- Forum >
- Topic: German >
- "The woman is drinking the wa…
"The woman is drinking the water."
Translation:Die Frau trinkt das Wasser.
41 Comments
Checking its gender. If you hold your cursor above the word here in duolingo webiste, it says if it is masculine, feminine or neuter.
I've heard there are some tips about the ending of a noun, then you can identify which gender it is, but I'm not really sure how this is applied.
As a Hebrew speaker, we also have differences in gender for nouns. It is absolutely arbitrary, and I was told it's the same way in German. Also, the gender of the words between the languages are rather the same. Use your own logic to remember the words, there must be some hidden somewhere.
I've just watched some "Hammer Grammar" episodes, so I decided to go back to basics to test Duolingo a bit, I am right in saying "Das Wasser trinkt die Frau" would be correct. (Accusative Case P.S my answer wasn't accepted.
Danke!
What is the difference between 'den' and 'die' I know they both mean 'the' and that die is feminine, what am I missing?
You're missing grammatical cases. They're expressed by altering articles and endings in German. 'den' is masculine accusative and plural dative case. Here's a list: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/die#Article_2 and more on cases: http://german.about.com/library/blcase_acc.htm
Could you please explain that more clearly? I'm still confused as to when I should be using 'den'.
In the examples we've seen so far, 'den' is used on masculine objects like 'der Apfel' when the object is directly receiving an action like 'eats' (e.g. He eats the apple, or, Er isst den Apfel). These are accusative objects. So masculine accusative objects 'der' become 'den' - the object is 'der Apfel,' when it's being eaten by someone, it's 'den Apfel.' At least that's my understanding.
What about water in this example "the woman is drinking water" so the water is being drunk so we should -accordin to my understanding- say in germany "Dei Frau trinkt den Wasser" can you explain why is it das not den ..?
In the examples we've seen so far, 'den' is used on masculine objects like 'der Apfel' when the object is directly receiving an action like 'eats'
Water is a neuter noun, not a masculine noun. Neuter nouns take article das and das remains das in accusative form.
Is there a better way to say 'is drinking' in German by opposition to 'drinks'
There's no need to add articles either in English or in German ahead of Wasser of Water, isn't it ? We can simply say : the woman is drinking water or Die Frau trinkt Wasser. Or not ?
"The woman is drinking water" is a slightly different sentence from "the woman is drinking the water." With no article, the woman can be drinking any water from anywhere. With the article "the," the woman is drinking a specific unit of water. The (tap)water, the (cup of) water, the water (from the well), etc.
'Die Frau trinkt wasser' is grammatically correct but like Agen Tsi said, it has a slightly different meaning from 'Die Frau trinkt das Wasser.'
So, den is used only when the noun is masculine and the action is being implied on it, yes? And there isn't a separate word used in that case with a feminine noun? What about neutral?
den is used only when the noun is masculine and the action is being implied on it, yes?
Correct. Der changes to den in accusative case. Die (for feminine and plural nouns) and das (for neuter nouns) don't change in accusative case. They remain die and das.
'sie' (with a lower case 's') can mean 'they,' 'them' and 'she.' With a capital 'S' (except as the first word of a sentence) it is the formal form of 'you.' (If it's the first word of the sentence, it will always be capitalized and the meaning is determined by the context.) 'Die' usually means 'the,' but can also be used to mean 'she,' 'it,' 'that' or 'which' (but that's it being used as a relative pronoun, which I wouldn't worry about if you are just starting).
Das is das in nominative case and das in accusative case. Is that your question?
Shouldn't it just be: "Die Frau trinkt Wasser." and not: "Die Frau trinkt das Wasser." Why are they adding the "Das"?
"The woman is drinking water" is a different sentence from "the woman is drinking the water." When you add the definite article, it makes it so you are referring to a specific source of water (water from the bottle or the tap) instead of just water in general (with no article).
What is the difference between "Den" and "Das"? Are they not both neuter for "The"? How do you know which to use?
"Den" is "Der" in the accusative case. It is used when a masculine word (a "der" word) is the direct object. I always found this type of table to be helpful, and it was one of the earlier things we memorized in my German class: http://german.about.com/library/blcase_sum.htm
When do you use das, den, or die, I'm so confused... sie isst den apfel, du trinkst die milch, die frau trinkt das wasser... ????
Yah, unless apfel and brot changed to wasser without me knowing, this is a no brainer.
Nope; "das" is for neuter nouns. If it were masculine it would be "der Wasser"
