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Duolingo gives three meanings for this word - bad, weak and wicked. I used "She is weak" and got it wrong. I don't understand why.
"Weak" is, as we usually understand it, "schwach" in German, and "bad" is "schlecht". However, depending on the context and the sentence construction the same word can have different meanings. I don't know exactly why Duolingo has chosen "weak" as an alternative, but I imagine it could substitute for bad, as in "that was a weak argument".
why sick is wrong? i put she is sick and they took it as wrong answer.
"She ist schlecht" means "she is bad". If you would like to say "she is sick / unwell" you would say in German "ihr geht es schlecht" (literally: "To her it goes badly"). You might also say "ihr ist schlecht" , which means something like "she doesn't feel well" or "she is nauseous / queasy".
ihr can mean all sorts of things, unfortunately! It all depends on which case it is in and whether there is a noun after it or not...
Have a look at this comment I wrote elsewhere: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/21721534$comment_id=23831061
I also don't get why "sick" is not a part of the correct words in this sentence, as Germans do use it in this context.
I put she is bad, and they took it as wrong answer... It should be correct
schlecht is pronounced: sh (shower) - le - ch (soft sound as in 'ich') - t
When you say "as in 'ich'", do you mean as in 'ick' (which is how I would assume to pronounce 'ich') or as in 'itch'? Because I am having the hardest time with the 'ch sound from your throat' like Duo suggests. Thank you!
The ch sound of German ich does not sound like "k".
It doesn't really exist in English, but the closest approximation may be the hy- sound at the beginning of words such as "huge" or "human".
What's the meaning of "bad" here? Is is a bad spirit or something like that?
Again, why can't you say "it is bad"? Do you need a feminine antecedent to be able to assume this?
It instead of She would be, 'Es ist schlecht'. Translating as 'it' would be incorrect as 'it' assumes genderless or an unknown language essentially losing the subject's biological gender in translation which would be awful for her if she was then mistaken as a male. ;)
Es = it Sie = She/They/You (formal) Er = He
Remember, the genders of nouns are unrelated to that of any biological sex (Ein Mädchen, for example).
I think part of the problem with this sentence is that it has no context. Is it describing her health? Her actions? Her attitude?
'SchlecKt' is acceptable too?
No. schleckt is a verb form meaning "(he/she) licks", from schlecken, to lick.
Confused about Sie again. It is capitalized, so I thought it was you. I guess the verb is singular, so it is she? If it were "Sie sind" I would need to look at capitalization?
The first letter of every sentence is capitalised in German as in English.
So when it's the very first word of a sentence, you can't tell the difference between sie and Sie.
Sie ist schlecht. can only mean "She is bad." because of the verb, but Sie sind schlecht. could mean either "They are bad." or "You are bad." -- you can't tell the difference between those two since sie/Sie is the first word.
If there is something before it, then you can tell again, e.g. Deshalb sind sie schlecht. "That's why they are bad." versus Deshalb sind Sie schlecht. "That's why you are bad.".
