"את הבירה, בבקשה."
Translation:The beer, please.
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It points to a direct object. This seems like a shortened sentence from "Could you pass me the beer?" In this case the beer is the direct object so it get the "את" in front of it. In reality though, it can usually be dropped.
You should never use "את" without a verb and if you want to skip the verb - you should skip the "את" too: הבירב, בבקשה
I also thought it was odd to use it at the beginning of a sentence.... but yet DL seems to like it there...
1434
It means several things. את pronounced "at" is "you" feminine singular; את pronounced "et" is the definite direct object marker, which is what we have here.
It needs a more background information because this sentence is so odd as it's missing a verb. It can be misunderstood as "you're the beer." I do understand the concept of את, just that it's odd to see it without a verb.
Probably "just" to see if we're paying enough attention to detail. I didn't get it either, but at least this type of Duolingo 'curveball' makes me aware of the possibility of running into seemingly illogical, but not necessarily incorrect constructs such as these. Cheers, T.S.D.
Hi, SighingDutchman; love your moniker!
The logic is well explained by dieprinzessin (https://www.duolingo.com/profile/dieprinzessin) below. I quote:
-beer is the object of the action 'give' me the beer.
את - at
ha beera - הבירה
בבקשה - bevakash
- 1434
את is because
-THE beer has the definite
-beer is the object of the action 'give' me the beer.
את- at
http://forvo.com/search/%d7%90%d7%aa/
ha beera - הבירה
http://forvo.com/word/%D7%94%D7%91%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%94/#he
בבקשה - bevakasha
I believe many sentences don't have audio yet. Maybe they will be added in the future.
I sure hope they add audio soon. I would have thought it wouldn't make it out of beta without it! Makes it really hard to guess what words will sound like when most vowels are not written.
You can always type them in Reverso app or website, it has an audio dictionary.
carter, Though it's been a while for me, I do recall sound generally, obviously not for this one. I completely agree that "it's really hard to guess what words will sound like when most vowels" ( diacritic marks, vowel points, [NIKUDOT] ) are lacking! ...That's how I once learned [ :( ] ... :)))
rokssolana,Not seeing the little blue speaker, I figure we're "flying blind!"
Is "הבירה" somehow the direct object in this sentence? I don't know how it is.
The sentence could be literally be translated to "the beer, please". The beer is the direct object indeed
Yonsub from the first comment answered this: "It points to a direct object. This seems like a shortened sentence from "Could you pass me the beer?" In this case the beer is the direct object so it get the "את" in front of it. In reality though, it can usually be dropped."
Why even use the? Unless this is asking not at a bar, but where he already has one? At a bar you'd just say beer please, not the beer. Unless if you were at a dinner and they asked beer or wine? You might, might say the beer.
Chana, My wish would be that DL would provide us with nikudot (vowel points).
Not really, it's more of a request than a statement. Plus, your sentence should be אני רוצה את הבירה.
I really appreciate your rewrite of RaulovesDavid's Hebrew, but how is "I want the beer" not a request?
I took this to mean addressing a woman (you). Could this be the case, as in addressing a waitress?
- 1544
I took this to be the waiter serving and saying: "Here's your beer." Is that impossible?
First of all, i think את here is Et not At (as in feminine version of you אתה).
But then again, i find this sentence confusing too because it has no verb, so i guess the closest explanation is the one yonsub provides: that this sentence is actually a shortened version of a longer sentence like "(pass me) the beer, please". I tried to google translate'd it and the result is "תעביר את הבירה, בבקשה."
Assuming this is the correct situation so the verb תעביר is omitted here and probably substituted with some hand gestures or smthing like that
This is my opinion, and i have no idea whether this is rlly the case or not.
If there's any native users that can elaborate this concept further, it would be fantastic. בחצלחה!
I do not understand the use of את here at the beginning and would not have written it that way.