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- "What shall I take?"
"What shall I take?"
Translation:Was nehme ich denn?
67 Comments
In my opinion the translation should be "Was soll ich nehmen?" or at least "Was soll ich nehmen?" shouldn´t count as a wrong answer.
It's a Pearson sentence. I don't think they look at "their" sentences to react to reports.
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.
I totally agree with you. I had just the same problem. "Was soll ich nehmen?" was not accepted.
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]
I mean, it's technically correct, but they obviously want you to construct the sentence in a way that reflects the current lesson/chapter.
To hint at the implied doubt/uncertainty... One might also say:"Was soll ich (denn) nehmen?", as you could say "What shall I take then?" in English.
If you just say "Was nehme ich?" it would translate more to "What do I take? / What am I taking?".
Can this be used in lots of instances like. 'Was möchte ich denn, Wo gehst du denn'? oder nein
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)
"denn" is a word of emphasis which is not apparent in the English that is given.
'What shall I take'? I translated it as 'Was soll ich nehmen'? where is the word 'denn' in your English sentence??? Shoud not count my answer as wrong.
That should be an accepted translation, in my opinion. Report it if you'd like.
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?".
I do not see that distinction between will and shall, to be honest. Looking in dictionaries also hasn't shown me a difference that would prohibit 'werden' as a correct solution.
Maybe you (or someone else) could make that clearer? It could be helpful.
- 616
I hate non-literal translations when it is possible to do so. Why don't they translate "What do I take then"
Yes, it should be accepted -- see the (currently) topmost thread on this page, the one started by Sumalnox. But it isn't accepted. You can report it if you want.
What is the outcome of the discussion: was soll ich nehmen? Quite a few people reported this? In my opinion that is also correct.
- 555
Over 7 months later, the outcome of the discussion is a small success for grassroots democracy :)
[4 Jun 2019 23:58 UTC]
I said "was soll ich mitnehm" and I know thats not the exact translation but I also agree that it should be "was soll ich nehmen"
Duo doesn't "suggest" things.
Hints often contain translations that are not appropriate in the context of the current sentence but only make sense in certain other sentences. They are not "suggestions" or "recommendations".
Why was my answer "Was soll ich nehme?" unaccepted? It is direct and easily translated.
What shall I take? = Was soll ich nehme?
- 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]
"to take" is nehmen, not nehme.
(Note that we wouldn't say "What shall he takes?". The "take" is the infinitive here.)
Read that please. ref. German A2 level.
As you can see on that page, the infinitive is nehmen. That form is correct.
That is the form used with modal verbs such as ich muss nehmen, ich will nehmen, ich soll nehmen.
Ja! Die Übersetzung ist tatsächlich falsch! Es heißt correct: Was nehme ich denn mal? Oder: Was soll ich nehmen
- 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
"Was behalte ich denn?" Wrong?
Yes, wrong. behalten is to keep, not to take.
"Was nähme ich denn?" - Subjunctive "nehme" ? Will this work?
No. Konjunktiv II is used as a conditional -- "What would I take?" and not "What *shall I take?".
- 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.
