- Forum >
- Topic: German >
- "Mit einer Flasche Wein?"
28 Comments
why does it use "einer" instead of "einem" ? Wein is masculine and Flasche is feminine, which one i choose to use the definite article?
The "ein" is linked with bottle. Think of it like this: "with a bottle", NOT "with a wine".
So....I see that "Flasche" is "stronger" than "Wein", so the indefinite article takes the gender from "Flasche" (Die Flasche - Der Flasche - einer Flasche)
It is "einer" because they are saying "a bottle of wine". Notice how both "Flasche" and "Wein" are capatilized, indicating that they are nouns.
421
not in dative case.
masculine:
- dem Vater
- einem Vater
feminine:
- der Mutter
- einer Mutter
neuter:
- dem Kind
- einem Kind
plural:
- den Eltern
- meinen Eltern
Very probably the first noun (the one the article refers to) is choosen one. Flasche
Since I'm a linguist, perhaps I can help resolve some of the confusion over the expression Flasche Wein. I took a few minutes to research it in a German reference grammar.
The short answer (as the moderators have said) is that this is an "appositional" use of Wein. It is not genitive nor is it an adjective. You use it when you want to make a noun phrase modify another noun phrase, which is what makes it feel like an adjective or a genitive. A linguist would say that all three (apposition, adjective, and genitive) serve the same semantic function but with different syntax.
Linguists have a special set of grammatical terms that are intended to let us describe all the languages in the world and compare them to each other. (As one of the moderators said, we'd call this a "partitive.") Each language, however, has its own way of describing itself. When you're learning a language, you want to use the terms customarily used to describe that language--not the universal terms, which are usually more complex.
I see that there are lots of rules for when to use apposition, when to use the genitive, and when to make a compound word. I expect we'll learn those as we go along. For now, I think it suffices to know that when you want to say how much you have of something (e.g. a bottle of wine), you can use apposition to combine two nouns.
Hammer's German Grammar and Usage, 5th Edition (Durrell, 2013, section 2.7, "Genitive, Von, or Apposition?")
Because a wine bottle is a different object from a bottle of wine. A bottle of wine is full of wine. A wine bottle is usually an empty bottle.
I don't understand this construct. What are the rules for things like "Flasche Wein" where you have two nouns right next to each other?
ie: If I want to say "cup of tea" do I say "Tasse Tee"?
This is a close apposition or, more precisely, a partitive apposition.
If I want to say "cup of tea" do I say "Tasse Tee"?
Exactly.
Please tel me why EINER is used in this sentence. I try to read all answers but many deviate from the subject.
The tooltip for the word "einer" mistakenly says "a (masculine/neuter nominative)", I think it should say "a (feminine dative)".
It depends on what kind of flask you're talking about. Those balloony wine flasks are called "Flaschen" as well (or "Ballonflaschen" if you want to be more specific). The flasks you use in chemistry are called "Kolben" and the little flasks you carry with you are "Fläschchen" (little bottles) or "Feldflaschen" (field bottles). If they are flat, they are sometimes called "Flachmann" (literally "flat man").
This has already been explained. Please always read the previous comments.
- 385
You wouldn't put wine in a flask - at least not here in Britain! You would put tea or coffee in a 'Thermos' (or similar) flask to keep it warm. You would put whisky (whiskey to our American cousins) in a hip flask.
