"Does the child see the friend?"
Translation:Sieht das Kind den Freund?
21 Comments
What's the difference between "Sieht den Freund das Kind?" (my answer) and "Sieht das Kind den Freund?" (correct answer)?
They both mean the same thing. Since the word 'den' appears before a masculine none (Freund), is is automatically known to be the direct object. It is a matter of which one you want to emphasize. With either one your asking if the child sees the friend, but 'Sieht den Freund das Kind?' might be used to mean that you know the child is seeing something, and you want to know if it is the friend that he/she sees. In English it might be also said like, 'Is it the friend that the child sees?" Both are correct, but which one to use would depend on the context.
Because that doesn't phrase the sentence as a question, which is required. You are saying "The child sees the friend"...
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Is this order mandatory in German? To say the sentence as a statement in English (as in Spanish, Portuguese and French) with a rising tone at the end would indicate a question. Does this not apply to German?
Please note that you have two questions in your comment and both start with the verb :p Same for German
It would apply, but that's a manner of expression. "The child sees the friend" could be said in a questioning manner, but it still isn't technically a question in the written form...
I wonder if "Das Kind sieht den Freund, oder? would work. (I didn't try it, if the sentence comes up again I may)
That would mean, 'the child sees the friend, right?', which would be used to confirm that the child sees the friend instead of asking whether or not the child sees the friend.
I think because the tense would be wrong - more like "has the child seen the friend?"
