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singular would be 'wegen des Mädchens'. 'wegen' is mostly a genitive preposition. (There are some exceptions where 'wegen' can take the dative case but I wouldn't bother about them too much. If you're interested: http://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/wegen )
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I found out that "wegen" could also be used as a Dativ-Präposition in umgangssprachlichem Deutsch (colloquial German), but only in colloquial German. I looked that up before reading this post, and I must say that wataya is correct.
Duo is just good for practice. It keeps you doing something every day. But please dont relay on it teaching you an entire language. Diversify your sources.
they threw in genitive preps and der is only used for fem and pl, des for masculine and neutral
Mädchen is a neuter noun in the singular, but becomes feminine to indicate plurality. Because this is in the genitive case, the "die" becomes "der," and so you can infer that Mädchen is plural in this context.
In other words, since Mädchen is not masculine, it could never be "der Mådchen" and be singular, because the gender wouldn't agree.
- I am not a native speaker and am just trying to explain my reasoning for why I think this makes sense.
I get the feeling even native speakers would find this one hard if they were going fast!
Es ist wegen der Maedchen, nicht? (der (pl.) (fem), or in English: It is because of the girls, isn't it?
I would put an (nicht wahr?) at the end to make it correct and clear.
"Es ist wegen der Maedchen, nicht wahr?"
- just "nicht" is improper German or slang!
I know why it's that way: it's because both feminine and plural become "der" in genitive: -Das Kleid der Frauen / The dress of the women. -Die Autos der Mädchen / The cars of the girls. -Die Handtaschen der Damen sind rot / The ladies' handbags are red. As well as: -Das Haus des Mannes / The house of the man. -Die Hunde des Jungen sind gefährlich / The boy's dogs are dangerous.
Is there a difference in the usage of 'wegen', 'weil', 'da' in everyday speech? PONS has all three listed in examples of 'because of'. Is there a preference of using one versus another? Danke sehr!
The female voice doesn't have a rising questioning inflection on "nicht". Is it normal in German to ask a question with the last word pronounced flat? Sort of sounds lifeless to my ear.
It is "der" because that is the genitive article for the plural "die". "wegen" takes the genitive, so in this case, because it is "because of the girls", you use "der Mädchen". If it was "because of the girl" (singular), it would be "wegen des Mädchens", since the singular "Mädchen" is a neuter noun (because of its diminutive suffix). Check out this article: http://german.about.com/library/blcase_gen.htm
Thank you so much for the link, it's a goldmine! I finally understand the logic behind these ever-changing pronouns.
No, "deren" means "of which/whose" and is typically used in conjunction with demonstrative pronouns like "these" or "those". Since there is already a noun here, namely "Mädchen", you just use the proper genitive article with it. The genitive for "die" is "der", so you just refer to them as "der Mädchen".
The table on this page is useful and complete, though it lacks some detail about exactly when to use things: http://german.about.com/library/blcase_sum2.htm
your're right, i had confused those pronouns with the articles. thank you mister!
I thought that "der Mädchen" liKe dative, singular...as we have seen until now at DL...I was wrong.... It is bad! So it can be genitive which i haven't learned yet...
On the last excercise I had with 'wegen,' it was being used incorrectly with the dative. I've never seen duolingo THAT inconsistent and confusing.
In colloquial speech, many Germans tend to use the dative as well after 'wegen'. So, depending on the particular sentence you got, I wouldn't call it "incorrect". But genitive is certainly better.
I thought this sentence meant "it is not because of the girls" What is the "nicht" negating? Deutsch ist verrückt!
Präposition "wegen" geht mit dem Genitiv, d.h. "wegen des Mädchens". Mit dem Dativ wäre wieder "dem Mädchen", aber die Präposition geht nicht mit dem Dativ.
