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- Topic: German >
- "Sie schreiben."
62 Comments
94
You can't tell if "Sie" here means "they" or (formal) "you". But you can tell that it's not "she" because of the conjugation of the verb:
Sie schreiben
: They write. or You write.
Sie schreibt
: She writes.
Like the others, the sentence is corrects as "You write" using the formal you "Sie". The twist here is that Duo is including this example in the strengthen/practice sessions before the user reaches the lesson titled "Formal You".
Think of it as a free preview of things to come? FWIW...I find myself learning these "gotcha!" examples almost directly because they are confusing at first and so require my attention to read and figure them out.
94
"Sie" = formal "you" uses the same conjugation as "sie" = "they".
Here: sie schreiben, Sie schreiben
108
That's a difficult question, but basically yes, to everyone you don't know who is not a kid.
Non German here. But I have atleast mastered the pronunciations. You have to understand the parts of mouth that are involved in German language. It's pretty close to snoring sound (kh) but where the uvula vibrates instead of blocking the tonsil. Pronounce (sh)-->Pronounce (kh) using uvula --> Pronounce (ei) --> Pronounce(ben)
94
It rather sounds like "shry-Ben" ("Ben" like the name). Here you can listen to two examples: https://de.forvo.com/word/schreiben/#de (although IMO in Vortarulo's "schreiben" the "sch" sounds a bit weird, almost a bit like "f").
94
"Sie" with uppercase "S" is the German formal you (used in singular and plural), while "du" is the informal singular "you" and "ihr" is the informal plural "you" (aka "you all").
So "Sie schreiben" can mean both "They write" and "You write".
94
Formal "you" "Sie" can refer to a single person or to several people. It always uses the 3rd person plural conjugation, i.e. the one used with "sie" ("they").
94
Someone already explained. Please read the other comments before posting "wtf"-comments. "Sie" with uppercase "S" is the formal German "you", singular or plural.
94
Please read the other comments, this has already been explained ("Sie" can be the formal "you" in German)