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- "Meine Katze ist die größere …
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The German sentence at no point suggests that there are only 2 cats. Therefore the use of biggest is correct in my opinion.
Not true. The fact that it says "die größere" instead of "die größte" means that there can only be two cats. You may be able to get away with "größte" with two as you can in English (not sure), but you definitely can't say "größere" with more than two.
Remember that language is not necessarily subject to logic. "Meine Katze ist die größere Katze" does not tell you how many cats there are. In many contexts, I'd prefer the comparative over the superlative because using the superlative would sound like bragging.
Yes, we can also do that in English. In a waiting room at the vet, near several cats I would say this, not knowing if there is an even bigger cat in another room there.
"the better cat" can only be used about two, so using better tells you that two cats are being compared.
You say that there was no mention of there being only two cats, yet you conclude that he is the biggest cat. There is a problem with that, because you have not considered the posibility of the cat being intermediately large (larger than the smallest cat, but smaller than the biggest cat). The way it is written in German (größere insted of größte) prevents you from translating that meaning to biggest/largest in English. You can probably get away with it in other languages, but the adjective rules in English and German have common ground here and the translation would lose its meaning if you assume it is the biggest.
But again, I'm being prescriptivist and language changes over time so I don't know...
How can we learn properly a rule, if it is not fully applied? I mean comparative is between two or many. Creating a sentence with only one term of paragon is not a comparative. I totally agree on the 'grösste' point, but this exercise is not well prepared.
shouldn't be: "the biggest"...it's a comapration. The cat is bigger than the other cat---My cat is the biggest
It's fine.
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die große Katze = the large cat
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die größere Katze = the larger cat
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die größte Katze = the largest cat
In formal English, you should use "the bigger" when there are only two things being compared. But in everyday speech, most native speakers prefer "the biggest" even if there are only two things, and only use "bigger" without the "the"..
I' m not sure about MOST native speakers prefering "the biggest" but it's certainly commonly used. So, best CAN mean two, but better can only mean two.
But in english the comparative of superiority need another subject to be compared,; while when you use the superlative you don`t need another subject, because the one you are refering is over all. So is not correct to say : " My cat is the bigger or the larger" , but "It is the largest" or "the biggest", or "it is bigger than...
That is simply not true. Google is your friend; see how many times you find "the larger (of the two)". Math problems alone are full of such statements. "The smaller of the two numbers is half the larger..", etc.
Predicate vs attributive adjective, maybe?
Die Katze ist grösser. Es ist die grössere Katze.
The form of the adjective is fixed when it's on the other side of a verb, but it is declined when it's next to the noun. Doesn't matter whether it's a comparative like "größer" or not; it holds for any adjective.
The specific ending depends on not only gender, number, and case, but also "strength" or definiteness. That last category means that "big cat", "a big cat", and "the big cat" are different situations that potentially have different endings on the word for "big".
I don't understand why not use "Meine Katze sind die größere Katze" because Katze is plural. Please help...
"meine Katze" is singular. The plural would be "Meine Katzen sind die größeren Katzen".
Ahh that's right! I didn't know what I was thinking. Thank you so much for your comment :-)
I also think that biggest cat can be a correct form for :die groessere.Correct me if I am wrong.
650
One should not translate/consider "die größere [etwas]" to be "the biggest [something]", but rather as "the bigger [something]".
Is that correct or common in german? Or it would be better use "my cat is the bigger one"(in german, of course) as we use in english?
is there a pattern to know when an adjective has a vowel change in the comparative form?
What are the ending for adjectives that come before the noun? And what are the endings for possessive adjs?
If there is an article an the word is pl., it is - en. Die großen Menschen Der großen Menschen Den großen Menschen Den großen Menschen If it is an nominativ in singular it is -e. Der große Hund Die große Katze Das große Schwein. Gen - en: Des großen Hundes Der großen Katze Des großen Schweines Dat - en: Dem großen Hund Der großen großen Katze Dem großen Schwein. Akk: Den großen Hund Die große Katze Das große Schwein
Am I the only one who got confused after hearing but not reading the text? Thought the 'ist' was as in 'isst'... Is there like, a trick not to confuse them other than common sense?
No, no trick. They sound exactly the same. The only thing that helps is context and that doesn't always work because it can be ambiguous.
Er isst eine Schnecke. - He eats a snail or he is eating a snail.
Er ist eine Schnecke. - He is a snail. (He is very slow)
Is anyone else having problems with the audio for this? It wont play for me at all
I used "bigger" instead of "larger" and got this wrong. I don't know what the difference is?!?
- 650
There is none. There was likely another error. If you post a screenshot or a copy/paste of your entire answer, it would help.
Why the larger?before the Adjective we have "the"!!!!!!! It mustnot be "My cat is largest cat" or why Duolingo did not delete "die"?
I don't understand what the "the" has to do with picking "larger" or "largest".
My cat is the larger cat. My cat is the largest cat.
Both of the above are correct English sentences. In formal written English, the first one is required when there are only two cats, but the second sentence is more common idiomatically.
You could avoid the redundancy of repeating "cat" a couple ways:
My cat is the larger one. Mine is the larger cat.
Or even just:
My cat is the larger.
That's still correct, but it ratchets up the formality level even more than just using "larger" in the first place.
Read the other comments, Gabrielle. This has been addressed. In formal English, you have to use "larger" if there are only two things being compared. Even though in everyday speech, most English speakers would say "largest", "larger" is technically correct.
Un italiano che non conosce il tedesco penserebbe che significa un'altra cosa :')
Actually, you do. "My cat is the larger." is perfectly acceptable English - and in formal writing, "the larger" is actually required instead of "the largest" if there are only two cats.
- 1760
i believe no one will say "the larger cat" in English (I am not a native speaker tho)
If you are talking about two things, you use "larger"; if talking about three or more, you use "largest". So you would say, "Of my two cats, Mittens in the larger," and, "Of my three cats, Snowball is the largest."
Or: Die großere Katze ist nach links und die kleinere Katze ist nach rechts. (I keep meaning to brighten that image up, though. )
It's correct in formal written English to use "largest" only when there's more than two things being compared. While some speakers adopt the same rule in informal speech, most would probably say "largest" no matter what.
- 1760
Whoops... That was a 3-years old comment of mine (Duo still mails me when people reply to my comments). Fortunately I learned a lot meantime and that is (partially :P) due to Duolingo, too...
