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In english the word "pants" is plural, while the word used in German is "Hose" which is singular
There's no reason there 'should' be one in the English sentence. The point of translating is to create a natural-sounding sentence in the target language with the same meaning. Keeping the grammar intact is also worthwhile, but not if it creates something unnatural.
"I am wearing pants" - natural, accepted
"I am wearing a pair of pants" - natural, accepted
"I am wearing a pants" - unnatural, not accepted
I think the correct English equivalent of this would be I am wearing a pair of pants.
That translation is also accepted.
It's not "the" correct equivalent, though, I would say, just "a" correct equivalent. "I am wearing pants" is fine as well.
I answered "I am wearing a pair of pants", which was considered correct.
In English if you feel the need to specify it is singular "pants", then "a pair of pants" is correct, but NEVER "a pant" - that isn't correct even in colloquial English dialects.
However, simply "pants" in English can mean either "a single pair of pants" or "many pairs of pants", so "I am wearing pants" is also a valid translation for this german phrase.
I hope this helps anyone who is confused about this exercise!
This and similar questions are not good for British English speakers. British speakers mean something quite different when we refer to pants.
Hose is "pants" in the US sense -- outerwear.
The underwear is Unterhose (literally, "underpants" or "undertrousers").
It's the singular indefinite article, similar to "a" in English as in "a hat, a shirt, a scarf".
In German Hose is a singular noun, so you used the indefinite article with it in this case.
Yes, because in English, pants is always plural. a pant is not possible.
In the UK pants means underwear. The correct translation is I am wearing trousers. I keep getting the answer wrong!
"I am wearing trousers" is accepted as a translation.
And that is indeed a correct translation, but it's not "the correct translation" (as in: the only correct translation) in English.
As you may know, the English that is taught in Duolingo is American English, and related to this, the English that is used to teach other languages on Duolingo is (almost always) American English. (The main exception I can think of is the Welsh course, which uses British English to teach Welsh.)
Why does german have "die Hose" and "die Hosen" when both mean "pants" in english?
The question should perhaps rather be why English uses the plural "pants" even for one item of clothing.
If you need something new to put on your upper body, you can buy one shirt or two shirts.
And in Germany, if you need something new to put on your legs, you can buy eine Hose or zwei Hosen.
So you would use the singular Hose when it's one item (one pair of pants) and the plural Hosen when there are multiple items (multiple pairs of pants).
I know I'm way behind most great Duolinguists on this point, but I'll put it in for anyone who's just coming up;
In English we have 'a PAIR' of trousers, it's plural. Not so in German. Here it's 'eine Hose', singular. I suppose that's the convention in German.
FWIW, in the fashion world, you will indeed occasionally hear someone refer to a singular pant, meaning a pair of pants/trousers. I've never heard it outside a fashion context, and never without some additional description - "the grey pinstriped pant looks better with that blouse", etc.
Note, I am an engineer, so if I'm familiar with a fashion term...
What about 'carrying pants'? 'carry' is accepted for 'tragen' in other sentences, but not here. Reported.
In the context of clothing, tragen means "to wear". This would universally be interpreted this way by a German speaker. To imply "carrying", you'd need to add other information or context that's not in this sentence.
It's a bit unusual but a possible translation -- that you are saying that you are wearing exactly one pair of pants, rather than merely "I'm wearing pants / I'm wearing a pair of pants".
In German, ein can be either of "a" or "one", in general.
I've added "one pair" as an alternative.
When Joey wore all of Chander's clothes at once...
It's fine as a translation, and is one of the accepted alternatives for a translation exercise.
Without seeing what you saw, I can't say much more than that.
I use hoses for watering the garden...
In German, eine Hose means "a pair of pants/trousers", i.e. one piece of clothing. Hosen means "pairs of pants/trousers" i.e. multiple pieces of clothing.
why does it say pants, I should be trousers you wear pants under trousers
Duolingo uses American English, not British English, to teach most of its courses.
If a word means different things on both sides of the Pond, you should generally assume that the American meaning is intended in a Duolingo sentence.
why is "I am wearing trousers" wrong?? Trousers is the same as pants, right??
why is "I am wearing trousers" wrong?
It's an accepted translation.
If you got it marked wrong, check to make sure you didn't make a small spelling mistake or that you had a listening exercise.
Back in the day, pants were two items. You would put on one pant at a time, different than combined version we have today, this was never the case for shirt or hat because it was always one piece. German seems to just refer to it as a single item like "a shirt"... 20 minutes of research on pants because Ich lerne Deutsch.
“Pants” is always plural in English, and so “a pants” does not make sense.
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Is "Ich trage Hose " acceptable in everyday conversation? It is less confusing. Also, why "I am wearing a pant" is not the correct translation?
Is "Ich trage Hose " acceptable in everyday conversation?
No.
Just as one wouldn't say "I wear shirt" in English.
Hose and "shirt" are countable nouns, so in the singular they almost always need a determiner of some kind in front of them, such as an article.
Also, why "I am wearing a pant" is not the correct translation?
Because "pants" is always in the plural in English. (Unlike in German.)
Do you mean that there is no word in the translation that corresponds to the German word eine?
That's true -- and it's because English and German work differently here.
English always treats "trousers" or "pants" as plural; German does not.
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Would I say: Ich trage keine Hosen. or "Ich trage eine Hose, nicht."
In general: Ich trage keine Hosen.
Right now: Ich trage keine Hose. (because if you were wearing pants, it would just be one pair of pants.)
"I am wearing a pant" is a normal sentemce in English too.
That is not considered correct standard written English on this course -- "pants" is always plural, whether you are speaking about one pair of pants or several pairs of pants. "a pant" is simply wrong in the English we expect here.
In German, on the other hand, Hose is a normal countable noun -- so eine Hose is one pair of pants, zwei Hosen is two pairs of pants, and so on. It has separate singular and plural forms.
In the sentence, "Ich trage eine Hose." why is the 'eine' there? Would "Ich trage Hose." not work?
In German, Hose is singular -- it's a regular countable noun, and as in English, countable nouns in the singular usually need some kind of determiner in front of them.
Much as you wouldn't say "I am wearing shirt" or "I am wearing hat" or indeed "I am wearing pair of pants", you wouldn't say Ich trage Hose in German, but instead say Ich trage eine Hose "I am wearing a pair of pants".
Yes, that would be better. And "I wear a pair of pants" is another accepted translation.
Why when I answered "I am wearing a pants" that was incorrect? Eine = a/one pair of
eine is "a". But we don't say "a pants" in English -- "pants" is plural in English and we don't use "a" with plural nouns.
This courses uses American English to teach German. For the purposes of this course, US English is "the correct English" (though UK English alternatives are often accepted as well).
If you would rather learn German from British English or Australian English or Indian English or any other non-US variety, then this Duolingo course may not be right for you.
It's not needed in the English translation, because in English we use a plural noun "pants" or "trousers", and we don't need an article before an indefinite plural noun.
German uses a singular noun Hose for this garment, and so it does use an article before the indefinite singular noun Hose.
No. The article of clothing is plural in English: "pants" (US), "trousers" (UK).
"a pant" does not exist.
It's just that German uses singular in this situation, while English uses the plural. English is actually stranger here if you think about it - I only wear one at a time!.
