16 Comments
Is there a good way to remember the I-E ordering in German? I seem to get it backwards every single time.
I don't know how to explain my "trick". Whatever the pronunciation is, that is the second letter. Bier sounds like the letter "e" is being said. Mein sounds like "i" is being said. Ein sounds like "i" with a n added on. Make sense?
Bier is meant in an uncountable way here. If you use ein Bier or Biere you automatically imply that you are talking about glass(es) or bottle(s) of beer.
It is basically the same in English. We drink beer and not We drink beers
To me Wine sounds like a neutral or female drink and Beer is a MAN's drink. But Wine is male and is beer is neutral.
Not just in German, but also in Portuguese, French and Spanish. Probably also in Italian.
I answered "We drink beer" and it says that I'm wrong. I thought progressive tense and simple tense are the same in German?
That is another possible translation.
German doesn't distinguish grammatically between something that is happening right now (where English would use present continuous: we are drinking) from something that happens regularly (where English would use the present simple: we drink).
So without a context which forces one of those interpretations, both English translations are possible.
