36 Comments
Writing "dinner" instead of "lunch" should not be a mistake. Here in the North of England, the meal eaten in the middle of the day is called "dinner" just as often. Children in schools have "dinner money", workers have "dinner break", and such.
"Mittagessen - lunch or dinner?
We're aware that dinner is sometimes used synonymously with lunch, but for the purpose of this course, we're defining Frühstück as breakfast, Mittagessen as lunch, and dinner / supper as Abendessen / Abendbrot."
https://www.duolingo.com/skill/de/Food (Scroll down)
Clearly, but that's a disappointing divergence from the usual Duolingo policy of accepting alternate translations when they're also common usage variations.
- 12
- 3
- 2
I second this. Even in south England you can use "Dinner" to mean the main meal of the day even if it is in the middle of the day. Hence "Dinner Ladies", "School Dinners" but "Packed Lunch".
Supper is a small meal/snack taken close to bedtime - not the main meal of the day (and, of course, not the meal taken in the middle of the day, be it the main meal or not).
- 13
- 9
- 4
- 2
Oh, ok. I have always though the Jenks (Americans) said ‘dinner’ while the British said ‘supper’, both referring to the same meal. Thank you very much for responding! Danke Viel für deine Antwort!
Also, may I express my admiration for you. You have learnt 15 languages...15!!! And that’s only on Duolingo, I checked out your steam and apparently you also speak Chinese so God knows how many languages you know! Wow, you are amazing! Are you fluent in all of those?
Thank you :) "Fluent" is a bit of a nebulous and subjective word, so it's a difficult question to answer, and also my comfort with a given language depends on how recently I have been actively using it.
I'd consider myself comfortably conversant in maybe 6-8 of them at any given time. I can read and understand very many more than I can easily speak well, of course.
- 13
- 9
- 4
- 2
Well, I would recommend you to read this article that discusses what ‘fluency’ actually means. It’s written by a great YouTuber who speaks about as many languages as you do (but, of course, not all are the same languages). If your interested, here’s the link: http://goo.gl/JpxSSN. ☺
- 15
- 6
The previous exercise I had before this one was "Er trinkt deinen Tee" and I figured the deinen is due to it being the accusative. So why here is it not "Ich esse meinen Mittagessen"?
- 25
- 19
- 14
- 12
The accusative case only changes the masculine form of the word. In the sentence "Er trinkt deinen Tee", Tee is masculine ("der Tee") , so it changes to "deinen". With the "Ich esse mein Mittagessen", "Mittagessen" has neutral case ("das Mittagessen"), so it does not change. If you wanted to translate "I drink my tea", it would become "Ich trinke meinen Tee".
Hmm, but shouldn't it be meines Mitttagessen? http://www.german-grammar.de/grammar/chapter_16/16_4_all_substantival_possessive_pronouns.htm
- 12
- 3
- 2
No. Meines (or informally meins) is used only if the noun is ommitted/implied. English has the same difference between "my lunch" and "mine". eg. "Enstschuldigung, ist das Mein Mitagessen?" "nein, das ist meins."
I always have to think carefully about this.
- 8
- 8
- 7
- 6
- 6
- 6
- 5
- 4
- 4
- 3
- 3
- 2
- 2
- 2
- 2
- 2
- 2
Well it's worth reporting that (if you haven't already done so). I had a similar problem before where I translated "Uns geht es gut" as "We are going well". It's just that at the start, systems like these are generally trained to only accept a small amount of translation and gradually grow more lax when more feedback comes in.
- 10
- 8
Is this something a native would say? To me, "Ich esse mein Mittagessen" or even "Ich esse mein Abendessen" sounds almost repetitive and unnatural.
- 11
- 10
Wait...In the prior exercise it was "Ich esse zu Mittag".
Why is it now "Ich esse mein Mittagessen"? I thought that wasn't the appropriate way to say it?
- 13
- 2
Still don't understand why is it not meines.. If Mittagessen is neutral and accusative is used
- 12
- 3
- 2
If there is a noun following you use the same ending as with ein. Eg Er hat ein Buch. Er hat mein Buch. http://www.german-database.supanet.com/page13.html
- 22
- 13
I don't get it... Why not "Ich esse mein Mittagessen"= "I'm eating my lunch"?
- 12
- 10
- 8
Me also. "Ich esse mein Mittagessen" does translate to "I'm eating my lunch" .. so why was it marked wrong? Is the first option also correct or something?
- 25
- 25
- 22
- 18
- 16
- 16
- 13
- 13
- 12
- 11
- 11
- 10
- 10
- 10
- 9
- 8
- 8
- 8
- 7
- 7
- 7
- 6
- 5
- 3
- 3
- 3
- 3
Report it. DuoLingo might not have all possible contraction listed.
I put " Ich esse mein Mitagessen" and got it wrong. I missed the second "t". Is that wrong?
I often mess this one up because of the Norwegian counterparts. "Middagsmat" (lit. "Mittagessen") means dinner. "Kveldsmat" (lit. "Abendessen") means a small meal had in the evening.
- 12
- 3
- 2
Depending on which part of the world you live in, dinner does not have to be in the evening.
- 25
- 14
- 13
- 9
- 8
- 6
- 6
- 4
- 3
- 3
- 2
I think this most accurately translates to "I eat my midday meal" given the differences being discussed with lunch, dinner and supper. I got this wrong, so I reported it.
I know a little low German chant we like to sing with great gusto before a meal when our large extended family is all together, joining hands and swinging them above the table, ending by banging our elbows on the table and a loud clap. I have never seen it written, but to my ear it sounds kind of like "Freulich zie das Fruhstuck/Mittagessen/Abendessen! Guten appetit!" (long i sound for zie) And sometimes adding Let's eat! in English. I have heard my relatives translate Mittagessen in this context as exactly that - midday meal. At least for the syllables I guess.
When I was little my mother was low German, (not sure if that was why) and we often would call the midday meal dinner though I came to realize to others dinner meant the evening meal. Over time and perhaps changing culture, and my mother passing away, this now seems foreign to me. My dad remarried a British lady and the evening meal is usually called dinner. Especially to the extent it is a family dinner or other occasion/event.
