"Die Leiter kommen."

Translation: The leaders are coming.

[qbufm07]

Could this not be translated as "The ladders are coming"? As if someone is building a house and need multiple ladders...

[deactivated user]

No.

• the leaders = die Leiter

• the ladders = die Leitern

[qbufm07]

Thank you. I could not tell the difference from the drop down.

[drtrocchi]

Then they shouldn't give "ladder" as a meaning for "Leiter" in the dropdown

[deactivated user]

That's how dictionaries work.

[dfblaze]

Besides, if you only see the word "Leiter" it could be either leader or ladder. You'd need to know its gender to find out what it is.

[DT92024]

Die Leiter kommen- is indeed leaders in this situation because of kommen. The verb is the infinitive/plural form, so the associated noun is the plural. Die Leiter is indeed a ladder, but *only in the singular (die Leitern is the plural).

Die Leiter is also the plural for der Leiter - the leader, chair, director (movie), chief, etc. Interesting parallel with the phrase "climbing the corporate ladder", nicht wahr? Am I climbing the ladder to get to be the leader?

Imagine recognizing this at the speed of spoken German. Easy-peasy, cough cough.......

Viel Spaß, viel Glück und lächle weiter!

[elky21]

I tried to translate Die Leiter as The bosses with incorrect outcome. Does the word der Leiter mean leader only of lets say country and not at work where i thought the boss should be a synonym?

[loser_online]

Boss is Chefin/ Chefinnen for women and Chef/ Chefs for men.