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- Topic: German >
- "Everybody is saying: Bye."
"Everybody is saying: Bye."
Translation:Alle sagen: Tschüss.
32 Comments
474
What's the difference between alle and alles? I feel like I'm missing something. Thanks in advance :)
- 474
Thanks :) I wish I could get you to tutor me, I've seen some of your other comments and your knowledge is amazing!
- 374
Shouldn't "Alles sagen: Tschüss." be accepted? I'm basing this on
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/alles#German
"alles m (neuter alles, feminine alle, plural alle)
(...)
(indefinite) in plural without a noun: everybody, everyone"
Read the last paragraph of your quote again, in particular the bit about "in plural".
Then read the first paragraph of your quote. What is the plural form?
- 374
Oh, I thought the plural was pointing to the verb, "sagen", while the noun itself, "alles", would not change.
So "alles" is masculine singular, while "alle" is the plural. I understood it completely backwards. Thanks!
So "alles" is masculine singular
Actually not, but that's because (a) the Wiktionary entry is wrong and (b) it's conflating "pronoun" (standing instead of a noun) with "determiner" (standing before a noun).
alles is neuter and is singular. I can't think of a use case for aller (masculine) or alle (feminine) as a pronoun -- only neuter alles "everything" or plural alle "everyone".
Masculine or feminine only make sense to me before a noun: aller Anfang ist schwer, alle Welt war dabei.
This sentence is in the dative level test, along with other variants that use absolutely no dative...
They could have added who you were saying Goodbye to and then you would have had a dative form, but when they first introduce this verb they go through all its conjugation forms first before adding the Dative.
The Germat side of my family definitely use Tschau, but I'm not sure - is it a regional thing?
Try reporting the alternate and let them know which region.
Yes, youre correct. If you really want to keep the grammatical structure. Jeder sagt: Tschüss.
Despite the grammatical difference, I'd say theres none.
Everybody is saying. Jeder sagt. All are saying. Alle sagen.
I think this is a question of idiomatic usage and context. Without any further context, "Alle sagen: Tschüss" sounds most usual to me.
"Jeder sagt: Tschüss" points out that everyone says "bye" individually, one by one. To me, this is a very specific implication.
Therefore, I think the version presented by Duolingo is the one I'd normally use, too.
I wonder why "Auf wiedersehen" isn't accepted for "Bye." I know it's a bit more formal, but still...
It's accepted now. (But note that the noun Wiedersehen has to be capitalised.)
Yes, the verb "is" is singular in the English sentence.
The German alle, on the other hand, is plural and so the German sentence Alle sagen... uses a plural verb sagen.
German tends to use plural alle sagen ... more often than singular jeder sagt ....
Thanks mizinamo, i tried an experiment. Jeder sagen: tschuß. Instead of alle. This answers my question perfectly.
I tried Jeder and Jede (not sure which one should work in this case) but neither were accepted, so I guess Alle is the only option.
I tried Jeder and Jede (not sure which one should work in this case)
jeder would be appropriate (generic masculine).
jede (feminine) would only be appropriate if the entire group is composed of women or girls.
but neither were accepted
Please always quote your entire answer if you have a question about something that is not accepted.
Did you use the wrong verb, perhaps?
jeder, like "everyone", uses a singular verb: jeder sagt.
I guess we will never know what I tried, because I can't remember now :). Ah well, I'll quote my exact answer in the future.
I'll quote my exact answer in the future.
Excellent :) Have a lingot!
Cant you say jedes instead?
No. jedes is neuter, and we don't use that for people. ("everyone" refers to people.)
jedes would mean "each of them" for neuter things such as horses, knives, or girls.
Ia the colon used in this way needed for proper grammar and punctuation in German? And is Tchüss capitalized because it is its own sentence within the sentence?
