"Trinken Sie meinen Kaffee aus meiner Tasse?"
Translation:Are you drinking my coffee out of my cup?
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It's amazing how someone drank from your cup then you still use 'Sie' when asking them..
A lot of these "formal yous" sound like the person is just concealing their rage don't they haha
It's almost like we're learning British English instead of German... ;)
maybe drinking coffee out of a sponge or a flag is weird... but hey, one cannot make assumptions. Remember, this is DUOLINGO
How can I know that here Sie = you; not Sie = they? it would be : "Are they drinking my coffee out of my cup?"
There is a difference between "sie" and "Sie" (capitalised). "sie" means they, while "Sie" (capitalised) is the formal word for "You".
So if sie is lower case and the verb is plural, then it means they? Otherwise, if Sie is capitalized and the verb is plural, it is the formal you, right?
Yes... Except when "Sie" is at the start of a sentence; then it's ambiguous and you have to guess based on context.
I used to use the "en" at the end of some words as a hint for when "sie" meant "They" or a group of people. But here it seems to have changed. Why is that?
Capital on the "Sie" means it is formal you :) Your trick works, but only if the s isn't capitalised.
Is 'Did you drink my coffee from my cup?' as equally valid as ' Do you drink from my coffee cup?'
I have heard from native speakers that the present tense can (at least colloquially) be used for the recent past. Similarly, 'did you' in English can be used for things that are basically in the present, particularly a response with 'did you drink my coffee?' or 'did you just drink my coffee?' immediately after the action.
German never uses the present tense to express the past tense, not even colloquially. (The only exception being the historical present which is a completely different matter). http://www.canoo.net/services/OnlineGrammar/Wort/Verb/Tempora/Uebers.html?lang=en
Why is Kaffee in the accusative case and Tasse is in the dative case? Are they not both direct objects? Or does aus work only as dative?
Yep, aus pushes the noun following it into the dative case. Look at http://german.about.com/library/blcase_dat2.htm.
So, let me get this straight. The possessive article "mein" is in accusative case because we can say something like this logic...."Sie" is the one doing the action" and "Kaffee" is the thing being acted upon? And so "Sie" is the nominative? and "Kaffee" is the accusative? With that same logic, I'd construct the following: Du trinkst meinEN Kaffee aus meinEM Tasse?
not quite: "Du trinkst meinen Kaffee aus meiner Tasse". "Tasse" is feminine. Otherwise your reasoning is fine.
Shit, ya, thanks...Ich mache die Fehler denn Ich habe keine Geduld....you get what I mean, right?
A question to Wataya. Kaffee is listed on google translate as "Der Kaffee, die Kaffee, das Kaffee". Which of the three is right?
The same confusion is there for Bahn too, which means the railroad (?). All three articles are listed.
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@Thiagaraj_M : According to PONS: der Kaffee; die Bahn
Use this dictionary: http://en.pons.com
Google Translate is not a very good substitute for a dictionary, and does not know German articles.
Benutzen Sie "meinen" für der Akkusativ Maskulin case. For instance, I see my dog = Ich sehe meinen Hund.
I noticed the uppercase of sie, but apart from that this can be also "Are they drinking my coffee out of my cup?"...or there are any other difference in the verbs?
Why would you clarify that it is your cup if you are asking if they are drinking your coffee? Would that not be assumed? If you are drinking my coffee I am pretty sure that would be my cup.
Duolingo is not the right tool to learn the meaning of life ;-) I guess there's not much use in thinking too much about the actual content of duo's phrases. A lot of them seem to be generated automatically. Sometimes, reasoning about possible contexts is fun, though. What if I brought a thermos flask of coffee with me to work, put it on my desk and sb. not only stole my coffee but also took my cup out of the cupboard! I might be inclined to stress the double-theft by mentioning both incidents explicitly :)
This could possibly be a person that makes makes coffee and manufactures cups and he is asking "Do you drink the coffee THAT I BREW from THE CUP THAT I MADE?"
