"Trinkst du?"

Translation: Are you drinking?

[.Coniglietta.]

Can this sentence also mean "do you drink?" like when you ask someone do you drink alcohol for example.

[Rakascha]

yes, that would be my preferred translation.
There is not much sense to ask someone if he is drinking right now, since he could not answer the questing with a yes.

[SecretlyAHippo]

There is not much sense to ask someone if he is drinking right now, since he could not answer the questing with a yes.

Very true. attempts to nod, spills alcohol everywhere

No really, though. If somebody took a break from alcohol for whatever reason, would this work? Do you drink [currently]?

[PopSixSquish]

This is my question. There's the sober January thing, and I live in a very conservative town, where lots of people don't drink or dance or whatever. So knowing how to ask "do you [currently/ever] drink [alcohol]?" would be a common question to ask.

[Sumit565091]

I m Little bit confused... In trinkt,trinkst,triken... Can anyone help me out plz

[Willy304501]

Ich trinke

Du trinkst

er, sie, es trinkt

Wir trinken

Ihr trinkt

sie trinken

Sie trinken

This goes for all verbs, so "I have" = "Ich habe", and so on.

Hope this helps!

[ashishbind8]

Danke ..

[MoWildan]

if 'i have' is ich habe, how about for 'you, they have' ?

ich habe trinke.
du .... trinkst.

i hope you'll answer mine.

[mizinamo]

ich habe trinke.

"I have am drinking"? That makes no sense in either language.

haben (to have) is conjugated like this:

• ich habe
• du hast
• er, sie, es hat
• wir haben
• ihr habt
• sie haben

So the -b- is dropped from the du and er, sie, es forms (like in English, where we say "she has" and not "she haves").

[Andy773581]

I think they were wanting to know how to say "I have a drink or you have a drink" as in, "I/you possess a drink".

[epwhite-the-duck]

are there no irregular verbs in German?

[mizinamo]

are there no irregular verbs in German?

Yes, there are, most obviously sein (to be), which is completely irregular.

haben is irregular in that some forms omit the -b- (du hast, er hat rather than du habst, er habt; compare English "he has" rather than "he haves").

There are a number of verbs that change the stem vowel from e to i or ie, from a to ä, or from au to äu, in the du and er/sie/es forms: for example, geben - du gibst; sehen - du siehst; fallen - du fällst; laufen - du läufst.

Verbs with a stem ending in a /s/ sound (spelled x z ß s ss) simplify the -st ending to just -t: du boxt, du tanzt, du heißt, du liest, du hasst.

There are also irregularities related to how the past tense and past participle are formed.

But the endings -e -st -t -en -t -en mentioned above are valid for pretty much all verbs in the present tense.

[Antoinette13970]

Are all verb endings the same in German? For example: would du always have an ending of st?

[mizinamo]

Essentially always, yes.

"to be" (sein) is very irregular, as in English, but other than that, the main exceptions I can think of are:

• -st for du assimilates to a verb stem ending in -s, -z, -x, -ß to just -t, e.g. passen: du passt; setzen: du setzt
• The vowel of the stem may change (a: ä, au: äu, e: i/ie) in the du and er, sie, es forms; this is unpredictable and simply has to be learned (e.g. passen: du passt but lassen: du lässt; gehen: du gehst but sehen: du siehst)
• If the verb stem ends in -er or -el, the e before or after the liquid consonant may disappear (e.g. handeln: wir handeln rather than wir handelen with -en; ich handle and ich handele are both possible)

But in general, you just have to learn the endings -e, -st, -t; -en, -t, -en and you're set for all verbs in German as long as you look out for a possible vowel change.

[1122P]

Thanks for the long detail info!!!

Can you please explain what do you mean "liquid consonant"? Thanks!

[mizinamo]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_consonant

Briefly, "r" or "l".

[RobertHJMa]

'Drinking you'?

[mizinamo]

No; "Drinkest thou?"

[WalterTheves]

Would the sentence "Du trinkst?" be also accepted in German?

[mizinamo]

That would be like "You drink?" or "You're drinking?"

It's not a neutral question asking for information; it's a surprise question when you can't believe what you just heard or what you are seeing and you're asking for confirmation.

[DonFuchs1]

Here we go again. Are you drinking or you are drinking. Grrrrrrr

[mizinamo]

• Are you drinking? -- question.
• You are drinking. -- statement.

[NathanShee]

I put "you are drinking?" why cant this be used?

[mizinamo]

This course expects yes–no questions in standard written English starting with a verb, e.g. "Are you drinking? Do you like coffee?"

Questions that use statement word order but question intonation such as "You are drinking?? You like coffee??" are considered surprise/confirmation questions — where you just heard or saw something that surprises you and you are asking for confirmation that you understood correctly, rather than being neutral questions.

German also has such surprise/confirmation questions, which also use statement word order — so "You are drinking??" would be a translation of Du trinkst??, and "You like coffee??" of Du magst Kaffee??, rather than of neutral questions such as Trinkst du? Magst du Kaffee?.

We don't use surprise/confirmation questions on this course. (Perhaps one or two exceptions; I'm not completely sure.)

Therefore, please translate questions into English using neutral question word order, with the verb first (this verb is often a form of the helping verb "do").

[marysyeg]

Is du trinkst also correct?

[mizinamo]

No -- "Du trinkst?" is not a neutral question.

Using statement word order (verb second) but question intonation is used when you have heard or seen something surprising and want make sure that you heard or saw correctly. "Seriously? You drink??"

Normal yes-no questions have the verb at the beginning, e.g. Trinkst du?

[ParulSingh464976]

I think it have a possible meaning of "do you drink" . Am I right? Like a person wants to ask do you drink alcohol so what will be the exact german translation of "are you drinking"??

[mizinamo]

I think it have a possible meaning of "do you drink" . Am I right? Like a person wants to ask do you drink alcohol

Yes, that is a possible translation as well.

what will be the exact german translation of "are you drinking"?

Languages are different, so there will rarely be an "exact" translation that is used in exactly the same situations as another, and in no others.

Trinkst du? can mean "Do you drink?" (in general) or "Are you drinking?" (right now).

[aleupz]

Is there a lesson (or brief info for some lesson) about words order in questions in German?

[faintofheart]

I answered the language segment correctly except did not add the question mark, is that considered an error?

[mizinamo]

did not add the question mark, is that considered an error?

No. As far as I know, Duolingo ignores sentence punctuation such as , . ! ?

If your answer was marked wrong, you probably made a small mistake without noticing.

If you have a screenshot of the question and your answer, please upload it to a website somewhere (e.g. imgur) and tell us the URL.

[Anjana844170]

You drink in German is Du trinkst. Then how trinkst du means are you drinking?

[mizinamo]

You drink in German is Du trinkst.

Right. And "you are drinking" is also du trinkst.

Then how trinkst du means are you drinking?

Trinkst du?, of course, can mean either "Are you drinking?" and "Do you drink?".