- Forum >
- Topic: German >
- "Ich bezahle die Zinsen."
59 Comments
83
When you buy something on a credit card and don't pay it back immediately, you must pay back the money you borrowed and the interest that the bank charges you for the loan.
1286
interest (usually uncountable, plural interests). http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/interest
1439
I left off the article in English to see what would happen. It was accepted with a chiding note that I needed the article "the". My question is, would German ever leave the article off?
I wrote "I pay the interests" and I got wrong because in this case I should have written interest (singular). I find this surprising, as I thought there were, by definition, a lot of "interests" to be paid to a Bank. Or is this some specific rule of English (it's not my native language)? Otherwise, I feel my answer should have been accepted, since Zinsen is itself the plural of Zins.
634
In "Tips and notes" Duolingo writes:
Most nouns in German for the plural by appending an ending.
I believe "for" shall be "form".
Regards
338
der Zins is the singular, die Zinsen the plural.
"Ich bezahle die Zinsen" = "I'm paying the interest" - but I'd like to know why the German sentence uses the plural form. Is it implying that "I" am paying the different interest rates on my mortgage, credit card and bank overdraft, or something else?
Confused Brit.