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- "Er mag seinen Kaffee schwarz…
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"coffee black"???!
why isn't it "black coffee" (schwarzer Kaffee)
*I am not an English native speaker ^^"
I am, and there is a type called "black coffee." But maybe this sentence could mean 2 things:
- He likes his coffee when it is black.
- He likes his coffee black style.
I thought this might help you understand the sentence better. Sometimes you can talk like this in English. This is correct grammar and correct format.
Hope this helps!
"black" is a way one can order or make their coffee. Meaning it is unsweetened or has no cream or anything.
In English "He likes his coffee black" is idiomatic. Can native speakers confirm if it's idiomatic in German too?
no. To express this, you need to put the adjective infront of the noun: "Er mag seinen schwarzen Kaffee." (der Kaffee, [die Kaffees rarely used]). Only adjectives infront of a noun they refer to are inflected.
If you were to put an -e at the end of schwarz, would it become "He likes his black coffee"?
1150
"He likes his coffee black" is expressing a personal, consistent preference, a bit like saying "He likes his tea with sugar". "He likes his black coffee" would be used to express a present state, but not necessarily an ongoing preference: "In this moment, in this beautiful cafe, he likes his black coffee".
Can you even say that? I doubt it and when I googled it I only found 507 results (presumably people translating the English phrase literally).
- 329
The correct translation In English language is "He likes his black coffee." not "He likes his coffee black."
