"Dann werde ich Ihnen eine gute Nacht wünschen."
Translation:I will wish you a good night then.
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Can one say "Then I will bid you goodnight" which is also a common english farewell, or is there a different german translation of this?
That's what I just put (which would be a normal English response to someone gathering their things to leave). Reported
"Then I shall wish you a good night" isn't acceptable? Apparently Duolingo doesn't like idiomatic English of the correct register.
In "correct" (read OLD) English the first person pronouns (I & WE) are always paired with "shall". It is a bit dated but some grammar teachers still insist on that.
https://www.lexico.com/grammar/shall-or-will
I tried "shall" in many different positions and DL didn't accept any of them.
I thought then was "denn," not "dann?" Does it change depending on its position in the sentence, or did I just have it wrong to begin with?
"Dann" means "then" with a temporal sense (like "afterwards") and "denn" means "because" (although "denn" and "weil" are not interchangeable and only "weil" can start a phrase answering a question). For example: Er arbeitet heute nicht, denn es ist Sonntag. (He doesn't work today, for/because it is Sunday). Infos found here: http://www.vistawide.com/german/common_german_beginner_mistakes.htm
Denn can also be used as an "intensifier". http://www.dict.cc/?s=denn
- Was willst du? (What do you want?)
- Was willst du denn? (What do you want then?!)
Thanks. I think of "denn" as also being used to mean "so, " or "therefore." This seems to fit with your example, which could be expressed as "So, what do you want?" If this is correct, then "Dann werde ich . . ." would be "At that time, I will . . ." while "Denn werde ich . . ." would be [with a little added context] "[OK, we're all done here,] so/therefore I will . . ."
Is this a bad translation then? "Then" CAN mean temporal then when placed at the end of a sentence but it seems very unlikely here. Why on earth would a human warn someone else that they will be wishing them a goodnight at a future point in time? And why would they put "then" at the end of the sentance when it's much more common to place it at the front?
Ihnen with the capital refers to Sie, which is formal "you", not "them".
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'In that case i shall wish you a good night' marked incorrect although the meaning is almost identical to 'then i shall etc and is given as a translation in the hint!!
Then will I wish you a good night - should also be accepted as it again follows the German
- 649
What is the purpose of using "werde" here? That sounds a bit strange to me (English is also not mother tongue for me). I feel like to interpret as; "I probably wish your good night, but I don't assure now". but maybe it's wrong, isn't it? Why can't we simply say as "Dann wünsche ich Ihnen eine gute Nacht" ? Although one's WISH here is maybe firm, why the sentence based on a guess? If it's because the night is a future's matter, if I had to say, "ich wünsche, Sie werden eine gute Nacht haben."