declension, the noun is singular, feminine and in the Accusative case and a comparative form is needed.
2489
"Haben Sie" is you-formal (capital "Sie"). "Haben sie" is they (lowercase "sie"). They would be the same when spoken, but you-formal is capitalized when written, so we know here that it's "you" and not "they."
"Habt ihr" is you-plural (informal).
2489
You can't tell from the sentence itself. In the absence of context (which would of course usually make it obvious), "Sie" could be either. Thus Duo will accept both translations.
Only in this case they didnt, as it's not unusual for them to mess up, just to get us talking... Me thinks :-) But, I agree Formally, as in formal speaking, capitalized 'Sie' means you or they only understood in context and often means both you and they as to a group. For lower case 'sie' always look to the verb form... Always!
2489
Capitalized "Sie" means only "you," not "they." "Sie" meaning "they" would be lowercase. Duo should not accept "they" for the written prompt; that would be wrong.
2489
In German? It is: "Haben Sie eine bessere Person?"
If you mean the English sentence, English doesn't capitalize nouns like German does.
2489
I'm not sure what you mean by "formal noun." Nouns don't have formality. All nouns are capitalized in German.
2489
Because "Sie" is capitalized here, indicating the "formal you" meaning. If it were referring to "they," it would be lowercase "sie."
2489
No, it shouldn't. Capitalized "Sie" specifically means "you"; "they" would be lowercase "sie."