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- "What shall I take?"
"What shall I take?"
Translation:Was nehme ich denn?
67 Comments
Pearson is a publisher of textbooks.
They entered a cooperation with Duolingo to create a private course that would be available for people who bought certain of their textbooks.
See https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/24052907 for the official announcement.
Unfortunately, the sentences they added for their private courses in the beginning are visible in the public course as well.
555
Duo rejected "Was soll ich nehmen?" for the surprising "reason" that I "missed a word" in "Was nehme ich denn?"
I'd have accepted Duo replacing my ...soll... with some other Modal Auxiliary (darf, kann; werde...) - but "Was nehme ich denn?" is a translation of something like "Hmm... what on Earth should I choose?", in the sense of "I've nothing to wear!"
EDIT 4 Jun 2019: "Pearson sentence" or no, our many reports that "Was soll ich nehmen?" is correct have at last been heard. Yesterday at 17:54 UTC, I received Duo Feedback's e-mail which states:
You suggested "Was soll ich nehmen?" as a translation for "What shall I take?" We now accept this translation. :)
[Posted 22 Feb 2019 08:45 UTC; last ed. 4 Jun 2019 02:07 UTC]
Yes. - But it is "Wohin gehst du denn?" if you want to know where someone is heading. The question "Wo gehst du denn?" does not really work, as "wo" asks rather for a place. That would maybe only a mother ask a child that walks in the mud instead on the path, to point out the mistake...
And it is "oder nicht?" :o)
Because, from my native point of view, that would slightly change the meaning to "what WILL I take", like you would dare someone to guess which item you are most likely to choose.
"What shall I take" is more aimed towards asking for help/advice, while "Was werde ich nehmen" really sounds like either you are talking to yourself (like asking yourself this question during a monologue) or like a rhetorical question (like if you could choose between two items and one is quite obviously useless, you might ironically say "Hmmmm... was werde ich (wohl) nehmen?".
616
I hate non-literal translations when it is possible to do so. Why don't they translate "What do I take then"
555
Over 7 months later, the outcome of the discussion is a small success for grassroots democracy :)
[4 Jun 2019 23:58 UTC]
555
I suspect you're pairing the adjacent ich and nehmen in the German sentence, though "soll ich" is the true pair here. Try dissecting the question and the corresponding statement:
- Was | soll ich | nehmen? - What | should I | [to] take?
- Ich soll | etwas | nehmen. - I should | [to] take | something.
Sollen (1st. pers. sing: ich soll) is one of German's six Modal Auxiliary verbs (dürfen, können, mögen, müssen, sollen, wollen). It must agree with its subject (ich soll, du sollst, ...), and sends the infinitive form of the verb it "acts upon" (nehmen) to the end of the sentence.
English works differently: should is followed by the bare infinitive, i.e. take instead of to take (indicated by [to] in my dissections). So the correct question and statement are:
- Was soll ich nehmen? - What should I take?
- Ich soll etwas nehmen. - I should take something.
By the way, nothing I write here conflicts with your link to https://www.verbformen.com/conjugation/nehmen.htm which confirms that the infinitive is indeed nehmen.
[29 Mar 2019 14:11 UTC]
1158
once again, the hints lead you astray!! I prefer no hint to a wrong hint. Was soll ich nehmen, is still wrong Sept '19
408
"Was nehme ich denn?" really means "Then what do I take?" or "What do I take then?"
"What shall I take?" is "Was soll ich nehmen?"
282
Great discussion. Now tell me what to do with the select the word style questions when "soll" is not listed.