"Meine Freunde und ich konnten uns nicht entscheiden."

Translation: My friends and I could not decide.

[VaterGut]

I had 'ourselves' on the end of this, which I thought was the purpose of 'uns' here (to add emphasis) and this was not accepted..... Was i mistaken?

[deactivated user]

Duolingo's translation is correct. "uns" doesn't add emphasis here. It's part of the verb "sich entscheiden".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/german/grammar/verbsreflexiverev1.shtml

[FisherLiz]

A section on reflexive verbs would help us I think! I'm guessing them from my past knowledge of French. . .but I bet they're different!

[JaronWhite]

Yeah, the French helped me with this too. As annoying as it is, I still appreciate that duolingo introduces new concepts before we learn them in a lesson. It always keeps you on your toes and shows that you have more to learn

[VaterGut]

Thanks. Since I've seen entsheiden elsewhere here used without the reflexive sich-form (and, if i recall rightly, without an object), would there exist a nuance in this case putting the emphasis more, as in the translation in the link you provided, on making up one's mind, whilst entsheiden by itself drawing attention rather to the decision itself?

[LeoBlackma3]

The bbc.co.uk link is broken. The page has been deleted due to being out of date.

[AjithKrishnan]

http://www.nthuleen.com/teach/grammar/reflexexpl.html

I think this link explains it thoroughly :)

[bynny2015]

Thanks for posting that url. The information there is very helpful!

[thevlookup]

What is the purpose of uns in this sentence?

[haleycathy]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/german/grammar/verbsreflexiverev1.shtml

[JoeOcher]

what's the difference between 'könnten' and 'konnten', they both mean 'could' so when do I use each one?

[Vindalf]

Konnten is the past tense of können while könnten is the subjunctive mood for können.

This page is helpful for understanding the subjunctive:

http://german.about.com/od/grammar/a/konjunktivII.htm

[Elleasar]

'könnten' describes a theoretical possibility (They could not decide if ...). 'konnten' describes a real possibility, so it really happend. The sentence 'Meine Freunde könnten sich entscheiden' is implying that they really could NOT decide, because of the weather or whatever. The sentence could continue like "... aber es regnete" [but it rained] or "falls sie zuhören" [if they listen]. The sentence 'Meine Freunde konnten sich entscheiden' means that they really decided. I hope this explanation helped.

[aomara20]

Could you also say "My friends and I cannot decide?"

[Elleasar]

No, it is in the past tense, so you have to write "couldn't".

[steevjoem]

'entscheiden' vs 'entschieden' is very confusing!

[mpestorius]

Why is it meine Freunde not meinen Freunde... I thought the plural was always en ending?

[XoooOverdose]

The plural 'mein' always ends in 'e'.

[lindentree00]

Unless it's Dativ/Genitiv case

[IanCaliban]

Duo teaches us that the simple past tense is basically never used and that the perfect is preferred instead. Why is that not the case here, then?

[veridiandrade]

Does sich entscheiden have anything to do with make up one's mind?

[sushil_k]

can we use entscheiden here non reflexively and would the emphasis change? I guess no since there has to be an object/ something to decide

[sushil_k]

My friend and I could not make up our minds. is that a legitimate English translation?